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

[Dirty Dee]

I bent one main and shattered the NG retract and broke the plastic where the retract screws go in. It certainly could have been a lot worse, but it was humbling.

So I also have the "upgraded" mains and just noticed the port-side oleo is having trouble compressing. The last time i flew the hog was end of april, and just tonight I lowered the gear to begin sanding the wheel pods for more clearance with the oleos. To my surprise, the Oleo has a minor bend to it already :Angry:. I guess for now I might just swap back to the stock mains, and maybe just reverse them.

[t33jetman]

Spammer, that is a very nice Canadian paint job , I like it !

It got warm enough to paint outside in the Great White North, so finally finished.....

[gravity tester]

So, two things. First, has anyone a spare wing rail mount for the weapons pilons they are willing to part ways with. Motion happens to be out of stock, and I am willing to pay the cost for shipping if so. Second, I know this has been posted many times, but I am unable to find the exact post. I am at the point of repairing my Hawg from the power line touch and go and am doing my first airbrush touch up. The question is what is recommended to mix Home Depot paint to thin it down and to what ratio? I can paint a car with no problems, but this will be my first attempt painting foam using HD acrylic.

Mr. C-
On mine, I have sprayed the Tamiya XF-19 acrylic (a very good match) using straight lacquer thinner - about 30% or so. I am sure I am doing it 9 different kinds of wrong but I mix to get a consistency. The point is, I haven't hurt the foam or the paint with the thinner and the paint goes on well and stays on. Alternately, the Home Depot acrylic paint I have used was was thinned using distilled water - at least 50% and opening up the needle quite a bit. The HD paint was much thicker out of the can than the Tamiya. I have not tried thinning the HD paint with lacquer thinner but might be worth a test. Might also keep the gun a little cleaner. I have noticed that the HD paint requires a little more elbow grease for clean up.

Sorry I can't help with the mounting rails. My donor plane is all used up now.

Cheers,
Dan

[themudduck]

So, two things. First, has anyone a spare wing rail mount for the weapons pilons they are willing to part ways with. Motion happens to be out of stock, and I am willing to pay the cost for shipping if so.

Hi RLCAMDEN - regarding the pylon mounting part - its possible to produce these using a 3D printer, I have been printing parts like these (along with a couple other Squawkers).
Please see this link. This was designed by APMECH1. I think that you need the "prongs", that is the "rail" mount that the pylons clip onto, and this is the second picture in the link.
If that is what you need, I can print that part for you and mail it to you for a couple of bucks.

best regards,
Marc

[RCAV8R]

Mr. C-
On mine, I have sprayed the Tamiya XF-19 acrylic (a very good match) using straight lacquer thinner - about 30% or so. I am sure I am doing it 9 different kinds of wrong but I mix to get a consistency. The point is, I haven't hurt the foam or the paint with the thinner and the paint goes on well and stays on. Alternately, the Home Depot acrylic paint I have used was was thinned using distilled water - at least 50% and opening up the needle quite a bit. The HD paint was much thicker out of the can than the Tamiya. I have not tried thinning the HD paint with lacquer thinner but might be worth a test. Might also keep the gun a little cleaner. I have noticed that the HD paint requires a little more elbow grease for clean up.

Sorry I can't help with the mounting rails. My donor plane is all used up now.

Cheers,
Dan

There's been a lot of input re: paint and airbrush techniques. I think one big variable is what type of airbrush you use. I have model type airbrushes...smaller and more fine than some of the more commercial types you get at Harbor Freight (with triggers, and more of a gun look). I originally used HD paint and thinned with Createx High Performance Reducer. That worked okay, with a lot of clogging and clean up. I used Tamiya for the pre-shading and thinned with Tamiya thinner. I would not mix Lacquer thinner with Tamiya, mostly because I don't think the paint will set well. I did the whole plane a second time, masking the decals, as I didn't think I had enough difference in the two shades of ghost gray (I color matched the FS numbers at HD). I used the same pre-shading and custom mixed my own color coat with Tamiya acrylic. I can look up the colors if you want. I did end up with a Badger Patriot airbrush, which is better than the Pasche I had before. They are harder for a big model like the A-10, but I found you just have to do one panel at a time, and it comes out better! Rob

