What are the characteristics of the freewing f5
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Fast, I would say good for a better intermediate pilot -
Look for about ~120 mph on the top end. Heavier wing loading. Lands fast and flat, will stall quickly with too much flap if the gear are down. Nose needs some additional carbon rod support, it's kinda squishy out of the box. The main gear rock.
Fun, I think. This is the hot rod / speedster within the line up. 80mm fan in a 70mm sized body, so it looks like it's going faster than it is, but can also get away quicker if your eyesight isn't the best. Lots of thrust in comparison to the larger, almost 90mm sized planes that fly more on the wing but are more lightly loaded.Comment
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It's a fast flying, twitchy little bugger. Fun? Yes, but that fun could be short lived. Mine is embedded at the bottom of a shallow, muddy lake. A friend got one at the beginning of this season. It's been crashed a few times. After the last fix, he reduced the rates, increased the expo and still had a tough time bringing it to a safe landing without some damage. BTW, he flies his other jets very well. I suggested perhaps he should consider a gyro for the F5 for that extra bit of stability.Comment
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Thanks guys this info is very helpful. I fly edfs but this one on the maiden flight did get away from me. Luckily when it did it got into this area where known clitches are and I manage to minimize the damage. This is my second fuselage and I am hesitant to take it up again. Understanding the characteristics of a bird helps me to be a better pilot at flying the air ship. However on the maiden flight I realized that I needed to know more about this bird before I take her up again. Such a beautiful bird to crash and I want to take on the challenge but then again...maybe I'll sell her off to a pilot she maybe made for. Thanks once again guys.Comment
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I crashed my first one on the maiden and needed a new fuse. Stalled it on base to final trying to drop it into my short field with full flaps. Didn't have the space or clear approaches to make a long, straight-in approach on final and my skills weren't up to the challenge. I made three attempts to get her slowed down enough to not run into a culvert at the end of the field and on the last one, splat - stalled and spun in.
I'd been flying Freewing's other jets at the time (F-86 and Mirage) and figured this was no harder than those. I was wrong, at least for me.
Second (fuse) airplane for me was better. Less flap, more speed throughout...didn't fly it into my regular field, used one where I could do wide, sweeping base leg turns and long, clear, straight final approaches.Comment
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The F-5 is probably not the best short field or grass plane, but if you have 300ft of tarmac and decent approach, go for it! Yes you have to fly the F-5 like a proper Jet but this does not mean it won't slow down.
Ths jet is very versatile with it's battery capability. you can fly it with a light weight pack like a 4000 which I did most of the time. For longer flights I hav flown 6200s. the jet flies very different with a heavy pack in the nose and you don'r want to be really yanking hard at anything below 3/4 throttle and cruise speed or higher with a heavy pack. With a light pack the jets is very nimble and is quite forgiving. Certainly don't get too sow on base to final turn, and always try to have a stabilized approach with this one (not a bunch of pitch up/down/throttle up/down). I got my 25 degree flap/elev mix nailed and I could just set 25% throttle and settle right in and cut power in the pre-flare. As a testament to the model design (nice thick wings) a couple times I got too slow or came up short of the field and had to slam the throttle up and elevator back, and I thought for sure it was over" but the Tiger just went high alpha under full control and climbed right out...no nasty tendency to tip stall when headed straight ahead at high AOA.
It would be awesome to put in one of the lighter weight HP 80mm setups available now in this airframe and see how it performs with a light 4000 pack. Flight times may be short, but the vertical, short field handling and slow-flight performance would be awesome!
I hope somebody makes an updated bigger 60inch long 80mm version of the f-5 with more scale wing and rear fuselage (and better intakes!)...like the other new big 80s coming out. You don't need an F-5 to have 1:1 power to be scale. it's a slippery energy based jet!
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