Official Freewing F/A-18C Hornet 90mm EDF Thread

[Aros]

Good debates here folks, I appreciate all of you keeping it civilized. Remember, at the end of the day we are all RC pilots just trying to enjoy and maximize our fun of the hobby. Opinions can easily be misconstrued as facts and the other way around. Just remember to not make anything personal, we all have opinions, and above all else passion for flight. Carry on!

[F22trainer]

Ya know, I had just landed at North Island and had a date to meet two of my life long friends for dinner and drinks at a place called Ray Delgado, (Brazilian Barque). My friend Ray was a former Marine Core F-18 pilot that then flew a 737 for South West Airlines. My friend Rob was having a 2 week stay in San Diego on vacation, he was a school friend that had became a 747 captain for Cathay Pacific. We had a pretty nice dinner, a few drinks, I was feeling pretty happy actually as the flying debate started. First came the obvious dos and don'ts followed by a raging debate, debating approach tactics, flying tactics and all kind of obvious rules. Then came the insults subtle at first, followed by more rudeness, and obvious insults, loudness prevailed. This was Ray and Robs debate, I could barely say a word.

Then there was me no slouch, 13K plus hours, I never get into this kind of BS, as basically I do what ever I feel needs to be done in any given situation. I think I was the highest time pilot there, (not sure about Rob, you collect a ton of hours crossing the pacific in 747's). I finally told them to be quite. Bought them one last round of drinks.

Moral of this story is it was pretty obvious both of these guys new how to fly, well at least Cathay Pacific, and South West thought they did. Me not so much LOL.

Best Regards
Woody

Good point Woody, ya get 2 A personalities and it can get course. Suffice to say we both take our jobs seriously - and my job is to keep pilots from making mistakes that cost lives and or makes their insurance go up.:Cool:

[mjet21]

Originally posted by Evan D


Evan D
I'll fly anything

• Joined: Jan 2016
• Posts: 342
• Geo: Charlotte

#1875
Today, 07:30 PM

". Might as well replace all the push rods and the horns on all the surfaces too. While you’re doing that add better hinges too..."

"Not too sure your facts are really facts either. Not all servos are equal, who would say that? And I don’t know that there have been that many documented crashes from servos"

THESE GUYS DID!!!

If it's not the servos causing crashes then it is probably one or some of all the other components that you listed above, ...or the BB, or the Stab Pivot block popping out of the foam... or who knows???

For a guy that spends so much time on the forums I am surprised that you missed these posts, unless "Fan boys" only respond to attacks against the Mother Ship...

captain MoMo Mach One United States, MD Joined Apr 2011 10,208 Posts

Quote: Originally Posted by Bobaroo $600 'HeavyJet' flying around with $10 Servos on the Stabs. New FW F/A-18C is running the same ones. Apparently a lotta Guyz are comfortable with this arrangement. GL ... Plug N Pray There is no magic is servo technology IMO. These servos provided by FW are as good as any you can buy. I have only had one flap servo issue since buying my Freewing PNP and ARF Plus EDFs and this is hundreds of flights thereafter - so I feel comfortable leaving the Freewing servos in place.

Suko Registered User 1139 miles from you in United States, WA, Mukilteo Joined Apr 2013 4,841 Posts

Quote: Originally Posted by captain MoMo There is no magic is servo technology IMO. These servos provided by FW are as good as any you can buy. I have only had one flap servo issue since buying my Freewing PNP and ARF Plus EDFs and this is hundreds of flights thereafter - so I feel comfortable leaving the Freewing servos in place. Same. After owning 80+ planes, I think I've seen TWO servo burnouts and one was my own fault when a flap servo was pushing against a "stuck" flap, so it burned out the poor little guy. If someone wants to spend $20 on a servo to make themselves feel better, more power to them. This hobby is just like any other. Some people will be perfectly happy with the standard equipment, while others will swear that they need top of the line, high end components. I remember when my friends and I would play Counter Strike back in the late 90's. We had this one friend who kept buying better components for his PC, a gaming mouse, and other things to improve his game. But in the end, he still couldn't compete with some of us using our crappy Dell keyboards and mice.

