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

[Airguardian]

I have gotten away quiet light in reality a few battle scares. I've decided these flap servos have to go! Can someone recommend a sensibly priced replacement.

Corona DS-939MG
I had these little 12.5g servos running massive flaps on a 4m bird... they should be fine on the Hornet IMO, lol.

I have had bad experiences with Hitec servos, not a fan.

FWIW, I think you can find the Coronas also on Aliexpress and maybe Banggood.

[Necroscope]

So those Corona are essentially the same spec as the Freewing 17g servo from the F22 and will drop fit?

[Aros]

I see that folks are in the 90-100mm CG range which makes my maiden even more inexplicable. That would mean the 88mm I thought I was at would have been more nose heavy not the tail heavy I thought. I have replacement stabs and canopy arriving soon so I will re-examine the CG, move it into the 90-95mm range and see what happens. I really did like the power upgrade as it was noticeable even if I spent most the flight just trying to trim her out and get her where I wanted. Looking forward to the second sortie. Thanks for the input fellas.

[Airguardian]

New video (without music this time)!

These flights show what the F-18 is capable of when setup apropriately. :)
And I am more in the 110-120mm CG range, btw (using a Guardian gyro).

So those Corona are essentially the same spec as the Freewing 17g servo from the F22 and will drop fit?

No, they are smaller. They are the size of the 9g.
And they are very slow. I wouldn't use them for stabs, but they are great for flaps.
Mine have been super-reliable.

Aros , there's just no way you may have been tail heavy at 88mm. Plane is still nose heavy by a fair amount at 110mm.
At that point lateral stability begins to degrade though, so be careful if you go that aft. Gyro use encouraged.

[Mizer67]

I see that folks are in the 90-100mm CG range which makes my maiden even more inexplicable. That would mean the 88mm I thought I was at would have been more nose heavy not the tail heavy I thought. I have replacement stabs and canopy arriving soon so I will re-examine the CG, move it into the 90-95mm range and see what happens. I really did like the power upgrade as it was noticeable even if I spent most the flight just trying to trim her out and get her where I wanted. Looking forward to the second sortie. Thanks for the input fellas.

Where in this photo is your 88mm Aros ?


Back of the plastic attachment point is about ~93-95mm mm give or take. The panel line behind the mounting location is about 102-105mm give or take by my measurements, provided my brain is working today.

I still think the nose gear is over-sprung quite a bit. If the nose hits first or hard, that alone might be enough to flip the plane, particularly if you were hot.

[Mizer67]

Finished up my re-paint and some weathering on my F-18. Hard to get good lighting to show the weathering. Decals from Callie.

May hit the non-skid with some dull coat to take the shiny-ness off still.

[Aros]

Mizer67 That's roughly the location I marked...See photo below. Not sure why I said tail heavy when clearly it was nose heavy all along...The way the nose bounced and flipped the jet could attest to that....

[Mizer67]

Aros I don't think you were close to tail heavy anywhere in that general location. It should fly fine there and will take a lot of up trim in the stabs just to fly level.

Has to be something else. My opinion the culprit is an over-reactive nose gear spring, but that's just based on what I've experienced. Mine would've flipped on it's back if it were going with any more forward momentum. I guess fortunately, I'd exhausted most of it when I stalled 2-3 ft. above the "runway".

I've been flying at the panel line in back of the plastic mount and it's not tail heavy in that location (gear down). Now the gear retract backwards for the mains, so it's likely the CG gear up shifts rearward a touch, but it still wouldn't make you tail heavy.

[Aros]

I wish I would have wrote down where my CG was at on my last one...Had her flying like a dream. Won't make that mistake again. I'll get her dialed. Thanks for the input and great job on the livery and weathering!

[Mizer67]

New video (without music this time)!

These flights show what the F-18 is capable of when setup apropriately. :)
And I am more in the 110-120mm CG range, btw (using a Guardian gyro).

Excellent flying. Really enjoyed the first video.

Hope to build up to that level with mine once I have everything squared away.

[Airguardian]

Thanks!
Cool paintjob on yours btw!

[uscanuck1xa]

Finished up my re-paint and some weathering on my F-18. Hard to get good lighting to show the weathering. Decals from Callie.

May hit the non-skid with some dull coat to take the shiny-ness off still.

Looks great!!!

[Mizer67]

Thanks!
Cool paintjob on yours btw!

Thank you. I'm usually more interested in the flying aspect of the hobby than the modelling, but....then COVID happened. It's not a work of art by any means and I especially hate installing decals, but still had fun learning new skills with the airbrushing.

Normally the schemes available might've kept me from purchasing this plane. Now, it's no longer an impediment as I'm more confident in my ability to re-paint one without royally screwing it up.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thank you. I'm usually more interested in the flying aspect of the hobby than the modelling, but....then COVID happened. It's not a work of art by any means and I especially hate installing decals, but still had fun learning new skills with the airbrushing.

Normally the schemes available might've kept me from purchasing this plane. Now, it's no longer an impediment as I'm more confident in my ability to re-paint one without royally screwing it up.

Don't be so modest, it looks great and you did a fantastic job. Just admit it, you're definitely a "Model Master" and your F-18 is the best looking one at your field, so the rest of the guys there can just "eat their hearts out"!

[Airguardian]

That's even more impressive for a first job. The F-18 will be my first too! (Once I get it done!)

[Dustman]

I'm back again starting some major surgery on my F-18. The process here is slow and tedious because the closet hobby shop is 3 hrs away in Dallas. Everything I do is mail order. LB I like your nose gear. Where did you get that from. Anyway, here are a few pic's. All the mods I want to do after the nose gear area are the speed brake,slim lights, tail hook and a couple other likes on the tail. I know I have my work cut out for me. But the F-18 has always been one of my favorites. The 192 Golden Dragons Logo like Mizer67 I have. The person that made it for me is no longer in business. I ordered one but she sent me two. Since Mizer67 got here with his first I'm going go with another Golden Dragon from 2000 like the one you see here. I'm going to have Callie do them for me.

[Elbee]

I'm back again starting some major surgery on my F-18. The process here is slow and tedious because the closet hobby shop is 3 hrs away in Dallas. Everything I do is mail order. LB I like your nose gear. Where did you get that from. Anyway, here are a few pic's. All the mods I want to do after the nose gear area are the speed brake,slim lights, tail hook and a couple other likes on the tail. I know I have my work cut out for me. But the F-18 has always been one of my favorites. The 192 Golden Dragons Logo like Mizer67 I have. The person that made it for me is no longer in business. I ordered one but she sent me two. Since Mizer67 got here with his first I'm going go with another Golden Dragon from 2000 like the one you see here. I'm going to have Callie do them for me.

Dustman. I feel your pain, Brother. Looks awe-sum, you do good work. My NG Mods are just more 3DPUP bits added to the OEM Strut. I can post the STL files. I plan on posting all the files for all the mods if we can figure how to do that without guys having to page through a zillion posts to find 'em. Anyway, keep up the good fight; you're doin' great. Best, LB

[Rendgrish]

Does anyone happen to know how to disassemble the main landing gear to get to the spring inside? Do I need to pull the e-clips on the linkage?

[ColtPilot]

Does anyone happen to know how to disassemble the main landing gear to get to the spring inside? Do I need to pull the e-clips on the linkage?

Yes the e-clips need to come off.

[ColtPilot]

My Blue Angels is ready for action and will get its second flight tomorrow and a few more. The new servo is in and functions perfectly. One of the flaps wasn't going down as it was stuck due to the paint. The servos don't have a lot of torque power. Doesn't take much pressure to stall them out. Put finger pressure on one and it had a hard time moving.