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

[Evan D]

LEDs can be found in packs and individually on Amazon and EBAY. I have packs of red, green and white. Maybe ask others at your field if they have one from a crashed plane?

Example- 10-100pcs 1W 3W High Power LED Chip Warm White Red Green Blue Yellow F Lamp Bulb | eBay

In the US- High Power 1W 3W 5W White Blue Red Green UV Violet RGB LED SMD Chip COB Lights | eBay

[Jetbird]

LEDs can be found in packs and individually on Amazon and EBAY. I have packs of red, green and white. Maybe ask others at your field if they have one from a crashed plane?

Example- 10-100pcs 1W 3W High Power LED Chip Warm White Red Green Blue Yellow F Lamp Bulb | eBay

In the US- High Power 1W 3W 5W White Blue Red Green UV Violet RGB LED SMD Chip COB Lights | eBay

wrong

[Evan D]

Right

[InTheTubeDeep]

F18 pilots I will be selling all the spare parts from my crashed F18s, I'll post link to the Classifieds when its live, wings vert stabs ELEs retracts ESC to name a few parts!

[Dave Matrix]

A few months ago I bought the Gray Diamonds version but decided to repaint it in the VFC -12 agressor no.7. I also used the 3d printed cockpit and ejectionseat parts from the Mirage and replaced the pilot. The pilot was from E-Fl... which I modified to a more scale looking. Decals are from Callie-graphics.

[Elbee]

Dave Matrix , Bravo Zulu, Sir. She is gorgeous! Best, LB

[Airguardian]

Real beauty! ^^

[Dave Matrix]

Thank you guys!

[xviper]

Almost done assembling my "Gray" version of this plane and I've noticed the wingtip missile rails look somewhat "naked" without any rockets on them. Are there missiles that will fit onto those rails? I have all kinds of left over missiles from other planes but none look right and none have the proper spacing for the attachment points.

[jetpltrich]

Almost done assembling my "Gray" version of this plane and I've noticed the wingtip missile rails look somewhat "naked" without any rockets on them. Are there missiles that will fit onto those rails? I have all kinds of left over missiles from other planes but none look right and none have the proper spacing for the attachment points.

We loaded them with AIM9’s Sidewinders back in the day but they may take AMRAMS now. My F-4 had 4 Sidewinders I grabbed two and put them on, fills the plane out and makes it look like something.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Almost done assembling my "Gray" version of this plane and I've noticed the wingtip missile rails look somewhat "naked" without any rockets on them. Are there missiles that will fit onto those rails? I have all kinds of left over missiles from other planes but none look right and none have the proper spacing for the attachment points.

I'm using some from my 90mm F-16.

[xviper]

I'm using some from my 90mm F-16.

I see. Thanks, Hugh. I've never had a Freewing F-16 and I've used up all the missiles from my MiG29. I've mounted most of the MiG's missiles on the MiG and used some for wingtip missiles on my Gripen. I did manage to find some missiles about the right size. I can't remember which plane they came off of but the notches don't match, so I cut them off. I'll tack glue them onto the F-18 rails, just enough to hold them on during flight but not so much that I can't easily slice them off if I ever want to remove them. I'll do a little paint work to make them stand out like you did to yours. I think they will help with visibility on an all grey airplane.
I saw on the news today when the CF-18's did a fly over for remembrance day in Ottawa, that they had these under wing tanks. They looked kinda neat. I might see what I've got in the parts bin and consider doing up a set for my model.

[Airguardian]

I often flew mine with the R-73s from the FW MiG-29.
Not scale, I know,, but they fit ;)

[Hugh Wiedman]

Just a heads up on the new SMC HiV batteries. At 4.35 volts per cell, most of my Freewing ESC's read them as 6 cells, so no issues. However, of the 2 identical 90mm set-ups in my F-18 Canadian/F-18 Tiger Meet and my F-4 Phantom and F-4 Blue Angel, one of the F-18's and one of the F-4's ESC's read it wrong, only giving 2 beeps instead of the normal 6. Seems it is reading it as a 7 S, which means the normal cut-off voltage at 3.15 volts then comes to play at 22.05 volts thinking it's 7S instead of the 18.9 Volts of a normal 6S. Did some simulated bench test flights and after about 3 minutes of various throttle levels, at full throttle the motor/ESC begins erratically behaving. Thankfully I didn't test them out in actual flight! Oddly enough, this only happened with 2 FW 130 amp ESC's, while 3 other identical ones read it as 6S. Guess I need to somehow reprogram those 2 ESC's if I want to use a HiV battery in them. Could drop the cutoff to low at 2.85 Volts for 7S, which would come out to 19.95 volts (fine for 6S), but the initial beeps would still be off! The Castle ESC I have in my F-16 actually reads it as a 7S with 7 beeps and cuts off early as well, but I expected that one.

So just a word of caution with HiV, check it out first before flying! Worked fine on my Avanti, Stinger 90, A-10, one of the F-4's & F-18's, the Mig 29 and the E-Flight SU-30. Haven't tried them in the 90mm Corsair, Spitfire or other prop planes as I'm only planning on using HiV bats in some of the EDF's.

[xviper]

Hugh Wiedman Your suspicions and fears from several months ago appears to have come true for some planes. So far, I've been very fortunate in that any of the planes I put the HV batteries into have responded correctly. As far as my newest F/A-18 is concerned, it's built for 8s and I'm not going to use any of the HV batteries in it.
Have you tried charging the HV to "not quite" 4.35V/cell? Say, maybe 4.3 just for those obstinate planes?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh Wiedman Your suspicions and fears from several months ago appears to have come true for some planes. So far, I've been very fortunate in that any of the planes I put the HV batteries into have responded correctly. As far as my newest F/A-18 is concerned, it's built for 8s and I'm not going to use any of the HV batteries in it.
Have you tried charging the HV to "not quite" 4.35V/cell? Say, maybe 4.3 just for those obstinate planes?

Not yet, first I'm going to see if my computer genius flying buddy RudyD54 can figure out how to reprogram the problem ESC's. He thinks he can get it done so that's plan A. I'm just surprised that of the 2 FW jets that don't work, each has an identical "sister" ship that works. Just my luck and I knew the Castle wouldn't work without reprogramming that.

[Hugh Wiedman]

xviper as a quick follow-up, I took your suggestion and tried the HiV pack at a slightly lower voltage than the 4.35 per cell in the 3 EDF's that didn't work. The F-16 with the Castle ESC won't work correctly at anything other that 4.2-4.25 volts per cell, otherwise it assumes 7S and has a too high LV cutoff (so need to reprogram that one). The F-4 with the FW 130 amp ESC is the same, only giving 2 beeps and another long one so not sure what that's all about. Oddly, the other identical power system F-4 works fine at 4.35 volts per cell.
The F-18, which has a slightly newer 130 Amp ESC (now about 1 1/2 yr old) actually works at a maximum 4.31 volts per cell (or 25.86 volts), but at 25.9 volts it doesn't work. Strange that the other identical F-18 works fine at 26.1 volts.

[xviper]

Hugh Wiedman Perhaps there are slight differences in the default settings for each ESC in different planes.

[Airguardian]

Oh, well... that happened again.

[davegee]

Oh, well... that happened again.

You'll come back, even better and stronger, Airguardian!! Really enjoy your videos, and your superior airmanship with the F-18. Best of luck in the future. Sometimes that sun gets in the way, it's happened to me!

Cheers

davegee