Official Freewing Twin 70mm AL37 Airliner Thread

[xviper]

Thank you. I was given a a37 That a retired Rc hobby guy had and used for parts after rebuilding it All seems well Including pressure coming out the rear but for some reason no matter how hard i pull it to the right it pulls itself to the left and if i just throttle up with no steering it will go in circles. And as you can understand until i correct this it will never take off for Maden Flight. Any ideals would be appreciated.

It seems to me that one of your motors is running in the wrong direction. Both sides should have thrust coming out the back. If one is pushing air out the front, you have to switch 2 of the 3 motor wires on that side. You can see these 3 wires where you connect the wing to the fuselage. Once you get it correct, label them so you know how they go next time you put the plane together.
However, if you have air coming out the back end of each engine, and it still goes in circles when you throttle up, now you need to determine if one side is stronger than the other. If this is the case, you must do a throttle calibration so both sides run exactly the same. After you do the throttle calibration and still does it, then I would suggest that one EDF has been damaged and is not producing as much thrust as it should. If this is the case, then you need to replace it with the appropriate EDF. In case both sides has been damaged, best to replace both.

[wstimax]

Thank you. I was given a a37 That a retired Rc hobby guy had and used for parts after rebuilding it All seems well Including pressure coming out the rear but for some reason no matter how hard i pull it to the right it pulls itself to the left and if i just throttle up with no steering it will go in circles. And as you can understand until i correct this it will never take off for Maden Flight. Any ideals would be appreciated.

[xviper]

Does the AL 37 Airliner require revers Motors or just revers 12 blade props?
And if so what side has the revers motor or prop? Thank you for any info you can share with me.

Both. Having just reverse fan won't do anything except blow air out the front (think about it). The motor must also go in reverse. However, you don't need a special "reverse" motor to do it. You just swap two of the 3 motor wires to make it turn the other way.
Although it doesn't matter which goes on which side, I believe they come with fans turning such that the top of the fan goes toward the fuselage.

[wstimax]

Does the AL 37 Airliner require revers Motors or just revers 12 blade props?
And if so what side has the revers motor or prop? Thank you for any info you can share with me.

[xviper]

Post no longer needed. Thanks to mods.

[jetpltrich]

Maybe a deacl that wraps into the well could be done. COuld color something in there but it would look ugly if I do it, I see alot of part in that well that we repair. Skydrol is a nasty fluid.

As an F/O I ruined many a shirt on the preflight getting into that wheel well, it’s a pretty dirty place. I took that video during one of the rare times I’ve done a preflight in the past 15 years. To this day I marvel at all the junk in there.

[MeyerVW]

Detail your wheel well!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_ljg...ature=youtu.be

Maybe a deacl that wraps into the well could be done. COuld color something in there but it would look ugly if I do it, I see alot of part in that well that we repair. Skydrol is a nasty fluid.

[GliderGuy]

Awesome thank you, once I join the fuse I can then take measurement and start cutting my custom vinyl for the livery scheme.

Thanks once again.

A few more tips….
1) Install a gyro to avoid the yaw wiggle. A gyro REALLY makes this a nice flying bird. 50 to 60 percent gain for starters.
2) Never fly with just one winglet on. The induced roll is A LOT!!!!
3) She flies fine w/o the winglets.
4) 1/2 flap for take-off and full flap with a touch of power for the landings.
5) Upon reaching full throttle, the nose will rise up and she lifts off. Super simple take-off.
6) Don’t get too slow on final. She’s not a floater unless you leave a touch of power on.
7) Install RF chokes. Put chokes or RF chokes in the forum search window….read and LEARN! Amazon has them.
8) For good measure, I put a small choke on the elevator and rudder wires way back in the tail by those servos.
9) Some have added bearing sleeves into the wheel hubs to avoid hearing the baby-coach wheel sounds.
10) Fly at half power or the batteries and connectors get HOT!
11) And last….I added carbon tubes into the wiring channel of each wing. Glue them to the top skin inside the channel. It helps to keep the top skin from cracking.

-GG

[Skeley68]

Hi Mike,
The glue supplied with the kit is OK. Or use Foam-Tac. Two important things:
1) Score the joining faces with a razor knife tip.
2) Insert a couple of short carbon rods or tubes into holes that you drill into the fuse halves….about 3 in long each.

If you call top dead center 0 degrees as reference, put a short rod at each 45 degree clockwise and counter clockwise point as measured to the 0 ref point. Careful to drill parallel to the fuselage sides….don’t poke the drill out the side.

Insert this carbon and you won’t have any separation problems. These tubes or rods supply additional support to the rods/tubes already in the kit.

-GG

Awesome thank you, once I join the fuse I can then take measurement and start cutting my custom vinyl for the livery scheme.

Thanks once again.

[GliderGuy]

Hey Folks,

I apologize for asking and not read through all the threads but what glue are you guys using to join the fuse? Foam safe CA, 30 min epoxy, the included rubber cement method etc... I ask for I thought I have read somewhere that a few folks have had their plane separate on a rough landings. Much appreciated as I start on this adventure with my custom livery AL-37.

Thanks
Mike

Hi Mike,
The glue supplied with the kit is OK. Or use Foam-Tac. Two important things:
1) Score the joining faces with a razor knife tip.
2) Insert a couple of short carbon rods or tubes into holes that you drill into the fuse halves….about 3 in long each.

If you call top dead center 0 degrees as reference, put a short rod at each 45 degree clockwise and counter clockwise point as measured to the 0 ref point. Careful to drill parallel to the fuselage sides….don’t poke the drill out the side.

Insert this carbon and you won’t have any separation problems. These tubes or rods supply additional support to the rods/tubes already in the kit.

