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

[ColtPilot]

I noticed the same but will use them anyway. I'll deal with it once I get finished painting. As far as the nose decals I think the in the ARF are water slide which should be easier to work with.

Mike

Couldn't use the water slides on the olive drab paint as they don't show well. They are gray hue and disappear in the OD. May need to get the rest from Callie.

[gravity tester]

Hey guys ... quick question for those of you that went with Callie Graphics decals.....

A quick side x side of the stock vs. the Callie decals shows obvious differences in the actual size of the graphic. Anyone else notice that? I'm mostly concerned about the nose art but at the same time, don't want it to look to "off". Thought I'd ask before I begin.

I ordered 1/10 scale from Callie based on the 1/10th markings on the freewing box.


So ... did I miss something? Anyone else notice this?

Hi Stack-
Short answer in my opinion is they (Callie's vinyl) don't look off or cartoonish for this kind of scale. I ended up using a combination of the water slide in the box and Callie's vinyl - mostly Callie's vinyl. At the risk of picking fly dookie out of the pepper, I think the reason is that as good as this bird looks and flies, it's smaller than 1/10th. I have no knowledge of how Freewing sized their graphics, just saying the math sez something different. Callie's graphics may be closer to true 1/10th and that is probably the difference you are seeing. I can't stress enough that I am not whining or sniveling - I have never been happier flying an RC plane than this one. Anyway, the real deal is 57.5 ft wingspan and 53.3 ft length. 1/10th scale would be a 69 inch wing and 64-ish length, depending on your rounding. If you had Mrs. Peavy for 4th grade math, it's 63.999. :). The FW is 66.9" WS. If you want true scale or plan to compete, you could probably have Callie scale them down 3-4% and they would look spot on but you would probably also be changing a few other details as well.

Bottom line is use what looks good to you and if someone complains, tell them to get their own. LOL I have around 12-13 flights on mine (having too much fun, starting to lose count) and not a single person that has seen it has done anything but drool and tell me how bad-a$$ it looks. When it gets in the air, they say even less. Well, except to "grade" my landings but they are all goobers.

[MikeT]

Couldn't use the water slides on the olive drab paint as they don't show well. They are gray hue and disappear in the OD. May need to get the rest from Callie.

My scheme is the Euro scheme has the Euro grey nose so I'm hoping the water slide sharks mouth will work out. Time will tell.

Mike

[Stack2017]

Hi Stack-
Short answer in my opinion is they (Callie's vinyl) don't look off or cartoonish for this kind of scale. I ended up using a combination of the water slide in the box and Callie's vinyl - mostly Callie's vinyl. At the risk of picking fly dookie out of the pepper, I think the reason is that as good as this bird looks and flies, it's smaller than 1/10th. I have no knowledge of how Freewing sized their graphics, just saying the math sez something different. Callie's graphics may be closer to true 1/10th and that is probably the difference you are seeing. I can't stress enough that I am not whining or sniveling - I have never been happier flying an RC plane than this one. Anyway, the real deal is 57.5 ft wingspan and 53.3 ft length. 1/10th scale would be a 69 inch wing and 64-ish length, depending on your rounding. If you had Mrs. Peavy for 4th grade math, it's 63.999. :). The FW is 66.9" WS. If you want true scale or plan to compete, you could probably have Callie scale them down 3-4% and they would look spot on but you would probably also be changing a few other details as well.

Bottom line is use what looks good to you and if someone complains, tell them to get their own. LOL I have around 12-13 flights on mine (having too much fun, starting to lose count) and not a single person that has seen it has done anything but drool and tell me how bad-a$$ it looks. When it gets in the air, they say even less. Well, except to "grade" my landings but they are all goobers.

Thanks to you (and everyone that replied!

I hear you - and I too am not whining or sniveling! I was just wondering if I had ordered the wrong set :)

Not worried about others and what they think at the field ... more worried about my own OCD !

Looking forward to my maiden but am a little nervous !!!! I'm sure my landings will need some remedial training after the fact.


Thanks again guys!

[T-CAT]

Looks like the Kit Plus is out of stock now too.

[RCjetdude]

I am really liking my 90mm version. Was doing T&G's yesterday at my club field and getting 5 minute flights with mixed throttle.

[dkalwishky]

I had an interesting experience last Saturday at our clubs warbird fun fly. We had a lot of members present and for some reason I was nervous about flying in front of such a large crowd, they gave me the sky to myself so they could all watch this magnificent beast fly. One of our guys got some pictures, once I get them from him I'll share them.

I took off and had a really good flight, when it came time to land as I got into the flare the wings rocked side to side and the plane was forced onto the ground, she bounced and came down again so I powered up and went around for another try. I thought it was nerves because of the crowd watching me.

