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

[Aros]

Yep mine is still showing Wednesday. Come on Hump Day!! LOL

[Alpha]

Keep your repaint photos and early setup/maiden reports coming, guys and gals! Call the tech team for any hiccups along the way, as usual for any purchase. Callie mentioned her F-18 decals sales have been off the charts, so I know there are so many more customized Grays out there. Thanks for supporting her!

I'm taking my VFC-12 out later this week, hopefully with good weather. Just need to finish some finishing touches before our announcement..

[Dannythiessen2@gmail.com]

Is anyone doing dual rates or what are your high and low rates and expos

[thisguy65]

Is anyone doing dual rates or what are your high and low rates and expos

Typically I use low book rates as my high rights for maidens. Expo is personal preference. I've got Elevator on one 3 position switch with high/low book throws and lower rate. Not worried about alieron or rudder really.

[dlink72]

Here are a couple of flights from today. It’s filmed with my iPhone and 10 year old son :) The end result of the day was a snapped nose gear support after landing on one of the many craters in our runway. If you can hug the near side it’s much smoother. Not that I’m making any excuses for my landings!

https://youtu.be/G7KfTNSetH8

https://youtu.be/q7m3NorApOo

[Spinny Testaverde]

Finally finished today!

This looks great! Can't wait to see all the different schemes.

[Evan D]

The corkscrew is not a result of the tailerons. If you roll fast with them off, aileron only, it's there too. It's going to take some aileron differential to get rid of it, or mix some same direction rudder. Most on here will probably not notice it since it really shows at high roll rates.

A heavy lean on the stick is exactly how I would describe landing with full span flaps. It was manageable, but I am probably going to reduce the full flap travel by another couple of millimeters and make sure I carry thrust during landing.

I did notice the corkscrewing during a roll with tailerons. I was talking with rcjetdude earlier about it and we were wondering if there’s any incidence during deflection that is influencing that. I do have the tailerons and full span flaps on a seperate flight mode switch so it’s really not an issue while flying. So far I’m just having fun playing around with it. [/QUOTE]

[Evan D]

You are one of few that post this type of set up.

The book rates work. I bumped up my mid and high elevator rates to end up with 120% on high (100% was the book high rate).

Typically I use low book rates as my high rights for maidens. Expo is personal preference. I've got Elevator on one 3 position switch with high/low book throws and lower rate. Not worried about alieron or rudder really.

[Carlbrainiac]

What happened? Hobby squawk been down all day...

[thisguy65]

You are one of few that post this type of set up.

The book rates work. I bumped up my mid and high elevator rates to end up with 120% on high (100% was the book high rate).

Elevator high rate is 80% @35mm of travel I believe. I just like to have a lot of control for maidens.

[dawjr]

My BA PNP was delivered today - as others have noted, the fan was not plugged into the ESC. I find it best to go over all connections anyway.

The first videos by others shows the nose wheel to be light and susceptible to bouncing - a bad situation when coupled with high landing speeds. My Avanti (on our grass field) can (and has) taken a bad hop if it hits a whoop. Best practice with the Avanti is to bleed off enough speed to flare and allow the mains to touch first - airspeed too high and she'll regain altitude and possibly stall/slam/crash. If you allow the nose gear to touch first, then you're almost guaranteed a pogo event where you'll oscillate between elevator and power to try to recover and settle.

A high approach with full flaps and little throttle allows time to settle in and concentrate on lining up, etc. but you have to be prepared to add in some throttle near the runway to keep from slamming/bouncing/pogo/crash - if you time everything perfectly here, it looks great.

A low approach with (flaps or no) requires higher throttle, airspeed and the resulting ground speed. Even more tricky to bleed off the right amount of speed in order to flare, usually she'll touch down hot, then steering and directional control become much more important.

I've seen guys take the high approach with flaps, then dive for the end of the runway then level out and settle. This works too, but you have to really pay attention on when to level, and of course this adds to ground speed.

My favorite is when the wind is right down the runway, it minimizes ground speed coming or going - but we can't alway's have what we want. Fact is that as field conditions change, we must be prepared to make those last minute decisions for our best landing setup and commit to it.

Almost everyone here is a seasoned EDF pilot- taking off and flying around is typically not a problem. Landing is where we get in trouble. As we get more and more guys flying this new bird , share your thoughts and methods for landing. I don't know about you guys, but landing is one of my favorite parts a bird like this - and most terrifying!

Our hard runway is imminent (OTOW) and I'll most likely wait for it or go to a neighboring club (OFMC).

All the best, Don

[Cutter262]

Recieved the B.A. FA/18 Saturday. Unboxed on Sunday. Zero nicks/dings on visual inspection. As always I go over the a/c like many of us do and so far found a disconnected motor. Keep u posted on pre-assembly inspection....

[janmb]

So, has anyone tried proper control surface config on this bird yet? (full range flaps and tailerons)

[dlink72]

So, has anyone tried proper control surface config on this bird yet? (full range flaps and tailerons)

There are a few of us that have posted already. I have several flights with full span flaps and tailerons. It flies fine. I will admit that the stock configuration is going to be much easier to handle. I’m guessing the guys who test this at motion/freewing settled on what we receive in the box. From what I’ve experienced so far, full span flaps creates a lot of nose down compared to standard flaps. I prefer the looks and the way it settles in with full span flaps, but it definitely requires more work from the pilot.

[Evan D]

So have you read any of the posts in this thread? Sorry, had to since you obviously haven't yet...

Yes to full span flaps and tailerons. Also have rudder air brakes though I haven't tried them in the air yet. Right now I'm trying to get a good axial high speed roll with and without tailerons mixed in. I just programed three different differential rates on a switch to try.

So, has anyone tried proper control surface config on this bird yet? (full range flaps and tailerons)

[janmb]

There are a few of us that have posted already. I have several flights with full span flaps and tailerons. It flies fine. I will admit that the stock configuration is going to be much easier to handle. I’m guessing the guys who test this at motion/freewing settled on what we receive in the box. From what I’ve experienced so far, full span flaps creates a lot of nose down compared to standard flaps. I prefer the looks and the way it settles in with full span flaps, but it definitely requires more work from the pilot.

Sounds good to me :D

For my part, tailerons are 100% given. Full span flaps is tempting too, both for sake of scale, but also since I really like to land draggy setups. Thanks for the heads up on the flap/elevator compensation though - that type of info was exactly why I asked

So have you read any of the posts in this thread? Sorry, had to since you obviously haven't yet...

Yes to full span flaps and tailerons. Also have rudder air brakes though I haven't tried them in the air yet. Right now I'm trying to get a good axial high speed roll with and without tailerons mixed in. I just programed three different differential rates on a switch to try.

Too lazy to catch up on the massive influx of new pages the last few days, sorry :D

[Aros]

Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...

Not that I am anxious or anything. LOL

[Evan D]

You can't do full span ailerons on this plane since they can not deflect upwards. I have them on the F-22 but had to turn them off on the Hornet.

He is correct about added up elevator with full span flaps. Regular flaps for me needed 6% of up elevator with flaps, 3% with half flaps.

Sounds good to me :D

For my part, tailerons are 100% given. Full span flaps is tempting too, both for sake of scale, but also since I really like to land draggy setups. Thanks for the heads up on the flap/elevator compensation though - that type of info was exactly why I asked






Too lazy to catch up on the massive influx of new pages the last few days, sorry :D

[Peteflys]

Finally finished today!

That is just friggin awesome lookin!!!!

[RichJ53]

Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...Two more days...

Not that I am anxious or anything. LOL

Hey Todd
is it 2 more days? LOL

Rich