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

[DrDeath]

I have enjoyed my A-10 since getting it this summer in the first batch here. Have no complaints whatsoever until I needed to repair the front landing gear mount. It finally gave up the ghost but THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO REPLACE WITHOUT CUTTING THE PLANE IN HALF!!!!! My plane is still in pristine shape with over 50 flights on it. I have too many planes so for those who are saying it's not a lot, well, my fleet is well, too much. Anyway, you cannot replace that part without having to split the fuse. I am so frustrated that I will have to come up with some other way to fix that mount without cutting the fuse. Does anyone else have any ideas?

[Xtraflyr]

I have enjoyed my A-10 since getting it this summer in the first batch here. Have no complaints whatsoever until I needed to repair the front landing gear mount. It finally gave up the ghost but THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO REPLACE WITHOUT CUTTING THE PLANE IN HALF!!!!! My plane is still in pristine shape with over 50 flights on it. I have too many planes so for those who are saying it's not a lot, well, my fleet is well, too much. Anyway, you cannot replace that part without having to split the fuse. I am so frustrated that I will have to come up with some other way to fix that mount without cutting the fuse. Does anyone else have any ideas?

During the winter I’m just buying the front and rear fuse and switching my messed up fuse over to the new one. For now I’ll keep learning on the old beat up fuse.

[downwindleg]

I'm late with this but way to go Brad! Believe me, I understand the nerves thing. A few more flights and you'll be groovin'- it really is a nice airplane. :Cool:
Tom

Thanks for the support Tom. I appreciate the input. Brad

[crxmanpat]

Does anyone else have any ideas?

You can try what I did in this post to see if that helps.

[DrDeath]

You can try what I did in this post to see if that helps.

Pat, I would kiss you if I could, just kidding a big ole bear hug would suffice. That's exactly what happened to mine. This is the perfect fix. I will look at getting the parts this week. The fuse is pretty much perfect. Just small blemishes and a little finger marks, but it still looks almost out of the box. So I will look at doing this over the Winter. I have two jets to fly and a bunch of props so I'm good.

[crxmanpat]

Yeah, same with mine. Everything in great shape except for that plastic nose gear mounting block.

[RCAV8R]

Now I bummed that I dont have an A-10 on its way! I need to prove to myself that I will be OK flying this and get it ordered again. I think this is going to be my plan:

- Lots of flight sim flying of high performance models. It helped me a ton flying helicopters, so I imagine it has to be worth something!
- get my large cub back in the air with electric motor. It is a 6 foot wingspan and will give me some flight time with a larger model that I will be stressed about crashing. Should help dealing with jitters I would think. It is not a clipped wing, but it has ailerons.
- get confident with my V-22 osprey in forward flight, which I have heard is fairly quick.

Does this sound reasonable to you all? It is a path I can take while spending the least amount of $$. As it is I will have to buy a motor, ESC, receiver and batteries for the large cub (which I am open to suggestions about, incidentally!)

If I can avoid spending the $$ on a trainer or other fast jet, I would like to save it for the A-10. Great suggestions from you all, and I appreciate the help.

You have received great advice here Ben. I remember my enthusiasm for wanting my first plane, even though I knew it was over my head. And I learned the hard way. I posted a blog several years ago documenting my experiences (www.rcav8rs.blogspot.com) and they remind me of what you are saying. I know we all must sound like geezers, but go slow my friend, and enjoy the journey! Rob

[JTClark]

Added a RunCam2 to my A-10 for an on board CAM view while chasing Anthony's A-10. Landings are getting better but still need more practice. Looking forward to the gear upgrade when they come out.

