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

[rifleman_btx]

Wonder if it has anything to do with the same reason flex inovations cut their pricing, pretty sure it is.

[xviper]

A recent video of the B-2 and new (not yet released) B-1B flown together. By the looks of the windsock and the microphone noise, wind could have been up around 20 mph. The Freewing B2 actually did pretty good, although the landing wasn't caught on the video. The Xfly B-1 looked like a wild ride and lucky to get down (2nd try) without pieces flying off.

[GliderGuy]

While there are videos of B-2s “getting away with” flying in winds over 5 mph,….

There are those that have and those that haven’t gotten away with it. There’s that one gust out there just waiting to cause a B-2 landing to go bad. I’ve learned that relaxing B-2 flying demands light wind flying. I’ve repaired the nose gear enough times because of a wayward wind gust. I can do without repairing it again.

The B-1 pilot’s combination of over controlling and being way too fast nearly cost him a plane. Gyro or not…that is a prime example of “how not to do it and expect to survive”. Not being critical here, but you can learn a lot about what not to do from this video.

-GG

[xviper]

The B-1 pilot’s combination of over controlling and being way too fast nearly cost him a plane. Gyro or not…that is a prime example of “how not to do it and expect to survive”. Not being critical here, but you can learn a lot about what not to do from this video.

-GG

The pilot was the Banana Hobby rep. His B1 is a pre-production, free "test sample". I believe he's a "so-so" pilot. I think the "testing" is about finished now, so the 3 test samples are purely for demos now and they are flown with less concern for smashing the crap out of them. Xfly's own pilots back near Hong Kong have their own planes to test and the video released so far of their flights are much better done and with little wind.

[Evan D]

I think they are trying to attend as many events as possible to show off the new plane. Unfortunately the weather will be what it is and it wasn't good at that event.

[GliderGuy]

Darn it! Lost the inboard right wing elevator servo during a flight. She started handling weird…requiring a lot of up in the turns.

I made a wrong choice and did a left hand pattern. When turning base to final, the nose dropped a little. When I applied up elevator, only the left inboard elevator moved up which steepened the bank and increased the sink rate.

Some quick action on the throttle and rudder got her level but only just as she pancaked in. Ouch!

Repairable, but made worse when the nose hit a big rock. Gonna have to open her up around the cockpit and fix some internal foam fractures, I feel.

The mains survived. Go figure!

-GG

[xviper]

[GliderGuy]

I know!

At least I have spare parts from the almost brand new one I ran into a tall radio mast when I thought I was beyond it and I wasn’t.

Hangar queen….here I come. Gotta love this hobby.



-GG

Edit: She’s 90% repaired as of bedtime tonight. Less damage than I thought. The left outer wing panel’s plastic mounting hardware broke, so I had to order more of the plastic wing mount hardware and the carbon tube fractured (retrieved a spare from the hangar queen). Now to work on the skin wrinkles!

[Aros]

Ah darn...Sorry to hear that GG! Sounds like she is repairable?? Nothing is worse in the hobby than watching a model fly to her fate and there's nothing you can do on the sticks to rectify the issue.

[GliderGuy]

Ah darn...Sorry to hear that GG! Sounds like she is repairable?? Nothing is worse in the hobby than watching a model fly to her fate and there's nothing you can do on the sticks to rectify the issue.

Thanks Aros. She will fly again! At least I got her out of a VERY steep and descending bank to a pancake-in and level ground-contact position.

Was very pleased that both main gear show no damage…..none. The nose gear servo failed in such a way that the nose gear mount wasn’t torn out.

I’m not sure why the left outer panel plastic mount and carbon rod failed. There’s not a mark on the left wing panel. Possibly rapid deceleration.

-GG

[GliderGuy]

Here’s a tip which might prove useful in the future for this and other planes…..

Problem: How to remove the broken/damaged plastic wing root piece?

Comment: This is a multi-faceted molded plastic unit that is strongly glued and embedded in the foam root….in this case the root of the outer wing panel. It can’t be removed by simply sliding a long razor knife blade between the foam and plastic. Too many embedded and hidden twists and turns.

Solution: WORKED like a champ! Step 1) is THE KEY! Results in very little foam damage. Ready for a new end cap when done.
1) With a Dremel-type tool, cut through the top and bottom lengthwise/chordwise 90 degree “corner” areas. By removing this plastic, you will be able to access the glue area between the top side and bottom side “flat” pieces of plastic that form the top and bottom of the plastic unit.
2) Slide a razor knife into the cut-off areas you can now access after step 1). Use whatever other tools you need to peel away the topside and bottom side flat plastic pieces of the plastic. Some addition Dremel tool cuts will need to be made at the front and back. End result is that you will have removed 2 rectangular pieces of plastic which formed the top and bottom sides of the root end cap.
3) Now attack the “vertical” flat face of the end cap. Remove as much as you can. You’ll need to unscrew the electrical connection panel and move it out of your way. When finished, only the embedded areas of the end cap will remain.
4) Use a razor knife and cut through the glued areas around the embedded pieces for easy removal.
5) You are finished, and you haven’t damaged the finish of the wing areas around the root end cap….no digging or poking required that might have damaged the area around the cap.

