The Freewing F-86 is one of my favorite jets out of the Freewing 80mm series. Everything it does, it does well in my opinion. It's a true joy to fly, looks amazing, sounds amazing, and lands with absolute ease.
With that said, there has a few details I have wanted to improve upon such as the large gap in the nose gear section. Freewing went half way on the most forward section of the nose gear door, yet didn't complete the other half of the nose door behind it. In addition, I wanted to swap out the outrunner power system for the Freewing inrunner, which I have done already. Lastly, I closed off some gaps in the ducting that were adding to the already turbulent intake area, so they are more smooth and seamless. The only gaps I've left are the four slivers in the battery compartment, and the cheater hole in front of the fan (this I may test by slowly covering more and more of the cheater hole to see the difference in thrust penalty versus efflux velocity gain).
To complete the nose gear door modification, I wanted to use components I already had lying around in my spares parts hobby box for simplicity sake, and cost factor. I found all I needed to get the job done, which included:
1.) .060" thick Polystyrene plastic sheet to cut a gear door from (purchased on eBay)
2.) Two Pin Hinges (RCLander single spring pin hinges...although spring action wasn't needed since a servo will be actuating the door in this case)
3.) Tools/Accessories to get the job done (i.e. Glue, Scissors, Pen, Knife, Z-bend Pliers, etc.)
4.) Balsa Wood Sheet (to make a "shelf" for the door to close upon, and not allow the door to close too far)
5.) 9g Servo
6.) A short Stinger 90 control rod with clevis (cut/shortened and added new Z-bend with Z-bend pliers)
7.) Wooden ESC hold-down from the F-86 to act as the attachment point on the door for the clevis (cut one end off, as it already has the hole pre-drilled for the clevis to attach to).
8.) Tamiya Chrome Silver X-11 acrylic paint (which was a nice match).
9.) Radio with mixing available to tie-in the landing gear and the new channel that the nose door will be dedicated to, or use of a gear door sequencer if the radio will not allow the mixing.
Below is roughly the process I used:
Step 1: I cut a gear door out of the polystyrene and did some trial fitting, and further cutting to get it the right size.
Step 2: I taped the hinges (with the pin part below the door) to the door to get some trial fitment done. I marked with a pen the area of foam on the jet to cut where the hinges will be eventually placed.
Step 3: I cut shallow slivers from the marked foam area and did another test fit of the door with the hinges, and adjusted as necessary.
Step 4: Now came the time mark the hinge location on the door itself to get an idea of where they will be glued. I removed the tape holding the hinges to the door, and glued the hinges to the door in the marked locations, all while being careful not to get glue on the pin-hinge/spring.
Step 5: Once the glued hinges were fully cured on the door, I began glueing the opposite side hinges on the door to the foam of the fuselage in the cut out foam area done earlier. As the glue was curing, I set my jet at a 90 degree angle to allow the door to be flat/horizontal.
Step 6: I cut and glued a small rectangular section of balsa wood that will be my shelf for the nose door, that allows the door to sit on top of, as well as act as stopper from the door being closed too far. Just be sure to cut the pocket of foam deep enough to allow the piece to go in quite far so it has good stability and strength once glued in. You can see this is the picture on the opposite side of the gear door and directly in the middle. After the glue was dry, I painted it chrome.
Step 7: Looking for an easy way to have an attachment point for the clevis on the control rod to the door, I realized the flat wooden ESC hold-down was perfect for me to use. I cut the end off of it while making sure to leave enough area near the hole to keep it from weakening. The area is already pre-drilled, so that was already good to go. I glued this wooden piece to the door in a vertical orientation, and in an area that I absolutely knew wouldn't impede the nose gear while retracting. This is very important, as some test fitting is necessary to ensure the location is trouble free.
Step 8: Now it was time for the test fitting of the servo that will be actuating the nose door. Since the door will be on the left of the aircraft (which is the same side the full size F-86 had the aft section of the nose door on), below that is a thick area of foam to cut out a pocket for the servo to sit in. Some test fitting was needed, and I made small removals of foam until I got the right size pocket to fit the servo in. At this time, the control rod was attached to the servo to see if any further foam was needed surrounding the area where the control rod will be moving, and there was some additional foam trimming needed for full clearance of the servo arm as well.
Step 9: I fit the servo in the cut out pocket and taped it over so it couldn't move while I tested the servos movement with a servo tester. It took some trial and error of different clevis turns, which hole on the servo arm to use, and the control rod length, but eventually the correct combo was found that allows for proper movement. This was all done without actually attaching the clevis to the door.
Step 10: I removed the landing gear servo lead from the receiver, so I could power up the jet and test the gear door with the clevis attached to the door, and began mixing the new channel I put the gear door servo on with the landing gear channel via the gear switch. Once mixed, I slowed the door function down, as well as delayed the gear channel on deployment, and delayed the door on gear retraction so they don't collide. Once the proper radio throws were found, I reconnected the gear channel and tried it all out to ensure 100% proper function. After ensuring it worked, I glued the servo in the pocket, and then taped over it so the glue could dry without the servo moving out of place.
Step 11: Lastly, I painted the gear door and hinges chrome, and did little paint touch-ups here and there around the door on the foam.
I still have to take it for a test flight and see if it all works as planned, but so far, so good. The nose area is much cleaner looking with the completed nose door section. I hope this helps anyone who may want to do the same modification to the jet. There are so many ways to complete this type of project, so this clearly is just one of them. Thanks for reading!
