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

[Aros]

I'm also discovering I'm not a big "fan" (nice, lol) of the stock 9-Blade inrunner in this particular model. Just doesn't have the scoot I would like so I will be heeding Hugh Wiedman's advice and snag one of those coveted 12 Blade power systems for her. Just gotta pad the ol' coffers for a bit first.

[The43rdHammer]

I get more thrust from a can of beans

😂😂😂

Ok I'm decided then, it's 12-blade inrunners from now on in ....I think I have the 12-blade inrunner in my L-39(s) as it happens and I love flying them, my camouflage version (I have both as it's such a great grass field flier 😁) must have +200 flights on her now. The 9-blade inrunner experiment has been a huge disappointment for me, but I'm sure others may chip in with better experiences of it. Whilst I'm not one to merely stooge around flying circuits, I don't think I'm especially ham-fisted with the throttle.

I friend took some video of the whole F-18 maiden debacle which I'll post if my downtrodden pride will allow, I may need a bleep machine though as I was turning the air Blue Angels throughout 🤬 ... I was pretty proud of even making the runway TBH but it wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't a greaser!

Andy

[Hugh Wiedman]

The43rdHammer Andy, interesting you mentioned a flap sticking on the F-18. I've only got about 36 flights on mine, 20 with the original 9 blade 1750 kv outrunner (I get more thrust from a can of beans) and then some 16 flights after I changed to the 12 blade inrunner. 6 flights ago, my starboard flap stuck in the down position after landing, for the exact same reason as you had. Fortunately, it was after landing and had to trim some foam off so there would be more room. Luckily it didn't occur in flight and this was the first and last time it happened, so kudos to you for getting it down in one piece, not sure I could have managed that!

Regarding the 12 blade, it definitely transformed the F-18 (and IMO the F-18 handles the extra weight fine-including the extra cockpit weight), but on my 2 F-4's (which also had that 9 blade old outrunner), the difference was even more dramatic. A buddy has the 8S F-4, and we both think it flies the same as my 6S F-4 with the 12 blade, only difference being a little shorter flight time of just under 4 minutes on mine. So I'm now a big believer in the 12 blade inrunner for all 90mm jets on 6S. It did the same thing for my F-16, so I'm now addicted to it! I would have thought that extra weight on the F-16 would have killed it, but just the opposite. So much so that it actually flies better with a 925 g 8000 mah battery than it did with a 790 g RT 5500 mah battery. And getting over 5 minutes of flight time with the 8000 allows me to eventually settle down a bit from always being nervous when it comes time to land.

[The43rdHammer]

Very Cool Stuff, wish mine was the same size and I could fly it half as good, but I'll have to settle for what I can get.

No worries, I seem to remember your most recent video being pretty good, I don't think you've got much to worry about in that regard.

I also seem to remember that you have your F-18 on an 8S set-up, correct (or maybe it was your F-4). I'd love to hear how it flies.

My F-18 is the new stock high performance version (9-blade 6S). If I'm honest I'm not a huge fan (pun absolutely intended) and I think you were right to choose the 12-blade version. I'm having lots of problems with short flight times on that setup (also in my A-10) and its nothing to do with connections or batteries or anything like that. I'm going to put the fans on my test rig when I get a chance, maybe at the weekend to see if I can observe what's going on. Even I can understand Ohm's law!

It's my F-4 that's on the 8S inrunner setup and it's night and day to the 9-blade power system, I completely love it but think the F-18 wouldn't handle the extra weight as well as the Phantom.

I was planning on moving the CG back to 110-114mm as Air G had recommended, but with it so windy, for now left it at 105mm. Hopefully next week it will calm down as I won't get to fly for a while because our club is hosting an IMAC event Thursday thru Sunday.

I'd love to know how you get on with that CG, I had some real issues with my maiden (all ended well) but the Gyro kept forcing the nose down. I think this was my fault as the placement was a compromise and I suspect it's canted at an angle I couldn't immediately see. I will re-calibrate which will solve the issue I'm sure.

