Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[jthenry8]

The G nose (Wild Weasel) is different than the E nose. I only know of two sources for the E nose and that is Tom Mansel and Chris Wolfe. Chris's is more scale. The small door on mine was hinged with a standard Dubro hinge.

I want to build a G variant, but the "E" nose variant looks a little bit off - too thick? Has anyone else noticed this? Is it because the base of the nose from the kit to round and a difficult transition? Thoughts? Please don't think this is a criticism of the work of those who developed the E nose - it is not. Those who developed that mod are amazing craftsman. Just trying to understand the build and the dimensions affecting the nose adaptation. Humbly submitted.

[jthenry8]

Hey Y'all, She's on her own feet for the first time. Some soft weathering on the upper fuselage, light touch up, airbrushing the tailhook, and a matte finish coat yet to do. Ordinance is a work in progress. :Whew:Best, LB

Love the intake ramps and the pilot figures. in the first picture it seems like he is looking directly at ground crew directing him to the catapult. I commented previously on the nozzles. Great work. Looks like you did some work on the chin air intakes. Would like to hear some details about if you made the parts or if they are available somewhere else. Overall, exceptional craftmanship.

[jthenry8]

:)Waiting for the fog to burn off this morning, got a few photos of the Phantom out on the runway. Can't say enough about how sweet flying this airplane is.

Holy Crud, Batman! What great pictures. The sky is perfectly matched to the paint scheme!

[jthenry8]

This is some great work. I really like the "dash 10" nozzles. Of the research I have done and the pictures I have from my Dad's planes - those seem to be the right ones. Love the attention to detail. Awesome stuff.

I think I am going to correct myself. It looks like the "turkey feathers" nozzle may be the right one for a 1968 produced F-4D. The definitive picture I have is of F-4D 68-709 on a low power setting and you can clearly see the collar. I mistook the constricted nozzle to be more representative of the "dash 10." Looks like upon closer inspection that the nozzle has a collar. Would love some feedback on this one.

[jthenry8]

Yes,... I put a Drop on the No.1 F-4D Nozzles and used a Plastic Drinking Cup for the Nozzles. Extended them to the Later E-Model Length.



No.2 F-4E (Early) has the FW 3DP Nozzles shown here before the Drop and Chop !!! This Extraordinarily Wide Exit Lip was unacceptable to me. This is what you get when you just stick them onto the Foam after removing the stock plastic cones. Most guys just leave it like this.





The No.3 F-4F will be getting the RCGeek LongNose F-4E/F 3DP Nozzles. They are 'Longer' and have a very nice Exit Lip on them and are already at a nice Thickness. No need for Chopping back the Foam as they are already extended past the Inner Nozzle Boundary. Depending on which Aircraft you are modeling, there is a nice set of Nozzles to be added for someone who desires a more realistic F-4C/D/E/F look on their Foamie !! Cheers

This is some great work. I really like the "dash 10" nozzles. Of the research I have done and the pictures I have from my Dad's planes - those seem to be the right ones. Love the attention to detail. Awesome stuff.

[jthenry8]

Used a FreeWing attachment to the Rail !! As Good a place as any, considering the Pylons are Multi-Use anyway !!

Here are a couple of more pictures of "709" in the air when it was assigned to the 13th TFS (circa 1969-1970). That's my Dad in the back seat.

[Elbee]

Evan D Thank you, my friend and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, as well. Best, Steve

[Evan D]

Been a while since I’ve flown mine. A few great flights on it today. Happy thanksgiving everyone.

[okcrcpilot]

I'm a little late with the "THANK YOU's" for the photos of the Home Depot paint formulae...Sorry:cry:. The samples provided were Exactly what I needed...Thanks again!!!
Bill

Bill, Happy to know those colors are what you were looking for. Gary

[billd3]

I'm a little late with the "THANK YOU's" for the photos of the Home Depot paint formulae...Sorry:cry:. The samples provided were Exactly what I needed...Thanks again!!!
Bill

[Elbee]

GliderGuy Suburb diagnoses, methodology, and debrief. Thank you. Best, LB

[GliderGuy]

Old Reliable <my F-4> had an issue….

