Turnigy MCR-D Retract System (F-16 / F-18 Style Romp Mount)

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The motor on the opposite side of the strut allowed for a very short strut length for my scale application

Jul 04, 2020

I bought these to use in my 46" long scratchbuilt fiberglass fuselage 90mm T-33. T-33s sit really low to the ground and that means that the oleo struts aren't very long. When using a scale diameter tire, the tire would hit the air cylinder with the previous retracts I was using, so I had to lengthen the wire struts to get the tire past
the air cylinders, and I also had to use a smaller tire than is scale. I never liked the look of how high the airplane sat. I saw these retracts a few years ago and finally bought them. I didn't use the oleo struts, they were too long
and the wheel axles were not at 90 degrees since they were meant for F-16 type gear...maybe I'll use them later,
but the main retracts were what I needed and they work great. Now my T-33 sits low to the ground and I have the
scale size wheel (3 inches). They look huge but that's the correct diameter, and the wheel clears the retract
unit (just barely). I used a single coil 3mm wire strut since I had them and I don't know if I can find any sprung oleos that short.
One good thing with an oleo is that it extends when there's no weight on it and the wheel ends up farther away
from the retract unit. With this fact the retract unit can be farther away from the centerline of the fuselag.
But I had to move the retracts inward because with wire struts, the strut length doesn't change when the weight
comes off of them after liftoff. The big wheels I used poked up through the top of the wing and just barely clear
the wing saddle (I had to remove some material actually). So, I had to move the retract location closer toward the
centerline of the airplane. That means not as much space between the main gear as far as width from the front
view, but it's not much. The endpoint is that I can now have a positive angle on the fuselage when sitting on the ground, scale wheel
diameter, and the airplane sits low to the ground, much more like a real T-33. The new arf foam T-33 out there has really long struts and it looks like it's expecting a flood, LOL. I only wish these retracts were available separately without the struts, but the price is low enough that is'
not that bad. There are however larger versions that come with struts and those are $107 bucks which make me
hesitant. I have a 60 inch version of my T-33 design that will need these opposite side motor retracts but they
are the only good solution so I'll likely bit the bullet when the time comes. The retracts work great, I oiled the mechanism and they are so far reliable (haven't flown yet so durability
will be determined). My coiled struts will likely absorb more rearward loads than oleos would.
There's a smaller set of retracts like this that I'm going to use in my laser cut T-33. They have to same
attributes, but will require a re-design of some of my wing ribs since they are longer than my original planned
retract units.