Official Freewing Twin 80mm/90mm A-10 Thunderbolt II Thread

[Xtraflyr]

I email MRC about the updated retracts. This was their response.

Hi Frank

Thanks for contacting us on this issue and at this time it is still not sure when or if they will do this upgrade. Keep an eye on hobby squawk for any updates.

Thanks

[Pete Lane]

At least they said it was an upgrade.

Plane

[bill34207]

New landing gear for the A-10? ;-)

We hope. I sure would like to have some of those oleo mains.

[downwindleg]

"when or if" isn't much of an answer in my view. I have sent Alpha a pm on that as he said originally that they were doing a limited run of them and that they should be available in 6 to 8 weeks which would have been about a week or two ago. Brad

[Porkster]

Blast from the past from a year ago... A-10 V2 CNC, Spitfire V2 CNC, A-4 V3 CNC.



What's in my trunk today?

im hoping squeezed in there is a lovely big flightline F4u Corsair.
Please tell me I'm right!
Nestled up to it from the jet department should be a F4 phantom and a MiG 15/17

[Biff767]

Another successful A-10 maiden flight! This is a great airplane. Flew well right out of the box. Spent the time setting up and didn't have any surprises. Made one mistake though, I listened to the "local A-10 expert" at the LHS who knew all about this airplane. Said all of his friends crashed theirs on their first flight and/or had batteries burn up. Sorry that I gave these statements any time in my brain. I added the additional up elevator he urged.. and guess what, too much up elevator and need to down trim. Expert was wrong, the assembly directions are correct. Expert said the batteries burn up. Guess what? My Pulse 6S 5000 65C batteries came down pretty much cool. "Expert" was wrong. This airplane flies like a champ and the directions are exactly right! Now go buy one soldier! :)

[tclaridge]

First post in this forum, but I had to join to say what a great plane this is. Slows to 40 mph, and fast passes at 110 mph!! I love the big size and detail. The large super scale foamies coming from Freewing are awesome. The construction and quality is top notch.

https://youtu.be/E6F3ln8Tx24

[TiredIronGRB]

The large super scale foamies coming from Freewing are awesome. The construction and quality is top notch.

https://youtu.be/E6F3ln8Tx24

Welcome to Hobby Squawk! I agree 100% and it doesn't look like they will slow down anytime soon.

[Twowingtj]

Another successful A-10 maiden flight! This is a great airplane. "Expert" was wrong.

Welcome to Hobby Squawk Biff767, and congrats on the maiden!. It's a great flying bird for sure. Sometimes it's hard to sort the facts from the fodder. I think you'll find that the Squawk community members are a pretty good source of good info on a product. As with anything, some individual experiences with a product don't represent the average.

[Twowingtj]

First post in this forum, but I had to join to say what a great plane this is.

Welcome to the Squawk tclaridge!

[Pete Lane]

Yes...welcome !
Happy landings and Cheers.

Plane

[dahawk]

Biff,

Don't ya just love experts? LOL Congrats on your maiden ! . I will say this though. Don't get complacent with this plane. She knows how to bite when you let your defenses down or simply relax into thinking what an easy flier she is. And she is. I went 26 sorties in a row wondering what all the hullabaloo was about the broken nose gear pin. Could not understand this. On flight #27, I found out . LOL Now I stay closely tuned in especially with landings.

Hawk

[Jpahemi1]

Here is a couple of shots of my A-10 on its 4th flight at our clubs electric meet. Great flying plane. No bounce so far but I know it's waiting.

