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

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey fella’s. So I installed the trailing link nose gear and I’m noticing the wheel will easily contact the gear door. Did I miss something or install it backwards? Here’s a pic of what it looks like when I push down on it.

Thanks,

Jay

I initially had the trailing link nose strut as well as most suggested it was best for grass ops. In about 50 flights landing on grass, on several occasions (maybe 5) that gear door "stuck" on the nose wheel after landing and acted as a full on brake. Kinda annoying but since it was on grass, the wheel slid enough on the grass without causing any damage, but it did come to a complete stop fairly quickly. Just made it a requirement to set it down as "lightly" as possible until it got "stuck" again on a take-off roll in some heavier grass. At first couldn't understand why it wouldn't get up to speed for take-off until I realized that the front wheel was no longer rolling and it was stuck on the door. After that I changed it back to the stock strut and it's been "rolling" free ever since. I can image on a hard runway or asphalt, if that nose wheel sticks on landing it may cause quite a issue, so either remove the door or go back to the stock strut.

[xviper]

Ok sounds good. I'll take a look a the clearance in the wheel well. Wonder if I should just put the stock gear back on and take my chances on my grass runway. Hmmm...

Thanks,

Jay

Not everyone has the bucking bronco thing on landing. Some people can grease the landing with the stock strut and have no issues, while some people with the trailing link strut can still have a bouncer regularly. It all depends on your landing technique. Land lightly on the mains first and let the nose drop down easy and it's not a problem no matter which strut you've got.

[lt1pwr]

It's possible. The suspension will still work but look at the way the tire is behind the vertical line of the strut. If you turn it around, the tire will be in front of the vertical line and you may find ground steering to be very twitchy. You may simply turn your plane into a "wandering minstrel". Easy enough to try. Oh, and the tire may hit the top of the wheel well if turn around. See how much clearance you've got as is and decide if there's enough if the tire was turned over.

Ok sounds good. I'll take a look a the clearance in the wheel well. Wonder if I should just put the stock gear back on and take my chances on my grass runway. Hmmm...

Thanks,

Jay

[xviper]

Hey Viper, thanks for those suggestions. By changing this out, it solved 1 problem but created another .

I wonder if I rotated it 180 degrees if it would effectively still work?

Thanks,

Jay

It's possible. The suspension will still work but look at the way the tire is behind the vertical line of the strut. If you turn it around, the tire will be in front of the vertical line and you may find ground steering to be very twitchy. You may simply turn your plane into a "wandering minstrel". Easy enough to try. Oh, and the tire may hit the top of the wheel well if turn around. See how much clearance you've got as is and decide if there's enough if the tire was turned over.

[lt1pwr]

Hey Viper, thanks for those suggestions. By changing this out, it solved 1 problem but created another .

I wonder if I rotated it 180 degrees if it would effectively still work?

Thanks,

Jay

[xviper]

I think that's the way it goes. It's a "give and take" sort of thing. You have a couple of choices. One is to stiffen up the spring in the strut so it doesn't compress quite so much when it runs along a bumpy surface. Two is to stretch the spring on the door so the spring holds the door a bit away from the strut, yet still be short enough to pull the door fully closed when the gear is retracted.
PS. One more choice. After I smacked the gear on a rough landing, the whole door broke off. I just left it off.

[lt1pwr]

Hey fella’s. So I installed the trailing link nose gear and I’m noticing the wheel will easily contact the gear door. Did I miss something or install it backwards? Here’s a pic of what it looks like when I push down on it.

Thanks,

Jay

[Rick Dizzle]

Thanks for the reply. I will reach out and let you guys know of the response. LOTS of great info on this thread. Clearly have a lot of reading to do.

In response to this...Motion RC replied as follows:

They are all shipping with the decals pre-applied. This was a decision by freewing.

Best Regards,


So looks like will be doing a repaint if I pull the trigger.

[Hugh Wiedman]

About to maiden the A-10 (after many months procrastinating on the paint scheme). Sorry, but instead of clawing my way through 560 some odd comments, can anyone direct me to the first few threads on how the maidens have gone...any info on results good or bad on fresh out of the box A-10 flights have gone. Thanks guys...

Can't really direct you to some threads on maidens, but I do have a couple of suggestions that have worked out well for me.
1) Manual suggests to balance it at 78mm. Too nose heavy for me, start around 88-90mm. I fly mine at 95mm which allows for a slower landing with full flaps while keeping the nose up. The only real problem people have had with this is landing fast with nose gear hitting either first or simultaneously with the mains which will cause the nose to bounce up and end up bucking like a bronco down the runway, usually ending in disaster. Balancing it at 78mm IMO makes this happen more often, while going to 90mm or more makes it super easy to land. This aircraft will slow down much more than you would expect and can glide in on low power nicely.
2) Use about 4-6 clicks of up elevator trim with recommended flap deflections.

