Official Freewing T-33 Shooting Star 80mm EDF Thread

[Corsair nut]

Those landing lights are awwweesome!!!!

[e4dragongunner]

I'll publish the files once I got my T-33 and made sure that everything fits. There'll be cockpits parts as well.

awesome thanks man!!

[vduniec]

Thanks for the update. I still will give them a try on my next project. Sometimes, I've found that putting my masking products on skin instead of clothing "de-tacks" them a little better because of the skin oils.

Next up on the horizon for repaint is the AL37 which I hear has the same paint adhesion issues as this plane.

Guys, I had posted my "tip" about Post-it EXTREME notes for masking. While I stand by these as working great for many of my projects foamie repaint, I did discover yesterday that these post-it EXTREME notes, even de-tacked once on a teeshirt, will still lift the silver paint off of the Shooting Star. As I said, there is almost no adhesion of this paint. I was repairing the shipping wrinkles on my wingtip and limiting the repair to just that area and ended up pulling off the paint in the adjacent panel, which I then stripped completely with scotch tape before repainting. Luckily I started with the bottom, and it turned out well -- just took a while before I was satisfied with the match. Ended up mixing some medium gray with silver. I know it can look cool to slightly mis-match silver with panels, but if you can't do "enough" of it, it looks wrong in just one place, and with decals already applied, no chance to do this.

I ended up using the dampened brown paper masking method which worked fine.

Kind of a shame as the silver paint job is nicely done -- but if there's a primer over the foam, it's not doing anything so far as I can tell.

[vduniec]

PSA for those wondering where the provided pitot tube and antenna go. I didn't see it called out in the assembly instructions but it's shown on the cover.

[Quickstop]

This rx came from another plane it worked there. Have NOT used any phone app didn't know there is one. Have NOT tried to bypass the blue box will do that now. Standby

Arc636a comes preprogrammed from eflite for a specific aircraft, It may require reprogramming to work on another, and you need cable from spectrum to do it. Do you know the specific aircraft it came out of?

[vduniec]

Repainted in the colors of the 49th FIS, based at Griffiss AFB, circa 1980's. Painted in overall Aircraft Gray, 16473. Decals are home made. Colored decals are printed on white waterproof vinyl and cut out by hand. Black lettering is vinyl cut with a Silhouette vinyl cutter. I normally maiden my planes before I repaint them but the consensus on this one is that it's a pretty honest flyer so I decided to chance it on this one. It's so much easier to repaint the individual components.

[RCjetdude]

That thing looks great! Nicely done sir!

[Oxotnik]

Repainted in the colors of the 49th FIS, based at Griffiss AFB, circa 1980's. Painted in overall Aircraft Gray, 16473. Decals are home made. Colored decals are printed on white waterproof vinyl and cut out by hand. Black lettering is vinyl cut with a Silhouette vinyl cutter. I normally maiden my planes before I repaint them but the consensus on this one is that it's a pretty honest flyer so I decided to chance it on this one. It's so much easier to repaint the individual components.

Looks fantastic!

[Quickstop]

Excellent

[MANFRED]

Guys, I had posted my "tip" about Post-it EXTREME notes for masking. While I stand by these as working great for many of my projects foamie repaint, I did discover yesterday that these post-it EXTREME notes, even de-tacked once on a teeshirt, will still lift the silver paint off of the Shooting Star. As I said, there is almost no adhesion of this paint. I was repairing the shipping wrinkles on my wingtip and limiting the repair to just that area and ended up pulling off the paint in the adjacent panel, which I then stripped completely with scotch tape before repainting. Luckily I started with the bottom, and it turned out well -- just took a while before I was satisfied with the match. Ended up mixing some medium gray with silver. I know it can look cool to slightly mis-match silver with panels, but if you can't do "enough" of it, it looks wrong in just one place, and with decals already applied, no chance to do this.

I ended up using the dampened brown paper masking method which worked fine.

Kind of a shame as the silver paint job is nicely done -- but if there's a primer over the foam, it's not doing anything so far as I can tell.

When I saw you were using the post-it notes listed as extreme, I thought you would have a lifting problem. For sharp and small area masking, I use the post it full contact notes. They are a bit pricey but are full contact not just a strip of adhesive. The adhesive is very low adhesion and has yet to pull up any of my base paint.

[James]

vduniec Awesome work! Really sharp looking

[flazz]

Nicely done .....congrats........

