Freewing 80mm A-10 Modifications

[RCjetdude]

Canopy/cockpit mods (continued from post #51 and next installment at post #96)

Now that my activities around the Nall are behind me I can get back to providing more info.

I completely guessed on far back to cut the foam to accept the new pilot and seat and ended up needing to make it about 1/4" deeper but it worked out OK. I would recommend cutting the foam back as deep as the blue line as a result with a slight angle backwards to match the recline of the seat.



I also trimmed the foam for the center panel between the pilots knees.



To make my new instrument panels I grabbed an image of the internet which I believe was for the DCS A-10. I added the image to Powerpoint and sized it until it fit the width of the existing cockpit interior. If I recall the front panel needed to be around 2-5/8" wide so I played with it until it was the right size and then I printed it on some photo paper.



I then cut out the panels and glued them to some 0.020" sheet styrene with some 3M77 spray adhesive and then trimmed the plastic accordingly. The dash panel was considerably taller than the original so I used some scrap foam to build up the fairing so it would fit the new panel plus I think it gave it a little better look as well. I also undercut foam on either side so that the side instrument panels would fit properly.





I trial fit the side instrument panels and (notice they overhang the foam on the inside edge) added foam as needed to narrow the side walls for the seat and provide a better fit for the side instrument panels as well. If you cut the foam to the blue line then ignore the pieces I added on either side of the upper seat back.



Notice too that I also embedded some 1/8" wide carbon fiber strips on either side to help strengthen this area. I add some additional strips to the underside as well later on.



More to come later...

[Clearblue]

Very Nice Sir! Thanks for sharing your work.

[RCjetdude]

Looking great! So is the ladder going to be collapsible? Impressive. How about the nose gear door on the plane? Does it remain open with the gear down? Just in case, I purchased the Freewing gear door sequencer to address that issue.

If the sequencer is the same one that comes in the plane then the purchase was unnecessary and a rearrangement of the wires is all that is required.

It is my understanding that the nose gear door sequencer is not alterable from the factory (per Alpha) so I ordered the additional sequencer to give me the option of either. The funny thing is that I have yet to locate the stock gear door sequencer in the plane. :Confused:At least it is not obvious and I have been more involved with the other mods so I will get to it. The ladder will be collapsible and I will have the nose gear door be open if flying off of well groomed surfaces or switch it to close if not.

[vduniec]

I will be using aluminum tubing starting with 10mm for the upper fixed part



and stepping down to 4mm in 1mm increments so 7 sizes altogether. The ladder steps I will make from styrene. I plan to anchor it inside the box with a styrene bracket secured to a piece of 7/16 styrene tubing that holds the top of the upper tube. I believe you are on the same track. The piano hinge was the narrowest one sold by Micro Mark. I struck out on the hinge locally so just ordered it.

Looking great! So is the ladder going to be collapsible? Impressive. How about the nose gear door on the plane? Does it remain open with the gear down? Just in case, I purchased the Freewing gear door sequencer to address that issue.

If the sequencer is the same one that comes in the plane then the purchase was unnecessary and a rearrangement of the wires is all that is required.

[Pogo]

That's great to know- this airplane just sounds better and better.
Tom

[RCjetdude]

For sure. I think when mine arrives I'll paint a small test area black or dark green (maybe the side of a pylon? ), stick it in the sun and see what happens. I would love to do the commemorative D-Day scheme.
Tom

That would look awesome. Painting a pylon would be a good way to test it for sure. The foam is very firm on this plane. For example, even though the wing is largely hollow it does not feel that way at all. There is really not much give or flex to it so it feels more like a solid wing instead and even the pylons feel that way.

[Pogo]

For sure. I think when mine arrives I'll paint a small test area black or dark green (maybe the side of a pylon? ), stick it in the sun and see what happens. I would love to do the commemorative D-Day scheme.
Tom

[RCjetdude]

I think it would be great too but I am still going to keep it out of the sun as much as possible and see how it behaves over time.

[Pogo]

I had the painted wing with me today at the Nall to get it signed by legman01 and it was exposed to a significant amount of sun with no visible issues as I too was concerned about it gatoring. I talked at length about it with Kloverzero who was there and we both felt that the harder foam used to make the plane makes a huge difference as well. Time will tell but today I was surprisingly pleased with how it behaved.

Thanks for the reply Steve- that sounds encouraging. I didn't realize a denser foam had been used but perhaps sun-induced gatoring will become a thing of the past. Now that would be great!:Cool:
Please keep us informed of your continuing experience with this.
Tom

[Patrnflyr]

Thanks for all of your advice. Will post pics when it's done

[RCjetdude]

Very interested in your ladder mod. I have gathered all the plastic telescoping tubing size wise, that my LHS had on the rack. I have an idea as to what sizes to work with but like to compare notes. I am thinking each extendable leg would be starting at say 5/16"fixed upper, 9/32 as a retaining ring on the top end of the first extendable leg of 1/4". A small section of the 9/32 would be glued into the bottom end of the 5/16 as a retention ring for the 1/4" leg. This would then continue down in size to the last or third extension of 1/8". I gave thought of aluminum tubing but the plastic is easier to assemble in this manner. What thoughts are there to this route? I was going to check out the hobby lobby doll house section for hinges but not sure how small they go down to.

