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

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks a lot for the reference pictures! By the way, you have an awesome looking jet! Truly a work of art. I see you are from Miami, I live in Pembroke Pines. I go to Markham Park for my flight times, where do you do your flying? Would love to see that plane in person and obviously pick your brain for tips on getting mine to work. Let me know!

This is AMPS, come down for a look sometime (you may remember me from the Warbirds Festival last year at Markham where my B-24 won best WWII aircraft):

[Airguardian]

How do you secure the battery like that? Looks like you're past the last strap there.

I know mine, the last (only) strap I have effectively limits my ability to go back any further with the CG with the battery strap as I have it currently set up.

I'd need another slot further back with another strap to go any further. I don't see how you're securing the battery in the picture, velcro?

I resort to prayers so it doesn't fall off...


Just kidding, you got it, I use a foam wedge.
A velcro on the tray limits lateral and forward shift, the foam wedge slides in with quite some friction and impedes vertical movement so the batt cannot detach.
It is pretty quick and easy to secure and it's never gone anyway throughout my 'tumbling' flights. Not even after the crash landings, so there's that! ;)

Of course, you need to be disciplined and REMEMBER to put the foam in. If you leave it out... then you'll be flying on a prayer indeed!

Another thing I did was to place layered foam sheets at the end of the battery tray to regulate battery position and CG. I peeled them one at a time to shift CG back in small steps.
And every time I just slided the battery as aft as the pre-placed sheets would allow. In the end I removed them all and now my battery sits at the very end of the compartment.
(Of course, be careful with that, I am NOT recommending to outright place your battery there!)

[Mizer67]

I resort to prayers so it doesn't fall off...


Just kidding, you got it, I use a foam wedge.
A velcro on the tray limits lateral and forward shift, the foam wedge slides in with quite some friction and impedes vertical movement so the batt cannot detach.
It is pretty quick and easy to secure and it's never gone anyway throughout my 'tumbling' flights. Not even after the crash landings, so there's that! ;)

Of course, you need to be disciplined and REMEMBER to put the foam in. If you leave it out... then you'll be flying on a prayer indeed!

Another thing I did was to place layered foam sheets at the end of the battery tray to regulate battery position and CG. I peeled them one at a time to shift CG back in small steps.
And every time I just slided the battery as aft as the pre-placed sheets would allow. In the end I removed them all and now my battery sits at the very end of the compartment.
(Of course, be careful with that, I am NOT recommending to outright place your battery there!)

Yeah, no worries there. I've been moving my battery back until I find the limit with my current setup and already passed it once. Glad to put it on the ground safely having found the limit of, "Oh @#$%! this is a problem".

[Airguardian]

A decent gyro helps a lot though (And allows to set CG further back if you want to go that way at own risk).
For most aircraft, it also helps but it's not really needed. Of course one could say that it's not really needed for the Hornet either but, unlike other jets I've flown, the benefits here are rather massive by comparison IMO. ;)

[DCORSAIR]

A decent gyro helps a lot though (And allows to set CG further back if you want to go that way at own risk).
For most aircraft, it also helps but it's not really needed. Of course one could say that it's not really needed for the Hornet either but, unlike other jets I've flown, the benefits here are rather massive by comparison IMO. ;)

I did notice when I seen a couple of your videos, your elevator seems way to sensitive, looks like your always fighting a porpoising issue, so without the gyro and expo, is it almost impossible to relax?

[Airguardian]

Not at all... the jet is very stable in pitch axis. BUT not as much in roll/yaw. I think you are mistakenly confusing gyro corrections for roll on the stabs with pitching corrections.
With my extreme setup, and flying slow, the jet will want to dip a wing and the gyro quickly deflects the stabs to compensate. If you are flying really slow, that won't even be enough to keep you steady. But at speed, you really don't see any of this as the stability improves and the stabs/rudders get plenty of authority for the gyro to operate fine.

