Official Freewing Twin 70mm AL37 Airliner Thread

[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.

[Tonydoright]

Thanks, I’ll do it.

[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.

[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

[Scale Freak]

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

[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]

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.

[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.

[xviper]

Too bad. Sorry to hear that.

[Wild Man]

Too bad. Sorry to hear that.

Sorry, Sorry for what ? I liked to know. Same question for you xviper

[Aros]

Wild Man I am going to go ahead and nip this in the bud. We all know what the intimations were here and for all involved there's no place for politics in this forum. Let's keep it civil boys and talk airplanes. Thank you all in advance.

[Wild Man]

Wild Man I am going to go ahead and nip this in the bud. We all know what the intimations were here and for all involved there's no place for politics in this forum. Let's keep it civil boys and talk airplanes. Thank you all in advance.

I hope you also nipped the two about what I picked for the graphics on my AL 37 end of story. Have a nice day Aros

[Scale Freak]

I know this has been talked about somewhere in here, but has anyone doubled up the batteries on this plane? If so, what has the weight increase done in terms of takeoff roll, handling, etc? I'm considering two batteries, added extra weight of 720g, or about 1.5 lbs.

[GliderGuy]

I know this has been talked about somewhere in here, but has anyone doubled up the batteries on this plane? If so, what has the weight increase done in terms of takeoff roll, handling, etc? I'm considering two batteries, added extra weight of 720g, or about 1.5 lbs.

Check this YouTube experiment....2 battery endurance test
-GG

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar78xnWJ4pM

[Scale Freak]

Ok, on testing, with two batteries, they have to be 250mm back from the hatch opening. This puts the CG about 2mm ahead of where it was with one.
For this, I think i need to move the mount strap back. But my concern is the batteries are way beyond the plywood tray now, is that secure enough?
all up weight with 2 batteries is 4.96 kg or about 11 lbs
Is that withing this things capability?

[xviper]

Ok, on testing, with two batteries, they have to be 250mm back from the hatch opening. This puts the CG about 2mm ahead of where it was with one.
For this, I think i need to move the mount strap back. But my concern is the batteries are way beyond the plywood tray now, is that secure enough?
all up weight with 2 batteries is 4.96 kg or about 11 lbs
Is that withing this things capability?

1. Make yourself another plywood battery floor.
2. Glue it down onto the foam floor behind the existing wood floor.
3. Don't worry about installing another strap. Glue down some velcro and the matching velcro to the end of your batteries. The existing strap holds the front of the batteries and the velcro holds the rear of the batteries in place. Don't overdo it with the velcro or it'll be hard to separate the battery from the floor since it's so far back.
I've done this on other planes and it works quite well.

Insofar as flying for a much longer period of time, I feel that the time I get from just one 5000 battery is quite sufficient. This is not really an aerobatic airplane and flying around and around and around in circuits gets pretty boring. In that video, he got the time he got with two batteries by flying around at around 30% throttle. Do you really want to fly like that for that long? I did an experiment with my old Avanti S and one 5000 battery. By floating it around in circuits, I managed to get 10 minutes out of it. By the end of the flight, I was so bored, I wanted to hang myself. I have my timer set for 4 minutes on my AL. If I lugged the AL-37 around at minimal throttle, I bet I could get 7 or 8 minutes out of it but really, falling asleep from shear boredom is not very safe.

[Scale Freak]

xviper, you make some compelling arguments. I guess i'm thinking more about being easier on the batteries as they can share the load. This may not be as much of an issue as I think though. I'll have to see how things go with one for now anyway as I can't afford another two batteries at this time anyway.

[xviper]

xviper, you make some compelling arguments. I guess i'm thinking more about being easier on the batteries as they can share the load. This may not be as much of an issue as I think though. I'll have to see how things go with one for now anyway as I can't afford another two batteries at this time anyway.

I don't know how you fly your AL37 way up there in the north country, but I fly mine in a combination of maneuvers, from mild circuits to some rolls and loops and figure 8's, high speed level passes over the runway with steep climb out. I almost always take 2 batteries for each plane with me, so I fly each plane twice every morning I go, usually 3 to 4 planes. 6 to 8 flights over a 2 hr period works out just right for me ( with some socializing time in between). With the AL, the battery comes down warm, but I know if I didn't do any of the high throttle stuff, the battery would be cool and I could get quite a bit of time on each flight. I like flying shorter, but multiple flights on multiple planes during the same outing.

[Wild Man]

I finally got a few planes built and assembled for a few others. Now I can spend the rest of the week on my AL-37. I have got the fuse together and started dome of the painting and installing Decals. I hope to have it done this week end if I do not have to go out on call. Looking good so far

[Hugh Wiedman]

Wild Man looking good so far. I assume you had Callie do the graphics for you, no?