Official Freewing F/A-18C Hornet 90mm EDF Thread

[Elbee]

https://www.youtube.com/live/-zLYwHoIwi8

Hornet Honchos.

Today is the "Home Air Show" for the Blue Angels at NAS Pensacola.

Beautiful museum and a big time fun city..

The ewe-toob link is the "Live Feed" of the entire show with the "Blues" going out at 1400 local.

Enjoy.

Best, LB

[Elbee]

Amen to that, Brother.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Good info friends! I won’t attempt a re-maiden without making sure the antennas are correct. Hugh Wiedman I will take you up on walking me through it when the time comes if you are so inclined.

Well she ain’t gonna be confused for a Top Gun entry but all things considered, not too bad!

Just amazing it flew almost a mile away into the woods and she’s still in one piece!

Excellent work, her enemies won't know the difference. All you need now is the missile rails and up she goes! BTW, almost all of my aircraft have hours of repairs in them, some more visible than others, but that's another great thing about this hobby is resurrecting an aircraft from disaster and returning her to duty!

[Aros]

Good info friends! I won’t attempt a re-maiden without making sure the antennas are correct. Hugh Wiedman I will take you up on walking me through it when the time comes if you are so inclined.

Well she ain’t gonna be confused for a Top Gun entry but all things considered, not too bad!

Just amazing it flew almost a mile away into the woods and she’s still in one piece!

[Evan D]

I’m a firm believer in satellites. My Hornet has two, one in the nose wheel well and one under the right vertical stab. It’s also a good idea to keep the active element end away from servo, especially the ESC lead) or battery wires. Having the shunts GG talks about on leads can also help though I don’t use them.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Good stuff! When I opened up the battery tray the RX is still facing forward, flat, all servo leads still firmly plugged in place. One of the antenna wires is facing aft and one facing forward (see photo). I may even have a spare satellite antenna I can use to add to the configuration. I should have done that to begin with.

Hopefully it's just an ESC replacement and she's back up and ready to go for a second attempt. I will be pushing the battery forward to get closer to manufacturer's recommended. It really did act tail heavy from the start. I couldn't seem to get that nose down to control her and bring her back to me which is why she kept flying away from me until the crash.

I'm determined! Especially with this exceptional good fortune thanks to my search crew!

Noticed in the photo that your antennae are placed 1 going forward, with active end (stripped exposed wire) horizontal and the other going aft with the active end also horizontal. Unfortunately, with both on the horizontal plane, you are only covering 1 of the 3 directional planes. You will get a poor signal reception on a horizontal plane antennae when the TX is directly behind or directly in front of the aircraft. You need to place the active end of one of the antennae either vertical or left/right to get at least 2 planes covered. It still may be a temp loss of signal or resulting hold that gave you issues on the maiden. Also check to see what orientation we selected on the RX in forward programming. I know you felt it was tail heavy, but 88mm manual is just too nose heavy, at least for decent landings. I fly at 103 and I think you started at 98. Jandro flew his at 110, but that's Jandro. You may want to start at 92 and go from there. Here to help when you ready to diagnose the gyro set-up. Also, unfortunately the AR8360T requires a 4 pin matching sattelite, the SPM4651T which is a SRXL2 DSMX Remote and costs $58. Gives 2 more antennae, but I doubt you really need it if you get the main antennae placed properly. Then after ground testing and flight, go to the TX telemetry and see how many frame losses you get (up to 30-40 OK) and holds (even 1 of those is sayonara).

[Elbee]

Blue Angels F/A-18C
Can someone send a picture of the nose steering servo mount? I got a new fuselage and think I'm missing a bracket or something. Thanks for your help.

EP,

Does this help?

My strut steering arm and servo box are modified, but the gear mount plastic box is OEM Stock otherwise.

Best, LB

[Aros]

Elbee you are a rock star's rock star!

[xviper]

Have you looked through the "photos"? After flipping through them for about a minute, I found some on page 70 of the photos that shows you what you need to know.

[Earl Poe]

Blue Angels F/A-18C
Can someone send a picture of the nose steering servo mount? I got a new fuselage and think I'm missing a bracket or something. Thanks for your help.

[Elbee]

https://www.printables.com/model/134...le-rails-lh_rh

Hornet Honchos,

There's been some renewed interest in the 3DP missile rails for this model.

Okay, just one guy, but we all know him.

I have posted my version I used on my Hornet on Prusa Printables. See Link.

Better late than never, I said I would about 2 years ago, "Doh!"

My set comes as 4 printed parts each side and screws in place in the OEM location.

I drilled and tapped the OEM Mount points to 2-56 (or 4-40 ) and used countersunk nylon screws from the hardware store,

It should be noted there is no mounting provision for Aim-9s, though you could add those with your own mod.

