Sukhoi

[BigBirdBuilder]

Recently purchased a 50 size Sukhoi from Wild Hare. The LG is split and has an aluminum strap below the fuse. to keep the gear from spreading. Has anyone built this airplane? Do you have any comments or suggestions?

[show366drive]

I have the plane and have been flying it since the middle of July and love it. Was concerned with the gear being split for such a large plane but so far no problems. The plane is a floater (mine balances slightly tail heavy) Comes in easy with no wind...just set it up for a landing, hum a tune while coming in and flair it in. But when landing with some wind I need to go to a flight mode that gives two clicks of down trim.....otherwise it just stays flying. Elevator is sensitive even with 70% expo. I have had some hard landings but the gear flexes well and so far no cracks in the plywood mounting ! Flying off a grass field. I have more cracks in the wheel pants than anything.

[sun.flyer]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BigBirdBuilder
	Recently purchased a 50 size Sukhoi from Wild Hare. The LG is split and has an aluminum strap below the fuse. to keep the gear from spreading. Has anyone built this airplane? Do you have any comments or suggestions?

Three words.................TNT Landing Gear.

Tim

[Cobra1]

	Quote: Originally Posted by sun.flyer
	Three words.................TNT Landing Gear. Tim

The landing gear is not the problem and TNT gear would not solve anything as it is the way the load is supported not the quality of the gear. As stated, if you land good all of the time, no worries. But if you have one bad landing as I did last month in high winds, the plywood will break and then substantial repairs will be necessary. I used the strap so all i had to do was remove the gear, reshape and then install. The gear was bent but the fuse was not hurt. If you are concerned about the looks of the brace, you might be the only one who notices. my .02

[BigBirdBuilder]

Thank you all for your input. Unfortunately the work on the aircraft came to a hault after the LG and rudder was installed. I am currently involved in a dispute with Wild Hare over some problems with the aircraft.

[show366drive]

Do tell more BigBirdBuilder !!!

[rede2fly]

i did a build thread on this plane. it flys great. i wish i had another one. i had a mid-air today and am looking for a 30% right now.

[BigBirdBuilder]

You might want to consider collision avoidance radar!

[Fritter]

I've got the same plane, and now own 2 bodies, both I've ripped the gear out of. It's bad enough that the holes don't line up when attaching the split gear, the whole bottom of the plane is soft. To really fix the issue you need to cut an access hole so you can get nuts on the back side of the bolts.

My suggestion, is when you do get the gear in, cover the wood area with apoxy.

[Bunky F. Knuckle]

If there is a stiffer LG on that airframe, then just a little harder landing than normal would yank the gear plate right out of that airplane.

[Fritter]

Then I must not of gotten the correct landing gear with mine. Just the weight of the plane on the ground (not picking up and dropping) sagged the gear. I ended up making a shorter cross memeber out of some aluminum strap fro ace hardware to help.

[Fritter]

Check the picture, this is before I made a different cross member.
http://www.flyinggiants.com/gallery/...=61122&cat=500
That bend is from just taxing down the runway.

[BigBirdBuilder]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BigBirdBuilder
	Thank you all for your input. Unfortunately the work on the aircraft came to a hault after the LG and rudder was installed. I am currently involved in a dispute with Wild Hare over some problems with the aircraft.

As of today, I am still waiting for the matter to be resolved by Visa. The aircraft had a broken former in the fuselage (last former next to the stab). The fuselage also had other wood damage. Unfortunately I did not notice the problem until after I mounted the LG and rudder. Reason being that the box was not damaged and there were no wrinkles in the covering. I asked that the fuselage be replaced which Wild Hare agreed to do until they realized that I had attached the rudder. They had even sent me a new fues. that I returned. They stated that because I attached the rudder, they could not sell the damaged fuselage as new. I was shocked by this statement since I considered Wild Hare to be one of the better companies. It never occured to me that they would attempt to resell the damaged item. Pictures were supplied to them.

A few years ago, I did a review of one of their first aircraft for High Flight Magazine. They received outstanding marks for their aircraft.

I now appears that this matter will not be resolved until late November.

Big Bird Builder

[Fritter]

Can you post a couple of pictures of the breakage, I'm just curious to see what it looks like.
I had some problems with mine as I earlier posted, but have worked everything out. One of the biggest issues I ran into lately was moving the stabilizer to the back setting. Thanks

[BigBirdBuilder]

The saga of my problem with the Wild Hare Sukhoi continues. I was not aware that it would take almost four months for VISA to make a decision. I made this purchase using my AMA Visa issued by US Bank. After makeing the initial claim, my account was issued a conditional credit for the purchase price. Wild Hare was given 60 days to respond. They responded after 50 days and I was told by the bank that I would have 10 days to respond. I sent them a 12 page response including pictures of the broken former in the fuselage and other damage. I also included pictures of the box that showed no shipping damage. All of the e-mails between myself and Wild Hare were included in my response including the one in which Wild Hare stated that they would not be able to sell the fuselage as new since I had attached the rudder. Wild Hare was given an additional 45 days to respond to my response. I have been informed by the bank that they did not respond within the alloted time.

This past week, I was told by the bank that they would not make a decision in this matter and referred the case to VISA for review. I was told that this could take up to five weeks.

Recently, I was told by one of my fellow club members that he also had a problem with Wild Hare. He is in the TN National Guard and flys as a crew chief on refuelling missions. On one of his trips to TX he went to Wild Hare to purchase a Sukhoi. He decided to check it our prior to returning home and found a crack in the cowl. He went back to Wild Hare the following day and asked for a new cowl. He was told by the owner that it would be easy to fix the cowl and he did not want to break apart another kit. It was only after the owners wife interceded that the kit was exchanged.

I have been involved with giant scale aircraft since 1984 and I can say that I have only seen such poor customer service once during that 25 years. BUYER BEWARE!