Official Freewing 70mm Twin Me 262 Thread

[killickb]

DaFlyingSnek, the truth is for this model (which I own) and for many more EDF foamies you need to do absolutely nothing to "improve" them if you don't want to. Assemble, check simple issues such as glue joints, servo solidarity etc and go fly. Many of the posted cosmetic mods can never be seen in flight anyway and the structural mods seem aimed at those who abuse the model on landing !
For the record I did add split flaps ( after flying "as is" and just because) and did reinforce the nose section on my 262 -- she handles like a trainer but can be flown very scalelike. Has never tried to bite me at take-off, in flight or landing.

[DaFlyingSnek]

I don't remember reading about the wheels or landing gear. What issue did people post about in this regard? I fly this plane with the stock gear off GeoTex and grass and the gear/tires have never been a problem. What is it that you're worried about? What you might want to do is to reinforce the nose section. On a hard landing, the whole nose from the front of the cockpit canopy can break off.

Oh sorry for not clarifying! I fly off of a turf runway, so strength isn't the reason why I want to make the gear bigger. It's purely for the more scale look. And someone said in an earlier post that a deleted post shared how to install a larger nosewheel.

[DaFlyingSnek]

DaFlyingSnek, the truth is for this model (which I own) and for many more EDF foamies you need to do absolutely nothing to "improve" them if you don't want to. Assemble, check simple issues such as glue joints, servo solidarity etc and go fly. Many of the posted cosmetic mods can never be seen in flight anyway and the structural mods seem aimed at those who abuse the model on landing !
For the record I did add split flaps ( after flying "as is" and just because) and did reinforce the nose section on my 262 -- she handles like a trainer but can be flown very scalelike. Has never tried to bite me at take-off, in flight or landing.

I am well aware of the amazing quality of Freewing jets! I am a scale pilot and I like to improve them cosmetically. With my F-35 V3, all I did was paint a couple of things on it to make it look more scale and installed a centerburner. The 262 looks like a fantastic jet and stock, flies perfectly. What I would like to do however is turn this existing beauty into a scale competition model. So I'll be adding the details I talked about earlier plus a weathering job. I do plan on reinforcing the nose and nose gear with 5mm Carbon rods (as shown in earlier posts).

[killickb]

Great, look forward to seeing your 262 in all its glory as a competitive scale model -- not a small task I would imagine but as she flies so well, definitely not a waste of effort. Keep us posted.

[DaFlyingSnek]

Great, look forward to seeing your 262 in all its glory as a competitive scale model -- not a small task I would imagine but as she flies so well, definitely not a waste of effort. Keep us posted.

Wilco. I just need more funds for the mods XD So I'll do it incrementally. I'm thinking I start with just modding the flaps, and then weathering. After that I'll do the gear doors, then I'll save up enough to do all the gear at once.

[DaFlyingSnek]

Sorry for being so long. The last Freewing Me-262 in stock arrived at my door on Sunday. I love it. Twin 70mm, 1.5 m wingspan. This will be fun. As I said earlier, I plan on making this a scale competition model by adding a few details. First impressions, it looks great! The stock scale detail is great, and besides the nacelles not placed on exactly right (corrected by taking off, putting back on), it is perfect. No wing warping and no paint flecks. Hobbysquawk helped a ton with assembling and setting up rates, after my maiden I'll post my rates. The plane actually looks better (and bigger) in person and than in video! And about finding the CG, I actually had to add about an ounce and a half in the nose to get it to balance on 100mm mark. For better help with taxiing, I set my rudder rates lower for flight, and then straight 100% for taxiing. The rates I'm using now is a mix between what was found here on HS and what TheRCGeek did. Anyways, to making this more scale. It’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Made a circular antenna using a paper clip and some Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze (same as my F-35 exhaust). That one thing makes it look so much better! Then came the pitot tube, which was made with a toothpick and some thinned out paint from Home Depot that was airbrushed on. Not perfect, but it looks good enough. As my friend thercgeek says, imitate, not replicate! (Best piece of advice ever)! If you’re one of the closer eyed people here, you’d see I also did a bit of gun smoke. Not great, but I’m happy with it! Finally, there was a little bit on the canopy that was bugging me. The plastic canopy was brown next to a green foam fuselage. So some little masking and some airbrushing later, I think the results speak for themselves! The 262 is looking to be a beautiful model, and every little improvement makes her look that much more realistic!

[Aros]

Looks great! Looking forward to your mod/customizing progress and flight video!

[Carl Bass]

Hi guys regarding the Freewing ME262 do any of you have any recommendations for a more realistic/scale pilot

thanks. Carl

[Aros]

Hi guys regarding the Freewing ME262 do any of you have any recommendations for a more realistic/scale pilot

thanks. Carl

http://www.acesofiron.com/page/AOIW2LW317.htm

Aces of Iron or Warbirdpilots.com are my go-to's for scale pilots...

