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

[Splat]

Thank God for that...the wings coming off makes it way easier to store. Good thing I have a brand new GMC Sierra to "tow" the thing to the field with but I might need chock/wing walkers and a brake rider once I get there lol.

Will certainly post pics of the build, I've been building model planes since I was a kid so I can't wait to detail this one up and I'm sure I'll have lots more questions although this thread has been a big help so far. I had a GWS 55mm A-10 back in the day, yes she flew off BRUSHED motors with NiMH batteries, but a single ESC using a "Y" harness so never had to program two separately before so when I get to that I'll have to see if I did it right. I've read a few posts here on that subject so it seems to be a fairly common question. Thanks to everyone for all the help and comments so far, I'm pretty excited about this project if you can't tell.

[crxmanpat]

The build is actually quite simple and takes almost no time to complete. You'll spend longer putting on the decals than building the plane.

As for calibrating the ESCs to your throttle, do that before you put it together. One ESC lead will have the UBEC attached to it, and the other one will just be the power lead. For the one with the UBEC, plug the lead from that into your RX battery port and all you need to do is hook up a 6S battery to the power lead. For the other one, you'll need to provide a power source to your RX such as a 4 or 5-cell NiMH pack.

Here's how to program the ESCs to your throttle (NOTE: Make sure your RX is bound to your transmitter before doing this):

1) Turn on the transmitter and move the throttle stick to full throttle.
1) a) (For the ESC without the UBEC installed) Add power to the RX.
2) Plug the 6S battery into the ESC power lead.
3) IMMEDIATELY after the first set of beeps, move the throttle stick to off.
4) Unplug and turn off everything. You're done!

[Splat]

Thanks for the info once again Pat!

Again this part of the r/c radio and electronics world is new to me as I've never done it. My Futaba 6K comes with a R3006SB receiver according to the box but looking at the channel plugs I don't see one actually labeled at "battery", there is Channel 1 thru 5 then an SB/6 and SB2/B...I'm assubming the S.BUS 2 / B is the battery plug in? I found an old NiMH pack laying in my hobby boxes, probably a transmitter pack, and I'm assuming that is what I would use for the battery on the 2nd ESC that doesn't have the UBEC? Just making sure I have all this right in my head lol.

Now how the hell I charge that NiMH pack, assuming its still good lol. Can't use my new Lipo charger...or can I?

EDIT

Looking at the manual for the SkyRC B6AC V2 lipo charger I got in the group package it looks like I can do NiMH batteries although it isn't really listed. Is this safe? 10 years ago I had two chargers...one for Lipos and one for NiMHs.

[Gringotuerto]

Thanks for the info once again Pat!

Again this part of the r/c radio and electronics world is new to me as I've never done it. My Futaba 6K comes with a R3006SB receiver according to the box but looking at the channel plugs I don't see one actually labeled at "battery", there is Channel 1 thru 5 then an SB/6 and SB2/B...I'm assubming the S.BUS 2 / B is the battery plug in? I found an old NiMH pack laying in my hobby boxes, probably a transmitter pack, and I'm assuming that is what I would use for the battery on the 2nd ESC that doesn't have the UBEC? Just making sure I have all this right in my head lol.

Now how the hell I charge that NiMH pack, assuming its still good lol. Can't use my new Lipo charger...

The power/ground pins are all bussed together. So if you plug a connector with hot power/ground into any port, it will power the receiver. You could say they are all "battery".

Pat, I'm not sure what you are suggesting with a separate Rx pack - I take it you mean that if you want to communicate one at a time with each ESC, then for the one that doesn't have the UBEC, you have to power the receiver by some other means while programming that one. But is there a reason you can't just set the max/min throttle for both at the same time? In other words:
0. Start with everything assembled, as though ready to fly, but batteries not plugged in yet.
1. Set Tx to max throttle.
2. Plug in both batteries, powering both ESCs and the Rx (via the UBEC)...they each make a tone to indicate they caught the max throttle, which can be a little difficult to hear when both are doing it at the same time, but both will enter the correct state of capturing max throttle and waiting for min throttle.
3. Move Tx to min throttle. Both ESCs will capture this calibrate their range at the same time.

