Freewing 90mm F-22 Raptor - Official Thread

[Papadave418]

Well on my 7th flight I had an issue. I was at full throttle about to lift off when my front wheel came off. The set screw was still there but obviously loose. I am flying off dirt which is a central California loose sandy mix and the nose plowed into the ground till it stopped. I thought the front end was ruined and prepared myself for the worst. The wheel and shaft was intact, along with the plastic flex arm piece that clips to the landing gear. The strut, land gear servo, and gear doors were fine, just dirty. The flex arm piece attached to the strut was pushed back into the foam aft of the gear, which is the only real damage. I’ll need to check out my fan blades but I re-assembled it all and put it back up in the air. I’m thankful the plane didn’t lift off with a dangling nose wheel as it probably would have done more damage landing it than plowing to a stop on take off. So check your set screws. I’ve had other Freewing landing gear set screws come loose so I’m going to locktite the rest.

Just a heads up.

[TiredIronGRB]

Well on my 7th flight I had an issue. I was at full throttle about to lift off when my front wheel came off. The set screw was still there but obviously loose. I am flying off dirt which is a central California loose sandy mix and the nose plowed into the ground till it stopped. I thought the front end was ruined and prepared myself for the worst. The wheel and shaft was intact, along with the plastic flex arm piece that clips to the landing gear. The strut, land gear servo, and gear doors were fine, just dirty. The flex arm piece attached to the strut was pushed back into the foam aft of the gear, which is the only real damage. I’ll need to check out my fan blades but I re-assembled it all and put it back up in the air. I’m thankful the plane didn’t lift off with a dangling nose wheel as it probably would have done more damage landing it than plowing to a stop on take off. So check your set screws. I’ve had other Freewing landing gear set screws come loose so I’m going to locktite the rest.

Just a heads up.

Which set screw came loose? The one in the yoke?

[Papadave418]

Which set screw came loose? The one in the yoke?

The one right above the wheel, the insert does not have a catch slot etched out of it, so it needs to be tight tight

[TiredIronGRB]

I thought the suspension on the F-22 was a little stiff for my liking so I cut the spring length by 8mm and it’s made a world of difference on the rollout and taxiing handling. There’s about 1.5mm of preload on them now and will actually compress instead of being a “Crashabsorber”:Straight-Face:

[EDJEFF]

I always felt the same way about the landing gear being so stiff almost like they don’t even work. I plan on going to the hardware store and picking up softer springs.

[Vasaro]

could someone with an admiral 4000 60c do me a solid and see if the plane cgs with the battery all the way forward?

thanks!

[Pogo]

Good question Pat. Once I have it together and functioning I will be able to determine if anything more is needed. My gut feel is that it will be fine without any locking mechanism because the arm where the servo push-rod secures is a good 3+ inches from the pivot point of the canopy and it is quite strong. If I bottom out or slightly over rotate the push-rod on the servo opposite the arm it will also act as a lock. I hope to find out tonight.

Lookin' good Steve! As I'm sure you've seen, the full size Raptor canopy moves forward to lock once it's down, much like the A-10. The geometry of my Hog's mechanism just happened to do this by itself (unplanned) and a small lip under the front frame adds some "locking" action. How to do this with the F-22 canopy I don't know, but I think you're right that what you've got should be fine. The only way I can imagine just now would be with another servo operating a locking mechanism at the front, but I agree- not necessary. Something I did do to test my A-10 canopy security was extensive wind tunnel testing (let her have it with a 200 mph gas leaf blower on the deck!) All was good and it made me feel better. :Cool:
Tom

[hotrod23t]

if nessary you could use a magnetic bomb drop mecahism on the front of canopy

[G Zod]

I've got the Admiral 4000 and the plane CGs fine. It's not all the way forward, but I've also got a centerburner adding a bit of tail weight

[Vasaro]

I've got the Admiral 4000 and the plane CGs fine. It's not all the way forward, but I've also got a centerburner adding a bit of tail weight

thank you so much! Have you flown it with the 4000? How much flight time are you getting?

[john2kx]

Well on my 7th flight I had an issue. I was at full throttle about to lift off when my front wheel came off. The set screw was still there but obviously loose. I am flying off dirt which is a central California loose sandy mix and the nose plowed into the ground till it stopped. I thought the front end was ruined and prepared myself for the worst. The wheel and shaft was intact, along with the plastic flex arm piece that clips to the landing gear. The strut, land gear servo, and gear doors were fine, just dirty. The flex arm piece attached to the strut was pushed back into the foam aft of the gear, which is the only real damage. I’ll need to check out my fan blades but I re-assembled it all and put it back up in the air. I’m thankful the plane didn’t lift off with a dangling nose wheel as it probably would have done more damage landing it than plowing to a stop on take off. So check your set screws. I’ve had other Freewing landing gear set screws come loose so I’m going to locktite the rest.

Just a heads up.

After seeing two issues with the nose gear set screw here lately, I decided to check mine. Got 3 turns on mine and it never seemed to tighten up. I stopped at 3 turns and feel like the threads are stripped out. Now I am nervous and feel like I need to replace the nose strut. Just so we are clear on the set screw you had issue with, the one I checked is right above the front tire and I call this the yoke.

John

[yf22raptor]

Check this out 12 cell freewing F-22

holy smokes its fast.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvL_walOPGE

[crxmanpat]

Holy jeez that sucker is fast! And 5 minutes flight time on 4500? What was left on the batteries after that flight?

[downwindleg]

Finished trimming around the cockpit with 0.010" thick Styrene. Also got the servo mounting sorted out and designed and printed a clevis to attach a pushrod to the canopy. I am using an elevator servo from the 90mm F-16 and ran my throws all the way up. I have more than 30mm of travel. I need to do some painting next and then just put it all together.

Looking good Steve. Waiting to see if I get a Christmas bonus this year in which case I will be ordering this plane mostly on the basis of your mods. What do you think about the green led which has something to do with rocket aiming or targeting? Looks pretty cool in the videos. Where do you get your styrene sheets? By the way can't help but notice the cockpit parts have these slice marks that look like they went through a table saw. What is up with that?

[RCjetdude]

I tried shining a green LED on the green film in the HUD and it just washed it out. Styrene sheets I get at my LHS. Evergreen is the brand. Usually found with model train stuff. The lines in the prints are caused by the filament being laid down one layer at a time. The process used to make the 3DPUP's sold by Motion is different and ends up producing super high resolution parts that look more like they were made in a mold.

[john2kx]

Here's an idea of what the before and after looks like for my panel lines. The top, or left side of the plane, has not been done yet. The bottom, or right side, has.

That does look good Pat. I did the same with my A10 and used pastel pencils. Is that what you used on your Raptor?

John

[crxmanpat]

John,

I'm using an artist's pencil set of charcoals. I'm using the medium one, sharpened to a point like a flat head screwdriver. I draw in the lines, and then go back over them with a detail brush. It only has about 1/8" of bristles sticking out, and is good for softening up the drawn lines and spreading out the charcoal. Got it all done yesterday, but it was too late to take outdoor pics. I'll post some up later today.

[G Zod]

Vasaro, I flew for about 3 minutes and then brought it down with about 28% of juice left. Mainly leisurely flying...

[john2kx]

John,

I'm using an artist's pencil set of charcoals. I'm using the medium one, sharpened to a point like a flat head screwdriver. I draw in the lines, and then go back over them with a detail brush. It only has about 1/8" of bristles sticking out, and is good for softening up the drawn lines and spreading out the charcoal. Got it all done yesterday, but it was too late to take outdoor pics. I'll post some up later today.

Your method sounds like what I did on the A10 except I sharpened my pencils with a pencil sharpener. I'll give the flat head screwdriver tip a try. Thanks for sharing.

John

[crxmanpat]

The flat screwdriver method works better I think as you don't have a sharp point dragging across the foam.

Got all the panel lines and clear coating done last night. I had to take some liberties with the leading edge of the belly bay doors as the panel lines were not molded into the center piece of foam, but I think it came out good. Debating on whether or not to do some more weathering to it. Maybe later. Looking forward to some 8S flights tomorrow!