Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[DCORSAIR]

Sorry to hear that, enjoy your retirement, there is alot of peple suffering from this virus thing thats for sure. Your F-4 looks awesome though, keep painting them, you got the talent....

[Hugh Wiedman]

😆😂😝 GO BUCKS !
Just wanted to show off my F4 repaint from last August.
The Covid19 virus really changed things on my job. We lost alot of money.
So I retired from my job July 1st. Now what to do....paint more airplanes.

Now you're talkin'. Who needs those pesky jobs, just gets in the way of having any RC fun! You definitely look more relaxed now William. Saw your F-4 in the March Madness contest, it definitely was one of the best, almost as nice as mine. Can't wait to see your next undertaking!

[Bajora]

My clubmate Michael Troy owns (or has owned) just about every model in the MotionRC catalog. So when I bring camera gear to the field and he shows up, there are always some great models to shoot! Here are a few shots of his 90mm Freewing F-4 Phantom from this morning. I forgot what a great looking and flying model this was.

[Hugh Wiedman]

My clubmate Michael Troy owns (or has owned) just about every model in the MotionRC catalog. So when I bring camera gear to the field and he shows up, there are always some great models to shoot! Here are a few shots of his 90mm Freewing F-4 Phantom from this morning. I forgot what a great looking and flying model this was.

Outstanding photographs!!!!

[locharrow]

Great shots ... totally capture the character of the Phantom.

[BenAtkinsonUK]

^^^ THOSE PICS!! Wow.

Anyway - The wonderful 6S version arrived yesterday, decals on already! It's such a wonderful looking model. Now, I'm sure I've seen it here before, but struggled to find it with a thread search - what is the servo wire coming from the BEC for? Throttle from the ESC then another from the BEC with a round green thing on the cable?! Bit stumped on that and it doesn't feature in the manual.

Thanks

[Evan D]

The ESC does not have an internal BEC to power your receiver/ servos/ retracts/ lights. The separate BEC does that.

[BenAtkinsonUK]

Thanks Evan, seems like a silly question - where do I plug in that servo lead then?

[Evan D]

Oh, sorry... any empty receiver slot, can even be the bind slot in some receivers.

[BenAtkinsonUK]

AH ok! Hope so - else I won't have a free slot! Only on a 6 channel RX here...should work in th bind port. Thank you again!

[BenAtkinsonUK]

Seems like a silly question - but I'm just finishing the setup after getting this awesome plane through the post this week...

What does your neutral elevator look like INCLUDING the 8mm of up elevator? The picture in the manual does really say where that sits? Considering it's quite crucial - and there's not a definitely neutral point? Maybe I'm missing it. I think I'm about right ....but v interested to see what you guys have. If possible! Thanks

[Hugh Wiedman]

Seems like a silly question - but I'm just finishing the setup after getting this awesome plane through the post this week...

What does your neutral elevator look like INCLUDING the 8mm of up elevator? The picture in the manual does really say where that sits? Considering it's quite crucial - and there's not a definitely neutral point? Maybe I'm missing it. I think I'm about right ....but v interested to see what you guys have. If possible! Thanks

Hey Ben, when are you going to stop tinkering around with this thing and get it in the air? Seriously, below are the neutral elevator locations I am using, the first is flaps up (with 70% throttle, gear up), second is take-off flaps (60% throttle, gear down) and 3rd is landing flaps (at 45% throttle, gear down) using the deflection % that I gave you. This is with the CG around 192-194mm if I remember correctly.

One last thing I forgot to caution you on, when you run the elevator and rudder servo wires through there is a channel above the ESC that they need to go through. It is relatively easy to miss that channel (at least for me because if there is anything to screw up, I'll find it) and end up with the wires going right over the ESC. I did that when I first set mine up and the maiden was uneventful. Then, on the 2nd flight, the elevator quit working on take-off and I was able to shut it down before disaster struck (thankfully before it got in the air) and the heat from full throttle take-off of the ESC had burned and severed the elevator wire. I'm sure I'm probably the only one stupid enough to do that, but just in case, check it before you take it out. I didn't realize how hot that ESC can get with a few seconds of maximum throttle.

[Hugh Wiedman]

And one more thing BenAtkinsonUK , after about 30 flights the elevator servo has a tendency to come loose out of the foam and the control rod ain't the strongest on the planet, so you may want to beef it up a bit. Many other squawkers have detailed this as well. I epoxied the servo in and added some wood mounts to keep it in place, then used a carbon fiber tube to strengthen the control rod and changed the clevis to something a little stronger. Also, make sure the 2 set screws on each elevator surface that tighten down on the shaft are nice and tight. On my 15th flight, one got a little loose and the left elevator surface shifted, causing a wild corkscrew or something that somehow I was able to get it nose up and ended in a hover 6 feet off the ground, then set it on it's tail with no damage. I don't want to try that maneuver again, makes it impossible to clean out my shorts.

