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

[xviper]

Mark me down for that Bad Boy! 😁

Hehe, they'll sell 3 of them just to our small flying bunch.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Rumour has it that a 12S, 110mm F-18 could appear in the New Year.

Mark me down for that Bad Boy! 😁

[xviper]

Rumour has it that a 12S, 110mm F-18 could appear in the New Year.

[Hugh Wiedman]

After getting both my 8S F-18's dialed in with the best gains on the AR 8360T Plus RX, and trying out the new SMC V3 HiV 5100 (850gr), I have to say these have turned out to be at the top of my list for "easy" flying, smooth take -off on grass (thanks to 8S) and VERY easy nose up slow landings. Most of that is due to the programming of the Plus RX, but the 8S setup with a n incredibly powerful SMC pack made all the difference in the world. Never thought I'd be saying that about this aircraft when I first got the 6S versions. 🤗 It is now at the top in those three flight categories along with the 8S F22 (that was expected) and the 8S F4 (somewhat surprised by that one, and it flies just as well on a 5900 & 6400 😲). On the 5100 pack, I'm getting 6-7 minutes of aggressive flying. Always land when my in-flight pack voltage telemetry tells me I'm down to 3.75 V per cell. These high output, HiV packs are sensitive, but if handles properly (storage and never draining them too much), they last. Many have been abusing them, then complaining that they are puffing. Bone Heads! 😵

Unfortunately I only bought 1 of Danny's 8S V3 5100's as it was a replacement for the 4900, which I have plenty of. But the new 5100 blows even those away. Of course, they flew off the shelves early and they're out of stock, along with all his other HiV packs. So I contacted him directly and he found a couple spares hiding out in his closet just for me. Whoopi (and not the Goldberg kind!) Those are perfect for the EuroFighter, F16, F18 and F22, which total 6 birds in my inventory all fighting over 1 battery! I'm Back In The Saddle Again! 🤠

If anyone wants my assistance in setting up their F18, I'd be glad to help. Man is she quick and now solid as the proverbial Rock!

[Elbee]

Thanks for the boost to my overblown ego.

Great advice on the bribery front, though after decades of serving under my CO, and always receiving the same "Your such an Idiot" comment, I've finally learned and accepted my place in the Universe. Just want to be The Best Idiot I can!

Well, you'll get no argument from me. ROFL

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh Wiedman

I'd say your CO might need a night out on the town.

Wink, wink, hint, hint...sometimes a little bribary, flattery, and fun goes a long way.

This is a matter of nat'l security after all, so we need those jets.

Best, LB

Ps: your heat staining is lookin' good, Sir.

Thanks for the boost to my overblown ego.

Great advice on the bribery front, though after decades of serving under my CO, and always receiving the same "Your such an Idiot" comment, I've finally learned and accepted my place in the Universe. Just want to be The Best Idiot I can!

[Elbee]

Hugh Wiedman

I'd say your CO might need a night out on the town.

Wink, wink, hint, hint...sometimes a little bribary, flattery, and fun goes a long way.

This is a matter of nat'l security after all, so we need those jets.

Best, LB

Ps: your heat staining is lookin' good, Sir.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Since converting/purchasing 90mm EDF's to 8S and using SMC HiV packs, the increased thrust/heat has really started to affect the exhaust nozzles and they are exhibiting extreme heat discoloration!
😇

Just messing around to see if I can get the heat staining somewhat in the ballpark. Got a long way to go and definitely need more practice, so I'm telling my CO that I must buy more EDF's to further my research! 😏

She hasn't "bought" the argument yet, so if there's a sale, I can "save" money like she does on thousands of dresses, purses and shoes. My front door is a dumping ground for UPS and each time I hear how much she is saving, only for some reason, I never see a credit on my cards, only debits! Guess I just don't understand "Macro Economics". 🤑

Seriously, I probably went slightly overboard (like the sinking of the Titanic), but I like to say "Go Loud and Proud"! 😎

Life in the Fastlane, Don't it Make You Lose Your Mind! 🤯

The 1st is my "Hopped Up" 8S F18 Canadian, with Tailerons. Ohhh Canadaaa, there goes Lake Ontario 👱♂️💪
The 2nd is an 8S F16 V1, with Flaperons & Tailerons
The 3rd is a dual battery SU-27, also with Flaperons & Tailerons

[Airguardian]

I'd love to read that!

[jetpltrich]

I attended a talk by Chuck Yeager years ago. He was discussing the instability designed into modern fighters to make them extremely agile.

He said (about the ship he was discussing…some F-xx fighter and I think it was the F-18);

Paraphrasing:
- There are redundant flight control computers. If they fail, you punch out. It is impossible to manually control the fighter. If you try to manually fly it, you will have success for only a VERY few seconds. -

—GG

In my initial class at Southwest Airlines the senior member of the class was a former Navy pilot who flew F-18's. He had a complete ADFCS failure of after launch off a carrier in an F-18A and managed to fight the plane to a shore station, I think NAS Norfolk. If I can find the story I will share.

Rich

[Evan D]

I flew my 7 year old C model yesterday, still in mint condition and flying awesome.

[Aros]

So THAT'S why I've had so many crashes with this model! No flight computers!!

[Airguardian]

Not mutually exclusive! ;)

[GliderGuy]

I attended a talk by Chuck Yeager years ago. He was discussing the instability designed into modern fighters to make them extremely agile.

He said (about the ship he was discussing…some F-xx fighter and I think it was the F-18);

Paraphrasing:
- There are redundant flight control computers. If they fail, you punch out. It is impossible to manually control the fighter. If you try to manually fly it, you will have success for only a VERY few seconds. -

—GG

[Airguardian]

I'm such a party pooper...

[Hugh Wiedman]

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. ;)

There you go again, bringing logic and facts to this discussion! Obviously the only thing unstable in this equation is my flying skills. Can't I just blame it on the aircraft instead of were it really belongs, on me?

[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. ;)

[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. :hot_face::hot_face: 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.

[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+.

[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.