Official Freewing 64mm F-8 Crusader Thread

[Westsider]

Great pics Bajora. This baby really does look that good. Super clean. Even the box is cool.

[CFIT rob]

Maidened yesterday, four flights. Three CHL 1800 30c,one RT 1800 45c. Avg weight 155g . Pushed all the way back to hit recomended cg. Timer 3 min(failed to check battery voltage after flights). Admiral stabilized RX. Full throws. Hand toss with stabilizer was non-event. Slight up toss(10-20 degree-ish) ,she arched over to level flight. 10-13mph winds. Took quite a few clicks of up trim for level flight. Had too much gain on ALE for 1st flight so i switched it off. Roll was twitchy on high rates ,wind was gusty and turbulent from a tree line so it was rocking alot. Pitch was stable. Shes not a floater. Landing was easy. Powered off,flared just off ground ,slid maybe three feet. Reduced gain(to 11 oclock on dial). This really tamed the wing rock. Felt locked in even with the turbulence.Looks so cool doing a show pass. Another winner from MRC. Added the rudder for yaw stability. Not sure if it needded it. Hard rudder will roll her over.

[TiredIronGRB]

Maidened mine today with the separated ailerons/elevators and it did great, very stable in the turns and the landing gear did good as well

[FLTRI]

Maidened mine today with the separated ailerons/elevators and it did great, very stable in the turns and the landing gear did good as well

That's good to hear. I'll probably separate mine eventually as well, as it seems like a compromise having them tied together. I suspect it was a done to keep the price point under $100 Has anyone flown before & after separating them? I would love to hear how it flies differently...

[Bajora]

Dry assembled for photos ... she really is quite the detailed and scale looking little hand launcher jet!

[TiredIronGRB]

All the guys at the field could not believe this jet was only $99...I bet the second shipment will be sold out in an hour, I plan to get another one myself.

[Model jet juggernaut]

Oh yeah, I would definitely need the rudder for crosswind landings.. as our wind is perpendicular to our strip about 80% of the time. Then again, it's really meant to be a handlauncher, so still not sure whether or not I want gear.

[FLTRI]

I got mine built this morning. Took a couple of hours, taking my time. The all-glue assembly was kinda old school, we've gotten so spoiled with screws in the last couple of years. Not a big deal, and I'm sure it's part of what keeps the price down. Don't glue on the plywood bottom fins all the way across, or you can't get the ESC/motor hatch off (D'oh). I'm going to try three batteries on maiden, a 1300, a 1800 and a 2200. I got CG with all three, just slightly nose heavy with the 2200. I used a trusty Lemon 7-channel stabilized Rx just behind the plywood battery vent. You might want to check your ESC to motor wires guys. One bullet was hanging on by a thread, the other two weren't fully seated either. I have throws set per the manual and 25 high, 35 low on the Expo. It feels like the thrust is about equal to weight, fooling around in the garage. Maiden will probably be Thursday due to weather and lack of a videographer.

I gotta say, it's a looker! Foam and paint are really nice. I'll post my flight review & video (first EDF for me) in a couple of day, good or bad...



, in a couple of

[EA-6B Geek]

My F-8, almost ready.

[Alpha]

Great scheme, EA-6B Geek!

[crxmanpat]

I went ahead and added my charcoal panel line and weathering detail process to mine. Maiden on Saturday.

[EA-6B Geek]

Great scheme, EA-6B Geek!

Thanks Alpha. Maiden flight coming soon

[FLTRI]

Maiden is in the books.

I didn't have a videographer, but the weather was too good to pass up. Mid 60's, sunny and dead calm. I headed to my field with an 2200, an 1800 and an 1300. Here's what I found, a couple pics, and a YouTube of the third flight.

First flight. Low rates, stabilizer gain at 30% and a brand new Admiral 1800 30C. WOT and a pitch with about 30* up attitude. Wiggle, wiggle, stall. I chopped the throttle (So as not to break the prop. Old habits die hard) and it came down in the grass at about 30* nose first. Collected it and saw I mushed up the front air intake a bit. Easy to straighten out with my fingers.

Reset. Second attempt I threw it as hard as I could, at about 10* up. Little wiggle, dropped the nose and began to gather steam. At about 100 feet away, I started easing in up elevator. Gained altitude, and began my first turn. My eyes were looking for the wings to stretch out like they would on a WWII bird, and I was a bit surprised when I could barely see them. Lost orientation for a minute, but got it straightened out. Note to self: This doesn't look like a P-51 when you enter a turn. Flew a couple of circuits, and added a few clicks of up and left trim. It began to oscillate, so I turned the gain down on the stabilizer, and it flattened right out. I had the timer at 3:00 and it expired before I knew it. Started backing throttle out, and she lost altitude and airspeed, but remained stable. I put her in the grass damn near perfect, and it slid to a stop in about 5 feet.

