Official Freewing 70mm BAe Hawk T1 Thread

[vdanger]

Mechanical Stop for the Freewing Hawk Front Nosegear.

The trials and tribulations of trying to operate my Freewing Hawk off of a grass field continue.

The other day I flew my hawk at my grass field and had a good flight until the landing. The mains touched down nicely but as soon as the nosewheel came down it caught in the tall grass and the plane came to a complete halt in about 3 feet!

The force of the sudden deceleration bent the nosewheel strut back and my flying day was over.

It occurred to me that since the nosewheel strut on this plane retracts forward, I could put a hard stop behind it to take the landing force and keep the front strut from bending.

The pictures below explain the procedure:



Plywood support glued to back of nosegear bay.



Side view



Screw used as adjustable stop for nosegear strut. Now base of strut and retract mechanism does not have to take brunt of the landing forces.



Completed upgrade. By the way, also upgraded to duel nosewheels to help with rolling thru the grass. Since this is a T45, its scale!



Nosewheel shown retracted.

Hope this gives you guys some ideas!

Vance

[vdanger]

ok thanks looking forward to seeing the duel nose wheel

Ron,

Since that last post didn't really give you a closeup of how the dual wheel strut was made, I thought I'd give you a detailed description and a few closeup shots.

1. Cut 3/8" aluminum rod to length and drill 3mm hole down the center to accept the cutoff end of the existing "chickenleg" nosewheel strut. Tap top end of rod for 6/32 set screws to secure it to "chickenleg" stub.
2. Cut slit in other end of 3/8" rod for 1/8" carbon fiber plate.
3. Cut carbon fiber plate to size and hinge in slit with 2/56 bolt.
4. Drill bottom end of CF plate for 4/40 rod axle for dual wheels.
5. Put several ponytail rubberbands around strut and you are done!

[vdanger]

Be sure to read the captions when you click on the photos, I didn't realize they don't show on the post and they help a lot.

[vdanger]

One other note, in the third picture above it shows a small wire that wraps around the strut.

That wire is very important, it is a stop to keep the nosewheel from flexing back too far.

In my previous post (#381) I said that my nosewheel dug into the grass and my plane came to a stop in about three feet, I determined that that was because the nosewheel flexed back too far and allowed the aluminum strut itself to contact the ground.

Vance

[Ron1950]

thanks vdanger

[Ron1950]

finally getting it to at least look white...it will need at least one more primer coat...ill never paint again lol

[crankestein]

It seems you are running out of space, like those tv shows of hoarding...

[Ron1950]

heck that's cleaned up...should have seen it before

[RCjetdude]

finally getting it to at least look white...it will need at least one more primer coat...ill never paint again lol

There you go. Looking good.

[John Wood]

Vince, you certainly have done some work on this front gear, I think the angle of the fulcrum may also have an effect when the wheel digs into the grass which may not be allowing a smooth deflection, just a thought, but I haven't flown mine yet so I can't talk! I have only tried it on my back garden and the wheel seems to bounce nicely on the uneven grass but I am using 2.5" wheel which isn't to scale and doesn't fully retract so it is a compromise as always. I am hoping to maiden soon but am apprehensive as I don't want to return home with a bag of foam bits! as the plane looks so nice at the moment
Best wishes

[John Wood]

Vdanger, sorry Vance wrong spelling of your name!

[Ron1950]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9LG...ature=youtu.be

Thursday flying with a nice crosswind nothing great just having fun with my 4s setup freewing T1

[Sky Wolf]

I don’t my own this one, but I follow this thread from time to time. Man, I didn't know the Hawk could move like that. It’s screamin’!

[Ron1950]

They come set up for 6s. But i got the arf pluss and installed the fms 4s setup. Very pleased with it.

[Ron1950]

disreguard the bed with all my laundry on it...my painting skills lack a lot...this still needs clear on the wing it will be a stand off model (about 5 ft lol) so u don't see all the bad paint

[Ron1950]

They come set up for 6s. But i got the arf pluss and installed the fms 4s setup. Very pleased with it. don't know why this repeted sorry

[vdanger]

To all,

Usually when I write on this forum, I am writing about some problem I had with trying to operate my Hawk off of grass.

Just so you don't think all is gloom and doom, I would just like to report that I flew my Hawk several times today and landed on grass and everything worked out perfectly!

The nose wheel mechanical stop mod and the dual nose wheel mod really worked well, I highly recommend them.

Especially the mechanical stop mod, the nose wheel unit is now solid!

Thanks,
Vdanger

[Ron1950]

finished my T1 to T45 conversion today ...tail hook is on and decided to not go with duel nose gear setup yet thought id get the landing gear up grade but out of stock

[Regatoni5]

How does it fly on 4s? What power plant+ setup are you running?

They come set up for 6s. But i got the arf pluss and installed the fms 4s setup. Very pleased with it.

[Ron1950]

I am running a fms 70mm fan and the motor that comes with it for about 35 dollars maybe 40 or so.. 4s 5000 battery

check out this vid and u can see it flies great on 4s..either set up u use this plane is a winner and flys great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9LG...ature=youtu.be