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

[Jetman64]

I just wanted to say, because I’ve had issues with jets before ( it’s inherent with this hobby) from MRC, they will still be my #1 source for my RC needs. If they carried all the brands I like, they’d have all my business. As it stands now, 29 of 36 planes are from MRC. When are we going to get a A-7ll or F-105 in the 80/90mm EDF, I’d buy 2 of each and don’t forget the F-35 in 90mm? Keep up the great job MRC...

[Aros]

Jetman64 I think we would all like to hear what issues you have with yours, certainly not as a pile on syndrome but as a form of reference for those who have similar issues. These threads aren't just to ooh and aah a new release but to also be frank and honest about any potential issues that need to be looked at whether it's simply talking to our CS team and rectifying the issue one-on-one or something that ends up being an issue we and Freewing need to fix/change/improve. At the end of the day, if we all aren't 100% satisfied with a model we pay our hard earned money for, what's the point? As an employee and fellow RC pilot nut, I can assure you our top priority is producing and releasing models we can all stand behind and be proud of.

Pat, you're right, the shield is the same on both sides of the 1:1 so I am not clear why their sheet shows the dark on the port and white on the starboard.

[thisguy65]

I open the nose retract to see if it was hung up on limit switch or something. Motor is dead, voltage read 5v going to the motor and nothing coming out.

I will say I love the fact there is a bearing on the end of the lead screw for the retract, first time I've seen that.

[Jetman64]

Arose,

Here is what’s going on with my F-18: when I connect the aileron too the BB, the green LED comes on and when I plug the elevator in, the red LED comes on and no servo movement at all. The rudder plugged in, causes the elevator to move and so on. Like others, I had to remove EDF to plug it into the ESC. The left elevator servo connector that you plug the elevator into, was not where it was suppose to be. It was caught up in the servo tunnel with all the others cables and getting it out took 3 plus hours and damage too the fuselage. By getting the elevator servo connector in the right place, the landing gear cable came out and that was another $!;(&!) pain to fix. I’m calling this bird the Big Turd of the batch. I don’t mind little things to deal with, it comes with the hobby. But this bird has been a real &);?&$’ !;,&@!) NIGHTMARE! I’ve been in aviation (Aerospace Engineer) for over 34 years and have seen many things, but this bird should have NEVER BEEN SHIPPED, PERIOD!
another issue was the flap servos, they move at different speeds. That’s not a real big deal, can replace them. But MRC wants to know if I want to return the jet and I’ve never returned one before. But getting another right now will not fix this, I don’t think. You tell me what you think of all this Arose.

[Jetman64]

I also think repairs for this bird were not considered, when it was designed. How in gods name are you supposed to replace servo leads if needed? Getty them through those tunnels is NUTS!!!!

[thisguy65]

Sorry to hear, Jetman. Would wire used to run leads in planes like the A-10 or L-39 work, or is the wire not flexible enough?

[Quax]

Jetman64 Just an idea (not having my jet here): It happened to me on the F35 V2 that a servo on its own moved nicely but together with another one on a y cable both did not work. Reason for that was a switched + and signal wire on the second servo cable. You descriptions remind me of that... Maybe it's a different issue here but maybe it's worth a try?

[xviper]

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you have to replace a servo, before you yank out the servo and the wires with it, tie a string around the plug at the end and pull it through the “tunnel”. Then untie it from the old servo, tie it to the new servo and pull the lead back through the tunnel. Should be easy enough to do it in the fuse. As for the wing, same thing. Unscrew the wing board to get at the two plugs.
The way the servo leads are run on this plane should be easy. Try doing it for a servo on the wing of the P-38. That would entail disassembling the engine nacelles and lifting up glued stuff. I know you asked for god, or at least in his name, but really, the answer was not that Devine.

[thisguy65]

The servos on the elevator have a 6” lead and then a 24” extension. I pulled my plane back a part to take and then took the elevator covers off to see non-sense about play in the linkage (on RC group thread). Which was just tolerance stack up from the ball - to clevis and servo arm.

[apmech1]

Arose,

Here is what’s going on with my F-18: when I connect the aileron too the BB, the green LED comes on and when I plug the elevator in, the red LED comes on and no servo movement at all. The rudder plugged in, causes the elevator to move and so on. Like others, I had to remove EDF to plug it into the ESC. The left elevator servo connector that you plug the elevator into, was not where it was suppose to be. It was caught up in the servo tunnel with all the others cables and getting it out took 3 plus hours and damage too the fuselage. By getting the elevator servo connector in the right place, the landing gear cable came out and that was another $!;(&!) pain to fix. I’m calling this bird the Big Turd of the batch. I don’t mind little things to deal with, it comes with the hobby. But this bird has been a real &);?&$’ !;,&@!) NIGHTMARE! I’ve been in aviation (Aerospace Engineer) for over 34 years and have seen many things, but this bird should have NEVER BEEN SHIPPED, PERIOD!
another issue was the flap servos, they move at different speeds. That’s not a real big deal, can replace them. But MRC wants to know if I want to return the jet and I’ve never returned one before. But getting another right now will not fix this, I don’t think. You tell me what you think of all this Arose.

