Official Freewing Twin 80mm/90mm A-10 Thunderbolt II Thread

[Aros]

Now that some of you are starting to get half-a-dozen or more sorties on her, what would you say is the key to greased/no bounce landings? Just curious as we all know each plane has its own flight/landing characteristics. I really want to nail my maiden landing!

LOL

[crxmanpat]

For me anyway; slow speed, full flaps, slightly nose up attitude, use throttle to control sink rate.

[dkalwishky]

For me anyway; slow speed, full flaps, slightly nose up attitude, use throttle to control sink rate.

Gee, sounds like what we generally so with a real plane. I'm continually amazed at guys that three point nose wheel planes when landing.

[Kloverzero]

Gee, sounds like what we generally so with a real plane. I'm continually amazed at guys that three point nose wheel planes when landing.

Does it count when it falls out of the sky like a brick and lands on all three??LOL

[dahawk]

In anticipation of getting the A-10 I knew I was going to need some space (I envy you guys with the awesome man caves!) so I made this wing rack for my Trojan and the Hog. It's standard PVC and some foam loosely held in place with zip ties (so the foam can adjust to the wing). I can easily add to it if I need to. The wall was the only real estate I had left! The fuse will go in the 3rd Robart stand on the table. Rob

What happens when you open the garage door ?

[crxmanpat]

I think the key with the A-10 is not to set it down hard on the mains and then have the nose slam into the ground. That causes it to bounce back up in the air.

[Kloverzero]

I think the key with the A-10 is not to set it down hard on the mains and then have the nose slam into the ground. That causes it to bounce back up in the air.

I did that on my first landing with her at Nall. It was two little bounces, followed by a great leap back into the air, had to punch it and go around. I figured out real quick you have to grease it in on the mains to avoid the bounce. In doing so, I broke the standoff off of the nose gear door, and pulled the wires out of the light. Glad I had glue and soldering equipment with me!!

[dkalwishky]

Does it count when it falls out of the sky like a brick and lands on all three??LOL

I've seen my fair share of pilots do that, one guy did it enough times that it put a bend is his 182's landing gear.:Scared:

[RCAV8R]

What happens when you open the garage door ?

There are two doors into the garage and we don't use that half for a car (thank you wifey)! Rob

[catvman]

A question for T-CAT on the nose art. Did you put each side on with one big piece or did you cut it up into pieces first. And if you put it on in one piece did you cut slits for overlaps? I have just finished putting on the general water slides. And am really procrastinating the nose art. I had not put water slide decals on for over 50 yrs. Had a learning curve, but pretty much have the hang of it now. You just have to keep really wet. I tried some of the testors solvents on the underneath side of wings as test. To me it looks like it discolored the gray a little. Anyway quit using it and went to soapy water, and worked great

Thanks Ron

[Aros]

For me anyway; slow speed, full flaps, slightly nose up attitude, use throttle to control sink rate.

Yeah that would be my normal procedure...Holding a touch of back pressure to keep the nose from slamming down after the mains touch, then gradual release of the right stick...

[ckankel]

Transport stand preview. More to come.

[T-CAT]

A question for T-CAT on the nose art. Did you put each side on with one big piece or did you cut it up into pieces first. And if you put it on in one piece did you cut slits for overlaps? I have just finished putting on the general water slides. And am really procrastinating the nose art. I had not put water slide decals on for over 50 yrs. Had a learning curve, but pretty much have the hang of it now. You just have to keep really wet. I tried some of the testors solvents on the underneath side of wings as test. To me it looks like it discolored the gray a little. Anyway quit using it and went to soapy water, and worked great

Thanks Ron

Hi Ron,

I applied each side piece as a whole. I made sure cut about 1/8" worth of extra room on the paper to help hold onto, so I wasn't accidentally touching parts of the decal that I didn't want to move. I didn't use any solution, just water to apply. I kept most of the decal on the paper and slid it off very slowly and little at a time. If you take the whole decal off the paper, there is a very slim chance to be able to hold it and not have it fold on itself, crinkle, etc. I apply it very slowly and only pressed down on parts of the decal I felt were in a good enough position that I didn't want to move, then began sliding a little more off the paper, and so on. Once your very set on parts of the decal being where you want it, I took a paper towel and pressed down lightly to absorb the water and adhere the decal (I pressed down, lifted up, pressed down, etc., but did not whipe the paper towel side to side, as that could make for a chance or wrinkling initially). Be very careful with it as it is incredible easy to crinkle on accident, and keeping a bit on the paper while applying a little at a time helps with that. During the process I also kept my fingers wet with water to ensure they didn't stick to the decal and move it or stick to it. With any overlaps, I did the best to put some water on my fingertips and massaged the decal in those areas lightly to gradually help it stick to the surface and eliminate binding. Any very small overlaps I did use a new sharp hobby knife to cut a small slit to lay it down flat. That was mostly only needed on the bottom area under the nose near the cannon. You'll notice some water trapped in the area like the protrusions on the nose, in between the panel lines, etc. You can then gently use a paper towel to slowly and ever so gently whipe it from one end of the panel line to the other to absorb the water and shuttle it out. For the nose area protrusions, if the water is trapped and will not come out easily, a small dap with the very tip of a sharp hobby knife in one of more will provide a water escape route, and you can then absorb with the paper towel.

