I have about had it with Robart Electric retracts for giant scale.


I went threw a boat load of hassle with my H9 Corsair, eventually Robart replaced my whole system for free do to so many complaints about there Corsair retracts being junk. So far so good on that airplane.


Now I have a H9 P-51 and I am going through the same thing again. Why I bought another pair I will never know. Got one side that is working great, the other side is about 50% of the time. Not sure if it's the control box or the actuator on the retract.


What REALLY pisses me off is while trying to diagnose the issue the tail wheel broke, now the actuator just runs all the time.


I have already put about $80 in repairs to the retracts and it's a miracle the plane has not sustained any damage, I know this is only a matter of time. Now the control box is $100 and the actuators are about $70. I either buy the parts or not fly the plane, kinda stuck between a rock and hard place. Really starting to hate the airplane because of this issue and the plane really does fly fantastic.


ROBART REALLY NEEDS TO GET THERE HEAD OUT OF THERE ARSS AND START MAKING QUALITY PRODUCTS. Not like these are cheap retracts. (money wise)

Agree with ya, had a set for my Corsair and one did not work out of the box, finally just converted them to Pneumatic

make a better retract and then the mounts and wing break, its a difficult way to attach wheels to a plane. I have had the air/spring and electrics, the electrics are far more reliable than air/spring but mechanical is tough too. BVM still sells their large jets with mech retracts and for decades its been bulletproof.

Besides myself, have had 3 other club members with Robart Elect Retracts, all Elect related problems, all were new.

My Friend had similar bad results with the Robart electric gear in his Top Flite GS Zero. He sent them to Robart and they 'repaired' them but the gear continued to fail in real use. Eventually he bought a set of pneumatic gear = troubles over. No refund from Robart. Big waste of time and money plus repairs to plane from one wheel landings.
Considering Robart electric gear? Don't do it.

Been saying it for years. The idea of electronic gear is awesome. The reality- not so much. Even if yours work, the first crack in the runway they come into contact with could mis-align them enough to hang halfway through their cycle and say there. Pneumatic gear are a pain, but at least they don't get stuck half way!

That sucks. I wanted a set of the electric corsair retracts for the p-40. At $519 you would think Robart would have their act together.

Originally Posted by windshear

That sucks. I wanted a set of the electric corsair retracts for the p-40. At $519 you would think Robart would have their act together.

Does Robart in fact, manufacture these retracts, or are they rebranding generic gear from an overseas source?

My Experience.
Sierra makes the most durable trouble free pneumatic gear for the Corsair of anyone.

I have 4 sets of Robart electric retracts and they all work just fine with no problems. There are version I electric retracts that do have problems. I first had a set of Version I and had nothing but problems. Robart replaced them for me with Version II and I've not had any problems since. The version II control box has a green and red light on the left side of the box. In the almost 3 years that I've used Robart electric retracts, I've noticed one problem that you have to careful with. The control box has three areas to plug in the two mains and the tail wheel. Each plug in area has two pins that the connector wire plugs into. If you bend or miss one or both of these pins, you don't have a electrical connection to the retract unit. I got Robart to make me some short, 3", pigtails to plug into the control box for a fee. Once I got the pigtails plugged into the control box, I don't have to worry about bending or braking the pins anymore. In summary, I've had very good luck with Version II Robart electric retracts. I've not used any of the rotating retracts yet so I can comment on them.

Well at least Robart will service / repair them. Same can't be said for the E-flite retracts for the H9 mustang, if anything's wrong with them you have to buy a whole new set as they offer no repair / service !

My first set of E-flites for the mustang worked flawlessly but one day landed (due engine failure) mid cycle and the jack-screw popped out of the motor. That was the only casualty, everything else on the retracts and plane perfectly fine so sent up to horizon to have it fixed... Nope had to buy a whole new set ! Now this second set is giving me headaches not working properly I don't want to have to get a 3rd,- well I won't be !

Originally Posted by 185skywagon

Well at least Robart will service / repair them. Same can't be said for the E-flite retracts for the H9 mustang, if anything's wrong with them you have to buy a whole new set as they offer no repair / service !

My first set of E-flites for the mustang worked flawlessly but one day landed (due engine failure) mid cycle and the jack-screw popped out of the motor. That was the only casualty, everything else on the retracts and plane perfectly fine so sent up to horizon to have it fixed... Nope had to buy a whole new set ! Now this second set is giving me headaches not working properly I don't want to have to get a 3rd,- well I won't be !

That is pure bullcrap!


I just called Robart and of course I have to send the whole system back to them for review. Now it's time to set it in the corner and wait.

You could buy three sets ..... one for the airplane, one to keep on the shelf for replacement when the one in the plane breaks and of course the third one would be in circulation back to the factory for evaluation. Not necessarily retract related, but I remember when some other RC products were like that in the past.

Still using pneumatic gear here in the few planes that use retracts. No real complaints and fairly easy to maintain.

The behotec electrics are excellent. Robart are ummmm not so good. Eflite crapola. Hopefully behotec will make some rotating electrics someday. The dreamworks electrics seem to be ok. Better than robart but not as good as the behotecs. I have had all but the dreamworks. But a good buddy has them and i have watched them closely..

I was thinking of Century jet retracts for my next warbird, are they any good ?

Gutted to read this about the robarts though as I was really thinking of swapping to them for this my mustang if I have to buy yet another set of e-flites...