Sukhoikid Team Futaba / Team RMRC 98 miles from you in United States, AZ, Tucson Joined Jun 2006 2,569 Posts

I will say the servos in these planes have seem to be reliable, but probably not the smoothest out there... when you get use to flying higher end digital servos, you can tell what is a cheap servo and what is not a cheap servo... With that being said... with it being a foam plane and trim seems to change all the time with these type of models depending how the foam settles the servos I feel do a good enough job lol.... wouldn't mind upgrading servos just to see the difference.

[Pete Lane]

Oh...lord Kumbaya

[Aros]

For the two pennies I offer, I may as well add my experience to the mix. Regardless of being an employee of Motion RC for nearly 7 years, I am always going to tell the truth about my RC experiences with the product we sell. The good, the bad, the ugly. Fortunately, in the 6 years I have been flying our product I have only encountered 1 bad Admiral battery out of the box (out of dozens and dozens) and never a single bad servo. That streak may have come to an end with my first BA F-18 on the maiden but I still can't say for certain since I have flown it successfully 6 or 7 times since without replicating the issue. That is NOT to say that I discount anyone's experiences with bad servos. It's just that I can't say I have had those experiences.

Let's say hypothetically we sell 5,000 F/A-18C Hornets. Out of those 5,000 folks, 10 or 20 have had servo issues. Does that mean it's a trend and the servo(s) are not up to par? Not in my eyes. It's entirely unfortunate for every one of those 10 or 20 folks (myself being one of them, my heart was broken when it crashed uncontrollably on the maiden) but I can't in good conscience say, "yep, the servos are bad." It's a blanket statement I am not equipped nor prepared to make.

When I maiden my new one perhaps tomorrow, I am fully anticipating a successful flight with no issues. If I am proven wrong I will be the first to admit it. I will have both onboard and ground video footage to document what I hope and expect will be a boring, uneventful maiden. The best kind.

If she ends up with the same fate (and especially one that is captured on video) then I will concede there may be something going on here. Until then I am okay thinking sometimes crap happens, especially when there are so many variables at play in this hobby that can make these models takeoff, fly and land with simply little more than inputs from our fingers on a electronic device with two sticks.

[Aros]

I think I should start a fleet of them all. Just need to get that gloss on these girls! LOL

[HellHathNoFury]

For the two pennies I offer, I may as well add my experience to the mix. Regardless of being an employee of Motion RC for nearly 7 years, I am always going to tell the truth about my RC experiences with the product we sell. The good, the bad, the ugly. Fortunately, in the 6 years I have been flying our product I have only encountered 1 bad Admiral battery out of the box (out of dozens and dozens) and never a single bad servo. That streak may have come to an end with my first BA F-18 on the maiden but I still can't say for certain since I have flown it successfully 6 or 7 times since without replicating the issue. That is NOT to say that I discount anyone's experiences with bad servos. It's just that I can't say I have had those experiences.

Let's say hypothetically we sell 5,000 F/A-18C Hornets. Out of those 5,000 folks, 10 or 20 have had servo issues. Does that mean it's a trend and the servo(s) are not up to par? Not in my eyes. It's entirely unfortunate for every one of those 10 or 20 folks (myself being one of them, my heart was broken when it crashed uncontrollably on the maiden) but I can't in good conscience say, "yep, the servos are bad." It's a blanket statement I am not equipped nor prepared to make.

When I maiden my new one perhaps tomorrow, I am fully anticipating a successful flight with no issues. If I am proven wrong I will be the first to admit it. I will have both onboard and ground video footage to document what I hope and expect will be a boring, uneventful maiden. The best kind.

If she ends up with the same fate (and especially one that is captured on video) then I will concede there may be something going on here. Until then I am okay thinking sometimes crap happens, especially when there are so many variables at play in this hobby that can make these models takeoff, fly and land with simply little more than inputs from our fingers on a electronic device with two sticks.

Good luck on your second maiden..:)Have to say in all the years I have owned Freewing planes & new releases this is the first there has been multiple crashes from whatever & this is early days of the Hornet..Let’s hope it’s not a trend..

[Evan D]

So three posts and three direct personal attacks aimed solely at me. Are you someone who was banned that created another user?

Your last post disproved your "facts" especially the one that weak servos have caused all these crashes you keep talking about.

