You must Sign-in or Register to post messages in the Hobby Squawk community
Registration is FREE and only takes a few moments

Register now

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Official Freewing Twin 80mm F-14D Tomcat Thread

Collapse
X
Collapse
First Prev Next Last
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Greetings all. I was wondering if you could post where each wire goes to on the F14 from the F14, and not just from the instruction manual, but coming from the plane, so I know what wires go where, and make sure that I know where each wire goes, because I am not sure what wires goes where, and if you can put it in a diagram from which servo connects to the wire that plugs into the information board, and put it in a .jpg format. The labels that came with the PNP kit fell off easily for me.

    Comment


    • Hi Renegade 24, welcome to Hobby Squawk!

      So ALL of your PNP's servo wire labels came off? That's a new one, I'm really sorry to hear about that. To get your model wired up, take a step back and evaluate what you're trying to do, and you'll see that a methodical approach should have you sorted in a couple minutes. If you have a servo tester, that will greatly help you to plug in each servo lead one by one and identify what it controls.

      If you don't have a servo tester, try this methodical sequence to retrace the servo leads based on how they're already separated in the box:

      1) Rudders. The rudder servo is the only servo lead coming out of the vertical stabilizers. While you're at it, mark the corresponding LEDs on the two vertical stabilizers. Follow the instruction manual for the LEDs.

      2) Wings. There are only two servos in each wing... the aileron, and the flap. Plug one of the wire leads into your receiver and see if the aileron or the flap moves. Mark accordingly.

      3) Wing sweep. The wing sweep servos are clearly visible, as is their wing leads, so these are easy to identify.

      4) ESCs. The ESCs are red/white/black wires exiting above the ESC's position (just ahead of the EDFs). Also easy to identify.

      5) Nose Gear. Also easy.

      6) Main Gear. Like the ESCs, the Main Gear's wire leads exit above the main gear's position, except the Gear's wires are red/orange/brown instead of red/white/black.

      7) Elevators. The elevator servos are your last ones remaining.



      I hope this helps!
      Live Q&A every Tuesday and Friday at 9pm EST on my Twitch Livestream

      Live chat with me and other RC Nuts on my Discord

      Camp my Instagram @Alpha.Makes

      Comment


      • Just put in my order for a pair of centerburners for the cat, can’t wait to try them out!

        Comment


        • Originally posted by Alpha.MotionRC View Post
          Hi Renegade 24, welcome to Hobby Squawk!

          So ALL of your PNP's servo wire labels came off? That's a new one, I'm really sorry to hear about that. To get your model wired up, take a step back and evaluate what you're trying to do, and you'll see that a methodical approach should have you sorted in a couple minutes. If you have a servo tester, that will greatly help you to plug in each servo lead one by one and identify what it controls.

          If you don't have a servo tester, try this methodical sequence to retrace the servo leads based on how they're already separated in the box:

          1) Rudders. The rudder servo is the only servo lead coming out of the vertical stabilizers. While you're at it, mark the corresponding LEDs on the two vertical stabilizers. Follow the instruction manual for the LEDs.

          2) Wings. There are only two servos in each wing... the aileron, and the flap. Plug one of the wire leads into your receiver and see if the aileron or the flap moves. Mark accordingly.

          3) Wing sweep. The wing sweep servos are clearly visible, as is their wing leads, so these are easy to identify.

          4) ESCs. The ESCs are red/white/black wires exiting above the ESC's position (just ahead of the EDFs). Also easy to identify.

          5) Nose Gear. Also easy.

          6) Main Gear. Like the ESCs, the Main Gear's wire leads exit above the main gear's position, except the Gear's wires are red/orange/brown instead of red/white/black.

          7) Elevators. The elevator servos are your last ones remaining.



          I hope this helps!
          When I got the plane and started to build it, thanks to the small labeling, and messing with the wires to see how it fitted on to the information board, a lot of the labels on the wires were so flimsy and easily either torn off or fell off if I tried to adjust it to make it be out of my way, so I could see where they went. I now have a Dymo Label maker, so I am having a hard time trying to figure out what wire goes to where, and I think one of the landing gear wires fell into the hole where the wires are coming out, so I need a detailed picture of what wires are leading from places like the back left and right rudder, and if there is any wires leading from both left and right landing gears. The servo tester is something that I have, but I have not used it yet. I still have to charge my batteries when I get a chance to. There is also the LED Lights, as well as the nose landing gear, which plug it goes to, since the board does not show a label like "N. Landing Gear", or "L. Landing Gear", or " R. Landing Gear", and only has one the board "Gear","Gear","Gear", and I think it would be good to have that for me for future reference, if there ever comes a time to need it like now, or if I am transporting it, and those wires come loose. The wings have the Ailerons, flaps, and another LED light wire and another wire with it There is 4 wires per wing. , Aileron, flaps,LED wire, and another wire that is orange,red, and brown, which is probably a servo wire or something. A graphic picture of where each wire comes from and going to would be a big help to me, since the instruction manual only gives a picture of where each wire plugs into the board, but not showing where the wires are coming from.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Renegade 24 View Post
            The servo tester is something that I have, but I have not used it yet.

