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

[Helmsman52]

So after about 7 flights off grass with my A-10 the front gear servo casing cracked. When I first flew this there was a lot of back and forth slop and just before my 7th flight there was even more. Anyhow I decided to pull this apart just to find out why there was so much slop and from what I’ve seen looks like an improper design? Looks like a lot of clearance between the base arm and the traveling foot on the threaded spindle. Sorry for the lack of not knowing the names of these parts. Anyhow I will need a new one now.
Have they made these any better?

[downwindleg]

Thanks for all the input guys. Right now I've got the plane inverted on the stand putting in the main gear upgrades but as soon as the glue sets on the gear shrouds I will try out everything beginning with reversing throttle. Already took the throttle trim down all the way. Will let you know what happens. Thanks again for the input, Brad

[Keith Stalder]

Very helpful Jim, much appreciated. I need to do the mains too so will be grateful for that video if you know where it might be. Thanks a million, Keith

[xviper]

So after about 7 flights off grass with my A-10 the front gear servo casing cracked. When I first flew this there was a lot of back and forth slop and just before my 7th flight there was even more. Anyhow I decided to pull this apart just to find out why there was so much slop and from what I’ve seen looks like an improper design? Looks like a lot of clearance between the base arm and the traveling foot on the threaded spindle. Sorry for the lack of not knowing the names of these parts. Anyhow I will need a new one now.
Have they made these any better?

This just happened to my Freewing F/A-18 front nose gear. Once the casing of the retract cracks, this allows for a lot of slop in the trungyen (sp.?) - the metal part with the forks. I swapped the whole strut with the fork thing into another retract and the slop was gone. With a "backwards" opening retract like on the A-10 and my F/A-18, any impact with a bump or hole will case the strut to act like a lever and force the fork against the screw assembly and breaking bits and pieces. The weakest link is that plastic casing. Once the retract was "fixed", I reinforced the plastic casing plate with fibre tape and I also FoamTac'd the retract mounting screws. Additionally, I laid a bead of hot glue around the edges of the retract plate and hot glued the front part of the retract housing (the round bit that holds the motor) on the sides and end so it would withstand a hit better. My next flight will tell if this did anything.
So far, I've had no problems with my A-10 and the newly installed trailing link strut. It takes the hits far better that the stock strut.

[xviper]

Thanks for all the input guys. Right now I've got the plane inverted on the stand putting in the main gear upgrades but as soon as the glue sets on the gear shrouds I will try out everything beginning the reverse throttle. Already took the throttle trim down all the way. Will let you know what happens. Thanks again for the input, Brad

Before reversing anything, use the numbers in the "monitor" for throttle and see what they tell you. You don't need the plane powered up to do this.

[Shogun]

Very helpful Jim, much appreciated. I need to do the mains too so will be grateful for that video if you know where it might be. Thanks a million, Keith

Hi Keith
Here is the video to replace the mains

Jim

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UebiNKC5ytg

[Helmsman52]

This just happened to my Freewing F/A-18 front nose gear. Once the casing of the retract cracks, this allows for a lot of slop in the trungyen (sp.?) - the metal part with the forks. I swapped the whole strut with the fork thing into another retract and the slop was gone. With a "backwards" opening retract like on the A-10 and my F/A-18, any impact with a bump or hole will case the strut to act like a lever and force the fork against the screw assembly and breaking bits and pieces. The weakest link is that plastic casing. Once the retract was "fixed", I reinforced the plastic casing plate with fibre tape and I also FoamTac'd the retract mounting screws. Additionally, I laid a bead of hot glue around the edges of the retract plate and hot glued the front part of the retract housing (the round bit that holds the motor) on the sides and end so it would withstand a hit better. My next flight will tell if this did anything.
So far, I've had no problems with my A-10 and the newly installed trailing link strut. It takes the hits far better that the stock strut.

Nice to hear I’m not the only one! I’ll order a new one but for now keep posted! Btw I switched to a trailing link because I fly of grass right from the beginning.
Thanks for all the info!

[downwindleg]

Before reversing anything, use the numbers in the "monitor" for throttle and see what they tell you. You don't need the plane powered up to do this.

I will check that out this evening. I have the new Spectrum IX12 radio and still learning. Not sure what I'm looking for but I will let you know what the numbers are for low, medium, and full throttle settings.

[downwindleg]

O.K. checked out the throttle monitor and found the bottom or low throttle position at minus 130. I lowered it to minus 150 and then plugged in the batteries. Everything fired up but still got the chirping from the motors. I'm thinking the next step is to try reversing the throttle but still listening to other input first.

[downwindleg]

O.K. tried reversing throttle. Now I get a fast beep as opposed to the coded chirping. Even tried rebinding for failsafe.....no joy.