During the second landing attempt the same thing happened. Once I was climbing out I looked back at the runway and saw grass swirling around in one spot, I hollered at a couple of the guys so they could look and they confirmed that a dust devil was stationary where I was trying to land.

I was going to land further away from myself (in the grass) but they said not too as the little dust devil had moved to where I was going to land. I proceeded to land where I was at the last two attempts and greased her right in.

I'm convinced that had I not powered up after bounce number 2 each time that I would have broken something on the plane. All was well and I got several more flights in before it got too hot and humid for me.

For those who don't know what a dust devil is it is "a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind ranging from small (half a meter wide and a few meters tall) to large (more than 10 meters wide and more than 1000 meters tall). The primary vertical motion is upward. Dust devils are usually harmless, but can on rare occasions grow large enough to pose a threat to both people and property

They are comparable to tornadoes in that both are a weather phenomenon involving a vertically oriented rotating column of wind. Most tornadoes are associated with a larger parent circulation, the mesocyclone on the back of a supercell thunderstorm. Dust devils form as a swirling updraft under sunny conditions during fair weather, rarely coming close to the intensity of a tornado."

I've got 10 flights on the plane so far and I'm really enjoying it, she looks great, flies great and everyone stops to look at it.

[themudduck]

I had an OMG moment yesterday after a really great flight.... (Previous flights were at 5 minutes and very conservative. You guys know how nice this bird flies at 1/2 throttle)
Anyway this last flight was more aggressive, more high power low passes and so on. I was showing off. Its so cool.

Timer went off, so I turned downwind, cut the throttle back. Dropped the gear, turned to final and dropped the flaps, came in smoothly and made a nice landing, throttles closed. Rolling out...then I turned it around to taxi in and... nothing. Someone turned off my motors! I had nothing left. Batteries were at 3V per cell. (No damage, they were hot but not too hot, and charged up again just fine later on)
Holy brrrrrrt batman, I just can't imagine if the power had cut out just 15 seconds earlier. :Scared:

I was lucky.

TImer is now set to 4:40. At the end of my last flight yesterday (which was less aggressive) I came in and the batteries were at 3.7v.

[ColtPilot]

I had an OMG moment yesterday after a really great flight.... (Previous flights were at 5 minutes and very conservative. You guys know how nice this bird flies at 1/2 throttle)
Anyway this last flight was more aggressive, more high power low passes and so on. I was showing off. Its so cool.

Timer went off, so I turned downwind, cut the throttle back. Dropped the gear, turned to final and dropped the flaps, came in smoothly and made a nice landing, throttles closed. Rolling out...then I turned it around to taxi in and... nothing. Someone turned off my motors! I had nothing left. Batteries were at 3V per cell. (No damage, they were hot but not too hot, and charged up again just fine later on)
Holy brrrrrrt batman, I just can't imagine if the power had cut out just 15 seconds earlier. :Scared:

I was lucky.

TImer is now set to 4:40. At the end of my last flight yesterday (which was less aggressive) I came in and the batteries were at 3.7v.

Whew, that was close. Yikes.

[WAY BAD]

Has anyone of you guys used Microscale Industries Micro Set on this model? I just did a few small slides with it, and noticed some discoloration. Just wondering if this is something that will eventually fade away, or does it just have this reaction to our paint? I'm kind of afraid to do the nose art with it if it's going to discolor...

[TSHobbies]

yeah the paint on these are not sealed I dont think..Im sure the Micorsol will react with it... when using water slide decals its always best to apply a gloss coat first ,otherwise the decal will silver up and eventually start flaking off anyway... they dont like flat paint.

[WAY BAD]

Is that why I see guys talking about covering the plane with a coat of Minwax? Is that before or after the decals installed?

[TomPatton]

Is that why I see guys talking about covering the plane with a coat of Minwax? Is that before or after the decals installed?

After...

[Veltro]

I used both Micro Set and Micro Sol on my A-10 ordnance decals and it worked beautifully. These aren't plastic model decals; they're pretty heavy stock. Micro Set followed by Micro Sol snugged them down nicely.

[Veltro]

Point of clarification: I use warm water to apply and position the decal. The Micro Set and Micro Sol is purely used to soften the decal after I am satisfied with its positioning.

[ColtPilot]

One more step in my progress the RED Devils side. They arrived today.

[RCjetdude]

That thing looks sweet!

[401 FOOT CEILING]

Turbine engine covers:

[RCjetdude]

Outstanding! What are those made from?

[401 FOOT CEILING]

Outstanding! What are those made from?

Thanks. Dixie "chine-ette" bowls...