Official Freewing Twin 70mm AL37 Airliner Thread

[xviper]

Ok, another question to put out there, for those using a gyro, where did you place it? I am under the impression that they should be at the C of G, so they are at the centre of each axis.
that would put it quite far back, so are they ok more forward near the reciever placement?
thanks again!

On the CG is ideal BUT this is not always possible nor is it absolutely necessary. I've received 3D jets (SebArt Mig 29) where the factory installed gyro was installed in the nose of the plane and extensions used to reach the RX. No matter where along the plane you put a gyro, the roll axis is covered. Pitch and yaw axis will still work even if the gyro is not even near the CG. Here's where mine is located:

[Scale Freak]

Ok, another question to put out there, for those using a gyro, where did you place it? I am under the impression that they should be at the C of G, so they are at the centre of each axis.
that would put it quite far back, so are they ok more forward near the reciever placement?
thanks again!

[IanF]

Thanks for the info xviper. Just spent the evening tidying up the wiring under the battery tray and around the control board. I like to have neat installation of wiring. So always spend some time on this with all my toys.

You are right, the tape looks crap. I’ve used some white Deluxe Materials Model Lite to smooth out the joint and it blends so well it doesn’t even need paint!

No doubt I’ll have further questions going forward.

[xviper]

I’ve just taken delivery of my A37 and the kit looks quality. I do have a couple questions for you experts out there.

Batteries: I have eight 3300mah 6s 40c lipos. Can I parallel 2 up inside the fuselage? I’m a bit concerned on the weight.

Dropping the U/C before assembly of wing to fuselage. To save removing the connector block each time to access the U/C lead, I intend using a y lead on each wing, with one tail sticking out along with the motor leads, so I can use a servo tester to move the U/C.

Have any of you covered the Fuselage joint with the supplied tape? My joint seems good without, just concerned if I try it, don’t like it and pull off the paint if I remove the tape.


Thats all for now..any advice much appreciated

Battery weight is NOT going to be a concern for this plane. It's huge, has a large battery compartment that can allow for lots of movement to place the battery to achieve the correct balance. Although I've only ever flown this plane with 5000mah, I feel it could easily take two of those and not even break a sweat. 6600mah would be nothing for this plane.
People have done several different things to be able to drop the gear before the wings go on. I just drop them the first time as per the manual, then I just leave them down for transport and storage. Some have moved the control board closer to the rear of the compartment so they can plug in the ribbon cable while the wings are still far enough away from the fuse to drop the gear. Doing as you are planning is another option. I feel there's already enough stuff to plug in that I wouldn't want yet another pair to have to deal with. But whatever works for each person.
Yes, I used the tape. It looks like crap. And yes, if you pull on it, the paint WILL come off.

[IanF]

Duplicate

[IanF]

I’ve just taken delivery of my A37 and the kit looks quality. I do have a couple questions for you experts out there.

Batteries: I have eight 3300mah 6s 40c lipos. Can I parallel 2 up inside the fuselage? I’m a bit concerned on the weight.

Dropping the U/C before assembly of wing to fuselage. To save removing the connector block each time to access the U/C lead, I intend using a y lead on each wing, with one tail sticking out along with the motor leads, so I can use a servo tester to move the U/C.

Have any of you covered the Fuselage joint with the supplied tape? My joint seems good without, just concerned if I try it, don’t like it and pull off the paint if I remove the tape.


Thats all for now..any advice much appreciated

[vduniec]

Got my Max 10 configured with an FPV setup. The camera has a pan function but not tilt due to the limited lines of sight. I tried to make the FPV gear as unobtrusive as possible. Can’t wait to give it a try from the cockpit!

[xviper]

To those who fly off grass fields, what is the take off run length you usually see? Our field is 400 ft in length and I'm just waiting for the ends to dry out a bit so I have the full length available. It would be nice to have an idea of how long a run this aircraft needs.

Using 1/2 flaps, this thing will get off the grass in just over 200 feet. Of course, it depends on the grass. Until you figure out how much you need, start at the very end and "give 'er".

[Scale Freak]

To those who fly off grass fields, what is the take off run length you usually see? Our field is 400 ft in length and I'm just waiting for the ends to dry out a bit so I have the full length available. It would be nice to have an idea of how long a run this aircraft needs.

