Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[RickVB]

...Finally I spray the model with a coat of Testers Dullcote. The Dullcote helps seal the weathering, and also knocks the shine off the decals. I use so much of it that I bought a 12-pack off Amazon.

I ended up using this stuff from Home Depot, which was flatter (deader? :)) than the Minwax clear matte I had been using. I used pretty much a full can for this model, which is cheaper than a 12 pack of Testers Dullcote.

[crxmanpat]

I ended up using this stuff from Home Depot, which was flatter (deader? :)) than the Minwax clear matte I had been using. I used pretty much a full can for this model, which is cheaper than a 12 pack of Testers Dullcote.

Thanks, I'll check that out.

[joe671]

Canned from a FW F-16

[TPS]

Canned from a FW F-16

Very Nice! Where did you get that afterburner array?
Thank you!

[joe671]

Very Nice! Where did you get that afterburner array?
Thank you!

It came stock with the Freewing F-16.

[dkalwishky]

I tried performing a search but the search tool here leaves a lot to be desired and I came up empty.

I'm read to maiden tomorrow but I'm having a little trouble with the CG. The plane is heavy enough that it's hard for me (or my wife) to hold it to see if it balances.

From what I can tell if I push my Admiral 5000 as far forward it seems to be close, I really cannot tell if it's nose or tail heavy. If you've flown yours with Admiral batteries could you post a pic of the battery in the plane or tell me where you placed it?

EDIT: I see where Pilot Ryan posted this I cut the feet off of my pilot so I can use the forward portion of battery deck. Plane flies fine either way, its the slowing down where you benefit from the forward cg. I spun mine in twice with full flaps being too slow on base before I cut the feet off and moved cg forward a bit. I'm flying the older Admiral 5000

Hmmmmm, perhaps I'm a little tail heavy after all. Maybe I should hold off on the maiden until I can get this better balanced.

[RickVB]

Ah rats... I could swear the 3DP parts were in stock... now they're pre-order. Was I imagining things?

[bbaumer]

Ah rats... I could swear the 3DP parts were in stock... now they're pre-order. Was I imagining things?

You were

[Sky Wolf]

Hey Sky Wolf are you coming to Joe Nall this year as well? Looking forward to meet you if so. Following your comments on Squawk. :Cool:

Hey Sarge, I'm really hoping and planning on it. Still working on my transportation. It's a toss-up between renting a larger van or purchasing a new "aircraft carrier". My present van, "Big Blue" has so far only been a local usage for me. I don't trust her on a 1900 mile roundtrip trek across the U.S.

Hoping to meet you as well my friend!

[DCORSAIR]

I tried performing a search but the search tool here leaves a lot to be desired and I came up empty.

I'm read to maiden tomorrow but I'm having a little trouble with the CG. The plane is heavy enough that it's hard for me (or my wife) to hold it to see if it balances.

From what I can tell if I push my Admiral 5000 as far forward it seems to be close, I really cannot tell if it's nose or tail heavy. If you've flown yours with Admiral batteries could you post a pic of the battery in the plane or tell me where you placed it?

EDIT: I see where Pilot Ryan posted this I cut the feet off of my pilot so I can use the forward portion of battery deck. Plane flies fine either way, its the slowing down where you benefit from the forward cg. I spun mine in twice with full flaps being too slow on base before I cut the feet off and moved cg forward a bit. I'm flying the older Admiral 5000

Hmmmmm, perhaps I'm a little tail heavy after all. Maybe I should hold off on the maiden until I can get this better balanced.

It's really easy to balance the F-4, leave off the missle rails and tanks, with gear down, place your fingertips on the rear missle rail tab (see the black dot in the pic) and lift up, if the tail drops first, it's tail heavy, if the nose stays down first, your close, move your finger tips just in front of those tabs, if the the nose drops a little then teeters to the tail, your good to go. You might have to add weight if you can't move your battery forward anymore, I had to add weight and I'm using a Gensace 5000 60c, now that I have 8 flights on mine, I would go with your fingertip just in front of that rear tab for your first flight, 190mm is about where that rear tab is, so 185mm to 190mm you will be fine. Now if you plan to fly with tanks then go with the 185mm, missles are mostly ahead of the CG so they don't make it change enough to worry about. Not trying to sound like a know it all but it worked for me on my maiden flight.

[AkumaZeto]

[AkumaZeto]

wanted to cross post this here encase none of you chaps get to the classifieds section.

https://youtu.be/EPmfdU3K1G8

[RCjetdude]

They are going in my VF-84 Jolly Rogers. Yay! They look great Ben! George is the one in the yellow helmet.

[dkalwishky]

Tonight I made the maiden flight on my 90mm Freewing F-4 Phantom.

My three flights tonight were on low rates per the manual with 30% expo. This flight had recommended flap to elevator mix which I found out was not enough, flights two and three I doubled it and found it flew much better that way with the flaps deployed as little to no elevator was needed with the flaps down.

