After a year of development we are pleased to announce the upcoming release of Freewing's newest Super Scale Series EDF jet, the venerable F-14D Tomcat! Powered by twin 80mm 12B fans, this F-14 recreates the 25th anniversary livery which adorned BuNos 159630 from VF-2 squadron, the "Bounty Hunters". Aircraft in VF-2 had the callsign "Bullet", and we're confident in saying Freewing's model of "Bullet 101" will bring a smile to the faces of RC pilots around the world who have been waiting for an electric F-14 PNP at this level.
Developed in partnership with Motion RC's team for over a year, "Project Hannibal" as it was called internally has undergone several prototype phases to zero in on the performance and handling we want in a PNP model. Not too fast or slow, not too heavy but still adequately strong and rigid (especially in the wing box), not too unstable, still highly scale, still a good size people will want and yet the majority will still be able to transport somewhat easily, still within a reasonable price-range given all its features, etc. I will not disclose all the details of our development processes but suffice to say we have LOTS of time into this aircraft to balance out those and many other factors.
I have about 240 flights total on different prototypes to fully explore how this bird handles. We'll be providing a range of setup options for handling the sweep mixing and flap mixing. We're still working on that which is why the model hadn't been planned to be announced for another three weeks. Due to that original timeline, we do not have official video ready just yet, but look for that in the coming week or so.
Specifications:
Aircraft: F-14D "Bullet 101", VF-2 Squadron Bounty Hunters, BuNos 159630
Scale: ~1:8.3 scale
Length: 61.5/1563mm
Wingspan (wings forward): 61.5"/1562mm
Wingspan (wings swept): 38"/965mm
Top Speed: 114mph
Landing Speed: 36mph
Dry weight: 4162g
Power system:
Twin 80mm 12B metal shrouded EDFs and twin 80A ESCs, powered by twin 6s 4000-5000mAh (it's basically two 80mm Jets crammed into one)
8A UBEC
Plenty of space for twin 6s 5000 or even 5800s.
Mixed throttle flight time: 4:00 on 6s 4000mAh 40c. 5:00 on 5000mAh 50c. Put your timer at 3 minutes initially and gradually increase time on subsequent flights after voltage measurements, depending on your flying style.
Channels: 7 minimum. Ailerons, Flaps, Elevator, Rudder, Throttle, Gear, Sweep. 8 would allow flaperons to aid flaps (Not necessary, but it looks neat)
Sweep Mechanism: Aluminum wing box with four second worm driven actuators. Brass ball link hardware, steel rods, and steel bearings. Two people can lift the aircraft up by holding it four inches inside either of its wingtips with only a few millimeters of flex from tip to tip.
Lights: Scale "daybright" light package. Static nav lights on wingtips, static nav lights on top and bottom of wing root, static anti-collision light on port vertical, blinking tail position light on vertical. Landing light on the nose strut.
Plastic details include: Tailcones, arrestor hook, antennas, chinpod, pitots, cockpit details.
Ply details include: Wing fences and ventral fins.
Retracts: Aluminum trailing link double wheel nose, and Oleo mains. Mains have aluminum axle bearings. Sequenced double plastic door on the nose. Developing a 90 degree rotating main was not feasible due to the fact that the wingbox sits right where the wheel would be stored. We opted for a rock-solid sweeping wing mechanism instead of the "cool" factor of a rotating main wheel.
Assembly: Easy assembly for a model this large. Screw on the verticals, screw on the horizontals, position the wing onto the bearing block and screw it down, screw the wingbox cover on, epoxy the forward section on (like the F-5), pop on the magnetic fiberglass nose cone, glue on the chinpod and assorted surface details, bind to your receiver. Takes about an hour not including servo burn-in time.
Weapon Set Optional, purchased separately. Initial Set is "Standard Patrol" and includes two Phoenix, two Sparrow, two Sidewinder. Future Weapon Sets will likely include an "Armed TARPS" or "Smart Attack" loaded, and/or an Interdiction or "Long Range Intercept" loadout.
To those who will ask why we chose not to include slats. We evaluated one of the prototypes with slats, and they simply didn't contribute positively enough to the slow speed handling of the model enough to justify the gain in complexity, cost, and weight. We save almost a pound, which itself lowers the stall speed more than the slats did. I love scale, but not at that cost.