Collected the plane, and saw the air intake is more mushed up. Hmmm, that's odd. Grass is soft, and the landing was as greased as I could do it.

Second flight. Nano Tech 1300 45C. Plane is noticeably lighter, and I give it a hard overhand pitch. Took less time to gather airspeed, lost less altitude, no wiggle at all, and climbed briskly. This flight seemed better, but orientation at the end of the field is still a challenge. Took it up to about 150 feet, cut back and let it glide. Didn't do a stall test, because orientation. 2:30 on the timer went by fast, and this landing was even slower and softer. Now, I have a small chunk of foam gone from the air intake. Huh?

Third flight. Admiral 2200 35C. If I tuck all the battery wires back, and really push the battery back all the way, my CG is just ever so slightly nose heavy. Random guy come by to chat. Turns out he's a collective pitch heli guy, so we talk RC for a bit. I ask him to do a video, and he's on it. Plane now feels really heavy with the 2200, so I throw it as hard as I can, about 10* up. Wow, feels like I'm at half throttle, it barely stays off the deck and takes forever to gather enough speed to climb. Finally gains airspeed, and I get a 3:30 flight. Landing a bit faster with the extra weight, but it's greased. Now, I have an even bigger chunk of foam gone. Well Damn...

Keep in mind when reading this, that I Am Not an EDF guy. I fly WWII warbirds almost exclusively. I had a learning curve, and this was a great plane to do it on. I used the hot water trick to puff the foam back up, and I have some foam putty drying on the air intake. I'll coat it with something hard once it dries, and I reshape and paint it. Thinking maybe I'll drizzle it with CA glue. I painted the tops of the ailerons bright yellow to help with orientation, and the same paint is going on the air intake when it's fixed. I know this will annoy the scale guys, but I really need it for orientation. It's a fun plane, no doubt. I'll fly it until I can't anymore, and learn more about EDF flight. Sure glad I picked a $99 plane to learn on, I'd be pissed if this was a $400 super scale jet, and I munched it up.

[CFIT rob]

8 more flights, flew better for me with my 1800's slightly pushed back into cavity under wing, gave me a 3mm-ish aft Cg. Took less uptrim. All flights so far with 5-10mph headwind. Two flights with admiral 2200 pushed into wing cavity as far as it would go (holding plane upside down made it easy). Spot on Cg. Flew the same except it did seem to take longer to get up to speed. FLTRI....F8 seems to take a bit of level flight to build up "steam". I think on a zero wind day the launch may be trickier. Especially with a 2200. I suspect the landings are "hotter" on a no wind day also.

[FLTRI]

I repaired my scoop, and did a little painting for orientation. No, it's not a scale livery, but at least I should be able to see it now. If it ever starts to bother me, I can always paint over it and make it gray again. Thanks to abjets for the tip on reinforcing the scoop with a used dryer sheet and glue. Also thanks to mopetista for the skid idea. Confidence is high that I won't do any more damage to the scoop. Pics of the repair and mods below...

[FLTRI]

Success!

Charged my 1800 and 1300 this morning and went for a quick flight, she flew great. Although I have to remember to really, really throw it. This is not a prop plane that will fly out of your hand. But that's all on me, not a knock on the plane.

I only put 1000 back in the 1800, so I upped the timer to 3:30. Meter shows 3.83 per cell, so I should be safe. Backed the aileron throw down to 50% from 55% That seems to be my happy spot. Landing was faster than the other day, and I slid to a stop in grass that is more packed down, and not as forgiving both times. Second landing was really hot. Came home with absolutely zero scuffs! The combo of the nose skid and the dryer sheet did the trick! Thanks again, abjets!

Of note, the wind picked up a bit on the second flight with the 1300 in it. This airframe is light, and it did get rocked around a bit. Thankfully, the Lemon did its job and kept me squared away. This battery is old and sagging, so I had to keep it at WOT to maintain a comfortable speed. I have two Zippy compact 1500 40S batteries coming, those may be my sweet spot...

[crxmanpat]

Got 5 flights on my Crusader today. Three flights were with a 3S 2700 25C (old packs but not many cycles on them), one with a 3S 2200 30C, and one with a 3S 1800 40C. Had to kkep turning my aileron rates down, and finally settled on 50% of throw. Elevator is cranked up to 100% of throw and seems fine there. I have not yet received my RoaringTop 3S 1800 35Cs, was hoping they would come in yesterday.

It flew fine on the larger packs, but definitely needed lots of up trim. I'm hoping the RTs will let me take most of that out. Speed was ok, and hoping to get more with the higher power RTs and lose a little excess weight. Hand launches were a non-issue, and landings were a breeze.

