Official Freewing Twin 80mm F-14D Tomcat Thread

[Elbee]

crxmanpat , Pat, Great Repaint and Congrats on the your re-first Carrier Qual. It's all good. Best, LB

[crxmanpat]

Here's the maiden video. Don't judge my landing too harshly. At least I didn't break anything.

[crxmanpat]

Finally, after 4 years of talking about it, and crashing the first one before I could do it, it's finally done!

Maiden report of my Freewing F-14 repainted in VF-1 Wolfpack colors circa 1975. This is actually my second Freewing F-14, so I already knew how she handled. The only major difference between my first one and this one is I put a pair of the T-33 fans/inrunners in it after removing the stock system, and added Chris Wolfe's (Thercgeek.com) twin burners for 36mm inrunners.

On the first flight my landing gear somehow got reversed in the radio even after I had tested it out on the ground the night before, so the first flight was with gear down the whole time. Was a little worried about it so I landed early without getting it properly trimmed. It also made me rush the landing and it bounced and scraped a wingtip up a little. No other damage though.

The second flight from which these pics came (thanks greenseaships!) I went up with wyldkrd flying his E-Flite F-4 and we did a little dogfighting. The gear went up properly and I managed to swing the wings for one pass. I was about to make another low pass for the camera with the wings back when my timer went off, so I threw the wings out and rushed the landing again. Only a small bounce that time.

Next time I fly I'll put the ordnance and tanks on. The inrunners work really well on this bird. She gets off the ground much faster than the old stock power system, and definitely has more thrust and speed. I also added a few scale details that I 3D printed, namely some A-model nozzles and nose gear plate (thanks ChrisK!), pitot tube, NACA ducts for the ESCs and a fuel dump vent. I replaced the cheese grater venting on the belly with some thin styrene and added the NACA ducts for cooling.

Here's a bunch of pics, I should have some vid of the maiden later.

[Elbee]

RCINFORMER, Whoa and kudos, Sir. Looking forward to reviewing your reviews, tweaks, and upgrades. This model is on my 'to do' list, if ever I should live so long. , Thank you. Best, LB

[RCINFORMER]

Hey Folks, I am trying to Get out all the information on the Freewing F-14 that I have included in my videos and circulated around, for folks that would like to ask questions and get help on this epic model. I have put in a lot of effort on this model and wanted to share everything about it and some of the improvements I have made to it. I have made many Improvements to the model that many may have already seen. I wanted to create a place where folks can ask questions and get help:)

Additionally, I created a Separate thread called► The RCINFORMER FREEWING F-14 Thread for any and all Q&A on the Freewing F-14 TOMCAT Just for a bit of delineation so I can chat more directly with folks with specific questions:) Feel free to join in on the thread!

Here are the videos I have created so far:

Unboxing► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnygfe48tXs

Assembly► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Ue4We-B5s

1st Flight► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNjviFTK1Tg

2nd Flight► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hko89Pb_QDc

3rd Flight► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPxCnz24bW0

SEFF 2019 demo 1► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb6py2gS1OU

SEFF 2019 demo 2► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGZPct9EkeE

SEFF 2019 NOON demo► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXo5IpU7_gk

UPGRADES VIDEO► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1gcECZESg8

Gooniacs centerburner flight at NIF 2019► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMFdEQN-KMo

Gooniacs centerburner Installation► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h93UcHBkKaE

Wing Platter Upgrade video► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud6EOxgaefg

[Elbee]

Johnnyrabuse , Outstanding debrief. She sounds like a winner. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Best, LB

[Johnnyrabuse]

Maiden Flight Report

Wind at less than 3

Paved Runway 300 feet

First flight 4000 mAh batts 40 c

Aerolines shut off tailerons only 100 percent no expo

take off 200 feet no flaps needed up and left trim

(Deflection issue will adjust on bench )

3 minutes mixed throttle to much up mix on flaps ballooned at -10 on spectrum radio

Landing was touchy but a success

200 ft roll out

14 percent left on packs

Flight two adjusted elevator mix turned down to -5

Two 5000 packs have modified batt compartment

Back to back front wall to rear wall

Take off no flaps 200 feet

Slight up elevator trim needed

Roll rate is very scale tailerons only jets easy to see looks slow but it's fast on low passes


Full flaps no balloon settled great centerline landing no bounce 150 ft roll out

Don't chop throttle on this jet it will drop like a stone

It will also stall forward and come in hot

Third flight

5000 mAh batts no flap take off swept wings 65 percent on tailerons only

Rolled right aborted wing sweep but honestly I can tell it's going to be great and agile

Landed again full flaps centerline no wind 150 ft rollout perfect

It's rolling right because I have a deflection issue with the wings swept the deflection changes and disappears the tailerons are still trimmed for foward so I fully expect that once addressed wing sweep will be a non issue