One of my flaps also got jammed around 80% deployed against the fuselage (which it wasn't doing on the ground although I knew there wasn't much room between the flap and the fuselage despite my trimming nearly 10mm off both sides). This caused the whole jet to roll crazily after I deployed them, it was all I could do to jam in opposite aileron and rudder to land her.

I actually fly with the Chairman of IMAC here in the UK (Malcolm Green)... small world!

I'm thinking of getting another F-18, leaving it stock but putting the 12 blade inrunner in and flying the snot out of it. Each time I take up the Canadian, I'm seriously tempting fate as sooner or later I always manage to pull some bone head "mishap". And just learned that starting May 15th, MRC is increasing the price on ALL their planes by 10% to cover increased shipping and other costs. My luck they'll get the Mig back in stock on May 16th!

😁😁😁 any snot flying gets my vote! Not surprised by the increase in prices and in all honesty, whatever the issue is with the Mig-29, it'll take money to fix from what I've read on that thread... I don't go to that "other place" any more since I got savaged on it 🪓

Andy

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh Wiedman

Very Cool Stuff, wish mine was the same size and I could fly it half as good, but I'll have to settle for what I can get. Thanks The43rdHammer, love to see these videos of the real thing. Have you been able to get out at all? Seem to remember you and paulrkytek mentioned your area was opening up soon. I also seem to remember that you have your F-18 on an 8S set-up, correct (or maybe it was your F-4). I'd love to hear how it flies.

Anyway, got out again today with the F-18 and a few others. It was a bit windy and gusty, 16-23 mph, but at least right down the runway. Had the field pretty much to myself, never more than 2-3 guys there at any one time. Got in 5 flights on the F-18. I'm loving the 12 blade inrunner. I was planning on moving the CG back to 110-114mm as Air G had recommended, but with it so windy, for now left it at 105mm. Hopefully next week it will calm down as I won't get to fly for a while because our club is hosting an IMAC event Thursday thru Sunday.

I'm thinking of getting another F-18, leaving it stock but putting the 12 blade inrunner in and flying the snot out of it. Each time I take up the Canadian, I'm seriously tempting fate as sooner or later I always manage to pull some bone head "mishap". And just learned that starting May 15th, MRC is increasing the price on ALL their planes by 10% to cover increased shipping and other costs. My luck they'll get the Mig back in stock on May 16th!

[The43rdHammer]

Hugh Wiedman

[Hugh Wiedman]

Legend

Thanks Hugh Will start at 100mm even though I ended up balancing it with the 8s lipo at 88mm all the way back i think i need to put the control pcb under the ply battery plate to get a bit more space to move the 8s battery back to obtain cg at 100mm.

Thanks guys.

Cheers

Had to do the same with my control board, actually stuck it to the fuselage wall so I could get a battery further back. With the 12 blade and the battery all the way back, I was at 100mm, and still flew nose heavy, at least in my opinion. Added an additional 4.5 ounces to the rear so I can now get to 115mm max, or minimum of 102mm using a RT 5500 70C or an HRB 6000 50-100C. Hopefully get it out again this week to see how it flies there.

[Con Papaioannou]

As you know, mine is a 6S but the flight characteristics (relating to balance) should be the same on 8S. I would also suspect that the "power/thrust" characteristics of the 6S 12 blade 4068-1835Kv inrunner I'm using would be similar to the 8S 12 blade 4075-1390Kv inrunner I suspect is in yours but would give you more flight time, but I literally know next to nothing about different fans and their comparisons.

That said, I completely agree with the balance points that Airguardian has laid out for us. I initially flew mine last year balanced at 92mm. It flew very stable and well, but I did feel it was very, very nose heavy but could still get it's nose up on landing. It was especially noticeable when trying to go high alpha in flight and when inverted, having to put a considerable amount of up trim to fly level. Those flights were done with the original 9 blade 1750Kv outrunner and eventually ended balanced at 95mm as that was the furthest aft I could get.