-GG

[GliderGuy]

The plastic root cap for the left outer wing panel arrived today. She’s ready to fly again. Woo Hoo!

So much foam fracture and wrinkle repair was needed around the nose area that I couldn’t save the decals in front of the intakes. I improvised with the black stripe stick-ons from the P-38 decal sheet. I won’t tell if you won’t tell. 😉. If it bothered me, I would buy a $30 decal sheet. It’s a don’t care for me. I just want to fly her.

If you haven’t read my post 1371, that technique saved the day. Not sure how one would remove the end cap without doing bad foam damage otherwise.

I replaced both elevator servos. One failed and both had a ton of flights on them. Replaced the nose gear retract servo, too. It was in bad shape.

If you ever need to repair a crushed nose, the flat, palm-size area on both sides of the cockpit can be cut away with a razor knife. This exposes a hollow area in which you can work. Bondic UV-cured glue was used to repair the fractured nose cap’s cracks.

Again, nothing needed to be done to the mains…no damage at all. Shows that I almost saved her….not a hard impact. If that darn rock had been somewhere else, it would have been a nose gear repair, only. See post 1366…

-GG

[GliderGuy]

SUCCESS! She’s back in the air….looked good, flew good. Like nothing ever happened. 3 flights near sunset. Had to wait for the wind to calm down.

The B-2 is an awesome looking bird flying by.

-GG

[xviper]

Not sure anyone's seen this yet but it looks like motion put together a grass ops retract kit....I put an order in for a set. I'll post pics of what they look like when they arrive next week.

Rudy, did you ever get these "grass ops" retracts? I've lost my field with the smooth runway. I will only have the grass one this year. I'm curious about your findings with this new upgrade. Can you tell us the diameter of the tires these come with?
I discovered I have a spare set of rotating retracts for my MiG29 and can easily purchase a set of struts and tires for them. I need to see if the holes in the retracts match those of the B-2. The MiG tires are 85mm.

[RudyD54]

Rudy, did you ever get these "grass ops" retracts? I've lost my field with the smooth runway. I will only have the grass one this year. I'm curious about your findings with this new upgrade. Can you tell us the diameter of the tires these come with?
I discovered I have a spare set of rotating retracts for my MiG29 and can easily purchase a set of struts and tires for them. I need to see if the holes in the retracts match those of the B-2. The MiG tires are 85mm.

Whoops! Forgot to follow up.

Yes I got them, and they are rotating retracts. I haven’t been able to test them out as the winds have been terrible to fly the B2 in (15-25mph gusts) but the wheels are 64mm single wheels just like the nose of the F-22

[xviper]

Whoops! Forgot to follow up.

Yes I got them, and they are rotating retracts. I haven’t been able to test them out as the winds have been terrible to fly the B2 in (15-25mph gusts) but the wheels are 64mm single wheels just like the nose of the F-22

Are they on your plane? Was the connector handy to get at? I guess they needed a small wheel so foam didn't need to be excavated. Seems kinda small for such a heavy plane on grass. There appears to be an outline in the foam to be hogged out for bigger wheels. I gotta get the plane out and on the table and do some analyzing.
Thanks, Rudy.

[GliderGuy]

Xviper, FYI….There is a plywood plate “above” the plastic main mounts. If you need to use larger mounts, like the MiG’s, there is structure to support them. The stock plastic main gear servo mounts each have 2 screws that go in to the plywood.

It’s a good strong main gear design.

-GG

[RudyD54]

Are they on your plane? Was the connector handy to get at? I guess they needed a small wheel so foam didn't need to be excavated. Seems kinda small for such a heavy plane on grass. There appears to be an outline in the foam to be hogged out for bigger wheels. I gotta get the plane out and on the table and do some analyzing.
Thanks, Rudy.

The springs are two stage like the ones in the F-14. Tons of travel and light resistance and then the last inch is a hard spring. I expect them to be just fine for the B2 and the connectors are right there in the wheel well so it’s 8 screws and 5 minutes if you take your time.

[GliderGuy]

Speaking of “connectors being right there”, If/when you need to replace an elevator servo, pull out the servo about 4 inches and you will have a connector right there and handy. No need to try and run a long connection to the control box.

-GG

[xviper]

Thanks for the info, guys. I've got some time now to play with this mod.