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

[Aros]

Fairly certain this is actual video of one of my many crashes.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/05/22/f-18-fighter-jet-crash-spain-contd-lon-orig-na.cnn

(All seriousness, very happy to hear the pilot ejected safely).

[billsplanevideos]

https://youtu.be/oe5QE4R-1gk

I finally put my F18 in the air yesterday.

[Elbee]

Aros Whoa...


billsplanevideos , Congrats on your first check flight. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Nice filght. Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

https://youtu.be/oe5QE4R-1gk

I finally put my F18 in the air yesterday.

Nice flight, welcome to the F-18 Club! Where did you end up balancing it? I think the manual states 88mm, but I felt that was too nose heavy. I'm flying both of mine at about 104mm, and there are a few (maybe only 1 who's from Spain and seems to be way too good for my level ) who flies it further aft then 110mm. A gyro helps calm it down a bit. I'm using a 6200 mah SMC HiV (one of the F-18's ESC needed to be reprogrammed to handle it) and get 5 minutes of flight time! Whoopi! Love this bird!

[billsplanevideos]

Thanks! Yes I had read 88mm was a bit nose heavy so I balanced mine at 95mm and I was pretty happy with that. I’m using 5200s with a throttle above 25% timer at 3:30 which seemed about right landing at 3.7 v per cell. Top speed in a dive was 117mph, it’s the fastest jet I’ve flown. My bae hawk hit 114 but felt faster. Landing was not difficult, it comes in very similar to my 70mm yak 130, the narrow gear of the f18 requires a little more aileron work to keep it nice and level. Also flying with no gyro.

[Aros]

Does anyone have a set of the BA wingtip missiles they are willing to sell? Asking for a friend.

[Evan D]

Are you asking for the missiles or rails? The plane did not come with missiles.

[Elbee]

Does anyone have a set of the BA wingtip missiles they are willing to sell? Asking for a friend.

Aros, I have rails and I can do missiles. If I am able to assist let me know, though Evan D is in the queue ahead of me. Best, Steve

[Aros]

Thanks buddy! I ended up buying the wing set (don't ask don't tell lol) which comes with them. With my history with this bird I may take you up on an assist somewhere down the road.

[Elbee]

No problemo.

[Cape Jets]

Nice flight, welcome to the F-18 Club! Where did you end up balancing it? I think the manual states 88mm, but I felt that was too nose heavy. I'm flying both of mine at about 104mm, and there are a few (maybe only 1 who's from Spain and seems to be way too good for my level ) who flies it further aft then 110mm. A gyro helps calm it down a bit. I'm using a 6200 mah SMC HiV (one of the F-18's ESC needed to be reprogrammed to handle it) and get 5 minutes of flight time! Whoopi! Love this bird!

Hey Hugh, What ESC are you using for the F-18? What did you do to the ESC program for the SMC? Thx...

[Charles]

Would someone please tell me what Gyro to purchase for my Meg 29 ?

[SanExup]

Charles There is a Mig 29 thread, you should post your question there, someone might have a specific recommendation. Is it a Freewing Mig 29 or an Arrows Mig 29? BTW, Motion does sell gyro's, quite a variety, even the 6 axis. Or If you run a Spektrum transmitter you could get one with Safe/AS3X.

[Charles]

It is a Freewing mug I didn’t know were to ask I just purchased one today and I forgot to find out what the best gyro to get with my Futaba..

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey Hugh, What ESC are you using for the F-18? What did you do to the ESC program for the SMC? Thx...

Sorry for the late reply. I'm using a Castle Phoenix Edge 130 Amp with BEC. When you get a Castle ESC, they give you a card to get a free Castle Link Adapter that you can hook up and program the ESC for a lot of different things. Very easy to use and their website tells you what to change for use with HiV batteries.

I also use their ESC in a balsa FW 190 and all my Extreme Flight 3D planes so those have been programmed for HiV batteries as well. The few HH planes I have worked with HiV (4.35 V/cell) without reprogramming and only 2 out of about 12 Freewing ESC's required removing the low voltage cutoff to make them work. Of course, you usually loose the cell count beeps once you reprogram those ESC's. A flying buddy has reprogrammed all his ESC's for HiV as well (usually not required though) with the exception of an F22 which he could not reprogram so that one can't use HiV. He's a computer wiz and couldn't get it done for some reason.

[Cape Jets]

Sorry for the late reply. I'm using a Castle Phoenix Edge 130 Amp with BEC. When you get a Castle ESC, they give you a card to get a free Castle Link Adapter that you can hook up and program the ESC for a lot of different things. Very easy to use and their website tells you what to change for use with HiV batteries.

