A-10 Tankbuster build nearly finished

coolwings

And here it is again with full throttle....

coolwings

So we have ... (battery NOT fresh off charger)
Before starting voltage 17.1 amps 0 watts power 0
Full throttle voltage 11.5 amps 65 watts power 762

The 762 watts is about a .50 engine which is about right for this size of model.
Amps 65A is highish, but I got top quality speed controllers, so no worries there...
Voltage of the 12 cell pack is sinking to 11.5 under maximum load, which is .95volts per cell, and that is low but OK, I guess it will rise back higher when throttle is reduced to 1/3 or 1/2 for normal flying.

Weight of the A-10 with the new power pack is 2 1/2 kilos, so I have 300 watts per Kg, and that compares with 150-200watts/Kg for a glow plane on takeoff roll based on an (OS46LA in a 2 1/2 kg model).

The static thrust is very good but maybe not equal to a 40 with 10" prop, I will have to measure it tomorrow. But on the bench the turbines are acting as air compressors and accellerators, there is a vacuum in front of the jets, very noticable, and an impressive rod of airflow behind them. I have a windmeter somewhere, so I will dig it out and measure efflux velocity tomorrow...

In flight air will be feeding into the jets, so thrust should go up a lot, I hope better than 10% improvement actually in flight.

I made a video of todays tests, but the sound is terrible, so I will do another tomorrow, with hopefully better results, and post them either here, or give a weblink to the video file.

Here is the gear as set out for the tests :

coolwings

I have been away from this model for too long.
I bashed a couple of other planes and had to do repairs, to get them back in the air quickly. So the new projects got "put on hold" :mad:

So I got the A-10 out tonight and put it on the table and began finishing off all the little outstanding items that need doing.
Just for inspiration I played my video clips of the fullsize A-10 Thunderbolt.

So now in the words of the song:
I feel good now - I knew that I would .... I feeeel good ....I knew that I would ...

Here is a link to the model and vid clip of the prototype...
Norm_flyer's gallery page with new pics & A-10 vid

I also got some lipoly batteries, so I have a new power - to - weight setup to test out.
It should reduce the all up weight by almost half a kilo. Not to be sneezed at !

g5hn710m4xpdwy

didny know this existed like what done so far

RC-Model-Man

When do you hope to fly her ?

coolwings

As soon as the new runway at the Dublin Kestrel Model Flying Club is ready to take off from, and land on. It's a bit fast and high investment for putting down on the old runway.

that is about 2 weeks from now.

Model is ready to fly.

piraka

Beautiful model. Did you build it from your own plans or from puchased plans

RC-Model-Man

piraka wrote:

Beautiful model. Did you build it from your own plans or from puchased plans

Well as it is a moulded epoxy/glass fuslage and wheel covers, I am guessing it is a kit. By the loosk of the wings they are built up balsa and spruce. The engine covers are foam (moulded ? ? ? ? )

Great lookin model thou and should go well.

coolwings

It is an Aero-Naut kit from Green Hobby in Dublin.
The fuselage is epoxy fibreglass with a little carbon fibre rovings added during the build.
The wings are built up balsa fully sheeted in the centre section and half sheeted tip sections.
The nascelles are an add-on from aeronaut, cut from high density foam, and designed in such a way that they can be done for 90mm impellers as I have done, or OTOH can be done with two x 480 motors with conventional propellers, which would have cost me a lot less, and results in a lighter finished model.
But I just had to do it with fans.
I used Kontronik motors, but Megas would have cost less and still had plenty of power. As it is I am using only 1/2 to 2/3rds of the available power of the motors with the set up I have settled on.
For EDF a normal sort of kit (made all of balsa) is not durable enough to take the stresses, and these type of models wear out in use far faster than a fibreglass model. So for EDF jets in sizes bigger than "400" I would advise always picking a fibreglass model, even if it is more costly, it is well worth it.

zt-OctaviaN

Thats class!!

I was amazed until you said the electric motors put out same as .46 or .50!!
Youll definaltey have a vid or two up when it flys.

Good Luck!

Manic Moran

I have to say, I'm impressed. I look forward to seeing the video of it flying around. You need to find someone with a radio-controlled T-72 so you can do strafing runs.

Only question I have though.. is it really that colour, or is it a trick of the light? I just don't recall ever seeing a real one quite so... um.. vibrant a green.




NTM

coolwings

A bit of both actually .... the "light" green has a tad too much cadmium yellow and a bit less yellow ochre in the mix (with the blue) than would be perfect.

Also - the photo of it in bright sunshine really lights up the yellow in the light green, making it more like "jungle" camo than would be if it were absolutely spot on.

So it could have been better, but I'm happy enough with it for the moment.

The trouble of scale RC warbird planes is visibility, when they go below the horizon, and a wooded area happens to be behind them - they can disappear for a second or three - which can be scary at best, and disastrous at worst. So I try to have red wingtip tanks, or invasion stripes (WWII), or some insignia to pick them out for that difficult moment. I'm hoping the USAF decals will be good enough to see, but the "vibrancy" of the camo will undoubtedly help a little too.

About the vid clips: I am still trying to get my sound card to capture the sound that goes with the picture - lots of nice tests with no sound in my hard drive, all no good - as soon as I get the data capture set up properly I'll post one here.

Edit: Nice pics by the way !