-GG

[Skeley68]

Hey Folks,

I apologize for asking and not read through all the threads but what glue are you guys using to join the fuse? Foam safe CA, 30 min epoxy, the included rubber cement method etc... I ask for I thought I have read somewhere that a few folks have had their plane separate on a rough landings. Much appreciated as I start on this adventure with my custom livery AL-37.

Thanks
Mike

[jetpltrich]

Detail your wheel well!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_ljg97zLw&feature=youtu.be

[MeyerVW]

I put the E52 gyro in. Everything is working as it should while in my hands. Put my ail and ele at 25 % gain and the rudder to 50%. For my switch I did normal, off, and trainer. If this works well the pj50 will get an E52 as well

[JetFun]

I am pretty amazed at how effectively the AL37 slows down during approach. It does not like wind. Take off distance is amazingly short even on rough grass. It can handle rough grass very well. It needs a lot of space when flying.


My first AL-37 went down due to a faulty BEC after a minute. I could show in a video how the electronics work fine after the crash with a normal battery and stop working with the stock BEC. They had a lot of further background questions. Got a full refund from MotionRC in form of a MotionRC.eu shop gift card. That was a very fair process.

[JetFun]

What do I need to know when painting the AL-37? I got the white version and want to paint the fuselage with different colors. Do I use normal acryl? Do I need some primer or better not?

Thanks!

[jasmith41]

Thanks guys - i appreciate the input and will give it all a go again this week... Buzzy did discover on weighing both wings while off the plane, the left one weights an ounce more than the right one. The guy he bought it from painted it with gray primer to sim the MI Air Guard livery and i don't think he sprayed it light... :)

[Evan D]

Sounds like just a ESC not sensing the high and low throttle positions. It does need to sense low position to arm. It can be a lot of different things from ESC calibration to the way it was bound, with failsafe set maybe high, throttle cut on and too high, etc. And yes, reversed channel in the radio.

[xviper]

Viper, while i was able to bind it and get the ESCs to arm on my ix20, when i went to bind it to my buddy's NX8, it did the same thing. I tried moving all the throttle trims as low as they would go, but still just sat there beeping upon binding. All other function were working. The only thing i didn't try on the NX was reversing the throttle in servo set-up... We're going to try her again this week and i'll try doing that as well to see if that may be it, but this is frustrating...

Maiden went ok, but not much more than that. She banked left pretty good on lift-off so I was fighting her all the way around. I only took one lap and then brought her in to diagnose. I think the right aileron was down just enough to cause that, but I was shaking so bad after that that I'd had enough and needed a margarita... :) We'll try again on Friday this week...

Any thoughts on the ESC issue with the NX...?

Although it's good to check the throttle reverse, I doubt that it's reversed in the NX unless it was accidentally done. If it's "normal" in the IX, it should also be "normal" in the NX. You might check that the throttle "sub-trim" in the servo menu was not accidentally altered. Beyond that, I would say that when you bind the NX to the plane, make sure you are standing about 10 feet away before putting the TX into bind mode. If you are too close, it won't bind and just sit there and beep at you. Another thing to try that I found out on one of my planes last week. I put a smart RX into my Rafale and it won't initialize UNLESS I deactivate the throttle cut. Just make sure when you do this that the throttle stick is at the bottom and have someone hold the plane in case something goes wrong. My Rafale would just beep at me until I made the throttle "live". Once it binds or initializes, reactivate the T. cut.

The banking left may be an indication of a couple of things .................................
1. The two ESCs are NOT calibrated so they are both running exactly the same. Do the throttle calibration and see if that fixes it. ------- TX ON with throttle stick at max, throttle cut inactive. (Hold the plane in case it powers up.) Plug in flight battery and listen for initial tones and then quickly and immediately lower throttle stick. You should then get the tones for the # of cells (6). Calibration done. Don't wait too long or it'll go into ESC programming mode. If that happens, don't touch the throttle stick, just unplug the plane and try again.
2. After it took off and you got it under control, did you have to use a lot of AIL trim to make it fly straight and level? Or did it eventually fly straight and level on its own as the speed picked up? If it was the first case, then it was simply out of trim or one of the wings is warped. If it was the second, I would suggest that you lifted off too soon (not enough airspeed) and it almost tip stalled. Next time, wait till it speeds up more before rotating. The maiden flight should also be your trimming flight. Fly the plane straight into the wind or with the wind at about 3/4 throttle and trim it till it can fly level "hands off". Do this with NO flaps, gear UP is best. If you are a bit shaky on your maiden flight, have a helper pilot stand at your side to work the trimming tabs at your direction. Remember, if you are using a Spektrum smart RX, after you do any trimming, you must fly it hands off for 3 to 4 seconds for the trim to take effect. Repeat as necessary. Best to do this up high, but not too far away.

[jasmith41]

Viper, while i was able to bind it and get the ESCs to arm on my ix20, when i went to bind it to my buddy's NX8, it did the same thing. I tried moving all the throttle trims as low as they would go, but still just sat there beeping upon binding. All other function were working. The only thing i didn't try on the NX was reversing the throttle in servo set-up... We're going to try her again this week and i'll try doing that as well to see if that may be it, but this is frustrating...

Maiden went ok, but not much more than that. She banked left pretty good on lift-off so I was fighting her all the way around. I only took one lap and then brought her in to diagnose. I think the right aileron was down just enough to cause that, but I was shaking so bad after that that I'd had enough and needed a margarita... :) We'll try again on Friday this week...

Any thoughts on the ESC issue with the NX...?

[MeyerVW]

Center spar is 15.75 inch length.