Official Freewing 64mm F-8 Crusader Thread

[Evoman]

Just unboxed mine and this thing is gorgeous, there's no way I would belly land it, working on a gear mod now. The detail, paint and decals are what you would expect on a $600 plane.

I was just thinking the same thing the other day looking at the pictures. The front intake is already located too low and I would imagine it will get torn up over time belly landing it.
So a landing gear and 12 blade fan mod would be the first things I would do before even flying it if I were to get it.

[OV10]

Be interesting to see how this fairs with gear doing turf take offs.
The F-8 was very similar to the A-7 regarding ingesting FOD because of the close ground proximity of the intake.
Cheater grills on FreeWing birds like the A-4 and A-6 are constantly getting loaded with clippings.
Imagine what clippings directly down the throat of this F-8 may do.
The A-7 had a nasty rep known as the "Maneater" cause of the waist high bottom lip of the intake.
I gave them wide berth ALWAYS when they were spooling up on the carrier deck.

[TiredIronGRB]

I put together a little unboxing video.

[xplaneguy]

Looks good George! Thanks for sharing.

[Westsider]

Crusader! Thanks MRC this should be a kick. See it next week.

[vduniec]

Have the 12 blade 4s motor installed. Perfect fit from the existing motor! I did, however have to carve out some foam for my larger ESC. Easy to do. 5 minutes of work. I used a Predator 70A ESC I had on hand.

[vduniec]

By my calcs, this plane scales out to 1/20th scale. Close enough for me to use my Jet Hangar Hobbies 1/18th scale "Castle 5" pilot I have on hand. I feel I have to move the ejection seat back a touch though.

[Evoman]

From how the wings are designed it looks like it would not be too hard to modify them to have a functional Variable-incidence wing just like the real Crusader.

[Alpha]

I'm glad you guys are enjoying the fit and finish of this $99 stocking stuffer. We joke internally that the F-8 is part of a new "Mantle Class" of aircraft, since part of the fun with bringing scale subject matter to this size is they make nice display pieces on a wall or mantle. With some detailing and refinement, they're worth the end result.

In terms of belly landing, like our other 64mm belly landers, this bird is envisioned as a park flyer i.e. grass belly lander... with large planes we're often queried "how does it land on grass?". I'm surprised with this mini plane how many plan to operate it on smooth pavement. Like our other 64mm belly landers, we've been using fiberglass tape where the belly touches the ground. Adding a second layer of smooth packing tape is a helpful tip; over time as the smooth packing tape decays, just peel if off of the fiberglass tape, which itself remains adhered to the foam. If we're flying that day over gravel, I just catch mine. Slow approach power low, then quick burst of throttle and full back elevator to get the nose to 70 degrees, and reach out and grab the belly. If you miss, just level elevator and full throttle to go around. Fun times.

A tip about the variable incidence wing: One of the earlier prototypes used a linear actuator (from the Freewing 90mm F-15 air brake) to vary the wing incidence during flight. I'll say that none of us liked how it flew, since it changes the aircraft's handling significantly, at times becoming uncontrollable. Even when overcoming slop in the actuator and hinge, the model was a Departure Queen. I strongly advise caution when attempting to fly this model with a variable incidence wing. Some things just don't translate well when they're downsized from the full scale. But hey, it sure looks great on the ground! #DisplayMode.

[Alpha]

Just wondering how differently it flies in the two configurations?

I ordered one last night.

Hi EA-6B Geek, most of the flight dev team preferred the more axial rolls of the stock PNP setup (coupled ailevators). I liked my simplified taileron setup, probably because of the nostalgia from old days flying taileron-only turbines and ICDFs. The actual handling characteristics aren't significantly different, the most noticeable being the less axial rolls.

A fun and easy ten minute mod would be to add a rudder servo --notice that we left the rudder hinge intact specifically to leave this option open for anyone interested in adding a servo. Not only would it give an onboard gyro another axis to work with, but in conjunction with a taileron setup, the model might end up feeling to some pilots like a larger jet. Less of a "turn and burn" parkflyer and more like a scale flyer. Slowing down the roll rate and keeping the nose level in a slow barrel roll is another kind of fun! And a worthy challenge to execute cleanly with a small aircraft like this that doesn't have the weight to penetrate like a heavier jet does.

[Bajora]

You just gotta love the price point and 64mm form factor of this affordable EDF! Add in that it is the less commonly modeled F-8 and how can you go wrong for a hundred bucks?! Thanks to the carefully crafted and enjoyable to watch flight video by Ryan and Mike, I couldn't resist and had to pull the trigger! :Cool:

[FLTRI]

Well, I caved and joined the Crusade.

This'll be my first EDF. The simplicity and price of this one pushed me over the edge. Just hope this doesn't start me down that road of getting bigger and better EDF's. I started out with inexpensive (under $100 just like this plane) 650 and 800mm warbirds, and that turned into this. Which is about 50% of the hangar... :D

[Valkpilot]

Great scene from the film, 'Thirteen Days', performing recon mission over Cuba during the missile crisis.

You do know that the actor playing CDR Ecker IS an ACTUAL Kennedy.

[Valkpilot]

64 mm is just the right size for the strip I fly at, As for the landing gear, as sighted before, why isn't it on the parts list? or do you use the F8F or Stinger LG. Would love to see the Freewing 64mm MiG 15 and F-86
with landing gear. Other NEW 64mm models I would like to see are the F4D, F-100, F-104, T-45/BAE Hawk, and of course, the XB-70.

[fhhuber]

From how the wings are designed it looks like it would not be too hard to modify them to have a functional Variable-incidence wing just like the real Crusader.

Not hard to do... hard to have a servo handle the load.
You'd have to use a lead-screw to operate it. (like the PZ ultra micro servos or the electric retracts use)
Slow, but very high power and outstanding at holding position.

The issue is the pivot being so far back and the point the actuator drives being so far forward there is a HUGE load on that thing.
Not sure why they didn't pivot the wing on the CG line or slightly forward of that. Then there is very low load on the system moving it.

[TiredIronGRB]

I've been hacking up the F-8...I used a tail wheel assembly from a Eleven Hobby Bearcat for the nose wheel and a set of mains from a UMX P-47. I separated the elevators from the ailerons using another servo accessible through the fan cover, also added wing incidence modification.

[ryramZ]

That is awesome!

[FLTRI]

Very cool! Did you fly it in the stock configuration before you did the mods? I'd be curious to hear how it flies before and after. The whole connected aileron and elevator thing seems odd to me, but I've never tried it, so it may be fine. I still think I'd prefer a traditional setup, like your mod...

[TiredIronGRB]

Very cool! Did you fly it in the stock configuration before you did the mods? I'd be curious to hear how it flies before and after. The whole connected aileron and elevator thing seems odd to me, but I've never tried it, so it may be fine. I still think I'd prefer a traditional setup, like your mod...

No, I only got it yesterday evening.

[TiredIronGRB]

Here's a short clip on the wing incidence mod.