This jets stunning 3.5 minutes on 5000 s 30 percent left

I'm not flying 6000s on this jet I feel it will be to heavy for my style of flying but I'm sure it will work so

It's a winner but definitely not for anyone with out substantial 90 mm jet experience I also feel it flys very similar to the freewing f15 90 mm

Hope this helps someone

P.s I have my rates connected to sweep switch H on spectrum two position

Wings open 100 percent no expo

Wings swept 65 percent on all no expo

This way I keep it simple

Also I'm using third hole on elevators and bypassing board I turned travel on aerolines down to zero

This shuts them off

I ordered a nine channel receiver from HH so I would have the ability to turn aerolines on and off and it hasn't come .... Nothing new...they haven't responded to my emails and calling them is impossible

So that's 150 I'm out plus the extra shipping 20 bucks but that's ok I'm not buying anymore of their aircraft anymore no su 30 for me .... What's the use no parts? I gave away my new p51 1600 because of no parts as for radio gear I'm committed and will unfortunately continue using their receivers but I'll eventually switch out to futaba

Everything they sell has no parts so .... There's no point unless I become a six star pilot that greases every single flight ....

Waiting five months for a prop and maybe a year for a retract is a little annoying

I'd use an admiral but I have a new dx 9 and for some reason on lemons and admirals I get holds and lost three planes in a month this past spring

Right roll into ground same exact thing on 3 different receivers but on my old dx 6 they work fine which leads me to believe a bugs been installed to prevent aftermarket receivers from being used

That's just conjecture but be advised if you get a new dx 9 test the other receivers in a beater plane first

[Corsair nut]

Man the performance is gunna be so good on those inrunners

[crxmanpat]

Thanks LB! Wish I could take credit for them, but they were designed by someone else.

Working on the final paint (main body), then final decals and assembly.

[Elbee]

crxmanpat Those "A" Nozzles are outstanding, Sir. Bravo Zulu. Best, LB

[xviper]

Both the F-14 and a pair of fans arrived today.

[Corsair nut]

Pat those A nozzles look soo good!!!

[mshagg]

The nose gear mounting plate looks similar to where i landed with it a few weeks back, but based on a captured hex nut rather than allthread + locknuts. The idea itself was adapted from Bmcormack who used a piece of plywood to achieve the same, but im not much for woodwork lol.

(Can also see the front of the full length tray in this shot, which adds some additional strength to the glue seam for the forward section of the fuse once glued in place)

[crxmanpat]

Alpha, no they were designed by Chris K. He just posted them on thingiverse a few days ago, along with a nose gear reinforcement plate. The plate is a neat design that has the mounting screws go into the electronics bay under the canopy. The stock nose mount piece can come loose after time as one side of it is not sandwiched in the foam. This plate will keep it securely locked in place. Needs M3x50mm screws and nuts. I didn't have any screws long enough so I ordered some from Amazon.

However, I did design a fuel dump nozzle for the tail. Literally took 2 minutes to design based on your helpful hints for Fusion360. Next I'm going to try my hand at some super scale AIM-7 Sparrows.

[Alpha]

Nozzles look great, Pat! Did you design those?

[crxmanpat]

Still working on the repaint of my second F-14, and she just got a nozzle change from the stock D version to the older A version.

[V.I.N.CENT]

Or buy this one if you're near Indiana.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...-Freewing-F-14

Then you can remove the ducted fans and speed controllers and sell them to get some return on your money.

Unfortunately, I'm in Georgia so that'd be a bit of a haul. I'd guess getting in to this as my first high end RC wouldn't be recommended.😎 I'd hate to buy one capable of flight and gut it. I might as well customize it the way I want and learn to fly it. I want to make a GI Joe Skystriker that fits 6" Joe figures. I met someone this weekend that told me about it and he said there were some free STL files out there too for a full cockpit to fit it as well. Do you guys know anything about that?

Is there a way to mount a camera in these and fly from first person POV?

I am a complete newbie to anything other than total beginner RC Quads and such. I would need a LOT of practice to work up to something like this. It's so tempting to get in to though.

(If I do, my wife is going to kill me)

[crxmanpat]

Or buy this one if you're near Indiana.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...-Freewing-F-14

Then you can remove the ducted fans and speed controllers and sell them to get some return on your money.

[crxmanpat]

That's kind of what I expected but you don't know until you ask. So my best bet, If I want to do it, is to just buy the components or the barebones kit and start from there.

You're looking at about $320 in parts just to make a complete plane without any electronics. Add $100 to that if you want the landing gear too.

[V.I.N.CENT]

Plus, if you get to the stage where you are going to "strip" the plane down, the body is in pretty bad shape from a really bad crash.

That's kind of what I expected but you don't know until you ask. So my best bet, If I want to do it, is to just buy the components or the barebones kit and start from there.