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

[jetpltrich]

Various balances have been expressed. I'm at mid 90's from memory but others are further back.

thanks!

[Evan D]

Various balances have been expressed. I'm at mid 90's from memory but others are further back.

[jetpltrich]

Question: may have been referenced already... is everyone using the recommended CG of 88mm or is something different better?

Rich

[Airguardian]

Small mishap...

PS: Nice work Smokie, but I'm missing the painted cockpit!

[davegee]

Here are some pics from my recent F-18C project. Installed 4 custom mounts into the wings for the pylons. All launchers and missiles are removable allowing for unlimited loadouts.

That looks fabulous, Smokie! Where did you get the scale looking pylons for the F-18C? If they were 3D printed, if you have a link to the STLs, that would be marvelous, I would like to do the same with mine. Is it possible for you to take a pic of the underneath of the wings to show the placement of the pylons? I have a few questions on that that would be answered if I could see a pic or two of the pylons installed on the wings. Well done!!

Thanks!

Davegee

[GliderGuy]

In an attempt to get the info out to more folks, I thought that cross posting would help.

I have deleted all the cross posts that the system would allow and will leave the thread in the RADIOS AND RECEIVERS thread.

-GG

[Smokie]

I bought the ordnance package for the Freewing F-16 to try and use some of it on my Freewing F-18C. I will definitely use the AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on the wingtips, but was wondering if anyone had put the pylons on the wings to hang the missiles. Outside of one slot on the bottom of the wings, I don't see any way to attach the pylons, and they aren't really the same shape as the ones on the real airplanes. I could probably live with that for now, but not sure how I would hook them on (without gluing them, which I really don't want to do). Any ideas, photos, tips?

Thanks,

Davegee

Here are some pics from my recent F-18C project. Installed 4 custom mounts into the wings for the pylons. All launchers and missiles are removable allowing for unlimited loadouts.

[GliderGuy]

Deleted cross postings

-GG.

[Jay Kuster]

Thanks

[Elbee]

Definitely the common-sense pilot option, my friend. Again, beautiful cockpit mod, Hugh. Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

Has anybody 3D printed a pilot for the cockpit that is on the motion page for the F-18?? Thanks

Hey Jay, there is another option for the pilot if you are using the fabulous 3D cockpit Elbee designed. Obviously his 3D printed pilot is the "gold standard", but if you want to go a quick and lazy route (my middle name), I put the Jet Hangar Hobby 1/10 scale full body pilot in and just trimmed his legs a bit and shaved some fat off his rear so his head didn't reach the top of the canopy. His knees then go right up against the holes where his legs would go through so it doesn't exactly look like a shark got him last time he ditched into the ocean. :face_with_symbols_o He's a bit larger than scale but I like to have "Clint Walker" type pilots who seriously abuse steroids to guide my aircraft. Just a little more intimidating when going after other foreign bogies with "girly men" in them.

[Jay Kuster]

Thank you.

[Elbee]

Has anybody 3D printed a pilot for the cockpit that is on the motion page for the F-18?? Thanks

JK,
Firstly, Welcome to "Hobby Squawk".
Secondly, the answer to your question is yes. The pilot I printed was designed by a Max Grueter and is available on cgtrader; keyword-jetpilot.
If you have printed and installed the cockpit, you'll want to be mindful of the headroom available once you replace your canopy.
You will need to 'scale' your pilot print accordingly. I used the pilot's body, scaled to a height that would allow the use of the OEM helmet/head from kit.
Breakout your modeling skills here, but it is quite doable.
Best, LB

https://www.cgtrader.com/

[Jay Kuster]

Has anybody 3D printed a pilot for the cockpit that is on the motion page for the F-18?? Thanks

[Cape Jets]

As with Hugh, I also trimmed out my exhaust tubes with the chrome vent tape. It takes some doing but well worth it to get the full effect of the afterburners. Best to do with the motor out and take you time , that stuff is sticky. Make sure you extend the tape past the motor housing, it will help it from peeling back.

[Cape Jets]

What I understand is Freewing has made some kind of improvement on the way the elevator servos mount. I wonder if they are using something similar to RCinformer's modifications to the elevator servos mounts. Can anybody onfirm this?

Falcon195... Version 2 has small access panels in the rear fuse behind the rudders. I have both versions and one has the panel and one does not.

[Cape Jets]

Has anybody done the rcinformer front landing gear mod? I am ordering the extended battery tray to do this mod. Looks like it will beef up the front gear. What do you guys think

Falcon195---- Yes I have done the RCInformer battery tray update on both my F18 Blues. I also fly off grass and although we get it as smooth as possible it still has its areas that will give a front nose gear a work out. I figured anything that will help her on the ground is worth doing. I made my own tray and put about 5 coats of poly on it to help stiffen it up some more. Also used a machine screw and nut to re-enforce the front gear mount. If you rip out that front mount it's a bitch to replace since its in the foam..... Just my thoughts...

[Gvasiloff]

What I understand is Freewing has made some kind of improvement on the way the elevator servos mount. I wonder if they are using something similar to RCinformer's modifications to the elevator servos mounts. Can anybody onfirm this?

I have the V1 and V2. I can confirm that the V2 has a bolt that runs through the plastic mount to a blind nut in a piece of blue plastic flush mounted with the top of the fuselage. It's almost unnoticeable. If you have a random square of plastic molded into the fuselage above where the elevators are, you have a V2 fuselage. All I did to fix my V1 was pry up the blue plastic mount from the foam and slather some 30 minute epoxy in there. No problems in almost 200 flights.

I also did my own nose gear/battery tray mod after I tore my nose gear out after overrunning the runway into a mole hole. I extended the battery tray all the way until the end of the nose gear retract and did 4 blind nuts mounted in the tray with 4 pieces of 2-56 threaded rod holding in the nose gear instead of screws. That thing isn't going anywhere now. It also gave me the opportunity to make new slots for the battery strap further back, as I was strapping my RT 6250 so far back that the stock strap barely held the end of the battery. The plane flies so much better and lighter with a 100-105mm CG.

[Falcon195]

What I understand is Freewing has made some kind of improvement on the way the elevator servos mount. I wonder if they are using something similar to RCinformer's modifications to the elevator servos mounts. Can anybody onfirm this?

[Hugh Wiedman]

The nose gear mod he is suggesting is he extended the battery tray to go over the front gear. Then he runs a machine screw through the front gear mount up from the gear well into a blind nut mounted in the extended battery tray. This stiffened the gear box. The extended battery tray is not for moving the battery forward, it is used to give the machine screw a place to fasten. RCinformer has a YouTube video showing this mod. The name of the video is something like "freewing F18 90mm modifications".

You are correct, I eventually found his video and reviewed it. He did a nice job on the elevator servo bay upgrades, I did something similar. His nose gear mods certainly seem to make it more solid, so certainly can't hurt to emulate that either.

I have not done that with either of mine as I've yet to have any issues there and fly 90% of the time off grass, so you'll have to decide if you want to do that as well, just not sure it's mandatory or a priority with this one. I doubt many others have followed, but would love to hear from others out there if anyone has found that to be a problem. On the other hand, any additional support anywhere can't hurt.

The one thing I think can be better is the exhaust nozzles if you install an AB (certainly worth it-have one in ALL my EDF's except A10). Rich painted them white, not bad, but take the extra time to put aluminum A/C duct tape instead. Makes it Soooo much better than even the white.