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

[petefoss]

Uograded to a IBM PCXT?

[Aros]

For you guys? Only the best. ;)

[Mike_Then]

I'm right there with you, Mike_Then! I admit I love the look on people's faces when they see what the cutting edge of the EDF market looks like these days. This afternoon a friend who owns the BVM A-10 came over and gawked at this Freewing A-10 after I landed. He about fell over when I told him the projected price, which is the cost of his A-10's *COCKPIT* alone. Now granted, this foamy isn't a BVM A-10, but in the air, I would be hard pressed to say the BVM is worth the 15-20 times more that he paid. Of course, comparing apples to oranges isn't constructive, but my point is that foamies have come a long way in giving a wider market access to products of satisfying diversity, quality, and performance. Almost all of the turbine drivers at my airfield fly Stinger 90s, Stregas, or Carbon Z T-28s.

Back in the day... let's say in 2006 or 2007, I had a Dave Patrick Ultimate Biplane. Those that had that plane know that while it was a great flier, it was grossly heavier than Dave Patrick stated it was. He also said it was "adequately powered" on a .91 4-stroke, but in reality, it barely got off the ground. I ended up ugrading it to 1.20 and then finally a 1.80 when it really came alive. I ended up converting it to electric and used a 10s system, and of course it flew better on 10s electric than it ever could have hoped to fly on a heavy glow setup.

I was at a club fly-in - it was at a club about 30 minutes from where I lived at the time, and it was full of your stereotypical old curmudgeons. One of them passed my pit and I heard them grumbling "damn electrics, don't have enough power" or something to that effect to his fellow curmudgeon. I wheeled my DP Ultimate to the flight line, plugged in my batteries, performed a vertical departure, flew for 7 minutes in a manner that showed electrics have plenty of power, landed, and taxiied past the same old curmudgeons who had been flipping the prop on their gas-powered plane during my entire flight. I said something along the lines of, "yep, damn electrics... no power, no run-time!". It was sweet, poetic justice. :D

[Aros]

I was at a club fly-in - it was at a club about 30 minutes from where I lived at the time, and it was full of your stereotypical old curmudgeons. One of them passed my pit and I heard them grumbling "damn electrics, don't have enough power" or something to that effect to his fellow curmudgeon. I wheeled my DP Ultimate to the flight line, plugged in my batteries, performed a vertical departure, flew for 7 minutes in a manner that showed electrics have plenty of power, landed, and taxiied past the same old curmudgeons who had been flipping the prop on their gas-powered plane during my entire flight. I said something along the lines of, "yep, damn electrics... no power, no run-time!". It was sweet, poetic justice. :D

LOL, are you sure that wasn't at my club? It's so bad there that they refuse to cater to the ubiquity of electrics. All they care about is their old gassers with tundra wheels which can handle the bumpy short field. EDF with retracts? Yeah good luck with that. It's why I no longer fly there and choose the Junior High School near me instead.

[Grossman56]

The Freewing Twin 80mm A-10 soaking up the sunshine in Southern California.

Hey X, bad enough that you got the new plane, but the sunshine, that's just going too far!!
Said as it's snowing AGAIN here in Cody and is forecast to snow until tomorrow evening!!!

Enjoy it !!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

As I've stated before, we can get the power with electrics, no problem, but somewhere in the not-too-distant future, there will come along a 'super' Lipo, which will, for the same weight as a standard Lipo, give you fifteen minutes worth of flight time. That will be the final nail in the coffin of comparision between electrics and gassers. We will finally be on an even playing ground, and, as stated, we won't be sitting on the ground flipping a prop attached to a stubborn motor. I'm very impressed with the flight times I can get with a 4000 4s in my Bearcat, so we're definitely moving along in the right direction!
So, the only thing that could be used against a foamie then would be that the size is restricted. Bet we'll see the end of that pretty soon as well.

Grossman56

[Clearblue]

I'd say you are correct Gross! Just thinking back just a handful of years ago, NIMH power. Brushed motors and very limited selection of planes. I have slowly moved onto Electric's. It's just a matter of time management really. I have less support equipment to load and unload. Clean aircraft after I fly, and scale planes to boot. I only see better and better batteries coming. And all I can say is Bring It On!

[xplaneguy]

The New Kids! :)

[Alpha]

I really like that picture, Xplaneguy! The new kids, camping out in the shade together.

I'm preparing a tutorial on adapting the fully body 1/10 scale jet pilot from Jethangar.com to fit into the cockpit of the Freewing 80mm A-10. It's a good alternative for someone looking for to up the scale fidelity ante with a full body highly detailed resin pilot figure, instead of the semi-full vinyl bust we're creating for the A-10.

We're also looking at a crew ladder and other display accessories. You heard it here first!

[T-CAT]

Bad to the bone, Alpha! I have a JetHangar 1/10 full bodied pilot I purchased last month that I painted up and ready to go. I'll be adding the audio/communication wiring as well to the mask.

