Dynam A-10 gear mod

[NJSwede]

Hi!

I've noticed I fly my T28D at full throttle all the time and constantly wish for more speed, so I figured it was time for an EDF.

The Dynam A-10 seems to be getting consistently good reviews, is relatively cheap and doesn't have the high wing loading of delta-winged jets. So I went and ordered one...

My issue is that I only have access to grass runways and owners of this plane seem to complain about weak landing gear. So my question is: Anyone out there with good ideas for gear mods? Also, can it be hand launched/belly flopped?

[Wrongway-Feldman]

I removed the gear from mine. I put some packing tape on the belly and under the wings. Hand launching is no problem but does like a little head wind. Landing in grass has been uneventful so far.

[NJSwede]

Great. How does it fly? You like it?

[Wrongway-Feldman]

it flies nice. check the edf units before you put it all together to make sure they both work properly. If you do it after assembly it will be too late. Some people have complained that one unit seems to have more thrust than the other but I haven't found that to be a problem with mine.
It is not the fastest edf on the planet and is not a bad introduction to edf.
You'll have fun with it. And it looks great in the air.
Keep in mind that everything is bank and yank with this model as there is no rudder ,so scale turns aren't really happening. But it looks so good doing low flybys you won.t really care.

[NJSwede]

Originally Posted by Wrongway-Feldman

it flies nice. check the edf units before you put it all together to make sure they both work properly. If you do it after assembly it will be too late. Some people have complained that one unit seems to have more thrust than the other but I haven't found that to be a problem with mine.
It is not the fastest edf on the planet and is not a bad introduction to edf.
You'll have fun with it. And it looks great in the air.
Keep in mind that everything is bank and yank with this model as there is no rudder ,so scale turns aren't really happening. But it looks so good doing low flybys you won.t really care.

That's exactly what I was hoping for: Something that flies well, but not too fast and that's cheap enough so I won't kill myself if I wreck it. Sounds like a good introduction to EDFs indeed. Can't wait to try it out! I'll probably bring it to the club and have one of the more experienced guys trim it for me.

[FlyingMonkey]

I'll be getting one of these eventually.

I was loving the low flyby of not one, not two, but FOUR A-10s today. One was doing some rather aggressive wing rocks!

[NJSwede]

Mmmmm.... Shock and awe. Love that plane! It's just goes to show that you can totally trade elegance for brute force and still be awesome!!!

[Wrongway-Feldman]

It is truly a function over form aircraft.
They started with a massive gatling gun. And built the aircraft around it.
Its one of my favorite modern warbirds.

[NJSwede]

If you can still make it home when you're this messed up, you don't care that you're not the prettiest...

[FlyingMonkey]

Originally Posted by NJSwede

Mmmmm.... Shock and awe. Love that plane! It's just goes to show that you can totally trade elegance for brute force and still be awesome!!!

I think it's a gorgeous plane!

I LOVE the way it looks in the air. And it just is awesome up close on the ground. It's always a must touch, when visiting the local air museum.

[NJSwede]

It arrived today! It looks REALLY sweet! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the gear. Not sure I'll have any luck with the tiny stock ones on our grass field...

[FlyingMonkey]

Neener.... I was out yesterday, and while staring off towards the horizon, low and slow came two A-10s.

Right in front of me the first one tipped up onto a wing tip, and banked away, followed by the second one. It made a complete circuit, and flew back in front of me again.

It was awesome.

[NJSwede]

Originally Posted by Wrongway-Feldman

I removed the gear from mine. I put some packing tape on the belly and under the wings. Hand launching is no problem but does like a little head wind. Landing in grass has been uneventful so far.

What did you do with the nose wheel servo? Ripped it out or just taped it over?

[Wrongway-Feldman]

Originally Posted by NJSwede

What did you do with the nose wheel servo? Ripped it out or just taped it over?

I taped over it and added a little foam skid. It worked well. Ironically I'm putting the gear back on now that I have a runway to utilize.
I couldn't see a way of removing the front gear mechanism without permanently altering the plane so I left it in place.

[NJSwede]

I maidened it today!

I didn't give it enough oompf on the hand launch, so it hit the ground but bounced back up again. Ooops! It didn't require a single click of trim to fly straight. It just feels slightly faster than the T-28D but flies very different. It takes a while to get used to the lag of the EDFs when you accelerate.

What I liked:
* Flies straight as an arrow. No slipping or sliding.
* Just the right speed for me now.
* Nice rolls and inverted flight. Very little elevator needed when inverted.
* Looks VERY cool in the air!

What I didn't like:
* The elevator felt weird. I think I might know what the problem is, though. I'm flying it on a DX7 with some expo dialed in. Since the elevator is pretty small, it needs a lot of throw an when I have expo set up, the controls are very sensitive towards the extremes. Tony from Nitroplanes actually mentions a similar problem during his flight review. I'll try without elevator expo next time.
* It would be nice to have usable gear. It just barely takes off from hand launch. Belly landing wasn't a problem at all.

A few questions:
* What flight times should I expect to get? I landed after 3 minutes on the two batteries I brought and the batteries where noticeably warm and the ESCs were hot.
* Do you fly it with a computer radio? How much expo do you have dialed in?
* Has anyone tried to add rudder? Doesn't look like it would be too hard. The trick is where to place the servo.

All in all, great value for the $119 i paid for it! I'll have a lot of fun with this one!