Official Freewing Twin 80mm F-14D Tomcat Thread

[crxmanpat]

I have a set of the A-10 fans/motors (no ESCs) for sale if anyone's interested in getting them as an upgrade for the F-14.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...ans-Motors-NIB

Disregard, they belong to Brent now.

[Aros]

(You know something????) 🤫

Nope, in fact, a sure-fire way to tell if I do not know about something specific is if I mention wanting it in the forum.

[crxmanpat]

I really love repainting models into schemes that are different from stock, but I have to say I hate paint masking with a passion! Especially if a part has 4 colors like the verticals. Fortunately no paint was pulled up removing the masking. But on the plus side, no more visible wire channels! I would have decals and clear coat on this, but waiting on revised decals from Callie which won't be here until next week. But at least I got my order in before she goes on vacation on Friday!

[DCORSAIR]

Pat, let us know how those power plants work out for you.

Aros, I actually like the way it flies out of the box myself, wing sweep was the biggest issue with mine, the transition would cause a roll and my good old trusty Futaba 7C really don't have the mixes I need to fix it right, but by the time I got my 3rd one flying, I figured out how to compensate for an aileron input and taileron mix that solved the problem, I also moved the aileron linkages in on the servo horn cutting down the throw with wings out along with tailerons, then when I swept the wing, I used a dual rate to cut the tailerons down which also cut the ailerons throws down so the ailerons had about 2mm deflection in swept wing mode, it flew perfect that way and I kept it in swept wing mode most of the flight, that's how smooth it flew, so basically I had to do a little old school mixing along with old school horn adjustments, I know almost everyone says don't have aileron movement with wing sweep, I liked the feel it had with the ailerons moving, and I just had the regular flaps, landed fine for me, didn't see no need for full span flaps, I know having full span flaps is scale, but hey, the gear hang out and are visible, how scale is that??

[Aros]

Wow, I see there was a lot of mixing required to get her where you wanted. My mixing skill blows so there is that to contend with.

[DCORSAIR]

Wow, I see there was a lot of mixing required to get her where you wanted. My mixing skill blows so there is that to contend with.

Yep, it takes several flight to get it right and small adjustments, I should have never sold my last one, it actually flew the best out of the three, full flaps down and just a sweetheart on approach, add a little power and the kitty would land on its rear paws so nicely, you just don't want to get behind the power curve, I have seen that and here goes the bucking bronco...

[crxmanpat]

Pat, let us know how those power plants work out for you.

Will do. I will say if flew just fine on the stock power, but it had a long takeoff run (thankfully I have a 700' paved runway). When I put the A-10 power in it, it got off the ground quicker due to having additional thrust, and there was a slight increase in top speed. I'm hoping the T-33 power systems will give me even more thrust and speed.

[Aros]

...you just don't want to get behind the power curve, I have seen that and here goes the bucking bronco...

I had that so often I just assumed that was her natural landing habit.

[Corsair nut]

Tails look sweet pat!

[DCORSAIR]

I had that so often I just assumed that was her natural landing habit.

no, it lands normal, just a heavy bird as you know, has the same problem as the A-10, if you goof it, you pay MRC for parts.

[crxmanpat]

Tails look sweet pat!

Well, they did until I figured out I was using the wrong gray (was using Dark Aircraft Gray instead of Light Sea Gray). That has been fixed on the verticals. Thankfully I caught it before doing the wings and fuse.

[crxmanpat]

This F-14 was one bird I NEVER had issues landing. I did not change anything from stock and with full flaps and about 25% power on approach, she just got in the grove and settled nicely. Can't wait to get #2 in the air.

[crxmanpat]

OK, better now. Top is new paint, bottom is what I painted originally. Hard to see much of a difference in the pics, but it's definitely better now.

[xviper]

Curious about the flaps. When you use flaps, are they somehow programmed such that if you swing the wings back or when they are already swept back, do the flaps automatically pull up or are prevented from being deployed? Or is this something that is up to the pilot to do or not do (ie, pull up the flaps before wing sweep or just don't deploy them when swept back)?

[crxmanpat]

Up to the pilot and must be done as a flight mode in the TX. The stock junction board won't prevent a wing sweep with flaps down. Don't ask how I know.

[mshagg]

Program it into the TX. Flaps = 0 when wing sweep switched is flicked (along with a bunch of other stuff tied to the wing sweep - roll rate, gyro gains if applicable, disable wing ailerons if applicable). I added a 0.1s delay to the sweep just to add an additional safety margin, although the flap retraction is almost instantaneous.

What's not so easy is to then prevent the flaps from wanting to immediately deploy when you sweep the wings forward again if the flap switch is still in a deployed position. I guess at some point you have to take ownership of the aircraft's configuration in the air lol.

[DCORSAIR]

Curious about the flaps. When you use flaps, are they somehow programmed such that if you swing the wings back or when they are already swept back, do the flaps automatically pull up or are prevented from being deployed? Or is this something that is up to the pilot to do or not do (ie, pull up the flaps before wing sweep or just don't deploy them when swept back)?

Yeah, it's up to the pilot to do the mixing for all that, I never did program any of that on my F-14 and I think I only forgot one time when taxing back to me, didn't hurt anything, but I never did it in the air, my flaps were on a dial knob so it made it easy to remember not to touch the dial, only when landing, when taxiing I would sweep the wings and how I got myself to remember to make sure the flaps were up, soon as I landed and slowing down I would raise the flaps then turn around and sweep the wings, never had an issue, but I could see if the flaps were on a switch and you accidentally bump it or something like that or just plain forgot..

[crxmanpat]

Working on the Tomcat...............and watching Top Gun.

[xviper]

Program it into the TX. Flaps = 0 when wing sweep switched is flicked (along with a bunch of other stuff tied to the wing sweep - roll rate, gyro gains if applicable, disable wing ailerons if applicable). I added a 0.1s delay to the sweep just to add an additional safety margin, although the flap retraction is almost instantaneous.

What's not so easy is to then prevent the flaps from wanting to immediately deploy when you sweep the wings forward again if the flap switch is still in a deployed position. I guess at some point you have to take ownership of the aircraft's configuration in the air lol.

I kinda thought it was something like this - a level of technical expertise I'm somewhat lacking at my stage of development.
Taking ownership is something that I've always had to do and sometimes, it costs me.

Anyway, I've got the new IR EDFs and ESCs ordered and on the way. Next up is to order the ARF plus.

[mshagg]

Working on the Tomcat...............and watching Top Gun.

Finished mine a week or so ago, got solo accreditation at a new club field over the weekend... aaaaand a low pressure system parks itself over half the continent bringing two weeks of rain lol.

I hate sitting on a plane waiting for a maiden, the anticipation really doesnt make it any more comfortable.

I kinda thought it was something like this - a level of technical expertise I'm somewhat lacking at my stage of development.
Taking ownership is something that I've always had to do and sometimes, it costs me.

Anyway, I've got the new IR EDFs and ESCs ordered and on the way. Next up is to order the ARF plus.

I think if you're attempting to sweep with flaps deployed or dropping flaps with the wings swept, you're probably not as focused as you could be haha. The greater risk would be the scenario described by dcorsair where you're either running through pre-flight or just showing off on the ground.