All-New Freewing PJ50 Twin 70mm EDF Jet - Official Thread

[Robbie9859901]

Landing with thrust reverse at 1:31. Thanks Xviper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtlmjuSVczA

[MeyerVW]

My plane is somehow twisted, on the first flight I have to klick the ailerons stick on the TX all way to the right which was something like 5-6 mm. on the ailerons! After that it still like to turn left/roll if I don’t compensate. That was really an experience when I landed it first time. Any idea where to straight the plane?

Double check your flap and elevators. Make sure they are equal.

[avanti127]

Took my beat up PJ that was in the mid-air crash and spruced it up a bit!

That looks awesome James. I finally got to fly mine Saturday, what an awesome flying jet. Got my windows installed and it will be getting painted hopefully sometime this weekend.

[James]

Took my beat up PJ that was in the mid-air crash and spruced it up a bit!

[xviper]

This morning's flight ............... WARNING: Hatcam.

AR637T Safe select RX with thrust reverse.

[GliderGuy]

Yep…always been fascinated with flight. Been flying in full scale planes since I was 6 years old. And flying RC airplanes and full scale sailplanes since I was 14….almost 60 years of RC flight.

BTW…completed flight #70 on the B-2 yesterday. It has been soooo windy. Very limited opportunity. Now that stealth bomber is a hoot to fly and watch.

LOL - When not flying RC, I am flying full scale birds. Keeps me young!

-GG

[killickb]

GliderGuy, 150 landings on the PJ ?; 40 flights per day ? One must presume that you really do Live, Eat and Sleep model airplanes ??

I am envious of course !

[GliderGuy]

How to do this video…..

If you don’t have sub trims, twist the ball links for adjustments of the elevators like you would adjust any control surface.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5ioZTAJttGU

-GG

[Tekniqueman]

It is highly unlikely the plane is twisted. You most probably have a control or flap out of alignment. Check the following:
1) is the rudder centered when the rudder stick is centered?
2) Make sure both flaps move the same amount down as well as flaps up = flap up is the same amount/location on both sides?
3) Are your flap and aileron horns securely glued? Check both sides. Tug on them a little. A loose horn can make her fly wonky.
4) Get 2 straight sticks and place them one on each elevator so the far ends of the sticks are near each other. Get someone to help you hold the sticks to the elevator. Now, as you move the elevator up and down, the ends of the sticks should stay aligned with each other and if they don’t, adjust them so they do move the same amount and in synch with each other.
5) Did you calibrate your ESCs?

Again, you most likely have a control surface alignment problem / not twisted bird. Or…asymmetrical motor thrust.

-GG

1, 2 and 3 is okay one of the elevators where bend a little and bend back but didn’t change anything. I’ll have a go on 4 & 5

[GliderGuy]

My plane is somehow twisted, on the first flight I have to klick the ailerons stick on the TX all way to the right which was something like 5-6 mm. on the ailerons! After that it still like to turn left/roll if I don’t compensate. That was really an experience when I landed it first time. Any idea where to straight the plane?

It is highly unlikely the plane is twisted. You most probably have a control or flap out of alignment. Check the following:
1) is the rudder centered when the rudder stick is centered?
2) Make sure both flaps move the same amount down as well as flaps up = flap up is the same amount/location on both sides?
3) Are your flap and aileron horns securely glued? Check both sides. Tug on them a little. A loose horn can make her fly wonky.
4) Get 2 straight sticks and place them one on each elevator so the far ends of the sticks are near each other. Get someone to help you hold the sticks to the elevator. Now, as you move the elevator up and down, the ends of the sticks should stay aligned with each other and if they don’t, adjust them so they do move the same amount and in synch with each other.
5) Did you calibrate your ESCs?

Again, you most likely have a control surface alignment problem / not twisted bird. Or…asymmetrical motor thrust.

-GG

[Tekniqueman]

My plane is somehow twisted, on the first flight I have to klick the ailerons stick on the TX all way to the right which was something like 5-6 mm. on the ailerons! After that it still like to turn left/roll if I don’t compensate. That was really an experience when I landed it first time. Any idea where to straight the plane?