Good luck! It's totally worth the effort though once it's on. It's a heck of a cool looking decal.

[TomPatton]

Hi Ron,

I applied each side piece as a whole. I made sure cut about 1/8" worth of extra room on the paper to help hold onto, so I wasn't accidentally touching parts of the decal that I didn't want to move. I didn't use any solution, just water to apply. I kept most of the decal on the paper and slid it off very slowly and little at a time. If you take the whole decal off the paper, there is a very slim chance to be able to hold it and not have it fold on itself, crinkle, etc. I apply it very slowly and only pressed down on parts of the decal I felt were in a good enough position that I didn't want to move, then began sliding a little more off the paper, and so on. Be very careful with it as it is incredible easy to crinkle on accident, and keeping a bit on the paper while applying a little at a time helps with that. During the process I also kept my fingers wet with water to ensure they didn't stick to the decal and move it or stick to it. With any overlaps, I did the best to put some water on my fingertips and massaged the decal in those areas lightly to gradually help it stick to the surface and eliminate binding. Any very small overlaps I did use a new sharp hobby knife to cut a small slit to lay it down flat. That was mostly only needed on the bottom area under the nose near the cannon. Good luck! It's totally worth the effort though once it's on. It's a heck of a cool looking decal.

Exactly the same procedure I used except I added 3 drops of dish soap into lukewarm water. It worked out great for me. Like T-Cat said, I cut decal out very close to the edge except the point that I was going to hold onto and slowly slid decal off of paper.
I rough cut the decal out first and placed it on the surface to get an idea as to which end I wanted to hold onto the paper and then cut the paper close to decal to make it easier for proper placement. Also start with small ones and save the nose decals for last. I did the shark mouth and applied it in one piece with no wrinkles at all. Even worked it down to perfectly mold to radome blister antenna on the nose...

[Dlxpkg2000]

Let's see if this works....https://youtu.be/g-E-ndSwvZc

[TomPatton]

So, my 5000mah batteries wouldn't allow the canopy to shut properly and had to trim quite a bit off the bottom, removed the magnets, etc. You have to love foam for this reason, easy customization. I had to fix my pilot figure and the way it sits to make room for the batteries, but it actually turned out to be a good thing as it allowed me to move it further back against the seat and at a little better height.

I got 2 orders of batteries, The first ones were short and rectangular, the second batch were square and longer. The long square ones fit fine on the top tray. They are all Admiral 5000 50c packs so I am using the long ones on top and the fat short ones on the bottom. My GG came out perfect at 78mm on a balancing stand with the bottom battery even with the back of the tray, and the top one the same, even with the back of the tray with armament installed and gear down.

[TomPatton]

I am planning on maiden this weekend if the wind cooperates. If it isn't to much trouble, could someone that has flown theirs post a close up picture that shows the neutral position of the elevator in alignment to the tail. Not sure if I understood the manual in regards to the proper setup.
I have mine set so that if you lay a machinist scale flat on top of elevator, the scale is even with the bottom of the radome blister antenna on the tail...
Thanks...

[T-CAT]

I got 2 orders of batteries, The first ones were short and rectangular, the second batch were square and longer. The long square ones fit fine on the top tray. They are all Admiral 5000 50c packs so I am using the long ones on top and the fat short ones on the bottom. My GG came out perfect at 78mm on a balancing stand with the bottom battery even with the back of the tray, and the top one the same, even with the back of the tray with armament installed and gear down.

Excellent! It's always nice when less effort or modding must be done to achieve what you want. I was hoping mine would fit perfectly, but they sit too high and required me to alter the canopy foam. I am using the Turnigy Graphene 6S 5000mah 65C LiPo's. They are a bit heavy, no doubt. I'm using the 80mm Freewing inrunner power systems though, which are heavier and thankfully so because that's what allowed me to CG without issue (gear down and airplane inverted).

[TiredIronGRB]

I am planning on maiden this weekend if the wind cooperates. If it isn't to much trouble, could someone that has flown theirs post a close up picture that shows the neutral position of the elevator in alignment to the tail. Not sure if I understood the manual in regards to the proper setup.
I have mine set so that if you lay a machinist scale flat on top of elevator, the scale is even with the bottom of the radome blister antenna on the tail...
Thanks...

[Alpha]

TomPatton, here's another picture from a different angle from RCjetdude. Essentially the same position as TiredIronGRB posted:

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc...9597#post79597



Also, to follow up on those asking if the forward nose door can stay open while the nose gear is deployed, here's something we've worked on at the factory that will allow that functionality. To be clear, if your A-10 door currently closes with the nose gear deployed, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS MOD. I'm still testing it to verify that it really is as simple as soldering a jumper wire between these two points, and doesn't require a re-flash of the board itself. If and when I verify it's that simple, then I'll post it here and the handful of us who want that functionality can decide if they want to attempt the soldering job. Even then, attempting this mod will void the board's warranty. I'm more so showing it just to demonstrate another example of us trying to incorporate customer feedback into our aircraft. We can't always chase down the rabbit hole on every request, but we do try to tackle a fair amount of them.



I hope you're enjoying my little bird, everyone! :D