            as well as the nose landing gear, which plug it goes to, since the board does not show a label like "N. Landing Gear", or "L. Landing Gear", or " R. Landing Gear", and only has one the board "Gear","Gear","Gear"
            You should learn to use the tester and have it ready at all times. Using one would answer many of the questions you've posed. Just don't use it on any of the lights (2-pin).

            "Landing gear" is landing gear. It doesn't matter which one it is. You can jumble them up into any of the "gear" ports and they will work. Not long ago, retracts were hooked up to a 3-way "Y". Today, with gear doors, a control board handles the delay of them opening and closing.

            Comment


            • Guys. Have NIB F-14 with two NIB A-10 Fans and motors. I missed the boat on the A-10 Stock ESC's as they are out of stock.

              What would you recommend in place of these stock A-10 ESC;s and what BEC?

              Thanks
              Current Hanger: FW, F4.F22,F14, Byron T-6, Top Flite P-47, Top Flite P-40, Top RC P-51 H9 P-51, SebArt Avanti, Yellow aircraft Spitfire, T Jeti Extreme Flight EDGE, DS-24 Carbon,

              Comment


              • I use the Castle Creations 20 amp Pro in all the large EDF’s. Have one in my F-14 too! No advice on the ESC’s...

                Comment


                • Hello all, looking for this bird to be the next addition to my hangar. I was curious if anyone has attempted a halfway wing sweep setting between fully extended and fully swept? If not, I'd appreciate any theories someone who owns this bird may have as to the feasibility of such a setting. Thanks in advance.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Hardway View Post
                    I use the Castle Creations 20 amp Pro in all the large EDF’s. Have one in my F-14 too! No advice on the ESC’s...

                    Thanks Hardway! Much appreciated.

                    I got this recommendation from RCG


                    freewing 100a esc with bec brushless esc freewing 100a esc with bec freewing edf freewing 100a esc with bec freewing f-86 80mm edf jet freewing 100a esc with bec freewing a-6 80mm edf jet freewing 100a esc with bec freewing mirage 2000c-5 freewing 100a e

                    Current Hanger: FW, F4.F22,F14, Byron T-6, Top Flite P-47, Top Flite P-40, Top RC P-51 H9 P-51, SebArt Avanti, Yellow aircraft Spitfire, T Jeti Extreme Flight EDGE, DS-24 Carbon,

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Phantom View Post
                      Hello all, looking for this bird to be the next addition to my hangar. I was curious if anyone has attempted a halfway wing sweep setting between fully extended and fully swept? If not, I'd appreciate any theories someone who owns this bird may have as to the feasibility of such a setting. Thanks in advance.
                      While I am not familiar with the RC model I am familiar with the new DCS F-14B simulator module and its sweep wing settings. The wing sweep position depends on the speed of the aircraft and what you intend to do. A half way sweep could be considered as Bomb mode when the wings are at 55 degrees. So in the real Tomcat the wings are actually set in the mid wing position when bombing or when in Auto mode because the system has calculated that to be the optimal position for the current speed.
                      I would think that you could program the wing sweep into a 3 position switch and then go in and fine tune the potion of the wings for every position of the switch just like you would do for setting up the flaps.
                      Below are two videos that will help. One that explains how the wings work in the simulator and the other one of how to set up the RC tomcat.
                      I had seen the setup video a while ago and watching it again now makes a lot more scene after having some experience with the F-14 in the simulator. I highly recommend checking out DCS if you have a PC capable of running it to become more familiar with the Topcats flight dynamics. https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...odules/tomcat/



                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by Phantom View Post
                        Hello all, looking for this bird to be the next addition to my hangar. I was curious if anyone has attempted a halfway wing sweep setting between fully extended and fully swept? If not, I'd appreciate any theories someone who owns this bird may have as to the feasibility of such a setting. Thanks in advance.
                        Unfortunately, an intermediate sweep angle is not possible in the stock configuration. The wing actuators are custom retract units, so they only go to 2 positions. You would have to redo the system to use either some big high torque servos or linear actuators in order to use the intermediate angles.

                        Comment


                        • Evoman, thanks for the input, I enjoy both references but I had a suspicion that the answer was going to be similar to F106DeltaDart's answer, and unfortunately not as simple as assigning to a 3 position switch.

