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

[Elbee]

Blue Angels F/A-18C
Can someone send a picture of the nose steering servo mount? I got a new fuselage and think I'm missing a bracket or something. Thanks for your help.

EP,

Does this help?

My strut steering arm and servo box are modified, but the gear mount plastic box is OEM Stock otherwise.

Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

Good stuff! When I opened up the battery tray the RX is still facing forward, flat, all servo leads still firmly plugged in place. One of the antenna wires is facing aft and one facing forward (see photo). I may even have a spare satellite antenna I can use to add to the configuration. I should have done that to begin with.

Hopefully it's just an ESC replacement and she's back up and ready to go for a second attempt. I will be pushing the battery forward to get closer to manufacturer's recommended. It really did act tail heavy from the start. I couldn't seem to get that nose down to control her and bring her back to me which is why she kept flying away from me until the crash.

I'm determined! Especially with this exceptional good fortune thanks to my search crew!

Noticed in the photo that your antennae are placed 1 going forward, with active end (stripped exposed wire) horizontal and the other going aft with the active end also horizontal. Unfortunately, with both on the horizontal plane, you are only covering 1 of the 3 directional planes. You will get a poor signal reception on a horizontal plane antennae when the TX is directly behind or directly in front of the aircraft. You need to place the active end of one of the antennae either vertical or left/right to get at least 2 planes covered. It still may be a temp loss of signal or resulting hold that gave you issues on the maiden. Also check to see what orientation we selected on the RX in forward programming. I know you felt it was tail heavy, but 88mm manual is just too nose heavy, at least for decent landings. I fly at 103 and I think you started at 98. Jandro flew his at 110, but that's Jandro. You may want to start at 92 and go from there. Here to help when you ready to diagnose the gyro set-up. Also, unfortunately the AR8360T requires a 4 pin matching sattelite, the SPM4651T which is a SRXL2 DSMX Remote and costs $58. Gives 2 more antennae, but I doubt you really need it if you get the main antennae placed properly. Then after ground testing and flight, go to the TX telemetry and see how many frame losses you get (up to 30-40 OK) and holds (even 1 of those is sayonara).

[Evan D]

I’m a firm believer in satellites. My Hornet has two, one in the nose wheel well and one under the right vertical stab. It’s also a good idea to keep the active element end away from servo, especially the ESC lead) or battery wires. Having the shunts GG talks about on leads can also help though I don’t use them.

[Aros]

Good info friends! I won’t attempt a re-maiden without making sure the antennas are correct. Hugh Wiedman I will take you up on walking me through it when the time comes if you are so inclined.

Well she ain’t gonna be confused for a Top Gun entry but all things considered, not too bad!

Just amazing it flew almost a mile away into the woods and she’s still in one piece!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Good info friends! I won’t attempt a re-maiden without making sure the antennas are correct. Hugh Wiedman I will take you up on walking me through it when the time comes if you are so inclined.

Well she ain’t gonna be confused for a Top Gun entry but all things considered, not too bad!

Just amazing it flew almost a mile away into the woods and she’s still in one piece!

Excellent work, her enemies won't know the difference. All you need now is the missile rails and up she goes! BTW, almost all of my aircraft have hours of repairs in them, some more visible than others, but that's another great thing about this hobby is resurrecting an aircraft from disaster and returning her to duty!

[Elbee]

Amen to that, Brother.

[Elbee]

https://www.youtube.com/live/-zLYwHoIwi8

Hornet Honchos.

Today is the "Home Air Show" for the Blue Angels at NAS Pensacola.

Beautiful museum and a big time fun city..

The ewe-toob link is the "Live Feed" of the entire show with the "Blues" going out at 1400 local.

Enjoy.

Best, LB

[Aros]

Thanks to a good friend, Elbee (who would rather remain anonymous I'm sure...Whoops, heh heh), my once fated and unceremoniously tossed into a forest F/A-18C Blue Angel has the mandatory missile rails added to the wingtips once again. They really do finish the model off perfectly.

Thank you dear friend. Now onward we go with great hope for a more successful (re)maiden!

[Elbee]

Aros

"Look sharp, feel sharp, be sharp."

