Freewing 80mm A-10 Modifications

[RCjetdude]

Have a question for you, the item you linked to is about 7/8" in diameter.....how did you get that to fit behind the wingtip lense. Dont have the wing in front of me right now, but seems like that is awful large to fit in.

Yeah, that is what I thought as well but it will fit. Once I opened up the area below and behind the existing lens covers I just carved some foam channels to get it to fit. There is enough thickness in the Wing tip behind the lens covers to fit it thanks to the fact that the Wing tips curve down. The other strobes they have like OV10 linked to are smaller and blink the same way. The ones I got are programmable to blink different ways and I wasn't sure how I would want them to blink in the end so I went that route. I think that no matter which one you would go with you would still have to carve some of the back edges of the lenses to get the strobe board to sit more or less flush against the back of the lens cover. When you do that then there is an issue with the terminals from the pre-existing LED contacting/shorting the components on the strobe board. I just separated them by taping over the components on the strobe board with electricians tape. Foam Tac helped secure it all together and the strobes are obviously bright enough in the lens covers that they don't have to be pushed any further forward than they can be to show up well. I hope this helps.

[Nucastle]

I have used the white version of those on the top of my Mig and the ones that they call XL which have a colored LED and a white strobe on the wingtips. For the A-10 I actually used these but what you found would work to.

https://www.readymaderc.com/store/in...oducts_id=5144

which can be programmed for different flashes.

Just make sure you get the right color realizing that they do flash. The XL's have a colored light that stays on all the time with a white strobe which I have on my Stinger 90, Mig-21 and F-86. I really like how they look.

Have a question for you, the item you linked to is about 7/8" in diameter.....how did you get that to fit behind the wingtip lense. Dont have the wing in front of me right now, but seems like that is awful large to fit in.

[RCjetdude]

I have used the white version of those on the top of my Mig and the ones that they call XL which have a colored LED and a white strobe on the wingtips. For the A-10 I actually used these but what you found would work to.

https://www.readymaderc.com/store/in...oducts_id=5144

which can be programmed for different flashes.

Just make sure you get the right color realizing that they do flash. The XL's have a colored light that stays on all the time with a white strobe which I have on my Stinger 90, Mig-21 and F-86. I really like how they look.

[OV10]

I added some wingtip strobes.

https://youtu.be/LBvc_I72gOw

Steve........is this what your using??
GREEN - https://www.readymaderc.com/store/in...roducts_id=996
RED - https://www.readymaderc.com/store/in...roducts_id=997

[F106DeltaDart]

Yeah, I only mentioned the P-40 gear as an example of a style or type of gear strut. Lacking some other solution, I would be far more tempted to modify/shorten a couple of A-10 nose gear struts in place of the trailing links. I'm hoping Steve or T.I. or some other cool innovator comes up with a strut from another Freewing plane that would work and not require repositioning the retract unit itself. Brad

Hobbyking carries a pretty wide variety of offset oleo struts. Might be a good place to start looking: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hardware...oleo-legs.html.

[downwindleg]

The stock spring in the P-40B strut would have to be beef'd up considerably because of the weight of this A-10.
I have them on the FL P-38 and they(stock spring) are at the limit of their weight capacity with this airframe.
P-40B AUW - 2500g
P-38 AUW - 3150g
A-10 AUW - 5406g

Yeah, I only mentioned the P-40 gear as an example of a style or type of gear strut. Lacking some other solution, I would be far more tempted to modify/shorten a couple of A-10 nose gear struts in place of the trailing links. I'm hoping Steve or T.I. or some other cool innovator comes up with a strut from another MRC plane that would work and not require repositioning the retract unit itself. Brad

[Pete Lane]

Perhaps we should just ask then.

IE Nose gear not mains.

Hi Mark . Alpha and Aros.
Is it possible to acquire the prototype front nose gear for those that want them and make them available for purchase ? We assume that we may have to tweak a few things to make it work.

Plane

[OV10]

O.K. I'm back home now and looking at the retracts. I'm holding the nose gear strut, which has an oleo and an offset like the mains and aside from the fact that it is too long to use for the mains it looks like it would line up just fine. I'm not sure what the problem would be with that type of strut. Please advise, Brad

The stock spring in the P-40B strut would have to be beef'd up considerably because of the weight of this A-10.
I have them on the FL P-38 and they(stock spring) are at the limit of their weight capacity with this airframe.
P-40B AUW - 2500g
P-38 AUW - 3150g
A-10 AUW - 5406g

[RCjetdude]

Those look fantastic! How did you get the wire from the strobe to the fuselage?