[ben1272]

You have received great advice here Ben. I remember my enthusiasm for wanting my first plane, even though I knew it was over my head. And I learned the hard way. I posted a blog several years ago documenting my experiences (www.rcav8rs.blogspot.com) and they remind me of what you are saying. I know we all must sound like geezers, but go slow my friend, and enjoy the journey! Rob

Thanks for the post. It would not be my first plane. I have had several over my 25+ year flying career, it has just been a while since I last flew a plane 'of any substance' (i.e. my goldberg anniversary J-3 cub). I have flown (pretty much in order: Airtronics Q-tee (with cox .049, great little engine and plane), Hirobo Shuttle ZX, J-3 cub, GWS Formosa (loved that little bird), GWS A-10 (seemed under powered), Xane V-22 foamy osprey (hover only so far). I have a parkzone p-51 that I have never flown, that I think I am going to get airborne next. Then cub flies again. Then.....?

Thanks for all the advice! I am looking forward to the A-10.

[dahawk]

Added a RunCam2 to my A-10 for an on board CAM view while chasing Anthony's A-10. Landings are getting better but still need more practice. Looking forward to the gear upgrade when they come out.

Great vid Tom ! But I was hoping I'd see Anthony's tailpipe - LOL

I have to get one of these little run cams.

[JTClark]

Great vid Tom ! But I was hoping I'd see Anthony's tailpipe - LOL

I have to get one of these little run cams.

Thanks Dave. We were trying to get close in formation but we just haven't had enough practice together lately. The picture quality is much better than what is shown on the YouTube video of the RunCam2. I'm glad I purchased it.

[ben1272]

Nice video!

[TSHobbies]

[downwindleg]

Hey TSHobbies, I don't see that story in the air force times.....help me out,Brad P.S. you can get this story on the drive.com

[bill34207]

Very happy to report that the maiden flight went off without a hitch. About 3 clicks of down elevator trim was all that was needed to have it flying level.
First flight I had the timer set for 3.5 minutes and my meter showed around 43-44% battery left with the cells reading in the 3.84 v range. So I bumped it to 4 minutes for the 2nd flight. My apologies for the hat cam video, but there was no-one there willing to run my good camera.

Surprisingly, landing after a 4 minute flight the packs were still "up there". My meter reported 50% remaining and cells around 3.89 to 3.91 volts. Guess I must have been more sparing on the throttle or something. :Confused:

Overall, I think I like the sound of the 80's over the sound of the 90's (could be that my fans are not perfectly balanced). The 90's do give a boost in vertical over the 80's and it might be a little bit faster. I think the 90's make it a little harder to land as even at an idle they are still moving a lot of air. I wound up chopping the throttle on both landing to get it to settle the rest of the way in.

[Twowingtj]

Congrats Bill!:Cool:. That peanut scheme looks great on the ground and in the air.

[purduephigam]

Love, it, looks great!

[AceMigKiller]

That is a good looking Hawg!

[Itgordon00]

Very happy to report that the maiden flight went off without a hitch. About 3 clicks of down elevator trim was all that was needed to have it flying level.
First flight I had the timer set for 3.5 minutes and my meter showed around 43-44% battery left with the cells reading in the 3.84 v range. So I bumped it to 4 minutes for the 2nd flight. My apologies for the hat cam video, but there was no-one there willing to run my good camera.

Surprisingly, landing after a 4 minute flight the packs were still "up there". My meter reported 50% remaining and cells around 3.89 to 3.91 volts. Guess I must have been more sparing on the throttle or something. :Confused:

Overall, I think I like the sound of the 80's over the sound of the 90's (could be that my fans are not perfectly balanced). The 90's do give a boost in vertical over the 80's and it might be a little bit faster. I think the 90's make it a little harder to land as even at an idle they are still moving a lot of air. I wound up chopping the throttle on both landing to get it to settle the rest of the way in.

Very nice flight and livery Bill. How long is your runway?

[bill34207]

Very nice flight and livery Bill. How long is your runway?

Thanks ltgordon (and everyone else) . The runway in the videos is only 300 feet. My home field runway is 500 feet but it's currently closed due to Sarasota county using the area where it's located as a staging area for hurricane Irma debris processing.