Then this year after upgrading to the 12 blade inrunner and asking for and getting AG's balance set-ups after seeing his tremendous flight videos, I was able to get the CG back to 100mm. This is the balance point I recently flew it at in the video from a couple of days ago. That CG is a decent point to maiden, still a bit nose heavy, but not excessive, and it should be quite stable in the air and will land easily with the nose up. It will high alpha in flight OK, but not great.

Spent some time yesterday "reworking" things and now am able to get a balance point of anywhere from 102mm with battery as far forward as the 3D cockpit will allow (that mod has the cockpit well go deep into the battery bay area blocking the ability to move the battery too far forward-something you don't really need anyway because the cockpit added 180g of nose weight) to 115mm with the battery shoved under the foam (circuit board moved as well). So next flight will be around 107mm and I'll move it back on each subsequent flight until "something bad happens"

To sum it up, maiden at 102mm and move back each flight as you get comfortable. If you have a gyro, the further back you balance, the more "work" that gyro will have to do. If you don't have a gyro, I'm not sure you'll want to go much further back then 110mm.

Legend

Thanks Hugh Will start at 100mm even though I ended up balancing it with the 8s lipo at 88mm all the way back i think i need to put the control pcb under the ply battery plate to get a bit more space to move the 8s battery back to obtain cg at 100mm.

Thanks guys.

Cheers

[Airguardian]

Caution getting further aft of 115mm.

It's still flyable with a gyro, but the plane starts skidding sideways pretty badly.
The vertical stabs are kinda small.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hi Hugh

Thanks for your comments.

so you think the stock book cg is not the best to start you recommend 102 or 110mm.

For maiden on 8s what do you recommend.

Cheers

As you know, mine is a 6S but the flight characteristics (relating to balance) should be the same on 8S. I would also suspect that the "power/thrust" characteristics of the 6S 12 blade 4068-1835Kv inrunner I'm using would be similar to the 8S 12 blade 4075-1390Kv inrunner I suspect is in yours but would give you more flight time, but I literally know next to nothing about different fans and their comparisons.

That said, I completely agree with the balance points that Airguardian has laid out for us. I initially flew mine last year balanced at 92mm. It flew very stable and well, but I did feel it was very, very nose heavy but could still get it's nose up on landing. It was especially noticeable when trying to go high alpha in flight and when inverted, having to put a considerable amount of up trim to fly level. Those flights were done with the original 9 blade 1750Kv outrunner and eventually ended balanced at 95mm as that was the furthest aft I could get.

Then this year after upgrading to the 12 blade inrunner and asking for and getting AG's balance set-ups after seeing his tremendous flight videos, I was able to get the CG back to 100mm. This is the balance point I recently flew it at in the video from a couple of days ago. That CG is a decent point to maiden, still a bit nose heavy, but not excessive, and it should be quite stable in the air and will land easily with the nose up. It will high alpha in flight OK, but not great.

Spent some time yesterday "reworking" things and now am able to get a balance point of anywhere from 102mm with battery as far forward as the 3D cockpit will allow (that mod has the cockpit well go deep into the battery bay area blocking the ability to move the battery too far forward-something you don't really need anyway because the cockpit added 180g of nose weight) to 115mm with the battery shoved under the foam (circuit board moved as well). So next flight will be around 107mm and I'll move it back on each subsequent flight until "something bad happens"

To sum it up, maiden at 102mm and move back each flight as you get comfortable. If you have a gyro, the further back you balance, the more "work" that gyro will have to do. If you don't have a gyro, I'm not sure you'll want to go much further back then 110mm.

[Hugh Wiedman]

OK, I'm extracting my foot from my mouth yet again! I guess it would be fine on a stock bird with keeping it as light in weight as possible and taking off of an asphalt runway. I suspect that my hypothesis was based upon my circumstances of flying off of grass and that I had added a lot of weight in mods resulting in an extra pound (no joke) of weight over the stock F-18.

