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

[Hugh Wiedman]

In some parallel universe my friend, I'm almost certain the common phrase is "Eighth time's the charm!"

Now that you have the ground crew fully trained and you stay away from those "half court three's" number 8 undoubtedly has a decent chance for survival. (Wonder how many here get either of those references )

[Aros]

Now that you have the ground crew fully trained and you stay away from those "half court three's" number 8 undoubtedly has a decent chance for survival. (Wonder how many here get either of those references )

I can only choose to believe if others can fly her successfully, why not me? Gremlins? Hogwash. Pretty sure the sticks move the same for everybody.

[Airguardian]

It's the power of faith!

[jasmith41]

I couldn't help myself. I am a glutton for punishment as they say. Welcome home #8. Yes, as in my 8th Freewing F/A-18C Hornet. It was a deal I couldn't pass up. This was my buddy's pride and joy. He is intensely meticulous with his models (even came with wing AND stab bags). He said this one flew "right" out of the box. Zero issues or gremlins, no trouble at all. Perfectly dialed in and comes with a Spektrum gyro that works flawlessly. I'm going to upload his .SPM file so I will have his exact setup and settings. So now, if the unthinkable occurs, I will have nobody to blame but Mr. Dumb Thumbs. I also told him if the unthinkable DOES happen, I will never tell him and move to another state.



Bonus points, she fits in my Toyota Supra!!

you guys need bigger cars... :)

[Aros]

Hey, quick check...What RX are y'all using with success with this bird? Spektrum specifically...Thanks in advance.

[Evan D]

An extra data point. Orange 12ch with 2 satellites. I have every surface on it's own channel and I don't use a gyro.

[nuts-n-volts]

I use the 8ch Spektrums in all of my "heavier" jets. 8010T and now the upgraded 8020T. If you want AS3X for the gyro there is the 8360T. All of these have plenty of capability, telemetry and ports for external receiver/antennas (which I believe are a must to get around the big bricks we fly with). I usually use all of the satellites available and have never had a problem.

[xviper]

I flew my Blue Angels F-18 last week off thick grass. It's built on 8s, using a 10-ch Lemon and HobbyEagle gyro. Flew it on twin 4s, 6000mah HV bats one flight and twin 4s, 5000mah regular LiPo the 2nd flight. It blasted off the grass like it was launched with a catapult. The regular LiPos took only a few feet longer. This is my second one. The first one from years ago on 6s had a hard time getting off this sane field. It took a very long run before I could rotate, almost running out of runway and into the tall grass at the end. I'm very happy with this plane on 8s.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey, quick check...What RX are y'all using with success with this bird? Spektrum specifically...Thanks in advance.

My 2 cents, Using the AR637T along with one SPM4651T satellite in both my Hornets. Gains are something like 45/50/55 flaps up, 70/80/90 flaps deflected. I like this receiver as I use the flap switch as my FM switch and have the gain adjust set to the top right knob so I can adjust gains in flight. Additionally, the RX comes with a cable that plugs into the RX and you solder to the battery leads that gives you in flight pack voltage without having to buy anything extra. Although I still use a timer, I have the TX programmed to call out pack voltage every minute and a warning when it gets to 21.7 volts, indicating it's time to land. This way, if I decide to get "extra frisky" on a flight, I still know how long I can go before I reach the danger zone.

If you need more RX channels, like having separate plug in channels for each elevator and/or ailerons or flaps, just go with the 8 channel AS3X AR8360T or even the 10 channel with the same remote. You'll also need a TX with at least one more channel than the RX you use to be able to assign the gain adjust in flight to the knob as this uses one of the many (something like up to 20) "ghost" channels in all their RX's. Same with "Safe" if you want to use that which will require an additional TX channel. So an 8 channel TX with the 6 channel RX will allow in flight gain adjust and "Safe". The gain adjust is a REALLY nice feature but I never use "Safe", although if anybody should, I'd be the best candidate for that!

The RX and all wires fit under the battery tray, with the RX up towards the front and the 2 antennae going forward (seen in the photo coming out from under the front of the battery tray). The satellite has a 12" extension and is placed as far aft as possible with both antennae going in different directions (seen on the port fuselage wall in the back in the photo). Makes for a nice and clean battery bay. I've had it in several different places in the past, but Airguardian had suggested it and it worked great for me. I consistently get a good signal now with a low number of frame losses and obviously zero holds.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey, quick check...What RX are y'all using with success with this bird? Spektrum specifically...Thanks in advance.

Should have asked this first, but what TX are you using. Probably wrong, but seem to remember you mentioned a Futaba long ago. If so, forget everything I said about the AR637T and other Spektrum AS3X Rx's. If I'm not mistaken, you can only use the "Forward Programming" in a Spektrum TX to program those RX's. They will work with another TX, but only as a basic RX with no gyro or other capabilities, a real waste of money in that case.

[Aros]

I was planning on putting in an Admiral 10CH RX but may spring for one of those Spektrum AS3Xs...Thanks for all the great info fine sir!

[Hugh Wiedman]

I was planning on putting in an Admiral 10CH RX but may spring for one of those Spektrum AS3Xs...Thanks for all the great info fine sir!

Do you have a Spektrum TX, if so, you will be able to access "forward Programming" and be able to set up the receiver? Actually fairly easy to do. Personally, I really like the functionality of those RX's, much better than their earlier AR636 models and so much easier to program instead of using a phone app and they also have a much better signal reception. If you need any help setting it up, let me know and I can walk you through it in minutes with a couple personal tips I like to set up.

[Aros]

Thanks Hugh! I actually ended up snagging your setup. The AR637T along with one SPM4651T satellite. I really don't want to lose #8!! LOL

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks Hugh! I actually ended up snagging your setup. The AR637T along with one SPM4651T satellite. I really don't want to lose #8!! LOL

Outstanding. The only other thing to watch for is if one flap doesn't deploy in flight (and it may be a different one each time), which will cause it to go squirrely real fast. Maybe I'm just lucky, but both of mine have/had that issue and I haven't heard of many others with that problem. Wired flaps/ailerons direct, reduced delay and finally replaced the servos. Works perfect on the ground but replaced both flap servos on each and waiting to see if that solved it. I think it's just that the small 9 gr flap servos just don't have enough guts.

[Evan D]

Move the pushrod in on the servo so the servo has less work to do.

[Aros]

Outstanding. The only other thing to watch for is if one flap doesn't deploy in flight (and it may be a different one each time), which will cause it to go squirrely real fast. Maybe I'm just lucky, but both of mine have/had that issue and I haven't heard of many others with that problem. Wired flaps/ailerons direct, reduced delay and finally replaced the servos. Works perfect on the ground but replaced both flap servos on each and waiting to see if that solved it. I think it's just that the small 9 gr flap servos just don't have enough guts.

Thanks Hugh, Evan is right as well...Move the pushrod in the servo arm so it has less work to do. Such a beautiful bird (and my personal favorite current military jet and scheme), I wish it didn't have all these component issues to worry about.

Here's my girl enjoying the Blues at SeaFair 2022 on TV last Sunday. My girlfriend was so impressed with the scale and quality based on the real ones on the TV!

[rms]

Did som repainting on my Fw F18

[nuts-n-volts]

Now that's what a "Blue Diamonds" should look like!

[Elbee]

Did some repainting on my Fw F18

RS, Nicely done, Sir. And what nuts-n-volts wrote is spot on. Super repaint. Best, LB

[rms]

Smal movie of my Blue Diamonds..