Wow, those look nice, Walt. Sorry for cutting in, Scott.

Randy

Hmmmm, thay also sell just the actuators for $150/pair. So I could get the ESM air retracts and retrofit them for about $300 total or get the WS retracts for probably $200 shipped, then add $80 for struts (robart 3/8" struts, which are probably a little small for this plane) than then some wheels and Im still at the $300 the ESM retrofit would have cost. Or just wait for the ESM electrics that should be $150 like the P-51 ones. The WS retracts do look nice but I dont think I can justify the cost. Especially considering I have some other projects that are going to require some of the limited budget I have left for hobby stuff. Plus I need to save some for this little jem (see picture)....along with the contra-prop spitfires I LOVE the PC-21. Its my all time favorite P&W PT-6 holder. TBM is coming out with a 55" PC-21 in April and it looks perfect. Sorry for the rant...back to the spitty.

Here's the link for those who are interested.
http://www.wingspanretracts.com/Actuators

I lost willpower this afternoon and hooked it up to see if the dang thing would even run. Video coming later this evening.

Well did it run?!!
With or without props??

Ok, this is my first YouTube attempt. Here is the video. It is short and to the point. The motor works well but still needs some work. The only problem is the rear bell wobbles at very low RPM (the video is only one click above "on", you can hear the wobble). It smooths out after that and runs very smooth at 1/8 throttle, I just didnt get that because I couldnt hold the tail and camera at the same time and shes not ready for the maiden just yet. It feels good knowing that it at least works. Enjoy the short video, and when you see my sons hand shoot into the frame please done be alarmed, I knew he was coming and the throttle was off when he got there. He was trying to get some leaves blown out of his hand from the front. Dont worry, well sit down later and have a talk about how propellers work.

HK CR50 Contra Rotating Brushless Motor Initial Test (0 min 11 sec)

Neato! It's getting closer.........

I hooked everything up again this afternoon to see if adjusting the set screw on the shaft would help solve the wobbling problem. It did not, but it's still only at low throttle. It'll still have to wait until I get everything tightened down. I did have the watt meters on this one though and the results were interesting. I only went to half throttle on the stick and got 900 watts per motor and what felt like at least 10-15 pounds of thrust ( just a guess). Mind you this was on dead packs ( 23 starting volts per pack, 21.5 volts at half throttle) Sounded great too. I can't wait to run this up to full throttle.

I can't wait either!

I finally received my motor today. The rear rotor indeed rubs against the stator but it's not that bad, a little sanding should take care of that.

Scott, can you please explain in detail how to take the motor apart? I wouldn't want to damage something in the process.

Thanks.

No problem. The first thing you are going to do is take off the collar on the front of the motor. This holds the front bell on when inder load. After that just carefully slide the front bell off the motor being careful of the threads. Then you just slide the rear bell off the back of the motor, again being careful of the threads as they pass the bearings. If you are going to replace the bearings its not too big a deal, but if you are not then scuffing them up will make it harder to slide the shaft in and out while working on it. Let me know if this helps, and if not I can try to clarify. Also, be careful with the bells. The magnets are extreemly powerful and it bit me twice and drew blood twice. Just watch out .

BTW, I now know that part of the rubbing problem is that the hole the shaft inserts into the rear shaft was drilled off center. Sanding will take care of the rubbing but it is not all of the problem.

Thanks. I managed to slide the rear bell off together with the long shaft, but i can't remove the front bell. It looks like there's a huge bearing near the center of the stator that keeps it in place. Did yours slide off easily?

Not terribly easily but the bell just slides over that bearing, the bearing does not hold it in place. If you pull hard enough it will just pop off. The only thing holding it on are the magnets. Be sure not to loose the 4 brass thrust "bearings", Especially the rear ones. They help keep the proper spacing on the rear bell as well as make sure the force is being applied to the inner part of that bearing.

So I finally got around to starting the build. It’s going to be a slow one; in 48 hours all I managed to do was get one wing half's control surfaces installed and servos installed with the linkages.

The first thing I did was to install the servos in the provided hatches. This is only the second time I have done this and the first time I used epoxy for the servo mounts and that was a little overkill. This time I set servo in place with the mounting blocks on the hatch and used thin CA to tack the blocks in place. After they were tacked I took the servo out and used thin CA to seal the deal. I then hooked the servos up to a receiver to make sure they were centered and mounted the control horns. After that I screwed the servo onto the blocks and they were ready to go.

Like most ARF's similar to this one (CMP, et. al.) the hinges are the CA type, which does not come close to cutting it I’m my opinion. I just don’t want to have to worry about something like a control surface letting loose in flight, so ever since I started this hobby I have been using DuBro pin hinges and epoxy. The aileron is pretty small so I used three hinges, easy day. The flaps were kind of interesting. They come pre-hinged with large flat pin type hinge but they are soft and not very high quality. Again I replaced them with three of the pin hinges. The flap itself is one solid piece of wood so I was just extra careful of the bit orientation and depth as I drilled the holes for the hinges. It actually made for a clean install for a split flap, I am happy with the results.

The hardware that came with this kit is actually decent. The control horns are 3mm screws with washers on each end. For the flaps they have you using one of the raised washers but if you use that you would have to dig a hole in the wing for the flap to close all the way. What I did was use a regular washer and countersink it into the flap and it closes without a problem.

The last thing I did was to hook everything up and center the ailerons and set the endpoints on the flap. The picture shows the max deflection, and it looks like plenty for now.

With Thanksgiving coming up and some leave I am taking I’ll have five days off so maybe I can get the other wing done . I really wish TBM would get the electric retracts for this bird in so I could finish off the wings. The rear spinner is on its way from Zinger so when that get in I can finish up the motor and do a full power run-up. I also have the servos for the elevators on their way from HK so I can start on the tail when they arrive. It’s going to be a slow but fun build, stay tuned.