Question on neutral elevator setting on Freewing F-15C

[davegee]

Hi All; my Freewing F-15C came in good shape from Singapore today. Took a few weeks but they did a good job, overall.

I have the plane basically together, but am hoping someone can give me a confirmation on where to put the horizontal stabilizer per the instruction manual, which was unclear to me, at least

If I'm reading it correctly, it says to put the stabilizer leading edge 10mm down (nose up trim) from, what I'm guessing is the actual neutral. or the horizontal seam on the fuse. So, am I doing it correctly if I have the leading edge of the stabilizer down from that seam 10mm for the correct neutral position for flight?

Thanks for any help on this!

Regards,

Davegee

[davegee]

Hi All; my Freewing F-15C came in good shape from Singapore today. Took a few weeks but they did a good job, overall.

I have the plane basically together, but am hoping someone can give me a confirmation on where to put the horizontal stabilizer per the instruction manual, which was unclear to me, at least

If I'm reading it correctly, it says to put the stabilizer leading edge 10mm down (nose up trim) from, what I'm guessing is the actual neutral. or the horizontal seam on the fuse. So, am I doing it correctly if I have the leading edge of the stabilizer down from that seam 10mm for the correct neutral position for flight?

Thanks for any help on this!

Regards,

Davegee

I think I figured this out after I thought about it for awhile. Please disregard this request for info now.

Cheers

davegee

[406PIlot]

How did you get a Freewing F15 they have been out of stock for months......

[xviper]

How did you get a Freewing F15 they have been out of stock for months......

"They" aren't the only ones selling this plane. If you want to pay high dollar, AliExpress still has 10 of them (PNP), as does F-Hobby. There may be other sellers as well.

[davegee]

How did you get a Freewing F15 they have been out of stock for months......

I got tired of waiting on MRC and went directly to RC Castle in China. Their prices are discounted a bit from what they sell for here in the USA, but they had a package that included all the ordnance that I wanted. Had to pay about $120 for shipping, but bottom line, I paid around $50 more than if I had waited for the ship to come in for MRC and any other distributors. It was worth it for me. My plane is ready for its maiden as soon as the weather clears after an impending snowstorm coming up. Might be end of next week.

[406PIlot]

Awesome 👍. Thanks for the info!! Greatly appreciated

[xviper]

I got tired of waiting on MRC and went directly to RC Castle in China. Their prices are discounted a bit from what they sell for here in the USA, but they had a package that included all the ordnance that I wanted. Had to pay about $120 for shipping, but bottom line, I paid around $50 more than if I had waited for the ship to come in for MRC and any other distributors. It was worth it for me. My plane is ready for its maiden as soon as the weather clears after an impending snowstorm coming up. Might be end of next week.

And there seems to still be stock for the 9-bl inrunner with weapons. In Canada, I'm the opposite of you in terms of final cost of the same plane. Due to the higher brokerage fees from the shipping agent via Motion, I end up paying about 50 bucks LESS from RC Castle.

[davegee]

And there seems to still be stock for the 9-bl inrunner with weapons. In Canada, I'm the opposite of you in terms of final cost of the same plane. Due to the higher brokerage fees from the shipping agent via Motion, I end up paying about 50 bucks LESS from RC Castle.

Glad to see you got a good deal using RC Castle. I have never had a problem with them, through the years. They did a great job packing and shipping my plane, via Singapore. I might have a higher shipping fee than you due to my location in very rural Wyoming. It isn't the end of the Earth, but you can see it from there! Seriously, I'm happy with the price I paid, even with the shipping being a bit higher. I look forward to flying this plane soon, weather permitting.

[xviper]

Glad to see you got a good deal using RC Castle. I have never had a problem with them, through the years. They did a great job packing and shipping my plane, via Singapore. I might have a higher shipping fee than you due to my location in very rural Wyoming. It isn't the end of the Earth, but you can see it from there! Seriously, I'm happy with the price I paid, even with the shipping being a bit higher. I look forward to flying this plane soon, weather permitting.

