Freewing 90mm F-22 Raptor - Official Thread

[john2kx]

Yeah, I looked at that but I don't think there's enough material, unfortunately. Maybe take 20 mm out of the springs?:P
Tom

Cutting the springs 8 mm per Tired Iron was a definite improvement on my 300’ geotex runway. Gone is the memory of a broad street crack head as I taxi about and much smoother landings.

Not so sure about cutting the springs 20 mm unless I had replacements in hand. Cutting 8 mm does not shorten ride height but I believe 20 mm would, which may cause issue with rollpin in wing.

I just swapped out the front/wheel tire with a F16 main, 60 mm vs stock 65 mm. It looks better, but now think I’m going to use the F16 nose wheel to further reduce the size. F16 nose tire is 45 mm.

May just get the whole set of F16 wheels to achieve the look I’m after. Raptor main tires are 67 mm (same used on A10 nose). I am not 100% yet that this will work until I have axle sizes nailed down. So many wheels available and versions of jets. Testing of roll pin in wing is another area to look in to when changing tire diameter or strut height.

John

[Flightsss]

I have flown them a bunch and my preference is to use an Admiral 10 channel with satellite and a separate gyro. Usually the Hobby Eagle A3-L. At least it has the capacitor to help reduce chances of brown outs. It is the combination I had in my Raptor until I went with roll TV as well. Had to remove the gyro for a lack of functionality with the tailerons. May install a Super 2 or 3 instead. Flying DX9.

Interesting, thanks. I dont really want to upgrade my DX6i. So im trying to making do. The admiral should work. I dont like the lack of a satellite however. I also have a specktum reciever with sat. Seperate Gyros just go into a aux port right? They dont burn a channel right? Im limited at 6. And the capacitor would go into the gyro or reciver?

i have little experiance with gyros (except the ones with lamb and beef and veggies) lol

[James]

Interesting, thanks. I dont really want to upgrade my DX6i. So im trying to making do. The admiral should work. I dont like the lack of a satellite however. I also have a specktum reciever with sat. Seperate Gyros just go into a aux port right? They dont burn a channel right? Im limited at 6. And the capacitor would go into the gyro or reciver?

i have little experiance with gyros (except the ones with lamb and beef and veggies) lol

Yep, the capacitor plugs into an empty slot on the gyro. You can see in the pictures of the HobbyEagle Gyro what it looks like: https://www.motionrc.com/products/ea...-airplane-gyro

Then regardless what receiver to end up on, you will run your ailerons, elevator and rudder leads through the gyro then into the receiver. and the gyro itself has a pretty simple set up which works with a button and a series of light patterns to set it up. The manual does a good job showing you how to do it, or there are plenty of youtube videos as well.

[cruiser]

If you are not using a gyro, I assume you gain the same effect by plugging the capacitor directly into the receiver?

[purduephigam]

Yep, the capacitor plugs into an empty slot on the gyro. You can see in the pictures of the HobbyEagle Gyro what it looks like: https://www.motionrc.com/products/ea...-airplane-gyro

Then regardless what receiver to end up on, you will run your ailerons, elevator and rudder leads through the gyro then into the receiver. and the gyro itself has a pretty simple set up which works with a button and a series of light patterns to set it up. The manual does a good job showing you how to do it, or there are plenty of youtube videos as well.

I wasn't sure if it was covered but does it matter if the capacitor is Y'd into a receiver channel or if it's on an open channel on the gyro?

[Monty500]

NAILED my landing, check this one out!!

Great flying and landing John. You have your Raptor pretty well dialed in, would you mind sharing your control rates? Mine should be arriving early next week and would be very interested in setting mine up like yours.

[Pogo]

Cutting the springs 8 mm per Tired Iron was a definite improvement on my 300’ geotex runway. Gone is the memory of a broad street crack head as I taxi about and much smoother landings.

Not so sure about cutting the springs 20 mm unless I had replacements in hand. Cutting 8 mm does not shorten ride height but I believe 20 mm would, which may cause issue with rollpin in wing.

I just swapped out the front/wheel tire with a F16 main, 60 mm vs stock 65 mm. It looks better, but now think I’m going to use the F16 nose wheel to further reduce the size. F16 nose tire is 45 mm.

May just get the whole set of F16 wheels to achieve the look I’m after. Raptor main tires are 67 mm (same used on A10 nose). I am not 100% yet that this will work until I have axle sizes nailed down. So many wheels available and versions of jets. Testing of roll pin in wing is another area to look in to when changing tire diameter or strut height.

John

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

[Bobcat]

I have the 8s version. I maidened the bird with two 4s 5000mah graphene batteries which weigh in at 2lbs 11oz. But I can rig up a 9s battery pack with a 6s 5200 and a 3s 5200 right? The 9s setup would weigh 2lbs 3oz. Can the plane handle a 9s? Or is my 8s too heavy? I couldn’t have landed it without flaps. Or am I going about this wrong?

