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

[ColtPilot]

I had a friend put my A-10 together and do the maiden on it, and didn't even know about that white triangle on the nose gear until I had flown it a couple of times and my nose gear jammed when cycling it before a flight. I looked at someone else's plane and discovered that my part was missing. I did fabricate a piece of .040" thick white plastic that worked just fine, but I still removed it when I got a stock part from Motion that was meant to be there. But I can vouch that you can make a substitute part if you look at some pictures like I did that I took of my friend's plane. It does seem to be a weak spot on this model, though..

I will do the same today. I'm going to use small self tapping screws and glue to hold it in place. Should not come off.

[themudduck]

I struggled and struggled with that shark-mouth decal as well. I didn't want to sit it on top of the blisters... and I just could not get it to fit around those blisters and look right, so I ended up with a giant gap in the center. Part of the decal went onto the landing gear door as well, so I had to cut it there.

Anyway I carefully filled the gap with white and black decal pieces that I cut out of the leftover decals with scissors. I added two new white teeth!!
I think it turned out well. If I didn't tell you, you wouldn't notice unless you were inches away.
Here are "before" and "after" shots. (I also enlarged the cannon openings, that was explained on an earlier post).

[ColtPilot]

I've joined the ranks of those who have had a craptastic landing with this bird. I was working on my landings off a high approach over the trees, completely dead stick like that great video displayed, and it was great. Took off again and decided to get cute and try it from the opposite end of the runway even though it would be a tailwind landing (because the approach was much lower). I came around, made the base leg and dropped power. She came in and I don't know what I did exactly, but clearly I dumb thumbed it because I wasn't used to that angle and I thought she was going to go into a light pole so I banked her during the flare and the next thing I know she slammed down nose gear first and bounced so I tried to manage it with throttle but she bucked like a bronco given a hot cattle prod in the rear and it was all I could do to wait it out. Going around wasn't an option because there wasn't enough runway left.

Scuffed the wingtips and some weapons and annihilated the nose gear. Surprised the damage wasn't worse. Operation Ego Bruise a success.

:Angry:

It's almost like my FMS A-10, couple great landings and then going about fixing the landing gear. Shouldn't use this one on grass fields or rough terrain as it spells "gotta fix something".

[TSHobbies]

Maiden my A10 today and it rolled hard right off departure end. Impacted upside down. Broke wing off and front fuselage. Not sure why it rolled. Probably should have run servos to test. So I have gear parts since they didn't get touched. Pretty bummed. Not sure if I will get another.

sorry to hear about your plane man...I know how much that sucks done that myself with my first F16... used an older battery and shouldnt have... not enough juice and it augured in right after t/o .
hate to sound like a vulture, but if you need to part your A10 out, let me know ..I could use a main retract ..broke my trunion on one yesterday doing the bronco landing as Aros dubbed it .

[OV10]

It's almost like my FMS A-10, couple great landings and then going about fixing the landing gear. Shouldn't use this one on grass fields or rough terrain as it spells "gotta fix something".

The gear on this was designed for the turf guys. What are ya'll doing wishing for the likes of a F-8 or F-35 or whatever which absolutely will be a FAIL on grass after grumping about this A-10. :Confused:

[Pete Lane]

Looks great Mudder
You forgot the foam.....lol

See what the research and fellow ship does.

Plane

[TSHobbies]

The gear on this was designed for the turf guys. What are ya'll doing wishing for the likes of a F-8 or F-35 or whatever which absolutely will be a FAIL on grass after grumping about this A-10. :Confused:

using mine off asphalt and still getting the same issues others have been..and my landings have been great for the most part..only takes 1 bounce and the gear is f/uped

[Dewey H Lee]

Most of the time a hard bounce off asphault or concrete delivers a heaver blow to the plane than turf.

[RCjetdude]

I have bounced both of mine a couple times and they are still fine so it depends. I even flipped my gray one completely over in some taller grass doing touch and goes with very minimal damage. It did not even tear the nose gear door or any ordnance or hard points off. Granted, I could take the LG out on the next landing but just saying.

[Aros]

I guess when it first hit the nose gear hard I could have potentially went to full power but I tried to give just enough juice to bring her back down but the bucking bronco was off to the races. It was awful to watch. Glad there wasn't any children in the vicinity as there were some pretty choice words soaring.

[ColtPilot]

5 minutes in the sun yesterday. I have some ideas to fix this.

[catvman]

5 minutes in the sun yesterday. I have some ideas to fix this.

When you figure it out let us all know please!

Ron

[Pete Lane]

Some are using styrene sheeting. Some copper and foil tape. Its really glued on ....lol

I went with lite blue and vents. If this happens I am just going to dark tint it and call it a day.

Plane

[dkalwishky]

Normally I take the canopy into the club house or store the plane in the shade. If neither of those are an option when I'm at the field then I store the canopy upside down.

[T-CAT]

5 minutes in the sun yesterday. I have some ideas to fix this.

Some lightweight spackle or beacon foam filler, sanded smooth and level when dried, and then painted should do well. As already mentioned, some people are using thin styrene cut to shape or cardstock and glued in, then painted. What I've done in the past and still do sometimes is paint the inside with epoxy, let it fill cure and then paint over it. It's faster than cutting styrene to shape or cardstock, and seemed to do well in sunny conditions. However, I still take my canopy off or put the plane in the shade when not flying if and when possible in hopes of limiting the foam gatoring effect. I know sometimes shade isn't an option though and some fields and likely putting up a canopy of sorts is the only real viable option.

[catvman]

Normally I take the canopy into the club house or store the plane in the shade. If neither of those are an option when I'm at the field then I store the canopy upside down.

Mine alligatored while flying, cant remove canopy to fly? LOL

Ron

[xviper]

Mine alligatored while flying, cant remove canopy to fly? LOL

Ron

Did you punch any vent holes in the canopy? I put 2 at the base of the windshield and 2 more at the back end of the canopy. Haven't flown it yet but hope this will prevent the in-flight croc-pocs.

[dkalwishky]

Mine alligatored while flying, cant remove canopy to fly? LOL

Ron

That happened after only a few minutes in the air? Yikes!

[Aros]

I am hoping that we can get Freewing to lead the way and start making these cockpits plastic instead of foam for obvious reasons. I don't have the knowledge that Alpha does when it comes to tooling costs, etc, so I don't know what all-plastic cockpits would do to the final cost but it is my opinion that this should become a primary New Generation amenity. The gatoring of these cockpits is ridiculous. But let's hear from Alpha if it's something that could potentially be feasible while translating to a still respectable final retail price.

[Pete Lane]

I was purchasing my Navy cat tubs for around ten bucks from Ed on RCG he made them himself.Another idea is to look over at park flyer plastics and get an idea. The green house effect
certainly needs to be addressed and as I was drilling holes in my crutch I was thinking ( vent ? Vent to where ) no moving air and the fuselage interior is hot inside as well.Heat rises so venting the bottom....hmmmm...lol

I wish I had seen the epoxy coating idea before painting and gluing it back together. If and when the new design comes out I will buy that. But alas I am going into my second week of wait because the factory shorted me a push rod buckle and their OOS. Stuff happens but this is a 600.00 jet.
For such a small infraction I would think canabalizing a kit for defects and replacements might be in order. Small to some....bigger to the customer. Sure I could drive to the hobby shop and spend 20 bucks on gas and Dubro. But I want it OEM and the factory needs the feedback.



http://parkflyerplastics.com/cart/in...roducts_id=322

Plane