Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[DCORSAIR]

Got to say…..weather today was warm and black with thunder in the air. About 8 o’clock the wind dropped and as everything was in the car and ready I went out to the park. On the way over a black ominous cloud was drifting in but no rain and no people. Good flight as it got darker as the cloud arrived. Set up for landing, way out and watched it come in. First time the lights have really popped on approach, coming in dirty, nose up….f##k me I thought I was watching the real thing coming in. Just gets better and better.

Yes sir, I remember one time when I had my F-4, I was bringing it in on a nice evening with the sunsetting and got chills when seeing it on final approach, looks awesome on final, here is mine using no gyro either and sorry for the rest of the video, was my sons first time using his phone for a video, lol.

[jetpltrich]

Got to say…..weather today was warm and black with thunder in the air. About 8 o’clock the wind dropped and as everything was in the car and ready I went out to the park. On the way over a black ominous cloud was drifting in but no rain and no people. Good flight as it got darker as the cloud arrived. Set up for landing, way out and watched it come in. First time the lights have really popped on approach, coming in dirty, nose up….f##k me I thought I was watching the real thing coming in. Just gets better and better.

Love the lights! Flown many a time at dusk because it was the calmest time of the day. I won’t fly my EDF’s that don’t have lights at dusk. And yes, when the F-4 settles in on approach it gives me chills. It reminds me of my youth watching them come in on the ship.

Former Jet Pilot
SWA Capt. retired

[locharrow]

Got to say…..weather today was warm and black with thunder in the air. About 8 o’clock the wind dropped and as everything was in the car and ready I went out to the park. On the way over a black ominous cloud was drifting in but no rain and no people. Good flight as it got darker as the cloud arrived. Set up for landing, way out and watched it come in. First time the lights have really popped on approach, coming in dirty, nose up….f##k me I thought I was watching the real thing coming in. Just gets better and better.

[Elbee]

locharrow, great news, Sir. Best, LB

[locharrow]

Successful repair ......good flight today, just one as dog walkers arrived as I was changing the battery. I was watching for how it behaved after the repair and by jings (Scottish exclamation) it does not take long for the beast to go a long way! A few seconds straight line flight after it passes and it is just a dot in the sky! Battery cells at 3.7 ---3.6 again so looks like I'll stick with that extra wee while in the air.

[locharrow]

I had a Multiplex Twinjet a number of years ago, EPP foam I believe. Tough stuff, very durable. But not going through a tree at high speed. I flew at a school parking lot that was outlined by trees. It was fun, it forced me to fly inside and above a box. I had spatial disorientation on the bottom of a big loop. I had just pulled about parallel with the ground through a dive. I realized with enough time to swear but not to do anything before the wings were ripped off. It was an Aspen tree and all of the leaves were off. I had a great view of the impact. But it glued back together ok!

I get loads of spatial disorientation but it's usually after my Friday nights cab sauv or a few single malts when the wife is out socialising ........

[SanExup]

I had a Multiplex Twinjet a number of years ago, EPP foam I believe. Tough stuff, very durable. But not going through a tree at high speed. I flew at a school parking lot that was outlined by trees. It was fun, it forced me to fly inside and above a box. I had spatial disorientation on the bottom of a big loop. I had just pulled about parallel with the ground through a dive. I realized with enough time to swear but not to do anything before the wings were ripped off. It was an Aspen tree and all of the leaves were off. I had a great view of the impact. But it glued back together ok!

[f4u ausie]

Walk of shame last week...hit the top of a pine tree I thought I was above....but wasn't...heard it tumble through branches and boof.....hit the deck. Well blow me down, a few pine needles stuck in the underside of the wing, pancaked into tall grass, nose cone off but intact and the only damage was a crack in the stab beside the torque rod box. Good to go when weather improves, gales for the past couple of days............

