Freewing 80mm A-10 Modifications

[RCAV8R]

I've airbrushed Testor Model Master Enamel and Tamiya Acrylics directly onto Freewing, Dynam, and FMS models' factory paint without any issues. No primer, no woes. Testors seem to stick better is some cases. If you have those Testor Model Master Enamels, don't worry about using them through an airbrush. I thin those ~4:1 with Testor thinner and they shoot great at ~15 psi.

RCAV8R, I thin Tamiya Acrylics with Tamiya thinner, X-20A. The big 250ml bottle is only $5 or $6. In the past, I've thinned Tamiya with different ratios of water, 100% isopropyl, ammonia-free windex, and Future floor polish, with varying degrees of success at varying psi. It saved me $2, but why incur the hassle when I could just use the factory stuff and not have to worry about consistency? Nowadays I shoot a 2:1 ratio at 20psi for coverage and 3:1 ratio at 9-12 psi for detail. Everything is always consistent and I don't worry about clumping or dry time or spatter.

Regarding the medium tip, I use this airbrush, stock. I would say it's a Fine to Medium airbrush. It can draw a line 1mm wide if I needed it do, which is smaller than I'd ever really need for airplane models at this scale.

https://www.amazon.com/Badger-Air-Br...er+patriot+105


I mix and store my Tamiya paint in these soft squeeze bottles. They're the perfect size, and have an eye dropper tip, so I can add paint into the airbrush's paint cup one drop at a time.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Another thing to be mindful of with Tamiya is that their XF line of paints don't always have perfect FS matches. If I'm mixing Tamiyas to create FS, the bottles come in handy since they're large enough to mix 100ml total of product. Light Ghost Gray, for example, is FS36375. The closest Tamiya equivalent is one part XF19 (Sky Gray) and three parts XF2 (White). That totals four parts paint, to which I'll add about two parts thinner (see ratios above).

Thanks again for all the specifics Alpha! I think I'm going to go with enamel, since it's what I'm used to and I have felt it was a "harder" finish than acrylics. Do you have an FS number for the shade of gray that the A-10 is coming with, or any other point of reference for the gray, or do I just have to mix to match? I'm going with your technique of layering, so I want to be sure that I am using a base color that is not darker than the stock base it comes with, and get the highlighting you referenced by moving from the center out! Rob

[RCjetdude]

Hey Steve, no worries. After I posted that, I realized I could just go through and list the post numbers for each mod for later. I'm gonna go out and fly mine for awhile first and then do the mods later. Don't think I could take the stress of flying this plane for the first time with all that emotional investment. As far as the lx canopy goes, I will try which ever works best. I think yours looks more scale but I'm concerned about it staying down in flight. On your next post, I'd like to know how you did the geometry and wondering about that ply tab at the back of the ply sill. Thanks, Brad

Hey Brad, the lip on the underside of the canopy frame engages under the windshield frame when the canopy slides forward to lock it down. It is actually quite secure along with the fact that the servo is helping to hold it down as well. Help me understand what you mean by the ply tab at the back of the ply sill....

[RCjetdude]

Canopy/cockpit mods (continued from post #96, next installment on post #246)

OK, back to the canopy. For the raising mechanism I tried to emulate as much as possible the real deal but using a servo instead of a piston. I wanted it to slide forward and back to allow for locking the canopy and be stout enough to solidly support the canopy when open. For the main beam I used 3/8" ply and mocked up a quick poster board template for what shape I thought it needed to be. I also tried to envision a frame that could be secured inside the back of the hatch to allow the arm to swing up and down. This is what I came up with. Sorry I don't have more detail.



The screws secure the plate to a couple strips of wood I beveled to fit the inside contour of the hatch and glued in place.



With cutting this much foam away I embedded some 1/8" wide CF strips on either side of the hatch. I also added some additional CF strips to the underside of the hatch in the corner where the flange that fits inside the fuse meets the bottom lip of the hatch.Doing this stiffened the hatch back up considerably. I also dressed off the area hear the hinge pin end of the arm with some styrene.



I then fabricated a square tube if you will from 3/32" ply that fit freely but snugly on the raising arm and slid back and forth.



