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

[jetpltrich]

G’day everyone,

I’m new to the forum—great to be here. I found you all after picking up the F/A-18C 90mm in Grey Diamonds.

I’ve already been making use of the resources here and printed the detailed cockpit, which is fantastic. I’m planning to finish it in a RAAF-themed paint scheme with custom decals from Callie Graphics.

Originally, I was set on doing a turbine conversion using the Xicoy X45. Back in February I ordered a conversion kit from RC Castle, but I’ve since been told they can’t supply it anymore as the factory in China has stopped producing them (not sure if that’s temporary or permanent). From what I can tell, other suppliers like BigBoy RC and Nova Jets are also out of stock.

At the moment, the only option I’ve found is Grumania Jets. Their bifurcated pipe and mounting hardware look excellent, but by the time you factor in shipping and taxes, it’s getting close to what I paid for the jet itself.

So I’m a bit torn:

• Do I push ahead with the turbine conversion and go with the Grumania setup?
• Or keep it as a ducted fan and put that money towards something like the Turbine Ready Zeus?

I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences you can share. Has anyone here done a turbine conversion on one of these? And are there any alternative suppliers or approaches I might have missed?

Thanks in advance—keen to hear your thoughts!

My two cents... fly it as a ducted fan and determine if it's a candidate for a turbine unit.

Rich

[Elbee]

Leighton63,

I agree with jetpltrich 100%.

Finish this as an EDF and make those decisions after you learn this jet.

Post pictures as you are able.

Very interested to see hoe your cockpit turns out.

Welcome to Hobby Squawk; glad to have you onboard, Sir.

Best, LB

[Airguardian]

1st, welcome aboard!

Here's my biased opinion, for what it may be worth:

This Hornet is a tricky jet. Get a taste of what it's like first with the EDF. Decide later if you want to commit to a turbine upgrade. It's a lot of money for a quirky model that quickly becomes hard to see as it flies away, so I'd recommend against it.

As for the Zeus... I hate how that thing looks, so my recommendation is to put that X45 (or X52) into something else.

F-22s are great for turbine mods. ^^

[Leighton63]

Leighton63,

I agree with jetpltrich 100%.

Finish this as an EDF and make those decisions after you learn this jet.

Post pictures as you are able.

Very interested to see hoe your cockpit turns out.

Welcome to Hobby Squawk; glad to have you onboard, Sir.

Best, LB

Thanks for the kind welcome

Here's a picture of my work in progress, again printed the cockpit and detailed it (as this was my first go at it - I think it turned out ok, but I will do another one, and from my learnings with this one, the next will be better)

[Leighton63]

1st, welcome aboard!

Here's my biased opinion, for what it may be worth:

This Hornet is a tricky jet. Get a taste of what it's like first with the EDF. Decide later if you want to commit to a turbine upgrade. It's a lot of money for a quirky model that quickly becomes hard to see as it flies away, so I'd recommend against it.

As for the Zeus... I hate how that thing looks, so my recommendation is to put that X45 (or X52) into something else.

F-22s are great for turbine mods. ^^

Thanks for your opinion and tips on the jet - coming back to the hobby from some time away, and guess I've got swept up by the whole F18 thing (Top-Gun etc) - thought it would be a nice one to build in a turbine spec. I might check out the F-22, shame there isn't a 90mm F-35 out yet

[Airguardian]

Yep, a 90mm F-35A would be sweet too... I keep asking for one, but so far, no luck!



Good job with the cockpit work, BTW!

[Elbee]

Thanks for the kind welcome)

Leighton63,

Your work looks great, that's a complex print and assembly.

Great livery choice, too.

Best, LB

[Aros]

Nice work!

[F106DeltaDart]

Just picked one of these up in the Blue Angels 8S version. Planning to convert it to use the Eflite scale gear from the 80mm, and redo the nose gears to be closer to the real thing.

[Elbee]

Just picked one of these up in the Blue Angels 8S version. Planning to convert it to use the Eflite scale gear from the 80mm, and redo the nose gears to be closer to the real thing.

Now that's a dream build with the Eflite LG.

Post the build pics when you are able.

Looking forward to this one.

Best, LB

[Aros]

I am crossing my fingers FW comes out with a new gen version of this bird.

[Evan D]

Where did you get it? Motion has never sold a 8S version as far as I know. Just PNP 6S and ARF+.

Just picked one of these up in the Blue Angels 8S version. Planning to convert it to use the Eflite scale gear from the 80mm, and redo the nose gears to be closer to the real thing.

[F106DeltaDart]

Where did you get it? Motion has never sold a 8S version as far as I know. Just PNP 6S and ARF+.

Picked it up locally. I believe it has the power system from the 8S 90mm F-4. He must have bought it as an ARF+.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks for the kind welcome

Here's a picture of my work in progress, again printed the cockpit and detailed it (as this was my first go at it - I think it turned out ok, but I will do another one, and from my learnings with this one, the next will be better)

Agree that you should go with an EDF first as I'm not convinced this particular air frame is a good candidate for a turbine (more like the 90mm F22). But what I really recommend is using the 8S EDF that the F4/F16/F22 use. Although Motion doesn't offer this F18 in 8S, I converted both of mine and
Abso-freeking LOVE it. You also need a very responsive gyro in this bad girl and a somewhat rearward balance point to get it to really pop, as this airframe is naturally unstable which allows it to perform so well in combat (seriously controlled by a computer)! Talked with an F18 pilot once and he (maybe jokingly) told me that if his computer went down, he'd eject! I'm using the Spektrum AR 8360T Plus, which is much more responsive than their previous RX's. The nose wheel gyro in it is also a nice feature, especially if you fly off of "bumby" grass, as it easily gets knocked off course.

The only thing that's somewhat unusual with that gyro, and I've only found it in this airframe (not Mig/Su27/F4/F16/F22/A10) is that your gains on YAW must be very low (in the 7-10 range-when 40-50 may be more normal), otherwise it will fight you on a banked turn when using aileron/elevator only, as it tries to almost go into knife edge without turning and tries to climb. Thought it might be because of the twin rudders, but the Mig/Su27/A10/F22 don't exhibit that tendency, yet on those I still keep the YAW down to around 20.

[Airguardian]

I'd say that's mostly due to the large side area of the Hornet's long nose (destabilizing), and that the Hornet's vertical stabs are small and placed very far forward, thus having little restoring (stabilizing) force, something that's further emphasized if you move the CG back.

Now, that said, it's not correct to say that the full scale F-18 design is 'unstable'. It may have some instability traits, but it is NOT unstable in the sense that an F-16, Su-57, F-22 or Eurofighter would be unstable. The full scale F-18, just like the F-15 is designed with a positive longitudinal static margin.

Or, as we say in the model aircraft community, they are nose heavy. You can easily see that from their horizontal stabs' position in high alpha flybies.

Then again, stability analysis can't be reduced to a single parameter, so all this is not to say that the F-18 wouldn't be a bunch to control if you turned the flight computer off. The same lateral stability problems we have on our models would also apply to the big sister. ;)