New E-Flite 80mm F-18

[John Bergsmith]

I put the first five flights on the Eflite F-18 80mm. The F-18 flies terrific, and has a wide speed envelope. Started with a C/G at 75mm and ended up moving the battery back well over 1” over the 5 flights. Takeoffs were no issue with some flap, and with full flaps landings were very smooth and easily controllable. Plenty of power, and the Hornet went through the aerobatic routine very smoothly. It does very nice four point rolls and looks good in the air. With an Admiral 6s 5000mah I had no problem getting a solid 4 minute flight. Eflite has a very nice handling jet that looks fantastic in the air with no bad characteristics I could find.

[Dustman]

Evoman, is that a plastic one?

[spyder1]

Nice touch and go video,thank goodness some positive comments on this jet,I was thinking I made a poor choice.

[fredmdbud]

[Apache Jets]

Thanks Alpha, I know your secretly working on the T-38 and the new 70 mm T7-Redhawk. Wink,wink, nudge, nudge Christmas is right around the corner. Alpha Clause is very very busy in his work shop at the North pole.

[Hardway]

LOL I was editing your title at the same time Alfa was.... At least it is fixed, and also!! Welcome back online Bro!!! Jerry

[Helijet]

Whew...had me worried there for a second....

[Alpha]

Multi-national bases, most of which into areas that are... a bit... restricted... at the moment... even more so than usual. But it seems we've got a stable workaround, at least for the moment I'm typing this.

[JamesonC]

I edited it for you, Apache Jets. My first post in long time now that my access to Squawk has been restored.

How does ALPHA not have access to the Squawk????

[Alpha]

Can any of the moderators fix the spelling on my title posting. It's bugging me too. I can't figure out how to fix it. Thank you

I edited it for you, Apache Jets. My first post in long time now that my access to Squawk has been restored.

[Apache Jets]

Can any of the moderators fix the spelling on my title posting. It's bugging me too. I can't figure out how to fix it. Thank you

[Apache Jets]

Dude. Sorry about the typo.. I got sausage fingers.

[Scale Master]

Had a great maiden flight today on the F-18 with full ordinance and duel tanks. She flew almost perfect! Just needed 2 clicks of down trim after take off. Here's my 2 cents as to what is the best set up for this bird. That manual CG number is 70-78mm, I found that 75mm is perfect with a 5000mAh Lipo pack set at about 19mm from the foam edge from the beginning of the battery trey. The up elevator mix for full flap setting is a little aggressive and doesn't need to be the suggested 10% setting, 7% is more accurate. I found if you land on speed with the correct AOA for the F-18 (which is 11degrees or so) the jet will com in perfectly scale like and lands easily with power. Do NOT try and fly this jet like a cheap edf jet from high to low with too much speed and nose down attitude and try to swap ends at the end and expect a nice landing….. It won't work out for you. You will have a hard landing or pitch up too much and have a high chance stalling jet at the wing tips which may result in a complete stall of your bird. Also the aileron throw are not enough as per manual. Out of the box the jet fly's fine and scale like but the complete aileron role at full speed is not enough. I recommend keep the manual settings but move the servo control rod from the 3rd inner hole (whish is set at the factory) and move it to the first/most outer hole on the servo arm, this will give you more command and control. Elevator and flap setting is perfect.

Good luck guys tell me how things work out for ya. I have a pic of my buddy who I built the jet for. I plan doing a "Chippy Ho" Dambusters version in the next couple of weeks. Special thanks to Cali Graphics!

[Corsair Bill]

Maiden flown on the F-18 plus one other flight. Good approach but got her a little slow. Attached is a video of the landing. All is well, that is tough gear. Take off roll was about 200’, landing flaps and high rates. CG was set at 75mm with a Hobby Star 4600mah all the way forward. All rates set up by the book except Elevator to Flap had to go negative on the elevator mix to get up elevator for down flaps. This jet is a keeper.

[JamesonC]

Apache Jets , can we please fix the E-flite spelling in the title? My OCD is killing me!

[Scale Master]

Well Boys I have to say the E=flight F-18C Is the nicest and most scale bird I seen to date, and looks much more accurate to date. I got mu jet 10 days ago and decided to to give it a better scale look and take it to the next level. I'm gonna fly her on 6000 packs which will give me a minimum of 4+ minutes.

[fredmdbud]

I'd say 8 or 9 times out of ten, any bouncing or "porpoising" with this plane will be due to the nosegear, not the mains - unless you land nosewheel-touchdown-first.

[Mr D]

Flew my first flights today. Weather was in the mid 50’s winds 2mph gusting to 10 mph right down the asphalt runway. Beautiful flying plane, but I suggest all view pilot Ryan’s maiden of the EFLITE F18 for some helpful hints. My experience aligned well with Ryan. Definitely use high rate elevator and mid flaps for takeoff. I used a 5000 mAh battery weighing 740g placed 1 3/4” aft of the forward lip of the battery compartment. CG approx at 78mm from where the leading edge meets the fuselage with gear down. As a Ryan indicated the recommended elev mix with flap is negative on the DX8G2 not positive as shown in the manual. Even with the elev trim horn adjusted full forward I still required some nose up trim on my radio to maintain level flight flaps up at mid power. Not sure I want to move the CG further aft not knowing how much margin remains, but maybe with more flights under my belt I’ll give it a try.

[Mr D]

Getting ready for my maiden flight this Saturday. Easy build and looks great. A little concerned that the recommended CG appears a bit forward at 70-78mm from the leading edge, but better conservative forward than aft for the first flight. Note, there is an insert included, that has revised flap settings different from the PDF and hard copy manual.

[Gilatrout]

Just saw one today. Dont know what eflite is thinking but the graphics are sh*t. Paper stickers with colored background that doesnt come close to matching the paint. Decals arent hard horizon.

Gear look fantastic. Looks like flies well.too,.but ground handling... terrible. There was at least 15 degrees of slop on each side of center for the nose wheel. Hit a bump, and the nose tucks and scrapes the fuse. Replacing the linkage with a ball joint clevis instead of a z bend should help, but for this money, it shoild be a lot better than it is

It seems that Horizon thinks that we will be dazzled by how cool the gear look that we wont see or care about the serious shortcomings in the model.