With that said, there has a few details I have wanted to improve upon such as the large gap in the nose gear section. Freewing went half way on the most forward section of the nose gear door, yet didn't complete the other half of the nose door behind it. In addition, I wanted to swap out the outrunner power system for the Freewing inrunner, which I have done already. Lastly, I closed off some gaps in the ducting that were adding to the already turbulent intake area, so they are more smooth and seamless. The only gaps I've left are the four slivers in the battery compartment, and the cheater hole in front of the fan (this I may test by slowly covering more and more of the cheater hole to see the difference in thrust penalty versus efflux velocity gain).
To complete the nose gear door modification, I wanted to use components I already had lying around in my spares parts hobby box for simplicity sake, and cost factor. I found all I needed to get the job done, which included:
1.) .060" thick Polystyrene plastic sheet to cut a gear door from (purchased on eBay)
2.) Two Pin Hinges (RCLander single spring pin hinges...although spring action wasn't needed since a servo will be actuating the door in this case)
3.) Tools/Accessories to get the job done (i.e. Glue, Scissors, Pen, Knife, Z-bend Pliers, etc.)
4.) Balsa Wood Sheet (to make a "shelf" for the door to close upon, and not allow the door to close too far)
5.) 9g Servo
6.) A short Stinger 90 control rod with clevis (cut/shortened and added new Z-bend with Z-bend pliers)
7.) Wooden ESC hold-down from the F-86 to act as the attachment point on the door for the clevis (cut one end off, as it already has the hole pre-drilled for the clevis to attach to).
8.) Tamiya Chrome Silver X-11 acrylic paint (which was a nice match).
9.) Radio with mixing available to tie-in the landing gear and the new channel that the nose door will be dedicated to, or use of a gear door sequencer if the radio will not allow the mixing.
Below is roughly the process I used:
Step 1: I cut a gear door out of the polystyrene and did some trial fitting, and further cutting to get it the right size.
Step 2: I taped the hinges (with the pin part below the door) to the door to get some trial fitment done. I marked with a pen the area of foam on the jet to cut where the hinges will be eventually placed.
Step 3: I cut shallow slivers from the marked foam area and did another test fit of the door with the hinges, and adjusted as necessary.
Step 4: Now came the time mark the hinge location on the door itself to get an idea of where they will be glued. I removed the tape holding the hinges to the door, and glued the hinges to the door in the marked locations, all while being careful not to get glue on the pin-hinge/spring.
Step 5: Once the glued hinges were fully cured on the door, I began glueing the opposite side hinges on the door to the foam of the fuselage in the cut out foam area done earlier. As the glue was curing, I set my jet at a 90 degree angle to allow the door to be flat/horizontal.
Step 6: I cut and glued a small rectangular section of balsa wood that will be my shelf for the nose door, that allows the door to sit on top of, as well as act as stopper from the door being closed too far. Just be sure to cut the pocket of foam deep enough to allow the piece to go in quite far so it has good stability and strength once glued in. You can see this is the picture on the opposite side of the gear door and directly in the middle. After the glue was dry, I painted it chrome.
Step 7: Looking for an easy way to have an attachment point for the clevis on the control rod to the door, I realized the flat wooden ESC hold-down was perfect for me to use. I cut the end off of it while making sure to leave enough area near the hole to keep it from weakening. The area is already pre-drilled, so that was already good to go. I glued this wooden piece to the door in a vertical orientation, and in an area that I absolutely knew wouldn't impede the nose gear while retracting. This is very important, as some test fitting is necessary to ensure the location is trouble free.
Step 8: Now it was time for the test fitting of the servo that will be actuating the nose door. Since the door will be on the left of the aircraft (which is the same side the full size F-86 had the aft section of the nose door on), below that is a thick area of foam to cut out a pocket for the servo to sit in. Some test fitting was needed, and I made small removals of foam until I got the right size pocket to fit the servo in. At this time, the control rod was attached to the servo to see if any further foam was needed surrounding the area where the control rod will be moving, and there was some additional foam trimming needed for full clearance of the servo arm as well.
Step 9: I fit the servo in the cut out pocket and taped it over so it couldn't move while I tested the servos movement with a servo tester. It took some trial and error of different clevis turns, which hole on the servo arm to use, and the control rod length, but eventually the correct combo was found that allows for proper movement. This was all done without actually attaching the clevis to the door.
Step 10: I removed the landing gear servo lead from the receiver, so I could power up the jet and test the gear door with the clevis attached to the door, and began mixing the new channel I put the gear door servo on with the landing gear channel via the gear switch. Once mixed, I slowed the door function down, as well as delayed the gear channel on deployment, and delayed the door on gear retraction so they don't collide. Once the proper radio throws were found, I reconnected the gear channel and tried it all out to ensure 100% proper function. After ensuring it worked, I glued the servo in the pocket, and then taped over it so the glue could dry without the servo moving out of place.
Step 11: Lastly, I painted the gear door and hinges chrome, and did little paint touch-ups here and there around the door on the foam.
I still have to take it for a test flight and see if it all works as planned, but so far, so good. The nose area is much cleaner looking with the completed nose door section. I hope this helps anyone who may want to do the same modification to the jet. There are so many ways to complete this type of project, so this clearly is just one of them. Thanks for reading!
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