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

[Elbee]

Hi guys! New A-10 RC pilot here. Does anybody know the estimated stallspeed (indicated) of this gorgeous plane? Setting it up with a pitot-tube to be able to ride the stall limit for slow and low loveliness. Yes, I am aware of the possibility of finding it out for myself, but right now I am pre-maiden, and would love to have some reference number to start of with.

CR, Welcome to "The Squawk". Glad to have you onboard, Sir. As stated above, you will love flying this airframe. She is docile and beautiful to watch in the air. Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

As stated above, you will love flying this airframe. She is docile and beautiful to watch in the air. Best, LB

As a further testament to that statement, my A-10 this last weekend got the Florida eJet Fest 2022 Best Scale Flight Award. I wasn't able to go to Lakeland for this as am still dealing with some "life issues" but my good friend and mentor, Marvin Alvarez (MarvinF14 if you're familiar with his YouTube channel), coerced me into letting him take my A-10 and F-4 to the event. He's certainly an outstanding pilot and was able to fly it nice an easy (despite a severe crosswind) for about 7 minutes in a "Top Gun" required sequence and was rewarded with 1st place. He's been after me for months to let him take it to Top Gun in May so he can enter it in the electric category, so looks like I haven't a choice anymore, hopefully will be able to attend with him. He won the electric competition a couple years ago with a military AL37, so this is nothing new to him (despite the fact his business is primarily building/selling/flying large turbine jets).

Anyway, it's easy to see why this particular Freewing model continues to sell well after so many years, clearly one of their best and certainly a favorite of mine (just wish I could fly it half as well as he does).

[crxmanpat]

That's awesome Hugh! I was there on Friday and watched Marvin make some great flights on it. My F-14 got Best Static Scale for my VF-1 repaint. Unfortunately I only got a few flights in before my radio decided it didn't want to cooperate. Somehow I managed to lock the touch screen and couldn't figure out what the problem was. Emailed Control Hobbies (dealer for Graupner) and they said to try the unlock screen function. Sure enough that's all it was. Oh well, at least I got to fly some and meet some great guys as this was my first event since moving back home to FL from AZ last July.

[Elbee]

That's awesome Hugh! I was there on Friday...My F-14 got Best Static Scale for my VF-1 repaint.

Pat, Well deserved award, my friend. She's a beauty. Bravo Zulu, Brother. Best, Steve

[Hugh Wiedman]

crxmanpat I second Elbee that is an outstanding F14. Marvin did tell me the static winner was superb! And so it is. Do you know who ended up with the overall best scale jet? That was supposed to be a combination of your award and the best scale flight Marvin got, but he didn't know who got that and I just assumed it must have been you as well. Wish I could have gone and would have loved to see everyone. Unfortunately I've yet to see any decent YouTube accounts of the event, only a few that just shamelessly promote themselves as if they were the only ones there (gee, who could that be). Good to know that a Freewing EDF got Best Static and Best Scale Flight at least.

You should take that F14 to Top Gun this year as you would no doubt be one of the favorites in the electric category. My hat's off to you, haven't had the guts to try the F14 yet but hope to get there one day! My main flying buddy other than Marvin ( RudyD54 ) is in the middle of building out his F14 now so I hope to see it "up close and personal" and learn from him.

[crxmanpat]

Unfortunately I've yet to see any decent YouTube accounts of the event, only a few that just shamelessly promote themselves as if they were the only ones there (gee, who could that be).

Unfortunately I did not get to fly it because of the radio issue, and I was not there Saturday to see who got Overall Best Jet.

[rifleman_btx]

[My hat's off to you, haven't had the guts to try the F14 yet but hope to get there one day! My main flying buddy other than Marvin ( RudyD54 ) is in the middle of building out his F14 now so I hope to see it "up close and personal" and learn from him.[/QUOTE]

Once you get her flying, there's nothing like it. Beautiful flying aircraft. She's now my favorite plane to fly.

[Hugh Wiedman]

[My hat's off to you, haven't had the guts to try the F14 yet but hope to get there one day! My main flying buddy other than Marvin ( RudyD54 ) is in the middle of building out his F14 now so I hope to see it "up close and personal" and learn from him.

Once you get her flying, there's nothing like it. Beautiful flying aircraft. She's now my favorite plane to fly.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the encouragement, it definitely is at the top of my wish list for this year, especially if any new MRC releases don't get me all "hot and bothered first"!

[rifleman_btx]

I hear ya, there's one plane I just absolutely have to have. If it comes out. Things will definitely change.

