I've had a gws a-10 in the box for two weeks now. I've read so much on this forum about it I dont know what to do. (should I sell it or go ahead and build it?) Ive read that it flies like crap and Ive read it flies good. If it flies stock thats fine with me, I'm not looking to peel the paint off the thing. Just cant make up my mind about it so Ive decided to let you guys to that for me.
Thanks for your input.

You should tell us what motor/fan you have, the 50 or the 55. If the 50, then if you keep it real light (light servos, esc,pack) then if flies ok, slow parkflier like. The problem is the motors may or maynot last, seems some guys get a bunch of flights other not many. I used a 7 cell hecel 1100 pack which turned out to be to much, had 1.5 flights, but they were very nice. Maybe others can describe theres with both the 50 and the 55 fan.

my a-10 has the 50 size motor fan.

I also have the 50's in mine,and ran an 8 cell 700 AAA pack.The plane flies great in the right conditions,the less wind,the better.Also,don't use the landing gear,the added weight doesn't help.Watch for tip stalling in the turns,make your turns wide so you can avoid this until you get use to the plane.The plane does not need any extra power to fly well,and is easily hand launchable by yourself.The only downfall of the plane is availibility of replacement parts,and the cost of them.But overall it's A great ARF.

mr. orange,

I would go ahead and build it. I've flown mine with the 50's and it flew fine. I got the EDF 55's from GWS (Early Bird Prog.) installed them and it flew with authority. The only web company/store that I know carries the EDF Nacelles is http://www.e-flightline.com/. You may want to see if "Splash" carries any new ones. He also has some nice videos on his website that shows the A-10 with a brushless set-up.The Nacelles are easily installed to the fuse of the A-10.

You may want to call the new GWS USA hobby store to see if they have any in stock.

GWS USA, LLC.
3401 Airport Drive
Torrance, California 90505
Telephone 310-891-3339
Toll Free: 866-FLYGWS4
Fax 310-891-3313
Email: AIRMOBILE@aol.com or USA@gws.com.tw

I will be purchasing a new A-10 with the EDF 55's soon. I really like this plane.

Hope this helps.

jj

CoolJ,

I'm about to do the same upgrade. I have a few questions:

1) What did you do to remove the old nacells? I've heard of knives and Dremels (which I can do). Did you trash the EDF50 pods?

2) Did you change the wiring going to the EDF55s? JSTs and 16 guage wire are not too robust.

3) What battery pack did you fly with the stock EDF55s?

I've held off on this upgrade for two reasons. First I may just get some Himax fans like Splash has at e-flightline.com. Second, I don't have a pack yet for either setup, and I'm thinking of doing LiPoly. I'm just using 7 cell AAA 720s with them EDF 50 A-10 now. It flies fine. It is not a speed demon, but it does look very cool in the air.

I went ahead and started construction last night, I'll fly it with the 50s untill they give out and then upgrade. Thanks for the postive response about this subject, seems like theres a lot of bashing going on about the a-10.

There was a thread about this plane in "the other place" that was quite strange to follow.

in summary;

Crash, add expoxy, crash add epoxy again. Crash/epoxy some more till there was nothing left to expoxy, so it became Crash Duck tape, Crash Duck tape. etc. The last time I saw it, the poor hoghad no front end at all

I don't think the advice to keep pulling the Cof G back was helping. I seem to remember one comment that, no nose would help get the Cof G back.

RCMustang,

Here are the answers

1).I basically used a small model knife to carefully cut as much GWS glue as possible and removed the old nacelles. About 2-3 mm of foam came off of where the nacelles sit. I then installed the new Nacelles. I guess it will depend on how much GWS glue you use. When I installed the new nacelles, I did use epoxy to hold them together since they are a tad heavier than the stock.

2). I left the stock wiring on the motors. I would highly recommend to change them to the 16 guage wire though.

3). I flew the A-10 with a pair of 2s2p 1200 etechs. It balanced just right.

The set up that Splash has is awesome. A bit expensive though. The other question I have is how he has 2 brushless motors wired. Does he use one ESC or two?

The performance over the 50's is much better. With the BL set up it is awesome (based on video on e-flightline.com).

Hope this helps.

jj

So, what is the absolute best battery to use if Im gonna be flying my a-10 stock. Id like those little motors to last as long as possible. As long as it flies Ill be happy, like I said before im not looking for it to be a speed demon or anything.

I believe that Splash used two Phoenix 10s

That did indeed help CoolJ. Thanks!

Like you said, the brushless setup is expensive. Now I'm just weighing the cost to see which way to go. Since the weather is not great for flying around D.C. right now, I'm in no huge hurry.