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

[Aros]

My weekend flights are cancelled due to smoke...literally can't see the sun right now. We worst air quality in the world right now. Parks are closed, can't go outside. Yay 2020!

Yep same here in Maple Valley. It's disgusting. Come on Marine Layer/Low Pressure System! We need you!!

This was taken yesterday and it's worse today.

Here's some photos of Seattle... https://komonews.com/news/local/gall...t-remains-grim

[Hugh Wiedman]

My weekend flights are cancelled due to smoke...literally can't see the sun right now. We worst air quality in the world right now. Parks are closed, can't go outside. Yay 2020!

Splat and Aros, I feel your pain bothers! Had to cancel again the maiden of my A-10, seems we have another tropical depression blowing through :cloud_rain::cloud_lightning:, but I believe it is headed into the Gulf and on it's way to Texas and Louisiana where it may turn into another hurricane, my prayers go with you guys in it's path, like you need another one so soon! :triumph:

Anyway, with the :poop: weather, I was lucky and the revised "Arctic Thunder" graphics arrived today from Callie! Man, what would we do without her. She got them to me ASAP after I let her know the state was backwards, although I doubt just about anyone would really notice. It was a slow painstaking process removing the state lines (had to use a razor blade and made progress 1 mm at a time so as not to affect the underlying paint). At least I don't have to fly the maiden backwards now, whenever that happens.


Before: After:

[ColtPilot]

https://youtu.be/BX0ps168WPY

Love this A-10. Model Sounds Inc sound system.

[Hugh Wiedman]

https://youtu.be/BX0ps168WPY
Love this A-10. Model Sounds Inc sound system.

Loved your sound system, do you have any photos showing where you installed the board and speakers? The special treat was nice, did you hit that Russian SU-30 by chance? And the additional LED lights on the fuse and vertical stabs are awesome, outstanding work!!!!

[ColtPilot]

Loved your sound system, do you have any photos showing where you installed the board and speakers? The special treat was nice, did you hit that Russian SU-30 by chance? And the additional LED lights on the fuse and vertical stabs are awesome, outstanding work!!!!

The speakers are behind the second battery on either side of the fuselage and the board is in front of the forward battery. The formation lights are from Jeremy Solt to which there is a lot of wiring and soldering involved not to mention foam cutting and gluing.

[Jetfan]

Nuts!, I used the original graphics on my A-10 and never noticed the problem.

[Aros]

I was lucky and the revised "Arctic Thunder" graphics arrived today from Callie! Man, what would we do without her. She got them to me ASAP after I let her know the state was backwards, although I doubt just about anyone would really notice. It was a slow painstaking process removing the state lines (had to use a razor blade and made progress 1 mm at a time so as not to affect the underlying paint). At least I don't have to fly the maiden backwards now, whenever that happens.

Fine job Arctic Hugh! She is a proud and worthy member of the Arctic Hog Club! And yes Callie is pretty spectacular. :punch:

[Hugh Wiedman]

The speakers are behind the second battery on either side of the fuselage and the board is in front of the forward battery. The formation lights are from Jeremy Solt to which there is a lot of wiring and soldering involved not to mention foam cutting and gluing.

If I'm not mistaken, they use actual speakers and not the "transducers" that Mr. RC sound uses. With the transducers, they mount on the foam (with the sound generating portion facing into the foam) and use the foam structure itself to create and reverberate the sound. How did you mount the speakers, with the speaker cone facing back into the center of the body? Sorry for all these questions, just want to learn more about this system as it seems to work pretty darn well.

[Elbee]

Before: After:

Hugh, Ya shoulda been a surgeon. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Best, LB

[ColtPilot]

If I'm not mistaken, they use actual speakers and not the "transducers" that Mr. RC sound uses. With the transducers, they mount on the foam (with the sound generating portion facing into the foam) and use the foam structure itself to create and reverberate the sound. How did you mount the speakers, with the speaker cone facing back into the center of the body? Sorry for all these questions, just want to learn more about this system as it seems to work pretty darn well.

They do use transducer speakers. That's what I purchased with their system.

[Elbee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXgTrpPU9Rk

Hugh Wiedman, Since you are so very close to your first check flight, I thought you would enjoy a 'walk around' the HAWG with an A-10 Pilot. Best, LB

[Aros]

Wow Elbee GREAT video thanks for sharing!

[Hugh Wiedman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXgTrpPU9Rk


Hugh Wiedman, Since you are so very close to your first check flight, I thought you would enjoy a 'walk around' the HAWG with an A-10 Pilot. Best, LB

WOW, outstanding video, thanks for the link. I'm planning on giving another shot at the maiden on Tuesday if this tropical depression finally gets all it's moisture out of here. :fingers_crossed:That video was incredibly informative and interesting to watch. Now I know where some of the nomenclature goes that, you guessed it, I put in the wrong place like "Warning, Fragile do not Impact". Originally stuck it on my ego.

[RC30Flyer]

Gentlemen... is there anyone that uses the Admiral Carbon 5100mah packs in the A-10 show me a pic or two of your battery placement? I'm having a hard time hitting the prescribed CG...

