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

[gooniac33]

What setup this time?

Its a new motor.... gotta make sure it all works out before I share all the details...

[Bobaroo]

So the time has finally come to install the new graphics onto mine! It has been flying naked for now because I was waiting for to add the proper graphics on the plane. I am not a fan of the waterslides of this size and didn't want to fight with them. So I had Callie make me some and in the more updated #6 with Andre Webb as the pilot! I am hoping to get them applied today and then get busy on the glossing.... and then a new edf set up going in since my current set up (which has worked awesome by the way) is an 3 year old 12 blade unit used in my F-15 when I first started to fiddle with inrunners... Hopefull will be a new hotrod set up!

Good Choice Goon,.. You can do Both of his Rides now if you wanted to !! Cheers ! Such a 'Gorgeous Blue' on the FSA !!

[T-CAT]

We had some great weather for a maiden flight today with only a light crosswind. I balanced the jet with the gear retracted to achieve 93mm CG, which is a bit beyond the factory recommended 88mm. The plane flew well with very little trimming needed, just one click of elevator and two clicks of aileron on the transmitter. The factory recommended elevator/stabilator neutral position was very close for level flight for me. It lands well, and I prefer half flap instead of full flap landings on this jet, but both settings worked fine. The manuals Low setting for Aileron throw was still a bit high for my tastes so I ended at 20mm, but the recommended High for Elevator and Low throw for Rudder were my preferences. I installed an aftermarket power system, but wasn't happy with its performance, so I'll be changing that out, but that's not fault of the aircraft. I maddened the jet with the traditional control surface set-up (except I placed each stabilator on it's own channel for more accurate alignment and set up), so no full spans flaps or tailerons yet, and may not change it.

I detailed, weathered, and painted the aircraft (and the struts in white) in the scheme I wanted, and omitted the green patches as I don't like that look on the full sized model. In the pics, I also didn't install the underbelly nose antenna just in case the plane needs to be belly landed due to landing gear or door issues that weren't easily identified on the ground. I'll add that antenna, now that it flies well and can count on it being relatively mechanically/electronically sound. The missiles were made from the Freewing 80mm F-5, and needed some cutting, sizing, new mounting system (from the 90mm F-16), carbon reinforcement, etc. to make work correctly. The decals are from Callie Graphics. The cockpit area is lined with black cardstock cut to shape, with only matte black paint on the dash (I would have liked to see the jet come with a blacked painted cockpit on the base gray version from the factory).

Overall, it was a success and a nice jet.

[Evan D]

Awesome, congratulations!

[Elbee]

We had some great weather for a maiden flight today with only a light crosswind. Overall, it was a success and a nice jet.

TC, Just a beautiful livery and an outstanding debrief. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Best, LB

[T-CAT]

Thank you Elbee and Evan. I truly appreciate it. It was a fun project.

[Hardway]

Nice! Really cool!

[T-CAT]

Thanks Hardway.

[RichJ53]

We had some great weather for a maiden flight today with only a light crosswind. I balanced the jet with the gear retracted to achieve 93mm CG, which is a bit beyond the factory recommended 88mm. The plane flew well with very little trimming needed, just one click of elevator and two clicks of aileron on the transmitter. The factory recommended elevator/stabilator neutral position was very close for level flight for me. It lands well, and I prefer half flap instead of full flap landings on this jet, but both settings worked fine. The manuals Low setting for Aileron throw was still a bit high for my tastes so I ended at 20mm, but the recommended High for Elevator and Low throw for Rudder were my preferences. I installed an aftermarket power system, but wasn't happy with its performance, so I'll be changing that out, but that's not fault of the aircraft. I maddened the jet with the traditional control surface set-up (except I placed each stabilator on it's own channel for more accurate alignment and set up), so no full spans flaps or tailerons yet, and may not change it.

I detailed, weathered, and painted the aircraft (and the struts in white) in the scheme I wanted, and omitted the green patches as I don't like that look on the full sized model. In the pics, I also didn't install the underbelly nose antenna just in case the plane needs to be belly landed due to landing gear or door issues that weren't easily identified on the ground. I'll add that antenna, now that it flies well and can count on it being relatively mechanically/electronically sound. The missiles were made from the Freewing 80mm F-5, and needed some cutting, sizing, new mounting system (from the 90mm F-16), carbon reinforcement, etc. to make work correctly. The decals are from Callie Graphics. The cockpit area is lined with black cardstock cut to shape, with only matte black paint on the dash (I would have liked to see the jet come with a blacked painted cockpit on the base gray version from the factory).

Overall, it was a success and a nice jet.

Awesome looking detail and congratulation's on your maiden flight.

Rich

[T-CAT]

Awesome looking detail and congratulation's on your maiden flight.

Rich

Thank you. I'm looking forward to flying it more to see more of what I like (and possible dislike) about the jet. The Freewing F-18C definitely looks amazing in the air, that's for sure.

