Official FlightLine OV-10 Bronco Discussion Thread

[Captain.MPN]

I will keep this brief, however being a firm believer that positive reinforcement is hard to come by these days, and the importance of that...
I am a proud owner of the FlightLine OV-10, and had a mishap on my maiden. Actually it was my second flight... After speaking with MotionRC's service Dept via email correspondence. I had the opportunity to call and speak with they're manager...
To digress, I have been in the hobby of RC flight for over 30 years, Also being a full scale aviator I fully understand the laws of physics, and Bernoulli's principle, coupled with Mr. Newton's laws... I have lost many a planes over time due to the above mentioned.
The reason for this post is to say thank you to MotionRC, for being cutting edge in everything I have experienced that is in there wheelhouse.
After hearing that they are above board # 1 in customer service, I can now attest that from my own experience, this is true...

To the whole MotionRC team. Keep up the great work, and spearheading the industry with your ethos...
5 Stars, and Thank you,

Mitchell

[f4u ausie]

I finally got my Bronco put together and spent last night programming my radio for the plane. Don't know when I will get to maiden it due to having to take care of my wife since she has been diagnosed with cancer, we are fighting it with chemo and keeping a positive attitude on getting her back to good health.

god speed best wishes 4 good recovery mad baron

[bmccool]

MY God be with you and your wife. Nice bird.

[Evan D]

Very nice!

[Mad Baron]

I finally got my Bronco put together and spent last night programming my radio for the plane. Don't know when I will get to maiden it due to having to take care of my wife since she has been diagnosed with cancer, we are fighting it with chemo and keeping a positive attitude on getting her back to good health.

[Evan D]

Most know I swapped out my power system to a much higher power system and bypassed the MCBe for everything except retracts and lights and ran everything else directly to a 12ch receiver with proper extensions and a couple Y's. I programmed in crow, throttle differential and other things.

Most also know that the Bronco suffers from a yaw/ roll waggle.

Over the last two days I decided to pull out the 12ch receiver as I'll need it for my set up of the new FW MiG-29 which which will have quite a bit of extra programing as well as the TV they are developing. Also I wanted to put in a Eagle Tree Guardian to try and tame the waggle.

Yesterday I pulled the 12ch and put in the 9. Doing so I had to add Y's for the motors that had been separated for differential and rudder and steering which, using the 12ch, I had an extra channel for separate steering and for flaps that had been separated as inboard and outboard on the 12ch.

Today I put in the Guardian and while looking at the crazy amount of wire decided to remove some Y's and run the rudders and steering and flaps through the MCBe. Since the MCBe uses the ribbon cables to connect the MCBe to outboard flaps and I had removed the ribbon cable I used the elevator input and dual output on the MCBe for the flaps (the elevator is direct to the gyro and then to the receiver). I also wired the rudders and steering through the MCBe to save on the extra Y. When I plugged in a battery (LiFe) to test it all I got no receiver light and the connector got hot so I immediately unplugged the battery. Turns out somethings bad in the MCBe rudder circuitry. I've bypassed most functions or removed the MCBe's on almost all the FW and FL planes I've owned but this is the first time I have had a confirmed malfunction. I have done the same with the older blue boxes and have had a few of them that had issues.

[XairBoss]

Okay, I broke down and installed a receiver with 3 axis stability. Flies great. I feel the need for stability SHOULD have been made more clear by MotionRC. Once installed I was shocked how well it flies slowly. I thought I had already defined the low end performance prior to installing stabilization. Boy, was I wrong. Its amazing now. I'm still considering reversing the props and making them spin outward. That typically enhances performance as well. Has anyone tried that yet?

[xviper]

One of my spinners just fell off while sitting on the bench. The center support screw tube is VERY this where it meets the prop shaft. The spinner fell off leaving the screw and a thin piece of plastic from the bottom of the spinner. Beware

Mine did that during the assembly process. I used "liquid steel" epoxy to glue that little piece of plastic back into the center of the spinner. Put the spinner back over the prop but with very little force and a little FoamTac on the screw threads and it's been that way every since. They are delicate little things.

[MANFRED]

One of my spinners just fell off while sitting on the bench. The center support screw tube is VERY this where it meets the prop shaft. The spinner fell off leaving the screw and a thin piece of plastic from the bottom of the spinner. Beware

[xviper]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and I must say I'm learning A LOT here. I have a question in regards to upgrading the ESC's on the OV-10. I have two spare Spektrum Avian 45 amps ESC, I learned that these are not OPTO's so, do I need to disconnect the red wire from the UBEC in order to use them? I'm fairly new to flying although, I been racing R/C cars for many years. I would also want to upgrade the motors. Thanks in advance for the help!

