Official FlightLine OV-10 Bronco Discussion Thread

[Rob Knox]

G’day Gents,
i have this model on order.
im finding it a little disturbing that people are having issues with the ESCs.
Is this still the case?
Best suggested course of action to avoid?

Alpha, feel free to chime in here.

Thanks chaps.

Rob

[Rob Knox]

Oh, Tolga, while I’m here, I don’t have a 3D printer, so am wondering how much you’d charge for the whole printed set you’ve done to yours?
Also, I live in Australia, so would you mind sending to Oz ( naturally I’d pay shipping)

cheers mate

Rob.

[xviper]

G’day Gents,
i have this model on order.
im finding it a little disturbing that people are having issues with the ESCs.
Is this still the case?
Best suggested course of action to avoid?

Alpha, feel free to chime in here.

Thanks chaps.

Rob

Those ESC "issues" may be flukes. Of the hundreds (maybe into the thousand +) they've sold, I've only seen a handful of posts about a motor quitting. I think if you're really worried about it and really want this plane, you might consider getting a pair of higher amp ESCs and if you're not happy with the performance, you may as well consider getting stronger and faster motors. If you get 50A to 60A ESCs, you're set for beefier motors. It's an otherwise terrific airplane and has become one of my favorite prop jobs.

[t01ga]

Oh, Tolga, while I’m here, I don’t have a 3D printer, so am wondering how much you’d charge for the whole printed set you’ve done to yours?
Also, I live in Australia, so would you mind sending to Oz ( naturally I’d pay shipping)

cheers mate

Rob.

Rob,
I would have loved to help but I don’t have 3D printer. I bought the pilots ready printed from a UK site (Real Model Pilots) and I have hand crafted rest of the cockpit from scratch looking at pics of the real aircraft. I think there is a guy on here who has created some 3D cockpit parts who might help you out. If you go back on the thread you will come across his posts.

[t01ga]

Flying with 4S 4000 Admirals all the way forward I found that mine was tail heavy. I now fly with 50grams added weight in the nose (elevator neutral, in line with mouldings on vertical stabiliser) and gyro turned off. This in turn almost stopped the waggle, wiggle. Almost forgot, the rudders are toed in one full turn of the ball link but I might take that off.

[James]

t01ga - Unreal as usual. Excellent detail and even the pictures are super high quality. Great work

[Alpha]

I have completed upgrading my cockpit and I hope you like it. Here are several photos from the workshop and I then I will post some static shops from the field.
There are some action shots to follow which I will
post as soon as I get them from the fellow club member who kindly took those.

WANT

[t01ga]

t01ga - Unreal as usual. Excellent detail and even the pictures are super high quality. Great work

Thanks James, appreciate that!

[sam51401]

Quick question on the ESC's and the smaller than normal "head room" on amps measured and the limit of the ESC. Im getting ready to power mine up and test everything but i know that the F7F esc's are a great upgrade but being out of stock, what might be some other options to consider as an upgrade to a 40a. I say upgrade because its a personal preference over a must do.
Various brands and quick to get, ie local, would be a 40a Skywalker, E-Flite and such. Any feedback on Skywalker? Yay or Nay on this one?

James and Alpha, any idea on when FL 60a ESC will be back in stock? ZTW 45a ALSO?

[xviper]

Quick question on the ESC's and the smaller than normal "head room" on amps measured and the limit of the ESC. Im getting ready to power mine up and test everything but i know that the F7F esc's are a great upgrade but being out of stock, what might be some other options to consider as an upgrade to a 40a. I say upgrade because its a personal preference over a must do.
Various brands and quick to get, ie local, would be a 40a Skywalker, E-Flite and such. Any feedback on Skywalker? Yay or Nay on this one?

James and Alpha, any idea on when FL 60a ESC will be back in stock? ZTW 45a ALSO?

Go to Motion RC and punch in "brushless ESC 60A" and you'll see a few pop up that will do the job. There are ones from twin EDF jets and others that are sold as singles which you could buy 2 of.

[sam51401]

With ya Viper as i believe 60a would be an overkill on size and heavier. If i were to swing slightly larger props then i would favor a higher rated esc. I just dont want to lose this because an esc shuts down due to being over temp'd or amp'd. I have the A10 among others and have a Nexa OV also that i went with ZTW 65a. If the 45a ZTW's were in stock, i would have them already which is why i went looking for alternatives. Between trying to get this house ready for market and regular work, its moving along much slower than i wanted but its getting very close.

[xviper]

With ya Viper as i believe 60a would be an overkill on size and heavier. If i were to swing slightly larger props then i would favor a higher rated esc. I just dont want to lose this because an esc shuts down due to being over temp'd or amp'd. I have the A10 among others and have a Nexa OV also that i went with ZTW 65a. If the 45a ZTW's were in stock, i would have them already which is why i went looking for alternatives. Between trying to get this house ready for market and regular work, its moving along much slower than i wanted but its getting very close.

