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

[Dirty Dee]

Thinking about maiden mine tomorrow after 2 months.

Quick run down of what not to do? Come in with power so not to bounce, I know. Most popular topic when talking about the A-10 it seems.

I'm also taking mine out tomorrow after a long winter/rainy spring hiatus. Yes, make sure you fly it all the way down with throttle, do not chop power and glide it in, especially if you have full flaps. If you are worried about the bucking bronco, it could be worth just landing with half flaps. No shame in going around if the approach doesn't look right.

[thisguy65]

I'm also taking mine out tomorrow after a long winter/rainy spring hiatus. Yes, make sure you fly it all the way down with throttle, do not chop power and glide it in, especially if you have full flaps. If you are worried about the bucking bronco, it could be worth just landing with half flaps. No shame in going around if the approach doesn't look right.

I have no shame :), I'll roll in the throttle and get out of there in a heart beat. Did it three times with my F-22 last week as the winds started to kick up and the landing didn't feel natural, felt more forced.

****I"ll admit, I'll chop the throttle and nose down if I feel I'm too high and as I come to level, I'll roll the power back on. Purpose is not to gain to much airspeed***
What CG are you running?

[thisguy65]

I've got to install Lemon RX, no problem through. Has a specturm I use for initial setups.

[Dirty Dee]

I'm running stock 80mm CG, though others fly at 86mm. I also just swapped in a LemonRx with the satellite receiver, and will be enabling the gyro to see if it helps with the veering on take-off I have been experiencing on the hog lately.

[Aros]

If there's little to no wind bring her in with full flaps on approach with approximately 30% power. Let her glide down on the slope on her own. No need to overthink this girl, she wants to land sweet for you. About a foot AGL drop the power and nudge the nose up ever so slightly. She will treat you with a beautiful landing every time.

I have discovered - like most jets - if you don't overthink and over stick it, the jet will land wonderfully. Nerves can be a bitch but trust yourself. Almost always you are rewarded with the landing you desire and deserve.

[p51mustangman]

What Xviper said. I made a 3D-printed box to hold the camera, and the box mounts on a weapons pylon (I can put it on any FW pylon). This one is for a Mobius but I also have a box for the Runcam.

I just glued a piece of velcro on the center bottom of the sidewinder pylon and a run cam fits on there perfect.

[bbolz]

Thanks! Both excellent ways to mount the camera. I agree, plenty of touch up paint. I liked the Aeros video witth the view to the rear with both motorsin the frame. The pylon idea is also great.

[bbolz]

Can't wait to maiden the A10 and teh F7F. The flying field is pretty much under water right now, so if it ever stops raining here I can knock them both off as well.

[Dirty Dee]

Finally got stick time in after weeks of rain. 6 flights before crosswinds started to get in 20s, happy to finally fly it again:).

[Hardway]

Can't wait to maiden the A10 and teh F7F. The flying field is pretty much under water right now, so if it ever stops raining here I can knock them both off as well.

Where are you located? Our field was flooded too. We are in North Texas...

[Phantom]

Heading out to the field tomorrow with a crazy friend of mine. He believes there is no reason why his first plane shouldn't be the maiden of his new FW 80mm A-10, with the stock landing gear. I couldn't talk him out of it, nor talk him into changing the landing gear. I am bringing my HK Walrus with clipped wings to try and convince him to give it a whirl prior to destroying his beautiful new model! He's got more expendable income than common sense.

Well we finally got his maiden in yesterday, he went back to Toronto and also Texas on some TDY. By the time he got back we had both radios and the buddy box cable. He taxied out and took off, the Taranis only gives the student channels 1 through 4 so on climb out I had to take it back to suck up the gear and flaps. Instant right 110 degrees of bank as I started to make a climbing right crosswind. So I spent the next minute getting her trimmed out which required a hell of a lot of down pitch, and left rudder, and left aileron trim! He's using 4200mah ZOP 6s 65c batteries, which were quite light the forward battery was almost all the way forward as far as it would go to get the CG right. I bring up the batteries because they only gave him 2.5 minutes of flight at half throttle, which after my full minute of trimming only left my friend with one minute of play time, before I had to take it back to set up for landing. Anyone else using ZOP? Anything positive to report on these batteries? I wasn't impressed, they came back hot to the touch and at 10% left with just over 3.6v per cell. Anyway, it was windy, so I landed with take off flaps only, it was my best landing ever on the stock gear, I changed my A-10's gear after about 7 flights or so. After getting her back down we were trying to figure out why the hell we needed all the trim. Finally looking at the elevators, you could clearly see the right side was about 5 to 6mm higher than the left, I totally missed that on preflight. He was trying to correct that when he snapped the plastic/nylon ball link end right off the metal link. His flying was over for the day lol.

[xviper]

Never heard of ZOP batteries till now. Sold by Banggood. I've bought stuff from Banggood, stuff I expect to be cheap and very possibly (likely) clones of things. I have had a few Spektrum RX's from BG and they were dirt cheap and I believe they were clones. Range test barely made it. I'll still occasionally buy something from BG but they would be more for curiosity and fun than anything - expectations low. For something as critical as LiPo batteries for an expensive plane, I wouldn't buy an unknown name brand from BG. We've all heard and have seen those tests they do of known brands of batteries and even the best ones test to push out around 1/2 of the "C" rating that's stamped on the wrapper. I would wagger a few bucks that these ZOP batteries won't punch out 1/4 to 1/3 of what the label says. Looking at them on the Banggood site, they are very cheap batteries. I guess that's the appeal of them, especially for people who aren't "seasoned" in the world of LiPo's. By your account of him choosing to maiden an A-10 as his very first plane, well, I guess that explains a lot.

[bbolz]

Midwest. Northwest Indiana, Hobart indiana flying field. Sundowners RC Club. Trying to get teh filed cut. They have a geotech strip which really helps.

[bbolz]

Sweet DirtyDee!

[Aros]

Sweet DirtyDee!

I second! :Cool:

[Elbee]

Finally got stick time in after weeks of rain, happy to finally fly it again:).

DD, She is a beautiful thing. Best, LB

[ibrewalot]

xviper, turned out the shaft was a bit bent so it wouldn't slide off like it should have. I didn't know how it was supposed to come off that way, so didn't know to expect it to. Better description on my part would have gotten me up and running faster. Regardless, a thin bladed screwdriver allowed me to pry off the metal cam and the cam attachment and to be able to put the rest on the new servo. Good to go now. Thanx for the help!

[Lon]

I'm considering, for the 64mm A-10, making a similar mount that will attach where the big drop tank goes, under the center of the fuselage.

[Hoomi]

That's similar to what I'm thinking. The 64mm A-10 has the large drop-tank that mounts magnetically, positioned centerline under the fuselage.

Actually, what we really need, are scale models of the Maverick missile, with the camera electronics built inside. Since two of the Maverick variants have clear seeker domes (CCD and Laser), the camera lens would look just fine on the front of the missile, and a slot for the micro SD card could go right in the back. Such a camera would work on any number of fighter and attack aircraft, since Maverick has been in production for over 40 years, and is certified on a variety of planes. It's doubtful such a product would be cost-effective to develop for a limited market, but it doesn't cost anything to dream.

:Silly:

[bbolz]

Excellent ideas Hoomi but your right, limited market. I like the ordanance rail mount.