Official Freewing 64mm F-105D Thunderchief

[Tony617]

Just wondering, I see that Motion RC has the landing gear available for the F-105. The description does not say how large the wheels are. Are they large enough to fly off of a short cut grass runway? I am good without the LG if the wheels are too small.

Thank you,

Tony

[Arcangel]

The new 64mm 12 blade fans from MotionRC come with the inlet rings not glued on. You can get them at MRC for $7.49. As for my A-10, I just squeezed the fan shroud to crack the inlet ring loose and took it off. I got lucky that it did not have a ton of glue and that tape securing it. :Whew:

Yes, you are going to lose quite a bit of thrust dropping down to a 3S battery running on a 4S 3300kv system, but the airframe behaves so much better with the lighter wing loading than she does with a 4S battery. On the 3S battery she flies just like my upgraded panther. Good speed range and fantastic vertical.

The 4S battery just made the 105 super fast, but it also made it a lot more difficult to get her air borne, super sensitive to control, and it had absolutely no glide capabilities. You either brought her in on 1/3rd power or she was coming down like a brick.

I suppose if speed is your thing, the 4S system upgrade and battery would be a good start. The installation of the external landing gear would solve the take off and some of the fast landing issues, but you would still have to deal with the control sensitivity.

[Boots Whirlygig]

Arcangel so the FW 64mm A-10 edf unit is a direct fit? The pictures of it shows an inlet lip, the unit in my 105 doesn’t have this inlet lip therefore I’d have to either cut foam or cut off this lip. Plus on 3S, 4500kv - 3300kv aren’t you losing thrust?:Confused:

[Arcangel]

Hola` my friends,

I just thought I would give my personal assessment on the 105 and all the fun she has brought to my field. I got mine on the Wednesday after Christmas and had her ready to maiden on that weekend. Only mods I could do was the upgrade to a 4S 2836 - 3300kv power system running on an Admiral Pro 4S - 2500 50C pack that I had left over from a FreeWing A-10. Installation was uneventful and required no dremell work or foam cutting. The power system dropped right in and I used a ZTW 65 amp Mantis ESC because that was all I had left on hand for ESCs. She balanced at factory location with just the battery and no additional weight needed. :Cool:

The maiden flight was a handful and quite exciting. The 105 took several seconds and a few feet of airspace for her wings to catch up to the motor and she almost did not make it off the ground. Ounce her wings got sufficiently flying, she became a rocket. I would best estimate that at full throttle, she could easily out run the FW A-4 and could probably keep a good pace with a FW Stinger 90. :Scared:
Her flight controls in this configuration was extremely sensitive, and down right twitchy. I had to drop her down to 60% dual rates and 40% expo on the ailerons but keep 100% dual rates and 30% expo on the elevator. Her flight time was 2 minutes + 20 seconds for a couple of go-arounds and she landed with 65% left on the battery. I estimate that I could probably get 3 1/2 minutes maybe four with good throttle management. Her landing was just as exciting as her take off as she dropped like a boat anchor when the power dropped off below 30% throttle. I had to land her hot just to make sure she reached the runway and let her slide a good 100 feet for her to come to a full stop. Only damaged she took was from the plywood ventral fin splintering near its tip. I put 2 more flights on her in the 4S config and did not really enjoy flying her that much, so I switched out the battery to an Admiral Pro 3S 2200 40C pack

The 3S system took a lot of weight off her wing loading and really made her a better flyer although not nearly as fast as with the 4S battery. I bumped the aileron dual rates up to 70% and lowered the expo down to 30% and kept the elevator dual rates and expo the same. Take offs were much nicer as she just went out on the path my friend could throw her at a good solid pace while she picked up speed. Her flight characteristics got much better and she flew just like the Panther or the Crusader. Her landings were much easier as she would actually glide in on minimal throttle and her touch downs on the runway were a lot softer. I brought her in after 2 minutes + 30 seconds for go-arounds and she landed with 45% left on the battery. I would estimate that the 3S battery will give me 3 minutes of solid flight time + another 30 - 40 seconds for go-arounds. ;)

The only mods I plan to do to the 105 is add a couple of stand off near the horizontal to stiffen up the elevator wire { the elevator wire has a lot of flex when you give her full up }, cut a new ventral fin from carbon fiber plate and replace the plywood fin, and a new paint job for SEA cammies.

