Official FlightLine OV-10 Bronco Discussion Thread

[Evan D]

Todays first flight.

https://youtu.be/WoA6Gyb__ao

[Evan D]

Welcome to the forum. They all do it and no one has a cure except installing a gyro...

[XairBoss]

I just have 5 flights on my Bronco. One thing I noticed was an oscillation in the roll axis in turbulent conditions. The oscillation is worse at lower speeds. The oscillation diminished as the conditions became calmer. I don't have a gyro on this model. I texted a friend from the field about it and he told me his old 80' Rich Uravitch Bronco did the same thing, that it was a tendency they have. So, is there a hack to make it go away? I was thinking of towing the rudders in a few degrees. I noticed the model is extremely sensitive to rudder inputs. I'm guessing that might have something to do with it.

[xviper]

ronwc Keep us posted. Interesting experiment.

[ronwc]

Here is readings with the 10x8 - although it has better speed and pull, watts went down. Going to go to 10x10 this week and get more readings, the perfect props may well be 11x7 or 11x8 two blade.

[xviper]

I showed back in post 395 amp and watt reading with stock props and with 10x8 APC. Here is stock again.

Thanks again. How much of a gain in watts were the 10x8's?

[Jim Donohue]

This makes a perfect wing bag for the OV-10. I cut the strings from the bottom grommets so it does'nt act like a backpack but like a top close drawstring bag. $8 on Ebay.

[Evan D]

I didn't answer when you posted as you didn't say exactly what battery you want to use and there are different size and weight 5000 batteries.

Assuming it's an Admiral there's two choices...

The 60C has these specs;

Weight	500g / 17.63oz
Length	158mm / 6.22in
Width	45mm / 1.77in
Height	32mm / 1.25in

I am using 4600 Hobby Stars with these specs But mine weigh 380g each.

• Capacity: 4600mAh
• Voltage: 14.8V (4S)
• Dimensions: 130x43x30mm
• Weight: 395g

As noted the main area of the fuse is 8cm (the strap slots are much narrower) wide but there are two areas of foam towards the rear that intrude into that space. Having heavier batteries (even my 380g packs) you'll have to push them back between these two protrusions. There is about 61mm between them. Then a little further back there is a second stepped in protrusion and there is only 54mm between them.

So your packs will fit in the main area but since your packs are 1000g together you'll also need to push them pretty far back and may be okay at the fist protrusion but no way at the second.

Battery question,I am trying very hard NOT to buy this plane,losing every time . One question will 2- 4s,5,000mah 60c battery fit side by side in the plane,long story for the reason to ask.? Better yet what is the width of the battery compartment.

[ronwc]

I showed back in post 395 amp and watt reading with stock props and with 10x8 APC. Here is stock again.

[xviper]

Skimming over past pages of this thread and trying to find any postings about what kind of watts this drivetrain is registering, can’t seem to see it. Did anyone actually take a measurement of the stock system’s watts/per side?

[Evan D]

When I first built mine I reported it's not a "keeper". After a couple dozen flights I have to say that if this was kept stock I would be bored to tears with it by now but with 2 1/2 times the power and some tweaking of the throws and rates (plus crow and differential throttle) I am having a blast flying it. I still has that nagging wobble though. Some day I'll have to try and remedy that but I'm having a good time just flying it.

[Evan D]

Todays flights...

https://youtu.be/OUJUnRzOFX8

https://youtu.be/JtrOqioZzBg

[themudduck]

Battery question,I am trying very hard NOT to buy this plane,losing every time . One question will 2- 4s,5,000mah 60c battery fit side by side in the plane,long story for the reason to ask.? Better yet what is the width of the battery compartment.

The inside of the compartment is 8cm wide, and its about 8 inches long more or less.

You really don't need huge batteries for this plane, It will make it very heavy and may lead to other problems (like the fuselage cracking and it will be very nose heavy). I am using two 2500's and I can fly for 6 minutes, and more than 10 minutes on 3600's.

