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

[Hugh Wiedman]

Not sure who here frequents RCGroups, but I am offering kits of the 3D printed cockpit upgrade I recently designed. I posted a blog post there compiling all the information.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...it-Upgrade-Kit

Dirty Dee it seems you are no longer printing the 3D cockpit for us peasant peons who either can't afford or are too stupid to operate a 3D printer. Say It Isn't So!!! Did you get your CO's approval to stop? I've finally decided to pick one of these up and try an Arctic Camo version (since it seems we are headed for Covid Lockdown #2 down here) and now I find out I'm going to be stuck with a gator cockpit! Oh well, maybe I'll just black out the canopy windows and tell everyone the cockpit looks great with my JHH pilot and full instrumentation but everything in it is top secret so no peeking.

[themudduck]

Dirty Dee it seems you are no longer printing the 3D cockpit for us peasant peons who either can't afford or are too stupid to operate a 3D printer. Say It Isn't So!!! Did you get your CO's approval to stop? I've finally decided to pick one of these up and try an Arctic Camo version (since it seems we are headed for Covid Lockdown #2 down here) and now I find out I'm going to be stuck with a gator cockpit! Oh well, maybe I'll just black out the canopy windows and tell everyone the cockpit looks great with my JHH pilot and full instrumentation but everything in it is top secret so no peeking.

Early on I took a spare cockpit and carefully covered all the exposed foam with thin cardstock (carefully cut to fit) and painted it black, so the cockpit is essentially "gator-proof". (This wasn't particularly easy, but its something you can do on a rainy day if you're bored.) (and I also drill a small hole as a vent) I use it on hot sunny days. Sorry, I don't have a pic handy.

But the super-detailed 3D cockpits are totally cool (and highly superior) and I hope that DD can still make them!

[PaulZ]

Hello A-10 club! I just pushed the buy button and ordered mine. I also bought the upgraded landing gear. I will be flying off grass but also paved runways. Has anyone installed wheel brakes on this plane? Any other suggestions as I unbox and build?

[Dirty Dee]

Dirty Dee it seems you are no longer printing the 3D cockpit for us peasant peons who either can't afford or are too stupid to operate a 3D printer. Say It Isn't So!!! Did you get your CO's approval to stop? I've finally decided to pick one of these up and try an Arctic Camo version (since it seems we are headed for Covid Lockdown #2 down here) and now I find out I'm going to be stuck with a gator cockpit! Oh well, maybe I'll just black out the canopy windows and tell everyone the cockpit looks great with my JHH pilot and full instrumentation but everything in it is top secret so no peeking.

Yea, unfortunately with the time required for cleaning up the flashing/support material from the pieces, and packaging I've move away from printing the cockpit sets and even other parts for folks. One of my printers broke earlier this year and I had to wait 3 months for a replacement due to the virus so that also contributed to the stop.

I believe crxmanpat recently printed a cockpit for another individual for a fee. Pat, is this something you are open for doing for Hugh as well? If not I might be able to make some time early August to print you one.

[Phantom]

Hello A-10 club! I just pushed the buy button and ordered mine. I also bought the upgraded landing gear. I will be flying off grass but also paved runways. Has anyone installed wheel brakes on this plane? Any other suggestions as I unbox and build?

I attempted to install magnetic braking wheels on the mains, but the servo less retracts barely had enough grunt to pull the weight of the new wheels up on the plane stand, I'm positive I would have burnt out the retracts had I added the air resistance associated with forward flight.

[Warthog]

Hello A-10 club! I just pushed the buy button and ordered mine. I also bought the upgraded landing gear. I will be flying off grass but also paved runways. Has anyone installed wheel brakes on this plane? Any other suggestions as I unbox and build?

I was going to put brakes on mine, but some one here said it adds too much weight and is hard on the retract gear. Where I fly, the runway is too short for this bird. I have flown there 4 times and every time, I broke the gear from running off the end!

[Warthog]

I've been thinking about a 3D printer. Are they hard to use? I'm no expert with a computer. Where do you get the software for each project? Does the printer come with easy to use software?

[PaulZ]

Thanks guys. That is my issue as well, I don't want to constantly keep running off the runway and into the grass. I have flown much larger birds on our runway and electromagnetic brakes help a lot. We are talking 50g more if weight. This A-10 with the huge wings should not have a problem. I'll see what I can put together and will post some pictures.

[PaulZ]

I can definitively answer this question since it's a photo of my A-10 I repainted as the Arctic Camo scheme. Sorry about getting your hopes up!

Nice paint job again Aros !

