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

[RCjetdude]

Dito!! Unless it was a mirage, I finally got the mains ordered 10 minutes ago. WOOHOO!!! Hey Anthony, you and Steve are off the hook.LOL

Glad they didn't take long to get back in stock.

[Oxotnik]

RE: my glitching aile servo....

Has the circuit board in the A-10 been pretty solid for you guys? I know that in other planes there have been many reports of faulty circuit boards, but I haven't seen much on that in this Thread (although I have not read much prior to page 335).

Oh, and I did scarf up an upgrade trailing link nose gear and a replacement servo yesterday. Will also turn my Mains around, per George's (and others) recommendations.

[RCjetdude]

My boards have been solid.

[OV10]

RE: my glitching aile servo....

Has the circuit board in the A-10 been pretty solid for you guys? I know that in other planes there have been many reports of faulty circuit boards, but I haven't seen much on that in this Thread (although I have not read much prior to page 335).

Oh, and I did scarf up an upgrade trailing link nose gear and a replacement servo yesterday. Will also turn my Mains around, per George's (and others) recommendations.

The PCB's (printed circuit boards) that have been in use across recent FL/FW products are passive devices. There is no active electronics components to fail.
The board just serves as dedicated interconnect for the signals and voltages to be distributed to the mass of servos/lighting/etracts.
There was some isolated concerns about possible corrosion causing signal loss but it was never really validated so for the most part these "interconnect" boards are the way to go.
I'm using them now on three giant scale builds without one bit of reservation.
As matter of fact, the board from my wadded up A-10 is going in a 93" span A-26.

[Oxotnik]

WC, you got a Phoenix A-26? I've had my eye on that sucker for quite a while. Unfortunately, I've bought quite a few planes lately and have promised my wife that I'd cut back on my plane purchases for a while. 'A while' is negotiable though... :)

I know that that the circuit boards are passive, but there are connections and extra circuitry in there, which are additional fail points. That's why I asked. This is the first time that I've used this particular circuit board. Thanks for your statement of confidence in the overall reliability of this circuit board. Anything can go bad though. Hopefully, I can do some troubleshooting this evening.

[OV10]

WC, you got a Phoenix A-26? I've had my eye on that sucker for quite a while. Unfortunately, I've bought quite a few planes lately and have promised my wife that I'd cut back on my plane purchases for a while. 'A while' is negotiable though... :)

I know that that the circuit boards are passive, but there are connections and extra circuitry in there, which are additional fail points. That's why I asked. This is the first time that I've used this particular circuit board. Thanks for your statement of confidence in the overall reliability of this circuit board. Anything can go bad though. Hopefully, I can do some troubleshooting this evening.

No Phoenix............got the ASM A-26 which is a composite fuse and a 3 section built up wing. :Cool:
Outer wing panels detach on the outboard side of the nacelles which is much nicer setup for transport and storage.;)
The two piece wing Phoenix I felt was not a good design :Scared:

[john2kx]

RE: my glitching aile servo....

Has the circuit board in the A-10 been pretty solid for you guys? I know that in other planes there have been many reports of faulty circuit boards, but I haven't seen much on that in this Thread (although I have not read much prior to page 335).

Oh, and I did scarf up an upgrade trailing link nose gear and a replacement servo yesterday. Will also turn my Mains around, per George's (and others) recommendations.

Ox, I’d be interested in what you find with the TL nose gear. Posted a few issues I found a day or so ago with little feedback from others. Tire to rear door contact at about 75% compression is my biggest concern.

I had concern with the circuit board as well when building my a10 and considered bypassing it on all flight controls since I’m running a 10 channel rx. My research found just a few complaints and I decided to give it a chance. Only 6 flights logged to date but the entire system has been rock solid. Plan on using it as well on the F4.

John

[Oxotnik]

John, unless power to the circuit board is passed to the circuit board through the elevator, rudder, aileron, or flap cables, I'm going to run those servos directly to the RX, bypassing the circuit board, leaving only the gear, gear doors, and LEDs running through the circuit board. I figure that there's no reason to be running the critical flight controls through the circuit board. Less chance of catastrophic failures that way, at least somewhat.

[rlcamden]

After installing my TL nose gear, I also have the issue of the wheel striking the door under load. Did notice during roll-out a braking effect when the strut compresses. To prevent any possible damage, I will be reinstalling my oleo nose gear. With that being said, if anyone is still looking to get the TL nose gear, PM me and I will make arrangements to get it out.

