Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[jetfool]

Davegee,

Great looking planes. My favorite planes from the Vietnam era. 28 degrees, A bit cold for my bones. I hope to have a Motion F-4 someday. Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,

Great looking planes. My favorite planes from the Vietnam era. 28 degrees, A bit cold for my bones. I hope to have a Motion F-4 someday. Rex

Thanks, Rex. My A-4E I chose to use a paint scheme from VA-152, which flew off of the USS Shangri-La during the Viet Nam war. Couple neat stories I remember hearing about the Shangri-La. It was one of over a couple dozen Essex class carriers to come out of WWII. The Shangri-La was named after the mythical paradise in the Himalayan mountains that a very popular book and movie came from back in those days. After the Doolittle Raid, President Roosevelt was queried by a reporter about where in the heck those B-25s came from, since we had no known air forces within thousands of miles of Tokyo, at the time. Not to give away any secrets to the reporter, Roosevelt just said something like "They must have come from Shangri-La!"

A friend recently sent me a video of astronaut James Lovell, now 95 years old but looking pretty good for his age. He was being interviewed, and talked about some close calls he had in the Navy. He was assigned to the USS Shangri-La in the 1950s. He was on a night mission in the Pacific, and was attempting to find his way back to the ship and plugged in a little light that he made attached to his kneeboard to see it better in the dark. Unfortunately for him, when he did so, it shorted out all lights for the plane's instruments! He had to put his little flashlight and clamp it by his teeth to try and see the instruments in the dark. While he was doing this, he noticed a phosphorescent light on the water below, which he deduced was algae being churned up by the screws of the carrier. He followed the trail and then found the carrier and landed safely. In the movie Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks, who played Lovell, they talked about this very story from his Navy flying days.

It's been a long winter for us and a slow climb out of winter to Spring. It snowed earlier today, but I think we might finally be getting untracked for some warmer more pleasant temps, and of course More Flying!!

Have you flown your Corsair yet?

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,

We have had rain and 20-30 mph winds. Suppose to warm up next week and start to be nice. Haven't flown the maiden yet, need to keep practicing with my semi-scale/ sport models until I feel confidant again. As you know a lot of hours in our Corsairs and I want to be on my toes. I have been flying those when weather has been right. I have a Jet Hanger F-4 alll in primer and may install EDF in it. Have a nib OS 91 and Dyna-max but don't think I will use it. I think the Motion F-4 is lighter than a Jet Hanger F-4 as I installed scale gear, flaps and cockpit years ago,it would probably.weigh 12# after paint. Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,

We have had rain and 20-30 mph winds. Suppose to warm up next week and start to be nice. Haven't flown the maiden yet, need to keep practicing with my semi-scale/ sport models until I feel confidant again. As you know a lot of hours in our Corsairs and I want to be on my toes. I have been flying those when weather has been right. I have a Jet Hanger F-4 alll in primer and may install EDF in it. Have a nib OS 91 and Dyna-max but don't think I will use it. I think the Motion F-4 is lighter than a Jet Hanger F-4 as I installed scale gear, flaps and cockpit years ago,it would probably.weigh 12# after paint. Best Regards, Rex

Hi Rex: I just checked my FW F-4N. It has an all-up weight of exactly 9 lbs with all the ordnance, brakes, A/B lighting system, scale cockpit and a 6S 5000 mAh battery in it. It's less than I remembered, but at this altitude of 5000 feet MSL it is a sled. Likes going fast. I should get a bunch of flights out of it and the A-4 this year, I hope. I think on Monday, weather permitting, I'll fly my F-18C again. Getting more comfortable with it, a bit each time I fly it. Just have to get out more often. The museum projects I wrote about earlier are starting to pile up now. So, I'll have less time to play with my airplanes, but still plan to get out when I can to fly.

Just got back from the field now after doing a flight test on my FL Spitfire that I have had for about 6 years now. On a recent landing, not even a bad one, the fuselage split vertically several inches on either side of the fuse where the hatch cutout is. Repaired it and flew it again, and even with smooth landings, it came back. Last time I found some long 1/4" carbon fiber tubes that I glued into foam recesses on either side of the fuselage interior and got three flights today in good shape. So, I think it is fully "operational" again!

Here's hoping for nice Spring weather for you to fly your new Corsair!

Cheers,

Dave

[jetfool]

Davegee'
Your Spit looks great. Learning to keep these foam models in flying shape is like learning to build balsa models to get strength without adding weight. A new learning experience that I enjoy in my modeling endeavors. Hope our weather improves, still windy and cold today Damp air goes right to my bones these days. Please keep us informed on your NASM endeavors, always good to see things progressing that go to museums.
Nice to hear you have a hanger full of interesting aircraft. My workroom, garage and attic are full of older nitro models that I should sell so I can purchase more of Motions planes. I hate to get rid of them after all these years and no one wants to pay anything for nitro anymore. Rex

[davegee]

Davegee'
Your Spit looks great. Learning to keep these foam models in flying shape is like learning to build balsa models to get strength without adding weight. A new learning experience that I enjoy in my modeling endeavors. Hope our weather improves, still windy and cold today Damp air goes right to my bones these days. Please keep us informed on your NASM endeavors, always good to see things progressing that go to museums.
Nice to hear you have a hanger full of interesting aircraft. My workroom, garage and attic are full of older nitro models that I should sell so I can purchase more of Motions planes. I hate to get rid of them after all these years and no one wants to pay anything for nitro anymore. Rex

Will do, Rex. At some point, I'll need to cull a few planes from my collection for anything new I want to do, but mentally I haven't arrived at that point yet of letting any go.

