Official FlightLine OV-10 Bronco Discussion Thread

[Phil34]

Hi team my name is Phil and I'm from newzealand,I'm somewhat new to rc planes I have a small collection of warbirds all electric,freewing,fms etc i have only been flying about 2 years anyway I purchased the ov10 which is the first twin battery system I have flown anyway I have a conundrum that I would love to get to the bottom of,so her we go from the top.assembled plane ,went very smooth using James very good wiring video,a must see ,upon finishing did all tuning,cg etc and rechecked every thing about 10 times as per usual,very happy.
Maiden,using 2x fully charged 4000s taxied etc ,calm day no wind took off,seemed a little sluggish,managed to trim up as was diving slightly still felt heavy in like the cg was nose heavy ,on the second pass decided to land and recheck everything was still on full throttle,and here is when it all went wrong as soon as I deployed gear the plane went into a superfast uncontrollable spin/dive,I was flying 3 mistakes high and it hit the ground destroying every thing bar the rear stablyser including batterys,motors the works.Sorry this story is so long guys.
The aftermath was interesting her is what I found 1 remembering the flight was short 1.5 minutes 1 battery had 83%and the other 3.5%although this battery was very badly damaged as the plane hit large rocks ,no engines would turn as they were surverly bent.
Here is where I kick myself and have a dilemma, when I assembled the plane and first plugged in the battery's as per the Manual plugged in the lead with out the ubec and there was no chime ,so plugged in the second,ubec side and all chimed OK and bound fine,as previously mentioned everything worked correctly,elevator, rudder,flaps,gear and both motors all OK,, obviously I thought this was how it was suppose to go,as didn't have any issues,so can any one help explane what went wrong,I don't care if you laugh at my obvious novice mistake,I just want to learn before I buy a replacement,thanks for taking the time to read all of this sorry it's very long,many thanks phil

[Phil34]

Before and after photos.

[Evan D]

Sorry to hear about your crash.


To me it sounds like one battery was not charged? If it was the battery on the BEC side, you would lose all radio signal especially the final drawing of power by lowering the gear. If it was the battery without the BEC then you would have basically an engine out causing severe roll.

[xviper]

What Evan said. Also, it's important, especially on a multi-engine, to do a throttle calibration right after binding.

[Phil34]

Hi guys thanks so much for your quick reply ,wow what you have said all makes really good sense however I only own 4x4000 packs and fully balance charged the lot the night before and never had any issues with any of them,as to the calibration only did the one that chimed as previously stated only one battery chimed on the bec side,my in experience. Question if only one esc chiming would that cause all the Amp draw off one battery and what would normally not work with this scenario. Many thanks for all your input phil

[Evan D]

The aircraft as wired from the factory can not draw from a single battery. As you had one battery about right after a 1.5 minute run and the other dead I don't know of any way other than that battery not being fully charged (or discharging some way over night). Well, you could of had a MASSIVE current draw from that side but if that happened you would have fire or smoke.

[Phil34]

Ummmm you have really got me thinking thanks so much for your input most appreciated phil

[xviper]

It's also not impossible and sometimes very easy to put in a just used or uncharged battery. I've done it a couple of times myself. Grabbing a battery that just came out of another flight. Same thing happened to a flying buddy who's been flying for 15 years. He didn't put his used battery in the usual place and accidentally picked it up. The next flight lasted less than a minute before he managed to dead stick back down.

[Phil34]

The lucky man!!!!!

[xviper]

The lucky man!!!!!

He most definitely was. I, on the other hand, have not been so lucky. I've crashed 2 planes picking up the wrong battery, although both were fixable with a lot of work.

[Phil34]

Anyone who's interested this is the fatal maiden flight https://youtu.be/pPO-r33tmfg. Enjoy, or don't.

[MeyerVW]

Oh, Sorry to see that.

[xviper]

That's a heart breaker. This OV-10 is one plane that if it happened to me, it would have to be replaced with another one.

[Evan D]

I agree, especially at the new lower price.

[Phil34]

Thanks for all your input guys,big help trouble for us down under is our exchange rate is horrible makes the planes twice the cost and then add about 120 for freight as well.was a great model though,have some serious thinking to do cheers

[Evan D]

Phil, for others reading your posts it’s nice to add your location to you info area. Where down under are you? I’ve been to Perth/ Fremantle and Sydney…

[Phil34]

Hi sorry I added it on my first post I'm in Teanau which is lower south island in New zealand

[Jerry's Flying Circus]

I have a pair of outer wing panels, carbon rods, and a drop tank for this airplane that are not damaged. I will ship them to anyone who needs them in the US for $35. Let me know if you want them. Thanks.

[Cobra1365]

Also posted on RCG.

Can anyone help me identify this pushrod assy?

it was in the carnage that was the nose wheel well after a flap failure on one side. Now, I can’t find where it attaches as I start the rebuild.

Thanks!

[xviper]

Also posted on RCG.

Can anyone help me identify this pushrod assy?

it was in the carnage that was the nose wheel well after a flap failure on one side. Now, I can’t find where it attaches as I start the rebuild.

Thanks!

I've looked at every control rod on my OV-10 and not a one looks like that. All, except the nose steering rod, have ball links at one end. The nose steering rod is a single rod. Is this your plane from new? Perhaps a previous owner lost that rod and only had a double rod laying around. This is reminiscent of a plane that has dual section flaps where one servo controls both flaps with a double rod. The OV does not have such a connection.