As I asked, what are you going to do to YOUR F-18 to reduce the chances of a weak servo crashing your $1500 foam jet? Or is the point of your THREE posts that FreeWing, "the Mother Ship" is poor quality and we shouldn't buy their products?

What's your real reason for posting all this?

If it's not the servos causing crashes then it is probably one or some of all the other components that you listed above, ...or the BB, or the Stab Pivot block popping out of the foam... or who knows???

For a guy that spends so much time on the forums I am surprised that you missed these posts, unless "Fan boys" only respond to attacks against the Mother Ship...

[ken.swa@outlook.com]

Got my bird out to see how she tracks and to get some pictures before I balance and maiden her. I did notice after it was out in the sun for a few minutes, that the skin started to alligator on top. I had previously coated it with 2 coats of Polycrylic and the gloss looks so much more realistic. I am worried now that this might have come at a cost due to the darker color of paint. Have any of you noticed this as well? I have a lot of mine done this way, but this is the darkest one I have done so far and have not seen this as of yet.

[RCjetdude]

Got my bird out to see how she tracks and to get some pictures before I balance and maiden her. I did notice after it was out in the sun for a few minutes, that the skin started to alligator on top. I had previously coated it with 2 coats of Polycrylic and the gloss looks so much more realistic. I am worried now that this might have come at a cost due to the darker color of paint. Have any of you noticed this as well? I have a lot of mine done this way, but this is the darkest one I have done so far and have not seen this as of yet.

It will gator in the sun. I try very hard to keep mine from being in direct sunlight at all but sometimes it happens.

[Evan D]

Mine hasn't but second time out I saw the dash cover in the cockpit was melting. FW sent me a new one.

Edit... the new one did not come with the instrument cluster decal...:Angry:

Got my bird out to see how she tracks and to get some pictures before I balance and maiden her. I did notice after it was out in the sun for a few minutes, that the skin started to alligator on top. I had previously coated it with 2 coats of Polycrylic and the gloss looks so much more realistic. I am worried now that this might have come at a cost due to the darker color of paint. Have any of you noticed this as well? I have a lot of mine done this way, but this is the darkest one I have done so far and have not seen this as of yet.

[RCjetdude]

That's exactly what I do with my jets! That's the only way I can trust them not to fail.

That's what I have to do with the LX jets but at least the initial cost is a lot lower...

That is why I claim that 'FW' jets are overpriced, based on the fact that I have to replace the electronics to buy the level of confidence that I need. But when I call them "Overpriced" people jump on my case and call me sourpuss... You go figure!

Replacing anything on any plane is your choice to make although I personally feel it is unnecessary on Freewing and FlightLine birds but that is your call and then if you do end up having a problem at least you know it was all on you. In that regard you should never have a need to enter a service ticket then but claiming they are overpriced just because you feel you need to replace all the servos and linkages is a bit out of line as is your "Fan Boy" and "Mothership" comment especially for someone so new to this forum.

[Evan D]

He's as negative on the other forum too demanding I post pictures of my F-4 (in BA scheme) to prove it hasn't gatored when I said it hadn't. When I did that he even said, I assume joking, that I needed to have a newspaper with the date in the picture for it to count.

Either way it's a free country and forum for him to post his views. I do agree he crosses the line. At this point I assume he's just a troll with an axe to grind.

On to positive news, after the World Cup game happening right now we should have three F-18 flying at my field. All with (gasp) stock servos, linkages, and the notorious MCBe.

[RCjetdude]

On to positive news, after the World Cup game happening right now we should have three F-18 flying at my field. All with (gasp) stock servos, linkages, and the notorious MCBe.

No not that! :Scared:

[xviper]

Got my bird out to see how she tracks and to get some pictures before I balance and maiden her. I did notice after it was out in the sun for a few minutes, that the skin started to alligator on top. I had previously coated it with 2 coats of Polycrylic and the gloss looks so much more realistic. I am worried now that this might have come at a cost due to the darker color of paint. Have any of you noticed this as well? I have a lot of mine done this way, but this is the darkest one I have done so far and have not seen this as of yet.