Lighter always flies better!

[Oldman]

Battery question,I am trying very hard NOT to buy this plane,losing every time . One question will 2- 4s,5,000mah 60c battery fit side by side in the plane,long story for the reason to ask.? Better yet what is the width of the battery compartment.

[vduniec]

Here's my FPV flight from today. A little sketch on the takeoff, but it's because of the tendencies of the 90mm T-45 landing gear. The first attempt at the loop was a fail as I pulled too much elevator and it just stalled on me. The second attempt was a little better.

I designed and 3D printed the armament panels and the APR-39 indicator that are on the instrument panel coaming. This is still a work in progress for me. Still have to add a wet compass, a vent and mirrors to the canopy frame. Also want to add some colors to the instrument panel decal which is pretty accurate. I'm undecided on the gunsight. I'll have to see how that looks and see if it's too much of an obstruction.

I will be sharing these 3D files as they come along for anyone who's interested.

[RCGuy83]

Arriving at the field winds were moderate at times but not awful. With roughly 22 flights the goal was a few safe flights, push it around, and work on quick landing approaches dropping it in touching down on a mark 15ft in front of me. Go to the 2min mark to see landing approaches from both the plane and the fence. The OV-10 with no flaps comes in slick if you drop it in but you can flare it out nicely. The video includes: speed passes, rolls, no flap approach, some flaps approach, a bad bounce, a couple clean touch downs, and some bush trimming off-roading at the end.

[themudduck]

Here is the 3d wiper from post 674 pg 34. I've not printed it yet so not 100% sure but it was the only one I found and they match design wise. have fun!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2632986

I printed this wiper and installed it. I like the way it looks.
Its fun to add these details.

Update; I flew two more times last night (Wednesday) and the landing gear worked properly each time. I still have no idea why it was intermittent.

[thomasnwilliams]

Here is the 3d wiper from post 674 pg 34. I've not printed it yet so not 100% sure but it was the only one I found and they match design wise. have fun!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2632986

[Uncle Bob's RC]

A few posts back I mentioned I was going to try using a pair of 4-cell 2500's. There was some concern because they are lighter than the 3600's and perhaps there would be a balance issue.
RONWC mentioned that he didn't have a problem with the smaller packs. My report: I tried them today and had good results. No issue with the balance, and the model performed well during two flights.

So here's a picture of them installed, you can see they are not pushed all the way forward, they are about an inch back from the front of the battery compartment.
During the first flight I tested the balance and found that the model was actually still a bit nose heavy (it needed a LOT of down elevator when inverted) So I could probably push these 2500 packs even further back, but it was ok.
I got about 6 minutes with the 2500's and had about 35% left. (I can go for at least 10 with the larger packs)




And here is a video I took on the second test flight. (camera is mounted on the left ordnance pod)

On this second flight I did some loops and rolls and then a touch-n-go.... and then I realized that my touch-n-go was without the right main gear - it wasn't down! I tried cycling it several times with no luck - so I landed on two gears right on the edge of the runway (carefully, slowly, with flaps) and just let it run to the right into the grass. No damage at all, it was perfect. So.... a good day, I was happy with the way the model performed. I need to permanently eliminate this connection problem with the main gear...

I had the same problem with the right main landing gear not coming down. After multiple attempts I finally got the gear down. This happened on two consecutive flights. Could not duplicate at home. I was thinking that if I couldn’t get the gear down, I would land gear up, but after seeing your video a two gear landing might be a better option.

Update..... I by passed the blue box and connected both gear directly into the receiver. When I tested the gear, the right gear failed to extend. I contacted Motion and they are sending me a replacement. Excellent customer service.

[fjkelley@cox.net]

Just for everyone's info: Testor's Model Master spray enamel Flat Gull Gray, FS 36440, #1930, is a EXACT match to the gray that is on the model...
I'm doing mine all gray (flat white on the top of the wing) to match the OV-10, Air Force, I flew in Vietnam.

Old Dawg