Official Freewing 80mm EDF L-39 Albatros Thread

[JLambCWU]

Live maiden flight on the NEW Inrunner motor power system for the L-39. Definitely some more power, vertical, and flight time.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/motionrcfanmedia/permalink/575301579951427?sfns=mo

[Funfly3D]

Thanks Evan ...... I will take a look when I pull the retract. Not had this problem with retracts on any of my other Freewing aircraft ........ that's not of course to say that it won't happen!

Will certainly take your advice onboard and most likely treat all the retracts as you suggest ........ it can only do good in the long run.

As promised in my original post, an update re nose leg issue................... Took nose leg retract out and having checked it over was unable to visibly identify any issues. Cleaned and lubricated the moving parts with white spray grease following which there was little change in its operation (eg open ok but still very prone to stalling when 75% closed).

Changed retract unit for the new replacement supplied by Motion RC .................. problem solved now works perfectly every time.

So my thanks again to those that took time to respond to my original post and also to Pete at Motion RC (EU) for the absolutely first rate customer support.

Merry Christmas to all on Hobby Squawk and at Motion RC.

[Evan D]

Fixed is a great thing, thanks for the update and blessings. Merry Christmas!

[John Bergsmith]

Replaced my stock 3530-1850KV outrunner for one of the new FMS 80mm V2 3280-KV2100. I put four flights on the L-39 with the new set up, can't really tell much of a difference. Speed, vertical, run time, battery temp, all seemed about what it was with the outrunner. The only noticeable difference was the inrunner seemed to run/sound smoother. Also, the FMS came balanced not requiring any adjustments.

[Captain Moron]

Hi , Have my L39 ready to maiden when the weather improves and I can get rid of this flu virus .I have installed a Hobby Eagle A3L gyro in the L 39 .Is it still OK to set the flap as per the manual ie 1mm with low rate flaps and 1.5 mm with high rate flaps or is it best to leave the setting on the flaps because I have the gyro installed ?

[xviper]

Hi , Have my L39 ready to maiden when the weather improves and I can get rid of this flu virus .I have installed a Hobby Eagle A3L gyro in the L 39 .Is it still OK to set the flap as per the manual ie 1mm with low rate flaps and 1.5 mm with high rate flaps or is it best to leave the setting on the flaps because I have the gyro installed ?

What are you setting at 1mm and 1.5mm? That isn't much for flap deflection. Or are you talking about "elevator compensation"? If you have a delayed flap deployment and you deploy flaps like a real plane (as the plane has begun to slow down) elevator compensation is not required, even without a gyro. However, if you have a tendency to deploy flaps instantaneously and before the plane has begun to slow down, elevator compensation will smooth things out without gyro, but having some elevator compensation will not make the gyro work quite so hard. It also depends on how much gain you have dialed in on the elevator axis gyro.
PS. You should start your maiden and trimming with gyro OFF.

[Captain Moron]

OK .It states in the manual that when you deploy flap that it advises you have 1 mm of down elevator mixed to your flaps and on high rate of flaps and 1.5 mm of down elevator mix to your flabs but I was wondering if the gyro would still work OK but I think I will not bother with down mix on the elevator . A mix of 1mm and 1.5 mm is not going to make much difference .On the maiden I will turn the gyro off and once I am sure everything is OK I will gain a lot of height then turn the gyro just incase Thanks

[xviper]

OK .It states in the manual that when you deploy flap that it advises you have 1 mm of down elevator mixed to your flaps and on high rate of flaps and 1.5 mm of down elevator mix to your flabs but I was wondering if the gyro would still work OK but I think I will not bother with down mix on the elevator . A mix of 1mm and 1.5 mm is not going to make much difference .On the maiden I will turn the gyro off and once I am sure everything is OK I will gain a lot of height then turn the gyro just incase Thanks

I kinda thought what you meant was elevator comp. That was the missing word. You are right, 1mm to 1.5mm of elevator isn't going to make a big difference on this plane. You can easily compensate manually, even without a gyro. Throw in 2 to 3 seconds flap deploy time and let it slow down a bit before using flaps and you shouldn't even notice any change. When you turn on the gyro, just be prepared to turn it off if the plane starts to oscillate. That means you need to turn the gain down a bit. This is easy to do if you have enough channels to hook up the master gain to the rotary knob on your TX.

[bbolz]

INteresting, one word of warning though, don't take your eyes of teh L39 when you are experimenting with the flaps. I did and ended up planting the plane. Repaired and ready for the next flights. in teh spring. Ilove that plane, with or wihtout gyro, don't really need it.