[vduniec]

Successful maiden in the books! Almost a non-event. Zero clicks of trim needed. First time that’s ever happened for me. My CG is at 100mm. The factory flap to elevator mix results in a nose down pitch so I’m going to adjust that.

Great vertical. Slow landing speeds and easy on the batteries. Great job Motion!

Photo even looks like how the 49th FIS T-33 looked in its natural element, overcast skies of upstate NY.

[OV10]

Those landing lights are awwweesome!!!!

Yepper……Radar-Guy did a superb job
Just makes me wonder why Freewing/Alpha didn't do it
I'll be looking for someone to print me that cause my BA version can't be without

[Oxotnik]

My T-33 is still sitting in the plane rack in the back of my Chevy Tahoe, from Sunday's RC outing. Every time, I look in the rear view mirror, I think, "Dang! that's a great looking plane!" This having a day job thing is cramping my style... LOL

[Tim K]

Does anyone have a diagram or drawing showing the locations for the nomenclature for the T-33? I did a google search but didn't come up with much.

[e4dragongunner]

Holy BALLS! EXCELLENT

[bmccool]

Success I think? I removed the wing ribbons and the wing blocks that they plug into. I ran several Y connectors for flaps gear elevator ailerons all directly to the receiver. Now everything works as it should. It appears my problem was with the wing ribbon blocks. the only thing that would work when I used them were the flaps! I think I will remove the Blue Block and just run everything directly to the receiver.

[Flygirl]

I'd say a majority of the time, my Freewing planes arrive with overall good quality control. This one from a visual standpoint is a bit on the mediocre side with its paint job and some paint chips. When something arrives new, it's nice to see when it actually looks as close to new as possible. I see some have similar issues such as with the paint chips around the tailcone and canopy like I do.

The Good:

The design of the aircraft appears great though, all the doors sit flush, plastic parts appear glued well (I tugged on plastic components that are load bearing), the screws were tight, servo arms were matching on their respective surfaces, the control rod lengths in the manual corresponds to the proper length (only one small error in the instruction manual), the plane assembled incredibly fast and easily, all electronics work properly, the nose wheel was even centered well, ESC to battery lead connectors have sufficient solder, wing connector boards were secure and soldering looks good, the landing gear and retracts appear stout, the fitment of parts are great, the plastic rear of the canopy for the latch to secure to is a nice alternative to the traditional wood piece often used, servo pockets are great and the servos are held tightly without unwanted movement, the split flaps had a thin foam piece to keep the surfaces from sticking to one another during shipment, the power system sounds well balanced, the EDF and ESC were secured well, and the black plastic tailpipe is a nice touch (although the alignment is a bit off).

The Not So Good:

- Paint chips around both sides of the canopy, near one servo pocket, near one intake, on or around the main gear doors, on one wing tank, and around the tailcone in multiple sections
- A bit misalignment of the tailcone, although not terrible
- Some bubbles in the waterside decals
- What appears to be paint runs and residue of potential moisture on the wing and fuselage
- Wing servo tape cover was not adhered and likely was at one point, but it lifted and took some paint with it.
- An upside down decal, which can be easily seen near the canopy

Although these are not major items, I have experienced much better paint quality out of the box from many Freewing planes. I'll repaint the areas in need, but it would be nice to see Freewing catch these things before it ships. I have posted pictures below of the more noticeable items to get an idea of what I am talking about.

With that said, does anyone have the paint codes (gray, orange, and green) from Home Depot for the Camo. T-33? I need to do some touch up airbrushing .

Wow! That's way worse than my Iceland one. So sorry!

[Oxotnik]

Success I think? I removed the wing ribbons and the wing blocks that they plug into. I ran several Y connectors for flaps gear elevator ailerons all directly to the receiver. Now everything works as it should. It appears my problem was with the wing ribbon blocks. the only thing that would work when I used them were the flaps! I think I will remove the Blue Block and just run everything directly to the receiver.

I've been burned twice on Blue Boxes and wing-interface multi-connectors. Now, I NEVER run ailerons nor elevator through them and prefer to remove them altogether, unless they're needed for gear-door sequencing. The first thing I did with my T-33 was remove them.They are not needed to operate the T-33 and are only useful if the wings have to be removed/reinstalled frequently. Too many soldered connections for little Chinese ladies who are soldering 60 boards per hour. LOL