Official Freewing Twin 70mm AL37 Airliner Thread

[mr.frankenjet]

Maiden went well love the bird ! ...

Nice flight, congrats ! Got to say the looks and function of this guy has my finger itching on the mouse :o)
WRT batteries everyone has a favorite, the admirals I have worked fine for me. I have allot of the HK Graphine and they are really passing the test of time, don't puff and have a noticeable extra punch when you throw the throttle. It comes at a slight weight penalty but for me it's worth it. My 2c Allot work well, some are poo ( see glacier PUFFFF :o)

[Slowflight]

I like HRB's there's a number of suppliers.

Mike

A friend at my club flies them and recommended them so I have a couple coming from Amazon, they'll be here tomorrow.

[MikeT]

I think you'll like them.

Mike

[marksp]

Hey guys, where are you getting your 6c 5000 mah lipo and what brands seem to perform better in your experience.

The most comprehensive 6S battery analysis on the interweb can be found here - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...errerid=354786

Hard to beat HRB for price/performance/weight

Cheers

[MikeT]

The most comprehensive 6S battery analysis on the interweb can be found here - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...errerid=354786

Hard to beat HRB for price/performance/weight

Cheers

Wow a lot of stuff on that link.

Mike

[urrl]

Great looking liveries!

[FlyingBear78]

I was looking for a colorful scheme (the sky is not always blue in Belgium) and found out this one from NOK AIR.
Due to time constraint (we have our annual exhibition during the first weekend of February), alternatively I could go with the SUNWING scheme.
Waiting for Callie to know what can be done.

LucB That scheme from NOK AIR is on my short list (for my next plane order), as I think would show well in the sky. It's between that one this Brussels livery.

[Poor Dad 57]

My Shamu livery is about complete - many thanks to Callie Graphics!

[S.W.Warbirds]

Another great looking AL-37 !

[Swarick]

My Shamu livery is about complete - many thanks to Callie Graphics!

Did Callie do the whale or is that portion paint?

Rick

[Poor Dad 57]

Did Callie do the whale or is that portion paint?

Rick

Callie did the tail flash. The fuselage black and blue are painted.

[the snake]

Sunday was a good day before the wind then later the rain rolled in! got 5 flights in with no issues, the 5th flights was the hardest due to a direct crosswind.

[krakenreleaser]

Christmas Eve maiden success. Such an easy plane to fly and land. Needed 8 clicks of right aileron trim but after that it was hands off coast to coast. I was amazed at how it can really slow down to a crawl for landing with full flaps. The manual's flap to elevator mixes were spot on. I moved all throws up to 150% for flight 2 and wont be looking back. 2 flights using 6000 6s HRB 50c packs, flying for 3:30, came down at 39% and 37%. I flew at least 50% throttle for both flights.

[Mwhite1911]

Flight #2 and #3 today. Good flying. It was trimmed out perfectly from the maiden flight. Only flew around half throttle again this go round and it was more than enough power. Still seems sluggish in the turns. Might move the aileron throws higher than 100%.

It’s really cool to see all the other paint jobs. Well done.

[Ironcity]

The maiden today did not go so well receiver lost signal and locked out and went into a nose dive. 40 to 50 feet from the ground it got signal back and was able to land. This happened using a brand new Admiral 10ch with a satellite receiver and a DX9 transmitter. So we grounded the AL37 and flew other planes the rest of the day without any problems. I will tell you I had a sick feeling seeing it go into that nose dive on its own and having any control.

[Aros]

Must have been the Steelers logo (so says this Seahawks diehard).... Sorry couldn't help myself...Seriously though I am glad you were able to save her! Nothing worse in RC than that feeling.

[Nebraska Trevor]

Merry Christmas everyone. Santa printed me some stickers overnight.....man those are some big decals in real life. I have had the plane a few days and everytime that I get it out I am still surprised by the sheer size of it! I printed a spare set of the decals if anybody is interested. PM me if interested....39 shipped in the US only, shipping elsewhere would likely be pretty spendy.

