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Official Freewing Twin 80mm F-14D Tomcat Thread

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  • Originally posted by Evan D View Post
    Good luck. It’s a trainer with the wings out. I sweep the wings while banked in a turn. That way any trim change is not noticeable.
    It also looks very cool watching the wings while in the bank turn

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    • SUCCESS! Did my very first wing sweep this morning. Thanks to the suggestions and cautions posted here, I was prepared for anything to happen. To my great surprise, from the time I flipped the switch to the time they were fully swept out, NO unpleasantries occured. Absolutely no trim change. It didn't roll or pitch in any direction. It just kept flying flat and straight. Banking into the first turn was effortless and once in the straight, rolling was superb. Coming back out of the sweep, same thing ................... very benign, no surprises. The only thing I noticed this time out that I never detected before was an odd thing with the flaps. I have full span flaps. At 1/2 flaps, the plane would roll slowly to the left but very easy to counter. At full flaps the roll went away and it flew perfectly trimmed. It's very puzzling, although not alarming and completely manageable. Thanks to all for the hints and encouragement.
      (I was going to wait for the little Eflite F-14 to try the wing sweep but as it's now pushed back to November, I didn't want to wait any longer.)

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      • Cool!

        I don't see any trim change either, but mine does have a wing wobble when swept back. Someone suggested replacing the FFS servos to reduce "slop" so I bought some Hitecs but haven't got around to installing them yet.

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        • Congrats!

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          • Does anyone know if the metal upgrade platters to reinforce the fuselage / main landing gear area for grass runways are still available? I sent a PM on another forum where the fella that made them advertised them but he hasn’t responded. Any suggestions?

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            • I don’t but when I bought my F-14 from a friend I got the kit and didn’t use it. Make me an offer.

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              • Originally posted by Evan D View Post
                I don’t but when I bought my F-14 from a friend I got the kit and didn’t use it. Make me an offer.
                Hi Evan, thanks for your reply. I'll send you a PM.

                Jay

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                • Quick test of my camera system. I am changing the cameras out and will test it again at the Brenham field. I just don't feel comfortable at this field anymore.
                   

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                  • Almost go time for fpv test flight 2 with the f14, 1st with the new cameras on my fpv rig these give give much higher field of view. I will post the video when. I get it all edited together at home. The new video will have front and rear seat views.

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                    • Elbee
                      Elbee commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Do I hear the theme from "Star Trek"? ...boldly going where no man has gone before...Best, LB

                  • I assume wider FOV. Your earlier video was quite narrow.

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                    • Yes much wider, the old camera suuuuucked. These are night and day different here's the shop test to get a perspective.

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                      • Looks very flyable! Nice.

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                        • Oh yeah, this is going to be so much fun!
                           

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                          • Nice flight and landing.
                            AMA 424553

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                            • Yeah next one I'll have my goggles on and bite the bullet.

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                              • Hey Guy's.

                                Just thought I'd share it here because it has to do with the Freewing F-14. I looked high and low and couldn't find any good info on the conversion of these to turbine, so I made this video to help out anyone else who might want to do the conversion.

                                At the very end of the vid there is a few quick snippets of it in flight. waiting on my regular camera guy to come back from holidays for more video.


                                And I've also been chasing the wings rocking the model does with the wings swept. I had already replaced the elevator servos with some Hitec Hs-8058MG's, dubro ball links and machined a new shaft to remove the slop in the factory setup, but still getting the wobble. I then found that one of the HS-8058mg has slop in the gear train and that was equating to about 5mm of movement in the stab. Put a new one in there and its much better.

                                I would say that there must be some turbulent air coming off the wings when swept that is causing excitation of any play in the elevators. Not a fan of hitec servos because they do develop slop over time and they are not always the best centering servos, but used them because I had them. Going to try a new brand of servo that is super fast by comparison to see if the gyro can dampen out the last of the wobbles due to rough air.

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                                • You might try Promodeler servos. I discovered them a couple years ago and they are the best I've had. I use them in the MiG-29 as well as 60" EF Extra and Edge. Tons of torque. Best centering I've seen. Rock solid. Very affordable. I would not use anything else at this point.
                                  Fly low, fly fast, turn left

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                                  • I just picked a like new F14 with a Spektrum AR 9030T to pair with my DX9 Black. I have bound the two together and have the surfaces moving in the correct direction, haven’t set the throws or any programming yet. I’m having a problem, no throttle control and very rapid, constant beeps coming from the fan area. On other twin fan setups I always plug in the ESC with the extra wire first the the other, tried both ways but no throttle and constant beeps. This forum had me about scared to even fly this Tomcat because of the bucking on landing, then I looked in my hangar right next to the Tomcat is a Motion RC A10, the king of bucking it’s been called, never bucked for me after about 50 fights, I think I have this!!!

                                    Thanks Kurtzz

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                                    • Originally posted by Kurtzz View Post
                                      I just picked a like new F14 with a Spektrum AR 9030T to pair with my DX9 Black. I have bound the two together and have the surfaces moving in the correct direction, haven’t set the throws or any programming yet. I’m having a problem, no throttle control and very rapid, constant beeps coming from the fan area. On other twin fan setups I always plug in the ESC with the extra wire first the the other, tried both ways but no throttle and constant beeps. This forum had me about scared to even fly this Tomcat because of the bucking on landing, then I looked in my hangar right next to the Tomcat is a Motion RC A10, the king of bucking it’s been called, never bucked for me after about 50 fights, I think I have this!!!

                                      Thanks Kurtzz
                                      When you say "extra wire", do you mean the battery leads with the BEC leads grafted to it? If so, it shouldn't matter if you plug it in first or second although I prefer to plug the one with the BEC first so the RX powers up right away.
                                      The constant beeping may indicate that the ESCs cannot be or have not initialized. This may be caused by your throttle trim tab (next to the throttle stick) being too high when binding (it's in the middle as it is for any new model, right?). Try lowering it to the bottom and bind again. (Don't mess with the trim settings in the servo menu.) If this fixes the problem, next you have to do the throttle calibration. If not, further diagnostics will be necessary.
                                      Being a twin with separate battery leads, you'll need to get help so you can plug both batteries at the same time - within about 1/2 second in order for the calibration to work properly. Failure to do so could result in the two motors not running in sync and/or one of the ESCs being programmed with brake ON.

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                                      • Houston (xviper) we have power. Yes, the lead with the extra wire is the BEC lead. I recruited my Secretary of Finance (wife) that can become the Secretary of War real fast, to lend a hand. I lowered the trim setting as suggested whilst she hit the bind button and I plugged both batteries in at the same time, worked like a charm until I powered it down and reinstalled the ply battery tray. Went to fire it up again and beep, beep beep real fast again, no power to the motors, control surfaces worked fine. Sooooo, powered it down, plugged both batteries in at the same time, work like a charm, repeatedly. My A10 is not as particular on plugging the batteries in at the same time, go figure. You mentioned calibration, is that possible without any additional hardware or cards? Thanks xviper!!

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