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

[Model AV8R]

That was my concern Hugh. That is why I called a buddy that had already flown his first to see what his TX set up was. Interestingly enough (and this is in the video) the two axis I reversed in my TX are correcting...correctly. Lol.

[kallend]

Excellent video. The main takeaway I got was that the gyro, as delivered from the factory, is NOT setup correctly!

After fiddling around with the gyro in my B-2, (which I have not yet setup and flown), I have come to the conclusion that the elevator channel in the E52 is erroneously reversed. (No wonder they had to reduce the basic gain to 5% == essentially zero).

I am betting that once the elevator channel in the gyro is set to the correct direction (i.e. NORMAL == NOT REVERSED), then the elevator gain can be increased and the plane will fly MUCH better.

More likely the low pitch gain is due to the very low moment of inertia of the airframe about the pitch axis.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hopefully not adding fuel to the fire, but the old Ar636 RX with gyro required you to program each servos direction in the RX only. If you did it in the TX, while you got the correct surface movements on your sticks, the gyro was correcting in the opposite direction, which resulted in many downed aircraft and p...off pilots. The new gyro RX'S did away with that allowing for direction programming to be done in the TX.

Wonder if the gyro in the B2 is that way as well, which would account for the different redults people are getting. As a final set up procedure, I still program 100% heading gains in 1 mode just to absolutely confirm gyro corrections, as it is difficult to be sure it's moving in the right direction with typical low rate gains only. Then I remove the heading gain completely and I'm finished. By doing this, I did find one RX ar636 that had it's internal orientation wrong. HH told me it's very rare, but does happen and I got the 1 in a thousand. If you can program heading hold using the programming card, that's a good way to confirm gyro correction since the surface moves and stays there instead of just fluttering for a millisecond.

[Model AV8R]

As we said in the video...and it would benefit anyone questioning what we are saying to actually watch the whole video as all this is explained in it...with our model there was no combination on the plugs the instructions tell you to reverse (elevator & aileron) that rendered the controls and mixes all working properly at the same time. We had to reverse our aileron and rudder in the TX to get everything working right. We did not reverse the elevator in the TX. The elevators are definitely correcting the wrong way, and yes it is hard to see...that is why we put our hand on the surface at the hinge point. You can feel which way it corrects as you pitch the plane. (good technique for any low gain, low deflection suface check). The ailerons...which also move in the pitch axis are correcting the right way. Had a buddy check his that had already flown it and his worked the same exact way. For what it is worth both his plane and ours flew fine like this. That info is in the video as well. Could have something to do with the minimal gain in that axis or that the ailerons correcting the right way in pitch cancels the error out...maybe both. The instructions say "if" those axis are reversed to "try" changing the plugs around. That could...and probably does mean not all of them may arrive programmed the same exact way...hence some of you may not need to reverse anything in your TX. Again...and you can see for yourself in the video...the plane flew fine. For what we plan to do with it it is a non issue (slower, scale), if you plan to fly yours more aggressively...might be an issue if yours is like ours.

[Evan D]

Posted also on RCG. This may be a function of reversing it in your radio VS reversing it as the instructions say to do by swapping the servo connections.

Mine is not reversed.

[GliderGuy]

Excellent video. The main takeaway I got was that the gyro, as delivered from the factory, is NOT setup correctly!

After fiddling around with the gyro in my B-2, (which I have not yet setup and flown), I have come to the conclusion that the elevator channel in the E52 is erroneously reversed. (No wonder they had to reduce the basic gain to 5% == essentially zero).

I am betting that once the gyro elevator channel in the gyro is set to the correct direction (i.e. NORMAL == NOT REVERSED), then the elevator gain can be increased and the plane will fly MUCH better.

Wow! Ordered the programming card.

Would appreciate getting the set-up “numbers” for the stock gyro once she’s been dialed in thru experimentation.

I’d rather have the elevator direction set correctly and everything else set to the best value.

Thanks in advance.

-GG

[xviper]

I have come to the conclusion that the elevator channel in the E52 is erroneously reversed. (No wonder they had to reduce the basic gain to 5% == essentially zero).

I am betting that once the gyro elevator channel in the gyro is set to the correct direction (i.e. NORMAL == NOT REVERSED), then the elevator gain can be increased and the plane will fly MUCH better.

I cranked my master gain to 120% and could not detect that the ELE gyro compensation was reversed. At the normal 5% gain (even at 6% gain), it's really hard to tell anything. I don't know why they set the ELE gain so low but I don't think that's the reason why (being possibly reversed). My programmer should be here in a week or so and only then, by turning up the gain much more on the ELE channel, can we really tell if it's "reversed".

[ridgerunner]

Edit: 2022-05-09 4pm MDT After more testing, I have discovered that everything I originally stated below (now colored in RED) regarding the elevator channel in the gyro being erroneously reversed is wrong! The testing I initially performed (where I jumped to the wrong conclusions) was done using plain servos outside the B-2 bypassing the control board. I've since connected everything up to the B-2 as specified in the manual and all gyro corrections are now moving in the correct direction. My sincere apologies for having yelled FIRE in a crowded theater when there was indeed no fire.

Here is our latest episode...of course on the B-2!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9NqLPhYn2A

Excellent video. The main takeaway I got was that the gyro, as delivered from the factory, is NOT setup correctly!