[Carl Bass]

Thanks Aros 😉

[themudduck]

Sorry for being so long. The last Freewing Me-262 in stock arrived at my door on Sunday. I love it. Twin 70mm, 1.5 m wingspan. This will be fun. As I said earlier, I plan on making this a scale competition model by adding a few details. First impressions, it looks great! The stock scale detail is great, and besides the nacelles not placed on exactly right (corrected by taking off, putting back on), it is perfect. No wing warping and no paint flecks. Hobbysquawk helped a ton with assembling and setting up rates, after my maiden I'll post my rates. The plane actually looks better (and bigger) in person and than in video! And about finding the CG, I actually had to add about an ounce and a half in the nose to get it to balance on 100mm mark. For better help with taxiing, I set my rudder rates lower for flight, and then straight 100% for taxiing. The rates I'm using now is a mix between what was found here on HS and what TheRCGeek did. Anyways, to making this more scale. It’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Made a circular antenna using a paper clip and some Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze (same as my F-35 exhaust). That one thing makes it look so much better! Then came the pitot tube, which was made with a toothpick and some thinned out paint from Home Depot that was airbrushed on. Not perfect, but it looks good enough. As my friend thercgeek says, imitate, not replicate! (Best piece of advice ever)! If you’re one of the closer eyed people here, you’d see I also did a bit of gun smoke. Not great, but I’m happy with it! Finally, there was a little bit on the canopy that was bugging me. The plastic canopy was brown next to a green foam fuselage. So some little masking and some airbrushing later, I think the results speak for themselves! The 262 is looking to be a beautiful model, and every little improvement makes her look that much more realistic!

Hey there, great job on adding those little details - doing those little things really makes them look great. I really like that circular antenna, I'm going to add that to mine!

Something you may want to consider - pry off the canopy and move the pilot forward. Compare with the real plane, the pilot didn't sit 3 feet back from the instrument panel. What this model needs is an armored seat-back for the pilot.

And - don't forget to reinforce the nose by installing CF tubes on each side. The nose is weak and in a relatively hard landing you can snap it right off. This is easy to do and will solve that problem.

"before and after"

[DaFlyingSnek]

Hey there, great job on adding those little details - doing those little things really makes them look great. I really like that circular antenna, I'm going to add that to mine!

Something you may want to consider - pry off the canopy and move the pilot forward. Compare with the real plane, the pilot didn't sit 3 feet back from the instrument panel. What this model needs is an armored seat-back for the pilot.

And - don't forget to reinforce the nose by installing CF tubes on each side. The nose is weak and in a relatively hard landing you can snap it right off. This is easy to do and will solve that problem.

"before and after"

Thanks for the advice about the pilot! I'll give that a shot when I work more on the cockpit itself (adding panel wash, coloring dials, etc.)! About the nose, however, I won't be able to get a carbon spar in time for the maiden and I don't think it's that necessary for me. I fly off a not paved, but basically a cut turf field (search up SACRC - Sac rats). I also always make a point to land on main gear first (with my F-35), as to not stress the nose so much. Would you still deem it necessary?

[themudduck]

Thanks for the advice about the pilot! I'll give that a shot when I work more on the cockpit itself (adding panel wash, coloring dials, etc.)! About the nose, however, I won't be able to get a carbon spar in time for the maiden and I don't think it's that necessary for me. I fly off a not paved, but basically a cut turf field (search up SACRC - Sac rats). I also always make a point to land on main gear first (with my F-35), as to not stress the nose so much. Would you still deem it necessary?

I installed the circular antenna on mine yesterday! Looks great!

The benefit with the nose reinforcement isn't so much about grass or pavement. Its all about the stress the nose gear puts on the fuselage. You're correct, if you always keep the nose up during landing you might be ok! But mistakes happen! This model basically has a "glass jaw". There is very little strength in the fuselage structure right at the front edge of the battery bay. A relatively small vertical (up) force on the gear can snap the fuselage in two at that point.

Its a big battery up front, with a lot of weight. The nose on my Version-1 broke off during a normal landing on our fabric runway, after I touched down normally on the mains.... the nose came down and the fuselage just snapped in two. There was some discussion about this earlier in the thread ...

The good thing about this mod is that it doesn't affect anything on the outside and takes only about 5 minutes to do. You'll need two 10-inch CF tubes (I used 5mm) and a drill bit to make a pilot hole at the front. Cut slots for the tube to fit in like you see in the picture, and use the drill bit (by hand) to make a hole in the front and stick the tube in about 2 inches. Then just glue it in with some Foam-Tac and its done.