A member at our club had, or still does but he doesn't fly it anymore, the HH E-Flight 80mm F-18 "Bats" and could not get it to take-off of our grass runway unless we had a 10-15 mph headwind, full flaps and the runway had just been "rolled". I witnessed on many occasions him starting at one end, and rolling almost to the end (1000 feet) of our main runway without ever getting airborne. After several days/weeks of this, he was so frustrated with it that he eventually upgraded the fan to some 80mm FMS fan that was supposed to be the "most powerful' 80mm FMS had. He was able to get it in the air, but it still took at least half the runway and in the air it was certainly less than impressive. I haven't seen him bring it back out in almost a year, so I'll ask him what he did with it. I was a nice looking F-18, just didn't seem like it was enjoyable to fly at all.

[fredmdbud]

Why would anyone want to downgrade to an 80 mm EDF in this bird?

[fredmdbud]

....

[Con Papaioannou]

Aros Thanks for the challenge to take on this livery! It was a fun project. Thanks to Callie for having the patience to make this custom design. I'll have to now work on my piloting skills before get it in the air!

Nice Job Looks Awesome

[Con Papaioannou]

Being out on the field might take a while. It´ s all white and temperature is far from comfortable.
Nevertheless, the outside of my F/A-18 is finished.

A black cockpit would be nice, but I don‘t want to damage it. Perhaps I‘ll buy a spare part for this experiment.

Hi There

Wow thats different nice bet it took you ages to do that scheme.

[Con Papaioannou]

Oh Man, you've now got one badass Hornet! Can't wait to hear how it flies on the 8S JP!!! You've done some great mods! I've been flying mine lately balanced at 102 mm from the book 88 mm point and while flying great, is still a bit nose heavy for me as it will go into high alpha, but could be better. This weekend I'm striving to achieve a point closer to 110 mm while still using a 6000 mah battery (already have the battery as far aft as possible and circuit boards removed) so I'll have to get a little more creative (weight in the rear in some fashion or another). Thanks to our resident fearless and exceptional test pilot Airguardian, I've got a goal to strive for and his advice on the CG is a bull's eye. I may never be able to duplicate his flying, but I can at least try to duplicate his set-up! So I definitely 2nd his assertion that this jet flies so much better balanced further back!

Hi Hugh

Thanks for your comments.

so you think the stock book cg is not the best to start you recommend 102 or 110mm.

For maiden on 8s what do you recommend.

Cheers

[Con Papaioannou]

Why would anyone want to downgrade to an 80 mm EDF in this bird? I never got those in mine (nor did I get a spare hatch), and it was the same base grey version that The43rdHammer also purchased. I went the other way and just upgraded to the 90mm 12 blade inrunner, definitely more thrust than the old outrunner mine originally came with and even more than the newer upgraded "high performance" version with a 90mm 9 blade inrunner. I'd definitely need a catapult to get off our grass if it had an 80 mm in it!

Yeh i wondered as well why any won would put in a 80mm edf,As you can see i got the 80mm hatch with the blue angel version unless they did not supply in the grey version Who knows?


Thanks







Cheers

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hi Mate

They are for the 80mm edf conversion if you use it as you also received a spare edf hatch that is for the 80mm edf.

Cheers

Why would anyone want to downgrade to an 80 mm EDF in this bird? I never got those in mine (nor did I get a spare hatch), and it was the same base grey version that The43rdHammer also purchased. I went the other way and just upgraded to the 90mm 12 blade inrunner, definitely more thrust than the old outrunner mine originally came with and even more than the newer upgraded "high performance" version with a 90mm 9 blade inrunner. I'd definitely need a catapult to get off our grass if it had an 80 mm in it!

[Con Papaioannou]

Thanks chaps, anybody know what the funk these are for:

Hi Mate

They are for the 80mm edf conversion if you use it as you also received a spare edf hatch that is for the 80mm edf.

Cheers

[Airguardian]