[Hugh Wiedman]

Gentlemen... is there anyone that uses the Admiral Carbon 5100mah packs in the A-10 show me a pic or two of your battery placement? I'm having a hard time hitting the prescribed CG...

I may be "ruffling some feathers" here but I do not think the Carbon Packs are a good combo for the A-10. First of all, each weighs in at about 866 g, for a total of 1,732 g. Just finished my maiden (more later when I get a chance to assemble some video) and it flew great at a CG of between 88 mm and 92 mm, while the manual calls for 78 mm (which is way too nose heavy-many have already posted on this, thanks for the heads up). With those heavy batteries, you'll never get the CG close to that without some lead in the tail (about 5-6 ounces!!!!). Secondly, these twin 80 mm EDF's are outrunners and in my experience, the outrunners do not benefit as much from a higher C battery as the inrunners do. Case in point, the Amps and Watts drawn (indicative of power and thrust) by these 80 mm outrunners on fully charged RT 5500 70C, HRB 6000 50C and RT 6250 35C were all basically the same, respectively, 89.7 Ah/2081 W, 89.6 Ah/2061 W & 88.2 Ah/2020 W. The Admiral Carbon is advertised at 70C, and IMO, the high discharge (and extra weight) is not needed and all your getting is unnecessary extra weight. Therefore, I opted to use the RT 6250 35C, weight at 795 g, for a total of 1590 g (142 g or a whopping 5 ounces less than the 2 Carbons), plus they are 6250 mAh, instead of 5100 mAh. And even with that, I have the forward battery as far back as the first strap will allow (even added a 2nd strap farther back) and the aft battery back into where the circuit board was (which I removed and put on the sidewall). This bird has plenty of power, cruises well at 50% throttle and the only time you need full throttle is take-off (you almost don't even need it to go vertical), and that's taking off on grass! With those 2 6250's I got 5 minutes of flight time and still came in with 30% battery left on each.

Save the Carbon packs for an inrunner and put at least a 6000 mah battery in that is a lower C with less weight. Just my 2 cents.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Finally got the maiden in on the A-10 Arctic Thunder! :hugging: WOW, what an incredibly sweet flying machine this is. Only took me 4 years to get one (hope it doesn't take that long for the new Mig), but wasn't completely sold on getting it at first until after a lot of research and seeing Aros and others that did the Arctic theme that I finally said I Gotta Have One! And I'm not disappointed. I got 5 flights in on her, all fully loaded with the ordinance. Not sure how it flies without it, but I'll never find out cause an A-10 just has to be "loaded for bear" always, if not, it's like me going to the grocery store naked, and trust me, that's not something you want to see. :see_no_evil: Anyway, flew it with the CG around 88 mm instead of the book 78 mm and may move it back even further on the next flights to maybe 92-94 mm. All rates per manual, and I actually like the high rates best. Dialed in the AR637T with about 60% gains on flaps up mode, 70% on take-off flaps and 80% on landing flaps. We had a gusty 10-15 mph breeze and this big baby acted like it was dead calm. I used 2 RT 6250 mAh batteries and came in on the last flight after 5 minutes with 30% left (wow, that doesn't sound like an EDF). She had plenty of take-off power for our grass field and seemed like almost unlimited vertical; FW powered this perfect! With the twin vertical stabilizers, knife-edge was smooth and true! After reading many posts, I was concerned and a little (lot) nervous over the reported landing bounce, but slow flight was incredibly stable and she landed like a kitty cat. Upgraded the nose to the trailing link, so that may have helped as well. This is surprisingly fast and agile and can do any maneuver I can think of, yet cruises easily at 45-50% throttle. I had also put RF chokes on all wires coming from both ESC's and added a remote satellite in the nose for that little extra protection from signal loss. Everything went just a bit too perfect , so I'll have to keep my eye on this one! Thanks to all of you out there (and there's a boat load of you) who offered up all the great advice, it was much appreciated. Now back to working on the 3D cockpit (but I gotta get this out more so that project is going to drag on).




Also did a short video on the flight of one of my Extreme Flight 3D planes while I was there, the 60" Edge Demonstrator: https://youtu.be/LBVcfkF_qI8

[AirHead]

Absolutely superb graphics and rendering! Nice quality video and nicely cut grass too. Bigger flies better.....

[Elbee]

Finally got the maiden in on the A-10 Arctic Thunder!

Congrats Hugh. Great looking Hawg, Sir. Love the livery. Diggin' the Spirals on the Fan Intake Spinner. She's a Beaut. Best, LB

[crxmanpat]

Congrats Hugh! Well done.

PS - I flew my maiden fully loaded with ordnance too.

[JPriami]

Looking for the nose gear brace stl. I downloaded one online. But it seems to have a flange on the side. I don't see where that flange is supposed to go inside the area on my model. I havent maiden my plane yet. Just trying to install some parts to help preserve it first. I always fly at home on my grass field.

edit: Nevermind. I think I see how it goes in there now.