I have one coming and I'm really excited! I'll have to mod that nose gear location but other then motion/freewing did a great job.
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Official Freewing JAS 39 Gripen 80mm EDF Jet
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Originally posted by RRHandy View Post
You want battery room or nose gear in the scale position, Can't have both, shame .
From my observation grass field ops is one of the biggest reasons.
The jet at the scale location would also be much easier to wing tip while taxing at high speeds.
I plan on modifying mine as I fly from nice asphalt runways.
Literally just pull out the mounting block and remount with a support plate at the back of the bay. Put in a longer steering arm. Reverse the strut on the retract peg.
Stock gear door closures may even work in their current place.
If it worked well in the scale location it would have been put there, so it obviously doesn’t.
That is the great thing about this community though is all of the modifications that people are able to achieve!
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Originally posted by JLambCWU View Post
I believe you can have it in the scale location it will just have to retract forward. I’m sure Alpha will speak to this at some point.
From my observation grass field ops is one of the biggest reasons.
The jet at the scale location would also be much easier to wing tip while taxing at high speeds.
I plan on modifying mine as I fly from nice asphalt runways.
Literally just pull out the mounting block and remount with a support plate at the back of the bay. Put in a longer steering arm. Reverse the strut on the retract peg.
Stock gear door closures may even work in their current place.
If it worked well in the scale location it would have been put there, so it obviously doesn’t.
That is the great thing about this community though is all of the modifications that people are able to achieve!
I too enjoy the more scale location of the nose gear, and I'm always more inclined to like the look of a model more when it is closer to the full scale. However, I always understand that they design with tradeoffs in mind, just as Alpha mentions in this Twitch streams (plug......plug.....watch Alpha's Twitch streams on Tuesdays and Fridays at 9pm Eastern. AlphaMakesA is the name of the Twitch channel).
The same thing happened with the Freewing F-22 90mm, which has a really large nose wheel from the Avanti, noticeably far forward positioned nose strut, and massive nose doors, none of which resemble the full scale. To me, it looks better flying than it does on the ground because it hides all of that when the gear is retracted . The scale geek in me died a little when I saw it, LOL. I get it though, design tradeoffs, and Freewing and Motion are aware of it, all of it. I fly off pavement, so grass concerns aren't something I care to think about. As people know, these models aren't meant to be insanely scale Top-Gun award winners. I'm sure they can make it like that, but it's not always for the masses.
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You can't see the nose gear while it's retracted flying by at 120 mph. 😉
I just hope the gear doors work well and doesn't jam the nose gear in a partially retracted position like the Mirage's does for me. That thing almost made me swear off anything with spring loaded doors.
Thrust to weight, there are options. Might've just found a use for the 1857kv inrunner I have sitting around combined with an 80mm Jetfan, if this can fit a 6S 4000 and a 2S 4000 in the battery compartment.
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You're right, I do always have a sensible reason for sensible design, don't I?
The stock location of the Gripen's landing gear made the model incredibly prone to tipping over, which was significantly reduced once we adjusted the nose to its current position. Fun fact: We relocate the position of almost all scale aircraft so they are easier to handle on the ground. Most people don't notice its diversion from scale. For those that do, consider it a fair challenge: We made the airplane itself, so you're 99% of the way there, and now you get to tweak the landing gear to your own satisfaction.
Beware, though, the ground landing of the airplane will change. Relocating the F-4's mains back to their scale position will result in a very nasty "pop" off the ground instead of a smooth rotation, and the same for the A-4. Using a scale gear layout for the F-22 and T-33 will reduce its capabilities on grass, and same for the F-15. The F7F and OV-10's struts are optimized for mass-producability even though they weren't strictly scale. The F-18 and F-14.... most people were enjoying flying the airplane to not fret too much about their gear's non-scale configuration.
While we're at it, none of our wheels are ever scale sized, either. *gasp*
Sensible changes and a balanced feature set that make a flying model available to the masses at a sensible price. That's my target.
Mizer67 I think you'll find that the Gripen's door setup is very different from what we did on the Mirage over five years ago. The Gripen's door hinges, control arms, geometry, and spring tension are all optimized to keep the doors closed only when you want them closed, and open only when you want them open.
Live Q&A every Tuesday and Friday at 9pm EST on my Twitch Livestream
Live chat with me and other RC Nuts on my Discord
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I imagine the retraction direction played a part too, so while you may be able to mount the nose gear further back, you either reverse retraction direction (which ain't scale either) or totally mess up the battery compartment space and end up with something like FMS/E-Flite's Su-30, where the battery has to go so far forward in the nose that the jet becomes essentially a joke. I didn't get that Su-30 despite being a heavy Flanker guru, and instead jumped straight in into this one despite nose gear position so... ;)
For my part, I'd rather have the nose gear being placed like this if the alternative is to totally mess battery placement (which affects CG range, battery selection and parameters that are much more relevant to actual flying qualities).
That said, I may risk getting the tip-overs and reposition gear all the same. Should be easy enough! (Hopefully!)
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I also love that purchase of a separate VT unit will be offered with this jet. Out of the two jets, the 80mm MiG-29 and Gripen (although I may install VT on both), I'd rather install VT on the Gripen, but that's personal preference. I enjoy that the option is there, and we can do what we want. That is priceless.
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Originally posted by Jf16crew View PostI want to have everything ready to turbine conversion this jet when I get it could you measure out the battery tray for me so I could get a custom tank made? And how far back dose it go? Is it like the 39 that has a long empty cavity to put a fuel tank?Live Q&A every Tuesday and Friday at 9pm EST on my Twitch Livestream
Live chat with me and other RC Nuts on my Discord
Camp my Instagram @Alpha.Makes
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