                          Break,

                          F106DeltaDart, when you stated that I would "have to redo the system", are you speaking of simply throwing in some high torque servos and setting the end points up as to not exceed the mechanical end points of the wing sweep mechanism? Or by "redo the system", you actually mean a redesign in order to be able to swap in either high torque servos or linear actuators? Another angle from which I've thought attacking this is with the programming abilities of one of my older radios. One of the radios I still use on FM 72mhz and that I have the drop in FrSky 2.4ghz conversion module is an old JR 10x. With this radio I can actually program the speed and end point of retracts, with is basically linear actuators predominantly. So using this programming feature in the radio, would you assume it's possible to get the mid position on the wing sweep with the stock setup? If yes, then the next hurdle would of course be trying to see if I could then assign the gear to a 3 position switch and get the three settings I'd like. Just brainstorming... thank you both for your responses.

                          Comment


                          • Even with the programming features, I don’t think you could get a mid position. As far as I know, electric retracts look for only 1 thing, up or down position. You can’t guide them to stop at an intermediate point no matter what you do to in terms of travel or speed. This is because they are driven by an internal logic board, and your signals don’t correlate with retract position. So, you would need to convert to servos or linear actuators where you can adjust those parameters.

                            Alternatively, if you weren’t interested in full sweep, you could change the linkage mechanically to a more inboard spot on the control horn. This would give you your full extension, and a more mild intermediate sweep, but no full sweep.

                            Comment


                            • You'd have to locate strong enough servos.

                              They probably exist, considering the power of sail servos for larger RC sailboats.

                              But then you may have to do "major surgery" on the aircraft to make them fit.

                              ***********

                              Another option, not for those unfamiliar with electronics modification, would be to convert the wing sweep actuators to use a position sensing pot and logic board out of a "normal servo.
                              You'd be sure to have the required power, but you'd lose the safety logic in case of a jam.
                              The potential power drain in case of a jam would make it a god idea to power the wing sweep from a separate battery. Another modification, but one that is relatively easy.
                              The wing sweep jamming and demanding from the main RX supply could drop the RX offline and could even burn out the wires supplying RX power..
                              FF gliders and rubber power since 1966, CL 1970-1990, RC since 1975.

                              current planes from 1/2 oz to 22 lbs

                              Comment


                              • Appreciate the insight from both of your perspectives gentlemen. This in no way deters me from purchasing the F-14, I know quality when I see it. I also definitely want to keep the full swing range. I believe I will take the baby step approach and just see if I can program some retracts to stop in a given position and go from there. Fhhuber's thoughts seem promising, and I believe adding a separate power source like a 800 to 1200mah 2 or 3 cell battery for the sweep mechanism wouldn't effect a bird of this size too much, location dependent of course. Thanks again for the input guys.

                                Comment


                                • Note that the Servos n Freewing don't really like even 2S LiFe without a regulator to keep the applied voltage below 6.0 v.

                                  I haven't tested the wing sweep r retracts at higher voltage than what the other servos are made to handle. Too easy to damage electronics with higher voltage than what the device is designed for.
                                  FF gliders and rubber power since 1966, CL 1970-1990, RC since 1975.

                                  current planes from 1/2 oz to 22 lbs

                                  Comment


                                  • Thanks for the warning, I'll proceed with the appropriate voltage.

                                    Comment


                                    • Alright guys! Thanks for all the info. Just pulled the trigger on this awesome bird. Gotta place an order with Callie for graphics and with the RC Geek for centerburners! Can’t wait!

                                      Comment


                                      • Originally posted by HK182 View Post
                                        Alright guys! Thanks for all the info. Just pulled the trigger on this awesome bird. Gotta place an order with Callie for graphics and with the RC Geek for centerburners! Can’t wait!
                                        HK!!! Good call!!! Welcome to the Squawk. Glad you are here! ;)

                                        Comment


                                        • So I got the maiden flight in yesterday and I can't believe how well it flies. I used RCGeek's setup and he was spot on. With the full span flaps it settled in for a beautiful approach and landing! I love this thing! I did think it could use a little more power, but not by much. That brings up my dilemma. Before I ever got the chance to fly it, I had to replace one of the motors because two of the magnets came unglued and were making contact with the coil housing. After the maiden, I was taxiing out for my second flight and the started hearing the exact same issue. So I took the motor apart and confirmed it. A little self disclosure here, when I received the first replacement from motion rc, I was struggling with the stiffer wires of the new motor to make the bend and exit the housing sideways out of the airstream so I used the old coil and new shaft/magnet from the replacement. I'm wondering if the real issue is in the coil instead. Anyway...I'm just going to ditch the stock setup and put something a little more powerful in it. So far my options are the 9 blade 80mm from the A-10, FMS 80mm edf. Has anyone else on here upgraded their edf's and if so, what?

                                          Comment

                                          Working...
                                          X