Not that hard to do,, was one hundred percent sure was past tree( in my p51) last year ,, while descending to land,, nnaaa bang into the tree,, broke fuse 1 retract, oh well fixed now.. sounds like u were lucky ( gota hav some here or there)

[locharrow]

Walk of shame last week...hit the top of a pine tree I thought I was above....but wasn't...heard it tumble through branches and boof.....hit the deck. Well blow me down, a few pine needles stuck in the underside of the wing, pancaked into tall grass, nose cone off but intact and the only damage was a crack in the stab beside the torque rod box. Good to go when weather improves, gales for the past couple of days............

[GliderGuy]

Most interesting as in….this is a first for me!

1) The ESC on my F-4 failed to initialize (no beeps).
2) Grounded the F-4 and got her home to trouble shoot.
3) Had another ESC, so opened up the belly to perform the replacement.
4) Noticed the Yellow connector between the motor and ESC was discolored. Not bad, but noticeable.
5) Replaced the motor and all is fixed. The ESC initialized and the new motor worked.

I have never seen high-resistance connection heat damage in an “always mated” connection of this type. The damage is significant and seen in the photo below. The male connector was melted.

Factory defect? Who knows. Something was amiss.

It took a couple of years to fail. This bird has well over 1,000 flights on it.

Note: When I corrected the “problem” on the original motor (new connector), the original motor worked fine.

-GG

[locharrow]

Back to batteries My IMAC charges to 4.20 but my B6A3VC charges the cells to 4.25..............??? Not worried, just curious. Anyway, stretched my flights Thursday / Friday, great weather and grass cut really short ..... worst cell was down to 3.7 best was 3.73 .....batteries got a wee bit hot but not excessive and charged up fine. Very pleased !

[GliderGuy]

There’s another consideration which I neglected to mention and which adds another dimension to how long to make each flight….but I swear I did read a paper about leaving 40% as good practice. LOL

By only using 60% of capacity, my chargers can recharge them in 50 to 60 min on location from my truck. With 10 batteries and 10 charging ports, by the time the last flight is finished, the 1st-flown battery is ready to go again….followed by another in succession.

I can fly almost continuously this way. If the first 6S battery is not quite full, I get in some P-38 flying on 4S sets.

This is how I am able to get 40 flights in during a 6-hour day (lunch break pause). An average flight cycle = 9 min until the next flight is going (taxi, ESC and BEC cool down with a fan, re-load battery, etc).

My minimum flying outing is 13 flights (EDF + P-38) and a more typical stay is 2 sets = 26 flights.

Couldn’t do this if I used 80% of capacity. Too much down time needed for charging.

-GG

[DCORSAIR]

I did some more research…prompted by your comments. I could not find the article that I’d read which suggested the “leave 40%”. All the articles and videos I can now locate say “leave 20%” and/or consider 3.5V per cell the minimum.

Percentage is subjective anyway. It is the minimum 3.5V that really matters per the experts. Going lower risks hitting the 3V “damaged” cell voltage.

But, I fly many thousands of flights a year, so I must treat them easy. And I get a year on a new set by rotating 10 batteries through 4 EDFs to achieve this large number of flights on a set. The annual cost of 10 LiPos is still cheaper than a lot of hobbies!

Finally, Most importantly, I prefer to keep a good safety margin for go arounds, too.

I am updating my mental database. 😃

-GG

Oh I understand and was just adding a little humor, when I first got into EDF jets I didn't understand all the battery tech stuff but soon learned the hard way, I don't shop around for the cheapest battery either and by paying a little more for my GA lipos I have found you do get what you pay for, I have abused these poor batteries and like I said, 4 yrs on some and getting close to 5 yrs on a a couple of them and still using them in my HSD 120mm T-33 which eats batteries for lunch, still flying them in my big scale helis as well, but 30% or less is the normal for me, I just can't stop flying at 40%, I take off again with that much left in the tank , but I see your point if I flew that many flights.

