Official Freewing Twin 70mm AL37 Airliner Thread

[Gecko 17]

My AL37 just arrived.
OMG this thing is a monster!
Considering that my den and dining / build room already look like the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, I'm in trouble when the misses gets home...
It's ok honey, we're going shopping this weekend for a larger home but I have 30 days to get this bird operational before the warranty expires.

On to the graphics,, I'm rolling with the retro Delta Widget livery.
It will be a hybrid of the pictured Delta 737-800 "what if" livery very similar to what Delta ran on their 737-200's and the magnificent scheme on 727-200.

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  Gecko 17
  Member
  • Joined: Dec 2020
  • Posts: 2
  
  #1880
  Today, 10:16 AM
  Tell me about it! I'm at the point where I'm thinking about trading in my 2016 Malibu for a new Traverse! Was considered the Blazer but I'd get 30sqf more cargo in the traverse than the Blazer for $1k less sticker price. The moment you know your hobby might just be getting outta hand! Lol! I can fit my Eflite F16, A10 and either F18 or Flite Test Guinea Pig in the Malibu now which is pretty impressive really. But this AL37.... its gonna be pushing up through to the center console

[Desolation Angels]

Tell me about it! I'm at the point where I'm thinking about trading in my 2016 Malibu for a new Traverse! Was considered the Blazer but I'd get 30sqf more cargo in the traverse than the Blazer for $1k less sticker price. The moment you know your hobby might just be getting outta hand! Lol! I can fit my Eflite F16, A10 and either F18 or Flite Test Guinea Pig in the Malibu now which is pretty impressive really. But this AL37.... its gonna be pushing up through to the center console! 🤪😁

I can relate!
Got into RC in 2014- in 2015 I purchased a Ram 1500 Crew Cab with the 6'4" bed to haul the aircraft and she does a fine job of it too.
Definitely my most expensive RC purchase to date...

If in the future I find myself considering a box trailer or a large van- I'm going to have to sit down and re-think my direction in this hobby.

[xviper]

But this AL37.... its gonna be pushing up through to the center console

And what's wrong with that? VW Sportwagon - fits just fine. It will also fit in a regular VW Golf.

[Gecko 17]

And what's wrong with that? VW Sportwagon - fits just fine. It will also fit in a regular VW Golf.

LOL...yea...gonna hit about the same spot in my Malibu. But, gonna be tough taking a couple more planes. Another reason to get a bigger ride.😋

[GliderGuy]

For those considering a larger ride...re-posting from the MiG forum.

I showed another member the idea of using ramekin cups and miniature bungee cords + RTV Silicon Rubber/Adhesive to chock/secure planes in the truck bed for those of you who have trucks. Worth showing this again, even if I have previously posted this idea. You need to use the bungees to secure against bounce-outs and tip-ups during acceleration or rough road travel. See Zoom in...

Should you need to carry some cargo...twist off the ramekin cups and re-glue them once you are done. WalMart houseware department is where I got the remekin cups. The various cup placements are for other birds.

Still it is easier to remove the AL37 winglets. Happy New Year!

-GG



Zoom in...

[Neo450sxs]

if someone is interested, i have created the Inmarsat Antennas

check it out - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4706374

[borntoolate]

After one year, my Southwest Airlines "Arizona One" took to the skies!

Bob

[karltrek]

Amazing Airliner Bob! Great pictures!

[Pacro]

In my quest to make one of these into a more classic/NG style engine pod for my P8 conversion. I have grafted a WR 737 pod onto a AL37 engine hardpoint.
yes I bought a set of AL37 engine pods just to hack up. But the upside is, I can scavenge the plastic parts and make the WR nacelles fan removable.(the

[Pacro]

Hey, I pulled the nacelles off to do some maintenance. Look at what happens after just one run on a grass field. (the flight was from a few weeks ago and the grass has turned brown)

The blades are not damaged. Its easy to clean and important to get it taken care of before it does cause damage!

Mine has the exact same problem, I just take a 800grit wet sandpaper and slide it between the blades and shroud, some small scrubbing will remove it

[Swarick]

After one year, my Southwest Airlines "Arizona One" took to the skies!

Bob

Bob,
Awesome jet!! I fly for SWA and own the older Windrider 737 model. It's getting really old and I will be getting the Freewing one. I would love to know what paints you used, and the method of painting.