[martconnor]

In case anyone of you needed an AU Product page link. Would just like to give options to enthusiasts in other locations like AU so shipping costs will hopefully be lesser.

[GliderGuy]

Hi Don,

I 100% agree with Xviper. I’m one of those who put thousands of flights on an EDF…even to the point of retiring a bird for spare parts because the EPO begins to become “ugly” from foam cell boundary separation caused by repetitive air load stress.

Several birds I fly have long leads. Flying or flown: A-10, AL37, P-38, F-4, MiG-29, B-2 and PJ50.

Knock on wood, but if anyone is to experience an ESC failure, I have a VERY HIGH probability and no failures / NOTHING. No BEC failures experienced either. Failures albeit infrequently = control servos, gear door servos, steering servos, landing gear servos.

Nada zip zero ESC failures. But there is more to the story…..please read on.

I baby the ESCs allowing 1:30 low throttle cruise at the end of a flight. The AL37 ESCs run hot, so after landing, I put a battery powered fan under her ESC area while I am changing batteries. I typically am back in the air in about 3 minutes…flying up to 40 flights in a day. AND it gets HOT here (95F is my personal limit for long term flying). The pilot is the failure mode when it is soooo hot.

In cold weather, I give the ESC a short warm up before the first flight at low power to minimize the thermal shock.

If doing ground runs, I keep a fan on the PJ and AL37 ESCs. For the A-10, F-4 and MiG, I do at least a minute at very low power cool down as their EDFs blow air across the ESCs when doing ground runs.

Heat is a killer of electronics. Act on this as gospel. If you do, you will have a higher possibility to enjoy problem free ESCs. Long wire leads….ummm…apparently not so much of an issue.

Aside: I was researching flying in EXTREMELY hot desert conditions around the globe. Flights being made in 120+ (even 140F). Cool downs and special consideration for throttle use = FEW ESC ISSUES. Interesting.

-GG

[xviper]

If you're concerned about it, I would suggest you do something about it to yours. Personally, I'm not concerned. They've sold hundreds, if not thousands of these in the past several months and some get flown a couple dozen times a day and so far, there have not been anyone that I've read about that have had dead ESCs due to these long battery runs. Those who lose their PJ are far more likely to have their PJ meet with catastrophic failures when it suddenly takes an unplanned dirt nap.
Mine failed once but then, I put in a used battery on that flight and I was able to do a dead stick when the ESCs hit the LVC.

[Dkurtzid]

I’m concerned about the 30 inch long battery wire. There has always been caution to keep the battery connector length as short as possible. The rule of thumb was any length longer than 12 inches needed to have a capacitor bank or 2 added for each 12 inches of length. Otherwise there was the risk of catastrophic failure of the ESC. I see no such provision for that and the capacitors on the ESC‘s themselves Look fairly normal.

Don

[ColtPilot]

Flip flop lights installed and work perfectly. Really bright.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8EMwSVye9zdU2V9U8

[ThePhantom]

Hey guys just wanted to share a couple of night shots of my PJ-50 and a dusk flight video. I also did Custom Logo Lights like the real G5 and wheel brakes. Easier to see the PJ at night than during the day with white clouds as the background lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LwpMO4uPTY

[guapoman2000]

Lots of excitement on this Maiden Flight session. Complete Dead Stick landing due to battery pack taking a dump. We had a few from other RC Clubs in the area as well to witness first hand this new Jet. I was thrilled and lucky to have flown it for a few laps around the field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEB4XXLj6g4

[xviper]

I commented on this in post #408.

[GliderGuy]

Is the AS3X not enough to help with the waggle on the PJ and the AL?

My total gyro experience is 10 flights with the Hobby Eagle A3 in the PJ. It seems to be a basic gyro, and it is always on in the “normal” mode. Seems good enough for my needs. It tamed the waggle wing of the PJ.

If a more complex / $$ is used, that’s gotta be OK, I am pretty sure. But, I must defer to gyro experts.

-GG