[GliderGuy]

I did some more research…prompted by your comments. I could not find the article that I’d read which suggested the “leave 40%”. All the articles and videos I can now locate say “leave 20%” and/or consider 3.5V per cell the minimum.

Percentage is subjective anyway. It is the minimum 3.5V that really matters per the experts. Going lower risks hitting the 3V “damaged” cell voltage.

But, I fly many thousands of flights a year, so I must treat them easy. And I get a year on a new set by rotating 10 batteries through 4 EDFs to achieve this large number of flights on a set. The annual cost of 10 LiPos is still cheaper than a lot of hobbies!

Finally, Most importantly, I prefer to keep a good safety margin for go arounds, too.

I am updating my mental database. 😃

-GG

[DCORSAIR]

You can SLOW flight, but she’s a jet! Why?

I fly only 3:30 to have an emergency reserve.

LiPos will last a lot longer if you stop at a low voltage of 3.8 V (about 40% left in the tank).

Good idea for several reasons to stay at 3:30 in my opinion. I fly 6000s SMC and Admiral

B-2 = 5 min
AL37 = 4:30
PJ50 = 4 but I hot rod this bird
F-4 = 3:30

If you would fly these at 25% power only, you could extend all of them. But….THEY ARE JETS!!! Why?

-GG

Wow 40% left in your batteries, I got batteries 4 yrs old and have been ran down to 14% several times by accident, my normal is about 30%, still flying them today, not puffy but starting to get a little soft, I won't name the brand so I don't start a brand war, I have proof that you can go lower than 40% , if I stayed at 40% I would get 10yrs...

[Evan D]

I post many times that we time our flights many different ways. Like GG I taxi out (paved taxi/ runway so not using a lot of power) and before taking off I reset the timer which starts at 15% throttle and continues running. I have a voice time remaining call out whenever I go to idle and at one minute a warning. At the one minute I begin the set up to land and usually touch down as my timer goes off.

[GliderGuy]

I start my timer and take off immediately, no taxi time. I am flying a full 3:30…you are not.

You have 3 choices then….to fly longer:

1) fly slow.
2) Start your timer later or increase it to compensate for taxi time. Not much power is being used during taxi.
3) install a more efficient motor…there are choices to be made from. Others will need to comment.

-GG

[locharrow]

GG......I may have given the wrong info,.....the timing starts when I switch on TX, I then plug in and taxi out 50yards or so then take off. Warning is set at 3.30 min. when I set up to land. That is "my" 4 min.. I was hoping that I could extend that a wee bit as it galls me to have to land because it is great watching it fly.
I get 6-8 minutes on my 4000s in the FMS Pitts but don't have the same "don't want to land" feeling!

[GliderGuy]

Without getting teknikal guys, on HRB 6000s I'm flying 4 minutes at varied speeds. Batteries read out, when re-charging, around 3.8 most cells quite consistently. Without getting to the point of no return, is there another half minute to be found in them ...or even a full minute. Now bear in mind I am VERY old and my brain is mince so keep it SIMPLE !! (please)

You can SLOW flight, but she’s a jet! Why?

I fly only 3:30 to have an emergency reserve.

LiPos will last a lot longer if you stop at a low voltage of 3.8 V (about 40% left in the tank).

Good idea for several reasons to stay at 3:30 in my opinion. I fly 6000s SMC and Admiral

B-2 = 5 min
AL37 = 4:30
PJ50 = 4 but I hot rod this bird
F-4 = 3:30

If you would fly these at 25% power only, you could extend all of them. But….THEY ARE JETS!!! Why?

-GG

[locharrow]

Without getting teknikal guys, on HRB 6000s I'm flying 4 minutes at varied speeds. Batteries read out, when re-charging, around 3.8 most cells quite consistently. Without getting to the point of no return, is there another half minute to be found in them ...or even a full minute. Now bear in mind I am VERY old and my brain is mince so keep it SIMPLE !! (please)