"Girls go crazy for a sharp-dressed man."



Nothing like yellow missile rails to make a "Bug" look sharp.

Best, LB

Ps: Make certain you apply enough adhesive to the "Outer Part 4" ends, so it does not separate at Mach 1.475.

[f4u ausie]

Elbee. The endlessly. Just a nice helpful man. Next time I feast my eyes on this thread,, I'm sure we will have had a successful maiden very good luck aros. Check check check

[Aros]

Thank you, thank you ausie. Elbee is indeed good people.

[Elbee]

https://www.printables.com/model/134...le-rails-lh_rh


Hornet Dudes and Dudettes,
I have posted the aforementioned FreeWing Fa-18C Missile Rails on Prusa Printables.

Better late than never, as I wrote I would do this a couple years ago

Please Note:
My design is more scale than functional and makes no provision for adding Aim-9s, but you can drill these out and modify in order to do that yourself.

Now that said, it won't be the 'slide on/slide off' as per OEM.

There you have it.

Best, LB

[stojakovic]

do some enhance
Elbee

thanks for your share。

[Elbee]

stojakovic

Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

Great upgrade to the files.

Nothing says Fa-18C like 'light in the night'

Your work is outstanding....Bravo Zulu, Sir.

Best, LB

[Panchypanchal]

Mine is about 2 weeks old...

I pushed on mine pretty good before flying it too. Pretty hard to measure 5-6 lbs. of force, but I wasn't gentle.

I had similar servo issues as you also. If you pull them and find cuts in the wires too, while it might be purely coincidental, I'd keep and eye on these.

One odd flight behavior I saw was that the nose was slightly delayed in rotating in maneuvers, then caught up and "snapped" through. If you start seeing something similar, look to these.

What you’re describing is exactly the issue I’m trying to resolve on mine with that weird snap. Did reinforcing that area get rid of the snap behavior? I was thinking it was because of my cg and rates.

[Aros]

The Blue Angels have arrived in Seattle, WA for their annual visit to Seafair. One of my favorite annual events!

[Elbee]

Envious, obviously.

Enjoy the spectacle of precision airmanship.

[Hugh Wiedman]

The Blue Angels have arrived in Seattle, WA for their annual visit to Seafair. One of my favorite annual events!

Outstanding!!! Didn't I hear that some crazy in Washington is suing the Blue Angels for a fly over that scared her cat to death? Too bad the wrong "animal" bought the farm. Of is it that you just figured out a way to fund the purchase of many many more 90mm F-18 Blue Angels? Count me in, I can find a dead cat somewhere!

[Elbee]

Hugh Wiedman

As a leading 'fake' veternawriun, it is my conclusion it wasn't the 'jet noise' the killed the cat.....

Best, Dawktre El Bee, MBS, VBS, MDBS, PHDBS

[Aros]

A great time had by all! Boy do I forget how LOUD those beautiful blues can be in a low pass!!

[Aros]

And NO that’s not a photo of mine headed into the woods!!!!!

[Elbee]

Sure.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got out last Friday with a few, including my F18'S. Been flying them a lot after converting their Ar637T to Plus, flies awesome on a HiV SMC 5900, OVER 5 minutes. Unfortunately our summer Bermuda grass field, although cut short, has gotten thick and luscious with all the rain and sun, great for your front yard but not a runway.

Both have the older 12 blade 4068 inrunner (think that's the size) which has always worked great but now realize I didn't fly these much in the summer. Extrodinarily long take off run (which seriously drains the pack) and when it gets off it's at or near stall speed. Violent rolls, usually left, occasionally right, made each flight an adventure. In the air it's fine and landing easy, but that take off ruins my normally cool and collected demeanor (OK, more BS).

So I'm biting the bullet, just ordered one 8S setup that I have (and love) in both F4'S, F16 V1 and Euro, which get off in 50 feet in the summer grass. The F4 and F16 fly great on a HiV SMC 8S 5900, but expect to use an 8S 4900 in the F18, as God knows it doesn't need more weight. I'm probably creating a bigger disaster but if I can't get off easily on this grass, it's no use to me. If it works, I'll do the other also.