[Gringotuerto]

I've been thinking about a 3D printer. Are they hard to use? I'm no expert with a computer. Where do you get the software for each project? Does the printer come with easy to use software?

I typed you an answer, but since there is a forum specifically on 3D printing, I deposited it over there:
https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/th...on-3d-printing

[Aros]

Nice paint job again Aros !

Thanks bud!

[Phantom]

Thanks guys. That is my issue as well, I don't want to constantly keep running off the runway and into the grass. I have flown much larger birds on our runway and electromagnetic brakes help a lot. We are talking 50g more if weight. This A-10 with the huge wings should not have a problem. I'll see what I can put together and will post some pictures.

The airframe has no issues with weight. My AUW is 17.5 lbs. The ability of the retracts burning out due to the additional weight of the wheels with brakes is the issue and limiting factor.

[PaulZ]

The airframe has no issues with weight. My AUW is 17.5 lbs. The ability of the retracts burning out due to the additional weight of the wheels with brakes is the issue and limiting factor.

Understood, I realized what you were talking about after I posted. I have some other retracts I may use...

[PaulZ]

Hi all, I just got my A-10 and starting the build. Has anyone come up with a way to get the famous brrrt sound from something? It would be great if it was a device you can attach to a spare channel on the RX.

[Splat]

Hello fellow A-10 drivers, new squadron check-in here. Been out of r/c flying for about 10 years now and I've decided to jump back into the hobby. I'm a retired Navy AO, aviation ordnanceman, so the A-10 has always been a favorite bird of mine...even if it doesn't have a tailhook lol. Found this bird and have been eyeballing it for a while but finally took the plunge this morning and bought the PNP version along with all the recommended gear, radio, batteries and charger and all the other junk to replace all the old r/c stuff I've thrown away getting back into the hobby because its outdated after my long absence lol. I did however get the 12 bladed fans as I've read it gives it a little bit more of a turbine whine and a little extra thrust. Anyway, looking forward to pouring over the forum for advice and mods, stuff to look out for, etc.

[Aros]

She's by far my favorite Freewing jet to-date. I have some others that come close but she still reigns supreme in my eyes, you will love it! Do a search on the gear mod as most have done it. I see you're in Seattle, not far from me. Tandem A-10 sorties in our future??

[Elbee]

Hello fellow A-10 drivers, new squadron check-in here...looking forward to pouring over the forum for advice and mods, stuff to look out for, etc.

SP, Firstly, A hearty welcome to "The Squawk". Secondly, thank you for your service, Sir. Lastly, the A-10 was my first re-entry into the hobby after many many years of absence. It is a great flyer, can handle the extra weight of scale features and is one good-lookin' model in the air, too. BTW, I am envious of your 12-blade upgraded power plants. Post pictures as you build her. We all love that kind of stuff. Bravo Zulu. Best, LB

[Splat]

Thanks for the welcome gents! I am looking forward to the build, its been a long time since I've had a bird on my workbench. Used to have a house where I could walk 50 feet out the garage door to a huge flying area but now I'm a city dweller with less opportune places that are close by to fly. On a recent bike ride I came across a well kept soccer field / city park where they were launching rockets, flying drones and gliders and I thought "wow this is a great place to fly!" so think this A-10 will be perfect for the grass there...can't wait to fly.

Again thanks for the welcome and Aros hell ya I'll be your Dash-2 lol

EDIT

Just to clarify, which version of the gear is best for grass? The stock or the upgraded ones they are selling? Which ones have the bounce issues?

[crxmanpat]

Splat,

Welcome, and thank you for your service!

So this bird comes with trailing link landing gear for the mains, and scissor link for the nose. All you need to do is buy the nose strut upgrade and then all 3 will be trailing link, which is perfect for grass ops. No need to replace all 3.

Also, you get more "whine" with the stock 9-blade fans. The 12-blade will give more "whoosh" like a normal jet, but because a full scale A-10 has unducted turbofans, you want more whine for scale sound. Some of us have even put Nerf whistles in the nacelles to better imitate the turbofan sound.

[Splat]

Crxmanpat, ahhhhh thank you for the information! That saves me a little money by just buying the nose...not that it matters at this point, whats another 100 bucks lol. Having spent my whole adult life around military jets of various types I can certainly appreciate the authentic scale "whine" of the A-10 and would like to replicate that...so guess I'll try the stock 9 blades first before I put the 12s in and see which I like. I do like the idea of the Nerf whistles as well and have seen the build video where those got put in but it was on mute so I wasn't exactly sure what was going on there lol. Again than you all for the welcome and continuing info!