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

[Waconut]

Hi guys,
I received my F-18 about an hour ago. I just went to the website and read the advisory. The stab plates appear to be secured well, have not checked the servo wires yet. Anyhow I noticed one of the stab bearing assemblies has a considerable amount of slop in the up and down direction. Much more than I am comfortable with, I would say between 1/32-1/16”. Should I try to put a shim in there to secure the bearing tighter?

I received a call yesterday notifying me to return to work next Monday. I received a call today saying it was canceled. Looks like I get to stay home and play with the F-18 .

Later!!
Anthony

[Elbee]

Finally finished the painting and applying graphics, not sure which was more difficult, the painting or the graphics.

Hugh, Great to read about y'all finishing up on your graphics, no doubt due in no small part to great supervision and assistance you received. Good tip on the Nose and the Drag Brace. Can't wait to see pictures. Best, Steve

[Waconut]

Never mind I went back and read Evan D’s post and he talked about having a loose elevator block. I will dig into it in the morning and work up a solution.

[RCINFORMER]

Hey folks!

Here is my latest upgrade video.... this time for the Freewing F-18 90mm Hornet. from MotionRC..... Lots of upgrades are here including how to strengthen the flying tail section & improve the Battery to accept varying lipo pack sizes and also make the nose strut mount tough for grass operations... Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imxSjOtzpm0&t=409s

[Cutter262]

RC Informer thank you for the beefy upgrade video! Fantastic! I have the original version of this F-18 and one of the first shipments. I do have several flights on the F-18 and I have upgraded the elevator area as posted in the service bulletin. Now that the season is upon us here in the NorthEast I am considering purchasing a new fuselage in hopes that the elevator support structure is the upgraded version from the factory. If I purchase a new fuselage will it have the factory structural elevator upgrade as described in the initial service bulletin? Or is the upgrade more beefier than described in the service bulletin? Is it necessary to purchase a replacement fuselage? Concerned because I do not want the A/C to crash due to a faulty elevator mount.

[Waconut]

Hi guys,
I started working on my plane this morning. I looked into the stab bearing housing. As I lifted up in the shaft I was hearing a popping noise and the end of the shaft would move appropriately 1/16”. I checked the 4 screws holding the cap down and they were tight. I removed the caps and cut .010 thick plastic shins to go in the bearing grooves in the caps. After reinstall there is zero slop in the stab shafts. I didn’t use any glue as I did not want to risk contamination of the bearings.

After that was straightened out I made control rods with 4-40 rod ends. It was a tight fit but there is zero interference and zero slop.
Now I can work in getting her ready for paint.

[Elbee]

Hey Hornet Howners, Worked out the placement of the NG Wheel Door servos. NG door is joined and glassed so it can be cut asymmetrically, that's 'off-center' for Hardway, . Once cut, those will be attached and tabs added for hook-up to the servos, a combo of ball-link and clevis. Trying to keep it simple and elegant, if that's possible. Waconut, like your mod to the elevator, outstanding. Best, LB

[Waconut]

I have the bottom side of the plane painted. Tomorrow morning I will get the top side painted and I can start adding details in the afternoon.

[SWOFLY]

Those elevator mods by Rc informer are very impressive. Nice work and i'm sure that will solve the problem. I did a simpler, easier mod which so far has proven to be adequate. I replaced the short 1/2 inch screws which hold the bearing blocks to the thin plastic base with much longer 1 1/4 inch screws and put foam tack own in the holes to secure them. I also shimmed the bearings with strips of vinyl tape. I replaced the elevator servos with Hitec 5085s non digital but metal gear, high torque, and reversed the linkage on one side to reverse the movement. I also like that nose gear mod since I fly off a matt runway I haven't had much problem with that. Those nose gear door mods look nice and I may try doing that next. I recommend doing the elevator mod to everyone unless you have the newest version since there were several instances of failure in the early versions.

[Dustman]

LB, what is the width of the nose wheel main door 5"x ? and the two small ones 3"x? shown above.

