Freewing 64mm F-22 Raptor 4S with video!

[Arkayne]

Video of 3 flights & horrible landings :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKDjVWO61QI

Still practicing. Any tips are welcome.

Review
The build quality is almost perfect. My previous EDF jet was one from bananahobby with brand StarMax, they were horrible compared to these FreeWing quality builds. Love the screws instead of epo glue. All components fits, but not perfectly. Some screws stick out a bit but nothing to worry about since everything is in its place.
3 Flights already with this beast. Landing gear is solid and already took some hard bounces and hits, but it is still working. Front nose is a little bent now and I strengthen the rear landing gear with some extra plastic parts.
- Landings are hard, especialy with a little bit of wind because this thing has no rudder. It comes in quite fast, haven't figured out a way yet to land this thing slowly.
- Power is average, got the 4S. This thing floats so nice, you can float it without any power for a long way.
- Wanted to remove the landing gear to test belly landings, but can't seem to remove the front nose since its screw is stuck between a wooden floor for the battery compartment. So either cut the wood to remove the screw (which can cause the front gear to be more sensitive for damage) or do not remove the gear at all. I love to fly with gear, but I just need to train the landings.

Dual Rates & Expos
Currently have 3 settings for Dual Rates and Expo:
1. High Rates:
- Ailerons & Elevators: 70% EPA, 35% EXPO
2. Medium Rates:
- Ailerons: 40% EPA, 25% EXPO
- Elevators: 50% EPA, 25% EXPO
3. Low Rates:
- Ailerons & Elevators: 25% EPA, 15% EXPO

The medium rates are perfect to fly smooth and you can make fast loops and rolls if needed.
Low rates are even more smooth.
High rates are crazy high (still on 70% EPA, can't imagine what 100% EPA does, WAY TOO MUCH!)

Sticked to the manual with the elevator centerlevel which was 6~7mm. With the battery all the way pushed to the back and elevators on manual settings I had to downtrim this thing a lot. It wanted to go up. Ended up with centerlevel elevator of around 2~3mm and its perfect now!

Average difficulty
Bought my first EDF jet 6 years ago. Flew it for a couple of times and crashed a lot. In 6 years I have never flown again until now.
I would say, if this is your first rc plane ever. Get a simulator first, read all the manuals you can read and then it will be flyable. But watch the landings.

Overall, very happy!

PS. Any tips on how to easily remove the front landing gear?

[F-22 pilot]

I have the same plane and was also impressed with the build. I actually bought some 50mm jets from banana hobby to get started (only been flying for 9 months) they were an inexpensive way for me to get started in this hobby. They actually fly really well, especially the F-16..

You probably will have figured this out by the time you read this but, getting back to the FW F-22. i dont have a very big space to fly, so i wanted to take the landing gear off also. the gear is held with 2 allen screws. the top one is easy to remove, then you just remove the top arm. I also thought you had to cut into the wood, but if you remove the front gear servo, you can access the bottom allen screw.. Unfortunately, i dont know if mine was stripped or just couldnt get a good angle, but i was not able to remove the second screw.. the other alternative, which is not as pretty is to pull the whole gear assembly out and then put a plastic plate over the hole,

why didn't you just move the battery forward a little bit, instead of having to trim,? i have my battery forward and seems to work well with no additional trimming. using the 4s 2200mah.

That was nice flying, and what a challenge to land on that little strip, you must of had a lot of wind to be crabbing like that with no rudders.. but as you probably already know, this plane floats for ever but since you were trying to bring it in on that strip, it makes for some A-clinching landings..