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

[Swissalpsflyer]

As soon as my flyingfield opens again this beautiful bird will have a maiden flight😁 (It is the livery of the lead plane of the fightersquadron 11 of the swiss airforce)

[Jets and Wings]

Swissalpsflyer hello and welcome to HobbySquawk, also waiting for openeing of the flyingfields again here. Unfortunatly your pictures are not uploaded!?

[Waconut]

Hugh,
I have found that even using the low tack blue painters tape will sometimes lift the factory paint even when I put the tape against my pants or shirt first to reduce the tackiness of the tape.
My wife purchased a roll of ORAMASK 813 vinyl mask for her vinyl cutter and it is very low tack. I used about 65 1/2” strips when applying the rivets to my F-4 and did not lift any paint. I will be cutting strips from now on to use as masking tape. You can order a 12” x 10 yd roll for $16.

Hope this helps and don’t give up on the paint job
Later!!
Anthony

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh,
I have found that even using the low tack blue painters tape will sometimes lift the factory paint even when I put the tape against my pants or shirt first to reduce the tackiness of the tape.
My wife purchased a roll of ORAMASK 813 vinyl mask for her vinyl cutter and it is very low tack. I used about 65 1/2” strips when applying the rivets to my F-4 and did not lift any paint. I will be cutting strips from now on to use as masking tape. You can order a 12” x 10 yd roll for $16.

Hope this helps and don’t give up on the paint job
Later!!
Anthony

Anthony, thanks for the advice. I'm just removing the masking tape now on my F-18. Doing the Canadian theme and had to use TONS of masking tape. 1/2 done and so far, no lifting, however, on the areas that I needed to mask for different color areas, I first put 2 coats of spar urethane clear water based gloss coating. So far the tape (using the purple "delicate surfaces" tape and some Tamiya trim tape) has come off the wings/rudders/elevator surfaces with no lifting. I'll get at the fuselage shortly, but have found in the past that if you first coat the factory paint, or even raw foam areas with a spar urethane (or other similar product), the tape comes off much easier with "usually" no lifting if you pull at a 180 degree angle. On one occasion with another plane, it did lift, but took a large section as the urethane and paint all came off. Hopefully I'll be OK on the fuselage.

Good luck, can't wait to see your finished product.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Waconut OH MAN, Today is my lucky day!!! Just got all the trim tape off of everything and absolutely no peeling of the underlying paint (except 2 small places inside the air intake that I did not coat with the spar urethane). I now definitely recommend that you put a couple of coats of the spar urethane (or similar product) over the factory gray before masking for any re-paint. I've done it a couple times before and it worked out, but this time I did every area that I had to mask. The Tamiya trim tape gave super sharp lines and then over that put the HD purple "delicate surface" tape for bigger areas, although it was stuck extremely tightly to the surfaces so not sure how delicate it is. The Tamiya tape virtually falls off, so it has very low adhesion, but I'm sure if I didn't urethane it first, I'd have had a major disaster with the other tape. I had to completely cover the gray underside of the wings/elevators/fuselage, and do a white line down the lower side over the gray and then a red line and balance of the top in red, so I spent several hours masking and was definitely worried about taking it off, but ultimately a success.

If I'm not mistaken, I think I remember xviper posting somewhere that he uses the urethane as a primer. Well it worked much better than a paint primer. If you have time to do it, I highly recommend it because it will save you a ton of time later in trying to cover over the areas where the paint may peel.

[Waconut]

Hugh Wiedman ,
Congrats I am sure that is a big relief. I also bought some of that purple tape while working on my F-86 and found that it is not delicate at all, it sticks tighter than the normal blue tape. I only use it for masking canopies now.

[Elbee]

Waconut OH MAN, Today is my lucky day!!! Just got all the trim tape off of everything and absolutely no peeling of the underlying paint (except 2 small places inside the air intake that I did not coat with the spar urethane). I now definitely recommend that you put a couple of coats of the spar urethane (or similar product) over the factory gray before masking for any re-paint. I've done it a couple times before and it worked out, but this time I did every area that I had to mask. The Tamiya trim tape gave super sharp lines and then over that put the HD purple "delicate surface" tape for bigger areas, although it was stuck extremely tightly to the surfaces so not sure how delicate it is. The Tamiya tape virtually falls off, so it has very low adhesion, but I'm sure if I didn't urethane it first, I'd have had a major disaster with the other tape. I had to completely cover the gray underside of the wings/elevators/fuselage, and do a white line down the lower side over the gray and then a red line and balance of the top in red, so I spent several hours masking and was definitely worried about taking it off, but ultimately a success.