[GarrisonR]

Got the maiden plus one done today! Cross winds were kicking up before the 3rd flight, so I decided not to tempt fate and pack it in until tomorrow. Here are my stats:

Completely stock setup
RoaringTop 6S 6250 35C lipo
Graupner Mz-24 with a GR-16L RX
CG just a hair forward of recommended in the book (sits just slightly nose down at the book CG)
Throws by the book for low rates

Got to the field and range checked my Graupner, everything fine. Did a taxi test and reset nose steering to neutral. Take off was uneventful and she just lifted off nice and scale with no ballooning. Flew a normal pattern for the maiden to make sure everything worked properly, and didn't have to touch trim. She was hands off on the second pass. Love it when that happens!

Landing was a non-event except that she really likes to float! Landed with only takeoff flaps as we had a decent headwind. Full flaps may have helped with the sink rate, but I didn't want to tempt a tip stall on approach. Roll out was nice and smooth with no tendency to tip the wings. Tight turns will tip the plane though, so slow down before turning to taxi in. Got 3 minutes on the timer and landed with 25% or 3.76vpc. Just where I like it. And no issues at all with the MCB-E like I was having using the XPS radio system. I cycled the gear a bunch of times last night and nary a glitch.

No pics or vid, but here's some pics of my RX and lipo location, and the 3D printed hubcaps. Next up, paint the struts and wheel bays white!

Is the STL file for the hubcaps available by chance?

[Hugh Wiedman]

crxmanpat , must have missed your post on your setup and maiden, but just wanted some clarification on your statement "CG just a hair forward of recommended in the book". I assume you mean that instead of the 88 mm CG location from the leading edge as recommended in the manual, you found it better at something like 85 mm, moving the battery forward to get there and having it slightly more nose heavy, correct? Any consensus on the CG you guys are finding satisfactory? Thanks

[Elbee]

LB, what is the width of the nose wheel main door 5"x ? and the two small ones 3"x? shown above.

DM, Yes, that is correct, 3" for the NG Doors, but remember there should be some small gap fore and aft between the nose wheel doors and the main strut door for closure tolerances. I am placing a narrow bulkhead at that location that will separate those even a bit more which will shorten the Strut Door about .125" which also includes the closure tolerance of .063" +/-. So that would make the Strut Door >4.875". Just make sure there is some 'play' in all the doors fore and aft when closed. Best, LB

[Waconut]

Hi guys,
I finished painting the base color this morning. I used the same paint I mixed for the top side of my F-4. I am now starting to add rivets. I know it’s not scale but they really looked nice on my F-4.
Here is a pic of the stabs, one with and one without the rivets. Also a pic of the details on my F-4.

[Elbee]

Waconut, Lookin' good, Anthony. Best, LB

[Waconut]

The rivets are going much faster this time around. I have the tail complete and one wing panel.

[Aros]

Lookin' goooood!

[Evan D]

Yes, great job Waco!

[Brinka]

Hugh Wiedman Super happy you finished the Hornet, it looks outstanding with Canadian scheme, also glad you listened to my advice, you will indeed love this jet, I just told my GF that no matter what I will never get rid of this model, it's with me for life!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Just finishing up the F-18 Canadian Demo version and need some advice from all the super brains out there. I was concerned that I might be tail heavy after installing a twin afterburner, adding several coats of paint and urethane, adding the heavier 3D cockpit (although that's nose weight) and installing 10 pounds of graphics, but it seems that it is just the reverse. I put a Roaring Top 6250 ( which is actually 24g lighter than the Admiral 6000) and even with the battery all the way back hitting the circuit boards, it's still nose heavy! Makes no sense to me but it is. I tried to balanced it at the book 88 mm from the leading edge wing root and with the battery as far back as possible, it's at 83 mm. To get it to 88 mm, I'll need to add 3 ounces of lead to the tail, that's 12 1/4 ounce squares of lead, which is something I definitely do not want to do. I hate to add more weight to any plane as I think it's heavy enough with all the paint/graphics/AB/etc. And adding that much weight to the tail seems sacrilegious.

Any thoughts out there on the correct CG and/or how she might fly being that nose heavy if I don't add weight? I fly off grass so have to balance between too much weight in the nose and not getting off the deck, or too little and having it bounce and lift off early and stall (as some have had happen).

I'll probably post some pictures in the next couple of days but somewhat confounded by the CG issue. I'm using the Great Planes CG Balancing machine so fairly certain I have it measured correctly.