Pricing and Availability:
The Pre-Order page will be up in a week or so once ETA and pricing is finalized. Until then... go ahead and armchair quarterback this Unicorn. You're welcome .
Developed in partnership with Motion RC's team for over a year, "Project Hannibal" as it was called internally has undergone several prototype phases to zero in on the performance and handling we want in a PNP model. Not too fast or slow, not too heavy but still adequately strong and rigid (especially in the wing box), not too unstable, still highly scale, still a good size people will want and yet the majority will still be able to transport somewhat easily, still within a reasonable price-range given all its features, etc. I will not disclose all the details of our development processes but suffice to say we have LOTS of time into this aircraft to balance out those and many other factors.
I have about 240 flights total on different prototypes to fully explore how this bird handles. We'll be providing a range of setup options for handling the sweep mixing and flap mixing. We're still working on that which is why the model hadn't been planned to be announced for another three weeks. Due to that original timeline, we do not have official video ready just yet, but look for that in the coming week or so.
Specifications:
Aircraft: F-14D "Bullet 101", VF-2 Squadron Bounty Hunters, BuNos 159630
Scale: ~1:8.3 scale
Length: 61.5/1563mm
Wingspan (wings forward): 61.5"/1562mm
Wingspan (wings swept): 38"/965mm
Top Speed: 114mph
Landing Speed: 36mph
Dry weight: 4162g
Power system:
Twin 80mm 12B metal shrouded EDFs and twin 80A ESCs, powered by twin 6s 4000-5000mAh (it's basically two 80mm Jets crammed into one)
8A UBEC
Plenty of space for twin 6s 5000 or even 5800s.
Mixed throttle flight time: 4:00 on 6s 4000mAh 40c. 5:00 on 5000mAh 50c. Put your timer at 3 minutes initially and gradually increase time on subsequent flights after voltage measurements, depending on your flying style.
Channels: 7 minimum. Ailerons, Flaps, Elevator, Rudder, Throttle, Gear, Sweep. 8 would allow flaperons to aid flaps (Not necessary, but it looks neat)
Sweep Mechanism: Aluminum wing box with four second worm driven actuators. Brass ball link hardware, steel rods, and steel bearings. Two people can lift the aircraft up by holding it four inches inside either of its wingtips with only a few millimeters of flex from tip to tip.
Lights: Scale "daybright" light package. Static nav lights on wingtips, static nav lights on top and bottom of wing root, static anti-collision light on port vertical, blinking tail position light on vertical. Landing light on the nose strut.
Plastic details include: Tailcones, arrestor hook, antennas, chinpod, pitots, cockpit details.
Ply details include: Wing fences and ventral fins.
Retracts: Aluminum trailing link double wheel nose, and Oleo mains. Mains have aluminum axle bearings. Sequenced double plastic door on the nose. Developing a 90 degree rotating main was not feasible due to the fact that the wingbox sits right where the wheel would be stored. We opted for a rock-solid sweeping wing mechanism instead of the "cool" factor of a rotating main wheel.
Assembly: Easy assembly for a model this large. Screw on the verticals, screw on the horizontals, position the wing onto the bearing block and screw it down, screw the wingbox cover on, epoxy the forward section on (like the F-5), pop on the magnetic fiberglass nose cone, glue on the chinpod and assorted surface details, bind to your receiver. Takes about an hour not including servo burn-in time.
Weapon Set Optional, purchased separately. Initial Set is "Standard Patrol" and includes two Phoenix, two Sparrow, two Sidewinder. Future Weapon Sets will likely include an "Armed TARPS" or "Smart Attack" loaded, and/or an Interdiction or "Long Range Intercept" loadout.
To those who will ask why we chose not to include slats. We evaluated one of the prototypes with slats, and they simply didn't contribute positively enough to the slow speed handling of the model enough to justify the gain in complexity, cost, and weight. We save almost a pound, which itself lowers the stall speed more than the slats did. I love scale, but not at that cost.
Pricing and Availability:
The Pre-Order page will be up in a week or so once ETA and pricing is finalized. Until then... go ahead and armchair quarterback this Unicorn. You're welcome .
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