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

[fredmdbud]

The foam adds nothing to the structure, except weight. As far as getting the rails as separate spares, don't hold your breath - nowadays they are usually sold as a set (with wings or as part of a pylon set) for higher ARPU.

[Alpha]

An additional complication is that depending on how the molds are cut, we'd need to shoot 60% of the airplane's parts just to get a pair of spare wingtip rails, and half of those remaining parts are sub-structures of other parts (the F-18 is a puzzle) meaning they wouldn't/couldn't sell unless/until they were part of a wider production run of complete F-18s. One cannot, after all, ship a PNP with only 95% of its constituent parts.

We are still looking at any way to get a few pairs of wingtip rails in stock, but mathematically they'd have to come from bad mold pulls where the large parts in that same mold were binned but the wingtip rail somehow survived cleanly. The alternative is to open a special mold just for rails... I'd need about 1,000 of us to stand in line for that venture to break come close to breaking even...

Or, it's also worth considering the increasingly active 3DPrinted community here on Squawk, too. I'm sure they could whip up a printable wingtip rail for onesie-twosie use that is far better and more detailed than what I was able to do in mass-produced foam.

[xviper]

Or, it's also worth considering the increasingly active 3DPrinted community here on Squawk, too. I'm sure they could whip up a printable wingtip rail for onesie-twosie use that is far better and more detailed than what I was able to do in mass-produced foam.

What a novel idea!

[Elbee]

F-18 Owners. There's an STL Set for the Missile Rails that has been posted in this forum and originally in RCG by PeterVRC. I have downloaded and printed a test set and it's a good design that fits. Brinka just installed a replacement set on his Hornet and posted pictures in this thread. You can download it and get it printed. There might even be a second design as I have one that is just a bit different and is in 3 parts per side instead of 2. And now that I think about it but don't quote me, Radar Guy might have designed a set as well. The point is there are 3DP STL Files for the Freewing F-18C Missile Rails available in this thread and 3DP printing services available to print it. Anyone can download AutoDesk Fusion360 or AutoDesk TinkerCAD for free and design their own and use a printing service to get printed. Try it, you might just like it well enough to pick up a 3DP printer. Best, LB

[Aros]

That's fantastic...For those folks - like myself - who have yet to pony up for a 3D printer, I wonder if there are those who wouldn't mind printing and shipping these rails (and other 3DP) as a service for a fee? Until I get a printer I would love to use someone's services and happily pay for the materials and time investment.

[GarrisonR]

That's fantastic...For those folks - like myself - who have yet to pony up for a 3D printer, I wonder if there are those who wouldn't mind printing and shipping these rails (and other 3DP) as a service for a fee? Until I get a printer I would love to use someone's services and happily pay for the materials and time investment.

I wouldn't mind, not looking to make $ either. Just throw me a couple bucks for time/material & pay shipping. I printed a set and they came out great.

[gooniac33]

That's fantastic...For those folks - like myself - who have yet to pony up for a 3D printer, I wonder if there are those who wouldn't mind printing and shipping these rails (and other 3DP) as a service for a fee? Until I get a printer I would love to use someone's services and happily pay for the materials and time investment.

Hey do you or Alpha know if you will ever bring back the inrunner fans minus motors? I used to stock up on these so that i could try my own set ups. They used to have red and blue ones that worked really well. The 8s silver version is quite a bit bulkier and not my fave....

[Aros]

Not really sure Gooniac... Alpha would be able to chime in on that...

[RCGuy83]

It really would be nice if the 80mm and 90mm fan setups did not use unique motors with long shafts and this fan adapter hub. All we would need is for someone to machine us a hub/shaft of the right length with a 5mm shaft mounting hole and it would open up many possibilities of 3660/3674 for 80mm & 4074/4082 motors for 90mm. For my F-35 70mm I was able to source some higher Kv Leopards that bolted right in. I'm about to put a pair of the 2730Kv motors in the AL37 coupled with a pair of 80amp ESC's.

[gooniac33]

It really would be nice if the 80mm and 90mm fan setups did not use unique motors with long shafts and this fan adapter hub. All we would need is for someone to machine us a hub/shaft of the right length with a 5mm shaft mounting hole and it would open up many possibilities of 3660/3674 for 80mm & 4074/4082 motors for 90mm. For my F-35 70mm I was able to source some higher Kv Leopards that bolted right in. I'm about to put a pair of the 2730Kv motors in the AL37 coupled with a pair of 80amp ESC's.

