Official Freewing B-2 Spirit Bomber 86" Twin 70mm EDF Jet

[xviper]

GG gave us hints along the way that helped understand what’s going on with this plane. In the beginning, I was feeling regretful that I didn’t sell it when my buddy sold his. He sold it a couple weeks and only a few flights after getting it. I stuck with it and took his info and the B2 has become a very satisfying plane to fly. I know now when and when not to fly it and what and what not to do when I fly it. 3 thumbs up for him.

[Aros]

GliderGuy I have to say again, thank you for all of your astute help and information for folks with this bird. I sure know when I finally maiden my B-2, I will have armed myself with sage advice from you which will give me extra confidence. Your help and experience has been invaluable in this thread so again, thank you.

[GliderGuy]

Here are a couple of tips….

Problem: Eventually the long rear spring on the main gear will break at the point where it is secured by the small screw to the main gear’s strut. The attachment loop breaks off the end of the spring.

Tips / Solutions: 1) You can delay or prevent this from happening by generously coating the area near the attachment screw with UV curing glue (like Bondic). Coat a few coils on the spring near the attachment screw and the attachment loop/screw area.

2) If the attachment loop at the end does break off the spring, simply unwrap the next spring coil and make another attachment loop from it (use needle nose pliers).

Happy B-2 flying!

-GG

PS Mentioned before, but will mention it again….
When gluing parts with a slow-setting glue like Foam-Tac or epoxy, align the parts and do a surface tack weld with Bondic to hold them in place. The Bondic instantly and securely maintains the parts’ alignment while the slower / stronger glue sets.
This is VERY handy when gluing parts that you cannot easily hold in place with a clamp, etc. If you wish, after the stronger glue sets, the surface Bondic tack weld beads can be easily removed with little damage.

[GliderGuy]

I'd still prefer an Avro Vulcan.

That would be VERY cool.

Xviper, I agree. Aside from the wind limitations to avoid landing issues, it is a well designed plane and has held up well to lots of flying hours.

-GG

[xviper]

I'd still prefer an Avro Vulcan.

Same here. On paper and in the marketing and promo videos, the FW B-2 was exciting and highly anticipated. In reality, I'm ambivalent about it. Nevertheless, compared to the garbage B-2 that Banana Hobby brought out and a couple of the little "mini" B-2s (also garbage) that came out lately, the Freewing B-2 is a marvel in execution and design.

[kallend]

I was hoping MRC might…since a lot of the development work is done.

Put me on the pre-order list!

-GG

I'd still prefer an Avro Vulcan.

[xviper]

Just from that picture, I can't tell what's different about a B-21. So, what's different?
The Freewing B-2 is already a fairly expensive model that is hard to store and move around (transport). It also has very restrictive flying conditions (ie, wind). This conspires to it not being taken to the field much. Unless the B-21 comes with a free ounce of gold in the cockpit, I wouldn't jump at one.

[GliderGuy]

I was hoping MRC might…since a lot of the development work is done.

Put me on the pre-order list!

-GG

[KevinMar]

So who's going to be the first to mod their B-2 to make it look like the B-21?

[GliderGuy]

Thanks! Had fun…

[Evan D]

Very impressive!

[GliderGuy]

Cool calm winter day….allowed me to set a personal record with the B-2.

I made 25 B-2 flights!!! Ran outa daylight.

Total for the day was 35 (P-38 and F-4 flights, too).

Won’t get many days like today in north Texas. Made 10 flights at sunrise and 29 F. Then the wind came up. Waited until 45F after lunch and calm winds to complete the talley.

Living the dream.

-GG

[Wren54]

Thank you Xviper . Yes it is for the steering gyro. Thats very valuable information done in great detail.I really appreciate.Cheers.

[SgtRay]

Here's a nice recording of one of my flights some weeks ago, just after I balanced both fans.

My B-2 had a great sound already but thanks to the balancing I did , the whine at higher revs almost disapeared, it's all whoooooosh now :)

Nice flight. I just posted 2 flights of my buddy's B-2 over in the plane chase tread. chk it out

[xviper]

Hi All .Could some one possibly help with the set up of the assan ag61 gyro for the B2.(diagram) or instruction . I have seen a few posts but they seem to be different set ups .(y lead required?)Thanks in advance..