Things are full steam ahead with those contract models now. The biggest project for me will be repurposing a fiberglass 1:15 scale Shuttle Orbiter model, cutting out a payload bay, and doing a scale interior as well as figure out how to hang it upside down with the bay doors open, a model with the dimensions of 4 feet by 8 feet. It will be a challenge, but I look forward to it.

Cheers

Dave

[Elbee]

Dave, uncertain if you are allowed to show your build process/progress, but if so, may I suggest you start a build log here at the "Squawk" in your own thread.
I, for one, would very interested in watching your process and progress. Just a thought. Best, Steve

[jetfool]

I second what Elbee said

[davegee]

Will do, Rex. At some point, I'll need to cull a few planes from my collection for anything new I want to do, but mentally I haven't arrived at that point yet of letting any go.

Things are full steam ahead with those contract models now. The biggest project for me will be repurposing a fiberglass 1:15 scale Shuttle Orbiter model, cutting out a payload bay, and doing a scale interior as well as figure out how to hang it upside down with the bay doors open, a model with the dimensions of 4 feet by 8 feet. It will be a challenge, but I look forward to it.

Cheers

Dave

Hi Elbee: I think it would be ok if you think that would be of some interest to others. Where would I put it in the scheme of having some proper place for it to be seen and not horn in on other airplanes or interest topics of other folks?

Davegee

[Elbee]

Where would I put it in the scheme of having some proper place?Davegee

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/help#con...content_topics

Dave, click the link above and everything you need should be there. Glad you're thinking of doing this. Most excellent. Best, LB

[davegee]

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/help#con...content_topics

Dave, click the link above and everything you need should be there. Glad you're thinking of doing this. Most excellent. Best, LB

Thanks, Steve. Couple of things. First, I got an email from Prusa this morning. They profusely apologized for not getting to my printer earlier for the repair. But they are on it now. Hopefully they'll get it working to where I can just take the STLs, slice them for G Code files, and Actually print them up! I'll let you know when I get the printer back, not sure when.

I just looked at your wheel well and gear pics on your Corsair. What really stood out to me was your excellent weathering of the tires and wheels. Looks like they've been out in the South Pacific sun and coral! Well done!

[locharrow]

Great flying day today so out with the F4...No one at the park and the grass newly cut. Changed the model on the tx to F4 got a switch warning as usual for gyro switch sorted that by throwing the switch and it was good to go. All surfaces behaving. Threw the gyro switch back to normal and taxied out. Power up and it lifted off very smoothly. Let it get out a fair bit then gently banked round for a fast diving run to pull up into a vertical roll. Pulled up not too bad but it simply would not roll. Brought it back down a bit and flew a very gentle pattern, landed like a dream and taxied back to the car.

This is a quizz...............

[Coconut]

Gyro has SAFE that won't allow it to roll?

[locharrow]

Spot on…C.

[Coconut]

Good news, it live to fly another day. I would love to get the F4. I'm just hesitant to do the elevator modification.

[locharrow]

C…..there is very little you have to do…..stronger pushrod and as far as the servo is concerned I put in good standard size analog servo and it’s been in for several years now without any trouble. I’m a simple old codger and if I can do it……….anyone can do it. 🥸

[Evan D]

I still have the original servo and it's mounting. I did upgrade the pushrod and links.

[Elbee]

I would love to get the F4

CC, Just Do It. Best, LB

[locharrow]

Just grabbed a quick flight with the switch at the correct position.... I forgot how agile this F4 is! Nearly had heart attack after yesterday's sedate fly round! Needs a few wee adjustments but it flies very smoothly, not a lot of wind but enough to know the difference with the gyro.

[locharrow]

Gentlemen,hipeothitile hypathitilechypotheatrice ..a wee question. While making adjustments to my flaps it crossed my mind that if one flap was a bit more effective would the gyro correct any bank induced by the discrepancy?

[Elbee]

LA, Hypothetice loquendo. Best, LB

[GliderGuy]

Gentlemen,hipeothitile hypathitilechypotheatrice ..a wee question. While making adjustments to my flaps it crossed my mind that if one flap was a bit more effective would the gyro correct any bank induced by the discrepancy?

No sir….it is not the way they function.
The gyro will counter gust upsets and dynamic instability. It won’t fix out-of-rig planes. Rig/trim manually as always.

-GG