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

[AndrewF]

If you get this, stick with stock. There is absolutely no need to upgrade to 90mm on this one. Like DC said, it flies fantastic right out of the box, and upgrading to 90mm is just a waste of money.

seems everyone is in consensus that the 80mm is fine. Now I just have to pick which one to get 😂

[mshagg]

80mm is more than adequate.

I wouldnt say it's a waste of money going 90mm, but it depends on what you're trying to achieve. I went for a low amp 90mm build using the stock ESCs and $45USD AF brand EDFs. It sounds better, makes more power (not that you really need an A-10 to go straight vertical lol), and gets better flight times than stock because of the hilariously low throttle required. Zero regrets going 90mm on it, posted a few more comments here.

If on the other hand you're putting in a pair of freewing's highish amp draw 90mm EDFs it's probably going to be a bit of a gass guzzler that needs upgraded speed controllers and you're on an expensive road to nowhere lol.

[sam51401]

Im with mshagg on the alternate power system. Im starting on my backup A10 and using the "pre high performance" 90mm outrunner fan combo. Keeping the stock ESC's and going with duel 6250ma 6s packs with the CG at 85-90mm. I have the stock 80mm setup also i have been flying for about 4 years now and it does have great power for stock. Only "upgrade" has been to use the oleo struts to help tame the bronco landing. Adding DirtyDee exhaist nozzles also adds a little more up thrust but not a necessity. With the CG back at 90mm, it settles in great and even if it drops a little, the struts dont rebound as the trailing link struts do. Get it, fly it and fly it like you stole it in the stock config and enjoy.

[AndrewF]

Im with mshagg on the alternate power system. Im starting on my backup A10 and using the "pre high performance" 90mm outrunner fan combo. Keeping the stock ESC's and going with duel 6250ma 6s packs with the CG at 85-90mm. I have the stock 80mm setup also i have been flying for about 4 years now and it does have great power for stock. Only "upgrade" has been to use the oleo struts to help tame the bronco landing. Adding DirtyDee exhaist nozzles also adds a little more up thrust but not a necessity. With the CG back at 90mm, it settles in great and even if it drops a little, the struts dont rebound as the trailing link struts do. Get it, fly it and fly it like you stole it in the stock config and enjoy.

what batteries were you running on the 80mm setup? How were the flight times. I’ve got a couple 5000mah 35c packs from roaring top that would be nice to use.

[mshagg]

what batteries were you running on the 80mm setup? How were the flight times. I’ve got a couple 5000mah 35c packs from roaring top that would be nice to use.

It's not a particularly power hungry setup in stock trime, particularly given it loves life at cruise throttle. I suspect those packs would be good (we dont get RT packs here so have no experience), and make life easy for balancing the plane.

I use pretty heavy (~900g) 6000mah batteries, which necessitates 'stacking' them to achieve my target 88mm CG, rather than the layout freewing intended for the battery compartment. This also necessitates moving the control board back slightly. Didnt like the way the batteries moved around when sat on top of one another so 3d printed a little caddy - put the batteries into the caddy and then strap that entire brick down into the plane. Please, no comments on the wiring loom - this has since been tidied up with a single sbus wire lol.



Couldnt actually tell you flight times as I fly this plane purely on voltage telemetry. It's liberating flying without a timer. I have seen people stretch out some borderline unbelievable flight times on this thing - it can manage energy incredible efficiently.

[Hugh Wiedman]

what batteries were you running on the 80mm setup? How were the flight times. I’ve got a couple 5000mah 35c packs from roaring top that would be nice to use.

I also stuck with the stock 80mm fans (and it does everything it needs to with those) and am using 2 Roaring Top 6250's and get over 5 minutes of flight time. I changed the nose strut to the trailing link, primarily because I fly off of grass. Additionally, I would also suggest that you balance it not at the 78 mm suggested in the manual, but more like mshagg and sam51401 did at 88 to 90 mm. I balanced mine at 90mm (and it is still slightly nose heavy there) and found that it lands and takes off much better there. On landing, you can get the nose up much easier and touch on the mains first thereby avoiding the dreaded bucking bronco. If your nose hits first, or even simultaneous with the mains, especially on a hard surface, you will most likely start the bounce (immediately followed by a call to MRC for some new parts). The RT 6250 weigh in at 798 gr, and had to remove the circuit board and mount in further back on the fuselage wall to get my batteries far enough back. Stacking them as mshagg did is a great idea, but I was able to get it done with one in front of the other. Different strokes, but both work. I'm guessing you'll have no problem with the RT 5000's getting it to balance around 90mm and you should get something like 4 minutes of flight time, based upon my experience with the 6250's. I would also suggest you strengthen the forward section (the entire battery bay area, from back where the foam wall is all the way forward) with some carbon fiber tubes. A channel is already in place to put them in.

Oh, and if you do decide to get this, you will definitely not be disappointed. It's actually, IMO, one of the easiest and smoothest EDF's I've ever flown, including landing (as long as you keep the nose up). Even with the 80mm fans, it takes off of grass quickly, has plenty of vertical, will knife edge at 80% throttle, and will cruise all day at 50% throttle. I was a little nervous with the first flight, but quickly found out it has a "pucker factor" of 0, right there with the Avanti!

