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

[Dr8820]

Any idea when the PNP will be back in stock?
d9

They’re back in stock, I purchased 7 Blue Angels to make the entire fleet

[Elbee]

Airguardian,

Great rebuild, Sir.

I have used the foam-safe before, but not on this scale.

Good to know you're happy with the results on structure strength.

She is one beautiful Hornet, congrats.

Best, LB

[Airguardian]

Finally repaired my F-18! :DDD

About three years ago, I badly crashed my Freewing 6S F-18 Hornet scale fighter jet. Last thursday, the EF-18A took off to the skies once more!

The main reason it took me so long to get her back from the ashes is because I wasn't satisfied with the performance of the glues I had tested out on EPO so far. Consider that I had put 2 weeks worth of work in the paint job, so I didn't want to rush the repairs until I felt confident enough that the results would be good. When I repaired my split-in-two Eurofighter from a different crash earlier this year, I learnt that foam safe cyano actually works wonders on EPO, and it helps fix parts very fast when using an activator spray, so that gave me the confidence to get the work started... but then I was out of cyano for a while, because I didn't want to pay for the shipping costs to order just a few glue bottles from Motion... so I waited until I had to buy something more from them to make out the threshold for free shipping!

That happened just this month, so I finally got my cyanoacrylate glue and quickly got the repair job started. It still took me 4 full evenings to pull the whole jet back together. The nose was bent from compressed foam and I also had to use a heat gun on strategic pinpoint locations to get the model straightened out. The nose gear was ripped off and its pin shorn off. One of the main retracts was totally destroyed from the impact, one taileron had the ball link broken and the other had detached entirely from the airframe. Many cosmetic pieces were torn off... So you see, it was quite a lot of work, but I managed to pull it off, And now I'm so hyped to have my gorgeous F-18 back!!! :DDDD

Now that the jet flies again, I'll fix the paint and may consider upgrading to Jeti gear. ^^

The crash was a result of pilot error. First, the EDF was affected by FOD so I lacked thrust on take off, which made me accelerate too slow and I run straight into the sun. As I noticed what was happening I panicked and tried to turn away from it only to stall the jet and have it point back AT the sun. The second attempt to turn left was carried out while completely blinded by the sun, and the outcome was the exact same as the first attempt, except now I couldn't control the exit due to lack of direct line of sight so the stall developed into a spin and the jet turned around 180º and dived straight at the ground.

I said she'd fly again, and now that promise has been fulfilled, even if it took me quite a while to get there! :p

[Elbee]

Aros,

[Evan D]

Another one????

[Aros]

And so she ends like she began.

[Evan D]

Maybe call their customer service?

[d9inger]

Any idea when the PNP will be back in stock?
d9

[Aros]

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! I would've bet the farm that wouldn't work, although I don't have the farm anymore after other losing bets!

Next time go for full gyro, turn that knob and marvel at how stable it is. My fortune telling side sees an ARF in your future! Would be nice to take off and land without eventually tearing your rotator cuff.
Now see if you can hand launch it in a hover!

Torn rotator cuff indeed! Definitely would prefer someone else tossing her for me that’s for sure. I will definitely increase the gyro gain next time for sure. I suspect I was probably around 1/3 of where the sweet spot is.

I too suspect the ARF PLUS in my future regardless. I setup the notification to let me know when they arrive (I hear sometime in November). I just gotta have her in full glory mode.

For varying reasons I now have three belly landers: Freewing 70mm F-16, FlightLine B-25 and this model. Strange but true!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Went to my club on my lunch break to give it a go. I had every reason to believe it would leave my hands to a unceremonious wing rock into a glorious stall and crash in pieces a few feet away.

Instead, with a little effort to hold on for dear life once I hit full throttle, I gave it a firm, slightly nose high toss and off she went, wings level and perfect!

Flight was great! I added in a little gyro but being on a knob I wasn't sure how much
I was quite pleased! PLENTY of stock power for a hand toss with gear removed.
Glad to be the guinea pig!

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! I would've bet the farm that wouldn't work, although I don't have the farm anymore after other losing bets!

Next time go for full gyro, turn that knob and marvel at how stable it is. My fortune telling side sees an ARF in your future! Would be nice to take off and land without eventually tearing your rotator cuff.
Now see if you can hand launch it in a hover!

[xviper]

Great news!
Glue a plastic (painted same color as the plane's belly) hand hold where it's comfy to grab and toss.

