I have done that! Not on a formosa, but on my old cub. Did a loop, and the battery was dislodged from the bay, swaying from the wires...CG was a bit off.... Sure makes you see what you are made of, huh? I also had one aleron servo stop partially up once. Got that one down, all the time thinking "what the hell??" *phew*-----Metalguy

Gave a supposed fantastic pilot my overpowered Spitfire to checkout for me. Still smile when I see the plane takeoff & do 3 TIGHT rolls inches from the ground.

I accidently put 2X the throw on a replacement servo.

He almost landed the plane. After the 2 Cartwheels.

Hope he didn't damage it for you.

Yeah - my battery was swinging too - made it pretty scary - I was lucky to get it down

Wofe

I do not think he had ever flown a .25 nitro fuel with a .60 Super Tiger in it.
I use cubic inches, to stop the use of toxic Lead.

Over powering is fun for GWS warbirds! I put a 230W motor in my Spit and she is THE plane I would show off the unlimited vertical. Bring her up to 500 feet and nose dive!

I added mini retracts activated by a 9G metal gear servo in my Zero last Saturday. Flew her yesterday and found the added weight did take a toll on her. Just one landing the tiny struts were bent. She equips with a 2830 kv850 160W motor and 10x6 prop and used to handle 15 mph wind with ease. Now her flys "sluggish". There is not much room for moving battery around to adjust CG locations. I am wondering if a bigger motor (more weight!) will help; or the drag is too much to overcome and this is the best she can do. She looks cool though.

Anyone has great success with retracts on the smaller GWS warbirds?

Originally Posted by Vince_TT

Over powering is fun for GWS warbirds! I put a 230W motor in my Spit and she is THE plane I would show off the unlimited vertical. Bring her up to 500 feet and nose dive!

I added mini retracts activated by a 9G metal gear servo in my Zero last Saturday. Flew her yesterday and found the added weight did take a toll on her. Just one landing the tiny struts were bent. She equips with a 2830 kv850 160W motor and 10x6 prop and used to handle 15 mph wind with ease. Now her flys "sluggish". There is not much room for moving battery around to adjust CG locations. I am wondering if a bigger motor (more weight!) will help; or the drag is too much to overcome and this is the best she can do. She looks cool though.

Anyone has great success with retracts on the smaller GWS warbirds?

What's your AUW on the Zero? I have the GWS retracts on my (EPS) P-51 Mustang with an AUW of about 16.5oz and she flies just fine with the added weight of the retracts. I'm using the Power Up 400 (sport) with a GWS 8060HD prop. I get about 23oz of thrust from that setup so it gives me really good vertical performance. It probably flies around 45-50mph in level flight. It still flies the same after I put in the retracts.

The only thing is, those GWS retracts are kinda flimsy, so anything less than a good landing can hurt them. Try to keep these birds as light as possible and grease the landings as best you can so the retracts last. They don't like too much weight on them. If you can keep the AUW between 14 and 17oz, you should be alright. But like I said, one bad landing is all it takes to bend them up.

My next retracts will be THESE. I've heard good things about them and the reviews seem positive.

My Zero is an EPO. I made a ply firewall to mount the motor and still had to glue 2oz of lead in the cowl to set the CG correctly. So before the mod she was already 18.5 oz with 3s 1200mah battery- my smallest battery already. Will check the AUW tonight.

It took me 5 hours to complete the mod and adjust the end points on the servo in order to get rid of the "buzz" sound- Using an AMP meter I found the servo was drawing power when the buzz sound was heard. Is that possible the movement and air pressure during the flight give extra load to the retract servo, so it drains my ESC momentary and causes the "sluggish" feel on other control surface? I have a 25A esc with 2A liner BEC in her. I know 2A BEC is on the small end but this is the lightest ESC I have currently.

Yes, the retracts are flimsy. The wires look like less than 2mm in diameter. Can you squeeze a 2.5mm steel rod into the seat? My flying field does not have paved runway. I need to land on short grass. I found 2.5mm steel rod is capable to do the job most of the time. Of course there are much room for me to improve my landing skill.

My next retracts will be THESE. I've heard good things about them and the reviews seem positive. [/QUOTE]

This was the retracts I would like to get originally. But after measuring the thickness of the wings on Zero, I found that I cannot hide the wheels and struts completely without cutting the entire depth of the wings to make the wheel wells. So CF strut is not an option. The steel wire is easy to bend and work with but it is so flimsy. I have seen people added retracts on GWS Spit..that's even harder!

Vince
I am not sure. But I thought the real Zero had wheels slightly exposed.
Movies are known to be untrue.

Here is a pic of my 109. Just got done painting it. Now on to the insignia.

Originally Posted by Kiiski

Here is a pic of my 109. Just got done painting it. Now on to the insignia.

Lookin' good! I can't wait to see the end result.

What size motor are you using?

Vince

I web searched the Zero at the Hawaii Museum. Fantastic shot of the complete landing gear. VERY simple FULL covers.

I run this motor & gear box setup. It DOES REQUIRE GRINDING THE GWS 400C gear box down to get the motor into it.

Well worth it.

Originally Posted by cyclops2

I run this motor & gear box setup. It DOES REQUIRE GRINDING THE GWS 400C gear box down to get the motor into it.

Well worth it.

Ummm, which motor would that be?

GWS 400C ratios range from 2.14 up to 6.30

At 6.30 bricks can go vertical & OOS.

The big advantage is the massive T O thrust over a wide speed range.
If you look at the watts in versus watts out you see that the FULL NOSE spinners will NOT COOK the motor too badly with bottom & internal air air slots to cool motor ESC & BATTERY.

Gearboxes are for guys who love fine details & loads of operating features. Like Robart L G.