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

[Aros]

Finally a successful maiden!

Well, minus the nose gear that wouldn’t come down so I had to land in the grass next to the runway. No real damage. Ironically I flew with the gyro off. Even in pretty strong winds she flew fine. I’ll have to see what the problem is with the gear but at least she flew!

[nuts-n-volts]

Remember, these big multi servo jets can lose it pretty easily if the current through all the servos overloads the Rx. Lights, flaps down, retracts, and flight controls all run close together when setting up for landing. This makes the biggest amp draw and that's typically where brown-outs occur. There are quite a few things one can do to mitigate this problem. One of the easiest is to simply use a flight pack to run the Rx instead of the BEC. Batteries give a constant power feed. BECs pulse power. The low points from a BEC is what'll get you if enough stuff is running.

You can also plug in a capacitor into one of the Rx slots. They make 'em. It helps keep extra energy when you need it most. Heavier servo leads/extensions make a difference too. The MiG-29 originally shipped with 3 feet 30ga stock ext going back to the tailerons! That's a huge no no in the electrical world. And, folks wondered why it was dropping out of the sky!

If you have one servo hanging up and drawing a bunch of current from an already over-loaded BEC, it could be enough to dip the voltage to the Rx too low even for a split second, which can stop current from getting to the rest of the system.

[Aros]

Alright, replaced the flap servo. Once again, going to remaiden for the umpteenth time on Sunday. The Flight Gods will do as they may.

Goodspeed to Thee!

[Aros]

[Hugh Wiedman]

The good thing about your Demon F18 :japanese_ogre: is that it seems to be impossible to completely destroy. You seem to be able to resurrect it regardless of how poorly it flies and crashes. Unless you drive a steak through it's heart, you're stuck with it! :smiling_imp:

[Aros]

Aros, you know that might have been the issue all along. If the servo was acting up, the current draw could have been seriously drawing on the whole system giving you a brown out, fades, holds etc. Just something to look at.

Well that could certainly explain why it was banking severely regardless of aileron input if the flap was down during flight which is how it was when I plugged in the battery!

[nuts-n-volts]

Aros, you know that might have been the issue all along. If the servo was acting up, the current draw could have been seriously drawing on the whole system giving you a brown out, fades, holds etc. Just something to look at.

[Elbee]

I kinda think Hugh has a point about locking this one in the closet and I'd toss in some Holy water before ya close the door. OTFL

[Aros]

Ha!

Elbee is going to come after me for not following his voodoo-freeing ceremony to a tee! So this is what I get…

So last weekend I went to remaiden. Plugged in the battery and started on all my preflight checks when suddenly I started to smell that dreaded electrical smell like something was burning. Suddenly I noticed one of the flap servos was smoking. EEEK!!

I immediately unplugged the battery and discovered the Hitec servo started to melt which in turn started to melt the plastic housing.

If any of you weren’t convinced this particular model of mine isn’t cursed, maybe this will persuade you.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Aros you need to post the photo you sent me of your hitec servo after joining up with your "demon" F-18. I've never seen that, but maybe others here with more experience can shed some light on this "thorny" issue! I'm completely out of ideas on that bad boy of yours. I'd keep one eye open when sleeping at night unless you lock it in the garage!

[Aros]

Thanks fellas, appreciate the feedback!

[jetpltrich]

Gents,

Could use some help for a buddy of mine. His words…

“I need the elevator servos for a F-18 I'm working on but there are so many 9g servos on your site I don't know which ones to get. I'll need a standard and reverse servo. Can you ask folks which one of the new better 9g servos I need?”

Ideas? It’s true, we have so many to choose from. Appreciate the help!

I swapped ALL servos in my F-18's to Hitec. For the elevators I'm using Hitec HS-5065MG Ball Bearing Digital Metal Gear Sub-Micro Servo, all the rest are Hitec HS-5065MG Ball Bearing Digital Metal Gear Sub-Micro Servo. You will need the Hitec HFP-30 Digital Servo Programmer and Universal Servo Tester to reverse one of the elevator servos. Now, why did I do that? The flap servos failed on 6th flight and MotionRC basically said F-CAW-F when I requested service about the issue. They said the same thing when I purchased an ECM for the F-18 and the battery lead was WAY too short. They directed me to Amazon to purchase a battery lead extension. Anyway, I am very pleased with the servo upgrades. I have confidence now.

[xviper]

Gents,

Could use some help for a buddy of mine. His words…

“I need the elevator servos for a F-18 I'm working on but there are so many 9g servos on your site I don't know which ones to get. I'll need a standard and reverse servo. Can you ask folks which one of the new better 9g servos I need?”

Ideas? It’s true, we have so many to choose from. Appreciate the help!

The ELE servos on this plane are actually 23g, one “normal” and one “reverse”. To be sure, take one out and see what it says. If you go to the product page at MotionRC, in the “overview” tab, scroll down to “servos”. It actually tells you the catalogue number in the form a link. Just click on the link for left ELE and right ELE and it will take you to that product’s page where you can put it in the cart. Failing that, the ELE servos are the only 23g ones for this plane that has 100mm leads. Unfortunately, they are SOLD OUT at MRC.
There’s still hope. You can get them from RC Castle for the same price but you’ll have to pay for shipping from Hong Kong. They have stock.

https://www.rc-castle.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=12151

https://www.rc-castle.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=12150

[Aros]

Gents,

Could use some help for a buddy of mine. His words…

“I need the elevator servos for a F-18 I'm working on but there are so many 9g servos on your site I don't know which ones to get. I'll need a standard and reverse servo. Can you ask folks which one of the new better 9g servos I need?”

Ideas? It’s true, we have so many to choose from. Appreciate the help!

[Elbee]

Elbee, this is just a post of his to set us up for SPAM! I've reported his SPAM post.

Got it, banned member and deleted Topic.

Thanks again, couldn't do this without y'all.

Best, LB

[xviper]

CB,

Welcome to Hobby Squawk.

Glad to have you onboard, Sir.

Best, LB

Elbee, this is just a post of his to set us up for SPAM! I've reported his SPAM post.

[xviper]

For me, this has been going on about 10 days. At first I thought it was my Cobalt based computer and was considering upgrading to Fortran, but this is the only site with those delays!

That's about the same amount of time for me as well, maybe a bit longer. (Things might go a lot faster for me if my punch card reader didn't jamb so often.)

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh, I believe your double post is part and parcel of the ongoing issue with this site's "mechanics" (IT stuff). A few of us have experienced intermittent security issues and slow (extremely slow at times) response to "Post Reply", Edits and Saves. As such, this may compel some posters to click "post reply" a second time because nothing happens after the first click. I've experienced up to 30 seconds before a reply is posted. Someone else here has reported up to 1 minute. That's a long time to wait for something that usually takes less than a second.

I've definitely experienced those extremely slow post and edits time, so you're probably 100% correct, as usual! For me, this has been going on about 10 days. At first I thought it was my Cobalt based computer and was considering upgrading to Fortran, but this is the only site with those delays! The site takes twice as long to open and respond as before and when posting the "working" label takes forever, so much so that I'll hit "Post Reply", then go off and read a book and come back later! Took 10 seconds just to load more similes here!

[Elbee]

hello everyone..!

CB,

Welcome to Hobby Squawk.

Glad to have you onboard, Sir.

Best, LB

[ConnorBlast]

hello everyone..!