Fouga Magister landing gear

No longer available, this page for information only

Our Fouga Magister kit is aimed at the market of scale enthousiasts and scale competitors, so we expect that the majority of our customers want a true scale functioning landing gear with the doors working like on the full size. However, there may be reasons for wanting a more simple set up and that's why we offer the choice of 2 landing gear solutions: the base is the precision scale gear with custom made retract units (PA604) and a set of scale oleo struts (PA605) which can be enhanced with the sequencing gear doors and pneumatic support set (PA608A) and a 3D printed scale detailing set (PA620).  If no gear doors are desired, the landing gear can be operated with a simple pneumatic support set (PA608B).

This set consist of two main gear retract units, one nose retract unit and the tail wheel bracket. The custom retract units are a drop in fit: the CNC routed retract bearers exactly match the retract mounting flanges and holes. Our retracts are heavy duty and are larger than what you would normally expect on this size of model. Experience has shown that the landing gear is often put to the test and these retracts are definitely up to the task!

The retract units utilize some parts which are manufactured for us by Robart (air cylinder, cam pin and followers), while we produce our own retract frames and trunions and do the final fitting, assembly and testing.

Be advised that retracts from other manufacturers will NOT fit! Our custom retract units have unique retract angles and offset geometry which is not available in any off the shelf retract unit.

main retract units

The nose retract unit is to be mounted at an angle due to space restrictions in the nose. A special custom trunion allows normal retract and extension angles. The nose wheel steering servo is attached to the trunion and retracts together with the strut, so no problems of loose cables or nose wheel jamming during extension.

design view of the nose retract unit

The set also contains the bracket to mount the tail wheel. The tail wheel serves to protect the ventral fin on the ground at high angles of attack (during roll out of landing for instance).

view of complete set PA604

This set consists of 2 main struts and 1 nose strut. Each strut has an oleo action. We have carefully selected the springs to provide excellent shock absorption during take off and landings. In combination with the wide gear track (over 800 mm), this results in exceptional good ground handling characteristics.

The main struts are straight oleo struts, custom made to our specifications to reflect the true scale geometry. They are equipped with two rather soft springs allowing super smooth landings. However, before the strut reaches the end of it's travel, an additional hard spring comes into action.

hard inner spring is concentric with the upper (of two) soft outer springs

first production batch of main oleo struts

The nose strut is a trailing link oleo strut and is true to scale, both in geometry and in looks. All angles are reproduced as on the full size.

close up view of the nose strut...

... and prototype nose strut installed on model

contents of oleo strut set PA605

We don’t think a proportional brake valve is needed to actuate the brakes, on the contrary. We prefer to use an "all or nothing" air micro switch valve and a predetermined pressure in the separate air tank to obtain maximum effective braking action without locking up the wheels. This way, we can adjust the servo actuating the valve to get maximum braking action with a very small amount of "down" elevator stick travel. This also avoids "lifting" of the tail due to excessive "down". Even better is to use a separate function for the wheel brakes.

The tyres have the correct scale shape, this is especially an achievement on the nose wheel because of the special profile (to reduce water spray ingestion) and the very small hub diameter.

        

all custom made wheels and tyres with special scale profile

The set PA620 contains scale hub covers for the main, nose and tail wheels and scale details for the nose strut. It also contains details for the cockpit interior, a full description of the set can be found here.

Below are some additional design views of the wheel hub covers and the brake hub covers

 

design exploded view of a main wheel, the scale hub covers are the tan coloured parts

design view of scale disc brake hub detail

design view of scale wheel hub detail

design view showing the scale hub cover fitted to the nose wheel

design view showing the scale hub cover fitted to the tail wheel

For a full description of set PA620, click here

This set contains the carbon reinforced epoxy fibreglass gear doors, the gear door hinges and hardware,  the gear door actuating cylinders, the sequencing valve and all the pneumatic accessories to operate the landing gear and the doors. It also contains the balsa scale main gear door liners.

The gear door sequencing on the Fouga Magister is quite simple: all gear doors remain open when the gear is down. When the gear is up, all gear doors are closed

Main gear doors: each main gear is covered by three gear doors when retracted. The outer door pivots about an offset hinge line and is actuated by the strut through links (adjustable turnbuckles). The middle door is fixed to the strut and the inner door is actuated by an air cylinder (commanded from the sequencing valve). When the gear is commanded to the up position, both the outer and middle doors follow the strut. Once the strut is up and locked, the inner door is then commanded to close. See pictures of the sequence further below.

Nose gear door: the nose gear is covered by a single large door when retracted. This large door however has a small auxiliary door attached to it. This small door opens further to clear the nose wheel when the aircraft turns sharp to the right. Both the large and small sections of the nose gear door are actuated to the correct angles by a single air cylinder through an ingenious system. After the gear is commanded to the up position and when the strut is up and locked, the nose door is commanded to close. The small auxiliary door automatically closes too.

The gear doors are made in a such a way that they are easily removable. This is a useful feature when flying from rough grass fields.

The system is controlled by a precision sequencing valve made by Ultra Precision.

The set PA608A contains:

1) a set of mechanical parts:

• 1 ea. carbon reinforced epoxy fibreglass left hand main gear doors moulding

• 1 ea. carbon reinforced epoxy fibreglass right hand main gear doors moulding

• 1 ea. carbon reinforced epoxy fibreglass nsoe gear door moulding

• 1,5 mm CNC cut balsa scale main gear door liners

• 1,5 mm CNC cut FGB parts for door hinges and torque rod levers

• 3 mm CNC cut ply parts

• 4 ea. turnbuckles

• 2 ea. aluminium torque rods with ends and bushings

• 1 ea. bag with hardware (links, screws etc.)

• 1 ea. illustrated manual

2) a set of pneumatic parts

• 1 ea. Ultra Precision UP3 gear and door sequencing valve

• 3 ea. BVM long door cylinder

• 2 ea. Robart #191 medium air tank

• 6 ea. Robart #215 T-fitting

• 8 ea. Robart #190 quick disconnect

• 1 ea. Robart #168 filler valve

• 2 ea. Robart #169 air line

• 1 ea. air diagram

mechanical parts of set PA608A

pneumatic support items of set PA608A

air diagram for retracts and sequencing gear doors

image is not clickable for copyright reasons

main gear retracting sequence

This set contains the pneumatic support set to operate the retracts only, so without any gear doors.

The set PA608B contains:

• 1 ea. Robart #167VR air valve

• 1 ea. Robart #191 medium air tank

• 5 ea. Robart #215 T-fitting

• 4 ea. Robart #190 quick disconnect

• 1 ea. Robart #168 filler valve

• 1 ea. Robart #169 air line

• 1 ea. air diagram

pneumatic support set type B (no doors)

air diagram for retracts only

image is not clickable for copyright reasons

Philip Avonds Scale Jets