Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[nuts-n-volts]

Well, then it must be true! Ph*%$in' alcohol!

[Fighterpilot]

I put the maiden flight on my A-4 Skyhawk yesterday and was very pleased with the stability of the model. It tracks like it's on rails. I added an Efite servoless bomb drop right at the CG in the center of the fuselage and dropped a bomb on the maiden flight. It works great and was very easy to install. I was careful when cutting the hole in the bottom of the fuselage not to hit any wires. Fished the receiver connection lead up to the receiver, plugged it into channel 7 and it works great. Just don't watch the bomb drop and not continue to watch your airplane.😁
I made a similar modification to my F-86, I glued some plastic screen over the louvered intake on the bottom of the fuselage, Flying off of grass, you suck up into the ducted fan a lot of grass cuttings up through this bottom intake. It works great to keep the grass out of your fuselage and fan and does not seem to restrict the airflow. I'll post a picture later. After takeoff, and usually on the downwind, I cut the throttle all the way back and watch the grass fall off of the underside of the fuselage.

[locharrow]

Just back from flying with one of the batteries still hot. Is it ok to put it in the fridge, just a thought,never tried it before.

[mrxw393]

Hello all, wow there's a hell of of a lot to read here!! Some great information. As much as I love my 8s Phantom I would like to ask what sort of flight times are others getting?
I am using a pair of Zee 4s 7000 mah batteries that have done 8 flights and I'm just getting 3 minutes out of it. I am using some throttle management but I'm a bit surprised the flight time isn't a bit closer to 4 minutes. I noticed the flight times on post number 3771 and that really makes me wonder.
I would welcome any feedback, thanks.

[locharrow]

Just stuck a set of led pads up the a#@s of the F4, wired up and it lights up like a vulcano. Looking forward to first flight ! 👊

[Elbee]

LA, I know, right? It is a great finishing touch. Happy hunting. Best, LB

[locharrow]

Tx LB….I hope I don’t focus on the tail too much and watch it disappear into the void!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hello all, wow there's a hell of of a lot to read here!! Some great information. As much as I love my 8s Phantom I would like to ask what sort of flight times are others getting?
I am using a pair of Zee 4s 7000 mah batteries that have done 8 flights and I'm just getting 3 minutes out of it. I am using some throttle management but I'm a bit surprised the flight time isn't a bit closer to 4 minutes. I noticed the flight times on post number 3771 and that really makes me wonder.
I would welcome any feedback, thanks.

Not sure this will help at all. I have two 6S F-4's, both with the 4068 12 blade (I'll get to some 8S comparison shortly). Been flying them on the SMC 6200 HiV 6S cells, weight 848 gr with timer set at 3:40, always come down after pushing it hard at or beyond the time and have over 20%. Just tried the new SMC HiV 5900's, weight 740 gr (same balance point so moved batteries a bit forward) and with the loss of 100 gr, even though a slightly less mah, I'm up over 4:00 with over 20% left. It flies much better with less weight. I do have the 8S Eurofighter and fly it on a single 8S SMC HiV 4400 weight 780 gr and get about 4:30 on it. Tried it with the single 8S SMC HiV 5300 at 964 gr (184 gr more plus needed more tail weight) and didn't get much more flight time and it did not perform with the same agility. So my question is, how much do the 2 7000's weigh together. I'm guessing about 1,200 gr. That's almost one pound heavier than the F-4's I'm flying, and it's still the same airframe as your 8S. The extra power is great, but the extra weight needed to push it is not.

I have several 8S EDF's that are outstanding but it's always a battle with trying to keep the weight down and take advantage of the extra power. You may want to try a lighter pack and see if that helps in any way. Just a thought, probably not worth much.

[mrxw393]

Hi Hugh, I think your right about the battery weight and this is why I haven't got a second set of batteries yet. I hadn't considered using high voltage packs it sounds like the way to go going off the results you've had.
I'll wait and read your comparison when you post it.
Thanks for posting :)

[Hugh Wiedman]

I'll wait and read your comparison when you post it.
Thanks for posting :)

I don't have any more info to post on batts for an 8S F4. For now, I'm leaving my 2 F4's on the big 12 blade 6S inrunner. My flying buddy has similar results, although not on an F4, with his 8S F22 / F16 / Eurofighter as I did. Same or more flight time and better "handling" using SMC HiV 4400's (2 4S batts in his case) than their HiV 5300's or 6200's, so we're both convinced some models handle weight worse. The F4 is the only jet I have that's balanced close to manual cg. I'm back only 6 extra mm with that one, yet every other jet I have is at least 25-50mm further aft. For me, the F4 gets squirrelly too far back and stalls easily, which may contribute to the need to keep the weight down.

[Evan D]

I agree, fine line between awesome and tail heavy.

[locharrow]

"For me, the F4 gets squirrelly too far back and stalls easily," Not only the plane that gets squirrelly when the CG is a shade too far back Hugh! ..found that out when I had a loose battery strap. . Editing late afternoon...just back from first afterburner flights...excellent.....love it .

[mrxw393]

Ok Hugh good to know. I've been looking around for those SMC hiv packs,but on this side of the planet they are very hard to get.
I'll keep flying the Zee packs I have for now and hopefully soon SMC or a distributor will get some stock.
There are times when I envy you guys in the States, between free post deals with kits I read about at times, availability of parts it must be great being in a much larger country with a far bigger market to cater for compared to Australia and with good reason might I add.

[locharrow]

Another impressive pic.....

[locharrow]

This one is special. We, the British, took the F4 Phantom and give it some real class............none of your Andy Warhol stuff, more ..........Gainsborough........

[f4u ausie]

Hi guys looking at my next one for the hanger(they r slowly increasing yea) hav had my eye on this for a long long time... but new i needed to improve my skills.. jets so far dynam me 262 a puppy,, avous mig 17 also a puppy.. then 70 mm fwing f35 and struggled a bit with that,, now have al37 easy peasy,, im not sure about 3 min flight times on this,, its not long... i have a hi perf innrunner and esc ,out of the mig,, but can get an 8s here for not alot more... so u guys may me help on the 8s flight times,,, lastly i can get a fwing couger instead ,,, may b better choice, b4 the f4.. just not sure which way to jump thanx in advance

[f4u ausie]

And of will need to buy 4s batts

[Evan D]

Is the MiG17 fan and ESC the stock one? It’s not enough for the FW F-4.

[f4u ausie]

No of the top of my head the mig was 1500 kv out and upgrada to alluminum cas 1930 kv innrunner and 125 amp aftermarket hardcased esc from motian.. cant think of the name

[f4u ausie]

Its a fwing comlete unit

[f4u ausie]

Esc is gecho 125 cant find the fan will after work