[C17loadmaster]

Interesting, thanks. I dont really want to upgrade my DX6i. So im trying to making do. The admiral should work. I dont like the lack of a satellite however. I also have a specktum reciever with sat. Seperate Gyros just go into a aux port right? They dont burn a channel right? Im limited at 6. And the capacitor would go into the gyro or reciver?

i have little experiance with gyros (except the ones with lamb and beef and veggies) lol

If you don’t want to upgrade your TX for a while, you can always use a Spektrum AR636. They work great. Only issue is I don’t think you can add the ability to turn the gyro off or adjustable gain in flight . Before I upgraded from my DX6i, I connected the gyro selection to the gear switch. When the gear is down, the gyro turns on and take off and landings are made very easy, but there is no gyro when the gear is up. I get that the gear channel might be a poor choice being as if the gyro is set up wrong you’d have to belly land. So the flap switch may be better. They say the 636A won’t work outside the plane it came in, but that isn’t true. You will need a $10 programming cord no matter what. If you have questions, I’d be happy to help. I have 4 warbirds and the 80mm F-86 and ME-262 in use with eBay bought 636As that aren’t supposed to work. I have about 10 HobbyEagle A3S3s in my other planes, but I prefer the Spektrum AS3X any day.

I have an old DX6i still... I’ll see what functions it’s capable of doing. Compared to a more advanced TX

[C17loadmaster]

I take it this is what people are using as formation lights? I definitely want them being as we always used them on my plane too! Definitely cheap enough on Amazon, and I ordered them 24hrs ago

[Skyboom]

Those are cool lights. Thanks for the tip. Ordered blue, red and green. The 1 meter strips.

[TRMRC]

Wondering what color grey you guys are using to touch up the F22? Think a primer grey would blend ?

[JohnVH]

Great flying and landing John. You have your Raptor pretty well dialed in, would you mind sharing your control rates? Mine should be arriving early next week and would be very interested in setting mine up like yours.

Honestly, I’m at high rate throws on everything by the book. With some expo to my liking, maybe 25%. And a CG of 150-155mm

[Monty500]

Honestly, I’m at high rate throws on everything by the book. With some expo to my liking, maybe 25%. And a CG of 150-155mm

Thanks John, that's good to know.

[Pogo]

Wondering what color grey you guys are using to touch up the F22? Think a primer grey would blend ?

xplaneguy kindly posted these from Home Depot a while back.
Tom

[adb2@suddenlink.net]

Cutting the springs 8 mm per Tired Iron was a definite improvement on my 300’ geotex runway. Gone is the memory of a broad street crack head as I taxi about and much smoother landings.

Not so sure about cutting the springs 20 mm unless I had replacements in hand. Cutting 8 mm does not shorten ride height but I believe 20 mm would, which may cause issue with rollpin in wing.

I just swapped out the front/wheel tire with a F16 main, 60 mm vs stock 65 mm. It looks better, but now think I’m going to use the F16 nose wheel to further reduce the size. F16 nose tire is 45 mm.

May just get the whole set of F16 wheels to achieve the look I’m after. Raptor main tires are 67 mm (same used on A10 nose). I am not 100% yet that this will work until I have axle sizes nailed down. So many wheels available and versions of jets. Testing of roll pin in wing is another area to look in to when changing tire diameter or strut height.

John

I wondered if reducing the nose wheel to 45mm might put the plane in a slightly nose down attitude for take off.

[john2kx]

I wondered if reducing the nose wheel to 45mm might put the plane in a slightly nose down attitude for take off.

It has been discussed here (or rcg) in the past week that the 45mm tire causes no issues.

[e4dragongunner]

Attaining HIGH ALPHA approaches ...

Guys I have 10 flights thus far. in 2 sessions.... 3 flights session 1 .....and 7 flights in session 2. I have the 6S Version. ( probably should have gotten the 8) :-) .... So, My history. 2nd year on Jets so its quite possible I have my head in my ass on this...so hear goes.

She is set up per the manual. Factory Elevator mixes included, I take off with one notch of flaps and land with 2 notches. I like High rates on Elevator and Ailerons. Rudder stays on low. ( They are powerful) I Separated the nosegear and rudder servos on different channels( Rudder trim only affects nose wheel steering. Plenty of Expo on nose wheel.

I have spent at least 3 batteries exploring the slow flight envelope and she slows down nice through the entire spectrum ( though need power in the turns) ..

I do get a bit of wing rock a slower speeds ( REAL SLOW) Question , Will a gyro help this?


Help me with getting her in to that nose high beautiful sync ( fly the glide) attitude. Are you guys starting to enter that AOA on base or down wind?

Any advice I can get to get better and be more consistent would be great!! BTW love this community!

All my best Jason.

[ursli75]

Today I prepared the Turbine for the F22 (with a dummy trubine T35 Kolibri)

[downwindleg]

I take it this is what people are using as formation lights? I definitely want them being as we always used them on my plane too! Definitely cheap enough on Amazon, and I ordered them 24hrs ago

Yeah that looks like a pretty cool setup. The light looks more solid than other setups I've seen. Can you cut the light strip down into pieces? How are they powered? Love to see pictures when you get them.