Futaba gear

A few weeks ago, I noticed a dramatic reduced response to roll input. A quick landing was followed by discovering the left aileron servo inop.

Changed the servo, and was back at it soon after.

However, this past Saturday morning I noticed during a vertical roll that the roll rate would suddenly slow and then increase again. Hmmmm….new servo did not correct the problem, so it seems.

1) Bad intermittent connection?
2) Bad intermittent control board?
3) RX going south?

I decided to take every connection apart and re-seat them as a start. By the way…all was working again before I tore into the wiring. The Intermittent had fixed itself.

After disconnecting and reconnecting everything, here’s what resulted….
1) RX binding light was rapidly flashing
2) The HK gyro’s light was flashing
3) All control servos were cycling back and forth

And….eventually, the RX bind LED went dead.

After double checking that all connections were correct, the disconnecting and re-connecting appears to have aggravated an intermittent issue internal to the RX (a poor internal PCB connection at the pins possibly? Aggravated a crack in a PCB trace?). Maybe I was just fortunate enough to have decided to replace the RX just before total failure.

After installing a new RX, the problem was resolved.

Interesting how stressing the RX connections aggravated the intermittent RX issue to a total RX failure. Or….maybe a lucky coincidence.

This hobby is indeed an intriguing one.

Range check and test flights planned for this afternoon.

-GG

[Spad Driver]

Thank you Elbee Sir,
I have loved painting my models different than what comes stock ever since I built my 1st plastic model as a kid.
Would it be helpful to add to my long winded rant that I found two really close matches for the metallic colors at the exhaust area?.
For the bright metallic area:
Folkart metallic finish acrylic 662E sterling silver
For the dark metallic area:
DecoArt dazzling metallics Zinc Da339
No matter how carefully you mask metallic colors something has to lift!😫
And these two match the best.
check out the photo of the exhaust area by rudder. There was lots of loose stock paint that just would rub off at the slightest touch. So lots of touchup.
S.D.

[Elbee]

Greetings fellow r.c. enthusiasts!, May I present the latest creation from the Wallsburg Warbird Works! Spad Driver

SD, What a great story and a fabulous repaint with mods. She is a beautiful thing, Sir. Bravo Zulu. Best, LB

[Spad Driver]

Greetings fellow r.c. enthusiasts!,
May I present the latest creation from the Wallsburg Warbird Works!.
Freewing F-4 Phantom II C/D SEA camouflage version re-worked as NF-4C #63-7407 "The Elder".
Built as an F-4C-15-MC and delivered 11/1963 to the U.S.A.F. Assigned to the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing McDill A.F.B. Florida. There it was converted into an NF-4C test aircraft.
It spent it's life bouncing back and forth between Eglin A.F.B. Florida and Edwards A.F.B. California and now is now on display at the Edwards A.F.B. museum.
By 1990 it was the oldest "Charlie" version still in active U.S.A.F. service and was named so on it's logbook cover.
For me the really cool thing is that my dad flew it in the early 70's according to his flight logbook when it was attached to the to 3346th Test Wing at Eglin A.F.B.
My bird is based on a photo of it sitting on the ramp at Edwards A.F.B. In the summer of 1989 while attached to AFFTC ( Air Force Flight Test Center). Hence the white radome rather than the usual black radome of 6512th Test Wing aircraft. Reference used was the photo book Superbase 12 EDWARDS Home of the Right Stuff by George Hall 1990 Osprey Publishing.
Using FS standard paint #'s. All acrylic paints were used from Home Depot. Sprayed on with a Harbor Freight touchup HVLP spray gun. Panel lines were drawn in with a Forum soft pencil and lightly over sprayed with base color to soften the effect. Walkways and edge lines were masked off and sprayed with a pasche single action airbrush. A combination of Callie grafics and stock decals were used for the markings.
I used the "C" variate infrared seeker from the resin upgrade set to replace the "D" infrared seeker under the radome. An AOA indicator was made from the tip of a toothpick. Painted silver and stuck on port side of nose. A IFF antenna was added along the spine with sheet styrene. The stock exhaust tail feathers looked closer to a "C" variant than the resin replacement so I painted them to more closely match photos and over-sprayed them with flat black to look sooted up.
4 coats of minwax polycrylic gloss were applied before 2 finish coats of Microscale satin finish. The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen was finished with 2 coats of Microscale flat. The windscreen was coated with Future acrylic floor polish mixed with blue food coloring to represent the armored glass.
Aircraft I.D. panel markings were individualy cut from sheet and applied with a toothpick and glued with Future.
weathering is minimal as Edwards test bird maintenance crews labored hard to keep these birds spotless. Only places where hydraulic fliud leaked at aileron hinge points and elevator pivot points are highlighted.
The fan is upgraded to a 9 bladed 3672-1900 KV I/R . A Spektrum AR8020T reciever with satellite. The satellite is installed between the exhausts underneath at rear of the fuselage.
I chose this scheme for it's high visibility and verifiable accurate paint scheme. Perfect for an old guy with less than perfect eyesight!.
Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoy this plane,
Spad Driver

