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

[gooniac33]

Like others that have been reported. At the 90 in a landing approach, about 45 degrees angle of bank, maybe 10 degrees nose low, just froze up and stopped responding. Drove right into the ground.

Reading all the threads about the blue box, wondering why something as simple as flight controls are routed through it? I may buy another, but I'll bypass the box and go direct from receiver to Elevator, Aileron, flaps, Rudder.

But if the blue box fails will it cut power to the receiver??

Sorry to hear it man... according to a video I have seen on here the box will shut off but rx will still be receiving... Not sure what exactly happened in your case though...

[crxmanpat]

Like others that have been reported. At the 90 in a landing approach, about 45 degrees angle of bank, maybe 10 degrees nose low, just froze up and stopped responding. Drove right into the ground.

Reading all the threads about the blue box, wondering why something as simple as flight controls are routed through it? I may buy another, but I'll bypass the box and go direct from receiver to Elevator, Aileron, flaps, Rudder.

But if the blue box fails will it cut power to the receiver??

My suggestion is to submit a support ticket with Motion. Document as many items as you can with pics. Look at the elevator servo mounting plate to see if either are loose at all. Pull the elevator servos by carefully removing them from the mount and check to see if any wire insulation is cut or stripped. Describe exactly how all controls were hooked up (everything running through the MCB-E in stock configuration?). It's worth a shot to see if MRC will do anything for you.

[RCjetdude]

Sorry to hear it man... according to a video I have seen on here the box will shut off but rx will still be receiving... Not sure what exactly happened in your case though...

A video on here? Where?

[James]

Got my redemption flights in today. Got her back together since my NEFI crash, all she needed was a new fuselage and nose gear. What a beauty in the sky! I went naked for the first 2 flights and then just the sidewinders for 2 more.

[DCORSAIR]

Got my redemption flights in today. Got her back together since my NEFI crash, all she needed was a new fuselage and nose gear. What a beauty in the sky! I went naked for the first 2 flights and then just the sidewinders for 2 more.

Good job James, looks nice, great to see you back at it.

[Tom]

Thanks for the nose cone Wayne, I received it today.
After a week of clear coating she is being Moched up. 3 coats. Here is the quiver of brushes...etc.

Your F-18 looks gorgeous.

[gooniac33]

A video on here? Where?

Right here.... dont remember the post number but do have the video saved...

[Quax]

Hey guys,

I am working on my bird and I am going to bypass the blue box - not because I do not trust it (although it is hard) but to be able to control each servo separately.

I was wondering on how you did the bypass for the wings? Did you completely get rid of the wing connectors? I am thinking about keeping the cables and soldering servo plugs on it. Any tips/advices?

Best regards,
Jens

[curlyculp]

Hey guys,

I am working on my bird and I am going to bypass the blue box - not because I do not trust it (although it is hard) but to be able to control each servo separately.

I was wondering on how you did the bypass for the wings? Did you completely get rid of the wing connectors? I am thinking about keeping the cables and soldering servo plugs on it. Any tips/advices?

Best regards,
Jens

Wow. Great question. I was thinking of doing the same thing but forgot about the wing master plugs.

[RCGuy83]

Decided to break my HobbySquawk cherry today. My name is Andrew, been in the hobby 21 years now, and help man the phones at Motion RC. The FW F/A-18C is my 5th Freewing offering and I gotta say.... the sexiest RC plane I have ever owned! I checked/performed the Service Bulletin items and although my stock electronics worked just fine I decided to do something different with this build and show how it, or an FW plane, can be flown without using the MCB Box. Maiden will be TODAY!

Before the MCB boxes were put into many of Freewings planes to simplify the wiring you had the Landing Gear Door Sequencer and LED Light Controller doing those jobs. Using those items I laid out all the electronic guts of an F/A-18C Blue Angel, wired it up accordingly with direct connections to all control surfaces, and wouldn't ya know... no smoke came out of anything! Again, ALL stock electronics were tested and worked fine. This is NOT a must-do, I just wanted to try a different route. I added HS-85's to the elevators and busted out the soldering iron to reverse one. I did add one FUN item to the mix: the FW 90mm 12-Blade EDF 6S Power System w/ 4068-1835kV Inrunner Motor. I will be using the 9-blade fan from the stock unit with it along with the stock 130amp ESC wired with a Castle 10amp BEC set to 5.3V to feed my Admiral RX600SP gyro/receiver. The stock unit make's plenty of power but I have a hard time leaving anything stock. I'm betting the inrunner motor coupled with the 9-blade will offer a nice bump in performance without sucking down the battery a whole lot faster. I also added 2 of the Hobby Eagle Capacitors to my setup which will constantly keep a clean 5V of power running to all components. They're $2 and Hobby Eagle includes them with their gyros so I figured it couldn't hurt and it's cheap insurance. Anyway, I can't wait to see how this feels/flies and will be reporting back here to share. If you have any questions about what i've done here feel free to ask!