[Elbee]

Merry Christmas everyone. Santa printed me some stickers overnight.....man those are some big decals in real life. I have had the plane a few days and everytime that I get it out I am still surprised by the sheer size of it! I printed a spare set of the decals if anybody is interested. PM me if interested....39 shipped in the US only, shipping elsewhere would likely be pretty spendy.

NT, okay you have my full attention. Which printer do you use, what type of ink, what film paper, what graphics program? Merry Christmas. Best, LB

[Nebraska Trevor]

NT, okay you have my full attention. Which printer do you use, what type of ink, what film paper, what graphics program? Merry Christmas. Best, LB

Thanks for the interest. I print using a roland eco-sol printer that also cuts the graphics after printing. The Nasa graphics are printed on clear Roland vinyl using some American made ink since the all white base of the AL37 lends itself to printing on clear as it will be backed up by the white of the plane itself. Doing it that way is nice as I can leave a small clear bleed area around the graphics and then contour cut around blocks or letters and such which makes them a bit easier to make and also to apply. Of course if the plane was painted some color other than white the graphics would need to be printed on opaque white vinyl and then cut out around each individual letter so that the color of the airplane underneath would not affect the graphic. I design everything using Autocad and Corel X7. The completed graphics files with all of the cut lines defined is then sent to some image processing software called Roland Versa Works which is what actually controls the printer. In that software you define several settings pertaining to how the graphics are printed and then subsequently cut out. Lots of back and forth thru the pieces of software but once you get the hang of it is not too bad. I know that there is already one very well respected person making some great graphics for these and other planes and her work is undoubtedly top notch. I am hoping to offer a few sets to the world as well. After all there are literally dozens of amazing 737 designs out in the world, or as some others have done this plane also lends itself well to a Livery from a sister plane being adapted to it even if it never appeared on a 737 variant. I really want to stick the NASA graphics on my plane right away, but i am going to hold off a bit as I need the blank canvas for proofing out other designs. It would seem that the paint on this plane is quite delicate and it is definitely not tolerant of stickers being placed and then removed as it looks like the paint will all peel up with the decals if they are removed. I can really see why people are buying more than one of these as it is really hard to settle on just one set of graphics!

[GliderGuy]

The maiden today did not go so well receiver lost signal and locked out and went into a nose dive. 40 to 50 feet from the ground it got signal back and was able to land. This happened using a brand new Admiral 10ch with a satellite receiver and a DX9 transmitter. So we grounded the AL37 and flew other planes the rest of the day without any problems. I will tell you I had a sick feeling seeing it go into that nose dive on its own and having any control.

Glad you got it recovered safely. I've lost 2 EDF jets due to similar radio issues. A HAM radio friend suggested that the high-current ESCs used on EDF jets are producing common mode interference which might be reduced by the addition of RF chokes to the wiring going to and from the ESCs. While low in probability, the common mode interference can potentially cause an error in the handshake between the transmitter and receiver. Those who fly more often have a greater risk of this loss of handshake happening. I took his advice, installed RF chokes, and have never lost another EDF jet (as yet, anyway). Suggest using the barrel-type, clip-on RF chokes which are available online or at your local HAM radio shop. Place them physically as close to the ESC board's input and output wiring connections as possible because any length of wire coming from the ESC is an RF radiator. The closer to the ESC the better.

I grouped the wires in the AL37 and used the larger size choke so that only 4 RF chokes are needed. There is plenty of room in the belly of the AL37 for these, and they add very little weight. Use a ZIP wire tie to secure the clamp closure for each RF choke. This scheme has been used on my 90 mm F-4 Phantom II, the twin 80 mm A-10, and now the AL37. As an added precaution, I also added a small Toroidal inductor/choke to the throttle wire coming from the ESC (there is already one used on the UBEC wire to the receiver). Several hundred flights have been made with these jets while using this RF isolation scheme. It seems to work...no more radio issues. See photo for added clarity of the type of RF choke used.