Official Freewing 80mm EDF L-39 Albatros Thread

[Michaelk2311]

Just ordered the L-39. I should be getting it tomorrow. I know it is an older model but I was hoping some optional parts would still be available. I did not see anything on MotionRC website about the upgraded cockpit. Since I don't have a 3D printer, does anyone know if they are available for purchase?

[Guipedroso]

[Guipedroso]

(delete)

[HangarQueen]

I would certainly buy it if I were you. It is an excellent EDF model.
It is really fast if you push the throttle, but it can be flown a lot slower too.
I have the camo version, and I'm really happy with the yellow wing tips, because it is easy to lose orientation when doing fast maneuvers. I now added real strobe lights on the bottom of the wings, which I hope will help me even better with orientation against a bright sky.

[bbolz]

Good price. I loved that plane. I stalled mine and it ended up in a corn field. Havent found it yet. Its been a month. Keep the speed up especially if windy.

[Twowingtj]

Just finished doing the assembly and set-up today on the camo version. Went together with ease. No paint issues noticed.

Hope to maiden this next weekend before the snow flys again.

[DCORSAIR]

Same here, both of mine had perfect paint jobs, was an issue reported?

[Evan D]

Every L-39 that I have seen had exceptional paint, best of the FW EDFs.

[Rayant]

I am interested in this Jet.
Do you know if the problem of the quality of the paint on the fuselage has already been solved?
Thank you.

[Mizer67]

Can't really go wrong at that price for a plane that's never been flown.

Worst case, put it in a closet until you're ready.

[Low ‘n Slow]

Flying very well. Doing a lot of aerobatics. Also, practicing my landings which are also very good. Getting better with my thumbs. Just takes daily practice.

Thanks for replying.

[xviper]

Gents,

would the L-39 be a good first EDF..? I'm a new RC pilot. Been flying for about 7 months consistently. There is a brand new one never flown in our club for sale. $235........

thank you

What have you been flying the past 7 months and how well do you fly it now? Are your flights quite good now, without any mishaps? Landings are solid and consistent? Although this L-39 is a very docile EDF, it can also fly very fast and can be quite responsive. Since you’re getting a good deal on one, I’d say get it and fly it when you think you’re quite consistently good with your prop planes. EDFs tend to land quicker than your average starter prop jobs. The L-39 can slow down quite nicely with flaps but using flaps on a jet also has it’s unique requirements when landing - they can stall easily if you let the power get too low.

[Low ‘n Slow]

Gents,

would the L-39 be a good first EDF..? I'm a new RC pilot. Been flying for about 7 months consistently. There is a brand new one never flown in our club for sale. $235........

thank you

[cashmoneybrother]

Just posted this in the Black Horse L-39 thread, very embarrassing, I'll try it here instead! I typically buy one airplane a year (you know- time, space, MONEY) and this Xmas was the L-39, which arrived Jan.31st. I've been taking advantage of the unusually mild weather (as my shop is poorly heated) to do the re-paint first, and here it is- sort of a Thai AF scheme. Graphics from Callie, of course, and my thanks to the person who first requested them. Planned are main gear doors, an opening front cockpit, and speedbrakes (going to steal Corsair Nut's T-33 design for the latter, lol). I ejected the kids from the cockpit with their little waving mittens and will be using a JHH 1/10 figure flying solo.
Tom

[cashmoneybrother]

Just posted this in the Black Horse L-39 thread, very embarrassing, I'll try it here instead! I typically buy one airplane a year (you know- time, space, MONEY) and this Xmas was the L-39, which arrived Jan.31st. I've been taking advantage of the unusually mild weather (as my shop is poorly heated) to do the re-paint first, and here it is- sort of a Thai AF scheme. Graphics from Callie, of course, and my thanks to the person who first requested them. Planned are main gear doors, an opening front cockpit, and speedbrakes (going to steal Corsair Nut's T-33 design for the latter, lol). I ejected the kids from the cockpit with their little waving mittens and will be using a JHH 1/10 figure flying solo.
Tom

[subhan.nasir]

Hi guys,
Just curious whether anyone ever added a scale 3d wheel hubs to their L39? If so, could you kindly share stl file.
Thanks in advance.
Nas

[HangarQueen]

After measuring everything from all angles, I found quite a list of things to fix.

• One landing gear leg was shorter than the other, and didn't retract fully anymore because of that. Apparently, there was excessive friction in the "bending" joint of the wheel arm.
• the other landing gear was pointing outward, explaining the excessive pull to the left during the takeoff roll. I had to grind a correction to the indent in the pin to correct it
• flaps weren't deploying symmetrically, because of a difference in length of the steering rod. I remember noticing that I flew the last flight with full flaps inadvertently, and the difference in flaps being over 5mm could explain the serious roll tendency at higher speed.
• checked all the rigging of all control surfaces again making minor corrections to the ailerons
• added the Blue Box again only for the lights activation, and added a triple-flash white LED behind the cockpit, on top of the fuselage.
• added the RB-10 and an extra 10A SBEC, for a 3S890mAh receiver battery. If ever anything draws excessive power now, I have current protection on all channels and redundancy in power supply.

The weather's expected to be awful for the coming days and week, and so I'll have to be patient to test fly all my fixes.

[steven gubala]

Good luck let us know how it goes.

[HangarQueen]

Well, my repaired L-39 flew!
I acquired a crashed model from a fellow club member and repaired it. I replaced the horizontal stab, straightened the nose, glued the fuselage and the wing saddle and replaced a couple of steering rods.
On Monday, I took the courage to fly it, and I was pleasantly surprised by its flight characteristics, even though I noticed that something was wrong: it keeps pulling to the left (which of course worsens when the airspeed goes up). When I release the stick at high speed, I quickly get a bank angle of some 40 degrees. I have to fly with a right stick input to keep it straight. I didn't trim it yet, because I wanted to study this behavior first. As there was quite a bit of wind during all of the flights, it is hard to draw solid conclusions about that.
Landings were very uneventful; I was prepared for endless floating above the runway, but I never had this problem, using full flaps. I always touch down around or before half-runway, and the grass does enough to stop the model in time.
After five flights, I decided to check the model to try and find the cause of the pulling to the left. When I measure incidence angles in different locations, I get about half a degree of difference between both wings, which would give me a roll to the left. But half a degree....
I noticed that the right flap doesn't retract fully (I replaced the steering rod, so it is possible that I didn't rig it correctly), which explains the half degree difference. At the wing tips, I measure no difference in incidence angle, so the wing isn't really warped from the crash.
I will check all control surfaces again, for correct centering, then do another test flight.

[Tenncharlie]

I agree with you 100%. Their "customer service " is a joke. They were rude to me and completely ignored evidence I sent them. It was a full video that plainly showed the receiver to be defective. They had a stupid remark for everything I told them.