Official Freewing 80mm Avanti S Sport Jet Thread

[Shirty]

Lol, trust me I've thought about it. Not a fan of yellow. ;)

[Crashmaster]

I was putting a last flight on my newly painted Avanti last Sunday and the nose gear decided to jam in the retracted position. I had to land it with all landing gear retracted. I deployed full flaps and came it as slow and low as I could, and then retracted the flaps right before touchdown. The Avanti flopped gently onto the grass runway with no damage other than a few paint scuffs on the center rib on the bottom of the plane. The nose didn't even pop off. Frankly, I was very surprised at how slow this thing would fly with full flaps.

Upon inspection it seems that the long silver spring that pulls the gear doors closed when the nose gear retracts got screwed-up when I retracted the gear after taking off. It pulled the gear doors so tight that they jammed in the shut position and would not open when you try to deploy the gear. To prevent that from happening in the future, I performed the "rubber band" mod (mentioned on this thread in the past) on the spring to keep it in the proper position when the gear is deployed so when the nose gear is retracted, the spring is right where it should be every time.

My recommendation would be for everyone to go ahead perform this simple mod. The spring may have performed well for you like it did for me after many flights, but it just takes one time to screw up.

[davecee]

Nice landing BTW/

[Papadave418]

I was putting a last flight on my newly painted Avanti last Sunday and the nose gear decided to jam in the retracted position. I had to land it with all landing gear retracted. I deployed full flaps and came it as slow and low as I could, and then retracted the flaps right before touchdown. The Avanti flopped gently onto the grass runway with no damage other than a few paint scuffs on the center rib on the bottom of the plane. The nose didn't even pop off. Frankly, I was very surprised at how slow this thing would fly with full flaps.

Upon inspection it seems that the long silver spring that pulls the gear doors closed when the nose gear retracts got screwed-up when I retracted the gear after taking off. It pulled the gear doors so tight that they jammed in the shut position and would not open when you try to deploy the gear. To prevent that from happening in the future, I performed the "rubber band" mod (mentioned on this thread in the past) on the spring to keep it in the proper position when the gear is deployed so when the nose gear is retracted, the spring is right where it should be every time.

My recommendation would be for everyone to go ahead perform this simple mod. The spring may have performed well for you like it did for me after many flights, but it just takes one time to screw up.

I had that happen when just cycling the gear during set up! I put how I did the mod in my video on page 94. Glad you landed safely!
Easy mod to do.

[Grossman56]

\My recommendation would be for everyone to go ahead perform this simple mod. The spring may have performed well for you like it did for me after many flights, but it just takes one time to screw up.

I read that about that mod as well and went right down and installed the rubber band. Also finally got new gear doors which come with a new spring so all should be good. Rubber bands are cheap, Avantis, not so much.
BTW, the new gear doors were a different shade of yellow so I had to repaint them. The Testors yellow I bought, the only one I could find out here, was a slightly different shade, so I mixed some red into it with a tooth pick, to give it a slightly orange shade that matched the Avanti yellow.
I emphasize tooth pick because red is a strong!! color and it takes very little to change a shade with it. That was into a full bottle of Testors yellow #1114. I believe Alpha said that Testors 11139 (probably model masters series) matched the Avanti yellow if you can find it.

Grossman56

[cjordan]

This morning I maidened my brand new AvantiS. I was hopeful that this plane would take off on our grass field. However, the grass was just too dewey wet. I tried full throttle twice but couldn't get near enough speed. The bottom of the plane was dripping wet. CRAP! So then I went to the small road behind our field and she took off just fine. I flew a few laps, no need for any trim adjustments, very fast, amazing! When it came time to land, my freaking gear would not come out. I tried cycling a few times, nothing. Ended up belly landing it and ripped off the flaps at the hinges. The damage was minimal, so Im not totally disappointed.
Question is, why the hell did the gear fail. Is it possible the water from the initial takeoff attempts affected the gear? Anybody else have gear problems?