[Bazza]

I am sorry it has taken me so long to reply to everyone. But after the loss of my wife recently from Breast Cancer, I have found it hard to even get out of bed, let alone get onto any form of social media. In response to battery placement, yes my batteries were exactly as your photos show. Maybe about 5mm further back, but its a bit hard just comparing a photo. When setting up the plane I started with the batteries way back(not as far as what the pics from the new member shows, but the plane would tilt over on the rear wheels and sit with the tail on the ground, Like it does with no batteries in the plane at all so I settled on the rear battery as far back as I could and the front battery overhanging the mounting plate about 10mm as the photo following my original post shows. everything else was done as per the manual. I have been flying rc for the best part of 40 years and even though I am reasonably new to jets, I know how to set up a plane and this is also why I read almost every post on this plane in this forum, before my plane even arrived. I think there is something else at play here as placing my front battery on top of the rear battery made the plane fall over onto its tail and I had to have my batteries the way the manual shows, to get the cg at 90, there was something else wrong. Anyway I am now having to survive on a single person pension now, even though the same amount of bills still keep rolling in and as such I am going to attempt to make a new fuselage as I can't afford the price of a new one, when the freight is as much as the freight on what the entire plane cost me. If I am successful I will post pics but it could be weeks maybe even months before I can build up enough mental strength to start such a project when I can't even get out and fly. (be hard to see a plane thru all of my tears)

[Hugh Wiedman]

Bazza my heart and prayers go out to you. I know what it's like dealing with cancer affecting the one you love most. Nothing anyone can say or do can ease that pain, only know that you were a great comfort for her and she will live forever through your great memories of the time you spent together.

[Abwagner121]

Hey Guys. I'm going to ask what may be a stupid question. Are the motors in the A-10 counter rotating? I don't believe that they are because the "exhaust" is coming out of the rears after upgrading up motors & fans. I'm just trying be sure before flying her again.

[xviper]

The stock 80mm, 9-blades are NOT counter-rotating. There are also the optional 90mm fans and I don't believe those are counter-rotating either. However, the exhaust coming out the rear is not an indication that they are or aren't counter-rotating. Have a look at the fan blades themselves. Are they the same on each side? Or are they mirror image, in which case, they have to spin counter to each other in order to put thrust out the back. If you've upgraded your fans to say, 12 blades, it is possible that you bought counter-rotating fans. This plane can fly with same rotating or counter-rotating fans, just as long as the air is coming out the rear of both units.

[Abwagner121]

The stock 80mm, 9-blades are NOT counter-rotating. There are also the optional 90mm fans and I don't believe those are counter-rotating either. However, the exhaust coming out the rear is not an indication that they are or aren't counter-rotating. Have a look at the fan blades themselves. Are they the same on each side? Or are they mirror image, in which case, they have to spin counter to each other in order to put thrust out the back. If you've upgraded your fans to say, 12 blades, it is possible that you bought counter-rotating fans. This plane can fly with same rotating or counter-rotating fans, just as long as the air is coming out the rear of both units.

The fan blades are the same on both motors. They are the 80mm, inrunner, 12 blade units.

[Hugh Wiedman]

The fan blades are the same on both motors. They are the 80mm, inrunner, 12 blade units.

If I'm not mistaken, the stock fans on the A-10 are still the 9 blade 1900Kv Outrunners. At least that's what is in mine bought about 2 years ago. The website still shows the fans as the 9 blade 1900Kv outrunners. If you've got 12 blade inrunners, someone must have upgraded yours. The stock fans list for about $58 each but the 12-blade inrunner 1857Kv lists for about $108 each. Nice present if you have those instead! I was thinking of upgrading my fans to that 12 blade inrunner but for another $216, think I'll wait. A friend just got his A-10 and he put the 90mm 9-blade inrunner FMS fans in and it's a rocket ship. Definitely does not look scale at full throttle, but it climbs forever!

[xviper]

Hugh, he bought upgrade fan units. Although on a plane like this, counter-rotating fans aren't that necessary due to the fans being somewhat close to the centerline. However, if I were to spend that kind of money to upgrade to 12-blades, I'd have chosen the counter-rotating route. Both of those Bizjets (Freewing and X-Fly) have counter-rotating fans that are close together and one can't argue how smooth they run.

[jetpltrich]

Maiden flights on my A-10 today. First flight was less than 30 seconds due to a rudder gyro bias issue. Set the bias down to 30% on the aileron and elevator and turned the rudder off. Second flight was outta this world! Smooth, responsive, and less than half throttle she scoots around quickly. I added Nerf whistles and the sound is awesome. The coolest part is a bank towards me... the beginning of a strafing run, super cool.

it’s a great flying plane! Highly recommended.

Rich

[Warthog]

Looking for the 90mm thrust tube 3D print files. Anyone have them??

[Elbee]

Looking for the 90mm thrust tube 3D print files. Anyone have them??

Warthog Did you mean Dirty Dee's Exhaust Design? If so, then here you go.

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game...e-thrust-tubes

DD had posted this STL on Cult's 3D and it a free download.
Thank you DD!

Best, Steve

[RudyD54]

Those are the 80mm. I have the .STL of Dirty Dees design that someone had scaled to 90mm. Haven't tried them yet so I cant vouch for fitment, but here you go:

90mmtube.stl