I will be using aluminum tubing starting with 10mm for the upper fixed part



and stepping down to 4mm in 1mm increments so 7 sizes altogether. The ladder steps I will make from styrene. I plan to anchor it inside the box with a styrene bracket secured to a piece of 7/16 styrene tubing that holds the top of the upper tube. I believe you are on the same track. The piano hinge was the narrowest one sold by Micro Mark. I struck out on the hinge locally so just ordered it.

[vduniec]

1. No surface prep whatsoever.
2. No primer.
3. No masking needed
4. Paint entire plane's camouflage pattern by hand using un-thinned Home Depot Flat Latex paint. Use a fine brush to paint canopy frames and around other detail areas.
5. Follow along pattern demarcation lines using an airbrush with thinned camouflage colors. Thinning mixture is 50% paint, 50% Windex.
6. Hand paint areas where decals will go with Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss.
7. Apply decals.
8. Hand paint entire aircraft with Super Loaded Matte Medium, mixed 50/50 with Windex. This will give aircraft a very flat finish and hide the uneven brush strokes from hand painting.
9. Weather aircraft as desired.

Here is the end result of my technique.

Great work! Could you please do a few of us a favor? We are very interested in changing the color of this plane and most of us have about 90% of the info to do a nice scheme. We're just missing something to tie all the painting technique together. We have the Home Depot latex paint, the decals from Callie's and even the Minwax (if it's correct version). Not sure of the "technique" though. Sand or not? primer or not? how do you handle the plastic pieces? correct masking tape? I'm wanting to do the 3 color tan version and have the 3 views too. Just want a little push to move a boring all gray plane to something I can call mine... thanks for taking the time to help us that are lost

[RCjetdude]

vduniec, I will be posting more details. Not trying to go fast but trying to keep things in context. I only got the plane on the 4th and was really hoping to be able to take more of it to the Nall than just a wing but that was all I could manage.

Patrnflyr, to answer your questions concerning painting the plane, I simply used an airbrush and free-handed each color. Medium green first, then dark green then gray. I used this airbrush I got off eBay for around $30, Master Airbrush model SB80.



I went by the color pattern defined in my squadron/signal publications Walk Around A-10 book.



I used latex exterior paint from ACE Hardware and mixed it with Createx Colors High Performance Reducer at a ratio of 2 parts paint to 1 part reducer.



I ended up not sanding anything but did wipe it down with denatured alcohol and a tac cloth.

I only primed any bare foam or plastic with plain old Rustoleum primer.



The primer on the plastic pieces helps the latex paint to stick better on them and I used the yellow Frog tape for masking.

This is what I did and only examples of how it can be done. I look forward to seeing how your project turns out.

[RCjetdude]

Looks really good Steve- love it. I would do the same livery too if I could believe gatoring wouldn't raise it's ugly head with the dark colours. It's impossible to always keep a model in shade and it seems to me 15 minutes in hot sun would cause irreparable damage- please tell me I'm wrong.
Tom

I had the painted wing with me today at the Nall to get it signed by legman01 and it was exposed to a significant amount of sun with no visible issues as I too was concerned about it gatoring. I talked at length about it with Kloverzero who was there and we both felt that the harder foam used to make the plane makes a huge difference as well. Time will tell but today I was surprisingly pleased with how it behaved.

[RCjetdude]

Looks great. Love your mods. I'm working on a tomcat right now too keep me busy until my preorder gets here. I just made the first group. My A10 will be in the Red Devils livery.

How are you going to lock down the front of the canopy?
Thanks
john

Catching up a bit as I have been at the Nall all day. I glued a strip of thin styrene (still have to paint it) under the lip of the canopy front frame to lock it down.

7

[sam51401]

Very interested in your ladder mod. I have gathered all the plastic telescoping tubing size wise, that my LHS had on the rack. I have an idea as to what sizes to work with but like to compare notes. I am thinking each extendable leg would be starting at say 5/16"fixed upper, 9/32 as a retaining ring on the top end of the first extendable leg of 1/4". A small section of the 9/32 would be glued into the bottom end of the 5/16 as a retention ring for the 1/4" leg. This would then continue down in size to the last or third extension of 1/8". I gave thought of aluminum tubing but the plastic is easier to assemble in this manner. What thoughts are there to this route? I was going to check out the hobby lobby doll house section for hinges but not sure how small they go down to.

[Patrnflyr]

Great work! Could you please do a few of us a favor? We are very interested in changing the color of this plane and most of us have about 90% of the info to do a nice scheme. We're just missing something to tie all the painting technique together. We have the Home Depot latex paint, the decals from Callie's and even the Minwax (if it's correct version). Not sure of the "technique" though. Sand or not? primer or not? how do you handle the plastic pieces? correct masking tape? I'm wanting to do the 3 color tan version and have the 3 views too. Just want a little push to move a boring all gray plane to something I can call mine... thanks for taking the time to help us that are lost

[vduniec]

Dude, slow down! You're doing in days what takes me months to do. Looking good. Plan to do the Euro 1 scheme myself. Have the 174th Boys from Syracuse scheme from Callie Graphics ordered. Grew up near Syracuse and used to love watching them fly by.

[Pogo]

Looks really good Steve- love it. I would do the same livery too if I could believe gatoring wouldn't raise it's ugly head with the dark colours. It's impossible to always keep a model in shade and it seems to me 15 minutes in hot sun would cause irreparable damage- please tell me I'm wrong.
Tom

[Aros]

Looking sweet! Well done!