That's about it, this is actually one of the easiest EDF's to fly and land. Has plenty of power and flies scale at 50% throttle.

[FlyHerbAir]

About to maiden the A-10 (after many months procrastinating on the paint scheme). Sorry, but instead of clawing my way through 560 some odd comments, can anyone direct me to the first few threads on how the maidens have gone...any info on results good or bad on fresh out of the box A-10 flights have gone. Thanks guys...

[Rick Dizzle]

1/10

Thank you!

[Twowingtj]

1/10

[Rick Dizzle]

Looking on Callie Graphics site for livery... what scale is this 80mm airframe?

[Elbee]

Was looking at grabbing this airframe for a winter/spring detailed build. My whole plan was to weather the aircraft, detail it up to include the cockpit and then create a livery package for it to emulate the 354th Fighter Squadron (Bulldogs) out of Davis Monthan AFB. Sadly, as I have been reading, it sounds like these aircraft are all now arriving pre-decaled up. I am pretty sure I already have my answer, but is there any way to secure one of these "naked" with no livery installed? Anyone we can reach out to at Freewing to request this?

RD, you can strip the whole airframe. The A-10 was my return choice to RC after many years away. I did not know any better and just stripped the paint off all the surfaces using acetone. Kind of a smelly process, but harmless to the EPA foam. I then added 3-4 coats of Minwax Polycrylic semi gloss and painted with Behr latex. It is a process, but what the heck it's a hobby, too. Best, LB

[okcrcpilot]

Was looking at grabbing this airframe for a winter/spring detailed build. My whole plan was to weather the aircraft, detail it up to include the cockpit and then create a livery package for it to emulate the 354th Fighter Squadron (Bulldogs) out of Davis Monthan AFB. Sadly, as I have been reading, it sounds like these aircraft are all now arriving pre-decaled up. I am pretty sure I already have my answer, but is there any way to secure one of these "naked" with no livery installed? Anyone we can reach out to at Freewing to request this?

Rick, don't let the preinstalled decals stop you from getting the A-10. When I bought my second one, which came with decals already on the ship, I was a little perturbed. I tried removing one, just to see how well it would come off. What a PITA!! So I just painted over them and applied a different livery from Callie Graphics.

[lt1pwr]

Jay,

As Elbee said, the door stays open on the full scale. That said, I'd just leave it be as it works correctly out of the box.

Hey Pat,

Sounds good! I’ll leave it just the way it is. The voice in my head is saying don’t fix it unless it’s broke

Thanks,

Jay

[Rick Dizzle]

There's "Alpha", who was the MotionRC guy who worked out of the Freewing factory but I haven't seen or heard anything from him for a long time, so don't know what's going on there. You might contact MotionRC customer service with your query. Can't say if anything will come of it but all you can do is try.

Thanks for the reply. I will reach out and let you guys know of the response. LOTS of great info on this thread. Clearly have a lot of reading to do.

[xviper]

Was looking at grabbing this airframe for a winter/spring detailed build. My whole plan was to weather the aircraft, detail it up to include the cockpit and then create a livery package for it to emulate the 354th Fighter Squadron (Bulldogs) out of Davis Monthan AFB. Sadly, as I have been reading, it sounds like these aircraft are all now arriving pre-decaled up. I am pretty sure I already have my answer, but is there any way to secure one of these "naked" with no livery installed? Anyone we can reach out to at Freewing to request this?

There's "Alpha", who was the MotionRC guy who worked out of the Freewing factory but I haven't seen or heard anything from him for a long time, so don't know what's going on there. You might contact MotionRC customer service with your query. Can't say if anything will come of it but all you can do is try.

[Rick Dizzle]

Was looking at grabbing this airframe for a winter/spring detailed build. My whole plan was to weather the aircraft, detail it up to include the cockpit and then create a livery package for it to emulate the 354th Fighter Squadron (Bulldogs) out of Davis Monthan AFB. Sadly, as I have been reading, it sounds like these aircraft are all now arriving pre-decaled up. I am pretty sure I already have my answer, but is there any way to secure one of these "naked" with no livery installed? Anyone we can reach out to at Freewing to request this?

[crxmanpat]

Jay,

As Elbee said, the door stays open on the full scale. That said, I'd just leave it be as it works correctly out of the box.