Yeah that is it... lemme talk to a couple people and see what I can come up with...

[RCGuy83]

Yeah that is it... lemme talk to a couple people and see what I can come up with...

That would awesome! I would certainly pick up a handful of adapter shafts if they were made.

[Jackcannon]

Anyone know if the new 9blade inrunner set up from the high performance blue angel version available. I bought the grey version a while ago and looking for a speed increase.

[Brinka]

Greetings from Lakeland FL @ Florida Jets! Today was amazing, the Hornet held up great even flying along side turbines. My 1st landing was bumpy as I was nervous and felt rushed to land, there can be up to 5 Jets flying at once so it's no easy task flying at Florida Jets, but all in all, this was a great day, gonna get an early start tomorrow, will try to post some more photos!

PS: I wish Motion RC was here to represent also, but no worries, I got you guys all covered, the announcer even featured me and did a cool narration while I flew the Blue Angel Hornet.

[Alpha]

Brinka You and your Hornet are looking good in front of that Pirotti Rebel!

Are you "djbrinka" on my Instagram?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Greetings from Lakeland FL @ Florida Jets! Today was amazing, the Hornet held up great even flying along side turbines. My 1st landing was bumpy as I was nervous and felt rushed to land, there can be up to 5 Jets flying at once so it's no easy task flying at Florida Jets, but all in all, this was a great day, gonna get an early start tomorrow, will try to post some more photos!

PS: I wish Motion RC was here to represent also, but no worries, I got you guys all covered, the announcer even featured me and did a cool narration while I flew the Blue Angel Hornet.

Outstanding Jason, great representative for South Florida, and FW products. Have you flown the Tomcat yet? Man, I wish I was there with you. Send as many photos as you can.

[Brinka]

Brinka You and your Hornet are looking good in front of that Pirotti Rebel!

Are you "djbrinka" on my Instagram?

Thank you sir 🙏🏼, truly grateful to be here flying your stuff, everyone has been asking "what company makes this Hornet" and of course I feel like a sales rep for Motion now, lol. 😉 I will post up a vid of my flights.

[Brinka]

Outstanding Jason, great representative for South Florida, and FW products. Have you flown the Tomcat yet? Man, I wish I was there with you. Send as many photos as you can.

Thank you for all the help Hugh 🙌🏼 I did indeed fly the Tomcat the pic is on the Tomcat thread. The afterburners looked incredible, all the pilots were buzzing about the burners, flew it scale for 4 mins and came down with 48% left on a 5000 HRB lipo!

[gooniac33]

I didn't get to fly mine yesterday but my buddy did!! I was bummed that I didn't bring it when I saw him ripping around!! Looking forward to seeing the videos of the new high performance set up

[Elbee]

Hornet Fans, Still at it, those dang Verticals gots-a-lot goin' on. Quick pics of the Formation Light Mod, though I know it's getting cliche`. I'm using 3v backlit panels made for mobile devices as I believe RCjetdude on his killer Apache, only these are a bit smaller. The Red Strobe is also sourced through a vid by RCJD on that same Heli, kudos, Sir, easier than what I had originally planned. Designed 3DP panel holders and exterior panels and had to do minor foam surgery. Looks good, I think and with paint and Callie's Graphics, it'll do. Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hornet Fans, Still at it, those dang Verticals gots-a-lot goin' on. Quick pics of the Formation Light Mod, though I know it's getting cliche`. I'm using 3v backlit panels made for mobile devices as I believe RCjetdude on his killer Apache, only these are a bit smaller. The Red Strobe is also sourced through a vid by RCJD on that same Heli, kudos, Sir, easier than what I had originally planned. Designed 3DP panel holders and exterior panels and had to do minor foam surgery. Looks good, I think and with paint and Callie's Graphics, it'll do. Best, LB

OMG, what can you say, you are a true artist! With your cockpit, pilot, livery and now this, looks like we are witnessing the creation of next years Custom Aircraft Challenge. Definitely a "Man on a Mission".

[Elbee]

Hugh, I hear ya, but in my heart it's a conflict of interest as a low on the totem, but dedicated moderator. I just build 'em as I see 'em and want to take building somewhere out of my comfort zone, you know? So much fun to build and see it fly. Hard to find that in any other hobby. We are all lucky ducks, I think. Best, LB