*FW Landing Gear Cabin Sequencer V2: https://www.motionrc.com/…/freewing-landing-gear-door-seque…

*FW LED Light Controller V3: https://www.motionrc.com/…/freewing-led-light-controller-v3…

*HobbyEagle Capacitor: https://www.motionrc.com/p…/hobbyeagle-16v-ez-plug-capacitor

*FW 90mm 12-Blade EDF 6S Power System w/ 4068-1835kV Inrunner Motor: https://www.motionrc.com/…/freewing-90mm-12-blade-edf-6s-po…

*Hitec HS-85MG Premium Metal Gear Micro Servo https://www.motionrc.com/…/hitec-hs-85mg-premium-metal-gear…

[Aros]

Good to see you on the board Andrew! Here's to a successful maiden! I would say yours looks ready to roll! Now kick those tires and light the fires!

[crxmanpat]

Hey guys,

I am working on my bird and I am going to bypass the blue box - not because I do not trust it (although it is hard) but to be able to control each servo separately.

I was wondering on how you did the bypass for the wings? Did you completely get rid of the wing connectors? I am thinking about keeping the cables and soldering servo plugs on it. Any tips/advices?

Best regards,
Jens

Jens,

The ribbon cables from the wing share a common ground, so you will need to remove it (and the connector board in the wing) completely and run servo extensions to all plugs and run them direct to your receiver.

[Desertlakeflying]

Hey guys,

I am working on my bird and I am going to bypass the blue box - not because I do not trust it (although it is hard) but to be able to control each servo separately.

I was wondering on how you did the bypass for the wings? Did you completely get rid of the wing connectors? I am thinking about keeping the cables and soldering servo plugs on it. Any tips/advice?

Best regards,
Jens

I just removed those and used regular extensions... Plenty of room for the to go through when you remove the plug from the wing. Just regular servo plugs on the back side of the ribbon cable plug

[Evan D]

As others have said I removed the interconnection boards and their interconnection wires and ran individual extensions. Each servo got plugged into a separate receiver slot on a 12ch receiver.

Andrew, welcome. Not sure if you did anything but the bearings in the horizontal stabs have play that should be addressed.

[curlyculp]

Wasn't there a FW or MRC rep here who was answering questions about the airplane for a while? Been missing in action with all these reports of system failures. I haven't been flying that long, but I have exactly one horrific crash prior to this, and that one was all my fault. I've never lost control of an airplane prior to this one, and it sounds like I'm far from the only one with the experience with the Hornet.

What's Freewing/MRC thinking about it? THinking it was a bad run of blue boxes? Holding their breath? Planning free upgrades of the box for anyone who wants one? Any bones gonna be thrown to the many of us who lost airplanes due to no fault of our own?

Bueller? Bueller?

[RCGuy83]

As others have said I removed the interconnection boards and their interconnection wires and ran individual extensions. Each servo got plugged into a separate receiver slot on a 12ch receiver.

Andrew, welcome. Not sure if you did anything but the bearings in the horizontal stabs have play that should be addressed.

I have not heard or seen any bearing slop? I thought the bearing assemblies felt pretty darn good stock. What bearing slop are you guys seeing?

Here's how I wired mine up. I went over the recipe in my post above with the links. I have a video I could post going over this entire setup if it would help.

[Evan D]

Do a search here on "bearing" And you'll find a few mentions. Do it on the RCG thread and you'll have 20.

I have not heard or seen any bearing slop? I thought the bearing assemblies felt pretty darn good stock. What bearing slop are you guys seeing?

Here's how I wired mine up. I went over the recipe in my post above with the links. I have a video I could post going over this entire setup if it would help.

[James]

Wasn't there a FW or MRC rep here who was answering questions about the airplane for a while? Been missing in action with all these reports of system failures. I haven't been flying that long, but I have exactly one horrific crash prior to this, and that one was all my fault. I've never lost control of an airplane prior to this one, and it sounds like I'm far from the only one with the experience with the Hornet.

What's Freewing/MRC thinking about it? THinking it was a bad run of blue boxes? Holding their breath? Planning free upgrades of the box for anyone who wants one? Any bones gonna be thrown to the many of us who lost airplanes due to no fault of our own?

Bueller? Bueller?

Hello Curly, we addressed the F-18 with a TSB (technical service bulletin) that was sent to everyone who had purchased one addressing what we and Freewing believe was happening to select F-18's. Our customer service staff has been working with each and every ticket that was created and we have been helping get pilot's sorted if they had an unforeseen issue they had no control over as we have always done. If you had an issue with an F-18, did you create a ticket yet?

[James]

Got to redeem my pilot error maiden on my customer base gray F-18 yesterday. Was so happy to finally this beautiful VMFA-115 Silver Eagles scheme in the air! I recently bought a scale and weighed all the 3d printed ordnance I had created for that unsuccessful maiden and all totaled I had an extra 493g of weight and never CG'd it!

Oh well, past is past, excited to keep flying this gorgeous bird!

[RCjetdude]

Wasn't there a FW or MRC rep here who was answering questions about the airplane for a while? Been missing in action with all these reports of system failures. I haven't been flying that long, but I have exactly one horrific crash prior to this, and that one was all my fault. I've never lost control of an airplane prior to this one, and it sounds like I'm far from the only one with the experience with the Hornet.

What's Freewing/MRC thinking about it? THinking it was a bad run of blue boxes? Holding their breath? Planning free upgrades of the box for anyone who wants one? Any bones gonna be thrown to the many of us who lost airplanes due to no fault of our own?

Bueller? Bueller?

What Freewing or Motion rep might you be referring to? James? Alpha?