Official Freewing MiG-29 Fulcrum Twin 80mm Thread

[fredmdbud]

Tried to locate the Russian pilots, but seems they've somehow disappeared somewhere in Siberian at a "special undisclosed location".

At the time of the RIAT '93 incident, they were pilots of the Russian Flight Research Institute (named after Mikhail M. Gromov (LII)) display team:

• Sergey N. Tresvyatskiy - retired cosmonaut, later in 2006 was director general of the Kuznetsov SNTK (aircraft engine design bureau)
• Aleksandr G. Beschastnov - holder of titles "Honored Test Pilot" and "Hero" of the Russian Federation. Died on September 12, 2001 performing test flight on "Gzhel" M-101T plane

The pilots returned to active duty on Aug. 2, 1993

[GliderGuy]

Did my second “adjustment” process on the main gear axle pins, but the first adjustment lasted many, many landings.

The main gear axles eventually take a toe-out, bottom-out splay setting. The axle metal isn’t soft, but at least it isn’t brittle like the F-4 pin. You can hit the MiG’s axle with a hammer while the axle is secured in a vice without snapping it into two pieces. It takes a hard whack with a hammer to bend the axle, but don’t overdo it.

Consider the “flat” on the inside of the axle is “down”…the outboard tip must be bent forward and down. This takes a bit of mental gymnastics to ensure you are bending each axle correctly. Note: It doesn’t take but a few degrees of a bend to get the mains sitting vertically straight with no toe-out. This is not an elegant repair technique, but it works…and has been discussed in this forum before. Place only the area of the flat into the vice jaws.

What hasn’t been discussed is how frequently the adjustment needs to be done. I reckon that depends on your landing technique and runway surface. I operate off hard surface and mostly make good landings. But I do have my share of not perfect landings. From what I have seen, the axle adjustment process isn’t needed very often.

Note: In the below….Top = topside of the MiG and outside = side toward the wing tip

I also noticed a continuing softening of the foam on top of the outside edge of one of the main gear’s plastic gear mount. So, today I embedded some carbon fiber square tubing on top of the outside edge of the plastic mount parallel to the wing root. I took a Dremel tool and cut a trench into the foam large enough to recess the 3-4 mm square CF tube in and epoxied the tube in. I used a piece of tubing about 6 inches long and left about 1/4 inch of foam between the CF tube and plastic gear mount. The plastic mount is once again solidly immobile. So far, only plastic gear mount has required this stiffening.

-GG

[Tigerman]

I so want the Mig 29 now that they have sorted out it' problems ( I wander now if there really was a problem with it.) My fault I dithered when it was in stock and got carried away with the gossip about the Mig 29 and paid the price hence I do not have one :frown:. Now it has been Out of stock for what must be nearly a year. Should of listen to Motion RC and not the gossip. My fault. Just waiting and hoping it comes back in stock soon 🤞(Europe)

[xviper]

I so want the Mig 29 now that they have sorted out it' problems ( I wander now if there really was a problem with it.) My fault I dithered when it was in stock and got carried away with the gossip about the Mig 29 and paid the price hence I do not have one :frown:. Now it has been Out of stock for what must be nearly a year. Should of listen to Motion RC and not the gossip. My fault. Just waiting and hoping it comes back in stock soon 🤞(Europe)

I'm not so sure that "they" sorted it out. The only thing that the manufacturer did was to change the strength of the elevator servo and even then, some have still gone down. As for the rumors, you have to use your own judgement as to what to believe and what not to believe. Plus, you may be right about the "gossip" as who knows how much of it was (and still is) the result of a feeding frenzy for "fake news". I think people have flown this plane for a while now (stock) and have had no war stories to tell.
(Quite frankly, why would anyone slam full flaps down at high speed anyway? IF that's one of the contributing factors to these crashes.)

[Evan D]

I trust the people in the threads that post their own results more than someone on the other end of a phone that may or may not even fly airplanes... To call what we post in these threads as "gossip" is just rude and if someone feels that way why even be on line?

In the beginning I really feel the crashes were from people that did not know there were three battery locations that you could use to place batteries and get a good CG (a person on here just recently had the same issue). Because of the very nose heavy conditions the marginal stock servos were just not enough to pull out of a high speed dive. Knowing how to balance the plane and upgrading servos was the fix for 99% of the people.

Is there really a issue with flaps and a nose dive to the dirt or is it a procedural error by the pilots? Not sure of the answer to that one.

[The43rdHammer]

UGGHH. I know. Freewing had not shipped a batch to the EU warehouse yet. Freewing said they will be shipping this month but unfortunately transit time is 2 months now due to the massive backlog at the ports. Unfortunately, that means the best case is 2 months for an ETA to the EU. I wish I had better news.

Hi Tom, any update on that lovely container floating its way to Europe on the sea of hope and expectation?

