Official Freewing 64mm F-8 Crusader Thread

[FLTRI]

Put three batteries through mine this morning. One Admiral 1800 and two Zippy Compact 1500's.

All three flew exactly the same. I can see no difference in speed, climb, stall, trim, etc. between the batteries. Launch at WOT and keep it there until I gather steam, and the back off 3-4 clicks for cruise. Couple of WOT passes, no real aerobatics. My timer was set at 3:30. Admiral came home at 11.3v and 3.77 per cell. Zippy's were 11.1/3.68 and 10.9/3.62 so I need to back my timer down to 3:00 or get out of the throttle more often. I'm storage balancing the batteries now.

My nose skid mod is working perfectly. One landing was particularly hot (bad) and I actually bounced it on the grass, went airborne again at about a foot off the deck, and came back down. Absolutely zero damage. I really like this plane, and have the hand toss down now. That gray camo works a bit too well with an overcast sky, but my yellow aileron and scoop mod do help with orientation. It's different than a prop planer sure (louder and shorter flights) but it looks killer streaking by!

[TPS]

I flew the stock F-8 and it was very good. However, I decided to upgrade the EDF to an FMS 12B, 64mm, outrunner motor. I also added landing gear, rudder and a cheater screen. I'm using a Roaringtop 2600mah, 80C battery moved aft to stay within CG (had to cut some foam - see picture ). I added a .5 ounce weight to the lower tail. The power output is amazing and I'll fly it soon.

[Westsider]

Eight landings with no gear, no fins and no skid plates, foam is getting scored. I fly off a pretty smooth dirt runway, but damage was inevitable. Time to add some protection. I wanted skegs like the control horn that FLTRI added to his craft. Went through some spare parts bags, ( $5.00 junk box at a swap meet) and found two Hobbyzone Mini Cub tail assemblies. Plastic insert for joining vertical and horizontal stabs to fuselage looked perfect, minus spikes. Found desired belly clearance, and was about to glue my Eddie Van Halen guitar pick under the intake when I found a bit bigger triangle in the junk drawer that fit even better. Maybe on the next one Eddie.

[roys001]

I have completed the maiden flight + about 7 more flights. While it will fly with the 3s 2200 I just don't like the feel of it. I found I got an extra 30 seconds of flight time with the 2200 over the 1300, but the handling, launch, and landing characteristics were MUCH better with the 1300. I've considered upgrading the plane to the F-18 high performance set up but again, the additional weight and stress I don't feel is worth it. I do think I will go ahead and separate out the ailerons and the elevators. Having them linked makes it kind of strange in the corners.
Over all it's a great bird and I enjoy flying it ever time I take it out. I get a lot of comments after it flys. It has such a unique silhouette in the sky. Great job Team Freewing!

[EA-6B Geek]

Finally, maidened my F-8 early this morning. I went with a 4s 2200mah battery, 2836-3300kv out runner with 12 bladed fan from the 4s Stinger parts bin. It has retracts, and I separated the ailerons from the elevator. Flies well, but it's sure hard for me to see!

[Felixs10]

Finally, maidened my F-8 early this morning. I went with a 4s 2200mah battery, 2836-3300kv out runner with 12 bladed fan from the 4s Stinger parts bin. It has retracts, and I separated the ailerons from the elevator. Flies well, but it's sure hard for me to see!

Very cool ! What did you pull the retracts from ? Can you share some more landing gear pics

[EA-6B Geek]

The landing gear are shortened 70mm F-104 items. I'm almost embarrassed to share a close up photo of it on here! There are some amazing modelers on this site. I'm just a hack!

[Hardway]

A smart hack!!! LOL Show it Bro! We are all in this together......

[EA-6B Geek]

A smart hack!!! LOL Show it Bro! We are all in this together......

LOLI will. I'll take a photo or two in the morning. Needless to say, the fan isn't starving for air, as I cut plenty of cheater holes!

[EA-6B Geek]

Here's my landing gear installation in the F-8. I used the landing gear mounts and retracts available for the FW 70mm F-104. The nose gear mount is glued directly to the bottom of the plywood battery tray. For the main gear I hogged out holes in the appropriate places, and epoxied the gear mounts in place. It's not a pretty setup, but it seems to work well. I shortened all three landing gear considerably.

[Felixs10]

Here's my landing gear installation in the F-8. I used the landing gear mounts and retracts available for the FW 70mm F-104. The nose gear mount is glued directly to the bottom of the plywood battery tray. For the main gear I hogged out holes in the appropriate places, and epoxied the gear mounts in place. It's not a pretty setup, but it seems to work well. I shortened all three landing gear considerably.

