Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

[TiredIronGRB]

The F-5 has been transformed.... The new FMS 80mm Fan combo is lighter than stock and requires very little work to make fit in the F-5... It is a missile now!! take a look...

Very nice!

[purduephigam]

This is a sweet jet. Definitely on my list once I actually get proficient with my trainers.

[gooniac33]

The F-5 has been transformed.... The new FMS 80mm Fan combo is lighter than stock and requires very little work to make fit in the F-5... It is a missile now!! take a look...

[crxmanpat]

That's true. We just can't leave well enough alone. Right now I'm contemplating making mine a Mig-28. ;)

[vduniec]

Repaint looks great! I would have preferred this scheme over the stock one.

Yeah, but then everyone would have it and I would have to pick another scheme. ;)

Thanks.

[crxmanpat]

Repaint looks great! I would have preferred this scheme over the stock one.

[vduniec]

Wow! Guess this thread has been quiet for a while.

Here's my repaint. Kit is stock and I ordered an extra set of kit decals to apply after the repaint. The tail decal is custom made. The kit's "Bort" number on the nose was rearranged from 110 to 101 to reflect the plane with this camouflage scheme.

The sidewinders were shortened about a 1/4" to improve their appearance.

I've flown the plane prior to repaint and I find it to be actually a really sweet flyer.

[Brandon Moon]

Here is a little of what I've done with mine

[roys001]

I have flown it. For now every flight is a trim flight. I've had to add a bit of down trim to the flaps. Now that I've got two positions of flaps trimmed, I'm need to work on the tendency to roll to the left. I'm thinking the tail plains are slightly out of sync. Just a slight difference is a lot of surface trying to roll the plane. I'm using the travel adjustment to move the one elevator very slightly up.
Once I get it zeroed out it will be nice. It's fast now, but once the surfaces stop arguing with each other it will be better.
Even though it's fast (to me it is) it slows down very nice. The flaps are a must on landing. Don't really need them on take off. The plane has pleanty of power to get up to speed quickly.
It's a great plane. I'm anxious to stretch my skill to match.

[jetjocchris]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

I installed the Inrunner 1750kv last night. Installation was pretty easy, just about a drop in fit other than taking out a little bit of foam where the wires turn under the motor and run forward as viewed looking down on the bottom of the aircraft. Had to break the cheater hole grate loose and also my battery tray so I could get at my Rx to plug in the throttle wire.
The inrunner is a bit heavier so I had to move my batts forward some but thats about it...

I powered up in the garage and you can hear the difference for sure.
First flight was with a 6000mah batt and there is a significant power increase. My first upwind pass was 108mph with about a 5mph wind. Vertical is greatly improved, the sound is the same or better and the high speed passes are great...

Timer was set to 5 minutes but I touched down right at 5 minutes and after taxi back I still had about 34%. Batts were warmer than with the outrunner but then again I was wringing it out.
Next flight was with 5000mah batt, same timer settings and after landing at 4-5 minutes I had 28% and this was a new battery with only a few flights on it.

So I'm thinking I can still get my full 5 minutes and set up for landing when the timer goes off. Good throttle management should give me this with no problem.

If you want a little more out of this plane then install the Inrunner, you won't be disappointed.
It was exciting before the Inrunner, now it's just plain exhilarating. One guy standing next to me said, "I can see you shaking, I thought I was the only one who did that". I said, this thing still scares me a little bit...hahaha!!!

[Konrad]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

Have you flown her yet Roy? Mike and I have no elevator to flap mix on ours. I would try it out with no mix first to see what it needs if anything. My guess is up would be whats needed if any. The F5 is a great flyer, and well behaved on the ground as well. I'm a channel cheapskate, with my steering I set the throw to 55% as called out in the manual and then manually moved the control rod in a hole to increase the rudder after programming so much out. This way I don't spend an extra channel, but still have ample throw on the rudder and a dampened nose wheel throw as prescribed.

Where I have mine balance I need some down mix in the 2 F5-E I fly. (I hate to have to have forward stick on my landing approaches. I also land with 20% to30% power on) I too use the tried and true mechanical ratios to control the nose gear and rudder differential. I try to set up my nose wheels so that they take 80% of the width of my runway to turn around. I also try to get as much rudder as is possible.

The added camber from the flaps would add a stronger down pitching motion to the airfoil, but the change to the airflow over the stab actually allows the nose to rise when the flaps are out (down). Well, that is my explanation for what I've notice with the F5-E

All the best,
Konrad

[crxmanpat]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

My go-to plane is the A-6 Intruder. I just love the stable flying characteristics and profile with the bomb load out attached. Just look at my avatar! :D

[ryramZ]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

Man, I have beat the crap out of my F-5, broken the fuse, broken the wings a few times, broken the vertical stab. But I just glue her back together and she keeps on flying! She won't win any beauty contests, but flying by at 90mph you can't tell! Love this plane.

Yeah, we love it Pat! I use my F5 and Stinger 90 for warm ups and windy day jet flyers. Great all around jet. It's nice that it doesnt take up much space for transport as well, leaving room for others.

Ryan

[crxmanpat]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

Man, I have beat the crap out of my F-5, broken the fuse, broken the wings a few times, broken the vertical stab. But I just glue her back together and she keeps on flying! She won't win any beauty contests, but flying by at 90mph you can't tell! Love this plane.

[ryramZ]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

Have you flown her yet Roy? Mike and I have no elevator to flap mix on ours. I would try it out with no mix first to see what it needs if anything. My guess is up would be whats needed if any. The F5 is a great flyer, and well behaved on the ground as well. I'm a channel cheapskate, with my steering I set the throw to 55% as called out in the manual and then manually moved the control rod in a hole to increase the rudder after programming so much out. This way I don't spend an extra channel, but still have ample throw on the rudder and a dampened nose wheel throw as prescribed.

[roys001]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

I recently got a Spektrum DX-18. The F-5 is the first model I have set up where I have used the 10 channel receiver that comes with the radio. For this set up I connected each servo to a single channel on the receiver. Doing this has provided some interesting options as well as some challenges. For example, rudder authority on this plane is minimal but the nose gear steering is sensitive. By separating out the channels I was able to mix the nose gear steering as a percentage of the rudder. This gives me the best of both worlds and has made take off and landing much easier.
Currently I'm working on getting the right mix of flaps to down elevator. That will make landing approaches much better.
If anyone wants more info let me know I'll be happy to share the set up information. If you have info to share regarding flap to elevator ratio's that would be helpful.

[Konrad]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

We move the tray because we are using a larger (heavier) battery than spec'd. We do this to gain flight time at the cost of flight performance from the added Wing loading.

Use a lighter battery up front and get a nicer (slower) flying model. If you are a more advanced flyer up the weight and get longer flight times. But to keep the CofG correct you will need to push the heavier battery aft.

Moving the tray aft is a simple process that any modeler should be able to accomplish any time during the build and just as easily after the build. I like the smaller tray to keep the weight down.

All the best,
Konrad

[kenswa]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

Very nice, thank you!

What I don't understand, is if everyone has to move the Battery tray to balance, why doesn't Freewing redesign the battery tray so that it is more accommodating? To me that would make sense.

[Konrad]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

Very nice, thank you!

[jetjocchris]

RE: Freewing 80mm F-5E Tiger II

OV10, yep it's down in Vegas. No snow here, just a few windy and cloudy days. It's really a great spot and the best part is that I live about 2 blocks away.