You're talking about the steering gyro, right? If that's the case, then here's what I can tell you ............................. Not sure which part you need help with so here's the whole thing. It's gonna be long. Also, read the Assan instructions that come with the unit. It contains pretty much all the information you need to do this.
First, because the B-2 uses very high (100%) gain on the RUD channel, it is important to isolate the nose steering servo from the control box. You don't want 2 gyros working in series. The Assan comes with instructions with a diagram so have a good look at it. The unit should be mounted somewhere just behind the cockpit and over the nose gear. Secure it with a double sided sticky pad and add a piece of tape over the whole thing to ensure it stays nailed down. All wires to the rear. The Assan has 4 leads - 2 in and 2 out. One set for steering (Assan calls it "turning") and one set for the retract, so it's not that easy to get them mixed up due to male/female ends. The Assan kills the steering when the nose gear is up. If you don't care about this, then don't bother with the retract leads.
Trace the steering servo back to the box and unplug it. (Nothing gets plugged back into that now empty slot.) Bring it forward and plug this free end into the Assan lead that is for the steering servo OUT.
Now this is where the Y comes in. From the RX, unplug the rudder lead and install a Y. Put the thing you just pulled out of the RX and plug it into one side of the Y. The other side of the Y gets a short extension. The other end of this extension goes into the Assan steering ("turning") IN.
Now, trace the nose retract lead back to the control box and unplug it. Plug into that now empty slot, a short extension that will reach the Assan. Plug the Assan into that extension (gear IN). Bring the retract lead to the front and plug that into the Assan (gear OUT).
That's it for the wiring connections. Check that the retract works via the TX. Check if the steering works, along with the drag rudders. If not, don't worry about it. This is when you do the "auto config" thing. Deploy the retract and unplug the plane battery. Read the instructions to see what to look for in the Assan blue light. Power on the plane and watch the blue light. It should begin a sequence of blinks. Within 30 seconds of that blinking, you must move the rudder stick (throttle cut ACTIVATED, so no accidental throttle input) FULL left to right as fast as you can at least 10 times (5 each side), with rudder rates at 100%, stopping with the stick on the left and holding it for several seconds (can take 10 to 15 seconds) until you hear a servo work to one side. That should do it. If not, power down and repeat because you didn't wait for the proper blue light or you didn't work the rudder stick fast enough. Now test the rudder input for both steering and drag rudders. You'll notice the steering is quite sluggish to return to neutral. That's the way it's meant to be. The actual steering gyro test is to move the nose of the B-2 left and right and see that the nose wheel goes the other direction to try to keep the plane straight. Now you can go back and use lower rudder rates if so desired. Keep the stock gyro rudder rate at 100%. In fact keep the stock gyro rates as they are out of the box.
There should not be different ways to set this up. If you've seen a different set up, that means that the owner did not isolate the steering servo from the stock control box and kept the signal running through the stock gyro. This only meant that the steering signal going through to the Assan is so dumbed down that it is virtually ineffective.

[Wren54]

Hi All .Could some one possibly help with the set up of the assan ag61 gyro for the B2.(diagram) or instruction . I have seen a few posts but they seem to be different set ups .(y lead required?)Thanks in advance..

[GliderGuy]

If Any body thinking about fpving this I’d like to hear your opinion about it

FPVing….might be a real challenge. I believe I saw an FPV report on YouTube with the B-2. In general, read the following:

My opinion….short summary:
1) Awesome crowd pleaser
2) Must fly in 5 mph winds or less
3) Flies great….landing without damage is tricky. But easier if flown in light winds only
4) Buy a spare nose gear assembly plus servo to have on hand when a landing goes bad. Once a crow hop starts, damage follows. It WILL happen!
5) Not a beginner’s EDF.

I have flown mine several hundred times and always look forward to a calm wind day so I can fly it again. I love to fly the B-2. It is not my favorite because of the skill needed to land without a bounce. My favorite all-around is the PJ-50 WITH AN ADDED GYRO. It is FAST, acrobatic, easy to land, handles STRONG winds great and no gotcha characteristics.

Fly the B-2 in wind and you will bust a landing. The only times I have gotten nose gear damage is when I have ignored my wind speed limit.

Read my review….B-2 Revisited - Again / Tons of Flights and also read what others think at:

https://www.motionrc.com/products/fr...t-pnp-fj31711p


-GG

[Cptcc]

If Any body thinking about fpving this I’d like to hear your opinion about it

[Icarus the 2nd]

Here's a nice recording of one of my flights some weeks ago, just after I balanced both fans.

My B-2 had a great sound already but thanks to the balancing I did , the whine at higher revs almost disapeared, it's all whoooooosh now :)

[GliderGuy]

If this isn’t UFO / UAV looking, nuttin’ is. Early morning before sunrise. (square fiber mat is my knee cushion).

A cool 42F this calm morning.

-GG

PS You might notice a lot of nose-up trim….that’s my take-off and landing trim setting. This goes back down to the standard 8 mm / 4 mm for flying around.