My last 3 big jets came from RCC. I've always been very happy with their pricing and service. The shipping has become very high from about 1.5 years back. However, the lower price of the product tends to offset the cost of shipping but the biggest difference is that RCC will use mail to ship, so when it gets here, brokerage is only a few dollars compared to FedEx/UPS brokerage being extremely high. Additionally, Motion (and other US based vendors) is required by law to declare full retail price on the customs declaration. RCC, on the other hand, tends to declare a customs value as low as 1/7th of retail so subsequent brokerage is even lower as is the taxes payable. My last jet was rubber stamped by the post office and did not suffer any brokerage or tax. The other advantage of buying from RCC (for me) is that I can buy in CAN$$, thereby side-stepping the 2.5% currency conversion by my CC (or the even higher conversion fee from PayPal).
I do still occasionally buy a plane from Motion at greater expense simply more out of loyalty to a terrific company but in the long run, economics must come into play for most purchases. Unlike you, Motion does not give me free shipping on anything because of my location.
As a side note, I get much faster delivery from RCC if I request shipping via Hong Kong Post. Shipping via Singapore Post take 3 times as long (2 weeks vs 6 weeks) and both cost the same.

[davegee]

Wow, that’s great info! I’ll refer back to it for future purchases. A new wrinkle in my last purchase of the F-15 was that it originated in Singapore, which surprised me. Tracking info was spotty, but it took the longest time for it to finally Leave Singapore. But once it did, it began an odyssey that took it to LA, then Chicago, then Cheyenne, and eventually to Cody, where I live. I don’t remember the shipping agent from Singapore to LA, probably Singapore Post, but the rest of the trip was via USPS.

I’ve been told that possibly part of MRC’s problems right now are due to a huge backlog in ports like LA and Long Beach, where dozens of container ships wait to get unloaded and trucked out. Apparently, there is an acute labor shortage that is helping to delay things. Hopefully it will get back to normal sooner than later.

Thanks for the info on shipping. I, too, plan on resuming buying things from MRC again when stock comes in again for shipping.

cheers

davegee

[xviper]

When RCC uses Singapore Post, the actual origin is Hong Kong BUT, SingPost's "hub" is in Singapore, so the journey doesn't officially begin till it gets to the hub. It can take up to a week for the box to get from Hong Kong to Singapore. It's not unlike when I buy something from a company located in Georgia. Because I'm in Canada, the seller "officially" uses USPS but the package is given to some intermediary shipping company that is responsible for getting it to USPS. Even though the seller's warehouse is in Georgia, I'm actually buying it from their "international" warehouse (in Georgia). USPS doesn't take possession of the package till it gets to a destination (near the border to Canada) where they can do the final "exportation" out of the US. Officially, that's where the package's journey begins. The part of the trip between Georgia and the "port of exit" doesn't seem to exist. So several days goes by before USPS even gets their hands on it. Then suddenly, within a day, the package arrives in Canada and the rest of the journey takes a few more days.
In RCC's case of sending me a parcel, since Hong Kong Post's "hub" is in Hong Kong, the journey (tracking) begins as soon as HKP gets the box from RCC. RCC used to use DHL during the start of the pandemic. My plane would actually go to Frankfurt, then crosses the Atlantic to Canada. That's going the "wrong" way around the world to get to me. Those shipments took about 2 months.

[davegee]

Wow! That would explain why, when I was checking tracking, it seemed to be setting in Singapore for an interminable period. It was probably enroute to Singapore from Hong Kong during a lot of that time. It finally cleared US Customs in LA, before making its odyssey to Chicago, Cheyenne, and eventually to me. I'm glad it arrived in good shape. The original box was sealed in shrinkwrap, then covered in cardboard sheeting, and they shrink wrapped it in a sturdy black plastic. And, on each of the 8 corners of the box, they had placed a sturdy molded plastic corner piece that protected the edges from damage. They took a lot of extra care to be sure it made it to me undamaged.