Something interesting happened on my last flight with the 1800. Wanted to see how much better the vertical was, so I went up until it stopped. At the top of the climb, the plane started spinning on its own! I'm assuming this was because of the torque of the fan (was still at WOT). I have to say it looked neat!

Overall I have to say I like this little jet! Great job Freewing and MotionRC!

Some pics from today:

This is NOT my typical hand launch! A little too much angle on the throw, but it flattened right out.



The panel lines really stand out in flight!


Thanks to my friends Barrett for the pics!

[EA-6B Geek]

Had to kkep turning my aileron rates down, and finally settled on 50% of throw. Elevator is cranked up to 100% of throw and seems fine

So you are happy with the the controls set up conventionally? I was hoping you'd give a flight report like this after seeing in an earlier post that you'd set yours up this way. I did this to mine also, but haven't been able to fly it yet.

The panel lines look great!

[crxmanpat]

My controls are set up stock (ailerons and elevons tied together). Later I may change them to just tailerons only and pin the ailerons.

[Arcangel]

I got to maiden my Crusader this past Saturday w/ a friend. { I am not coordinated enough to toss n fly my planes so I had a buddy throw her for me } :Whew:

First I would like to go over all the mods I did to her before getting her airborne:

1. Up-graded power plant to the Free Wing 12 blade 64mm fan and (4S) 2846 3500 kv motor
2. 45 amp Mantis ESC running a (4S) 2500 mah 50c Admiral Pro battery
3. Separated flight controls w/ (2) aileron servos and (2) elevator servos
4. Trimmed ventral fins to prevent the nose and intake from shoveling the ground on landing

With my chosen power system, I figured she would either be a ballistic missile or an epic lawn dart and " Survey Says........ Ballistic Missile " :)
This little critter is fast and not lacking for vertical. I had my concerns about the ESC being just enough to do the job, but it handled the load well and appears to have no issues with the motor or battery.

I saw the mods TiredIron had done to his F-8 and decided to go a little different. I personally do not like to use EZ connectors on thin wire gauges especially those that come in the small Free Wing planes.
If you take note of where TiredIron mounted his elevator servo, you can trim 3/16" of foam from both sides of the fuse at that location and you can fit (1) 9 gram servo and (1) 9 gram reverse servo right next to each other, and from there you just place the servo arms to be on opposing sides of each other. I made some really short custom Y-harnesses to hook up the ailerons and elevators to the receiver. The elevator push rods were cut to length and Z bends were applied to them. I glued the carbon fiber housing to the push rods for rigidity. The new control rod configuration caused some issues with the fuselage so I had to trim a portion of the Motor hatch side walls and glue them to the main fuse to align with the push rod paths. I then carved out some of the foam to allow free movement and hooked up all the control surfaces according to the manual.

I noticed some pilots here on the forums were discussing how the intake on their planes were getting chewed up on landing, so it got me to looking at her posture. If you leave the ventral fins at stock length, the tail sits pretty high and forces the nose / intake right into the ground to act like a shovel. I measured 3/8" from the forward tip of the ventral fin along its edge and drew a straight line back to the aft tip of the ventral fin. I trimmed the ventral fins along the new line and she sits much flatter on the table. Her new posture lets her rest more on her belly and gives you roughly 1/4" of free space between the intake and the table surface. :Cool:

All the flight controls were set to recommended defaults with the DRs set at 100% high, 80% mid, and 60% low rate. The Expo was set at 30% ailerons and 20% elevator. I pushed the (4S) battery as far back as I could get it and the model balanced at the factory CG requiring (1) oz of lead in the tail. { literally glued on the very back edge of the tail cone. } :Scared:

When my buddy threw her for take off, she headed out with authority. The ailerons were super sensitive and I ended up switching to low rates for good control. The elevator was also sensitive and I dropped them down to mid rates for the rest of the flight.
My standard practice for a test flight is 2 minutes at variable throttle settings to set trims, gage speed, and do a stall test. The trim settings were fussy on this one so I forgot to do the stall test. On landing, I missed the runway and let her drift off to the side where she picked up some minor gouges from the rocks and weed clippings in the dirt. The bird showed no bad habits but appeared to sink like brick at low throttle settings. The added weight of the (4S) battery and the 1 ounce of lead in her tail probably did not help the situation. Flight time ended up being 1 minute & 45 seconds with a mild warm battery and 67% charge left on it.

Over all, I like her and she definitely has the potential to replace my Panther as the go-to fun plane to beat around with.
I will get another one in the future for spare parts and I plan to open up the battery bay some more to get the battery closer to the CG before I glue the wing down. Maybe this will allow me to remove some of the extra weight out of her tail.