If I'm not mistaken, I think I remember xviper posting somewhere that he uses the urethane as a primer. Well it worked much better than a paint primer. If you have time to do it, I highly recommend it because it will save you a ton of time later in trying to cover over the areas where the paint may peel.

Hugh, Congrats for sure!!! You know you're going to flying your F-18C before I even get to cycling my gear door mod. Happy all is well so far. Post more pix as you are able. Best, LB

[Bajora]

FINALLY saw one of these in person today! She's quite speedy and overall I was very impressed! My clubmate M. Troy went with a custom scheme on his.

[Swissalpsflyer]

Jets and Wings Thank you hopefully this time it uploads the picture😅

[Swissalpsflyer]

[Waconut]

Hi guys,
My F-18 is due to arrive Friday, I also ordered a gyro, graphics from Callie and a lightburner.com dual light. Is there anything I need to upgrade or watch out for for performance or reliability?

I don’t plan on any major mods, I will give the plane a light sanding and a couple light coats of gray paint and rivet details.

Thanks!!
Anthony

[BomberPearce]

Has anyone experienced problems with the stock Freewing 130A ESC? I received my FA18 from Raymond at RC in Hong Kong.
I purchased this FA18 in late October and was extremely happy with the detail and quality of the build. The scale elements are fantastic and the jet looks terrific.
Since receiving the delivery in November I have not touched the control services and have been spending my time on detailing. This has taken over 3 months and I’m really pleased with the result. I believe it does justice the the RAAF legacy hornet. Photos to follow.
Unfortunately after detailing I bound the receiver and plugged in the battery, however the ESC did not respond. After much head scratching I replaced the FREEWING 130A esc with a Castle ESC from another aircraft. It worked fine. I then tried another esc, a Turnigy from another aircraft and that worked fine.
Clearly the Freewing ESC arrived faulty. I have spoken to Raymond and sent back the ESC. I will update Interested potential customers with how Freewing respond to this issue.

[Evan D]

There was a bulletin about the horizontal stab mounting blocks and checking them. I was one of the original batch before the bulletin and found the bearings in the bearing block were loose and glued them in with a thin film of the white tube glue included in the kit. By the time the bulletin came out I had a few dozen flights on mine on a JF/ HET 8S set up. I did pull the covers and checked the blocks and they seemed fine. I now have about 120 flights on it and no issues. The only issue I've had is the main struts hanging up on the fuse when retracted. I added some toe in and beveled the wheel weel lip and it's been trouble free for me.

Hi guys,
My F-18 is due to arrive Friday, I also ordered a gyro, graphics from Callie and a lightburner.com dual light. Is there anything I need to upgrade or watch out for for performance or reliability?

I don’t plan on any major mods, I will give the plane a light sanding and a couple light coats of gray paint and rivet details.

Thanks!!
Anthony

[Evan D]

This ESC has been put in thousands of planes with out issue. Did you connect the BEC properly? It's a separate connection.

Has anyone experienced problems with the stock Freewing 130A ESC? I received my FA18 from Raymond at RC in Hong Kong.
I purchased this FA18 in late October and was extremely happy with the detail and quality of the build. The scale elements are fantastic and the jet looks terrific.
Since receiving the delivery in November I have not touched the control services and have been spending my time on detailing. This has taken over 3 months and I’m really pleased with the result. I believe it does justice the the RAAF legacy hornet. Photos to follow.
Unfortunately after detailing I bound the receiver and plugged in the battery, however the ESC did not respond. After much head scratching I replaced the FREEWING 130A esc with a Castle ESC from another aircraft. It worked fine. I then tried another esc, a Turnigy from another aircraft and that worked fine.
Clearly the Freewing ESC arrived faulty. I have spoken to Raymond and sent back the ESC. I will update Interested potential customers with how Freewing respond to this issue.

[Jets and Wings]

Jets and Wings Thank you hopefully this time it uploads the picture😅

Looking good, like the Tigers on the rudders. Have fun flying her...

[Dustman]

I found these on the web. They are the doors to the E-Flite F-18. The small doors are 2 1/2" and the main door is 4 1/2" long. You think these will work.? I'm still waiting for your mod though LB. I'm anal and a visual person and looking forward to the pic's you provide on your door mod.

[Elbee]

I found these on the web. They are the doors to the E-Flite F-18. The small doors are 2 1/2" and the main door is 4 1/2" long. You think these will work.? I'm still waiting for your mod though LB. I'm anal and a visual person and looking forward to the pic's you provide on your door mod.