I also use their ESC in a balsa FW 190 and all my Extreme Flight 3D planes so those have been programmed for HiV batteries as well. The few HH planes I have worked with HiV (4.35 V/cell) without reprogramming and only 2 out of about 12 Freewing ESC's required removing the low voltage cutoff to make them work. Of course, you usually loose the cell count beeps once you reprogram those ESC's. A flying buddy has reprogrammed all his ESC's for HiV as well (usually not required though) with the exception of an F22 which he could not reprogram so that one can't use HiV. He's a computer wiz and couldn't get it done for some reason.

Hey Hugh, I also use Castle Creations ESC's on my jets and have the Castle Link Adapter. I am starting to use the SMC HiV batteries as well. I looked on the Castle web page and could not find info on the HiV batteries. Can you lead me to the right spot for that info. Thx....
Better yet.... What are your settings for the HiV batteries on your 130ESC's....(I have 130's and running 8's on my F-22, F-16 & F-15 birds and would like to use the HiV batteries for them)

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey Hugh, I also use Castle Creations ESC's on my jets and have the Castle Link Adapter. I am starting to use the SMC HiV batteries as well. I looked on the Castle web page and could not find info on the HiV batteries. Can you lead me to the right spot for that info. Thx....
Better yet.... What are your settings for the HiV batteries on your 130ESC's....(I have 130's and running 8's on my F-22, F-16 & F-15 birds and would like to use the HiV batteries for them)

Actually got confused on which thread this was, the Castle 130 amp ESC I'm using is on my F-16, which also has the 6S 12 blade inrunner, just as both of my F-18's do. No matter, it's the same power set-up as you are using. I'm flying virtually all my EDF's now on the HiV batteries. If you go to the following link

https://home.castlecreations.com/blog/2021/3/18/how-do-i-set-up-my-esc-to-run-hv-lipos
it will guide you through setting it up for HiV batteries.

Oddly enough, 1 of my F-18's worked fine with HiV batteries charged to 4.35 V per cell (beeped 6 times when plugged in). The other did not (thought it was a 7S battery), and that one a friend programmed out the low voltage cutoff. Both are identical, Freewing ESC and 6S 12 blade inrunner. Go figure.

[Cape Jets]

Actually got confused on which thread this was, the Castle 130 amp ESC I'm using is on my F-16, which also has the 6S 12 blade inrunner, just as both of my F-18's do. No matter, it's the same power set-up as you are using. I'm flying virtually all my EDF's now on the HiV batteries. If you go to the following link

https://home.castlecreations.com/blog/2021/3/18/how-do-i-set-up-my-esc-to-run-hv-lipos
it will guide you through setting it up for HiV batteries.

Oddly enough, 1 of my F-18's worked fine with HiV batteries charged to 4.35 V per cell (beeped 6 times when plugged in). The other did not (thought it was a 7S battery), and that one a friend programmed out the low voltage cutoff. Both are identical, Freewing ESC and 6S 12 blade inrunner. Go figure.

Thanks Hugh, I just tested out all my 8S jets with the SMC batteries and they are beep out 8 cells. I've already flown my 90mm F-22 8S bird and she ripped with the SMC batteries.

[Aros]

Are you asking for the missiles or rails? The plane did not come with missiles.

Whoops, misspoke. I meant the rails. I grabbed a new set when I bought the wing set. I really REALLY wish Freewing would offer the rail set as a stand alone SKU! Seems absurd to have to buy the entire wing set just for the rails. I only did because it's always a good idea to have a spare wing set, especially my luck with this model, lol.

[Cape Jets]

Sorry for the late reply. I'm using a Castle Phoenix Edge 130 Amp with BEC. When you get a Castle ESC, they give you a card to get a free Castle Link Adapter that you can hook up and program the ESC for a lot of different things. Very easy to use and their website tells you what to change for use with HiV batteries.

I also use their ESC in a balsa FW 190 and all my Extreme Flight 3D planes so those have been programmed for HiV batteries as well. The few HH planes I have worked with HiV (4.35 V/cell) without reprogramming and only 2 out of about 12 Freewing ESC's required removing the low voltage cutoff to make them work. Of course, you usually loose the cell count beeps once you reprogram those ESC's. A flying buddy has reprogrammed all his ESC's for HiV as well (usually not required though) with the exception of an F22 which he could not reprogram so that one can't use HiV. He's a computer wiz and couldn't get it done for some reason.

Hey Hugh, Had an interesting flight today with my F-16 on 8S with HIV SMC batteries. After about 1 min lost power to the EDF and ESC beeped twice ( ESC could not start EDF)
Had not reprogrammed the ESC for HIV batteries. Do you think that is why it shut down power to the EDF? After crash recovery the EDF would go full throttle and shut down again.
Last question. I promise.... Once you reprogram the ESC to HV batteries, can you still use standard Lipo's or do you need to reprogram the ESC again?

[Evan D]

What ESC?