[Aros]

Aros,

Maybe the weight loss was the key.

Don't know how much all the landing gear weighs or how that affects C-o-G.

Seems like that is the only variable you changed.

Inquisitively, LB

I think those two crashes will remain a mystery. I did notice I had to move my Admiral 6000 pack plenty far forward to meet the CG sans gear. Those dual yellow lines on the side flaring by the canopy are the perfect CG marking location.

Perhaps the Flight Gods are sleeping and didn't notice my presumptuousness, tempting fate once again! MOOOHAHAHAHA

[Elbee]

Aros,

Maybe the weight loss was the key.

Don't know how much all the landing gear weighs or how that affects C-o-G.

Seems like that is the only variable you changed.

Inquisitively, LB

[Aros]

Went to my club on my lunch break to give it a go. I had every reason to believe it would leave my hands to a unceremonious wing rock into a glorious stall and crash in pieces a few feet away.

Instead, with a little effort to hold on for dear life once I hit full throttle, I gave it a firm, slightly nose high toss and off she went, wings level and perfect!

Flight was great! I added in a little gyro but being on a knob I wasn't sure how much gyro gain I was inputting. I didn't notice a difference. Dropped power to idle on approach, gave her a little throttle right before flare and she came down on the grass nice and soft. I didn't recognize her without broken pieces on the ground, lol!

I will need to see if I can figure out a hand hold that is a bit more forward as with that battery weight she really wants to tilt downward once I apply full power. A grip line a few inches forward would go a long way to help mitigate that.

I was quite pleased! PLENTY of stock power for a hand toss with gear removed.

Glad to be the guinea pig!

[Evan D]

The F/A-18C loses about 25% of it's thrust when the fan is installed. The original fan was 4.2kg uninstalled and 3.2kg installed from posted tests. I've always had he Jetfan/ HET 1680kV in mine and it has better than 1:1 but it's a hot 8S set up.

[xviper]

Just doing a few quick searches, I see that the stock F/A-18 has an empty weight of 2640g. If your plane has the 6S 3668-1960Kv Brushless Inrunner Motor and 12-blade fan, the static thrust is about 4200g. Even if you put in an 800g battery, it's still only weighs 3440g. Bone stock, it should be able to lift off vertically out of your hand. This is easily tested without actually letting go while holding it by the nose. You say you've got the retracts out, so that removes more weight. The problem is that you can't really take off vertically because this would require vector thrust to help it go horizontal.
My old SebArt MiG29 was also such a plane but being at an altitude of 3200', I couldn't be sure it had enough thrust to take off vertically, so I took one of those long lunch room tables and left the legs at one end folded. That gave me a smooth slippery ramp that was set at about 30 degrees. I put the MiG at the bottom of the table and just "gave her". To my surprise, it took off with only a minor dip. To be more sure about your plane's weight, you should weigh it in its flying condition. Might be a fun trial.

[Aros]

Might be a good candidate for a launch dolly or a bungie launcher. I'd throw my shoulder out pitching something like that. However, we may surprised as today's EDFs have so much more thrust than those of only a few years ago.

That’s my thinking too. Perhaps these latest gen stock power systems could surprise. But just testing holding the bottom with the battery in has me rethinking these shenanigans.

There’s almost zero chance my hand launching with one hand and my radio in the other would not end up in a scenario like Hugh described. Maybe, just maybe with someone else giving it a good slight nose up level toss at WOT with two hands (and takeoff flaps) it might have a fighting chance.

Stay tuned…

Either way I see an ARF PLUS in my future.

[xviper]

Might be a good candidate for a launch dolly or a bungie launcher. I'd throw my shoulder out pitching something like that. However, we may surprised as today's EDFs have so much more thrust than those of only a few years ago.

[Aros]

I wish you much luck. I recall some 10 - 12 years ago, there was a Starmax 90mm F-18 in the tiger theme. It was stripped down - no retracts, small battery, very light. It was only ever hand thrown - ONCE!

Yeah I'm not holding out for much hope. I may give it a try and just yank the guts out and grab an ARF PLUS.

[xviper]

Well I'm pot committed now! I was going to have someone at my club hand toss it for me. Flaps down, see what happens. Worst case, another Classic Aros Crash Video!

I wish you much luck. I recall some 10 - 12 years ago, there was a Starmax 90mm F-18 in the tiger theme. It was stripped down - no retracts, small battery, very light. It was only ever hand thrown - ONCE!