[Pogo]

I was pretty sure I posted on here (as well as RCG) about a trailing link nose strut I'd ordered but the forum search function isn't bringing it up, so anyway... Every landing (all good, no bouncing) on our very rough grass field was bending the strut pins- I tried the ones from HK (once- junk) and made a bunch from quality wire, all to no avail, so I just had to get a trailing link strut. This strut arrived earlier in the week and other than having a far too stiff spring is perfect. I replaced the spring and added some heavy RC diff. oil for a little damping- the strut now needs around 4 kg. of force to compress it, about the same as the stock strut with a cut down and stretched spring.
Flew this morning a couple of times and this baby is just soaking up the bumps, AND NO BENT PINS! :Cool::Cool:
I'm currently using a 5 mm bolt (grade 12.9) with the head cut down for the pin and hope not to need to replace it for the foreseeable future. The strut is a "162 mm nose leg" from Phoenix Models, and I could only find it at this store:
http://www.rcheadquarters.com.au/ If any of you choose to go this route I hope more are available there or elsewhere.
i didn't get around to reinstalling the rear door but it should work fine- as you can see the tire protrudes too much for the front door to work but I'll make a new one with a bulge in it and can live with that.
Finally this A-10 of mine is "rough field capable" and along with the shocks installed on the mains (modified version of "Mattmanraptor's" idea) landings are non-events, even when not perfect. I must say the response of "if and when" from MRC Support, as well as Alpha's complete silence on the subject of the promised "upgraded" gear is very disappointing- I know some guys have parked their jets and are waiting for MRC to come through, but I'm glad I didn't.
Tom

[Mightywarhoover]

Had 2 fun flights this morning with fresh snow in the mountains.

[Mightywarhoover]

And the 2nd..

[Aros]

Nice! Love the A-10 with the snow...

Took mine out today...My buddy got some shots of some fly bys. Not bad for cell phone!

[T-CAT]

Awesome flights and pics guys!

[T-CAT]

Finally maidened the 90mm A-10. The first flight along with three others went smooth and thankfully needed very little trim since I knew what to expect from my 80mm A-10. Even with the added weight, and 900g each LiPo's, the jet lands like a dream and comes in slow with full flaps. The added weight ended up being a non-issue. I did add two 15" carbon 6mm tubes to the side channels of the fuse, just as I did with my other A-10 to strengthen the area for the added weight.

I am using the Freewing 90mm 12-Blade fans with 1550k motors, Freewing 130A ESC's, and Castle Cap Packs just in front of the ESC's. There is no doubt this jet has serious power, and obviously overpowered, just like I like it. You can easily cruise around on low throttle to extend flight times, but when you want low end trust and acceleration, it's certainly there and there with authority. I haven't flown the stock 80mm 9-blade fan outrunner motor power system, so I can't directly compare to that. However, I can compare it to my 80mm Blacksnakes A-10 that has the Freewing 12-blade fan with 1820kv inrunners. The top speed end speed isn't too different between the two, but the low end grunt of the 90mm A-10 is fantastic for slow fly by's and throttle up to vertical climbs, etc. Believe it or not, my 80mm inrunner A-10 is much quieter than the 90mm. My 90 almost has a whistle like sound and some resonance, although I'd like to balance the fans to see how much smoother and quieter I can make it. In my opinion, the 1450kv power system or 1550kv system would be great choices, although the 1550kv's can drain those LiPo's quicker if you aren't careful with throttle usage. I prefer the sound and look of the 12-blade fans as well in comparison to the 9-blade on this model. All in all though, for ease of installation, less out of pocket cost (in comparison to going 90mm), my purchase of the PNP 80mm A-10 and just swapping in my 80mm inrunner power systems was the best performance for the dollar and work. With the 80mm inrunner power systems I kept the same stock ESC's which are enough, it already has caps on them, has the size connectors on the motors, doesn't require the purchase of new nacelles, or fiddling with soldering up new ESC's and caps. I wanted a 80mm and 90mm though, one to be scale looking (Blacksnakes) and the other to be a fantasy scheme A-10 type in a 90mm EDF size.

I had a great time flying today with friends, and some formation with Roys001 and his FW A-10 (who flew the heck out of it). Good times! Below are some photos from today. Can't wait to see you guys out there again.

[Shirty]

Grats fellas. Looks awesome tcat ;)