Dark foam planes + sun exposure = gator city. I put my planes in the shade of the set up table or I throw a towel over each one. FMS even sent me a "gift" of a plane cover. I also bought a giant beach umbrella for putting my planes under. This blue is not quite as dark as the FMS 1700mm Corsair. Have you had a black plane yet? Just flying one for 3 minutes is enough to pimple it all up.

especially for someone so new to this forum.

I'm tending to agree with Evan in that I doubt the guy is "new" here. It wouldn't take much for Aros to do an IP check and see if IT or his location is a match to anyone who has been banned or this obnoxious before. Personally, I just put such people on IGNORE. Eventually, their internet persona will be revealed, unless of course, they suffer from multiple personality disorder.

[farmflyer]

mjet21 If you don’t like them don’t buy them if you do buy them don’t bitch about them!

[Phantom]

You miss the point. As I new pilot I was taught the same pitch for airspeed and power for altitude. And, if you are operating on the back of the power curve that is a proper solution. But as a blanket concept, it is not always true. Proper aircraft control is based on an intended flight path. The more correct concept is pitch plus power equals performance. Therefore you need to initially pitch for an altitude and adjust power for the desired airspeed. Becoming an instructor teaches you that.
I can set up an approach and never touch the power, under certain conditions, because I know for a given weight and power setting my pitch need never change.
I set a pitch and power setting and the result is a given speed, depending on the phase of flight.
There are still times when I use airspeed to get my pitch - for example, in the traffic pattern on downwind, I have entered at 1500’ AGL at 130 KIAS. In level flight I extend gear and add 10* flaps to slow to my next speed of 120KIAS. It is coincidental that when Abeam my touchdown point I am at 120 KIAS ad I allow the nose to drop in order to maintain 120 KIAS - the result is approx. 500 FPM descent. It works the same on baseleg, add 20* flaps and bleed enough speed using pitch to obtain my desired 110 KIAS which results in a 500FPM descent rate. Works the same for final - flaps 36, power to 350 ft.lbs torque, slow to 85 KIAS and then pitch to maintain my final approach speed of 85 KIAS.
The point is that technique does have a time and place, but it is not correct to say it should be used all of the time.

I didn't learn that in Instructor pilot school, nor during my years as an instructor pilot, nor as an instrument examiner. However I have to say that this post has made more sense to me than your previous posts. My personal opinion, in regards to flying RC, where you are on the outside looking at the bird, void of the advantage of basic instruments. Pitching for an airspeed and adjusting throttle to control your desired rate of descent works pretty well. Just my 2 cents worth, but do what works for you and enjoy this great hobby we all share. :)

[Evan D]

You quoted RCjet dude which is not the person complaining about the F-18. As far as I can tell from posts here and on the other forum mjet21 hasn't purchased one or intend to.

There seems to be more and more people that come on the threads that don't own the plane, or may have ordered it but not received it or flown it that are quick to poo poo the plane or the flight characteristics spouting physics or facts. They also tend to pick out statements others have made and twist them around for their own purposes. Funnier still is when one person (that doesn't have the plane) takes a comment made by another person that doesn't have one or flown it to further their tirade. I even have a person that has said the way I have set up and flown my plane can't work, that person doesn't have one much less flow it or tried my set up to disprove it. We live in very interesting times.

If you don’t like them don’t buy them if you do buy them don’t bitch about them!

[DCORSAIR]

Well, got two more flights this morning on the BA F-18, so 29 total flights and no problems since I have bypassed the BB and cut my flaps back to about 38mm, seems fine and flies great, did a few high speed passes and all is good, lands so nice and smooth, just watch those big flaps, they work well and will slow you down quickly. Now off to order the grey one, going with the low vis. decals from Callie.
:Cool:

[farmflyer]

Evan yes that was a mistake I was trying to quote the whole post but it only pulled Steve’s part of the post that’s why I edited my post to remove Steve’s post. I know RCjet dude has the plane and flys it well I have personally seen him fly it. Free wing and Flightline are producing some of the best planes on the market right now especially for the price. It seems some people are eager to blame them for their own personal short comings or seem to think they should build them their own custom plane at that same cost. Like I stated earlier you know what your getting when you order it if you don’t like the way it is then don’t make the purchase.