After fiddling around with the gyro in my B-2, (which I have not yet setup and flown), I have come to the conclusion that the elevator channel in the E52 is erroneously reversed. (No wonder they had to reduce the basic gain to 5% == essentially zero).

I am betting that once the elevator channel in the gyro is set to the correct direction (i.e. NORMAL == NOT REVERSED), then the elevator gain can be increased and the plane will fly MUCH better.

[Elbee]

Here is our latest episode...of course on the B-2!!

MA, Welcome to Hobby Squawk. Glad to have you onboard, Sir. Great vid. Best, LB

[Model AV8R]

Here is our latest episode...of course on the B-2!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9NqLPhYn2A

[davegee]

Following your recommendation I went to the Sherwin-Williams store and the very sweet, cute, young lady behind the counter took extra care to make sure the paint matched exactly. She even recommended the matte finish over the flat since there is some slight sheen to the model. She even wanted to see photos of it after seeing the battery hatch part I took to the store. 😳

I’m attaching a photo of the code she came up with and a photo of the battery hatch cover where she painted the lower-right corner with the paint she mixed.

Good Deal, Mud Duck! I'm sure there are other folks around the country who aren't close to a HD, but might possibly have a Sherwin Williams store in town. We had our house exterior painted last summer with SW paints, and I could tell just looking at them in the can they were first-rate. We're very happy with the results, and I'll use our little SW paint store in town for my next model repaint. For those times we travel to Billings, I'll bring a sample of the plane to HD to have them do the match.

Thanks for your story. Glad everything turned out great!

davegee

[GliderGuy]

Another paint data point. Went to HD to get mine. The guy entered the info shown in the prior posts.

Came up with a different sticker. He assured me it was an exact match.

Got home….tried it out on a wing tip…perfect match and sheen. See below in case you run across this.

-GG

[Mud Duck]

For anyone out there who lives in a small town with no HD nearby, if you are close to a Sherwin Williams, I'd give that a go. Of course, part of the success is the diligence of the person doing the color matches.

Following your recommendation I went to the Sherwin-Williams store and the very sweet, cute, young lady behind the counter took extra care to make sure the paint matched exactly. She even recommended the matte finish over the flat since there is some slight sheen to the model. She even wanted to see photos of it after seeing the battery hatch part I took to the store. 😳

I’m attaching a photo of the code she came up with and a photo of the battery hatch cover where she painted the lower-right corner with the paint she mixed.

[Mud Duck]

Finally, a friend and I were able to maiden our B-2’s here in central Missouri on Saturday, May 7th. What a great airplane!!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/motionrcfanmedia/permalink/1191616198319959/

[Aros]

In case anybody in interested here are three photos of HD touch up paint from three different stores in three different states. All the numbers match from each one. The one on the left is the one they scanned and made for me.

I confirm that these numbers are dead accurate and the same as mine. I had my paint match done at Home Depot last week and I was floored with the accuracy. I just finished my touch ups yesterday and I can't even see where they were anymore. Incredible match in any lighting condition.

[Tom]

A customer asked me which servos are in the B-2 and the locations of the servos. Attached is a PDF showing the SKU of the Freewing servos used in the B2. We will get this info on motionrc.com and add the appropriate servos to the spare parts tab for the B-2.

[davegee]

In case anybody in interested here are three photos of HD touch up paint from three different stores in three different states. All the numbers match from each one. The one on the left is the one they scanned and made for me.

I concur with the accuracy of HD's touchup paints for our models. I used to live in the Denver area and used them all the time. Now, I live in NW WY and the closest HD is in Billings, about 1 1/2 hours away. Not a problem for that, but I just used a Sherwin Williams store for the first time here in Cody. I was amazed to see that they did a color match with the sophisticated little computer paint reader onto my B-2 wing extension, and then he played the actual wing color to what he had come up with a couple of times until the computer said they were an EXACT match! Never had such attention to detail before for a color match for me. The local Ace Hardware in town tries, but their match was way off from the real B-2 color, basically unusable for a model.

I'll still use HD from time to time if I happen to be in Billings. but I'm really sold on Sherwin Williams. For anyone out there who lives in a small town with no HD nearby, if you are close to a Sherwin Williams, I'd give that a go. Of course, part of the success is the diligence of the person doing the color matches, and his desire to get an absolute "dead nuts on" match.

Davegee

[viper1gj]

In case anybody in interested here are three photos of HD touch up paint from three different stores in three different states. All the numbers match from each one. The one on the left is the one they scanned and made for me.

[viper1gj]

Minor repairs made to the left wing and right elevator. The screw tabs and carbon rod were broken off. I used the polyurethane glue with CA technique mentioned by Mshagg. The 8mm carbon tube was replaced from the shop scrap box. The leading edge corners were glued back on with foam glue. The right elevator was torn off but the plastic hinge pins were not broken so I just glued then back in with foam glue. The foam hinge seal was replace with Blend Derm tape on the bottom. After touch up paint I added an ASSAN AG63 heading gyro to the steering. I had it in the shop planned for a new project so I put it to use in the B-2 for now. It checked out dead straight on taxi tests in the yard. Waiting for winds to calm a little to give it another go.

[viper1gj]

Here are some photos of the grass mods I made to my B-2 last week.

Stinger 90 struts with 60mm wheels on the mains worked well. Stock 45mm wheels are still on the nose. This seemed to work well on my last take off attempt before the jet flipped. The jet now has a 4.5 degree positive pitch angle on the ground which should be good for take off.