I replaced the wires that came on the stobes (you can get them without wires) with some servo wire I have for making extensions and ran it along with the other wires in the channels for them. I did have to widen the channel that the existing light wires ran in nearest the wingtip as it was just too tight to fit a 3 conductor wire and the existing 2 conductor wire. I did have to cut around the light cover to be able to remove it and with the wing upside down I cut a section of the tip below and as wide as the cover to open it up so I could install the strobe. When done I just glued the piece back in place and re-secured the wire channel tape strips with a little FoamTac. I fixed any gaps or dents around the light cover and on the wingtip with Foam Filler and touched it up with some paint. On the wing joint end I had already removed the retract connector from the back side of the connector board in the wing so I just modified a couple Y-harnesses to make them really short. Plugged my strobe and retract into the harness so I still just have 1 servo connector to plug in addition to the original connector when hooking up the wings. The strobes then come on when the retracts go down and because they are both ultimately tied into the receiver they automatically sync up to flash at the same time. I am anxious to try them on a sunny day to see how they show up

[F106DeltaDart]

I added some wingtip strobes.

https://youtu.be/LBvc_I72gOw

Awesome work!

[dkalwishky]

I added some wingtip strobes.

https://youtu.be/LBvc_I72gOw

Those look fantastic! How did you get the wire from the strobe to the fuselage?

[F106DeltaDart]

O.K. I'm back home now and looking at the retracts. I'm holding the nose gear strut, which has an oleo and an offset like the mains and aside from the fact that it is too long to use for the mains it looks like it would line up just fine. I'm not sure what the problem would be with that type of strut. Please advise, Brad

The offset oleo would work fine. A scale straight strut would be an issue though. An offset wire like the P-38 would work, but would be a major pain to bend up at this thickness. Might still be worth looking into though.

[TiredIronGRB]

I added some wingtip strobes.

https://youtu.be/LBvc_I72gOw

Those look great!

[RCjetdude]

I added some wingtip strobes.

https://youtu.be/LBvc_I72gOw

[downwindleg]

The P-40 gear would still require a move of the retract, since it is currently set up for the offset TL strut. A straight, scale, non-offset strut requires the move inboard.

O.K. I'm back home now and looking at the retracts. I'm holding the nose gear strut, which has an oleo and an offset like the mains and aside from the fact that it is too long to use for the mains it looks like it would line up just fine. I'm not sure what the problem would be with that type of strut. Please advise, Brad

[downwindleg]

I'll have to wait 'til I get home to check further but wondering about using a setup like the FW P-38 where there is an offset at the retract instead of a straight connecting pin that offsets the gear offset bringing it back to center. Brad

[F106DeltaDart]

Assuming an offset oleo, that's true. However I'm thinking of a non offset oleo strut like the P-40 for instance. Brad

The P-40 gear would still require a move of the retract, since it is currently set up for the offset TL strut. A straight, scale, non-offset strut requires the move inboard.

[downwindleg]

I have a set of Oreos standing by to mod, the main issue is retract position. The retracts right now are set up for trailing links, and are aligned with the center part of the strut. For, Oreos, the retract has to be moved inboard to account for the strut offset. Still planning on doing it, but it makes things a bit more difficult. I definitely post when I get around to working on it.

Assuming an offset oleo, that's true. However I'm thinking of a non offset oleo strut like the P-40 for instance. Brad

[RCjetdude]

Wanted to update my tire mod, it works great so far, got several touch and goes with it. Don't know why but the stock A-10 axle fits a little loose through the F-14 main wheel hub but fits the A-10 stock tire really tight and they both are supposed to be 4.2 axle size, it's no big deal, I shimmed it up tight and it's working great, looks better to and it's rubber so I did notice it didn't skid like the stock foam tire kind of does when steering it for take off on asphalt.

Good to know. Thanks for the update!

[DCORSAIR]

Wanted to update my tire mod, it works great so far, got several touch and goes with it. Don't know why but the stock A-10 axle fits a little loose through the F-14 main wheel hub but fits the A-10 stock tire really tight and they both are supposed to be 4.2 axle size, it's no big deal, I shimmed it up tight and it's working great, looks better to and it's rubber so I did notice it didn't skid like the stock foam tire kind of does when steering it for take off on asphalt.