Freewing 90mm F-22 Raptor - Official Thread

[lrsd18Abn]

if I could know the exhaust size of the foamie as I would like to modify with an outlet similar to this: (pic) there are several sizes 80mm, 90mm, 70mm and a 64/72mm?

[Evan D]

Two ways. Tie a string to the ribbon cable when you pull it through. If you already pulled it through, set the plane on its nose, tail up. Tie a small nut to some string and put it in the wing opening. It'll fall down to a spot on the inside of the battery compartment side where you can get it.

[Gsky]

Any tips on how to wire an extension lead through the wing to the blue box?

Tried a coat hanger but doesn’t get round the tight bends.

[Airguardian]

[HangarQueen]

Might try that too.....

[xviper]

I use FoamTac in those grub screw holes.

[HangarQueen]

I just bought a new bottle. Let's see if that helps.

[Evan D]

I use red loctite.

[HangarQueen]

Nice video and shots!
The Raptor is an airplane that "had to grow on me". It doesn't have any flowing lines, like an F16, or the pure charisma of a Spitfire. Instead, it looks very "geometric", with its straight lines and odd shapes.
But then I built a depron F22-shaped pusher-prop model years ago, and it got me interested. About 2 years ago, I bought the 64mm EDF Freewing one second-hand, upgraded the EDF unit and installed a basic thrust vectoring, and I was hooked. But this one is limited in what it can carry along, so flight time is extremely limited if you want to have 1:1 thrust-to-weight.
Now that I have the 90mm version, I'm amazed, and I started to love these lines, that profile. It truly is amazing, in many aspects. Bought it last June, and I almost haven't flown anything else this season.
The only trouble that I've had with it, has been the landing gear, more specifically the grub screws that hold it in place coming loose. I did use some Loctite on it, but I'm starting to think that somehow it has gotten beyond its "use before" date, as they keep getting loose. When I start seeing it again being all over the runway during the takeoff roll, I know that I have to tighten them again.

[Lateral-G]

Some in-flight shots of my Freewing Raptor this past weekend...

[rifleman_btx]

Here's my 6s f22. It does anything I want it to do.

[Aros]

Welcome to Hobby Squawk! I dig the tails! Well done.

[SDW2001]

I have been flying my 8s for about a week. Did the tail and decals myself. Not exactly scale or stealth, but I built it to fly, not to win static competitions :). This weekend I will be adding the BlueFire afterburner.

[Airguardian]

Because that is the whole point of it. As a famous rock band once said "Nothing else matters" 🙂

" Open mind for a different vieeeeew,
And nothing else matters...

Never cared for what they doooo...
Never cared for what they knooooow, wooo!
But I knooooow!! ♪♫ "



So folks, go ahead and fly with whatever you please. We won't care but we'll KNOW!

[HangarQueen]

Maidened my F-22 last month. Awesome flying plane. Initial flights were off paved runway then subsequent flights off grass. Performs perfectly on either.

Congrats on the maiden; you'll enjoy the F22, I'm sure.
Grass ops are no problem with this model, she'll be airborne in a very short distance (needs a little help for that), and it lands on a post stamp (once you get the trick)

[HangarQueen]

I never wanted to start any kind of fight about radios and brands; when Steven asked for input on the subject, I wanted to point out that there are plenty of options to consider, especially when you don't have unlimited budget.
When I got back to the hobby some 10 years ago, I still had my Multiplex 3030 radio from the nineties, which I first upgraded to 2,4 GHz. It was limited in model memories, but apart from that it was a really wonderful radio. After a while, I started looking for a replacement, and found out that their new radio, the "Profi" series was not only eternally delayed and postponed, but also very expensive. As my club was also a "Spektrum-oriented" club at the time, they kind of pushed me in that direction too, but when I tried one of their radios, I really honestly didn't like it. It is after all a very personal thing, a matter of taste and preference, but I couldn't live with the pre-defined mixers and channel assignments, as I was used to free mixers and channels.
After some searching, I came upon OTX and a Taranis, and I was delighted. It could do everything that I wanted, and more, for a price that was so low that I almost didn't trust it. It had no built-in limitations in terms of channels or mixers, a PC application to program, backup and even simulate the radio, and it had telemetry (which I craved..as an engineer I hate guesswork, especially while flying).
Over the years, I upgraded to an X10S (I broke the antenna of the Taranis) and now to an X20S, and meanwhile more and more club members have moved away from Spektrum, to a point where now there's only a minority of them. Some members (a small minority) uses the high-end expensive brands line Jeti and Powerbox, a couple still use Futaba, and a growing group uses Frsky.
As I said, it is mostly personal taste and preference. And then there's cost. A while ago, I even had a look at Jeti equipment. It is very nice equipment, very solid, high-quality, but when I looked at the total cost of moving to that brand, I couldn't justify that hefty difference in price by whatever added value that it could bring to my hobby. I already have everything that I could wish for, and this for a very interesting price tag. A Jeti receiver would cost me 3 to 4 times more than a Frsky one. In terms of features, there isn't much difference to be found between the two.
So, in short, choose whatever you feel happy and comfortable with, and you'll enjoy the RC hobby as much as I do. Because that is the whole point of it. As a famous rock band once said "Nothing else matters" 🙂

[Aros]

Yeah the F-22 has got to be one of the most docile scale 90mm FW jets I've ever flown. Just a pure joy. No bad habits, unless she has a penchant for light poles (ask me how I know).

[Lateral-G]

Maidened my F-22 last month. Awesome flying plane. Initial flights were off paved runway then subsequent flights off grass. Performs perfectly on either.

[StevenR]

Anyone have any recommendation for a separate receiver battery to use ( brand, volt, mah) if I wanted to go that route?

thanks

[jasmith41]

This reminds me of that threshold i came to a decade and a half or more ago when Microshaft wanted $10K for their new server software when they 'retired' NT2.0. Or i could go with RedHat (Linux) software which was basically free and did the same thing...
I went with the Linux option on the software for the business (still using it), but for RC, I'm sticking with Spektrum. It's pricey, but to me it's worth it... Everybody at the 4 fields i go to pretty much all and only have Spektrum other than a few guys that still have frequency flags on their pull-out antennas...