[GliderGuy]

And one more thing BenAtkinsonUK , after about 30 flights the elevator servo has a tendency to come loose out of the foam and the control rod ain't the strongest on the planet, so you may want to beef it up a bit. Many other squawkers have detailed this as well. I epoxied the servo in and added some wood mounts to keep it in place, then used a carbon fiber tube to strengthen the control rod and changed the clevis to something a little stronger. Also, make sure the 2 set screws on each elevator surface that tighten down on the shaft are nice and tight. On my 15th flight, one got a little loose and the left elevator surface shifted, causing a wild corkscrew or something that somehow I was able to get it nose up and ended in a hover 6 feet off the ground, then set it on it's tail with no damage. I don't want to try that maneuver again, makes it impossible to clean out my shorts.

You may also SEARCH this F-4 forum for the word "dubro". You will see several posts with solutions for the somewhat weakish elevator hardware. I lost control an F-4 when the elevator servo came out of the foam socket...discovering no glue had been placed into the socket to hold the servo in. Luckily, the damage wasn't too bad, and MRC sent me replacement parts free of charge that were needed to get it flying again (wing spar and wing root plastic fittings). Great service MRC! Adding a bit of plywood to secure the servo isn't a bad idea either. As a post-crash modification to the F-4, I also used a section cut from a 4-40 threaded rod for the push rod...to mate with automotive grade Dubro hardware. Bottom line, do everything you can to make this part of the plane bullet proof...apparently there's a lot of stress on these components.

-GG

[BenAtkinsonUK]

TOTALLED IT ON MAIDEN....brown out? Worse??

Well that was the worst RC experience of my life!
Terrible morning in bloody shock I think.

Here's what happened: First flight, pre flight all complete...everything was moving how it should....my AS3x receiver working as it should correcting as it should. Power test seemed fine....CoG was by the book.

Took a long time to rotate but the grass hadnt been cut this week...anyway - it got airborne....climbed out fairly slowly, but got downwind and needed a lot of up trim (felt nose heavy)....started to feel a bit more comfortable...was picking up speed nicely....

THEN

Complete loss of power....the nose dropped (obviously was nose heavy despite getting the CoG right).....and thats it. Nose dived.

DAMAGE:
Nose cone SMASHED to a pulp
front end to wing root ripped off
battery damaged
cockpit destroyed into pieces
nose gear found some yards away, along with ESC and battery tray

No idea if anything else is buggered.....

WORST bit .....completely lost trust in this whole thing now. I don't know what caused that but I can't afford another and for it to happen again.

I may just buy a fuselage and see if i can salvage something from it.

Thanks for everyones help to set it up.

GUTTED!

Ben

[Evan D]

Sorry Ben.

[The43rdHammer]

BenAtkinsonUK I'm gutted for you mate!

Did you range test and failsafe her before you took off?

Andy

[BenAtkinsonUK]

Thanks guys. Yeh - range test was good! Bit stumped really...

[Elbee]

BenAtkinsonUK, Very sorry about your mishap. Don't give up on her. It is amazing what you can do after a few days of grieving, a fresh look at the damage, and a tube "Foam Tac" adhesive. Thank you for your debrief, Ben. Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

TOTALLED IT ON MAIDEN....brown out? Worse??

Well that was the worst RC experience of my life!
Terrible morning in bloody shock I think.

Here's what happened: First flight, pre flight all complete...everything was moving how it should....my AS3x receiver working as it should correcting as it should. Power test seemed fine....CoG was by the book.

Took a long time to rotate but the grass hadnt been cut this week...anyway - it got airborne....climbed out fairly slowly, but got downwind and needed a lot of up trim (felt nose heavy)....started to feel a bit more comfortable...was picking up speed nicely....

THEN

Complete loss of power....the nose dropped (obviously was nose heavy despite getting the CoG right).....and thats it. Nose dived.

DAMAGE:
Nose cone SMASHED to a pulp
front end to wing root ripped off
battery damaged
cockpit destroyed into pieces
nose gear found some yards away, along with ESC and battery tray

No idea if anything else is buggered.....

WORST bit .....completely lost trust in this whole thing now. I don't know what caused that but I can't afford another and for it to happen again.

I may just buy a fuselage and see if i can salvage something from it.

Thanks for everyones help to set it up.

GUTTED!

Ben

I'm at a total loss in figuring out what happened. The set-ups I gave you have worked fine on both my F-4's for almost 60 flights. I do fly them somewhat behind the 190 mm book CG at 192-194 mm, but that shouldn't have made that much difference. Check the elevator servo that it did not come loose or that there was a problem with the linkage.