You may call yourself a hack , but gave us (or at least me an idea or two . Did you fly it prior to adding the landing gear? How did handle the extra weight?

Great job by the way.

[EA-6B Geek]

You may call yourself a hack , but gave us (or at least me an idea or two . Did you fly it prior to adding the landing gear? How did handle the extra weight?

Great job by the way.

Did not fly it before doing all the mods. Weighs 2.0 pounds ready to fly. It seems to fly fine with no bad habits, but it's not a white knuckle performer by any means. I have the ailerons set up as flaperons for landing, slows down okay. It's just so small and gray, hard for me to see!

[Westsider]

Showed my surfer brother with a 3d printer in Santa Cruz a picture of my f-8 mods - he sent me a local trinket without turning on the printer. Must admit it works even better than what I came up with. Flopped her down hard on it a couple times to check. Thanks 'bro. I call her the Santa Cruz Slider now. Shine on you crazy diamond :Music:

[Alpha]

First off, thank you to everyone who made the Crusader such a massive success! The one-two punch of Crusader and Thunderchief appear to have done exactly what we set out to do, which is rejuvenate the 64mm ParkJet class with new models and new excitement.

Due to huge demand, we have decided to open a pre-order for the second batch of F-8s that shipped about two weeks ago. Normally, we prefer not to open pre-orders for second batches, but the waiting list is huge so we want to give people a chance to guarantee themselves one. Even though this is a huge second batch on the water now, there are still about twice as many people on the Notify Me list, so, friendly tip to anyone wanting one sooner rather than later: don't hesitate to pre-order as soon as you're comfortable doing so. We have many more to come.

We tried to produce as many as we could, and even then, your support of the Crusader still overwhelmed us! Thank you!

https://www.motionrc.com/products/freewing-f-8-crusader-64mm-edf-jet-pnp#description-tab

The landing gear is also in these incoming shipments. They'll be added to the website soon, but in the meantime, pre-orders are to contain the PNP only, not other parts. See the product page for complete details.

[xplaneguy]

Thanks Santa! :Cool:

[xplaneguy]

As a fan of aviation art, these two are really sweet! GOT CRUSADER? :)

[CFIT rob]

Beautiful. So many aircraft look elegant in design, mustang,spitfire, supersabre,saber. To me the Crusader looks sinister. Top tier predator stuff. Like a great white just before the seal gets it. Just think how awsome an 80mm version will be.

[Jinga Din]

We tried it here at the factory and it was B. ALL. ISTIC. You'll need a smaller 4s, though, or prepare to do some hogging. We left as much room as we could in the forward compartment, as seen below. In Ryan's flight video you can see that his 3s ~1600-1800 batt is all the way aft.



For you modders, here's a photo of the constituent parts. You can see the area under the main wing is open, so relocate your battery and ESC to hit CG.



And finally, here are some photos of the Crusader alongside the 64mm Panther and Hornet:




Final note: I fly mine on tailerons only, as a matter of personal preference. I pinned the ailerons shut and disconnected their control linkage. If anyone is curious if it can be done, it can be.

Why tailerons only?

[ApolloKid]

I promissd my wife to drop the RC habit ehen I started flying full scale again last year. So now my plane is stowed in a hanger and I sped as much time working on it as I did dreming about purchasing it with my partner.
I love to build and have an interest in creating a collection of small park sized jets and prop planes for display and fun time at the park in Raleigh. Looks lim these 64 mm df jets might serve the need without getting in too much heat at home.
because i love scale i am wondering if these new planes like the F8 and F105 lind themselves to scale additions that might come from styrene plastic models. Are they of simlar scale to plastic kits?
other ideas and suggestions as to where i can find other nostalgic scale pilots with the desire to help me are appreciated.
Retired sort-of
Son of Titan II booster lead project engineer and LM descent engine team member.

PS, I have an original photo of Titan II with signatures of engineer team thanking my pop. I need to restore it. Anyone know where to send it?

[meadowhay]

I couldn't stand the thought of flying without a pilot figure, and being without a suitable one laying around I scaled this one down and printed it off on my 3D printer (It's terribly addictive btw!)
Also added ejector seat handles made from some scrap yellow wire and a piece of heat shrink tube just to make the office look busy.

The link is to the STL file and the photos are of a US Navy APH-5 flight helmet with MS22001 oxygen mask. VF-162 Hunters on F-8A Crusader (1963) which is a bit early for this one, but gives a good idea.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2721974