Official Freewing Twin 70mm AL37 Airliner Thread

[Alpha]

mknutson Thanks for the update! Yes, all our Freewing jets in this size category with the MFCB ("mixer box") is intended to be used with 5V input. The stock UBEC outputs 5V fixed, at 8A as needed. I'm guessing you were powering it with a 6.6v LiFe or (hopefully not) 7.2V Lipo? I'm glad it's working now that you've reduced the voltage back to the stock intended 5V.

[wvrailfan]

Pics?

I'll post some as soon as I finish wrapping my plane and apply the decals.

JB

[krakenreleaser]

Almost done. And with 3 inches to spare in the truck bed. 2016 sierra standard bed length. I followed ncrealestateguy's advice and just freehanded the lines after the masking kept pulling up chunks of the factory white. Should be able to maiden next weekend once it's finished up.

[Gravythe clown]

Got my maiden flight. Two issues but other than that it’s awesome.
1st it had to add a metric ton of right Aileron trim. I’m guessing 4-5mm down on the left and up on the right.
something is definitely off.
2nd those wheels got to go. Motion you need to offer upgraded wheels with bearings for purchase. I’m going to see it LT to tomcat wheels can work. Rolling out on takeoff and landings are full of cringe. It’s like thinking of your mom when you start having sexy time with the wife. Total mood killer.

Other than that it was awesome.

gravy

[MANFRED]

Wheels like these?

[MANFRED]

How about this scheme?

[wvrailfan]

Almost done. And with 3 inches to spare in the truck bed. 2016 sierra standard bed length. I followed ncrealestateguy's advice and just freehanded the lines after the masking kept pulling up chunks of the factory white. Should be able to maiden next weekend once it's finished up.

When you say standard, are you referring to a 6 foot bed? Wondering if it will fir in my 5'7" bed without the winglets?

JB

[GregC540i]

Alaska Airlines Boeing 100 Years Strong by Callie (Thanks so much). Turned out really well! I can't wait to maiden it tomorrow morning. Thanks for looking!

GregC

[S.W.Warbirds]

Alaska Airlines Boeing 100 Years Strong by Callie (Thanks so much). Turned out really well! I can't wait to maiden it tomorrow morning. Thanks for looking!

GregC

Looks great hope maiden goes well ! Waiting on weather here to get mine out .

[Mwhite1911]

Got my maiden flight. Two issues but other than that it’s awesome.
1st it had to add a metric ton of right Aileron trim. I’m guessing 4-5mm down on the left and up on the right.
something is definitely off.
2nd those wheels got to go. Motion you need to offer upgraded wheels with bearings for purchase. I’m going to see it LT to tomcat wheels can work. Rolling out on takeoff and landings are full of cringe. It’s like thinking of your mom when you start having sexy time with the wife. Total mood killer.

Other than that it was awesome.

gravy

Mine had a pretty good right rolling tendency in the air and took and good amount of trim to correct it, and the ailerons were level. Now for level flight the left aileron is slightly raised.

[S.W.Warbirds]

Little worried about painting over the stock paint on # 2 ? Thinking about running over it with some 1000 grit or so to rough it up and lay a coat of primer first , good or bad idea?

[krakenreleaser]

When you say standard, are you referring to a 6 foot bed? Wondering if it will fir in my 5'7" bed without the winglets?

JB

My truck bed is 5'8". So you shouldn't have any problem.

[mknutson]

Alpha,
Wish I would've known the standard voltage needed to be 5v for the blue mixer box. I was using an LiFe 2s 6.6v, too much voltage for it.
The reason for the seperate battery was so I could use 2 input connectors to split the load. Iv'e had brownouts before drawing too much current through 1 little JR style power connector.
Now I'm using a castle 20A BEC with 2 connectors feeding the system at 5v, all is good!
Not trying to raise concerns here, these planes fly superb as they come out of the box, it's just me! Keep in mind, 10 servos, 11 LED's, and 3 electric gear, and the idle current of the receiver drawing without even flying.

Mark.

[wvrailfan]

I've run into my first little problem with making my AL37 stand in for a C-40. Callie made the window decals based on the photos I sent of a C-40, which is based on the 737-700. So the window band is about 5 inches too short if used as is. I'm going to take some modeler's license and increase the spacing between window groups and perhaps add a couple of windows to make it look better. The Air Force can thank me later ;-)

[StanleyJ]

I've run into my first little problem with making my AL37 stand in for a C-40. Callie made the window decals based on the photos I sent of a C-40, which is based on the 737-700. So the window band is about 5 inches too short if used as is. I'm going to take some modeler's license and increase the spacing between window groups and perhaps add a couple of windows to make it look better. The Air Force can thank me later ;-)

Well... the C-40 is based off a 737NG-700, so technically you'd need a 737MAX-7, which as a shrink is still longer than the NG-7... I voted for lopping off 2~3 inches either side of the wingbox and glue back together with some CF reinforcement rods... bonus is that the plane will take up less space in storage! 🤣

[CeeKay]

My AL-37 finally arrived this morning. Almost perfect apart from the paint peeling off at the point where the fuselage joins.
Any advice how to stick this back down? I'm thinking a couple of coats of varnish to stick and seal it back in place.

[wvrailfan]

Well... the C-40 is based off a 737NG-700, so technically you'd need a 737MAX-7, which as a shrink is still longer than the NG-7... I voted for lopping off 2~3 inches either side of the wingbox and glue back together with some CF reinforcement rods... bonus is that the plane will take up less space in storage! 🤣

Yeah, I realized when I started that I was taking some big liberties with the model verses the actual plane. I'm just going to stretch the window band and call it good.


JB

[Slowflight]

Hi guys, I've read this plane has lots of power and seen the videos, flies pretty fast and they claim at only half throttle , so my question is would it fly reasonable well on 5c 5000MAH, I fly a 12ft electric twin on 10c 5000mah per motor, 4 per flight and I have a large collection of 5c batteries, would love to have this plane if I can fly it on 5 cell even if it means a shorter flight time. Anyone has flown it on 5c?

[Alpha]

Slowflight Welcome to Hobby Squawk, Slowflight! We designed this bird to be flown on a 6s 5000. As seen in our "Torture Test" video, I often power down to less than half throttle. For endurance flights, which we haven't published yet but I'm sure by now many other pilots can confirm is possible, I set takeoff flaps and cruise at about 25% throttle with level rudder turns to maintain lift, and back off to even less during slow passes for camera, sometimes just above idle. The key with an airliner when its slow is to let it rebuild inertia before turning, and when turning, keeping the wing flat. I avoid cutting all power, because at that point the EDFs behave like huge air brakes.

My point is, stretching the 6s 5000 is entirely possible if you're looking for scale appearance and longer flight times.

If you're asking because you already have 5s 5000 packs, I can tell you, -- *UNOFFICIALLY* -- That we also tested our prototypes and pre-production AL37s on 5s and even 4s. We just changed the battery, but nothing else inside the aircraft. While initial acceleration is unsurprisingly lower on a twin 4s 4000mAh pack and thus requires a longer rollout on harder surfaces, the model does fly just fine once up to speed. It's more of a scale cruiser at that point and won't roll or loop like the stock 6s setup can. On 5s, the AL37 will fly in between the 4s and 6s, with overlapping performance in logical conditions.

I hope this gives you enough information to decide if you want to try flying the AL37 on a non-stock 5s battery setup.

[urrl]

Very smooth flight with no wind. Very impressed with the AL37. Scale flying police; please excuse the loop.