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

[Evan D]

On this plane I still have my retracts and lights going through the MCBe. The only reason is I want the double and triple flash lights and you have to have something to power the lights so I have the retracts.

I don't think the MCBe turns the steering off retracted but I did a mix in my radio to do that.

Thanks, that was the tip I needed: One of the doors was bend slightly so it failed to open. Fixed that.

Thanks as well for the tip regarding the sequencer. I thought I need it to make sure the nose gear is turned off whenever the gear is retracted and turned on when extended.

[Aros]

Nice flight today...Yesterday's flight was massively tail heavy and nearly fatal. By the grace of the Flight Gods I was able to get her out of a crazy spin. Had the Admiral 5100 Carbon in it and I SWEAR I checked the CG right on the mark and it looked good...Somehow I was off and I could tell right from the start. Also, after the flight I checked the lateral stability with my buddy's help and it was waaaaaay leaning to starboard. (Explains why I had to give it a TON of left trim in flight!) We couldn't figure out why. The battery was perfectly centered in the tray, nothing of obvious visual that could explain it. Today I used the RT 5500 70C and the battery was much further forward but I triple checked the CG and it was spot on (like I thought yesterday's check was)...Flight went off without a hitch. Much better!

Anyone else noticing finicky issues with CG and lateral stability? I'm still waiting to reach that stage where she feels totally dialed in. Haven't hit it yet, but I want to love this jet!!

[Quax]

On this plane I still have my retracts and lights going through the MCBe. The only reason is I want the double and triple flash lights and you have to have something to power the lights so I have the retracts.

I don't think the MCBe turns the steering off retracted but I did a mix in my radio to do that.

Oh sorry, my mistake... Forgot the word "light" somehow. I meant, I thought I needed the sequencer to have the nose gear light turned off when the gear is retracted and turned on when extended.

[Evan D]

OH, yes for that. Absolutely.

Oh sorry, my mistake... Forgot the word "light" somehow. I meant, I thought I needed the sequencer to have the nose gear light turned off when the gear is retracted and turned on when extended.

[Quax]

OH, yes for that. Absolutely.

Thanks for confirming that.

I am curious on how this jet performs and cannot wait to get it in the air. I am thinking about scale features like rudder toe-in for pitch up when flaps extended or even toe-out as speed brakes (however, as far as I know only used on the Super Hornet).

[Evan D]

Works on mine! I have fully proportional crow (ailerons up, flaps down) plus inward rudder airbrakes and appropriate pitch compensation and while I don’t use it a lot in flight I use it every landing after touch down.

[John_53_70]

The crashed ones changed my mind Evan.

Do you wanna sell yours

[curlyculp]

There is a TSB (Technical service bulletin). This can be found here: https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc...rs-please-read
Despite what you read about the blue box, we've not seen an issue with it in the F-18. I saw the video posted above and it appears to be a bad receiver/ range check problem. Also noticed the ESC in that video was not initialized so it seems that plane had some issues.
Every "bad" blue box that has been returned has tested good. What we've found is people are hooking things up to the wrong ports or hooking up wires reversed and thinking the blue boxes are bad.
Customers have asked for the sequencer delay to be taken out of the blue box. We'll address that.

How do you "initialize" the ESC? I missed that in the manual.

[fredmdbud]

How do you "initialize" the ESC? I missed that in the manual.

1. Turn on transmitter. Push throttle to full.
2. Connect plane battery. Wait for beep(s).
3. Reduce throttle to zero. Wait for battery beep count.

[curlyculp]

Another OBTW in the product. All the servos are marketed as "metal geared." However, after my crash one of the elevator servos had stripped. So I pulled it apart, and lo and behold, there's a nylon gear in there. Which stripped.

Weak link.

[icepirate3]

Nice flight today...Yesterday's flight was massively tail heavy and nearly fatal. By the grace of the Flight Gods I was able to get her out of a crazy spin. Had the Admiral 5100 Carbon in it and I SWEAR I checked the CG right on the mark and it looked good...Somehow I was off and I could tell right from the start. Also, after the flight I checked the lateral stability with my buddy's help and it was waaaaaay leaning to starboard. (Explains why I had to give it a TON of left trim in flight!) We couldn't figure out why. The battery was perfectly centered in the tray, nothing of obvious visual that could explain it. Today I used the RT 5500 70C and the battery was much further forward but I triple checked the CG and it was spot on (like I thought yesterday's check was)...Flight went off without a hitch. Much better!

