Lol, trust me I've thought about it. Not a fan of yellow. ;)
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Official Freewing 80mm Avanti S Sport Jet Thread
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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.
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Originally posted by Crashmaster View PostI 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.
Easy mod to do.Eventually Gravity Always Wins
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Originally posted by Crashmaster View Post\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.
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
Team Gross!
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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
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I'd say there was a very good possibility the gear got soaked. Hopefully they will work after drying out.My YouTube Videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrz...4Q-xrOOtP2C-8w
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Originally posted by cjordan View PostThis 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?
CJordan1 PhotoEventually Gravity Always Wins
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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.Warbird Charlie
HSD Skyraider FlightLine OV-10 FMS 1400: P-40B, P-51, F4U, F6F, T-28, P-40E, Pitts, 1700 F4U & F7F, FOX glider Freewing A-6, T-33, P-51 Dynam ME-262, Waco TF Giant P-47; ESM F7F-3 LX PBJ-1 EFL CZ T-28, C-150, 1500 P-51 & FW-190
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Originally posted by Papadave418 View PostI 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
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Originally posted by SmokeNgun View Post
I like this idea. But how does one go about getting these made if you don't own a 3D printer..
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Originally posted by SmokeNgun View Post
I like this idea. But how does one go about getting these made if you don't own a 3D printer..
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Originally posted by CapnKen View PostPutting 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.
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