[xviper]

-130 is what it should be. Since there are 2 ESCs/2 motors, do you hear the chirps as a pair (ie, from both motors) with a slight delay between the two? It's not likely you will get both motors beeping at the same time as you can't connect both batteries at exactly the same time.
Also, what happens if you plug the battery in on only the one lead with the UBEC wired to it and leave the other battery not connected? What I'm trying to get at is to determine if you have continuous feed of power from the battery all the way to the motors. I can get that steady beeping in a motor if one of the 3 motor wires is loose or disconnected.
I'd also be curious if the throttle signal is going through the control board and onto the Rx properly - think polarity and continuity through the board.

[Dirty Dee]

Modeling done, and now to do some test prints! :Cool:

For anyone without a printer that would like to order some of the ordinance I have released, check out my blog post for pricing and more information:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3097477-3D-Printed-Ordinance-Sets-%28Thingiverse-links-and-Printing-Services%29

[Hardway]

Great stuff! :Cool::Cool::Cool:

[RCAV8R]

Wow Brad...I'm sorry you are having so much trouble! I don't know a thing about electronics and haven't got any scientific suggestions. I will say that I did have trouble getting mine to initialize, and I tried repeatedly until finally, for no apparent reason, it worked. For comparison, I have a JR radio, I had everything plugged in through the control board, power to the RX through the bind port, throttle trim at 0, and I did the motors separately. I must have tried about 15 times or more until it clicked. There was only one motor beeping (I think it was a slow beep. Fast beep is the signal for programming mode, I believe) and I was working exclusively on the lead with the BEC wired to it. If memory serves, once I got one motor bound, the other did so right away. Thankfully it has never needed to be re-bound since! Rob

Ooops...I just remembered, I had RC Jetdude (Steve) help me with doing an isolation of the motors through the control panel. He had me unplug one lead into the board and do something to test which motor was affected...I think it was to identify which motor was the one with the BEC lead attached. Then when I got that one initialized, I went back and switched the plugs into the control panel, using the open port on the panel the second time, and initialized the second one. Even with all that, it still took several attempts before it worked on the first motor. Honestly, I hardly understood what I was doing..I was just following his direction!

[xviper]

Wow Brad...I'm sorry you are having so much trouble! I don't know a thing about electronics and haven't got any scientific suggestions. I will say that I did have trouble getting mine to initialize, and I tried repeatedly until finally, for no apparent reason, it worked. For comparison, I have a JR radio, I had everything plugged in through the control board, power to the RX through the bind port, throttle trim at 0, and I did the motors separately. I must have tried about 15 times or more until it clicked. There was only one motor beeping (I think it was a slow beep. Fast beep is the signal for programming mode, I believe) and I was working exclusively on the lead with the BEC wired to it. If memory serves, once I got one motor bound, the other did so right away. Thankfully it has never needed to be re-bound since! Rob

Ooops...I just remembered, I had RC Jetdude (Steve) help me with doing an isolation of the motors through the control panel. He had me unplug one lead into the board and do something to test which motor was affected...I think it was to identify which motor was the one with the BEC lead attached. Then when I got that one initialized, I went back and switched the plugs into the control panel, using the open port on the panel the second time, and initialized the second one. Even with all that, it still took several attempts before it worked on the first motor. Honestly, I hardly understood what I was doing..I was just following his direction!

This point got me thinking. Maybe try to bypass the control board on the throttle leads. Do one lead at a time (or put both through a "Y") and directly into the RX. I've seen a couple of control boards with poor grounds that prevented some components from working properly. Make sure all plugs are tight (give them all a wiggle and seat them well) on the control board. Again, while at it, confirm the plugs are in the correct orientation (polarity).

[downwindleg]

Yeah, I already did that. That's what got me to this stage now. Up until then I wasn't getting anything at all other than the slow beeps from motors. At least now everything works but the motors. I just realized I hadn't taken the bind plug back out after last attempt last night. Will also move throttle setting back to 130. Will try again tonight. Thanks again for all the input guys.

[Elbee]

Hey Y'all, Still setting up the A-10. All is good except elevator and rudder dual rate switches. My tx is a Futaba 8J and my first fully programmable tx. I have followed both the Futaba manual and the Freewing settings for the A-10. Tx shows Switch A & B 'down' with 85% set but when I move the switch back to up I do not get up position indicated on the display panel; reads the same, i.e., Down and the values remain 85% with only full movement at the control surface. This is the same for both Switch A (Elevator) and Switch B (Rudder). However, I had no problem when I set parameters for Switch D (Ailerons), i.e., switch down=70% switch up=100%. Clueless here. Any assistance would be appreciated. Best, LB

[TSHobbies]

havent yet swapped out my new nose gear ..hows everyone liking it so far? has it helped reduce the bronco effect any?

[xviper]

havent yet swapped out my new nose gear ..hows everyone liking it so far? has it helped reduce the bronco effect any?

I love it. The first landing after the swap, no bounce and no bounce since. However, if you fly off pavement, your results may be different.

[TSHobbies]

yes I fly off pavement