I have put 2 more flights on her in the 3S config and set my flight timer to 3 minutes and use another 10 - 20 seconds for setup and landing and I'm ending up with my battery coming in with 25% left on it and just barely warm.

I hope everyone enjoys their F-105 as I am. :)

[GBLynden]

I received my shipping notification! I am so excited :)

[Tony617]

I started putting together my Thunderchief and I had to open up the access port for ESC since the red wire was disconnected. Pretty easy to fix but then when I bound my receiver only ailerons and elevators worked and the ESC would not power the EDF. I had a spare ESC so I connected that up and it worked. I would use my spare ESC but the battery connector is way too short since was meant for a propeller plane. I opened a support ticket for the issue.

Update on 01/02/2018:

I posted my issue on RCGroups.com and person replied that I need to trim the throttle. So I trimmed the throttle all the way down and it now the ESC successfully arms since I hear 4 beeps now. Never had an issue with my EDF before and i have Freewing F86 park flier and an HK Vampire that I just left the trim in the middle. I do have a switch set to cut the throttle if needed and I flip the switch before I push the throttle stick up for taxiing and takeoff rolls.

Tony

[Westsider]

+1 on the Vulcan then. Soon DD...

[Westsider]

Back to 75% on the rates today; 60% was a little too docile. Fun flyer!

[Boots Whirlygig]

If you keep in mind you hand launch the park-jets, it should have a high or mid mounted wing. A Draken would be cool!

[Tony617]

Would not mind seeing a Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow.

[Bearcat]

VULCAN!!!!!

[Boots Whirlygig]

4 stock flights today, four clean landings with the stock skid plate.:Cool: Whittled the rates down to 60% after the first flight. CG seemed perfect with an 1800 dead-centered. Another classic edf park jet winner. I'm digging down sizing:Don't-tell-Anyone:. Is it too soon to ask DD, but it seems 106 comes after 105 :Ligthbulb:, no?

On the podcast Alpha says the next park-jet will not be a US jet. Can’t wait to see what it will be! My guess is the English Electric Lightning, which would be perfect!

[Westsider]

4 stock flights today, four clean landings with the stock skid plate.:Cool: Whittled the rates down to 60% after the first flight. CG seemed perfect with an 1800 dead-centered. Another classic edf park jet winner. I'm digging down sizing:Don't-tell-Anyone:. Is it too soon to ask DD, but it seems 106 comes after 105 :Ligthbulb:, no?

[dahawk]

If I had to do over again, I would have left it stock. The stock edf has a short body. To install a 4S, 12 like I have in the F/A-18 is a real PITA. Need to carve out some foam.

Flight report ? Not good. Went out yesterday . Hands were freezing and that caused a lousy hand launch. Dirt napped. Lol. Not much damage though. Nose cone came off which was a good thing. Broke the v-stab which I already repaired. Will try again soon.

Have her balanced but I wonder if the auw is too heavy in general. Yes, a lot more power than stock but with the bigger edf, esc and a 4s 2600 80C. RT she needs that much power ( 600W) to get airborne. I suspect I have her 2X heavier than stock. Not sure I accomplished anything by upping the power.

My rec is to fly her stock first.

Cheers,

Hawk

[Boots Whirlygig]

Hey there Augermeister, do you know, is this 64mm 5 blade a different unit than what FreeWing uses in their other 3s jets? I have the Freewing 64mm 12-Blade EDF 4S Power System w/ 2836-3500kv Motor on hand, however, my skill level tells me to leave mine stock! :Silly:I am waiting patiently on your flight report!:Cool:

[Westsider]

Arrived yesterday, built today, flies tomorrow. This thing is clean:Cool:

[dahawk]

It's cold out there but I'm going to try to maiden my 4S 650 watt 12 blade version tomorrow. Hopefully not one and done ! LOL

[Tony617]

I had the UPS guy deliver my F-105D today. I have not had a chance to open the box yet. I will be watching the build and flying videos this weekend.

Tony

[GBLynden]

Hi Alpha!

Any updates for those of us that pre-ordered and haven't had theirs ship yet?

Thanks,
GB

[Bearcat]

I will get the landing gear for this one and the F-8 when I am ready to order it.