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

[Airguardian]

Thanks Brent, JP!

That LG mod looks the part, can't wait to see it in action on your next flight vid! :)

How did you create your rudder pics? Self-printed water decals or any other?

I resorted to Callie Graphics.
Not just the vertical stab graphics, but also the tiger stripes and orange parts, transitioning to the grey in circular dots.

These are CNC-cut vinyls so the result is very good.
It was a custom order, and as such it wasn't perfect from the get go but I contacted Callie and she fixed it! :)

[Hugh Wiedman]

Here's a quick video on the maiden flight of my F-18 Tiger Meet from last week. Raining again today so I've remained grounded. The flight video is kinda crappy as it was taken with a phone, but at least I have proof that it actually flies with all that weight from the paint. Need to find someone with a decent video camera (or move next to Airguardian , which ain't a bad idea cause I love Spain-and man could I learn some piloting techniques from him), cause I ain't about to spend any money on something that doesn't Fly!

[JP-4203]

Part 2:

Cool painting with smart tiger look! How did you create your rudder pics? Self-printed water decals or any other?

[Corsair nut]

Sick shots!!! Heres the video on the paint and eflite struts..

https://youtu.be/cY5aN4gCDYQ

[Airguardian]

Part 2:

[Airguardian]

There go a few cool pics of my now-painted Hornet in the air! :)

























































...she pretty! :D

[steven gubala]

me too

[Corsair nut]

Hmm might have to look into that

[Hugh Wiedman]

Nice!!! Which 12 blade is it?

The 90 mm 4068-1835 Kv 12 blade. I now have that fan in both F-18's, 2 F-4's and my F-16. It's a bit expensive, but IMO, well worth it, especially since I'm flying off of grass and I think it has a bit more punch than the 9 Blade 1900 KV that FW is putting in all the "High Performance" models. Not that the 9 blade is a slouch, put one (came with my last F-18 and swapped it out for the 12 blade) in my Stinger 90 and that fan really livened it up. The 12 blade may not quite have the top end in level high speed passes (but never tested it out), but it's got more than enough horse power for excellent vertical. Those fans completely transformed the F-4's. In the F-16, I'm able to use a fairly heavy SMC 8100 pack and easily get over 5 minutes of flight time while still getting airborne off grass in less than 100' with seemingly no loss of vertical climb. On the other hand, spending another $160 each for 5 of them just may have skewed my opinion; and that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Corsair nut]

Nice!!! Which 12 blade is it?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Finally got some decent weather with light winds and no rain and got 20 flights in on 5 of my aircraft, including the maiden of the F-18 Tiger with 5 flights and the F-18 Canadian with another 5, just for good measure. Man, these F-18's fly great! The last 3 times I flew the F-18 Canadian, I had major issues with the flaps and she got very squirrely, one wouldn't go down in the air (on the ground, no problem) and one of the elevator servos got palsy. Additionally the AR 636 gyro RX with satellite was getting way too many Frame losses and the occasional dreaded Heading Holds, so I replaced the RX with the AR637T with satellite, replaced both flap servos and elevator servos, and bypassed the circuit board and wired the flaps and ailerons directly into the receiver (set up the Tiger the same way).

Well today, no issues for the first time, so one or all of the changes worked! I ended up getting 5 minutes of useful throttle time on an SMC 6200 40C pack! Can't argue with that. Both have the 12 blade inrunner (as all my 90 mm now have). I'll eventually get around to putting a crappy video together, but planning on getting out again on Wednesday and maiden the Mig!

[T-CAT]

Heres the pics. They wouldnt load last night

Lookin' so fresh and so clean-clean!

[Corsair nut]

Heres the pics. They wouldnt load last night

[Corsair nut]

Ok so its finally done done. Did some touchups..and after the popcorn damage on the right wing i decided to just sand out and repaint the upper surface of both wings. Aside from a lil dust in the paint they turned out awesome!! Shes ready to go and i still owe you guys a video on how i got the struts to fit.

[Hugh Wiedman]

A lil sneak peak. Still more work to do but getting close

Incredible finish, it looks like a "wrap". It's also looks like you have the "real" Blue Angle Blue, darker than the FW model, and the gear looks outstanding. Given the right photo setting, I doubt you could tell the difference between yours and a real one. Frankly, I don't want to know how you were able to get such a perfect finish, because I'm sure it involves modeling work that I'd rather not be tempted to try!

[Aros]

Wow she is gorgeous! Love the finish and gear!

[Elbee]

A lil sneak peak

CN, Bravo Zulu, Sir. She is a beauty. Best, LB

[Corsair nut]

Thanks! Yeah i added secondary springs. Thry will actually absorb now hahhaha

[Airguardian]

Whoa... tell us more on the gear conversion from E-Flite!

Looks like it fits good enough... and looks the part!

I heard complaints about the FMS gear not absorbing impacts good enough, what's your take on it?
Did you stiffen the spring or did anything else in addition?

[DCORSAIR]

That looks awesome, if only that gear would have came like that in stock form.......