[DaFlyingSnek]

I installed the circular antenna on mine yesterday! Looks great!

The benefit with the nose reinforcement isn't so much about grass or pavement. Its all about the stress the nose gear puts on the fuselage. You're correct, if you always keep the nose up during landing you might be ok! But mistakes happen! This model basically has a "glass jaw". There is very little strength in the fuselage structure right at the front edge of the battery bay. A relatively small vertical (up) force on the gear can snap the fuselage in two at that point.

Its a big battery up front, with a lot of weight. The nose on my Version-1 broke off during a normal landing on our fabric runway, after I touched down normally on the mains.... the nose came down and the fuselage just snapped in two. There was some discussion about this earlier in the thread ...

The good thing about this mod is that it doesn't affect anything on the outside and takes only about 5 minutes to do. You'll need two 10-inch CF tubes (I used 5mm) and a drill bit to make a pilot hole at the front. Cut slots for the tube to fit in like you see in the picture, and use the drill bit (by hand) to make a hole in the front and stick the tube in about 2 inches. Then just glue it in with some Foam-Tac and its done.

Oh sweet! I'll just have to get some CF spars. I saw some on amazon, so that can work. Thank you for the advice! I'm glad the circular antenna worked out for ya :D

[DaFlyingSnek]

Finally got my first “major” mod completed! Redid the split flaps into a more scale plain flaps. I did basically the same thing TheRCGeek did. Just some cutting, light sanding, and painting (the inside as to not expose bare foam) made it happen. The 262 is looking better and better every day! Next is the nose gear and main gear doors!

[Aros]

Looks great!

[DaFlyingSnek]

Maiden flight! Always exciting! So I had the cg set up 100 mm from the leading edge (closest to fuselage), and that was FAR too nose-heavy. You can see my plane dip down in the first downwind and rise back up. That was just me adding TONS of up trim. Other than that, I literally had 0 trim input for everything else. Literally. First impressions: Wow! Just. Incredible. It flies on rails, and other than a slight yaw wobble (slight breeze and no gyro), it is perfect. Flies perfectly straight, and rolls beautifully around the z axis. Pitches into great arcs and turns can easily keep/gain altitude. It is incredibly quick, and if you don’t increase throttle gradually on take off, the tail will hit the ground. I didn’t do a full stall during the flight, and it showed. On landing, the 262 can go quite slow with full flaps. Suspiciously slow. It likes to stall flat and would just drop. Combine that with waaaaay too nose-heavy and that caused my landing to be crud. I should’ve kept my speed up. But hey, now I know. After this flight, my brother and I did a dogfight with him in his P-51, and me in my 262. Even better, his P-51 is 1/8.4 scale, and the 262 is 1/9.4, so pretty close! It was incredible. All in all, the Freewing Me-262 Schwalbe is a winner. It won’t take long for me to master it. When I got home, I had to do some touch up work and I realized I could airbrush the whole plastic part on the nacelles, and then won’t have to worry about the paint not matching with the glossy plastic. After doing so, it looked really good. So I airbrushed over every light blue plastic piece on the belly, then went over it with a matte clear coat. While I was doing that, I also painted the inside of the gear doors aluminum. Love this bird (Edit, I will post my CG and rates after my next time flying)

[Aros]

Nicely done! Congrats on the successful maiden! Don't worry about the landing...If it comes back to you in one piece it's a perfect landing!

I haven't had this model (I had the V1 years ago and LOVED it) in a long time but one memory in particular stands out. I was flying it and all was well and suddenly the motors cut out! (If memory serves I think I hit LVC) I panicked thinking she was going to drop out of the sky like a brick! Nope! Quite the opposite in fact. She floated like a glider to a very safe and well-greased landing! I still to this day am so impressed with that. Your enthusiasm for this model makes me want to get one again. It really is the crown jewel of the "Old Gen" Freewing models. Bravo Zulu!

[Twowingtj]

Aros if you liked the V1, you would have a ball with the V2. It looks better IMHO. The 12-blade fans sound great and really bring this bird to a whole new performance level.

I have sort of a guilty pleasure I enjoy with this bird. After a good climb out and turn to the downwind portion of the pattern, I point the nose slightly down and pull the throttle back to idle. As I let the energy carry it and the motors spool down, there is a resonant howl that sets up in the nacells. Sounds awesome.

[killickb]

I also have found that diving down and shutting down as you pass creates that "howl" as you call it. Have never heard it on any other single or twin EDF, have you? It is an eerie attention getter --- mine is a V.2 version. Truth be told this bird checks all the boxes for me; scale looks, scale performance, plenty of power, super smooth to fly. Not many models seem locked to the Tx sticks (hard to explain !) but this one responds as expected every time.