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

[Warthog]

SI, Welcome to "The Squawk". I used white electricians' tape from the local home store. It came in a blaster pack with 3 or 4 other colors. I painted it with matching latex paints.. Make certain the tape is 'relaxed' before painting it and allow it to dry completely before lifting it to add to your airframe. I did the "Peanut Scheme" though and had the latex paints on hand. You could do something similarly with either latex or enamels, I would think.. Best, LB

MAN ELbee, that is a sharp looking bird. Great paint job!!

[salali]

SI, Welcome to "The Squawk". I used white electricians' tape from the local home store. It came in a blaster pack with 3 or 4 other colors. I painted it with matching latex paints.. Make certain the tape is 'relaxed' before painting it and allow it to dry completely before lifting it to add to your airframe. I did the "Peanut Scheme" though and had the latex paints on hand. You could do something similarly with either latex or enamels, I would think.. Best, LB

Thanks Elbee . That's a great idea. I'll either look for a color match at my local hobby store or color match at paint store.

You did an amazing job w/ your A-10. I'm seriously thinking about customizing mine to the Blacksnake livery. Tracking orientation might be an issue though.

~Cheers

[Elbee]

Anyone know where I can find the gray tape used to hide the servo wires on the base grey stock model? Thanks.

SI, Welcome to "The Squawk". I used white electricians' tape from the local home store. It came in a blaster pack with 3 or 4 other colors. I painted it with matching latex paints.. Make certain the tape is 'relaxed' before painting it and allow it to dry completely before lifting it to add to your airframe. I did the "Peanut Scheme" though and had the latex paints on hand. You could do something similarly with either latex or enamels, I would think.. Best, LB

[salali]

Anyone know where I can find the gray tape used to hide the servo wires on the base grey stock model?

Thanks.

[Warthog]

With all the mods I did, mine comes in at just under 17 lbs.! Haven’t flown it yet. It has 12 blade 90mm EDFs. 10g wire all through, 130 amp ESCs and the batteries are 8000 mah 100C.

[RCjetdude]

WH, Don't know the absolute limit, though I recall RCjetdude's A-10 was just above 14 lbs with all his mods. Best, LB

Mine flew at 16lbs. on the stock fans.

[GliderGuy]

What is the heaviest weight one of these can fly?

Hi WH...It depends upon many factors such as:

• How long is your runway? Heavy will take a longer runway.
• How smooth is your runway (broken gear from stress on rough surfaces)?
• The type of runway surface (dirt, hard pavement, grass)
• Are you planning on doing any aerobatics. Heavy weight will decrease the ability to do aerobatics due to the increased airframe stress...something may break.
• What flight times are you shooting for (heavy weight = higher throttle setting = shorter flights)
• Can you add the weight and not stray too far from the suggested CG?
• How good are you at landing EVERY time? A hard landing at a heavy weight = broken gear
• Are you willing to accept the difference in handling the added weight might cause? Greater mass will equate to a slower response to control input due to the inertia of the system.

Interesting note:
Some full scale sailplanes have a tremendously wide weight range. Going from a take-off weight of 600 pounds to over 1300 pounds (or more) with added water ballast (to improve the glide ratio at a given high speed). But, the pilots must accept a lot of the above AND they dump the water before landing to avoid breaking the landing gear. See photo below...dumping water prior to landing. Yes, the added weight does have an impact on the climb rate in thermals, but the added boost to the glide ratio at a given high speed overcomes this slight decrease in climb rate when the thermals are strong.

Example: L/D (glide ratio) at 100 mph at 600 pounds might be 35/1. L/D at 100 mph at 1300 pounds might be 50/1...a huge difference with wing loading going from 6.5 lbs/square foot no water to over 10 pounds/square foot with water ballast.

Learn more about how weight impacts glide performance (one such article...there are many!)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-d...61603872063488


-GG

[Elbee]

What is the heaviest weight one of these can fly?

WH, Don't know the absolute limit, though I recall RCjetdude's A-10 was just above 14 lbs with all his mods. Best, LB

[Warthog]

What is the heaviest weight one of these can fly?

[Bazza]

I have had that exact problem with not only the original plane but also with the replacement wings as well. I've reglued the hinges by putting foam safe CA into a syringe to get the glue into the areas that need to be glued. Has worked great.

Aghh thank you very much, I was quite worried about what to do as the Chinese seller has refused to talk to me

[salali]

Unfortunate Carnage!

After 3 great and fun flights, I had a nasty crash while trying to take off. I had a good roll out and gained speed as normal. After I lifted off, the plane quickly bounced back to the ground. In hindsight, I should have aborted but I pulled up. I felt like I had positive lift and was gaining altitude. This was likely due to the 3mm up trim in the elevator at neutral to keep the nose up. Suddenly, the plane crashed down violently after I pulled up for more altitude.

After reviewing the video, the likely cause was due to the right elevator staying in neutral. After the crash, I tested all control surfaces and both elevators are working normally. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this?

The wing box section, fuse, and front retract and nose area broke. All three retract servos along w/ gear pins snapped as well. The wing and rear tail area survived.

Good news, I can glue everything back together. I plan on using foam tac (Beacon) to glue everything back together rather than CA.

Any advice or recommendation on repairing will be appreciated.

[Abwagner121]

I have had that exact problem with not only the original plane but also with the replacement wings as well. I've reglued the hinges by putting foam safe CA into a syringe to get the glue into the areas that need to be glued. Has worked great.