[Hugh Wiedman]

Good info Hugh.

Does SMC plan to continue offering the standard / not HiV 6S batteries?

I’ve given their “prior version” 6200 Graphine Extreme V2 6S lots of flights since ordering them. I’m well satisfied with them.

-GG

Yes, Danny will eventual get back to stocking the "normal" packs as well, I think he's been pushing his new supplier to get the HiV packs right but did tell me he will also have this new supplier do the normal packs.

I really love the standard Graphine packs as well and I still have 16 of the 6200's (flown in almost all EDFS and larger prop warbirds) along with 8 of the 5300's (primarily for the Mig/Su-30) and 4 of his 4500's (Used in the Su-30 & all my 60" 3D planes).

It remains to be seen how the HiV packs will do but intend to use the 5300's in the Mig and the 6200's in the EDF's that do work with them. So far, only 3 EDF's can't operate with them.

[GliderGuy]

Good info Hugh.

Does SMC plan to continue offering the standard / not HiV 6S batteries?

I’ve given their “prior version” 6200 Graphine Extreme V2 6S lots of flights since ordering them. I’m well satisfied with them.

-GG

[Hugh Wiedman]

Posted in F-18 thread as well:

Just a heads up on the new SMC HiV batteries. At 4.35 volts per cell, most of my Freewing ESC's read them as 6 cells, so no issues. However, of the 2 identical 90mm set-ups in my F-18 Canadian/F-18 Tiger Meet and my F-4 Phantom and F-4 Blue Angel, one of the F-18's and one of the F-4's ESC's read it wrong, only giving 2 beeps instead of the normal 6. Seems it is reading it as a 7 S, which means the normal cut-off voltage at 3.15 volts then comes to play at 22.05 volts thinking it's 7S instead of the 18.9 Volts of a normal 6S. Did some simulated bench test flights and after about 3 minutes of various throttle levels, at full throttle the motor/ESC begins erratically behaving. Thankfully I didn't test them out in actual flight! Oddly enough, this only happened with 2 FW 130 amp ESC's, while 3 other identical ones read it as 6S. Guess I need to somehow reprogram those 2 ESC's if I want to use a HiV battery in them. Could drop the cutoff to low at 2.85 Volts for 7S, which would come out to 19.95 volts (fine for 6S), but the initial beeps would still be off! The Castle ESC I have in my F-16 actually reads it as a 7S with 7 beeps and cuts off early as well, but I expected that one.

So just a word of caution with HiV, check it out first before flying! Worked fine on my Avanti, Stinger 90, A-10, one of the F-4's & F-18's, the Mig 29 and the E-Flight SU-30. Haven't tried them in the 90mm Corsair, Spitfire or other prop planes as I'm only planning on using HiV bats in some of the EDF's.

[primodus22]

With the AR8360T your not running gyro correct. Using stabilizer in receiver

Yes, I am using the AS3X gyro in mine. gains are low though.

[okcrcpilot]

Is this what you are looking for??