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martin18152 · 09-05-2006, 08:43 AM

I read a couple of post about the gear breaking out on this model, I didn't think much about it, since I know how to land, right.... I had a high idle situation on my engine, and landed in the grass, I was going a little fast, but not that fast. and the gear broke righ from under the model on a perfictly level landing, three points. Both gear leggs broke, and folded under the plane. I took the model home and started to look at the failure, and the problem is the front former and gear ply plate. which is locked into the front former, which is only about 1/16 to 3/32 thick. you could probably flop it down all day long and no problem, however, when you hit a little rough ground at a decient speed, the gear torques the plate down on this very thin front former, which holds on two interlocking tabs, the former flexes, and the glue joint breaks , the tabs slip out, or break out, and the plate breaks in the thin section toward the rear of the plane, as the plate rotates foward. Its easy to see what you have to do, when you have the whole thing apart with the factory replacement parts; however, its a little harder to fix before you break it. I just carbon fibered the former and plate, then carbon fibered the former to the plate. I would recomend you fix this problem before it happens, its a real big job doing the body work on a comp arf, it takes about 10 times as much work as doing body work on a car. Their are a couple of good posts on how to repair comp arf models.

09-05-2006, 08:43 AM	#1
martin18152 Doo It! Doo It! Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: St. Louis Missouri Posts: 83	Comp ARF 2.3 Extra Gear Failure Problem I read a couple of post about the gear breaking out on this model, I didn't think much about it, since I know how to land, right.... I had a high idle situation on my engine, and landed in the grass, I was going a little fast, but not that fast. and the gear broke righ from under the model on a perfictly level landing, three points. Both gear leggs broke, and folded under the plane. I took the model home and started to look at the failure, and the problem is the front former and gear ply plate. which is locked into the front former, which is only about 1/16 to 3/32 thick. you could probably flop it down all day long and no problem, however, when you hit a little rough ground at a decient speed, the gear torques the plate down on this very thin front former, which holds on two interlocking tabs, the former flexes, and the glue joint breaks , the tabs slip out, or break out, and the plate breaks in the thin section toward the rear of the plane, as the plate rotates foward. Its easy to see what you have to do, when you have the whole thing apart with the factory replacement parts; however, its a little harder to fix before you break it. I just carbon fibered the former and plate, then carbon fibered the former to the plate. I would recomend you fix this problem before it happens, its a real big job doing the body work on a comp arf, it takes about 10 times as much work as doing body work on a car. Their are a couple of good posts on how to repair comp arf models.