[sam51401]

MAyDay MAyDay!!!!!!!!
Have had 15 or so flights on my original L39 with no issues till today. Has anyone else experienced this similar in flight issue.
First flight today i retracted the gear and the nose didnt. Cycled the gear and no further issue and unevetful.
Second flight, take off, gear up and half way into flight i pass by then out and climbing left turn then no power, heard fan go to nill, no directional control, im going down, then i guess i pulled back power thinking i lost the esc/battery and powered out going away. it almost was total confetti. Recovered and down off runway but not off field. Radio is X11, spectrum rcvr, stock setup, 6s RT 5000mah. Battery checked at 3.9 /cell on all six.
Has this been a possible bluebox loss of control? No prior issues in all flights till this one.
Range check with 11X was 34 paces, JR says 30. All controls worked enough for me to get it back tot he field so really curious if i should drop the bluebox all together except the lights and gear.
Happy New Years
Sam

[Race 22 Crew]

Sounds like a failsafe on the radio. Loss of signal and the power goes to idle (usually). Signal reestablished and controls came back. Lots of L39 blue boxes out there without any issues that I’ve heard of. Good luck though. Let us know what you find.

[RichJ53]

MAyDay MAyDay!!!!!!!!
Have had 15 or so flights on my original L39 with no issues till today. Has anyone else experienced this similar in flight issue.
First flight today i retracted the gear and the nose didnt. Cycled the gear and no further issue and unevetful.
Second flight, take off, gear up and half way into flight i pass by then out and climbing left turn then no power, heard fan go to nill, no directional control, im going down, then i guess i pulled back power thinking i lost the esc/battery and powered out going away. it almost was total confetti. Recovered and down off runway but not off field. Radio is X11, spectrum rcvr, stock setup, 6s RT 5000mah. Battery checked at 3.9 /cell on all six.
Has this been a possible bluebox loss of control? No prior issues in all flights till this one.
Range check with 11X was 34 paces, JR says 30. All controls worked enough for me to get it back tot he field so really curious if i should drop the bluebox all together except the lights and gear.
Happy New Years
Sam

sorry to read about your scary situation.

I am wondering if your ESC / BEC could have browned out? The fact you were having Gear trouble, might have caused excessive amp draw unknown to you during the flight. This could certainly cause your BEC to become overloaded or reach cut off voltage. I do not believe the Blue box would have been the root cause.

Rich

[sam51401]

I will favor the BEC at fault in this issue thinking about this. Separate battery and power retracts and lights from the bec then. Now to get a set of replacement main gear doors and nose gear pin and reinstall the left main. Very lucky this is all that happen. I was ready to see it rain foam from the tree tops.

[cjordan]

Just got my L-39 Camo with the Inrunner motor. I want to install an Afterburner light and a strobe or beacon. Any suggestions where to find these for this plane?
Also, I saw somewhere someone was making/selling 3D cockpits for this plane. Was that on this thread?

[bbolz]

I may have to upgrade to that inrunner. Sweet. Gonna check out the cost.

[sam51401]

A follow up to my MayDay post above and what i have addressed and results.
So when i went through and needed to partially disassemble the plane i found the receiver and sat both grouped together among all the servo extensions. My range check(button pressed) at the field right after the incident produced about 30 paces before controls stopped.
After repairs and remounting the rcvr up over the extensions and extending the sat up front, i attached the data logger and made two flight today. Results are range test gave 45 paces and full control still, both flights had ALL zero's for fades, hits, LoS so i will chaulk this up to poor maint and rcvr/sat routing. I should have noticed and repositioned the rcvr and sat earlier. Happy New Year everyone.

[JamesonC]

Just got my L-39 Camo with the Inrunner motor. I want to install an Afterburner light and a strobe or beacon. Any suggestions where to find these for this plane?
Also, I saw somewhere someone was making/selling 3D cockpits for this plane. Was that on this thread?

I am not much into the after burners. But, I did get one to try from Ray and it is a very simple, easy to use product that works well. Send him a message on FB.

https://www.facebook.com/gooniacsrcedfcreations/

[Gilatrout]

Just got my L-39 Camo with the Inrunner motor. I want to install an Afterburner light and a strobe or beacon. Any suggestions where to find these for this plane?
Also, I saw somewhere someone was making/selling 3D cockpits for this plane. Was that on this thread?

I used RC Geek's Centerburner in mine. Looks amazing and flickers like the real thing

[Evan D]

I have the center burner in mine too. Works well.

[Jez_AU]

Wonder how that new fan/motor in the new T33 would go in the L39 if it fits. Seems to be a very efficient combo