[AndrewF]

I also stuck with the stock 80mm fans (and it does everything it needs to with those) and am using 2 Roaring Top 6250's and get over 5 minutes of flight time. I changed the nose strut to the trailing link, primarily because I fly off of grass. Additionally, I would also suggest that you balance it not at the 78 mm suggested in the manual, but more like mshagg and sam51401 did at 88 to 90 mm. I balanced mine at 90mm (and it is still slightly nose heavy there) and found that it lands and takes off much better there. On landing, you can get the nose up much easier and touch on the mains first thereby avoiding the dreaded bucking bronco. If your nose hits first, or even simultaneous with the mains, especially on a hard surface, you will most likely start the bounce (immediately followed by a call to MRC for some new parts). The RT 6250 weigh in at 798 gr, and had to remove the circuit board and mount in further back on the fuselage wall to get my batteries far enough back. Stacking them as mshagg did is a great idea, but I was able to get it done with one in front of the other. Different strokes, but both work. I'm guessing you'll have no problem with the RT 5000's getting it to balance around 90mm and you should get something like 4 minutes of flight time, based upon my experience with the 6250's. I would also suggest you strengthen the forward section (the entire battery bay area, from back where the foam wall is all the way forward) with some carbon fiber tubes. A channel is already in place to put them in.

Oh, and if you do decide to get this, you will definitely not be disappointed. It's actually, IMO, one of the easiest and smoothest EDF's I've ever flown, including landing (as long as you keep the nose up). Even with the 80mm fans, it takes off of grass quickly, has plenty of vertical, will knife edge at 80% throttle, and will cruise all day at 50% throttle. I was a little nervous with the first flight, but quickly found out it has a "pucker factor" of 0, right there with the Avanti!

Thanks for all the information, that will help a ton! The more a read about this plane the more I love it 😂 what size carbon fiber tubes did you use to strengthen the forward area?

[Balsa Bob]

So the upgraded gear are not really an "upgrade" per se. The stock mains are trailing link type, but the nose is scissor type. If you buy the "upgraded" mains, then all your gear will be the scissor link type. If you buy just the "upgraded" nose gear, then all gear will be the trailing link type.

What happened was that originally the plane was to come with all trailing link type gear. But after posting pictures of the forthcoming plane, a lot of the scale nazis complained that the nose gear did not look right, so they went with a scissor link strut instead, but left the mains as trailing link. What many people found out is that the mains would give on landing, but the nose would bounce back up as it was stiffer and would get you into the dreaded bunny hop. So they then offered these "upgrades" so that you could make the gear all of one type.

Thanks Pat, that explains a lot. I think (for now) I will upgrade/replace only the nose strut ...so they are all trailing link type.

Bob

[sam51401]

what batteries were you running on the 80mm setup? How were the flight times. I’ve got a couple 5000mah 35c packs from roaring top that would be nice to use.

Same as Hugh, RT 6250. I flew several times with the SMC 8000 6s Graphene packs and extended time a full minute. That was on the 80mm fans.

[AndrewF]

Same as Hugh, RT 6250. I flew several times with the SMC 8000 6s Graphene packs and extended time a full minute. That was on the 80mm fans.

Sounds good. I’ll probably maiden it on my 5,000 packs, then upgrade if I need more flight time

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks for all the information, that will help a ton! The more a read about this plane the more I love it 😂 what size carbon fiber tubes did you use to strengthen the forward area?

Honestly can't remember which size I used, probably a 4-5mm round or square rod. I have a lot of different sizes and whatever fit in the existing channel. Just measured it and it looks like I used a 5mm and epoxied it in. The total length is about 15 inches. Horizon Hobby has a lot of different size tubes if your looking for them.

[rlcamden]

Something else in regards to the trailing link nose gear, after installing it, you will notice the wheel will rub the gear door when fully collapsed. It would create a braking effect during my takeoff and landings. I didn't want to trim the gear door, so I tried installing a spacer I made by cutting up a plastic ink pen to limit the travel to to prevent the door rub. I eventually went back to the oleo strut for the nose and just tweaked my CG and a lot of touch and go's until I found the sweet spot for landing this beauty. Been flying it since the first batch came out and no issues. Mainly fly from a grass field.

[AndrewF]

Anyone managed to clock a top speed of this on stock set up?

[DCORSAIR]

Anyone managed to clock a top speed of this on stock set up?

Looks like your still undecided which version to get??
If that's the case just get the ARF and order the 90mm parts, problem solved....

[AndrewF]

Looks like your still undecided which version to get??
If that's the case just get the ARF and order the 90mm parts, problem solved....

Haha I’m just curious. For the price, I’ll just do the pnp 😂

[AndrewF]

Well boys, I got the PNP version ordered and it should be here on Monday. I’m thinking of painting it like this A-10, because who doesn’t love invasion stripes, right?

[Elbee]

Well boys, I got the PNP version ordered and it should be here on Monday. I’m thinking of painting it like this A-10, because who doesn’t love invasion stripes, right?]

AF, Well, if it means anything, I say 'absolutely'. Great choice of livery and we all know 'Invasion stripes are the new black'. Best, LB

[Tom Lasko]

Does anybody on this forum have the Home Depot Acrylic Paint Codes for the Greys on this A-10 ? Or remember seeing which page it might already be on so I can get some made for touch-up purposes. Thanks in advance guys. Love my A-10 !

[Hugh Wiedman]

Does anybody on this forum have the Home Depot Acrylic Paint Codes for the Greys on this A-10 ? Or remember seeing which page it might already be on so I can get some made for touch-up purposes. Thanks in advance guys. Love my A-10 !

This is what I used, can't remember if I got it myself or from someone on the forum. I used an eggshell base, in the event the numbers are not clear in the photo, they are: 22/72/17.

[Tom Lasko]

Thanks Hugh I'll try it for sure. Was wondering if you might just have the codes for the 2nd color grey that is stock on the Freewing A-10 as well?