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

[Hugh Wiedman]

Okay, I fibbed a bit. Pics are still of dry-fit with Pilot complete and Ejection Seat Complete. Still some weathering to do and addition of port Ejection Handle and Actuator Arm to fake canopy motor and rear mount...gettin' close though. Wooohoo and Whew! Oh, and Callie sent preview of Livery markings "so I got that goin' for me." Best, LB

Love your pilot Steve, not to mention the rest of the cockpit. You've probably already answered this somewhere, but where did you get that pilot? Mikey Likes!

[Elbee]

Love your pilot Steve, not to mention the rest of the cockpit. You've probably already answered this somewhere, but where did you get that pilot? Mikey Likes!

Yeah well, "he'll eat anything". You're crackin' me up, Hugh. BTW, liked your pics from your weekend flying. The Pilot Body is a Max Grueter 3DP Design I bought on CDTrader. I have his RAF, US Navy, and Jet Pilot STL Files and I just bought his B-17 Pilot head because the dude's wearin' a crush cap and sunglasses. Pretty cool. All these take the half-life of Chernobyl's cleanup date to print, but allow for a custom pilot. It's one of the reasons I bought a 3DP printer in the first place. The pilot choices in this hobby have always been just fair to midland, and felt like a compromise to me after finishing a great air-frame. The Jet Pilot body is circa Korea/Vietnam as the parachute is part of the build, but I 'clipped' it in Slic3r and modded the body a bit to look more modern. The Pilot's head is the OEM Chinese Fellow that I trimmed and narrowed with added bits to 'look' more modern. Best, Steve

[Hugh Wiedman]

Yeah well, "he'll eat anything". You're crackin' me up, Hugh. BTW, liked your pics from your weekend flying. The Pilot Body is a Max Grueter 3DP Design I bought on CDTrader. I have his RAF, US Navy, and Jet Pilot STL Files and I just bought his B-17 Pilot head because the dude's wearin' a crush cap and sunglasses. Pretty cool. All these take the half-life of Chernobyl's cleanup date to print, but allow for a custom pilot. It's one of the reasons I bought a 3DP printer in the first place. The pilot choices in this hobby have always been just fair to midland, and felt like a compromise to me after finishing a great air-frame. The Jet Pilot body is circa Korea/Vietnam as the parachute is part of the build, but I 'clipped' it in Slic3r and modded the body a bit to look more modern. The Pilot's head is the OEM Chinese Fellow that I trimmed and narrowed with added bits to 'look' more modern. Best, Steve

Outstanding Steve, you're sure taking this to the next level. You seem to be one step ahead on everything, or in my case, about a mile and a half ahead. But you definitely hit the nail on the head when you said the pilot choices out there are "fair to midland", which is just being kind. I'd say more like just . The only pilot I found acceptable was the warbirds pilot I put in my Corsair with the moving head, but everyone at the field seems to think he's a "Freak of Nature" who's been on steroids since birth-but the moving head does get the occasional "how cool". When my wife first saw him with his head to the top of the canopy, she wanted to adopt him. At least he has nooo problem seeing over that long Corsair nose like a normal size pilot. Guess Freewing/Flight Line will just have to start making much larger planes to fit him if there not going to up the ante on pilot choices, or I could just cut a hole in the canopy to have his head stick out!

[Elbee]

Guess Freewing/Flight Line will just have to start making much larger planes to fit him if there not going to up the ante on pilot choices, or I could just cut a hole in the canopy to have his head stick out!

Hugh, You're the lucky one, you convinced 'Clint Walker' to fly your Corsair. I asked him, but he said, "I've taken a great gig in Miami." Best, Steve

[Dustman]

Ok, I got it. The site is still available. I just down loaded the jet pilot stl file. Is the Navy pilot a modern figure.?

[Elbee]

Ok, I got it. The site is still available. I just down loaded the jet pilot stl file. Is the Navy pilot a modern figure.?

DM, Nope, WWII Navy. The WWII USAF can be modded a bit to resemble an WWII RAF, but he also has WWII RAF and Luftwaffe pilots. The Jet Pilot is modifiable, but hope he'll design a Modern Navy or AF Pilot soon. Who knows. Best, LB

[Dustman]

I came across this site in England by accident of a modern day jet pilot: https://www.fine-scalemodela.com/sto...ailable__.html ;They have 1/11 and 1/11.5 scale figures.

[Corsair nut]

If anybody is curious how the f18 flies on a 80mm..heres a video of mine..powered by a a10 80mm...performed quite well!!!

https://youtu.be/Z0EDarySoJo

[fredmdbud]

It sure did - nice flight

[Elbee]

I came across this site in England by accident of a modern day jet pilot: https://www.fine-scalemodela.com/sto...ailable__.html ;They have 1/11 and 1/11.5 scale figures.

DM, Yes good find, great stuff; however, one would still need to mod the heads and/or helmets as the gear is mostly for helo pilots. I have this site 'bookmarked' and have thought about ordering one just to see if it cold be used for a Modern Jet Pilot, but not done it. Best, LB

[Radar-Guy]

Another option, I used this one in a scaled down version for my Hornet.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3806310

[Elbee]

Another option, I used this one in a scaled down version for my Hornet.

RG, Great find, my friend. I've got to spend more time over there 'searching'. Iacopo Nicolos's 1/8^th Pilot is similar to the Jet hanger Hobbies (JHH) Cold War Pilot only much more detailed and 'printable/scalable'. Thank you. It will look great flying sorties in your F-18. Best, LB

[haljennings]

Just received the F-18, it has the full metal gear servos on the elevator not the hybrid.

[Corsair nut]

Thats good news!

[MadOx]

Just received mine, too sick to even read instructions 😔 did manage to open box and dam she’s a big girl!! Can’t wait to build and fly

[Elbee]

Just received mine, too sick to even read instructions 😔 did manage to open box and dam she’s a big girl!! Can’t wait to build and fly

MO. Welcome to "The Squawk". Sorry to read you're grounded. Get well quickly and post pix of your build, especially mods, when you are able. Best, LB

[Hardway]

Welcome to Hobby Squawk. Sorry you are sick! I am just recovering from the crud myself. No fun!! Blessings! Jerry

[Hardway]

Best of luck with the bird! She will be a lot of fun!

[MadOx]

Best of luck with the bird! She will be a lot of fun!

thanks guys!! I had a 70mm blue about 6 years ago and I was the best flying edf I have flown to date! This is way nicer and bigger so I expect it to be absolutely amazing!! Appreciate the welcome!! I will post some pics when this crap decides to leave me be!!

[andrew_flyguy]

A good friend brought his over today so I could help him with some small maintenance items. While we were doing the surgery, we were going to have the landing gear bypass the board as to eliminate the delay, but found that the landing gear light WILL NOT operate if there are no servos plugged into the Landing Gear input slots on the MFCB... very odd, and a little unfortunate. Has anyone else noticed this?