[Fredardi]

Another flight with the GREAT AL 37.Well at the moment i fly without Flaps ( they don't work well and both 4 are no synchronize ) so no problem for take off ...problem on landings without front wind but absolutely manageable a bit fast...It seem that all my set of the blue box is not working on flaps but Motion RC send me right away after i show the video of the behave a new blue box set...So great service !!!
I really hope Motion Rc will continue and do a series of AIRLINERS...My dream ? McDonnell Douglas MD-80

[themudduck]

No posts all week! Well I got a nice video of my flight today. It was pretty windy so the plane got bumped around a lot - but it was a good flight and I made a nice landing.

After reading about it here, I finally realized that I hadn't programmed in some "up" elevator trim with full flaps - and as a result my jet was difficult to land.

I now have 12% up elevator added in on my radio with full flaps. And, I added a little down elevator to the takeoff flap setting, to stop the model from ballooning on takeoff. That worked well.

This was the first flight with the new flap settings and I found it to be a very good improvement, I made a gentle two-point landing. https://youtu.be/bsP6OU6iTMw

Its interesting to see the main gear suspension working very well while taxiing.

[vduniec]

I used an airbrush with the paint thinned with 1/3rd Windex but I’ve brush painted planes before with un-thinned paint and have had equally good results.

Thank you so much for responding. How did you apply that home depot blended paint?

[Corinator]

Wow! I just noticed this message. Sorry for the delayed response. Here are the colors I used. I printed some color swatches off of what I could find and had Home Depot color match them. I also painted the wings and horizontal stabs in Boeing Aircraft Gray Federal Standard Number 16515. If you go to Home Depot, just ask them to do a color search for 16515 (or 36515 if the first one doesn't show up.) The Stone Gray is for the fuselage underside color.

Thank you so much for responding. How did you apply that home depot blended paint?

[vduniec]

Wow! I just noticed this message. Sorry for the delayed response. Here are the colors I used. I printed some color swatches off of what I could find and had Home Depot color match them. I also painted the wings and horizontal stabs in Boeing Aircraft Gray Federal Standard Number 16515. If you go to Home Depot, just ask them to do a color search for 16515 (or 36515 if the first one doesn't show up.) The Stone Gray is for the fuselage underside color.

Now that the AL37 is back in stock, I’ve got one on the way. My best friend works for United (flight attendant) and we are both starting flight school to works towards our pilots license (ATP as a final goal). I grew up in Chicago and have always flown United. I saw your post and I knew I needed the same. Anyway you could share what colors you used for this? I ordered this graphics set from Callie’s. Your plane is definitely my inspiration.

[USAairlines]

Is anyone else using AS3x and SAFE select?

[xviper]

1. YES
2. NO it was set to AIRPLANE TYPE WING NORMAL,NORMAL...I will change it...
3. YES

I have flied the maiden with a 5000 graphene 45c lipo.Do you think i can fly with a 4200 6s or it is not enough ? or can i put in parallel 2 6s 4200 to 8400 or it is too heavy ? Thanks for your help i'll check and let you know...

Your answer to #3 is not consistent with your answer to #2. If you only had "normal" wing type, you would NOT have a flap menu to open and thus could not have done any settings there.

Oh, about the batteries .................................... Of course you can fly it with a 4200 battery, just not for as long. You know how long you can fly with a 5000. By calculating and extrapolating, you can predict how long you can fly with only 4200mah. This plane is big enough and strong enough that 8400mah should be a problem. You just have to place them so as to achieve the desired CG.

[TeamKennedy]

Can someone share your low and high rate control surface throws? The recommended throws for Aileron and Elevator in he manual do not seem right to me? can someone tell me what is a good starting point in degrees for low rate and high rate for AIL and ELV?

[Fredardi]

Re: Flaps.
1. Are all the rods in the same hole on the servo arm and control surface horn?
2. Did you tell the TX that you have "1 AIL, 1 flap" in the aircraft (wing) type?
3. Did you go into the flap menu and do all the settings in there? And assign to the desired switch?

1. YES
2. NO it was set to AIRPLANE TYPE WING NORMAL,NORMAL...I will change it...
3. YES

I have flied the maiden with a 5000 graphene 45c lipo.Do you think i can fly with a 4200 6s or it is not enough ? or can i put in parallel 2 6s 4200 to 8400 or it is too heavy ? Thanks for your help i'll check and let you know...

[Aros]

Oooooooh, next level....

[Corinator]

Has anyone else installed an autopilot system on their AL37? I figured it would be neat and a cool scale touch. I ordered a Pixhawk PX4, LIDAR-Lite v3, and pitot tube air speed sensor to try and get it as functional as possible. I figure I can mount the GPS sensor on top of the fuselage in the same location that the in-flight WiFi receiver sits. Figured if I carve a foam cover for the sensor, it might even make the plane look more scale.