At the 1:30 mark you'll see something depart the right wing, it was one of the external fuel tanks although we called them bombs in the video by mistake. The plane was really squirrely with all the drag on the left side.

I was anxious to get it on the ground so I came around and was fast and landed down wind. Because I didn’t have enough UP elevator mixed in with the flaps you’ll see it porpoise and finally land, you’ll also notice that the other tank came off so I decided to go right back up. Perhaps I did not have them firmly attached with the magnets. I felt like I was fighting the elevator and had to give a bunch more up trip. I thought that was because the tanks were off but after landing I realized I never raised the flaps and since I didn’t have enough mix in I was getting the nose down pitch.

I did have a few clicks of up trim on flight one, for flights two and three I moved the battery back a few millimeters and she flew with zero elevator trim. I cannot tell you where my CG is, I went with the battery placement that was given to me by a fellow modeler. All flights were with the older style Admiral 5000 6S batteries. Flight one had the battery as far forward as it would go, flights two and three were with the same battery back 3-5 millimeters and that’s where I liked it and I was able to remove all elevator trim.

In summary make sure you use the flap to elevator mix (I’d double it), make sure the neutral position for the elevator is 8mm up as the manual states. I had ZERO aileron, rudder and elevator trim, she flew straight and true.

I cannot wait for more nice weather to really wring this plane out, she’s a keeper!

Thanks to Connor Johnson for taking the video for me.

[Aros]

Good going Dave! Nice maiden and GREAT job on the save on the first landing...Yikes your approach put MY heart in my throat, I could only imagine what yours was doing! LOL

Is yours the 6S? I've decided to go with the 6S PNP even though I heart the 12-blade WOOSH so much...But I've heard enough from Alpha and the other test pilots that the 9-blade is the best blend of efficiency and performance. How does it sound in person? I never go off of video as I know it always sounds better in person.

Again, good job! :Cool:

[dkalwishky]

Yeah, mine is 6S. The 9 blade fan sounded good to me.

[DCORSAIR]

Tonight I made the maiden flight on my 90mm Freewing F-4 Phantom.

My three flights tonight were on low rates per the manual with 30% expo. This flight had recommended flap to elevator mix which I found out was not enough, flights two and three I doubled it and found it flew much better that way with the flaps deployed as little to no elevator was needed with the flaps down.

At the 1:30 mark you'll see something depart the right wing, it was one of the external fuel tanks although we called them bombs in the video by mistake. The plane was really squirrely with all the drag on the left side.

I was anxious to get it on the ground so I came around and was fast and landed down wind. Because I didn’t have enough UP elevator mixed in with the flaps you’ll see it porpoise and finally land, you’ll also notice that the other tank came off so I decided to go right back up. Perhaps I did not have them firmly attached with the magnets. I felt like I was fighting the elevator and had to give a bunch more up trip. I thought that was because the tanks were off but after landing I realized I never raised the flaps and since I didn’t have enough mix in I was getting the nose down pitch.

I did have a few clicks of up trim on flight one, for flights two and three I moved the battery back a few millimeters and she flew with zero elevator trim. I cannot tell you where my CG is, I went with the battery placement that was given to me by a fellow modeler. All flights were with the older style Admiral 5000 6S batteries. Flight one had the battery as far forward as it would go, flights two and three were with the same battery back 3-5 millimeters and that’s where I liked it and I was able to remove all elevator trim.

In summary make sure you use the flap to elevator mix (I’d double it), make sure the neutral position for the elevator is 8mm up as the manual states. I had ZERO aileron, rudder and elevator trim, she flew straight and true.

I cannot wait for more nice weather to really wring this plane out, she’s a keeper!

Thanks to Connor Johnson for taking the video for me.

Wow, nice save for sure, you had me nervous watching your video. Make sure you get all the paint off the magnets on your tanks and mounts, stronger hold without the paint, at least that is what I have found on other FW jets as well, on my F-4 I had to scrape some paint off the magnets, now they go on with a pop.

[janmb]

Tonight I made the maiden flight on my 90mm Freewing F-4 Phantom.

My three flights tonight were on low rates per the manual with 30% expo. This flight had recommended flap to elevator mix which I found out was not enough, flights two and three I doubled it and found it flew much better that way with the flaps deployed as little to no elevator was needed with the flaps down

Great work, great save :D

Neutral CG is so important for good behaviour on almost any model. I'm sure there are exceptions to that, but they are few. Nose heavy is less of a pain than tail heavy in most cases, sure, and it makes sense to always start a bit conservative, but in the end, a neutral CG should always be the goal IMO.

[Alpha]

Good save, Dkalwishky! Smart decisions.

You mentioned not knowing what CG you were flying at... would you please check and post that for us? I see you've got other recommendations in your review but the CG is an important reference point for context.

I'm glad you liked the stock 9B 6s' sound. I hope you get better weather sooner!

[tcatalon]

Looks like the F-4 Phantom is a hit with "True Scale Rc," Facebook page also. They chose my shot for their banner .