Doesn't that work? I thought that's what I did, but it has been a while.

[crxmanpat]

Yes SB2/B is where you plug in a separate receiver battery, or plug in the lead from the ESC's BEC or UBEC (UBEC in the case of the A-10).

Which charger did you get? Most of them will charge Lipo, LiFE, NiMH and NiCad.

[crxmanpat]

Pat, I'm not sure what you are suggesting with a separate Rx pack - I take it you mean that if you want to communicate one at a time with each ESC, then for the one that doesn't have the UBEC, you have to power the receiver by some other means while programming that one. But is there a reason you can't just set the max/min throttle for both at the same time? In other words:
0. Start with everything assembled, as though ready to fly, but batteries not plugged in yet.
1. Set Tx to max throttle.
2. Plug in both batteries, powering both ESCs and the Rx (via the UBEC)...they each make a tone to indicate they caught the max throttle, which can be a little difficult to hear when both are doing it at the same time, but both will enter the correct state of capturing max throttle and waiting for min throttle.
3. Move Tx to min throttle. Both ESCs will capture this calibrate their range at the same time.

Doesn't that work? I thought that's what I did, but it has been a while.

That could work if you're quick enough with both flight batteries. But if you're too slow on the second battery, the first ESC may go into programming mode. Easiest way would probably be to have a helper, and you both plug in a flight battery at the same time.

[Splat]

Yes SB2/B is where you plug in a separate receiver battery, or plug in the lead from the ESC's BEC or UBEC (UBEC in the case of the A-10).

Which charger did you get? Most of them will charge Lipo, LiFE, NiMH and NiCad.

Its the SkyRC IMAX B6AC version 2 that is listed on the 80mm A-10 recommended items...I bought it all as a bundle. After reading the manual it will do NiMH fine. Only thing I notice is that for the 6S lipos that I bought I don't see a output charging cable with a EC5 attachment. There are leads with XT60, JST and Futaba according to the manual but not one for the EC5 which is what it looks like I need.

[crxmanpat]

Its the SkyRC IMAX B6AC version 2 that is listed on the 80mm A-10 recommended items...I bought it all as a bundle. After reading the manual it will do NiMH fine. Only thing I notice is that for the 6S lipos that I bought I don't see a output charging cable with a EC5 attachment. There are leads with XT60, JST and Futaba according to the manual but not one for the EC5 which is what it looks like I need.

You will need one or the other of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Connector-Ban.../dp/B00XQ91LNM

https://www.amazon.com/adaptadores-c...-games&sr=1-10

I recommend the first listing as it will plug directly into the charge port of the charger. The fewer connections the better.

[Splat]

You will need one or the other of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Connector-Ban.../dp/B00XQ91LNM

https://www.amazon.com/adaptadores-c...-games&sr=1-10

I recommend the first listing as it will plug directly into the charge port of the charger. The fewer connections the better.

Haha I just bought those! Great minds, thanks Pat! 😁

[evensen007]

Well I went on a little field trip today and picked up a couple of nice used jets! I have some spektrum 30c 5000mAh batteries that I bought for my carbon t-28, but I'm assuming those will not work for this big fat warthog? How about the 2 pack of HRB 50c 5000's on Amazon for 150, would those be good?

[T-CAT]

Well I went on a little field trip today and picked up a couple of nice used jets! I have some spektrum 30c 5000mAh batteries that I bought for my carbon t-28, but I'm assuming those will not work for this big fat warthog? How about the 2 pack of HRB 50c 5000's on Amazon for 150, would those be good?

Congrats! Those jets look amazing.

Many of us fly the Hog on 5000mah 6S LiPo's. Test their fitment and test CG with them before purchasing some different LiPo's.

