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

[Aros]

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Angels-B...o%2C101&sr=1-1


Hornet Homies,

For anyone who has Amazon Prime Video (comes with your Amazon Membership) there is an absolutely 'must watch' doc on the Blues.

Great in every respect IMHO.

Enjoy and "Never Forget".

Best, LB

Watched it over the weekend. Agreed it's fantastic!

[Elbee]

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Angels-Brian-Allendorfer/dp/B0CV2G2198/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LO96VSEZTM82&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8v-JGrDwBaUm9UL76pLcJw.TZ6LMumHCRDaO1tXsFt8jxYu3J-MVCHQEO1UjAFPT6s&dib_tag=se&keywords=blue+angels+2024&qid=1716653612&s=instant-video&sprefix=blue+angels%2Cinstant-video%2C101&sr=1-1

Hornet Homies,

For anyone who has Amazon Prime Video (comes with your Amazon Membership) there is an absolutely 'must watch' doc on the Blues.

Great in every respect IMHO.

Enjoy and "Never Forget".

Best, LB

[airmanhurley]

Has anybody put EFlite/FMS main gear struts on this jet? I've seen Brent Hecht's video with them and it looks amazing. Thinking of doing 90 degree rotating retract units - maybe the ones for the A-4 Skyhawk. Does anyone know if those will fit? Screw hole spacing the same? I'm determined to make this work :)

[Parafpv]

Parafpv Welcome to "the Squawk". Glad to have you onboard, Sir. Best, LB

Many Thanks LB . Up to page 41 on reading so far .

Brgds
Michael

[Elbee]

Parafpv Welcome to "the Squawk". Glad to have you onboard, Sir. Best, LB

[Parafpv]

Hi All ,
Lucky to have stumbled across this post. Just placed and order for a Blue Angels version , will be dropping a Xicoy45 into it for a turbine conversion .

Couple of questions straight up that my research hasn't' found me the answers ..

1. What turbine conversion kit does people recommend . I saw the BIGBOYRC , doesn't seem to do it anymore.. The NOVAJETS site is down .. So far my best option is the TOP-Design version.

2. What size main wheels are the Hornets.. I need to put electric Brakes on it . so want to order the same size Main Wheels.

3. Anything that i need to know / Modify Straight up on this Jet ? 290 pages .. im on page 14 .. ill Keep reading each post but a breakdown would be Great.

Thanks in Advance..

Brgds
Michael

[salali]

Thanks Hugh Wiedman Thanks for sharing your experience and recommendation to recalibrate the throttle. I hope that's the fix. I'll let you know either way. I might also change the ESC all together. I read that the new Hobbywing ESC (rebranded ESC sold via Motion) act or sound are slightly different from previous ESC versions.

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/rc-jets/382664-freewing-hobbywing-skywalker-v2-reversing-esc-programming

Hi Hugh Wiedman I think the mystery has been solved by MRC tech support. The issue might be the battery connector i'm using. I purchased a parallel connector instead of series. This makes sense. I'll confirm once the new connector arrives.

[davegee]

DG, Well it's like I always say, "If the more scale tail hook end point "shoe" fits, wear it." Best, LB

Thanks, LB. This was V2, just "eyeballed" and dremmeled (is that a word?) from a small block of basswood. I can easily remove it for a V3 or V4 version, if I decide to go that far. For now, it'll work.

Cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

did an experiment carving out a more scale tail hook end point "shoe" for the Hornet. First attempt out of basswood, might try another one but this one suits me, for now. Cheers,Davegee

DG, Well it's like I always say, "If the more scale tail hook end point "shoe" fits, wear it." Best, LB

[salali]

This is only a guess, but have you recalibrated your throttle? I fly off grass as well and have 2 F-18's, both still on 6S with the 12 blade 4068-1835 Kv inrunners and they get off very quickly on a single 6S SMC HiV 5900, so yours on 8S should be even better. I did convert 2 F-4's and my F16 to 8S with the same fan you are using in the F-18 and fly all of them on the SMC 8S HiV 5900 packs. Those "rocket" off the grass so I would think your F18 would also, especially since the SMC 5300 packs have a slightly higher C than the 5900's. I felt the F18 on grass with the 12 blade 6S fan flew just fine (and didn't want to add any more weight in using an 8S fan and battery) so I have yet to convert the F18's to 8S.

If you can, put a power meter on and confirm the amps and watts drawn. If I'm not mistaken, my 8S fans with SMC HiV packs are drawing about 138 Ah and 4300 watts at full throttle with a fresh pack (static on the bench). If you're not close to that, you are not getting to max output. Let me know as I'm very curious to find out how the F18 would be on 8S, as I'm loving it with the F4 and F16.

