Konrad
Very Strong User
What do I have?
I got this used Freestyler 5 right after crashing my glass Redshift. I have to say I'm rather impressed at the construction of the Freestyler compared to the build quality I see in the Zhou and RCRCM builds. It looks like quality does have a cost, but the value is much greater.
I say this as my Freestyler 5 has some impact damage along the leading edge of the wings and stabilizer. Judging by the amount of distortion this impact would have totally delaminated my Zhou and RCRCM models!
But back to the question, what do I have? The wings show no sign of having any wipers. Do Freestyler come with epoxy wipers? Or are they just taped mylars like I found of the V-tails. I also see what looks like a wound in the fuselage that looks like it was for an F3B hook. Is this a light lay up F3B Freestyler 5.
I think I may be at least the 3rd owner, so the history of this model may be getting a bit hazy. I got this from the last owner with obvious repairs. In my discussions with him he said he crashed this model as a result of a V-tail servo failure. I recall the crash and was surprised that this was the extent of the damage. This was a high speed hit on the hill. (Unlike my slow rotor stall that totally delaminated my Redshift wings). Basically some wing dents and a broken V-tail receptacle.
Giving the model a close look with my failure analysis eye. I think I found the root cause of the servo failure. The servo arm and push rod hit the slip on nose cone. This puts a constant load on the servo near center. After a bit of time the servo amp and/or motor are bound to quit! Seeing that these servos (MKS 6100) have been subjected to high centering loads I'm no longer confident in the service life of these servos in this application. I'll be replacing these with KST HS08b. I'll relegate the MKS 6100 to lower value ships as I think they are still OK . I also found that both LDS on one wing is showing a lot of slop. I've ordered replacement LDS. (WOW they want over $50 each for these)!
Are the joiner wing boxes tapered? I see that the joiner is.
I have to ask if anybody has a source for the diamond carbon weave, the squares are 25mm to 27mm? This is more a cosmetic thing as I have some LE patching to do over unpainted carbon. Also anybody have a tail cone cover they can part with?
More to come as I hit the 10 image limit.
I got this used Freestyler 5 right after crashing my glass Redshift. I have to say I'm rather impressed at the construction of the Freestyler compared to the build quality I see in the Zhou and RCRCM builds. It looks like quality does have a cost, but the value is much greater.
I say this as my Freestyler 5 has some impact damage along the leading edge of the wings and stabilizer. Judging by the amount of distortion this impact would have totally delaminated my Zhou and RCRCM models!
But back to the question, what do I have? The wings show no sign of having any wipers. Do Freestyler come with epoxy wipers? Or are they just taped mylars like I found of the V-tails. I also see what looks like a wound in the fuselage that looks like it was for an F3B hook. Is this a light lay up F3B Freestyler 5.
I think I may be at least the 3rd owner, so the history of this model may be getting a bit hazy. I got this from the last owner with obvious repairs. In my discussions with him he said he crashed this model as a result of a V-tail servo failure. I recall the crash and was surprised that this was the extent of the damage. This was a high speed hit on the hill. (Unlike my slow rotor stall that totally delaminated my Redshift wings). Basically some wing dents and a broken V-tail receptacle.
Giving the model a close look with my failure analysis eye. I think I found the root cause of the servo failure. The servo arm and push rod hit the slip on nose cone. This puts a constant load on the servo near center. After a bit of time the servo amp and/or motor are bound to quit! Seeing that these servos (MKS 6100) have been subjected to high centering loads I'm no longer confident in the service life of these servos in this application. I'll be replacing these with KST HS08b. I'll relegate the MKS 6100 to lower value ships as I think they are still OK . I also found that both LDS on one wing is showing a lot of slop. I've ordered replacement LDS. (WOW they want over $50 each for these)!
Are the joiner wing boxes tapered? I see that the joiner is.
I have to ask if anybody has a source for the diamond carbon weave, the squares are 25mm to 27mm? This is more a cosmetic thing as I have some LE patching to do over unpainted carbon. Also anybody have a tail cone cover they can part with?
More to come as I hit the 10 image limit.
Last edited: