What did you fly today?

[Elbee]

davegee

Thank you for the kind words, Sir.

It would be an honor to have you use some of those designs on your Hornet.

I will need to look through all F-18 files and put together a menu of the mods.

I will PM you tomorrow afternoon with some sort of list.

Best, Steve

[davegee]

Hi Steve: Definitely interested in some of your STLs for the Hornet! Your model looks awesome, and I would love to spruce mine up a bit when I get it. I think with your STLs my Prusa mini will be able to communicate to print them up. This would be a great learning experience for me.

I still have the Elbee cockpit from the other plane that I am parting out, but I like some of your details that I can add onto mine.

My plane is set to be delivered by Fed Ex tomorrow so I can get to work on it.

Do you have a list of your STLs that apply to the F-18? I could then choose which ones would work for my plane. I won’t attempt to make the beauty you did, but a few embellishments for my everyday flyer would add a lot!

Thanks!

Dave

[Elbee]

...I’ve had a Freewing F/A-18C for a couple of years. About six months ago...I just decided to part this plane out and bought a ARF+ replacement

Dave, I know a guy who has"a bunch" of 3DP STL files of mod parts for a FreeWing F-18C Hornet. Just sayin'.

https://www.printables.com/model/821...1th-scale-elec

I have many many more parts I designed for this aircraft.

Let me know if you're interested.

Best, Steve

[davegee]

Flew my B-2 and F-4 this morning. Splendid, if a bit chilly, weather. Supposed to get some cold and snowy stuff moving in the next few days, so I’m taking advantage of what I have now.

B-2 flies great, as usual. Since I don’t fly it that often, I was a bit rusty on the landing. But next time will be better. No damage, though.
F-4 is fun. Brakes are good to have on this one with our less than ideal runway. Classic airplane.

I’ve had a Freewing F/A-18C for a couple of years. About six months ago, I had one of those landings that I wish could have had back. I landed ok but it jumped up into the air a few feet. I thought I could salvage the landing, but I should have gone around. It sorta splatted with some substantial damage to the fuselage. I just decided to part this plane out and bought a ARF+ replacement. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow from MRC. I have the motor, ESC, etc. removed from the old plane and ready to install it in the new plane as soon as I get it. Looking forward to getting it ready to fly. Will post pics when I fly it.

[davegee]

Today was a "do over" from a less than perfect outing yesterday with my P-47D Penrod and Sam and a recheck on my E Flite LOU IV P-51D that needed a new flap servo and a replacement gear retract that came in the mail yesterday.

Regarding the P-47, I have several of these FMS planes and some experience on it over the years. I don't have a lot of surprises with this airplane, but certainly did yesterday. I did put on a foam scale drop tank that goes on the belly. Even though this plane uses the same hard wheels and tires that the E Flite P-51D has, it has not had a tendency to "bounce" on landing like the P-51D does with stock tires. I found the fix for this (the P-51) was putting Robarts on which basically eliminates this problem.

However, yesterday, I could not land the P-47 without getting a pronounced bounce, just like the P-51 did before I did the tire mods. This was really disturbing, but I think what happened was the drop tank plastic attach lug came loose a bit and the tank was hitting the ground a bit just before the tires did. This caused the problem, at least that was my theory.

This morning, I flew the P-47 "clean" without any wing or belly drop tanks or bombs. And I was relieved to see that the plane was flying just as I expected it to, without any "bounce" on landings like I saw yesterday. So, it looks like the belly tank was the problem, and the fix is to reglue the tank mounting lug onto the foam tank. I should have checked that more thoroughly before I flew with it on the plane. When the tank is properly mounted on the plane, I don't have that issue, other than being a bit more drag while it is flying.

The P-51 flew beautifully on two flights to recheck the repairs I did to the landing gear and flap with the new servos. All is good to go, now.

To f4u aussie, I look forward to getting the spare trunnion in the mail you found in your kit bag. I have the original retract on my work table all splayed out and ready to install it when it arrives. I'll then have this as my backup for the eventual need to swap this out for one of the others. Thanks again!

Cheers

davegee

[davegee]

I took out my venerable Freewing T-33 and my new FMS P-47D Penrod and Sam today. I 've had the T-bird since 2019. It's a great jet to warm up for my other jets like the F-4 which are slightly more difficult for me to fly. The P-47 is coming along fine, got 5 flights on it today, and 3 on the T-bird. Hope to fly again tomorrow.

Cheers

davegee

[f4u ausie]

That really is big boy table stuff... what is 1000 fa u guyz cost us dumb ozzys, about 1400 bucks price of having no borders mayb,,, dunno.... but im in well and truly far enuf,, 5 or 6 years now,, and luvin it so will figure it out and get that fab phantom in the air for 4 or 5 minuts if it kills me...mayb xhould try standard 8s first... and hugh that old yellow boat is an old skool masterpeice b safe hav fuuuun

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh Wiedman, WOW! if your Progressive is SKU SS-H102KK that is a $1049.99 system.

I presume this Mega Charger also wipes down your your vast stable of aircraft.

As my Granddad always said, "No step for a stepper."

Pleased to read your Phantom is phully meeting your expectations.

Awesome upgrade my friend.

Must consider all of this before asking to sit at the 'Big Boy" table.

Best, LB

Actually it is that charger, the Signature series, now over $1,000. Mine is a bit older with the screen mounted in the top half of the case and the fan outlets along the side, but the 4010 charging unit is probably about the same. Had to update the software for HiV charging, so that tells you it's an older model. I really think this is a fine charger, discharges up to 40 amps and fully programmable for setting charge rate, ending charge volts, storage levels, discharge levels and even shows individual cell IR's while charging, allowing me to see if/when a particular cell is starting to go bad. If it weren't for "special" friends who get me things for free, I'd be lost, as I seriously doubt I would have laid down that kinda dough for a charger!

[Elbee]

Hugh Wiedman, WOW! if your Progressive is SKU SS-H102KK that is a $1049.99 system.

I presume this Mega Charger also wipes down your your vast stable of aircraft.

As my Granddad always said, "No step for a stepper."

Pleased to read your Phantom is phully meeting your expectations.

Awesome upgrade my friend.

Must consider all of this before asking to sit at the 'Big Boy" table.

Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

Ye u may remember i got this as an 8s,,, but put the old 6s 1835 6s in to learn.. so clearly my next decision, is 6s hi volt or u keep talkin about, it 8s hv.... im nervous bout the xtra weight,, but hav learnd to fly it fast(no tip stall hopefully) so hav the 1350 8s motor,, brand new just need batt and suitable charger... now good time to ask,, i may hav already.. its a diffrent charger for hv packs?..

I was also worried about the extra weight but honestly have not noticed any difference. On 6S I occasionally experienced a tip stall on slow turns but have yet to have anything close on 8S, and I'm not flying it much faster, in fact using less throttle. Also it seems to fly much better at a further aft cg than the 6S did, seeming to make it even more stable. Weird, can't completely explain it.

For charging, you'll need something that charges HiV to 4.35 volts per cell. Some chargers that claim to charge HiV only charge to 4.3 volts per cell. Also, if you get your hands on a SMC (or other brand) 8S pack, your charger must handle 8S, many only charge to 6S. I have 2 Prodigy 610 Quad chargers, charges only to 3.4 volts per cell and only to 6S, but got lucky and had a friend GIVE me his 2nd Progressive 4010 Dual case charger ( which he got free from a friend who quit flying) which handles 8S and charges to 4.35 per cell. That's an $800 system that without it I'd be up creek without a paddle. Also monitors individual cell IR! I think the charging unit without the case, fans and other goodies is around $400, so this saved me a serious headache. I'm sure there's other brands out there, but once you go to HiV packs, you won't go back to standard and a good charger is at the center of that. Without this charger, I probably wouldn't have gone to HiV or 8S packs. Now have 4 8S pack EDF's and EVERY aircraft dining on HiV, even my Corsair, Spitfire, B24 and all my prop planes.

[f4u ausie]

If you're game, convert the F4 to 8S with reversing ESC. Flies so much better than on 6S and with the SMC 8S HiV 5900 pack, you can be in the air for well over 5 minutes and no need for brakes with reverse thrust. At 940 gr there is more than enough room in the battery bay to accommodate it. Also flies and lands better balanced further back at around 200mm back, where the 6S version seemed to be better at 194mm back. Possibly the more nuetral balance point also helps flight time. Definitely the most effective upgrade I've ever done. Same result on the FW 90mm F16!

Ye u may remember i got this as an 8s,,, but put the old 6s 1835 6s in to learn.. so clearly my next decision, is 6s hi volt or u keep talkin about, it 8s hv.... im nervous bout the xtra weight,, but hav learnd to fly it fast(no tip stall hopefully) so hav the 1350 8s motor,, brand new just need batt and suitable charger... now good time to ask,, i may hav already.. its a diffrent charger for hv packs?..

[Hugh Wiedman]

Love the look of the f4 swoopy 3 minuts not long enuf .. looking into the smc hv packs soon.. i think its danny at smc

If you're game, convert the F4 to 8S with reversing ESC. Flies so much better than on 6S and with the SMC 8S HiV 5900 pack, you can be in the air for well over 5 minutes and no need for brakes with reverse thrust. At 940 gr there is more than enough room in the battery bay to accommodate it. Also flies and lands better balanced further back at around 200mm back, where the 6S version seemed to be better at 194mm back. Possibly the more nuetral balance point also helps flight time. Definitely the most effective upgrade I've ever done. Same result on the FW 90mm F16!

[davegee]

davegee I presume your Phabulous Phantom is of FreeWing origin.

If that is correct, whose 'wheel brakes' did you install?

I fly off pavement and had thought to upgrade the EDF and add a reverse thrust ESC, but she flies good as is.

However, adding wheel brakes could solve the inadvertent run-off problem I suffer with continued frequency.

Brakes might be less expensive than the aforementioned upgrades.

Best, LB

Hi Steve: I bought the JP Hobby electric brakes for the F-4. They really work great and I used them today on the two flights I had with the F-4. Yes, it is a Freewing F-4, converted to an N model per some history books. It is based on a scheme of an actual airplane used about 1975 or so.

I haven't put the wheel brakes on any other plane so far, but have certainly considered it for some planes that seem to want to roll forever on my less than ideal runway surface that I operate out of.

If you need any other details on the JP brakes, I am more than happy to assist.

Cheers

Dave

[Elbee]

davegee I presume your Phabulous Phantom is of FreeWing origin.

If that is correct, whose 'wheel brakes' did you install?

I fly off pavement and had thought to upgrade the EDF and add a reverse thrust ESC, but she flies good as is.

However, adding wheel brakes could solve the inadvertent run-off problem I suffer with continued frequency.

Brakes might be less expensive than the aforementioned upgrades.

Best, LB

[f4u ausie]

Love the look of the f4 swoopy 3 minuts not long enuf .. looking into the smc hv packs soon.. i think its danny at smc

[davegee]

I took two airplanes out to the field this morning. I've had both for a few years, one is an F-4N Phantom II in VF-84 paint scheme, and my A-4E, in the colors of a Viet Nam era VA-152 squadron. Hadn't flown either of these for a few months. The first flight with the A-4 with both the drop tanks and the missiles on the wings went fine, although I was a bit rusty, as can be expected.

I took off the big drop tanks and kept the missiles on for the second flight. Not long after takeoff when I was climbing out and turning for a left-hand pattern, I started having severe directional control problems. I couldn't really see what the issue was, but it was barely controllable. I tried to see what the issue was like asymmetrical flaps, a gear stuck down or something, but that wasn't it. While trying to bring it back for an emergency landing, I lost control of it and it crashed into the weeds short of the runway. When I picked up the pieces one of the missiles couldn't be found, so my guess is that one of them departed the airplane early on, causing the directional control problems.

It is definitely repairable, and all the internal things like the 6S battery, electronics, receiver, motor, ESC, etc., weren't damaged. I could replace the fuse, and I think could put it back together, but I think I might just harvest the pieces from it and call it good. I've had a lot of fun with it, but I think I'll move on from the A-4. Possibly might look into the new F-14A that just came out.

My other plane, the F-4N Jolly Rogers scheme, by comparison is a joy to fly. I have the afterburners and wheel brakes, and it drives like a fast, solid, sled. One of my favorite EDFs to fly. I took a few pics of them, plus an older one of the A-4 since it crashed before I could take a photo of it at the field.

A friend of mine once said about RC airplanes: "Sooner or later, they all come back in a body bag!" I look forward to replacing this A-4 with another fun airplane.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Got 'em, f4u aussie! Much obliged!👍👍👍

Cheers, mate!

Davegee

[davegee]

I flew one of my pby catalina today, Flying a PBY Catalina offers a unique opportunity to experience the grace and presence of this iconic seaplane in the skies.

Beautiful classic airplane! My late step-dad flew those in the Pacific during WWII for the US Navy. He really liked it, for what its mission was.

Cheers

Davegee

[kamillenielsen]

I flew one of my pby catalina today, Flying a PBY Catalina offers a unique opportunity to experience the grace and presence of this iconic seaplane in the skies.

[f4u ausie]

Davegee i may have sent 2 pm let me no im crapp at teck