Rick

[borntoolate]

Hi Rick. Thanks for your comments. All the paints I used are from Home Depot, flat interior paint. There are two sets of three colors. One set of 3 are for the colors of the Arizona flag and the other set of 3 are for the SWA colors. I can provide the paints codes if you would like them. 99% is airbrushed. I did some touch up with a brush as my hands are not as steady as they once were. I did paint one stripe at a time as this was a big plane to wrestle with.

Bob

[GliderGuy]

With over 1,000 flights on the AL37, I have decided to retire it and order another one. Below is a summary of how the design held up:

1. Replaced one motor after about 400 flights due to a bearing that started screeching like a banshee. The other original motor has functioned without issue as has the replacement motor.
2. One main gear servo was replaced.
3. Quite a bit of foam cell boundary cracking can be observed on top of the wings in the area over the nacelle mounts. While likely cosmetic, the cracks are not pretty and returned after I attempted to fix them <obviously I didn't do a good job on the attempt to fix them>.
4. The nose gear landing light's mount broke.
5. Re-glued the nose gear's steering servo mount when it came loose.
6. Replaced the winglets (once on each side) due to the mounting pins breaking <not from ground strikes>.

That's it...not bad for an old girl with lots of hours/smiles on her. Also worth noting...the plastic wing/nacelle mounts held up without cracking through all the landings <some not great>.

Beyond the above "design" items, I also did the following repairs over time:

1. Reinforced <internally> the fuselage joint after the glue joint cracked due to a hard landing.
2. Repaired an engine nacelle after damaging it landing when the main gear servo failed to make the wheel come down. The nacelle hooked on a turf mound and tore away.
3. Landed short of where the pavement started and badly damaged both main gear mount foam areas when the wheels contacted the edge of the pavement.
4. Replaced all the rubber on the wheels several times. The nose gear rubber wears pretty fast on the hard surfaces I mainly fly off. The main's rubber resists wear pretty good.
5. Replaced a fan when a rock chipped several blades.

None of the control surface servos failed and none of them began to chatter.

Well done MRC design engineers! The bird exceeded all my expectations.

I am looking forward to getting the new one that's coming, and I'm somewhat sad to relegate bird #1 to the status of hangar queen to be a source of spare parts.

-GG

P.S. I built a cooling fan from a 24-volt, 80 mm, high-speed (4,500 rpm), PC case fan and old 6S LiPo...mounting the fan onto the end of the battery + added a switch. I used this to blow cooling air over the ESCs between flights for a couple of minutes, since I have enough batteries and chargers to allow for very little down time between flights. While not critical during cool weather, I felt this was needed while flying on hot summer days. Did it help extend the life of the ESCs? I am betting that it did. For sure, they performed without any issues.

[Gecko 17]

Hey AL37 jocks....
this BEC that comes with the bird. I'm going to use a Spektrum AR637T, since I have it laying around. Can this BEC be plugged into the first port? The Bind/programming port? Is it really neccessary? The RX is already getting voltage from the Throttle/ESC and yea, I guess this protects from an issue with the ESCs but...seems like I'm putting 10v into a receiver now.
poor job by Freewing not documenting this or...Motion covering in build video. What are you jockeys doing? 😁

thanks

[xviper]

The RX is already getting voltage from the Throttle/ESC

No, it is not. Both ESCs on this plane are "optos". If you do not plug the external BEC into your RX, there will be no power to run it.

[AirHead]

After one year, my Southwest Airlines "Arizona One" took to the skies!

Bob

That is a stellar job you've done there Man! I've always loved the Arizona graphics on Southwest planes.....

[borntoolate]

That is a stellar job you've done there Man! I've always loved the Arizona graphics on Southwest planes.....

Thank you!

Bob

[Gecko 17]

No, it is not. Both ESCs on this plane are "optos". If you do not plug the external BEC into your RX, there will be no power to run it.

Yea, I talked to buddy last night who said the same thing. This is my first Freewing bird. Been flying Eflite and some Flite test builds I've done. Freewing does things a bit different. Thanks man!

[Rogerio Pereira]

Hi folks, I would like to ask the question related to the use of TWO 6000 packs to extend the flying time, will the wings take the extra weight without issue? I expect landing speed will be higher, but, how mutch? Balance the plane should not be an issue if I make a new battery support base to extend further back, my main question for anyone out there is if the model can be run in this power configuration without structural issues, appreciate if any of you could reply.
enjoy your models and fly safe.
Rogerio Pereira

[Pacro]

So finally got it all finished.
here is a WR737 pouch style nacelle grafted onto my P8(al37)