Thanks Hugh Wiedman Thanks for sharing your experience and recommendation to recalibrate the throttle. I hope that's the fix. I'll let you know either way. I might also change the ESC all together. I read that the new Hobbywing ESC (rebranded ESC sold via Motion) act or sound are slightly different from previous ESC versions.

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/rc-jets/382664-freewing-hobbywing-skywalker-v2-reversing-esc-programming

[davegee]

I just finished up another mod for the F/A-18C Hornet. This is a movable tail hook via a small servo in the tail. 3D printed parts courtesy of Elbee that I printed up from his STL files and put it together. I had to order a small Du Bro connector pin that came today, so once I had it in hand, the finishing up went relatively quickly. There's always a bit of fiddling to do on these things like servo travel, checking security of the mechanism, and all that. But it is well worth doing, for me. I have put a movable tail hook in my F-14D, A-4E, and a Grumman F6F Hellcat years ago. This one is not stressed to actually "catch" the airplane, but I'll probably do some photos of it in the air with the hook down, just for yuks.

Cheers

Davegee

did an experiment carving out a more scale tail hook end point "shoe" for the Hornet. First attempt out of basswood, might try another one but this one suits me, for now.

Cheers

Davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

I need some help. I decided to upgrade to a 8s setup. I'm using the 4075-1350kv FW 8s edf w/ the 120a reversing ESC which is rated for 8s. I'm barely getting any thrust for the jet to roll on a nicely manicured RC grass field. I've ensured my throttle is calibrated and ESC is programmed. I'm using 2 - 5300 4s LiHV SMC packs.
Any ideas to why the power is anemic? I'm more than happy to provide additional details if anyone has any ideas.

This is only a guess, but have you recalibrated your throttle? I fly off grass as well and have 2 F-18's, both still on 6S with the 12 blade 4068-1835 Kv inrunners and they get off very quickly on a single 6S SMC HiV 5900, so yours on 8S should be even better. I did convert 2 F-4's and my F16 to 8S with the same fan you are using in the F-18 and fly all of them on the SMC 8S HiV 5900 packs. Those "rocket" off the grass so I would think your F18 would also, especially since the SMC 5300 packs have a slightly higher C than the 5900's. I felt the F18 on grass with the 12 blade 6S fan flew just fine (and didn't want to add any more weight in using an 8S fan and battery) so I have yet to convert the F18's to 8S.

If you can, put a power meter on and confirm the amps and watts drawn. If I'm not mistaken, my 8S fans with SMC HiV packs are drawing about 138 Ah and 4300 watts at full throttle with a fresh pack (static on the bench). If you're not close to that, you are not getting to max output. Let me know as I'm very curious to find out how the F18 would be on 8S, as I'm loving it with the F4 and F16.

[salali]

I need some help. I decided to upgrade to a 8s setup. I'm using the 4075-1350kv FW 8s edf w/ the 120a reversing ESC which is rated for 8s. I'm barely getting any thrust for the jet to roll on a nicely manicured RC grass field. I've ensured my throttle is calibrated and ESC is programmed. I'm using 2 - 5300 4s LiHV SMC packs.
Any ideas to why the power is anemic? I'm more than happy to provide additional details if anyone has any ideas.

[davegee]

You ‘da Man, Elbee!!👍👍👍

[Elbee]

davegee. Parts look great : Check. Functioning unit: Check. Nicely done, Sir. Best, LB

[davegee]

Credit goes to Elbee. This is his design and it works very well! Thanks for the kind words, Aros. I’m a newbie trying to learn 3D printing.

cheers

davegee

[Aros]

What a cool mod! Nice work davegee! You and Elbee never fail to impress.

[davegee]

I just finished up another mod for the F/A-18C Hornet. This is a movable tail hook via a small servo in the tail. 3D printed parts courtesy of Elbee that I printed up from his STL files and put it together. I had to order a small Du Bro connector pin that came today, so once I had it in hand, the finishing up went relatively quickly. There's always a bit of fiddling to do on these things like servo travel, checking security of the mechanism, and all that. But it is well worth doing, for me. I have put a movable tail hook in my F-14D, A-4E, and a Grumman F6F Hellcat years ago. This one is not stressed to actually "catch" the airplane, but I'll probably do some photos of it in the air with the hook down, just for yuks.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

I had an Excellent teacher!

Davegee

[Elbee]

After getting my 29th flight, I am now looking out the window at the white stuff coming down...I'm taking advantage of the down time to work on my AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles that I am learning to 3D print with my Prusa mini. These are from the files of Dirty D in 1/10 scale...

DG, Absolutely fabulous work. Sir. Best, LB