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

[Pheonix]

Wow! Another plane to buy. Well, I guess I will just have to buy my wife her own house :). Nope, I will just order the plane and take my chances.

[Pheonix]

I pre-ordered the Tigercat. What is coming out next. I am going to have to sell some planes to make room for the new stuff. I still have planes I have not flown yet. What is a guy to do now?

[crxmanpat]

Yep, lots of twins for me already too. FW Me-262, FMS B-25, FLRC P-38, FW F-14, LX F-4, LX Mig-29, and now the FLRC Tigercat on order. Can't wait until the Hogs go on sale!

[crxmanpat]

Yes, we also have an awesome weapons kit.

That's great news Tom! A Hog just wouldn't look right without a full load out under the wings.

[gooniac33]

Here they are performing at Nellis a couple weeks ago...

[RCjetdude]

Now we're talking.....freaking sweet! This is like a dream come true. Can you comment on how it flies?

[the snake]

I want the slowest one ok!

[T-CAT]

Excellent stuff all around! Thanks for the info. and pic. I'm looking forward to more. The A-10 is one of my top five planes, so I'm psyched up about a new one.

[Dlxpkg2000]

OMG, ALPHA.....even without paint, that "HAWG" is GOURGEOUS. Who said you can't put "Lipstick on a Pig"..? WATCH ME...! I haven't been this pumped about a plane since the F-15 came out. Wait.....I must be headin' for a RELAPSE. What size ESC's is this bird using, and will they have to be swapped out for the 90mm upgrade ? What about the BEC'S, External ?

[dahawk]

Decellerons? as in scale? Or better yet... A working Gatling gun so we can shoot down the FMS twin 70mm when it arrives. Just kidding. I do like Pat's idea about coming up with an upgrade option for weapons stores. Such a big variety of armament for this beast.

[T-CAT]

Can you tell us about the wing attachment arrangement? A full wing or two halves, and what type of servo lead attachment for the surfaces (typical servo harness, bullet connectors, multi-pin style, etc.)?

This is so we know how the transport situation will be.

[xplaneguy]

I like the Project name! ;)

[Alpha]

Happy to answer your questions, guys.

To be honest, this portly plane has surprisingly carved out a place among some of the faster aircraft we've developed. Even for its large size, it moves through the air quickly, which if you've ever seen a Warthog in action, is not how it really behaves, so to my eye it looks kind of strange... scaled up it's faster than 1.5 Mach! I feel most comfortable flying at 40-50% throttle and ~80mph.
I'll post more about the final production power systems in the coming weeks. We're still testing a range of options to find the best balance between speed, thrust, weight, amp draw, and flight time. We can certainly dial down the top speed in exchange for longer flight time and/or more thrust.

Currently the A-10's flight time with F-14 packs is about 20% longer than the F-14, since you need less power to maintain speed. Landings with four big flaps are at ~20 mph airspeed. As expected for any A-10, the landing attitude is predictable and speeds and descent are well within controllable range. Where the A-10 shines above narrow gear aircraft like the F-16 is in the A-10's tall wheels and wide gear stance, making tipping over virtually impossible. I took off and landed on a washed out riverbed pocked with gravel and small stones without issue. It's no surprise that an aircraft like this is built for tough terrain. We've made several tweaks during drop tests and side force tests to ensure the gear are up to the task.

Stalls are mushy and straight down, no major wing drop. It can bank on a dime, just like the real thing. 60% throttle is needed to maintain four point hesitation rolls, and 70%+ is recommended to hold a knife edge down the runway. For slow speed maneuvering, a little rudder helps keep the nose level as you carve deep figure 8s across the field. In that sense it flies like the Stinger 90. Strange to envision, but, you'll just have to try it ;). At full speed you can induce a snap if you're not careful and cranked the controls full tilt at too steep an AoA, but at that point you're well past the "reasonable" threshold of flying a big scale jet like this. In the same way turbine pilots don't snap roll their Skymaster A-10s, don't try to do the same in this one.

We thought long and hard about incorporating decelerons into this aircraft, but opted instead to keep the cost lower. The test sample's deceleron geometry and mechanisms were too small at this scale to be reliable and sturdy enough for cost effective mass production. Decelerons need to be perfect for them to work right, otherwise they can quickly become a hazard if/as slop develops and/or control linkages fail.

Regarding the wing layout, that's really the last main thing to finalize. The final production wings will be removable with quick disconnect plugs, but the actual demarcation line is not fully set. With a model this size, it isn't just about convenience and transportability for the customer, but I also need to ensure all these pieces fit in the physical mold allowances. Every mm counts, otherwise we need additional molds to fit the pieces, and the prices go up. As always, we're keen to settle upon the best balance of all factors.

[RCjetdude]

I agree. The A-10 is not intended to be a fast plane but but highly maneuverable at lower speeds. Twin 80's might provide a lot of thrust depending on the motor. I personally would prefer the less powerful, slower and less power hungry, longer flight time side of the spectrum if it has good low speed flight characteristics.

[xplaneguy]

This A-10 is begging to have a rotating gun with sound, signature GE TF34 engine sound and Estes powered Mavericks.....just sayin! :cool:

[Alpha]

We did design the aircraft to accommodate modern sound systems, with lots of areas to install speakers in acoustically advantageous areas that are also placed away from the receiver and other sensitive areas. I don't know of a GE TF34 sound card, though. I'll ask Brad in the morning. I agree that would be great!

I'd sacrifice the rotating gun (since i can't see that in flight) and swap it out for a white smoke puff ball that spewed out from the barrel in sync with the BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTT sound! Someone please make that happen.

[TiredIronGRB]

This may be my first Jet...

[F106DeltaDart]

First off, this looks awesome! Huge span, good slow, and a nice ordinance package will make this a winner! I do have one, super tiny nitpicky question though. I have a friend who had the big Roban A-10, which is beautiful except for one thing. The fans he has in it have aluminum cone shaped spinners (similarly to the Freewing 80mm Units), and with the placement of the spinners, your eye is drawn to them immediately. Any chance we can get some larger diameter more rounded spinners on this model? Like I said, super-nitpicky but it would definitely look better..

[crxmanpat]

If someone created a sound card for the GE TF34s (and BRRRRRRTTTT of course), it'd be the first sound system I ever purchase. Just can't beat that distinctive whine of the GE's. Just like the distinctive drone of the C-130 (except for the new J model). I can always tell when one is flying overhead, even at altitude.