Freewing Dauntless

[Ken L]

Read all the reviews, just ordered this great looking plane.
On the video, the model has been modified by having a canopy that opens, done by `Mike`.

Is there some info anywhere on how this was done. It looks SOOO good with the open canopy!

Thanks.

[ryramZ]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

Hey Ken this is Ryan. Mike will weigh in on his mod. In the video we used 2 cockpits.

[CAPT.Mike]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

Ahoy there, the mod on the Dauntless is really easy. I found its a great Idea to have 2 canopies one cut and one stock. Carefully peel the canopy off the hatch. Cut the canopy into 5 pieces using scissors as the picture shows. Section one stays where it is and glue it back down. Stack 5,4,3,2 in the center of the cockpit. Position them where they look good by allowing a slight overlap toward the rear gunner. When your happy with the placement glue the sections down. It looks better and more 3D if you pull the gunner seat section and turn him to the side and reglue him. I painted the inside of the cockpit with flat green Tamiya paint.

[ryramZ]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

Awesome Mike! Thanks!

[Ken L]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

Thanks guys! really appreciate the prompt reply. Looking forward to getting the kit and I will order a second canopy to do this mod on.

All going well, I think the P51B will be next.

Got two planes in the car right now, one with skis, one on floats, ready for a warm winter day's flying up here east of Toronto!

[Baron]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

The plane looks really good and I am considering to put it on my wish list. I was wondering if the dive break flaps retracts all the way flush with the wings. Previous posts on various forums mentioned that those flaps would not close all the way. Have the later factory produced SBDs planes corrected the minor flap problem or did you had to modify them?

[CAPT.Mike]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

By the way Ken, make sure you put 3ounces of weight in the nose. The plane will be slight tail heavy stock. Adding the weight will allow it to fly in higher winds. I used peel and stick weights.

[ryramZ]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VdxWO2pwuA

In the video you can see how the flaps shut. They are not perfect. The plane is such a beauty it doesn't bother me. If there is a V2 in the future for this bird remains to be unseen. I'd imagine if there is it will have flaps made from different material. It is hard for epo to maintain it's integrity in pieces that thin. This is still the best foamie SBD out there. For me the flaps are the only strike against it. A bigger battery can be made to fit with a little ingenuity, otherwise it takes the 4s 2200 and as Mike stated a good 3 ounces in the cowl. A larger battery may eliminate the need for dead ballast all together. Enjoy the video we sure did.

[Ken L]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

Thanks for the tip!

[Baron]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

The video is good quality and I like the real photos of the SBDs in flight inserted into the video. I noticed that in the one picture there is the larger bomb directly under the fuse, like the model, and smaller bombs
under the wings. where the model has drop tanks. I was thinking about replacing those drop tanks with two smaller bombs. What other RC plane has smaller bombs I can order to replace the drop tanks. I have one extra bomb left over from my FMS 1400 Zero. Will that work as to scale of the SBD's bomb? IF not, what do you recommend? Thanks.

[ryramZ]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

Take a look at our 800mm p47 bombs. I think they may scale better.

[Baron]

Re: Freewing Dauntless

I will order those smaller bombs when I get that SBD. I don't understand why Freewing decided to put drops tanks on the wings instead of the bombs. I have never see a photo of an SBD with drops tanks but then I am sure there might be some out there. This YouTube link gives a great video of the SBD in an airshow with the bombs positioned as previously noted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVKP_QvKFUw