CJordan

[bill34207]

I'd say there was a very good possibility the gear got soaked. Hopefully they will work after drying out.

[Papadave418]

This morning I maidened my brand new AvantiS. I was hopeful that this plane would take off on our grass field. However, the grass was just too dewey wet. I tried full throttle twice but couldn't get near enough speed. The bottom of the plane was dripping wet. CRAP! So then I went to the small road behind our field and she took off just fine. I flew a few laps, no need for any trim adjustments, very fast, amazing! When it came time to land, my freaking gear would not come out. I tried cycling a few times, nothing. Ended up belly landing it and ripped off the flaps at the hinges. The damage was minimal, so Im not totally disappointed.
Question is, why the hell did the gear fail. Is it possible the water from the initial takeoff attempts affected the gear? Anybody else have gear problems?

CJordan

That is a bummer. All 3 gear would not come down? I could see the rear two getting wet but the nose servo is up and inside, and if they retracted up it seems like they worked but then failed while retracted makes me wonder if water is the culprit. As far as take off on wet grass that’s exactly what my plane wouldn’t do because the front nose suspension would flex all the way down creating a negative attack angle. So I put fuel tubing over the front “piston” and it takes off with full flaps every time. Sorry to hear about that maiden!

[Grossman56]

Good old water gave me a bunch of Bearcat spare parts, I wouldn't doubt if it tried to do the same with your Avanti, fortunately, seems she survived. A testament to the toughness of this bird.

Grossman56

[xviper]

If all three gear didn't operate, then it's more likely due to a poor connection into the control board. I disconnected all my gear from the control board and use a triple "Y" and hooked directly to the RX. I'm leery of control boards that use common grounds and common power points.

[OV10]

I concur with bill...............if you soaked the bottom to where it was dripping the low air pressure under the nose/wing during flight most likely forced that water into the gear case.

[cjordan]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm gonna do my best to dry out the gear and check out the connections. I like the idea of bypassing the control board.

[Papadave418]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm gonna do my best to dry out the gear and check out the connections. I like the idea of bypassing the control board.

What did you determine?

[SmokeNgun]

I have spent some time reading through all of your posts and decided to reinforce the nose gear as I fly off of soccer field grass. Thank you for the nose gear mod idea, for uploading it to Thingiverse (I mispronounce it in the video), and I gotta say it’s flawless. I made a little video about it to help those still considering how it works. I’ve got a number of fun edited videos (David Douglass) about other planes as well. Thanks guys!
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2553111/#files

I like this idea. But how does one go about getting these made if you don't own a 3D printer..

[xviper]

I like this idea. But how does one go about getting these made if you don't own a 3D printer..

You don't need a 3D printer to make one of these. Make it out of a piece of 1/4" balsa plywood. Cut it out with a coping saw. Measure twice, cut once. It's so simple.

[CapnKen]

I like this idea. But how does one go about getting these made if you don't own a 3D printer..

I am sure if you asked around, somebody you know has a 3D printer - just email them the link and they can print it for you. It really is a simple job for anyone that has one.

[Papadave418]

I like this idea. But how does one go about getting these made if you don't own a 3D printer..

I asked around like the suggestion, then emailed the file and bam. Or make one

[CapnKen]

Putting together an Avanti S, noticed that the flaps wrinkle the covering when activated. Are you guys slicing the covering where the flaps are? or just lettng the flaps flex the covering.

[xviper]

Putting together an Avanti S, noticed that the flaps wrinkle the covering when activated. Are you guys slicing the covering where the flaps are? or just lettng the flaps flex the covering.

I left mine alone. It's slightly wrinkled along the hinge line - not even lifting. It's such a small thing, I didn't even take note of it till you mentioned it. And I'll likely forget all about it by the time I fly it again. There are way more important details on a model to worry about.

[Grossman56]

I like this idea. But how does one go about getting these made if you don't own a 3D printer..

Our local Ace Hardware has one set up for use.

Grossman56