I have yet to retrim my flaps-down elevator compensation since moving CG aft, and the plane still has a thrustline issue.
All possible pitch-related porpoising you may have seen in my videos is most likely related to that.
If you point to a particular time mark for one of my videos I can be more specific. ;)

But really... this jet is not very pitch sensitive or twitchy at all, at least compared to, say, the Su-35 :p

[ColtPilot]

Don't have a gyro in mine and it flew solid. Two clicks of up trim and done. Best landing I've ever made. Needed to set the nose gear for straight taxi but that was it. Rolls are axial and precise even 4 points.

[uscanuck1xa]

Thought I would share a little progress on the Canadian NORAD 2018 Demo CF-18 project. I'm using Rustoleum 2X Spray for the paint and tons of yellow painters frog tape!

[ColtPilot]

Thought I would share a little progress on the Canadian NORAD 2018 Demo CF-18 project. I'm using Rustoleum 2X Spray for the paint and tons of yellow painters frog tape!

Very nice. Looking good.

[Aros]

I admire your willingness to rock this scheme. Can't wait to see the final result!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Outstanding uscanuck1xa , the 2 different Canadian Demo schemes are where it's at! Would love to fly mine with yours, can't wait to see the final product!

[ColtPilot]

Second flight of the Blue Angels F-18 HP. Love this jet. Looks great also. The MIG is included in this video.

https://youtu.be/lvJq_UWgVVs

[Hugh Wiedman]

Second flight of the Blue Angels F-18 HP. Love this jet. Looks great also. The MIG is included in this video.
https://youtu.be/lvJq_UWgVVs

Nice flying (and landing) Tim, looked like a beautiful Autumn day in Michigan, Indian Summer?

[uscanuck1xa]

A little more progress. Next step is to mask the fuselage and spray the red stripes that outline the white. After that re-mask and spray the blue. Since I am using spray cans to paint, the most time consuming piece is doing all the masking to avoid overspray. It is also complicated as many of the lines are curved. I'm very pleased with how well the original gray paint has adhered to the foam with only a very minor amount of paint lifted in a few spots after removing the frog tape. Awaiting some modified decals from Callie to complete the vertical stabs - it has taken a few attempts to get the patterns, sizes and colours to match up but she has been fantastic at working with me to get things right.

[nuts-n-volts]

Gorgeous work there, Canuck. That's one to be proud of!

[Hugh Wiedman]

A little more progress. Next step is to mask the fuselage and spray the red stripes that outline the white. After that re-mask and spray the blue. Since I am using spray cans to paint, the most time consuming piece is doing all the masking to avoid overspray. It is also complicated as many of the lines are curved. I'm very pleased with how well the original gray paint has adhered to the foam with only a very minor amount of paint lifted in a few spots after removing the frog tape. Awaiting some modified decals from Callie to complete the vertical stabs - it has taken a few attempts to get the patterns, sizes and colours to match up but she has been fantastic at working with me to get things right.

Outstanding, can't wait to see the final product!

[Aros]

Looking fantastic!!

[Elbee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v4LOadoqPQ

Hey All, This is a short video. The topic is the Blues transition from Legacy Hornets to the Super Hornet for 2021 and beyond. Good insight and just great to listen to what goes on behind the curtain. Best, LB

[Aros]

Thanks for the video Elbee ! So maybe all those years of flying the FW V1/V2 Super Hornet in the Blue Angel scheme I was ahead of the curve??

[Elbee]

Thanks for the video Elbee ! So maybe all those years of flying the FW V1/V2 Super Hornet in the Blue Angel scheme I was ahead of the curve??

Aros, I thought of you when I posted the link. Looks like you'll need to pull it back out or start a Echo/Foxtrot Mod to the Freewing Charlie model. Yeah, right! Personally, I am in Hornet Mod withdrawal, but I am still adding some weathering and nailing down the lighting. Lastly, will be the 'matte' spray, so there's that. Best as always, LB