Freewing 90mm F-22 Raptor - Official Thread

[Bobaroo]

Gorgeous !! Now that's how it's done ... !! NiceWork .Gonna look Awesome in the Air I bet !!

[MANFRED]

Thanks man.

[Aros]

Wow! Talk about eye catching! Beautiful and unique! Well done!

[adb2@suddenlink.net]

OK men, here are a few preliminary shots, Fantasy Luftwaffe F-22 in Ghost tiger scheme. Callie provided tail markings and insignia, all other work is hand painted and airbrushed. Will try to take some better Field pics soon. Hope to maiden when weather improves

Outstanding!

[MANFRED]

Field

[Pogo]

Very cool, Manfred!
Spring has finally and suddenly sprung here and my Raptor saw the light of day for the first time. Our flying field isn't open yet but I did some taxi testing at the local High School, both on asphalt and the bumpy football field. Nose steering is on a separate channel with rate gyro (Eagle Tree Guardian, also on roll axis) so I was able to get the jet tracking nice and straight, important with the narrow stance of the gear as others have noted. I've line the exhaust ducts with foil tape and the RC Geek centerburner sure looked the business with the brief bursts of high throttle I could manage.So, taxi tests successful. :Cool:
Next was an extensive program of aero testing at the wind tunnel facility, done for the following reasons: 1) To ensure the opening canopy won't open at an inopportune time (i.e. in flight). 2) To ensure the gear doors won't do the same. With my assistant (daughter Abby) closely monitoring I let her (the jet) have it with 170 mph of leafblower wind in strategic locations, and other than the left outer door needing a bit of tightening up all was good. Wind tunnel certification complete. :Cool:
I want to get some flight time in with my Venom and A-10 (after the long winter) so perhaps the maiden next weekend, or Easter for sure (?). Anyway, the Raptor is ready!
Tom

[downwindleg]

Field

Unbelievably cool Manfred! The only thing that even comes close is the transformer scheme but yours take the cake for sure!:Cool::Cool::Cool:

[downwindleg]

Very cool, Manfred!
Spring has finally and suddenly sprung here and my Raptor saw the light of day for the first time. Our flying field isn't open yet but I did some taxi testing at the local High School, both on asphalt and the bumpy football field. Nose steering is on a separate channel with rate gyro (Eagle Tree Guardian, also on roll axis) so I was able to get the jet tracking nice and straight, important with the narrow stance of the gear as others have noted. I've line the exhaust ducts with foil tape and the RC Geek centerburner sure looked the business with the brief bursts of high throttle I could manage.So, taxi tests successful. :Cool:
Next was an extensive program of aero testing at the wind tunnel facility, done for the following reasons: 1) To ensure the opening canopy won't open at an inopportune time (i.e. in flight). 2) To ensure the gear doors won't do the same. With my assistant (daughter Abby) closely monitoring I let her (the jet) have it with 170 mph of leafblower wind in strategic locations, and other than the left outer door needing a bit of tightening up all was good. Wind tunnel certification complete. :Cool:
I want to get some flight time in with my Venom and A-10 (after the long winter) so perhaps the maiden next weekend, or Easter for sure (?). Anyway, the Raptor is ready!
Tom

Looking good Tom. Looks like you did some cool weathering on the underside around the engines. Gear doors look awesome. :Cool::Cool::Cool:

[downwindleg]

O.K. I got my replacement bluebox day before yesterday which allowed me to verify all the the control surfaces and lighting worked. This,in turn, allowed me to cover up all the wiring for lights etc. So here's a little before and after with the wires before cutting deeper into the existing foam channel to allow for the nav light wires I added. Next I used the 3M patch+primer to fill the channels back to flush. After it dried, I sanded it flush and added a little paint. voila! I decided to go ahead and paint the elevator servos, control horns, and control rods while I was at it.

[RCjetdude]

Nice work Brad. Looks very clean.