If you're just looking for a safety buffer, then yes, 60A is overkill. You can still check to see what other aircraft (both prop and EDF) runs a stock 40A to 45A ESC and get a couple of those. They'll likely come with built-in BECs, so you might want to clip or remove the red wire from one of the throttle leads.
Of course, there's always HobbyKing. They sell several brands of ESCs and I've used them without problems. They have a warehouse in Oregon. Anything order over $50.00 (I think) is free shipping within the Con USA. Then there's RC Castle out of Hong Kong. Shipping can be problematic if you pick the cheapest method.

[Dumo01]

I started out flying my F7F in the stock configuration up until the first time it went to Nefi. We were camped up in the parking lot probably 100 yards from the flight line, I had one battery left so decided to taxi her up to the trailer. By the time I got it there, I was a firm advocate of running two batteries in parallel powering both motors so I would never run across the situation present to me just in taxiing. She was all over the place and basically it took full rudder to counter it just in taxiing! Now take into account the other prop isn't feathered and is windmilling creating drag and the plane is chasing its tail. No way you are going to trim it in time and good luck landing.
My soldering skill quite frankly sucks, so I searched out some adapters, one that ties the two batteries together in parallel and another that joins the two ESC's to a single input. Works like a charm!

Grossman56

Grossman

I am looking for those adapters as well, the one to join two batteries into a single voltage source is easy, where did you find the one to split the power back out to two ESC's

[Gilatrout]

Any guesses on when replacement canopies will be in stock?

[OV10]

Grossman

I am looking for those adapters as well, the one to join two batteries into a single voltage source is easy, where did you find the one to split the power back out to two ESC's

Hello Dumo and welcome to the Squawk.
Those type of adapters are pretty common on Amazon and Ebay.
For connecting the two batteries together you need a 2 male into 1 female parallel adapter.
And for connecting that single female battery source adapter back to the 2 ESC's you will need a 1 male to 2 female parallel adapter.
I use EC5 style connectors and a simple 10 sec search on Amazon gets ya these.
For the battery
my preferred choice for wireless:

https://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Battery-Connector-Adapter-Serial/dp/B01NBEQY6Z/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=ec5+parallel+connector&qid=1599872538&sr=8-11

or wired for longer wire reach:

https://www.amazon.com/OliYin-1-Female-Parallel-Adapter-Battery/dp/B07DMYS2G7/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=19YGA40FWFMYX&dchild=1&keywords=ec5+parallel+connector&qid=1599871528&s=toys-and-games&sprefix=EC5+parallel%2Ctoys-and-games%2C284&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFHTFM0WlFMNEVVN0ImZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA4OTI1ODgyTEJIVDBHWE1WNTYzJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0NDM4OTEyQ1hXVkg3UlYzNVJKJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

For the ESC's

https://www.amazon.com/Serial-Parallel-Connector-Y-Harness-Connectors/dp/B07VNK17XK/ref=sr_1_6?crid=19YGA40FWFMYX&dchild=1&keywords=ec5+parallel+connector&qid=1599871528&s=toys-and-games&sprefix=EC5+parallel%2Ctoys-and-games%2C284&sr=1-6

Best regards,

[Dumo01]

Thanks OV 10
Don't know why i did not think to look there when I did not find them at the usual suspects.
I am going to stick with the XT60 since I have a number of batteries set up for it, but found those on Amazon as well.

[thomasnwilliams]

xviper....... I'm getting ready to do your engine mods, what batteries are you using. This is the only thing I could not find you talking about with the upgrade. Thanks in advance!

[xviper]

xviper....... I'm getting ready to do your engine mods, what batteries are you using. This is the only thing I could not find you talking about with the upgrade. Thanks in advance!

I'm using several brands of LiPos. 4s, Admiral 4000mah, Admiral 3600mah, Gens Ace 3800mah - all in pairs of course.
I hope you read that part earlier where I said that the Eflite Power 25 motors will make for more of a gap between the engine cowl and the spinner base. I don't mind that but some people may not like it. I don't use the stock props/spinners. I went with the 5-blade Scimitar props and spinners from the Eflite EC1500. You can see the gaps in the video I posted in this thread.

[thomasnwilliams]

xviper..... OK great the 4S was what I was looking for. I've read each of your post on your upgrade. I ordered the 5 blade Scimitars and spinners last night and I'll find a work-around on the gap or not.

Another question, did you use the T-45 main gear struts, I saw your post but can't find it now. If so did you get the scale effect of the OV-10 front gear, and were you happy with it?

Thanks for your fast reply!

[xviper]

Another question, did you use the T-45 main gear struts, I saw your post but can't find it now. If so did you get the scale effect of the OV-10 front gear, and were you happy with it?

That must have been someone else. I'm still using all the stock struts.