How about the new Eflite 70mm Thunderbird F-16. The main gear struts are the best I've seen in that class of jets. Wondering if they would work on my FW 70MM Arctic F-16.
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My Hangar inventory FW 90 mm hp F-15, FW 90 mm F-104, FW 90 mm T-45, FW 80 70mm F-5, FW 80 mm Scorpion, 70 mm V2 Z Rebel, F-8 Bearcat and a stable of T-28, white and Orange and yellow -
I thought about starting a thread on this new jet coming out. Looking pretty good from what I've seen.My Hangar inventory FW 90 mm hp F-15, FW 90 mm F-104, FW 90 mm T-45, FW 80 70mm F-5, FW 80 mm Scorpion, 70 mm V2 Z Rebel, F-8 Bearcat and a stable of T-28, white and Orange and yellow -
Here's a look at the main gear struts.My Hangar inventory FW 90 mm hp F-15, FW 90 mm F-104, FW 90 mm T-45, FW 80 70mm F-5, FW 80 mm Scorpion, 70 mm V2 Z Rebel, F-8 Bearcat and a stable of T-28, white and Orange and yellowComment
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Just a FYI, this is a repaint of the existing FMS F16 that has been out a while.
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Oh..ok so it's a rebranded repainted FMS product. Yea I saw that new release a couple of months ago. The Thunderbird scheme looks pretty good though.My Hangar inventory FW 90 mm hp F-15, FW 90 mm F-104, FW 90 mm T-45, FW 80 70mm F-5, FW 80 mm Scorpion, 70 mm V2 Z Rebel, F-8 Bearcat and a stable of T-28, white and Orange and yellowComment
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I too thought it was a new model. Thanks for the heads up! Still looks like a fun plane. Watched a vid yesterday of the H.H. crew flying them outside of their offices and the high alpha it's capable of is impressive!Comment
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The struts look like practically carbon copies of the upgrades that Freewing offers for the 70mm F-16. I fly my Freewing (which with a little help from Callie is a Thunderbird) at high alpha, approaching 80 degrees AOA, same as they are showing in the video. Control response is still good at a crawl. The thing that gets me about the FMS/E Flite model, is the cheater louvers on top of the plane on either side of the tail. I think they are a great detraction from the look of the model.
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I like them better on the top.
The cheaters on the bottom just clog with grass and let debris into the fan.
I had both the 70mm and 90mm F16 from freewing and the 90mm would clog up and would only
leave the ground if once up to speed I backed all the way off the throttle and then throttle back up.
The 70mm never got off the grass(promptly sold it at a swap meet).
Our field is closely cut but not vacuumed so to speak.Comment
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I picked one of these up on the 17th and assembled it last night. I put 2 6s 3300mah and 1 3200mah pack through it. I'm in love, definitely one of the easiest EDFs to fly, makes for great daily flyer. The landing gear on this thing is solid I fly in a church parking lot with a large field in front, needless to say its not the best runway. I landed on the grass multiple times with out any damage what so ever to the landing gear. This is the first EDF I've flown here to survive the grass landing. (FlexJet and FMS Yak 130) didn't make it either bent or ripped gear off completely. I wasn't crazy about the glueing, being that I'm accustomed to having all screws, the glueing wasn't bad at all. This plane goes together with ease and the instructions are very clear "who needs those right". First flight required little trim before she was solid with Safe Select turned off.
There was a question floating around as to what is sticking up in the main intake, it's where the nose landing gear and servo mount to the fuselage. I've yet to attempt a hand launch, but I'm sure that will be coming one day. All in all if you're on the fence about this bird, it's well worth the few extra $ compared to the FMS version. The only issue I had was my hatch not staying secure when landing no matter how soft it was, I know the grass isn't level or smooth but still feel like the hatch may be a little too loose . I will be contacting Horizon Hobby and I'm sure they will handle it. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them as best I can.
Happy FlyingComment
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Forgot to mention the F-16 comes in a little hot so make sure you bleed that speed off early or hit a nice alpha before touching down. She glides for what seems like forever.Comment
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probably my next purchase... she looks like a great birdComment
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ZCOL, how did you manage to get the CG right as called out in the manual? At first I had to add 48g of ballast to the tail cone to make it balance with a 6S 3300!! Then I got to carving, relocating the battery tray 3" back (as far as I possibly could without obstructing the main intake), moving the receiver (I got the BNF version) to the front of the battery bay, extending the ESC leads, and running servo lead extensions to the new receiver position.
EVEN NOW the battery needs to be all the way back on this relocated battery try to achieve the CG called out in the manual. But hey... at least I didn't need to add any weight! :)
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Andrew_flyguy.
I found cg if I aligned the battery with the sticker that comes on it inside the battery bay. I’ll take a picture of what I’m talking about this weekend to show you. I hate you had to go through all that to get her cg. I usually use the manuals call out as a recommendatio. I know it’s bad practice but I do a unofficial finger balance and let it rip. I hope the bird is flying well for you. Starting to become one of my favorite flyers.Comment
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Andrew_flyguy
took some pictures today this is where I found CG my battery lines up with the last line of text on that sticker roughly 5.5cm from the the cut out for the battery. Manual called for landing gear to be down as well.
Hope this helpsComment
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I'd overlooked that part in the manual about working CG out with the gear down. Thanks for posting these pics!
Could I trouble you to post a pic of the battery bay without a battery in it? I plan on making a video for YouTube and discussing the battery tray mod, but need a stock photo.Comment
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Andrew_flyguy
no no worries brother I can take some pictures this Sunday and post them here. I’ll try to get different aspects of it.Comment
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