Freewing ME 262 pre- maiden tips

[Bluebird]

Hi Gang Getting prepped to maiden my Freewing ME262 and I have some questions. Re the CG are you going by the manufacturer specs of 100 - 110mm or is it different from that? I see Rich Baker advises using the two slots on the bottom of the wing about 95 mm back as his reference point, so its a little confusing.

Also when taking off are you always using half flap? What about landing in low wind and high wind conditions. Do you ever use full flap?

Thanks for your help! Bluebird

[TiredIronGRB]

Set your timer for about 2.5 minutes...

[seaviper]

Well, did it fly?

I hope you had a great first flight. Let us know how it went.

[Ron1950]

yes how did it go? id love to get a me262 also

[z06z33]

Check to make sure both of your rx wires are t he same length,I almost lost my 262 on its first flight due to signal loss thankfully I was able to run towards the plane and get signal back before it hit. (Super Lucky) it's an easy plane to fly just keep your speed up on approach it's better to land fast than to stall. As for take off climb with a low AOA till your speed is up don't force it off the ground. The noise of the 262 is its weak point so avoid letting the nose gear hit first as I've seen the whole nose come off the plane. I lucked out with mine when I made a super hard landing after signal loss. I hit so hard that it knocked the retaining clip off the nose gear but the nose stayed on but the tire didn't lol.

[Pheonix]

I have had my ME262 since they came out and it is one of my favorite planes to fly. I have the Dynam one as well. No flaps, but it sure flies well with a 5-cell battery.

[Bluebird]

Thanks guys for your interest and helpful tips. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.
So to answer your question: no I actually haven't yet flown it yet. I started reading multiple reports of people experiencing nose failures on the plane and decided I should do something about it before flying this bird. I bought carbon fibre rods as people have suggested and used 4 of them to reinforce the nose. It was actually quite simple and if you sharpen one end of the rod to a point it can be pushed right in through the foam without having to drill a hole. This helped a lot and the outside of the plane is untouched after these efforts. I also filled some of the cavities underneath where the nose wheel is with expanding foam. It was a mess to clean up and I'm not sure of the effectiveness but i thought it might help a little. If you want more details of the process I can elaborate further.
Of course the work has yet to be tested, so at this point it is still speculation whether I achieved anything or not with the reinforcing.
I am presently enjoying the new FMS T28 Trojan, which is a wonderful airplane. Had a few bumps and hiccups with the landings at first but now seem to have worked everything out. The landing gear and the approach of these two planes are similar so a few more hours with that plane and then I will likely do the maiden flight of the 262.
Will report back! Happy flying!

[Bluebird]

Well finally. today Oct. 12,2016 I flew the Me262. It went very well. I had added a little extra weight to the nose as per Rich Baker's recommendation in his build guide. I believe this helped a lot to balance the plane as I was using a 4000Mah battery and had to put it all the way forward to get correct balance. The plane required no trim and gave me no surprises.
I will add some down elevator to the Flap mix as she was a little floaty coming in even with almost no headwind. I used the flaps with 50% for take off and 100% for landing. Will start out with about 10% down elevator for landing and see how she does.
This plane is fast. I found she will fly nicely with 60% throttle and is no more difficult to stay on top of than my T28 Trojan with 80% throttle, roughly speaking.
If you're going to buy this plane use Rich Baker's build guide. He has some excellent ideas and has thoroughly thought out every aspect of this plane.
I felt very confident flying this maiden even with six of our club members looking on. (Which normally I find uncomfortable)
Best of luck, whoever reads this!

[Prowler901]

Congrats on the successful maiden flight!