[downwindleg]

Thanks Steve. Coming from you that's quite a compliment.:Cool:

[Bobaroo]

Hmmmm,... You went through all that work to hide the Wiring ....yet left all of the Spar Slots ...? Is there a reason you did not fill them in under there while you were at it ??

[downwindleg]

Hmmmm,... You went through all that work to hide the Wiring ....yet left all of the Spar Slots ...? Is there a reason you did not fill them in under there while you were at it ??

Yeah, my bad:Loser:. It's amazing what your brain can ignore. My focus was to hide my dirty work and just kind of excepted the slots as already being there. Kind of like those steam stars all over the plane that totally "frick" with your decals unless you plot where they're going and sand them flush ahead of time.;) Next time...I promise.:)

[Bobaroo]

Nah,... it's 'AllGood'. I was just wondering. I painted my Raptor Verts and left all of those Nibs on them too !!! Now on the MiG-21 and one of the F-4s .....Well, different story there !! Cheers

[thisguy65]

I’m seriously considering the F-22. Have the fund to pick up two planes.

I love my P-47’s. FMS P47 1500 is a must

F-22, A-10 (fms bc one battery and break down is smaller), FW bae Hawk. More I fly jets the less I fly my prop birds ????

[Hardway]

The F-22 was not my fav, but after flying it, I would buy another any time! :Cool: Great flying EDF! Same story on the L-39...

[Bobaroo]

The F-22 was not my fav, but after flying it, I would buy another any time! :Cool: Great flying EDF! Same story on the L-39...

Where does it sit in your 'Favorites' queue Hard ?? Mine is low in the queue, it just keeps getting moved around while I work on other stuff !!!! Ha, I just pulled a LX F-117 out of the box that's been sitting in a closet over here for like,... x8 years and I think that one's gonna Beat this F-22 into the Air !!! Hahahahaha. What am I missing here ?? Help me understand .... I'm just not into this one...I really believe it's the 'Canopy'.... I just can't get 'Past it' on this one. I'll get the Jet painted Dark Metallic Grey easily enough...but that Canopy is the real ShowStopper. I'm sure of it.

Now, I don't fly 'SportJets' nor do I fly Scale Jets like 'SportJets'. I've perfected my 'Raptor Flight Demo' years ago with the SkyAngel 50mm so ....its it's not about that. I know this one Flies Great !!

[Quickstop]

O.K. I got my replacement bluebox day before yesterday which allowed me to verify all the the control surfaces and lighting worked. This,in turn, allowed me to cover up all the wiring for lights etc. So here's a little before and after with the wires before cutting deeper into the existing foam channel to allow for the nav light wires I added. Next I used the 3M patch+primer to fill the channels back to flush. After it dried, I sanded it flush and added a little paint. voila! I decided to go ahead and paint the elevator servos, control horns, and control rods while I was at it.

Not to rain on your parade, but what if you need to replace a servo? It's been known to happen:Thinking:

[downwindleg]

Just buy a new wing!LOLLOLLOLSeriously, I'll just pull the wires up through the filler, replace the servo, and repatch and paint. Outside of drying time for paint and filler, I only spent about an hour and a half doing it. The tape just wasn't doing it for me and I've had issues with it curling up on edges over time. Using the patch plus primer made all the difference.:Cool:

[DCORSAIR]

Well, I finally gave in to one, I know I complained about it when it first came out being ugly and all that, but after watching all the good reports on how it flies, I had to try one. Forget all that painting and mods, mine will be put together and flown as is, I might lock those knuckle wing tip scraping struts though, sorry, but that was a dumb idea if you ask me, and I know, you have to take off nice and straight, don't turn too soon, use a gyro and all those excuses, I have seen it enough and know it can be an issue. I do like the high alpha landings and flybys, looks like fun so I'm going to give it a try, also got the 6s version, will be putting a FW 4068-1680kv unit in it...........:):)