Official Freewing Twin 70mm AL37 Airliner Thread

[xviper]

Too bad. Sorry to hear that.

[uscanuck1xa]

Mine is going to be a TRUMP Campaign Plane !!!!! Just received the graphics for it. Trump Pence 2020. Go Red White and Blue Photo's coming Soon LOL!!!!

Too bad. Sorry to hear that.

[Scale Freak]

Got it, M4 metric. Picked up a couple of small containers of them at the hardware store. They were 10mm long, a wee bit longer than the stock, but still worked perfectly. Now I have 18.

[xviper]

anyone know the size of the wing mount screws? I seem to have lost 2 of them.

I've done the same thing on this plane and others. I can't tell you what size they are but look in the manual. It states in there what size they are. I ended up sharing the wing screws from another plane.

[Scale Freak]

anyone know the size of the wing mount screws? I seem to have lost 2 of them.

[Linkan58]

A short film on my SAS airliner.
There was no movie on the maiden, but this is my 5th flight.
Regards Anders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daTEXbdPROI

[themudduck]

You never know about the propellant - but you don't have to use spray paint in a can. You can pour your own color-matched paint into one of these, and pressurize it using regular air (from a bicycle pump or an air compressor).
The only trick is that you usually need to thin the paint, which takes a bit of experimenting. Most latex-based paints can be thinned with water. It takes a little practice but this is an option to consider, if you want to spray-paint your plane with colors or with a clear-coat.

This picture is just an example of one that I found on the internet, but there are many similar ones out there.

[Tonydoright]

Thanks, I’ll do it.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Alpha, thanks I was hoping to get a trade name of clear coat paint. My fear with the AL37 foam is selecting a clear coat with wrong propellant and gone goes the airplane.

Agree with xviper , I suggest something you brush on using several thin coats. I've been using Varathane Spar Urethane, water based, extrerior (with UV blocking) clear for several years now. It not only gives a nice clear finish, but keeps the paint from chipping off and adds a bit of durability to the foam itself like a shell. Comes in gloss, semi-gloss, satin and matte, so whatever finish you like, you can get. I use gloss, but that's just me. Gives the underlying paint a "richer" look as well. I've coated over 20 foam planes now and wouldn't ever go without it, no more continuous touch-ups after a day at the field (unless of course if it's some pilot mishap, then steel plating wouldn't even help me). The best thing I've used it for recently is as a primer over the existing factory paint before I do a repaint. You can then use any trim tape for painting without pulling up the underlying factory paint. Did it on my F-18 Canadian, which required a lot of masking trim to get the different colors on and when I removed the trim tape, absolutely no underlying paint came up with it. Doing the same now with an A-10 I'm turning into an Arctic version. Once finished, with all the graphics as well, I add another 3-4 coats for the final finish. It takes a little bit of time to do it, but IMO, it is well worth it. Preparation of the plane is the hardest, removing control rods and ball links, masking lights, etc., and you don't want it on any hinges for the control surface (which could make them seize up), but the actual "painting" only takes 2 days. 1 day each for top and bottom and you do the next coat after 1 hour, so about 4-5 hours time (for 4 coats) on each side and you're done. It adds just a bit of more weight, but you probably won't notice it. It did change the balance of a couple planes, like the F-4 (ended up having to adjust the battery slightly as it changed the balance by about 2-3mm tail heavy), but not the majority of them.

[Wild Man]

Mine is going to be a TRUMP Campaign Plane !!!!! Just received the graphics for it. Trump Pence 2020. Go Red White and Blue Photo's coming Soon LOL!!!!

[xviper]

Alpha, thanks I was hoping to get a trade name of clear coat paint. My fear with the AL37 foam is selecting a clear coat with wrong propellant and gone goes the airplane.

I think, typically, most people who do clear coating of some kind, don't use spray. At least for me, I brush it on. You just never know about spray paint propellant. If you must spray, keep the nozzle at least 18" away and do very thin, multiple coats.

[mshagg]

Alpha, thanks I was hoping to get a trade name of clear coat paint. My fear with the AL37 foam is selecting a clear coat with wrong propellant and gone goes the airplane.

Go with something water based that's applied with a brush.

[Tonydoright]

Alpha, thanks I was hoping to get a trade name of clear coat paint. My fear with the AL37 foam is selecting a clear coat with wrong propellant and gone goes the airplane.

[Johnnyrabuse]

My AL37 (new in December 2019) has a very large number of flights/flight hours and is beginning to show her flight-time age (over 1000 flights). In the area behind the engine mounts on top of the wings, several very fine, chord-wise, foam-cell boundary stress cracks are beginning to develop. I attempted to repair these with some UV-curing glue sparingly squeezed into each crack, UV cured and sanded smoothed then painted over. This wasn't successful. The cracks quickly re-appeared.

Anybody have a suggestion how to "seal' these tiny stress cracks so they don't re-appear after my next loop? I may just have to live with them...sigh.😩

Thanks,
-GG

Let's see if you fly ,60 mph for 4 minutes and you have 1000 flights that's 4000 minutes dived by 60 equals about 66 hrs x 60 equals 3960 miles .....

That's a long way ....

And all you got was stress cracks ...

Nah can't be

[Johnnyrabuse]

Guy at my field was flying this today it's impressive

[Alpha]

Has there been any discussions on the safe clear coat for the AL37 over the factory white? Spraying clear over Callie decals. Thanks.

If you choose to apply a clear coat, I recommend a UV resistant formulation to reduce the risk of yellowing. On a white surface, UV yellowing will be more apparent than on a gray surface or other typical airplane color. Many products like Varathane Spar Urethane have UV blockers and UV stabilizers in them, that make them less resistant to elastomer degradation.

[Tonydoright]

Has there been any discussions on the safe clear coat for the AL37 over the factory white? Spraying clear over Callie decals. Thanks.

[Scale Freak]

Glued the sucker in permanently and added a third screw in the mount arm for added security. Should hold nicely.

[GliderGuy]

Good point S.F / I probably should have stated the following: Easiest fix = glue the mount permanently to the wing. In doing my complex repair, I kept the mount where I could remove it.
-GG

[Scale Freak]

GliderGuy, I appreciate your reply, but I can't do 150 US, ( almost 200 CDN) for this repair. I may just use the two remaining screws and glue the nacelle in permanently. The structure is fine, its just that one mount hole. Its not due to landing damage, but probably tightened that one screw too much and it split the mount.