Andy

[lusek_pl]

I think that this is the second time the container is sailing around the globe... :)) haha. So seriously motion would give some information to clients from Europe. With us in a month, maybe two season end. And I would like to Mig yet to fly. we have been waiting almost a year in Europe for the available one

[Airguardian]

Here's to entertain yourselves in the meantime...

#migmafia sanctioned porn!

[Mig In America 🇺🇸]

What's shaking fellas I'm new to hobbysquawk, my son and I are fairly new to the edf jet family and I am now the proud owner of a Mig-29!😎 Wanted to introduce myself and I look forward to being able to get some good seasoned expert advice on the do's & donts and the ins and outs of the Mig. and getting familiar with you all in the days and months to come!

[Evan D]

Welcome! There is also a good MiG thread over at RC Groups.

[Gringotuerto]

Kim Jong Un doesn't take his Mig-29 out for a spin very often, but once in a while he needs to go up and unleash fire and fury on imperialist dogs.

I had some good flights, but nothing too fancy. I'm gentle with this one, given the crash history. I intend to reflux both ailerons and flaps up a few mm before next flights, there seems to be consensus that this helps (right?)

[GarrisonR]

Indeed, adding reflex will take some load off the elevator servos and require you to retrim pitch a little. Well worth it, I have about 3mm on mine.

Kim Jong Un doesn't take his Mig-29 out for a spin very often, but once in a while he needs to go up and unleash fire and fury on imperialist dogs.

I had some good flights, but nothing too fancy. I'm gentle with this one, given the crash history. I intend to reflux both ailerons and flaps up a few mm before next flights, there seems to be consensus that this helps (right?)

[GliderGuy]

Indeed, adding reflex will take some load off the elevator servos and require you to retrim pitch a little. Well worth it, I have about 3mm on mine.

Yes! Agreed. Some even cut the foam and reflex the outer tips. Details of how to do this are in prior posts.

And….don’t fly fast with flaps down.

Be ready to chop the power to recover if you get into a high alpha / angle of attack stall (recovery requires altitude). Sometimes high alpha lock can sneak up on you. Just the other day, I took off and went into a climbing turn as I pulled the gear up and raised the flaps. Next thing….no control response other than throttle.

AARRGGHH high alpha lock. Chopped the power, held some down elevator, allowed the nose to drop, gently added power and recovered.

I got lazy brain and let her get too slow and too much nose up in the climbing turn. Instantly recognized alpha lock and had plenty of height to recover. Exciting….Yes!

-GG

[Hugh Wiedman]

Getting closer to a maiden, finally got all the electronics tucked away, the Castle BEC installed, the Hobby Eagle gyro for the TV's and the AR637T RX (with Light Systems Channel Expander) and tested out the balance. Fortunately, I'm able to get it to 155 mm with 2 SMC 6200 40C's all the way back in the rear tray and the front tray, and can also get there with 2 SMC 5300 40C's with the front battery moved 80 mm forward. Those batteries weigh only 684 gr each and thought I'd have to add some lead in the front (based on a much earlier preliminary balance) but now that everything's locked in place, seemed to work out. I'm hoping to see if it flies any different with the 5300's as they weigh about 260 gr less than the 6200's.

The weather has been horrible for so long, I'm not sure I even remember which stick is the elevator. It's either windy or raining and when it's not, it's boiling at 97 degrees and 100 % humidity. :hot_face: I usually go early, but the grass is always way too wet, and by the time it dries out, I'm passing out from the heat or the sun will probably bake the aircraft. Still haven't even been able to maiden the 2nd Hornet. Not in a hurry as I've got plenty of other stuff to fly, so don't mind waiting for some decent weather for the Mig.

[Airguardian]

Best of luck with the maiden!!

[Daryl]

Hey guys, so I've been through about 150 pages of this thread. If I read correctly so far..nothing really set in stone as to the cause of the loss of elevator authority.
Also that motion/freewing have not really responded to alleged issue, other than the upgraded servos they shipped out(thank you MRC/FW)
Now that I have suitable sight to fly this bird, I will implement the upgrades you have all posted. I'd like to thank you all for contributing to safer flying of the Mig

[Airguardian]

Most of all, avoid deploying flaps at high speed.

[GliderGuy]

As a general precaution….The EC5 connectors FINALLY gave out on my MiG. A proposed upgrade is discussed here on the AL37 thread.

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc...457#post318457

Admittedly, the EC5 connectors supplied with the MiG held up quite well to the amount of flying done with the MiG, but their design has limitations. The contact screen degrades on the male/aircraft side.

It is hard to inspect the condition of the contacts…even with a bright light.

The precaution is….Once you exceed about 500 to 800 flights, you might consider changing to the split-barrel type of EC5 connector design. Or….change them out now and then you don’t have to worry about it.

Symptoms = Watch for HOT connectors and/or not being able to seat the male/female together fully.

-GG

[Airguardian]

Outright MiG-porn...

[4qr1hu9n7]

So.Airguardian.Is this what you do for a living ? Lucky person you.