I then sheeted the back of the cockpit/hatch with 0.5mm styrene and made a posterboard template for the forward dash area. Once I had it shaped to my liking I cut it out of 0.5 styrene and glued it down.





After this I beveled the front edge of the windshield frame for a good clean fit and glued it to the windshield with some medium CA.I then dry fit the windshield, painted the dash, re-attached the HUD, glued the windshield in place and added some additional detail.



This next part was really tricky to accomplish and even more tricky to describe but I made a simple styrene plate to dress of the area behind the canopy. The real A-10 has a plate that rises and move back a little when the canopy is opened. I tried to simulate this as best I could and it works OK but was a pain to deal with and I could have done better I think.



The small plastic bracket was used to secure the wire retainer to the underside of the plate and allow the wire to pivot. I then had to disassemble the raising mechanism and drill a couple small holes through it for the wire retainer to pivot in. The front of the plate I just secured to the back of the arm with a spot of Foam Tac. So as the arm raises up it pushes back on the plate and causes the plate to rise up just a little in a somewhat horizontal manner because of how it moves on the wire retainer. The back lip of the canopy helps hold it in place and keep it somewhat aligned and level. I will try to post a video of it working.



I then glued a 3/8" square styrene tube to the back wall of the cockpit. This formed the foundation upon which I built the ejection seat on.



Next up.... the ejection seat.

[downwindleg]

Hey Steve, no worries. After I posted that, I realized I could just go through and list the post numbers for each mod for later. I'm gonna go out and fly mine for awhile first and then do the mods later. Don't think I could take the stress of flying this plane for the first time with all that emotional investment. As far as the lx canopy goes, I will try which ever works best. I think yours looks more scale but I'm concerned about it staying down in flight. On your next post, I'd like to know how you did the geometry and wondering about that ply tab at the back of the ply sill. Thanks, Brad

[RCjetdude]

Hey Brad, I am trying to keep the posts on the canopy/cockpit mods linked by post number. I am not sure how else to do it. It has been the most time consuming mod so far and I did not want to not post other things until it was all up. I will post another update on it later this afternoon now that other activities with it are winding down. I think the canopy mechanism from the LX A-10 could work very well with a little pivoting support up front to stabilize it.

[downwindleg]

Hey Steve, appreciate your attitude on mods from others. You and I talked awhile back about the extendable ladder tubing on the main thread and yours turned out great.....anyway, I was wondering if it would be possible to concentrate all of your info on the functional canopy, for instance, in one place in a step by step format to make it a little easier to digest and ask questions. So far, it's spread out over 10 pages. Just a thought, Brad

[RCjetdude]

I was going to ask if it was OK to post our mods in this thread; don't want to hijack what Steve is doing. Glad we can put ours in here too, and correct me if I'm wrong. I had an idea the other day about the powder cannon and wanted to post it here. My idea was to use a CO2 inflator that cyclists carry with them to quickly inflate a flat. It's lightweight and also expels the air at a high rate. The trigger could be actuated with a servo to open/close and you should get quite a few 'cannon bursts' with each CO2 cartridge. Figured a small container of talcum powder in-line with a tube that extends out of the gun in the nose should get you what you need. I'm going to experiment with that setup and see if the CO2 blast can overcome the rushing of air while the plane is in flight.

Absolutely Mike! As more get theirs and come up with cool mods post away. Everyone is familiar with different products and building methods such that they can bring their creative ideas to the table and share so we can all benefit. I do things a certain way based on my experiences and the way I think but I don't even claim that my ways are the best. There is soooo much that can be done with this plane to trick it out and it is really causing us to stretch our imaginations to do so. This thread is intended to allow us all to show others those ideas, not just me.

[Mike_Then]

I was going to ask if it was OK to post our mods in this thread; don't want to hijack what Steve is doing. Glad we can put ours in here too, and correct me if I'm wrong. I had an idea the other day about the powder cannon and wanted to post it here. My idea was to use a CO2 inflator that cyclists carry with them to quickly inflate a flat. It's lightweight and also expels the air at a high rate. The trigger could be actuated with a servo to open/close and you should get quite a few 'cannon bursts' with each CO2 cartridge. Figured a small container of talcum powder in-line with a tube that extends out of the gun in the nose should get you what you need. I'm going to experiment with that setup and see if the CO2 blast can overcome the rushing of air while the plane is in flight.