[Bazza]

has anyone else received their A-10 and found all the control surfaces loose on one end, I will not fly this plane as it is so bad it is bound to have the control surfaces go into a mad flutter and cause the loss of the plane, I cannot see any way of repairing it as there is zero room to even trickle some glue down into the hinge holes in the wings and horizontal stabs every one is sloppy but strangely only at one end of each control, but the rudders are fine. The port side aileron is the worst, I have submitted a video to Motion RC as the seller has basically ignored my requests for assistance. I just tried uploading the video here but it said I cannot upload a file ending with mp4

[rlcamden]

I' haven't posted about this yet but indeed, I've had the same problem - the tire rubs on the door when the suspension is depressed and I have ruined two tires so far. It grinds them right down, and quickly!
First time I noticed it I was like, "what the hell is wrong with the nose wheel, half the tire is missing!" LOL I am tempted to just put the stock NG back on. The only reason I'm using the trailing link is that I think it looks better.

I cut a small section from a BIC plastic ink pen tube to limit the travel to where the wheel just cleared the door under full compression. Worked good, but I eventual went back with the stock Oleo strut.

[themudduck]

Works for me, just watch out for the issue of bottoming out that nose gear. It can get stuck in that position and the wheel locks up. Fortunately never happened yet on take off as I'm careful to hold substantial up elevator while taxiing and at the beginning of the take-off run, then relax it more at 50% rotation speed so by the time I'm up to 80%, virtually no up elevator. Haven't heard of many with this problem so maybe the clearance on mine is just too tight, probably should correct it but then I'm just too damn lazy.

I' haven't posted about this yet but indeed, I've had the same problem - the tire rubs on the door when the suspension is depressed and I have ruined two tires so far. It grinds them right down, and quickly!
First time I noticed it I was like, "what the hell is wrong with the nose wheel, half the tire is missing!" LOL I am tempted to just put the stock NG back on. The only reason I'm using the trailing link is that I think it looks better.

[Ivan Marmara]

Great follow-up responses xviper and themudduck regarding the CG and the ability of being able to keep the nose up on landing, thereby avoiding the bucking bronco, with a further aft CG. Ivan Marmara , I believe you need to get it balanced somewhere in the 88-93mm range for ease of landing (I've marked my batteries at 92mm but almost always get them back just a bit further) and the 2 Roaring Top 6250's I'm using weight 798 gr each. The Admiral 6000's weigh in at 836 gr (and I also have some "newer" ones weighing 874 gr each) so you will have a bit of extra work getting the CG back, but definitely do it. themudduck, honestly never knew that the CG really only affected the landing attitude but after your explanation, makes perfect sense. I have been flying mine at 92mm or > since the maiden so I have always been impressed with the ease of landing considering what many people have posted and you've just confirmed my suspicion as to the reason why.

SanExup I'm using the stock trailing link mains and the "upgraded" trailing link nose strut since I fly off of grass. The only bad tendency the trailing link nose strut has is that it can occasionally depress too much (in heavy grass or bumps) causing the nose wheel to get stuck and bind on the door, acting like a brake. Happened a couple of times on taxi and at first I though WTF? I found that if I keep full up elevator while taxiing it eliminates that from happening as the EDF "exhaust" goes directly over the horizontal surfaces and can easily push the tail down keeping the nose gear from bottoming out.

Thanks for your shared info. Much appreciated.!

Regards

Ivan

[Ivan Marmara]

Hi there, I thought I'd comment and mention to you that one interesting thing about this model is that it flies really well, regardless of whether its nose heavy or neutral or a bit tail heavy. Its remarkable that way and you should have complete confidence that you're not going to have a problem with the way it flies depending on the balance point. You're going to love the way it flies!

Of course there are consequences to how you balance it - with this plane it mainly affects how it lands. In the nose-heavy configuration (CG per the manual) you will have poor elevator response at low speed and it will be hard to pull the nose up (assuming that your landing is slower than your flying speed) As others said, it will absolutely result in you banging down on the nose gear first, which will make the model bounce and buck (bucking bronco ride) or even break the nose gear right off. With the CG moved back its much easier to hold the nose up on landing. And it will still fly very nicely and behave itself. You can play around with the different landing gears but the CG is more important as far as what it does during landings.

Noted will consider all your recommendations.

THANKS.!

[Dirty Dee]

And.... two years ago there were SIX of us who flew our A10s at the Columbus Ohio E-JETS and Warbirds event at the Deer Creek State Park. Last year was cancelled.

Who is coming this year? Sept 9-12. This year I would like to see 8 or 10 or more A10s flying all at the same time! Or in squadrons! Yeeehaa!

I was hoping to attend this year, but looks like it wouldn't happen. Hoping I can make it next year since I likely will be missing EDF Jet Jam 2022

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh Wiedman Thanks Hugh! It seems like trailing link mains is the way to go for rough terrain, and thus the nose gear to have the same suspension type.

Works for me, just watch out for the issue of bottoming out that nose gear. It can get stuck in that position and the wheel locks up. Fortunately never happened yet on take off as I'm careful to hold substantial up elevator while taxiing and at the beginning of the take-off run, then relax it more at 50% rotation speed so by the time I'm up to 80%, virtually no up elevator. Haven't heard of many with this problem so maybe the clearance on mine is just too tight, probably should correct it but then I'm just too damn lazy.

[SanExup]

Hugh Wiedman Thanks Hugh! It seems like trailing link mains is the way to go for rough terrain, and thus the nose gear to have the same suspension type.