I had some of the same issues you are having. As far as running wires. It is a royal PITA!
i used the long metal hook fish wires that come with the F-4 & A-4. I insert it into the elevator side. Verify you see it in the rudder access hole, flip the plane over and verify you see it in the retract access whole. Push it until you see it in the wing multi connector hole. Do not push it farther because this thing will pop through the stepped aerodynamic bypass hole a bunch of times.Get a scredriver with a powerful magnet to push the fish wire towards the center of the fuselage and push it through. You should now see it from the battery compartment. This plane is not made for ease of maintenance. I wish the battery cover /canopy would have gone back at least 6 more inches. Like the F-22 canopy. Would have made a world of difference with this model.

[Jetman64]

I had some of the same issues you are having. As far as running wires. It is a royal PITA!
i used the long metal hook fish wires that come with the F-4 & A-4. I insert it into the elevator side. Verify you see it in the rudder access hole, flip the plane over and verify you see it in the retract access whole. Push it until you see it in the wing multi connector hole. Do not push it farther because this thing will pop through the stepped aerodynamic bypass hole a bunch of times.Get a scredriver with a powerful magnet to push the fish wire towards the center of the fuselage and push it through. You should now see it from the battery compartment. This plane is not made for ease of maintenance. I wish the battery cover /canopy would have gone back at least 6 more inches. Like the F-22 canopy. Would have made a world of difference with this model.

I did those exact things minus the magnet, but I managed to only put two holes in the bypass.
Xviper, you first must have a cable to tie a string to, I didn’t have it and there in lies the problem. I was told by MRC that this elevator servo lead problem I had, has happened to a couple others also. Why don’t you give it a try on your and let us know how you did? I know a lot of you have tons of experience as I do, but some things no one should have to deal with in a BRAND NEW JET/AIRPLANE or any new product for that matter.

[Jetman64]

Jetman64 Just an idea (not having my jet here): It happened to me on the F35 V2 that a servo on its own moved nicely but together with another one on a y cable both did not work. Reason for that was a switched + and signal wire on the second servo cable. You descriptions remind me of that... Maybe it's a different issue here but maybe it's worth a try?

As far as I’m concerned, the BB is the cause of the servo/light problem, I removed them and tested them with a y connector on a separate BEC and BINGO!

[Jetman64]

Sorry to hear, Jetman. Would wire used to run leads in planes like the A-10 or L-39 work, or is the wire not flexible enough?

It’s not the servo cables, it’s the tunnels they run through. They twist and turn from front to back and using the wire feeders from other jets, will only get so far before they start ripping holes in the foam.

[Jetman64]

It’s not the servo cables, it’s the tunnels they run through. They twist and turn from front to back and using the wire feeders from other jets, will only get so far before they start ripping holes in the foam.

On top of that, they put servo plug connectors on all three servos that run through there and that leaves no room to run anything.

[thisguy65]

On top of that, they put servo plug connectors on all three servos that run through there and that leaves no room to run anything.

I need to get 4 extentions for my wins and a landing gear servo and she will be back together. MRC wil take care of you.

[Wolfgang Wagner]

I would love to got to all sbus2 servos. My telemetry would send back servo positions. Right now it just logs where my sticks are positioned, gps speed, altitude, distance, vertical speed, position, current draw, main batt voltage, cumulative consumed mah, and receiver voltage at each data logging. point. It logs data every 100 ms. So it's close to a black box.

I just need to install potentiometers on all controll surfaces, 3 axis accelerometer, 3 axis gyro, aoa transducer, pitot static air data computer and try to figure out how to send all that data via telemetry.;)

Sounds great , so finally we hand over all our data to NTSB to get a proper flight safety report including some recommendations for the Future. 🤣

[apmech1]

I did those exact things minus the magnet, but I managed to only put two holes in the bypass.
Xviper, you first must have a cable to tie a string to, I didn’t have it and there in lies the problem. I was told by MRC that this elevator servo lead problem I had, has happened to a couple others also. Why don’t you give it a try on your and let us know how you did? I know a lot of you have tons of experience as I do, but some things no one should have to deal with in a BRAND NEW JET/AIRPLANE or any new product for that matter.

I had to srep away multiple times because I wanted to rip the model in half. My wife said if you crash it, you can get a new one. If you destroy it out of frustation.... not so much...

[janmb]

The ubec on the F18 to power your RX outputs only 4.5v. If you look at the specs on the admiral 600 Rx minimum operating voltage is 4.5..... that is probably your problem. The voltage probably dropped below and caused a temporary brownout. While I was doing my bench testing I was noticing the light on my Rx flash once in a while.... calling motionrc tomorrow, but I am sure that is a problem if you want to use that Rx. Normally Receivers operate at a minimum voltage like 3.5v or so... the admiral 600 requires minimum 4.5...

This is probably an artifact inherited from Spektrum brand RXes. The earlier generations of original Spektrum also had ridiculously high low volt cutoff, including a terribly long reboot time of about 3 seconds. Never fly stuff like that on less than 5v rx power, and preferably use a capacitor as well.

Personally I would never dream of using a Spektrum radio system without satellites on any full range model, but that's another topic I guess.

[Jetman64]

I had to srep away multiple times because I wanted to rip the model in half. My wife said if you crash it, you can get a new one. If you destroy it out of frustation.... not so much...

LOL... I had those exact feelings myself. Although I wanted to lite it on fire n take off n slam it into the ground!!!

[janmb]

There is a difference, use a caliper and the side with the dots is smaller than the other. I install with dot side out...

I would advise the exact opposite. In the degree there is any difference at all, the link needs to go on the "hardest" way, not the easiest. If the link should ever get off the ball, you want it to fail toward the inside, not let go entirely.

Better yet, put it on any way you like and secure with a small washer.