Best, LB

[davegee]

Beautiful legacy F-18s of the Blue Angels!! Happy Birthday, America!!🪄🪄🪄

[Elbee]

[Elbee]

Hey Steve, really great work! The parts are superb.

I was wondering which pilot figure did you use in your F18 cockpit?
Telling from the pictures, the pilot is not included?

Best greetings.

Alex

Hey Alex,

The pilot body is from Max Grueter Designs and I found it on CGTrader, also Greuter has some things on Cults3D, I think.

There are a couple pilot figures that are similar and less expensive around that you could use.

I modified the OEM pilot head by removing a "V" shaped section out of the back, pinching and gluing it together, and printing a modified cylinder shape for a new neck.

Sounds strange, I know, but it worked as I liked the general design of the OEM pilot head.

Happy 4th of July.

Best, Steve

[Fruchtzwerg76]

Prusa Printables:

https://www.printables.com/@Stevie_14806/models

Choose: Open files in Prusa Slicer.
There might be an STL Download as well, but it's easier just to drop to Prusa Slicer from the Printables.

Best, Steve

Hey Steve, really great work! The parts are superb.

I was wondering which pilot figure did you use in your F18 cockpit?
Telling from the pictures, the pilot is not included?

Best greetings.

Alex

[Aros]

3 possible issues IMO:
1) RX got loose (unlikely)
2) Check RX orientation and confirm it was correct
3) Signal loss, in watching the video that may have happened. Assuming you placed the two antennas going forward. Keep in mind the signal reception area around the active end is like a donut, so if both are lined up along the fuse, you'll loose signal when it is flying directly at you or away. You should place one that way, and the 2nd up/down or left/right. With EDF's, I always add a sattelite RX as well with 2 more antenna. In the F18 I placed it behind the battery. With those 4 antennae, every possible directional plane is covered. Lipos, edf ESC's and any carbon fiber raise hell with signal, and with only 2 antennas in front, the battery and carbon tubes in the fuse block signal aft (where you were standing). You should also check for Frame Losses and Holds after flight in your TX telemetry. In the video, to me it looked like a couple points where you got a Hold.

Just some random thoughts to pass on to the NTSB

Good stuff! When I opened up the battery tray the RX is still facing forward, flat, all servo leads still firmly plugged in place. One of the antenna wires is facing aft and one facing forward (see photo). I may even have a spare satellite antenna I can use to add to the configuration. I should have done that to begin with.

Hopefully it's just an ESC replacement and she's back up and ready to go for a second attempt. I will be pushing the battery forward to get closer to manufacturer's recommended. It really did act tail heavy from the start. I couldn't seem to get that nose down to control her and bring her back to me which is why she kept flying away from me until the crash.

I'm determined! Especially with this exceptional good fortune thanks to my search crew!

[Evan D]

Long thin screwdriver through the bottom cheater. If you have a AS3X receiver it has to be upright and still to initialize.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey gents, what's the easiest way to access the ESC? The cheater intake section doesn't appear to have any screws to easily access the ESC. Pop off carefully with a tool? My RX still is working fine, all the lights, control surfaces, gear...No issue. But the ESC does not make those series of tones when I plug in the battery and there is no throttle at all. I need to access the ESC and most likely replace it.

If I'm not mistaken, I think you have to access it by removing the edf cover and take the fan out to get better access to the ESC.

So glad you found it, now the investigation begins. If you dare, I'll help you mess it up again as it seems I'm pretty good at that.

3 possible issues IMO:
1) RX got loose (unlikely)
2) Check RX orientation and confirm it was correct
3) Signal loss, in watching the video that may have happened. Assuming you placed the two antennas going forward. Keep in mind the signal reception area around the active end is like a donut, so if both are lined up along the fuse, you'll loose signal when it is flying directly at you or away. You should place one that way, and the 2nd up/down or left/right. With EDF's, I always add a sattelite RX as well with 2 more antenna. In the F18 I placed it behind the battery. With those 4 antennae, every possible directional plane is covered. Lipos, edf ESC's and any carbon fiber raise hell with signal, and with only 2 antennas in front, the battery and carbon tubes in the fuse block signal aft (where you were standing). You should also check for Frame Losses and Holds after flight in your TX telemetry. In the video, to me it looked like a couple points where you got a Hold.

Just some random thoughts to pass on to the NTSB

[Elbee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uui91eRdb-w

Blue Angels maneuver of the week.

Best, LB

[Aros]

Hey gents, what's the easiest way to access the ESC? The cheater intake section doesn't appear to have any screws to easily access the ESC. Pop off carefully with a tool? My RX still is working fine, all the lights, control surfaces, gear...No issue. But the ESC does not make those series of tones when I plug in the battery and there is no throttle at all. I need to access the ESC and most likely replace it.