New Eflite F4 Phantom ll 80mm

[Ron1950]

curly I think the front seater has to be cut out but back seat has a hatch to get him out...no command eject at all

maidened my fms f18 today and it flew great no trimming at all (just luckey guesses) looks as if the f4 is next in line for next week if weather holds up as predicted

[air-jon]

I paint right over the stock decals on all of my foamies, from all brands. Eflite's waterslide decals are thin like many others, which is very convenient when it comes to painting over them. In my experience, removing decals can be tedious, and oftentimes can mar the underlying foam, creating an uneven surface if the foam cells become shorn. At that point, you'll need filler or WBPU and sanding to return the surface to a uniform level. As an example, I painted directly over this FlightLine FW-190 with its prominent serpent decal and this Freewing F-14 with its approximately sixty decals. Painting directly over all of them was quick and easy, and the end result is convincing. I'd recommend trying this approach to see if it fits your needs.

If you did want to go the route of removing the decals and refinishing the surface, I recommend checking out Chris Wolfe's excellent guide on TheRCGeek.com. He made an excellent tutorial to refinishing foamies using an FMS Mustang.

Great tip Alpha!

FYI, The RC Geek will try to steal that awesome splinter camo F-14 if he ever gets near it...just warning you;)

[Ron1950]

spruced up the crew a little

[Alpha]

Ron1950, where did you end up setting your CG?


Air-Jon, Chris can trade me for his original Scale Masters version upon which mine is based, ha!

[Ron1950]

alpha I put a 4500 battery in it about 3/4 inch back from the as3x and it cg 'ed right around 170mm with a slight nose down when checking balance...over on rcg there are all kinds of different cg's

got to say the fit and finish is really nice ( id say its up there with the freewing planes and soo much better then my fms f18) the f4 was my generation of navy fighter even though I never was in that type of sq...t28's for me for all 4 years lol

[curlyculp]

Any grass op reports yet :)?

Mine is fine but our grass field is really well manicured. Clipped short and I think they roll it too.

[Evoman]

I would really like to see a comparison of the E-flight F-4 PNP ( Without AS3X ) vs the Freewing F-4 for a fair comparison. Mostly focusing on the models flight performance.

[Ron1950]

evoman if you live in one of the 27 states that passed a law that vendors have to pay sales tax they are both in the ball park price wise...mine ended up at 481 after tax then I bought the back seater for 8 bucks and the freewing is something like 509? pretty close price wise

but get a state where no tax lol

[Russ]

Four more awesome flights...turned lipo around where power leads face forward to more easily get it strapped down and then had to retrim it but no big deal. Big nose down attitude with flaps down, will have to program in some up elevator with flaps deployment. Here are a few pics...

[Ron1950]

mighty quit in here someone make a vid

[Russ]

I would if I could Ron...the weather people down here in Houston have conspired against me flying on the weekends...wish I was retired so I could fly during the week...let me look at the bank account...NOPE, gotta keep working for a decade more or so.

I programmed in some up elevator mix this weekend but haven't been able to fly to test it yet. I saw Pilot Ryan's video on his Spektrum setup but I fly Taranis so I set half-flaps for 10% and full for 15% and go from there.

[Ron1950]

same here russ on the up trim .. controllers have to retire at 56 so ive been retired for almost 13 years now...retired means no extra money lol cant really complane though ive been very lucky … sever t storms for last 4 days here in ms

[curlyculp]

Four more awesome flights...turned lipo around where power leads face forward to more easily get it strapped down and then had to retrim it but no big deal. Big nose down attitude with flaps down, will have to program in some up elevator with flaps deployment. Here are a few pics...

If there's a big nose down attitude with flaps down you're flying too fast. Another clue to landing too fast... which I see a lot... is if the airplane tends to bounce and float. The nose attitude at the proper speed should be slightly nose up. I like doing dirty passes fairly high to see what kind of speed I can trim to. At the proper speed when you touch down it'll really "stick".

[Russ]

If there's a big nose down attitude with flaps down you're flying too fast. Another clue to landing too fast... which I see a lot... is if the airplane tends to bounce and float. The nose attitude at the proper speed should be slightly nose up. I like doing dirty passes fairly high to see what kind of speed I can trim to. At the proper speed when you touch down it'll really "stick".

Got the flap/elevator mix just right at 6% up elevator. Flies much better on approach with full flaps and much lighter on its feet with a half flap takeoff. My buddy at the flying field who flew F-4s in the National Guard said the F-4s are noted to drop the nose on flap deployment (not that ours are scale) and they were trained to compensate. He was pilot and his twin brother was his RIO, isn't that just too cool!

[thisguy65]

Does this sound normal? listen to the bearing when spooling down.

https://youtu.be/8Drauq-jyw8

[fhhuber]

It might be the sound of the motor starting to "cog" as it slows down.

It could also be a bearing, or grass in the fan.

[thisguy65]

It might be the sound of the motor starting to "cog" as it slows down.

It could also be a bearing, or grass in the fan.

No grass, took the fan out.

https://youtu.be/M5Z2lQero4A

If mine goes back, it will be the 3rd one with issues.

[fhhuber]

I don't have the OEM fan (no fan yet in my ARF Plus) so I can't compare directly. I had some motor cogging noise when the fan was coasting down in the Dynam Me262 and the motors performed fine for over a year. I still have the fans and just put one in a Hobby King ARF.

Extremes of possibility:
It might be fine...
It might be ready to go up in flames.

Someone with the same EDF unit in the same model can compare using similar recording method. Changing the conditions of the recording (distance, angle to the model, what model the fan is in) would change the sound.

I tend to think its cogging noise,which is not an issue. Magnets interacting with the de-energized stator putting impulses of magnetic drag on the motor, then the thrust tube acting to amplify the sound like a megaphone.

[Evan D]

FN, ARF Plus? Are you talking about the Eflite F-4?

[thisguy65]

I don't have the OEM fan (no fan yet in my ARF Plus) so I can't compare directly. I had some motor cogging noise when the fan was coasting down in the Dynam Me262 and the motors performed fine for over a year. I still have the fans and just put one in a Hobby King ARF.

Extremes of possibility:
It might be fine...
It might be ready to go up in flames.

Someone with the same EDF unit in the same model can compare using similar recording method. Changing the conditions of the recording (distance, angle to the model, what model the fan is in) would change the sound.

I tend to think its cogging noise,which is not an issue. Magnets interacting with the de-energized stator putting impulses of magnetic drag on the motor, then the thrust tube acting to amplify the sound like a megaphone.

If you listen at 3:11 I have my Dad's that's still in the box. I honestly never heard clogging before, most of my experience with electric motors are turning at a fixed RPM.