DM, I am still waiting as well. My snag is the closure. In my world, trial and error is king, so right now it's been more error than success, though I am close. As for the E-Flite parts, don't know about fit. The opening of the Freewing is >8" long seam to seam if you include the molded in seat for the doors. In terms of the just the opening itself, 7" might work. Using the OEM Freewing parts is the simple part thus far, just some cutting and gluing. Actuating the 2 forward wheel doors has been my hangup as I would like to do that without using servos and there's not much extra space being this is a foamy and the wall thicknesses are great. In hindsight servos might have been easier and is still an option. Rest assured I will post something when there is something to post. Best, LB

[Elbee]

Hey Gang, No new news with the exception I abandoned the 'no servo' idea for the "NG' actuation. Could not find a solution that was accurate enough or consistant enough to suit. So with that in mind, I've been watching submarine vids by Bob Martin of Nautilus Drydocks because RCjetdude mentioned him in his forum of his 3DP build of the French Resolute (sp) submarine. Bob Martin reinvented a way to convert the 'rotational movement' of a standard servo to a 'linear movement' that keeps seals from distorting for his subs. I needed 'linear movement' so I've been fiddling with a design for the Futaba 3108 micro servo and finally after many failures, I got it right. All that written, I can actuate the NG doors though at the cost of one servo for each door. Hey, I tried not to use servos and this one escaped me. The design is specific to this servo pretty much. I will post the STL if you guys want but my guess is everyone will find a differing way to do this. I am getting 5/16" travel with zero servo buzz. Amazing to me. So big thanks to Bob Martin and to whomever he knows that designed this originally and of course to RCJD for building his sub and posting such great intel. More when appropriate. Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey Gang, No new news with the exception I abandoned the 'no servo' idea for the "NG' actuation. Could not find a solution that was accurate enough or consistant enough to suit. So with that in mind, I've been watching submarine vids by Bob Martin of Nautilus Drydocks because RCjetdude mentioned him in his forum of his 3DP build of the French Resolute (sp) submarine. Bob Martin reinvented a way to convert the 'rotational movement' of a standard servo to a 'linear movement' that keeps seals from distorting for his subs. I needed 'linear movement' so I've been fiddling with a design for the Futaba 3108 micro servo and finally after many failures, I got it right. All that written, I can actuate the NG doors though at the cost of one servo for each door. Hey, I tried not to use servos and this one escaped me. The design is specific to this servo pretty much. I will post the STL if you guys want but my guess is everyone will find a differing way to do this. I am getting 5/16" travel with zero servo buzz. Amazing to me. So big thanks to Bob Martin and to whomever he knows that designed this originally and of course to RCJD for building his sub and posting such great intel. More when appropriate. Best, LB

Wish Alpha would consult with you before they finish designing a model! Truly ingenious!

[Elbee]

Can't take any credit for the design, only for the mod to fit the Futabla 3801. The concept can be adapted to any servo and built with other materials. I only wish I'd run across this when I was adding the "Tail Hook" Mod to my Phantom.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Finally finished the painting and applying graphics, not sure which was more difficult, the painting or the graphics. Callie's graphics were spot on, but man, even applying them using the "wet" method was difficult, given the size of the maple leafs and the completely uneven and interrupted surfaces thay had to cover. Had to get my CO involved to help, she doesn't get as impatient and frustrated as I do and definitely has the "designer taste" in this family. Still, took both of us about 8-9 hours to get them all on, but finally got it done about the best we could have. Just started the final coating of the gloss Spar Urethane which will take several days, then I'll post some photos of the finished product.

In the meantime, got some additional great advice from Brinka on a couple things to modify/change. He suggested that I "beef up" the nose gear angled strut (not sure what you call it) with a 3 mm carbon tube in the slot, as that strut sometimes takes some stress in a hard landing (boy, does he know how I fly) and can snap in half. Additionally, he said to be careful with the nose piece, that if the jet tips on landing, it sometimes sticks in the ground nose first and the nose section does not come loose, but instead bends the entire front fuselage. So we came up with a thought to cut back the wood tongue that sticks way in and secures the nose even in a hurricane. So I cut it back by about 15 mm (leaving 10 mm going in) which still secures the nose sufficiently and I hope allows it to pop off if need be. I was thinking of cutting it back completely and adding additional earth magnets, but I'm going to give this a try first. Anyone have any thoughts?

Since I fly mostly on grass I was also going to cut the nose gear spring a bit as some have said it "bounces" too much on grass causing early lift-off, but decided to wait as I'm planning on having my friend "EDF Jet Master" Brinka maiden this thing at the club I used to fly at that has an asphalt runway.