[Alpha]

T-CAT An NSAWC Hornet! You made my day, this looks top notch! What aftermarket power system did you try in it? Jetfan? JP? Wemo?

[T-CAT]

T-CAT An NSAWC Hornet! You made my day, this looks top notch! What aftermarket power system did you try in it? Jetfan? JP? Wemo?

Thanks Alpha! I've always loved this paint scheme on the full sized F-18. The main parts I omitted for personal preference was the green camo and the off-white/cream center line under the fuselage. I masked it off partly, and stood back, then realized I like it better without those parts painted. So, I took the masking off. I may still add it some day just because it is truly scale to full sized jet, but I like it the way it is for now.

When I researched this exact livery for #33, I found many variations of it. For example, some have brown NSAWC letters and others had black letters, some have a different brown camo shape near the canopy while others remained constant, some have gray walkways near the cockpit and LEX's while others had no walkway at all, some said Navy just aft of the flaps while others said Marines, some had one Vertical Stabilizer with a gray vertical marking at the leading edge while others had no random gray marking, and the list continues. Thankfully, that gave me even more initiative to paint mine in whichever way I found best while still maintaining a very similar overall look.

I often use a Jetfan or Wemo EDF with an inrunner motor, but used the JP 90mm 6S power system in this jet since it has been sitting on my shelf for years. The JP was last used in a sport jet, and it performed great. It wasn't the most efficient system, but was a high performer with the large intakes and single outlet design in that airframe. In this F-18C airframe, the JP seemed like it was starved for air, even with the cheater (I made sure to calibrate the throttle range as well). Maybe the JP needs larger intakes and aux. air. to perform better, but it was lackluster in my opinion. The outlet size doesn't appear to be the issue. I wasn't expecting sport jet performance by any means, and it still fell short on performance. The flight times weren't acceptable either considering it took too great of throttle just to cruise. It's possible this airframe would perform better with the Jetfan, Wemo, or other suitable fan that may operate with a bit less inlet size needed than the JP may need. I haven't done any calculations though, just trial and error. It does make me curious to do some thrust testing now to have some benchmarks to find the differences from one power system to another in this airframe. I didn't notice anything abnormal with watt meter testing.

Did you try aftermarket power system in the F-18C during the testing phase or after its release (just for your own fun)? Any particular findings worth noting?

[Evan D]

T, I have a 8s Jetfan in mine an it works well...

[T-CAT]

That's likely the plan, but probably 6S, only because I have more batteries for 6S than 8S . Then again, I can just buy more batteries for a 8S set up. LOL

I like Jetfan's for many reasons, but also because they tend to perform well in a variety of aircraft.

[Evan D]

I just bought a half dozen 2s packs...

[T-CAT]

I just bought a half dozen 2s packs...

That's my plan as well since it's a less expensive route to achieve 8S by using the plethora of 6S batteries I have.

[dbirds2]

Please its time for freewing to release some new thrust vectoring designs. Its been along time and for me I wont be back to freewing jets until they provide some solid choices for thrust vectoring.To date my su35 still is the best freewing jet to fly without a doubt. I used to love the f18 super hornet also its too bad freewing stopped production on it.

[Aros]

GORGEOUS T-CAT!

[gooniac33]

We had some great weather for a maiden flight today with only a light crosswind. I balanced the jet with the gear retracted to achieve 93mm CG, which is a bit beyond the factory recommended 88mm. The plane flew well with very little trimming needed, just one click of elevator and two clicks of aileron on the transmitter. The factory recommended elevator/stabilator neutral position was very close for level flight for me. It lands well, and I prefer half flap instead of full flap landings on this jet, but both settings worked fine. The manuals Low setting for Aileron throw was still a bit high for my tastes so I ended at 20mm, but the recommended High for Elevator and Low throw for Rudder were my preferences. I installed an aftermarket power system, but wasn't happy with its performance, so I'll be changing that out, but that's not fault of the aircraft. I maddened the jet with the traditional control surface set-up (except I placed each stabilator on it's own channel for more accurate alignment and set up), so no full spans flaps or tailerons yet, and may not change it.

I detailed, weathered, and painted the aircraft (and the struts in white) in the scheme I wanted, and omitted the green patches as I don't like that look on the full sized model. In the pics, I also didn't install the underbelly nose antenna just in case the plane needs to be belly landed due to landing gear or door issues that weren't easily identified on the ground. I'll add that antenna, now that it flies well and can count on it being relatively mechanically/electronically sound. The missiles were made from the Freewing 80mm F-5, and needed some cutting, sizing, new mounting system (from the 90mm F-16), carbon reinforcement, etc. to make work correctly. The decals are from Callie Graphics. The cockpit area is lined with black cardstock cut to shape, with only matte black paint on the dash (I would have liked to see the jet come with a blacked painted cockpit on the base gray version from the factory).

Overall, it was a success and a nice jet.

Once I get my 70mm F-16 done I gotta come fly with you! It will be the same scheme!

[T-CAT]

GORGEOUS T-CAT!

Thank you!