[dahawk]

I think Headsuprc has it

[RCjetdude]

Who are you ordering this tubing from?

I got the 5mm square CF tubing from my LHS. Here is the label that was on it.

[Patrnflyr]

Who are you ordering this tubing from?

[RCjetdude]

"I just got done going back and adding some 5mm square carbon fiber tubes inside the fuselage to strengthen it. There are chanels already molded into the inner walls of the fuse on each side and I just ran a bead of Foam Tac into the chanels and pressed the rods in place. I am doing this to strengthen the fuse because of the weight I am carrying and based on input from Captin Mike and Pilot Ryan. It might not be a bad idea to go ahead and do it on your own planes as well just in case. It certainly can't hurt and it is super easy to do."

How long were the square carbon fiber tubes you put in the fuselage? Getting ready to order some and they come in 40" length and wanted to know if I need to get one or two tubes.

thanks,
Mark

They were about 15" long. You should only need one piece.

[zorkahn]

"I just got done going back and adding some 5mm square carbon fiber tubes inside the fuselage to strengthen it. There are chanels already molded into the inner walls of the fuse on each side and I just ran a bead of Foam Tac into the chanels and pressed the rods in place. I am doing this to strengthen the fuse because of the weight I am carrying and based on input from Captin Mike and Pilot Ryan. It might not be a bad idea to go ahead and do it on your own planes as well just in case. It certainly can't hurt and it is super easy to do."

How long were the square carbon fiber tubes you put in the fuselage? Getting ready to order some and they come in 40" length and wanted to know if I need to get one or two tubes.

thanks,
Mark

[OV10]

Thanks, I will be re-doing my decals tonight and looking to line up a maiden on it soon. I need the weather, work and family commitments to all align. :)

I'm expecting to see that GAU-8 Avenger test @ NEFI ;)

[RCjetdude]

Makes sense, thanks.

Awsome mods so far. Looking forward to seeing the cannon test in-flight.

Thanks, I will be re-doing my decals tonight and looking to line up a maiden on it soon. I need the weather, work and family commitments to all align. :)

[Twowingtj]

For me, because my weight is at the upper end they thought it might be just that in case I had a harder than desired landing (who me?). The channels are in there and great for wiring runs but can also be used to help strengthen the fuse if desired. I don't think it is necessary on a stock setup but sometimes people start out stock and then get "mod fever" and it is easier to install them before making any significant mods obviously. Or if someone desires to add bigger heavier batteries that puts their weight up around mine.

Makes sense, thanks.

Awesome mods so far. Looking forward to seeing the cannon test in-flight.

[RCjetdude]

Am quite interested in what the input from Mike and Ryan was. It's one of those "ounce of prevention" things.

For me, because my weight is at the upper end they thought it might be just that in case I had a harder than desired landing (who me?). The channels are in there and great for wiring runs but can also be used to help strengthen the fuse if desired. I don't think it is necessary on a stock setup but sometimes people start out stock and then get "mod fever" and it is easier to install them before making any significant mods obviously. Or if someone desires to add bigger heavier batteries that puts their weight up around mine.

[Twowingtj]

I just got done going back and adding some 5mm square carbon fiber tubes inside the fuselage to strengthen it. There are chanels already molded into the inner walls of the fuse on each side and I just ran a bead of Foam Tac into the chanels and pressed the rods in place. I am doing this to strengthen the fuse because of the weight I am carrying and based on input from Captin Mike and Pilot Ryan. It might not be a bad idea to go ahead and do it on your own planes as well just in case. It certainly can't hurt and it is super easy to do.

Am quite interested in what the input from Mike and Ryan was. It's one of those "ounce of prevention" things.

[RCjetdude]

I just got these to make some missile racks for the Mavericks.



"Dadgumit" Alpha....

[RCjetdude]

My radio and electronics installation with the upper battery removed.



I mounted an A3 Super II gyro here because I had it lying around.



Receiver and Scorpion here...



Shockwave2 sound card here. The card is mounted to a couple pieces of 1/8" ply and servo taped to the wall.



This is the switch to turn power on or off to the sound card.