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

[DrDeath]

Thanks to Lon and DrDeath for battery placement input, I really appreciate it. Don't have a good balancer so this will work. Brad

Glad it worked out for you. As Lon said, you will be in the ball park and then adjust to your liking. Flash Jorden and I talked about where his was placed and we did a quick "finger" balance at the field. She was right where I like it. Waiting for my Callie Graphics before the next flight. I have 5 under my belt and waiting for the big fly in at our field this coming weekend. I might try and get another couple of flights in on the Goshawk before the big day. If tomorrow is a good day, will bring my 106" Super Cub and my Goshawk to the field.

[afjetmech]

Hi all,
So I am prepared for the possibility that this is the dumbest thing I ever posted but I was thinking during the ride home from the Jet Jam about the elevator position everyone seems to be starting with (top surface of the elevator aligned with the radar warning bumps). In other words, dialing in some "up" from the start. Depending on batteries, some seem to be dialing in even more after take off. Has anyone thought about maybe changing the horizontal stab incidence to even this out? Maybe a shim or maybe just a washer or two under the front stab mounting locations so you could make the elevator plane even with the stab plane again? Maybe it is not worth the risk of inducing some other bad tendency, but its just a thought. Hey, it was a 2.5 hour ride home. The mind wanders... It would be easy enough to fair in the foam so you don't have a step from the fuse.

Congrats on the out of the box maiden, Sam. Good to see you again and put faces with several names on the thread. What a great hobby this is. Wish I could have hung out longer.

Cheers,
Dan

Why bother? Just put in the little amount of up elevator that is needed and fly. This thing scoots along so good at half throttle, the little bit of elevator drag isn't even noticeable.

[Mike_Then]

Hi all,
So I am prepared for the possibility that this is the dumbest thing I ever posted but I was thinking during the ride home from the Jet Jam about the elevator position everyone seems to be starting with (top surface of the elevator aligned with the radar warning bumps). In other words, dialing in some "up" from the start. Depending on batteries, some seem to be dialing in even more after take off. Has anyone thought about maybe changing the horizontal stab incidence to even this out? Maybe a shim or maybe just a washer or two under the front stab mounting locations so you could make the elevator plane even with the stab plane again? Maybe it is not worth the risk of inducing some other bad tendency, but its just a thought. Hey, it was a 2.5 hour ride home. The mind wanders... It would be easy enough to fair in the foam so you don't have a step from the fuse.

Congrats on the out of the box maiden, Sam. Good to see you again and put faces with several names on the thread. What a great hobby this is. Wish I could have hung out longer.

Cheers,
Dan

It's not a dumb question. But just do what I did; line 'em up with the bumps and trim it for flight. It cruises effortlessly at 50% throttle. I think any time and effort spent trying to neutralize the elevators is not going to be worth it, simply because it flies so well the way it is. I'd hate to see time wasted doing that when you can be burnin' some electrons. :Cool:

[Mike_Then]

And to prove it, please see my maiden flight video from today! What a sweet-flying plane!!

[EDFjetpilot]

I put 19 flights on mine (OS tail flash) over the last 3 days at the Jet Jam! Best to land with some power to stay out of the "death bounce". I did learn that if I bounce it...go around.

Congrats to those on the recent maidens!

Sean

[Lon]

[QUOTE=Mike_Then;n81801]And to prove it, please see my maiden flight video from today! What a sweet-flying plane!!

Great maiden flight!!

[Mike_Then]

Great maiden flight!!

Thanks! The elevator neutral position was as we discussed, and only need a few clicks of trim to fly level.

[dahawk]

Outstanding Maiden ! No bounce landing. Grease city ! Can't wait to maiden mine tomorrow. What would you compare this plane to as far as feel ? EG Stinger 90? F7F TigerCat ?

[T-CAT]

Awesome flights!!

[Racer686]

I got another 5 flights on the A-10 today. A buddy was able to film a few of the flights and posted this one on his youtube channel. I think I'm getting comfortable with her, as witnessed by the slow, inverted, runway pass I made. I need to create a mix for the nose wheel on take off, our runway is wavy and can send this plane, especially, tracking all over it.
Enjoy!

[Mike_Then]

Outstanding Maiden ! No bounce landing. Grease city ! Can't wait to maiden mine tomorrow. What would you compare this plane to as far as feel ? EG Stinger 90? F7F TigerCat ?

Thanks! I have not flown either of those planes but I can say it has no real bad habits and it instills a lot of confidence. I didn't use flaps all day and never had a problem landing. Might be a little hotter than some prefer but it slowed down nicely. Good luck on your maiden!!

[Shirty]

Cool vids boys ;)

[RCAV8R]

Hey Mike, nice maiden! Very controlled banks! Did you use low or high rates? Rob

[RCAV8R]

I got another 5 flights on the A-10 today. A buddy was able to film a few of the flights and posted this one on his youtube channel. I think I'm getting comfortable with her, as witnessed by the slow, inverted, runway pass I made. I need to create a mix for the nose wheel on take off, our runway is wavy and can send this plane, especially, tracking all over it.
Enjoy!

Great video work Racer...beautiful field, BIG sky...I'll ask the same question I asked Mike...were you using low or high rates??? Rob

[Mike_Then]

Hey Mike, nice maiden! Very controlled banks! Did you use low or high rates? Rob

Thank you! The ailerons were 100% deflection with 20% expo. The elevator was 80% deflection with 20% expo. I can tell you which holes the pushrods are in if you like... it's still in the car cause I was hoping to fly again today but no such luck.

[RCAV8R]

100% of the recommended deflection? I haven't seen the instructions yet, but I'm assuming they gave the recommended distance for travel on both high and low? Rob

[Racer686]

Great video work Racer...beautiful field, BIG sky...I'll ask the same question I asked Mike...were you using low or high rates??? Rob

I'm using low rates for the full flight. I think ailerons can be lowered significantly still to get a scale roll that make the jet have more presence while doing it. My buddy filmed it on his GoPro 5 attached to his ball cap.

[bill34207]

Finally got mine to the field for it's maiden flight (plus two more) this morning. I was fortunate enough to have Jeff volunteer to run my camera for me and catch the maiden on video.
The maiden was uneventful only needing a few clicks of left aileron trim to get it flying smoothly. Most of the flight other than the take off and one vertical run was at half throttle (or maybe a little less) I had set the timer for 3.5 minutes and when it said one minute remaining, did a gear pass and set up for landing.
After taxiing back to the pits and checking the batteries, bumped my timer up to 4 minutes for the following two flights. The next two flights went well and kind of wish the third one had been caught on video since Steve and I took our Hawgs up at the same time and there were a few occasions where we were in close proximity to each other. That would have looked cool on video.
That's pretty much it for the report. I will add that the landings on flights 2 and 3 were much smoother than the maiden.

[Mike_Then]

100% of the recommended deflection? I haven't seen the instructions yet, but I'm assuming they gave the recommended distance for travel on both high and low? Rob

Honestly I didn't measure the ailerons. :Loser: I gave it a TLAR and went with it. It's the perfect amount, at least for my flying style. The pushrod is in the 2nd hole from center on the servo arm, and the outermost hole on the control horn.

[Mike_Then]

Here's another video from yesterday; a friend/club-mate and I had a blast trying to fly our A-10's in formation. Enjoy!