For others to see how the pilot comes, first it's unpainted, and the head, hands, and oxygen cord has to be glued on. A light layer of 5-min epoxy or CA gel works well. Purchase some detail brushes of a variety of brush widths to ensure you can paint either larger or smaller areas of surfaces whether you want/need fine detailing or large surface paint cover. Choose the colors you'd like to apply for whatever look you're going for. I used Testors paints, as well as my wife's nail polish ;) :) (it works amazing for various parts depending on the color you choose and dries quickly, yet very durable, and often times cheaper for a larger amount of paint). Take your time, shake the bottle of paint well before use, and add layers until the desired look is completed. Patience goes a long way here, and you'll be shocked at how realistic it will look once done. The pics above show the unpainted and unassembled pilot, then the completed painted job.

[RCjetdude]

I really like that picture, Xplaneguy! The new kids, camping out in the shade together.

I'm preparing a tutorial on adapting the fully body 1/10 scale jet pilot from Jethangar.com to fit into the cockpit of the Freewing 80mm A-10. It's a good alternative for someone looking for to up the scale fidelity ante with a full body highly detailed resin pilot figure, instead of the semi-full vinyl bust we're creating for the A-10.

We're also looking at a crew ladder and other display accessories. You heard it here first!

Thank you on both accounts. I got one of these pilot figures as well for the A-10. Glad to know I will be able to use him. :D

[xplaneguy]

One more A-10 photo before we depart for our annual four day Powered Paragliding trip.

[Alpha]

Nice to see some of us are planning ahead! Yes, Jet Hangar's 1/10 full body pilot figure fits into the Freewing A-10 nicely. I sliced a square area for each leg to fit under the instrument panel, cut off the boots for easier insertion (they're not visible anyway), and trimmed off part of his butt with a Dremel. Total work time less than two minutes, after about five minutes of planning. My pictures will make it very obvious where to cut. Everything else fits in nicely. Jet Mang was kind enough to send me a pilot figure so I could publish the conversion tutorial in advance of the A-10's delivery. He's had this pilot figure on the market for quite a while, and while technically it could stand to be 1mm smaller all around, for this A-10 overall it's the best detailed and closest scale modern jet pilot I've found. Plus, Jet Mang's casts are good quality and I like dealing with people I know personally and consider friends. #sharethelove

Good tip on the nail polish, T-Cat. Black high gloss nail polish is perfect for visors.

[Alpha]

Four days?? That sounds like mighty parapowered fun! We're filming at Apollo again this weekend and will do some low passes in your honor.

EDIT: Xplaneguy's photo shows the 1/10 pilot bust from Jethangar.com. The 1/10 fully body pilot from them is essentially the same dimensions, just with arms and a lower body. For people just wanting to swap out the stock bust, either the full body or the bust from jethangar.com will work. You'll just need to prop up the bust about 10mm to achieve the head height seen in the photo.

[Aros]

Nice work on those pilots, gents! Good to know where I can grab one when it's time...

[T-CAT]

Nice to see some of us are planning ahead! Yes, Jet Hangar's 1/10 full body pilot figure fits into the Freewing A-10 nicely. I sliced a square area for each leg to fit under the instrument panel, cut off the boots for easier insertion (they're not visible anyway), and trimmed off part of his butt with a Dremel. Total work time less than two minutes, after about five minutes of planning. My pictures will make it very obvious where to cut. Everything else fits in nicely. Jet Mang was kind enough to send me a pilot figure so I could publish the conversion tutorial in advance of the A-10's delivery. He's had this pilot figure on the market for quite a while, and while technically it could stand to be 1mm smaller all around, for this A-10 overall it's the best detailed and closest scale modern jet pilot I've found. Plus, Jet Mang's casts are good quality and I like dealing with people I know personally and consider friends. #sharethelove

Good tip on the nail polish, T-Cat. Black high gloss nail polish is perfect for visors.

It absolutely does work great, and cheap and quick too. High gloss black and a clear coat sealant works fantastic.

We're all really looking forward to getting this jet.

Excellent job RCjetdude!

Thanks Aros! I think you'll really like the pilot mold. It has great detail and more than worth the price. It's also veryyyyyyyyyy light for the size.

[xplaneguy]

Four days?? That sounds like mighty parapowered fun! We're filming at Apollo again this weekend and will do some low passes in your honor.

Thanks Alpha! We may stop by Apollo late Sunday afternoon to checkout those passes. Have fun! :)

Pilot figures look great, gents!

[Mobywon]

Hey all, do we know the final date for pre-orders yet? I'm gonna need to put myself on Lorazapam each day till it happens, so please make it happen soon!

[RCjetdude]

One more A-10 photo before we depart for our annual four day Powered Paragliding trip.

Awesome! I've always wanted to do that myself.

[Aros]

Hey all, do we know the final date for pre-orders yet? I'm gonna need to put myself on Lorazapam each day till it happens, so please make it happen soon!

Hi Mobywon, welcome to Hobby Squawk! Currently we do not have a precise date set just yet for pre-orders for this magnificent A-10. Alpha will know more than myself about that but it should be in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!