[Dirty Dee]

Making more progress on my cockpit mod. I finally have the canopy frame good enough that it fits properly, and I am now working on the tub. I'm doing a bit of a compromise with scale and practicality, as trying to fit all the instrument panels would be very invasive with modifying the foam. My plan with the tub is to make a removable bottom to be able to swap between a scale ejection seat/pilot and a camera for video capture.

[janmb]

John, unless power to the circuit board is passed to the circuit board through the elevator, rudder, aileron, or flap cables, I'm going to run those servos directly to the RX, bypassing the circuit board, leaving only the gear, gear doors, and LEDs running through the circuit board. I figure that there's no reason to be running the critical flight controls through the circuit board. Less chance of catastrophic failures that way, at least somewhat.

True enough. Then again, this does introduce the need for servo cable extensions or soldering, so not sure about the net gain in reliability here.

[janmb]

Making more progress on my cockpit mod. I finally have the canopy frame good enough that it fits properly, and I am now working on the tub. I'm doing a bit of a compromise with scale and practicality, as trying to fit all the instrument panels would be very invasive with modifying the foam. My plan with the tub is to make a removable bottom to be able to swap between a scale ejection seat/pilot and a camera for video capture.

Brilliant as always :D

[Oxotnik]

True enough. Then again, this does introduce the need for servo cable extensions or soldering, so not sure about the net gain in reliability here.

Being new to the A-10 Owners Club, I’d forgotten that all of the wing servos were run through a single connector at the wing interface. The single connector is great for ease of setup st the field, but a pain when individual servos need to be trouble-shot. Didn’t get around to unscrewing the servo/connector panel last night, to see how the individual servos are tied into the wing multi-servo connector.

[Twowingtj]

All of the wing servos have standard connectors that plug into the back of the multi-connector wing boards. The servo connections are labeled on the back of the board. Makes testing individual servos easy.

[RCAV8R]

Being new to the A-10 Owners Club, I’d forgotten that all of the wing servos were run through a single connector at the wing interface. The single connector is great for ease of setup st the field, but a pain when individual servos need to be trouble-shot. Didn’t get around to unscrewing the servo/connector panel last night, to see how the individual servos are tied into the wing multi-servo connector.

Yeah, I was wondering how we replace servos given that single plug at the wing interface? Rob

[Oxotnik]

Yeah, I was wondering how we replace servos given that single plug at the wing interface? Rob

I haven't pulled the connector panel at the wing yet, but I think that the conventional servo connectors into the back side of the wing multi-connector.

[janmb]

I haven't pulled the connector panel at the wing yet, but I think that the conventional servo connectors into the back side of the wing multi-connector.

Quite correct.

[downwindleg]

Hey if anyone gets a chance to try out the new oleo mains, or if someone at MRC has tested the prototype, I'd like to hear how they work. Mine will be here by Monday but probably several weeks before my field gets dried out enough to try them out myself. Since all my other planes have oleo struts instead of rolling pogo sticks, I can't help but think that ,at the least, they will react more predictably on my surface.

[OV10]

Hey if anyone gets a chance to try out the new oleo mains, or if someone at MRC has tested the prototype, I'd like to hear how they work. Mine will be here by Monday but probably several weeks before my field gets dried out enough to try them out myself. Since all my other planes have oleo struts instead of rolling pogo sticks, I can't help but think that ,at the least, they will react more predictably on my surface.

Brad........Your gonna like them regarding how they behave like a oleo with just the right tension.
They are like a robust version of the FW Mustang oleo(1/2 inch shorter) with heavier bottom end and heavier spring and heavier scissor link.
I sent mine back though because I was expecting a straight leg strut(like the P-40B) to use on the 82" ASM A-26 Invader project underway.
Should have waited for a photo versus verbal descript before ordering, so my need of not wanting to miss out cost me $5 to return them. :Loser:LOL

[Oxotnik]

On my aileron-glitching A-10, I did some circuit simplification for the ailerons. I disconnected the aileron servos from the wing-interface connector. Wye'd the aileron servos together, bypassing the integrated circuit board, and connected them directly into the AILE port on the RX. In the front yard, I ran my throttle up to about 50% and cycled the ailerons for a couple minutes, and saw no evidence of glitching servos. Yea! Looks like I don't have to rip an aileron servo out of a brand new wing. :-)

So, now I have two connectors per wing, instead of one, but I am good with that and avoiding a bunch of potential bad-solder connections.