[downwindleg]

So today I finally got bit by the dreaded "bounce"! Nothing to blame it on...I confess I have been struggling to feel comfortable with landings, and prob9ably too tentative as a result. There was a strong crosswind, and I elected to keep flaps in, but I don't think that had anything to do with it. These were flights 22 and 23. Though I've had a few hard drops and bounces, there's never been anything I wasn't able to recover from. But today, I pulled back on throttle too much, it dropped, and then when it bounced it stalled big time. There was no recovery and it dropped again, hard! I bent one main and shattered the NG retract and broke the plastic where the retract screws go in. It certainly could have been a lot worse, but it was humbling. I have thought about landings more than I care to share, and probably to a fault (after the bounce, when I knew I had to get her back down with one shot, I landed perfectly). I'm loving the process!! Rob LOL

Wow Rob, sorry to hear you got bit. I've been out of touch for awhile tending to my wife's needs after ankle replacement surgery. I'll be going in next Wednesday for minor surgery on my left wrist. Losing the feeling in my left thumb and forefinger(throttle/rudder) so have to get that fixed. Hope to get back into flying soon.
Brad

[RCAV8R]

Sorry to hear that Brad...I guess the planes aren't the only things that need occasional deferred maintenance! LOL At least the parts won't be out of stock...all my best to both of you for a speedy recovery! Rob

[downwindleg]

Yeah, getting old is not for the young.:Scared:

[Hardway]

Hang in there Brad!! You are correct!!! LOL

[Grossman56]

I agree Brad, this getting old is getting old!

Grossman56

[rifleman_btx]

Check these guys out

[DCORSAIR]

Check these guys out

They must be rookie pilots, they have their main struts on backwards......:)LOL

[Rcfiddy1]

Check these guys out

Bad Ass.......that is awesome.

[RCAV8R]

Hey Guys...I'm trying to extricate the mount/box that the NG retract screws into. I'm working from on top, and have a clear shot down the sides, but it isn't wanting to come free. Has anyone replaced that, and if so, do you have any tips? Thanks! Rob

[TiredIronGRB]

Hey Guys...I'm trying to extricate the mount/box that the NG retract screws into. I'm working form on top, and have a clear shot down the sides, but it isn't wanting to come free. Has anyone replaced that, and if so, do you have any tips? Thanks! Rob

It's too much trouble to remove, just fill the voids where the screws go with epoxy and you're better than new.

[crxmanpat]

I went so far as to epoxy in some basswood square stock into the mount holes and used 1" wood screws.

[Elbee]

I went so far as to epoxy in some basswood square stock into the mount holes and used 1" wood screws.

crxmanpat, did you do this as a preemptive measure, i.e., before flying your check flight? Best, LB

[themudduck]

crxmanpat, did you do this as a preemptive measure, i.e., before flying your check flight? Best, LB

Just to mention:
Another thing many of us are doing, which was posted hundreds of pages back, is to install CF tubes on each side of the battery bay - there is a slot molded into the foam on each side which appears to be for that purpose - and doing that will add a lot of strength to the battery compartment. Reinforcing the NG mount looks like a really good idea, but if the fuselage isn't also strengthened then "something bad could happen" in that area when the NG is stressed..

[crxmanpat]

crxmanpat, did you do this as a preemptive measure, i.e., before flying your check flight? Best, LB

Nope, did it after a bad bounce on my 3rd landing (my fault). I too broke the plastic mounting plate and the NG would not go back in straight. After doing this I had no worries about it pulling back out again.

[RCAV8R]

Thanks George and Pat...I'm back to Plan A and will work with the existing "box". For those that may want to make note for the future, what they are describing is that you can access the backside of where the NG retract screws mount into the "box" from the top. You can either fill it with some epoxy or put in the square wood stock like Pat did in an effort to re-purpose the screw mount. That access is right below the forward battery tray (see Pat's photo). One of those things I never noticed until now! Rob :Cool: