Freewing 90mm F-22 Raptor - Official Thread

[e4dragongunner]

Good Lord! Thanks Bother. Duh REX 7 W/ assist .... embarrassed I didn't think of that.... Cool, solves my Gyro quandary! Yes I have several MUI's , just getting in to using them... I do have a few questions ( Second year with my DS-16) ( Will take off line) :-)
And the other big "AH HA" moment here is " FLAT or FLATTER coordinated turns in the pattern. ( Less yank and bank) She is a sweet heart... I love her presence in the air! SO awesome! Talk soon! Again thank you for helping me and probably so many others,

Signed TOTALLY ADDICTED! :-) Have a great week boys!

[e4dragongunner]

I have just started feeling comfortable exploring the high AOA with this machine and have about 15 more flights than you at this point. Our setup is similar but I run high rates on all my control surfaces. Yes, I would install a gyro if I were you. It really does smooth things out in many areas of the flight. It was the first thing I added after performing maiden and one additional outing.

Since you have already got a feel of high AOA, it didn't take long to figure out you've got to slow down to a certain speed just to get in the groove. What I found I was doing at the early stages was taking too long to get slowed down, passing myself ,and 30 yards later I was able to lift nose and apply power to really get it slowed down. It will take some practice to learn where to start applying brakes. If you come in too hot, adding elevator only makes you climb. Check out the recent video of the guy who makes the slime lights. His entry technique is shown well in this video at about 1:23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGJO0dDjmfI

Once you get the straight runs figured out, it's time to start practicing flat turns. You may or not want to use one step of flaps. I have tried it both ways and am not certain where I will end up here. One thing for sure, this bird is made for high alpha. I've had many ducted fans and turbines over the years. Nothing has come close to how well this one will do high alpha.

I flipped gyro on and off today as well as tried heading hold while in high AOA. Bottom line, it worked best with gyro on and in normal dampening mode. With gyro off, everything felt too sensitive.

Since you fly Jeti, I would recommend a 7 ch Rex with assist. In one device you have your gyro and rx in one unit. Fully programmable from Tx and you get can use any two virtual channels to turn gyro on/off or set to heading hold.....as well as use anything you want to adjust gain. I use the right slider and work it constantly throughout my flight and a 3 position switch for the off/rate mode/HH. And, still have one channel left over for future additions.

I've really been surprised that even thought I have tried most of my high AOA work two mistakes high, I have not been bit yet. No surprises to date, but I do keep up with wind direction.

Attached pic shows my most current setup. Rex 7 assist rx, 150 amp mui sensor for tracking mah, volts, watts, amps, castle pro bec and can run gps for speed/altitude when needed.

Hope you enjoy the world of high AOA. It's just one area this machine excels in. Big air stuff is just, if not more challenging. Have fun with knife edge flight, slow rolls to write home about, big ass loops, bad ass cobras that will blow your mind....even without TV.

John

Sorry forgot to Quote :-)

Good Lord! Thanks Bother. Duh REX 7 W/ assist .... embarrassed I didn't think of that.... Cool, solves my Gyro quandary! Yes I have several MUI's , just getting in to using them... I do have a few questions ( Second year with my DS-16) ( Will take off line) :-)
And the other big "AH HA" moment here is " FLAT or FLATTER coordinated turns in the pattern. ( Less yank and bank) She is a sweet heart... I love her presence in the air! SO awesome! Talk soon! Again thank you for helping me and probably so many others,

Signed TOTALLY ADDICTED! :-) Have a great week boys!

[F106DeltaDart]

John, I was actually kidding when I replied to Delta106 about taking 20mm out of the springs but this morning I was taking the nose strut apart to clip the spring 8mm (as per George) and went hmm. I had a piece of spring from some other FW jet, 17mm long, and put it in the strut. This decreased the strut height by 10mm and didn't reduce travel by much as the original 36mm spring becomes coil-bound anyway. And it was nice and soft. So that's what I'm going with on the nose- I reduced the height of the mains by 8mm with a piece of styrene in the slot as a test and the retraction seems OK but that's about the max because of the length of the retract unit. The roller in the well still works. So tomorrow in the shop I'll cut down the springs in the mains to reduce the static height by 8mm.
I also removed the 19th century locomotive landing light and made 2 smaller ones using a "GT Power RC" kit from MRC. Input can be from 4 to 6 V. so I'll Y into the CC20 BEC I'm using- there's still 4 strobes and 2 nav lights to install.....
Tom

Nice work! I think I may have to do this as well! F-22 is scheduled to arrive today, so its time to start pulling together the list of mods.

[john2kx]

Good Lord! Thanks Bother. Duh REX 7 W/ assist .... embarrassed I didn't think of that.... Cool, solves my Gyro quandary! Yes I have several MUI's , just getting in to using them... I do have a few questions ( Second year with my DS-16) ( Will take off line) :-)
And the other big "AH HA" moment here is " FLAT or FLATTER coordinated turns in the pattern. ( Less yank and bank) She is a sweet heart... I love her presence in the air! SO awesome! Talk soon! Again thank you for helping me and probably so many others,

Signed TOTALLY ADDICTED! :-) Have a great week boys!

I’ll pm you my contact info later today and will be glad to assist with your jeti setup.

John

[downwindleg]

Sorry... I didn’t see your comment, busy weekend. I saw other light setups and purchased what I thought they were using. It was under $10 on Amazon and only runs on 3v (2+AA) batteries. I was going to cut it up and solder wires into the sections that were cut to size for the plane. I don’t know very much about EL lighting at all. I bought it the day I posted the picture. I saw some YouTube videos on splicing them so I knew it was possible. Honestly, I don’t know much more. Here is the link to what I bought...

https://www.amazon.com/Lychee-Glowing-Strobing-Electroluminescent-Robbin/dp/B008GXRL1O/ref=asc_df_B008GXRL1O/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=230695305278&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15765663407492048346&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032418&hvtargid=pla-393681783255&psc=1

Thanks for getting back to me C17loadmaster. I think the electroluminescent strips would be the perfect choice from an accuracy standpoint but unless somebody like Steve or George does the r&d, I'll probably go with the led kit. I may add a third led in the slime light in the vertical stabs as they have kind of a dark spot between leds.

[downwindleg]

BTW got the kit Friday night. Don't have a lot of time but started in on the mod list. Painted the verticle stab servos using post it notes and grey primer. Tightened up the nose wheel yoke set screw and loctite. Pulled the first spring out of gear,after binding receiver and dropping the gear, to either shorten or replace. Pulled the canopy to work on canopy mod and 3d pup instrument parts. I assume existing parts have to be removed? Also assume hud gets recycled? Anyway that's where I'm at.

[Pogo]

Nice work! I think I may have to do this as well! F-22 is scheduled to arrive today, so its time to start pulling together the list of mods.

Happy new model arrival day- there's nothing better!:Cool:
Tom

[Pogo]

BTW got the kit Friday night. Don't have a lot of time but started in on the mod list. Painted the verticle stab servos using post it notes and grey primer. Tightened up the nose wheel yoke set screw and loctite. Pulled the first spring out of gear,after binding receiver and dropping the gear, to either shorten or replace. Pulled the canopy to work on canopy mod and 3d pup instrument parts. I assume existing parts have to be removed? Also assume hud gets recycled? Anyway that's where I'm at.

Glad you're getting into it Brad, and yes, the HUD gets reused.
Tom

[4923crew]

Is there any way to purchase that set? it would be a lot easier than my plan.

Thanks,

Jim

Inquires into the Formation light module DIY kit can be sent to Solt4923crew@hotmail.com

[crxmanpat]

#2 is here, now to start on it with all the mods. I have Jeremy's slime light and nav light kit, and some other 3D printed parts. May take me a few weeks before I'm back in the air as I'm gone all next week on a work trip.

[Aros]

Trying to debate when I go to purchase this sweet jet if I get the 6S or 8S. Anyone care to offer thoughts, comments, suggestions?

[JohnVH]

Love this jet, heres another great landing for ya!

[F106DeltaDart]

Happy new model arrival day- there's nothing better!:Cool:
Tom

Thanks Tom, there definitely isn’t! Unfortunately, looks like the UPS clowns put a huge hole in the side of the box. Fouled up the LE of the right wing pretty good. Ticket is in with CS, and I have no doubt they’ll take care of it.

[downwindleg]

Hey Todd, not enough information out there yet to make a comparison. I have heard that the 6s is lighter and therefore more maneuverable.....especially if you do the thrust vectoring. I went with the 6s myself but am a long way from flying it. Too many mods and too little time. Too bad the Hawks didn't get it done but I figure they got farther than most people expected for a transition year. Going all the way next year for sure!!

[downwindleg]

Inquires into the Formation light module DIY kit can be sent to Solt4923crew@hotmail.com

Hey 4923crew,those pictures are a good example of what I was talking about on the verticle stab. Seems a little dim to me in the middle. Maybe a third led? BTW thanks Tom for the words of encouragement. How's yours coming?

[bill34207]

Trying to debate when I go to purchase this sweet jet if I get the 6S or 8S. Anyone care to offer thoughts, comments, suggestions?

I have a mild 8s setup in mine and sometimes wish I'd gotten the 6 for the lighter weight. But I do like the stretched flight times and even the heavier 8s (pair of 5000 4s) can still make a nice soft touchdown.

Edit: check this video from yesterday for flight time, performance, and landing. It's a compilation from 3 flights (getting the best footage captured by the SoloShot) but only has two extra circuits from a normal single flight. Go full screen https://youtu.be/KIlhHlT0MYs

[Aros]

Hey Todd, not enough information out there yet to make a comparison. I have heard that the 6s is lighter and therefore more maneuverable.....especially if you do the thrust vectoring. I went with the 6s myself but am a long way from flying it. Too many mods and too little time. Too bad the Hawks didn't get it done but I figure they got farther than most people expected for a transition year. Going all the way next year for sure!!

I don't plan on modding it out like some have done. I don't have Steve's skills and patience. ;)

I am leaning towards the 6S as I know it was engineered to be the most efficient and lightweight. I am used to bringing my EDFs down after 3 minutes anyways so not a deal-breaker for sure. As for the Hawks, ugh. Not what we expected but the sting of the loss can't take away from what was such a great, surprising season in a "rebuiliding" year. The next season and beyond looks very promising! Go Hawks! Go Motion RC! :)

[e4dragongunner]

I have a mild 8s setup in mine and sometimes wish I'd gotten the 6 for the lighter weight. But I do like the stretched flight times and even the heavier 8s (pair of 5000 4s) can still make a nice soft touchdown.

Edit: check this video from yesterday for flight time, performance, and landing. It's a compilation from 3 flights (getting the best footage captured by the SoloShot) but only has two extra circuits from a normal single flight. Go full screen https://youtu.be/KIlhHlT0MYs

Tell me about the Solo shot! I would love a robot cameraman! Are you glad you got it! and how consistent is it?

Thanks in advance! Great flight BTW!

[e4dragongunner]

Love this jet, heres another great landing for ya!

Really nice Flight and great example of a beautiful high alpha pattern :-) Will be studying this one closely... GYRO??

[RCjetdude]

Two 1W white LED's instead of the 5W. Designed and printed a double light housing to fit on the strut.