If you've kept the stock UBEC, then yes, disconnect the red wires from your ESCs. As for upgrading the motors and want to continue using the stock props, then you need to examine how the props would be mounted to the new motors or you may have to get different props and spinners or do some modding to fit. Since you've increased your ESC amperage by only 15A, choose your motors carefully so you don't over tax the ESCs.

[Madness]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and I must say I'm learning A LOT here. I have a question in regards to upgrading the ESC's on the OV-10. I have two spare Spektrum Avian 45 amps ESC, I learned that these are not OPTO's so, do I need to disconnect the red wire from the UBEC in order to use them? I'm fairly new to flying although, I been racing R/C cars for many years. I would also want to upgrade the motors. Thanks in advance for the help!

[vduniec]

What a great flight, really enjoyed that :)
4:21 was a little close! lol
This would be such a fun plane to do some fpv low level recon missions!

Thanks. I think it was a little closer than I realized. I told my friend before we took off that if we had a midair, I would pay to replace his plane. When I saw it in the recording, I realized how close I came to buying another Bronco or two! 😳

[f4u ausie]

Yes. Prop planes flight line... Jets freewing

[Blacky's Boy]

OK,....so is Freewing associated with FlightLine?

[Alpha]

Blacky's Boy Welcome to Hobby Squawk! We anticipate another Freewing shipment arriving in about a week. If you haven't already done so, please enter your email address into the Notify Me field on that product page. The System will then email you automatically as soon as the product is restocked on the shelf and ready to ship.

Thanks for the opportunity to earn your business!

[Blacky's Boy]

Does anyone have an idea when we can expect MotionRC to have the Cockpit for the Bronco back in stock? I just finished restoring a crashed one and while I was able to repair the broken cockpit from the crashed Bronco, it's really not that great looking and the fit leaves a lot to be desired. I would really prefer to have a new one. I filled out the form to get an email when they come back in stock but so far it's been over two months.

[AussieHoppy]

Here's a flight from today. Formation with Ray flying his OV-10 old school way with me on his wing on FPV. EvanD kept violating our airspace with his Freewing Scooter.

https://youtu.be/8LyRW0EVIBQ

What a great flight, really enjoyed that :)
4:21 was a little close! lol
This would be such a fun plane to do some fpv low level recon missions!

[Evan D]

If you had that 50% you would want another... Trust me, it should have been 75-100% more.

[MANFRED]

Maiden today, balanced on marked CG but felt a little unstable. Lands great, need to tune down controls. Has Turbine sound card which sounds awesome on startup and shut down. Was flying at 3/4 to full throttle entire flight. Wish they had gone with about 25% more power on the motors. Looks great in the air tho.

[Alpha]

Not R/C related per say, but a cool story related to an OV-10 in Vietnam.
About 3 years ago my then girlfriend and I were vising family in Madera. My Sister mentioned she had never been to Merced Air Museum in 50+ years she'd driven by... we finished breakfast with my intent of fixing that immediately. We drove to Merced and I gave what I considered a pretty damned descent tour of the planes if I do say so myself.

Afterwards I was in the gift shop talking to a wonderful lady while my Sis and girlfriend had a soda. I made a comment about an OV-10 die-cast on the counter. The lady, getting watery eyed proceeded to tell me about her daughter having lunch with her boss at a company function a few years earlier.
Daughter: "My Dad was in Vietnam."
Boss: "My Dad was too."
Daughter: "My Dad was shot down on Thanksgiving Day"
Boss: "My Dad rescued somebody on Thanksgiving Day..."

They called their Dads, one in California and one in Florida and they reconnected and shared their memories and stories.
Their children having lunch together, random conversation so many years later... Her Dad an OV-10 Bronco pilot... incredible.


As an old Navy Corpsman I couldn't help but get goosebumps and it's an honor to have been part of that conversation.
Sorry if this isn't an appropriate forum, please delete if it is... just wanted to share what I thought was cool Story.
This is just another reason I will most likely be ordering this beauty of a bird.

Thank you to all Vets past and present.

"Mad Doc"

Machines are conceived, created, and operated by human beings. The human connection never ceases to amaze, instruct, and inspire me. Thank you for sharing this story!!!