[evensen007]

Congrats! Those jets look amazing.

Many of us fly the Hog on 5000mah 6S LiPo's. Test their fitment and test CG with them before purchasing some different LiPo's.

Thanks! I was mostly worried the spektrum 30c's wouldn't be able to handle the hog's amp draw.

[T-CAT]

Thanks! I was mostly worried the spektrum 30c's wouldn't be able to handle the hog's amp draw.

For a 5000mah 6S 30C, that Spektrum LiPo are VERY light (specs. list it as 655g) batteries, and are as light as some 4000mah 6S LiPo's (for example, the Admiral 6S 4000mah Pro is close to that weight). As great as that sounds, sometimes (not always) that means they may not potentially be as effective at holding sufficient voltage under load as a more robust battery would. I would take the 30C rating with a grain of salt, so to speak, as you can often count on it being much less than labeled. So, it is possible they may experience a bit higher temps., less power, etc. during flight. However, the A-10 has been flown on 4000mah 6S LiPo's many times before on the stock power system, and the system does not draw what I would consider to be high current. With that said, your Spektrum LiPo's may be adequate for this airframe if they are healthy. Test the LiPo's pre-flight, as well as keep the maiden flight mellow and then check the batteries post-flight to see if they are too warm to the touch, check cell voltage and balance, etc. The rather extreme summer outside temperatures aren't exactly going to help either, ha-ha.

Just for examples sake, and more of a worst case scanerio, what if the battery had a true 15-20C (we have no idea what it really has, so this is purely an example, and maybe Spektrum does have a true labeled rating) discharge capability, then a 5000mah battery would potentially have a 75C-100A continuous discharge capability. The stock power system (for each side) isn't terribly far from that current on the low end. Obviously, it is beneficial to have adequate headroom regarding battery discharge capability instead of the bare minimum, especially when used with EDF jets. You may find it worth it to see if those specific LiPo's are up to the task when used with the A-10.

According to the test that was performed by a member on the RCg forum, he tested the Spektrum 6S 5000mah 100C LiPo at true 29C continuous discharge rating. Now, the Spektrum 100C version of that LiPo weighs roughly 725g supposedly, so the 30C version weighs almost 75g less than that, which I why I said it is unlikely that it will have "True" 30C discharge rating.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...postcount=7579

[Splat]

Well speaking of batteries...

Did I do good with the ones I bundled in my package? The Admiral Pro 6000mAh 6S 22.2V 50Cs? I didn't even think to research if the battery they recommended was the best way to go lol.

[T-CAT]

Well speaking of batteries...

Did I do good with the ones I bundled in my package? The Admiral Pro 6000mAh 6S 22.2V 50Cs? I didn't even think to research if the battery they recommended was the best way to go lol.

For the Freewing jets and the Amp. draw experienced with the 80-90mm jets in PNP form, the 6S 6000mah should provide a good combination of flight time and performance for the weight.

[Splat]

Good thing I got four of them then lol. 😁😁😁

Is 4 to 5 minutes what most pilots are experiencing with this bird? I know that varies with different power set ups and configurations though.

[T-CAT]

Good thing I got four of them then lol. 😁😁😁

Is 4 to 5 minutes what most pilots are experiencing with this bird? I know that varies with different power set ups and configurations though.

I would say on the 6000mah LiPo, that is a good average. However, on your first flight, it's usually beneficial to make it 2-3 minutes long. Once you check the batteries post-flight, you can then begin to add additional flight time and adjust your timer(s) accordingly a bit at a time. Better to be safe than sorry .

[Hugh Wiedman]

Had a nice day flying at the field today and when I got home, I had a little present in the mail from Callie. Not sure what this is for but I'm guessing sometime in the near future I may end up joining Aros and his special little club.

[T-CAT]

Awesome! Alaskan Camo. time.

[crxmanpat]

Splat,

This will be something you want to get as well. Quickly check your lipos in the field.

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Batte...6236638&sr=8-8