Anyone else noticing finicky issues with CG and lateral stability? I'm still waiting to reach that stage where she feels totally dialed in. Haven't hit it yet, but I want to love this jet!!

I have the same lateral CG issue with my F4 that I still can't figure out. I weighed both wings and they are spot on. I also made sure the vertical stab was centered and it measured fine. I know it's not 'correct' but I have just lived with the heavy trim to keep it straight.

[curlyculp]

1. Turn on transmitter. Push throttle to full.
2. Connect plane battery. Wait for beep(s).
3. Reduce throttle to zero. Wait for battery beep count.

OK. Pretty standard. But how in a previous post did someone notice it wasn't initialized from a video or picture?

[curlyculp]

Post crash my motor and ESC look good. Will bench test today. The UBEC got a little dusty in the crash. Will give it a try. I may buy the PNP replacement to save a hundred bucks.

But it begs the question....

What exactly does the UBEC do? I have several electrics and two other EDF's. All have one lead from the ESC to the transmitter that goes in the throttle slot. This one has two, and the UBEC lead- it doesn't matter where it plugs in. In fact, Q&A on MRC's site says you can "Y" harness it into any slot with anything else.

Anyone have any intel on that?

[curlyculp]

I have the same lateral CG issue with my F4 that I still can't figure out. I weighed both wings and they are spot on. I also made sure the vertical stab was centered and it measured fine. I know it's not 'correct' but I have just lived with the heavy trim to keep it straight.

I have several foamies that flight trim with significant aileron. I attribute it to the wing not being perfectly true. In fact, I notice on about all of them that each flight I have to adjust the trim a little.

Keep in mind, the wings generate a lot of lift. A lateral imbalance of weight due to manufacturing issues could be corrected with a TINY amount of aileron. A twisted wing, like I have on my 1400mm FMS Corsair, takes a visible amount of aileron. My 1600mm Spit also takes a bunch. My assumption on having to change it each flight literally is sun, heat, where the airplane sat. Foam is flexible and expands and contracts.

[Evan D]

What Fred said was the calibration of the ESC. I'm positive that Tom meant simply turned on. There are two types of metal gears in our EDFs Curly. The brass output geared ones are labeled hybrid metal servo and have the one nylon gear. The ones with the aluminium output shaft is labeled metal gear servo and has all metal gears.

[Lcacing]

Another OBTW in the product. All the servos are marketed as "metal geared." However, after my crash one of the elevator servos had stripped. So I pulled it apart, and lo and behold, there's a nylon gear in there. Which stripped.

Weak link.

Having a plastic gear in a servo labeled as “metal gear” is perfectly normal.

Here is an explanation.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16622776&postcount=6

[curlyculp]

Having a plastic gear in a servo labeled as “metal gear” is perfectly normal.

Here is an explanation.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...76&postcount=6

Good info. Thanks.

[curlyculp]

Well, the motor/ESC/UBEC bench test fine, so can get away with the ARF for the replacement. The receiver is toast. It was sitting right in front of the battery so got smashed by the battery on impact. I do like the bird and will give it another try. Will definitely bypass the blue box for flight controls though. Too many "stories" out there. And I've never had an airplane just lock up like that.

[crxmanpat]

MRC now lists two types of metal gear servos. One says Hybrid Metal Gear and has a gold drive gear:



The other is a full metal gear and has a silver drive gear:




In the F-22, Freewing used the full metal gear version on the full-flying stabs, but the hybrid version on the F-18. I personally think this was a mistake and the F-18 really needs the full metal gear version. I had a pair of the full metal gear servos left over from a crashed F-22 and put them in my replacement F-18. I have not flown it yet, but I fully expect the full metal gear servos to be up to the task.

[flyAA]

Well, the motor/ESC/UBEC bench test fine, so can get away with the ARF for the replacement. The receiver is toast. It was sitting right in front of the battery so got smashed by the battery on impact. I do like the bird and will give it another try. Will definitely bypass the blue box for flight controls though. Too many "stories" out there. And I've never had an airplane just lock up like that.

Someone on RC groups did an extensive test of the blue box. Something like 3400 cycles with 3 different receivers. His conclusion was that there is nothing wrong with the blue box.