Once question: in a previous entry, you mentioned in the future I could request it get sent by Hong Kong Post, versus Singapore Post. How do I do that? Is there some area on the purchase order online I can make this request? I would definitely want to go that way versus Singapore, for the time involved to get to me.

Thanks again for your great tips. You definitely have a handle on international shipping stuff!!👍

davegee

[xviper]

Wow! That would explain why, when I was checking tracking, it seemed to be setting in Singapore for an interminable period. It was probably enroute to Singapore from Hong Kong during a lot of that time. It finally cleared US Customs in LA, before making its odyssey to Chicago, Cheyenne, and eventually to me. I'm glad it arrived in good shape. The original box was sealed in shrinkwrap, then covered in cardboard sheeting, and they shrink wrapped it in a sturdy black plastic. And, on each of the 8 corners of the box, they had placed a sturdy molded plastic corner piece that protected the edges from damage. They took a lot of extra care to be sure it made it to me undamaged.

Once question: in a previous entry, you mentioned in the future I could request it get sent by Hong Kong Post, versus Singapore Post. How do I do that? Is there some area on the purchase order online I can make this request? I would definitely want to go that way versus Singapore, for the time involved to get to me.

Thanks again for your great tips. You definitely have a handle on international shipping stuff!!👍

davegee

RCC has been packing his planes like this for years. The hard corner protectors, I've noticed this past year. It's a really good safeguard. I like it a lot. I've never had any damage in any of the many planes I've purchased from them. Sometimes, it takes me nearly as long to unwrap the whole thing as it does to assemble the plane.
As for asking for which shipping to use, there is a comment section during the check out that you can make such a request. I'm going to start using it with my next buy. I'm not sure how he determines the shipping method. My last two planes were the same size box, similar weight and similar price, yet one was shipped SingPost and the other HKP. The SingPost order was made first and the HKP order was 2 weeks later. The SingPost one came 2 weeks after the HKP arrived. I believe both left Hong Kong the day the shipping request was done up. Both left Hong Kong right away but one travelled to Singapore while the other left Hong Kong and headed to Canada right away. Then, with the backlog at the Canadian port of entry, it sat there (listed as "en route") for another week at least before it showed it had "arrived" (this part has been well publicized in the news). Shipping is a messy business these days from overseas.
Anyway, sorry for the diversion, but since you figured out the original question, I guess shipping and sourcing is sort of part of the F-15 discussion. Back to the F-15.

[davegee]

RCC has been packing his planes like this for years. The hard corner protectors, I've noticed this past year. It's a really good safeguard. I like it a lot. I've never had any damage in any of the many planes I've purchased from them. Sometimes, it takes me nearly as long to unwrap the whole thing as it does to assemble the plane.
As for asking for which shipping to use, there is a comment section during the check out that you can make such a request. I'm going to start using it with my next buy. I'm not sure how he determines the shipping method. My last two planes were the same size box, similar weight and similar price, yet one was shipped SingPost and the other HKP. The SingPost order was made first and the HKP order was 2 weeks later. The SingPost one came 2 weeks after the HKP arrived. I believe both left Hong Kong the day the shipping request was done up. Both left Hong Kong right away but one travelled to Singapore while the other left Hong Kong and headed to Canada right away. Then, with the backlog at the Canadian port of entry, it sat there (listed as "en route") for another week at least before it showed it had "arrived" (this part has been well publicized in the news). Shipping is a messy business these days from overseas.
Anyway, sorry for the diversion, but since you figured out the original question, I guess shipping and sourcing is sort of part of the F-15 discussion. Back to the F-15.

Cool. Good info, all. I'm itching to maiden the F-15 as soon as this big snowstorm comes through and the field melts off. Probably be a week or so.

A good friend of mine flew the Actual Gulf Spirit F-15C that this model is painted up as when based at Eglin AFB, FL many years ago. He flew F-15s for almost all of his 20 year career in the air force. One particular highlight for him was ferrying a F-15C that had NO tanks, ordnance, no nothing on the wings, a "clean wing" as they called it. So, he basically got a free ticket to have fun with this airplane as he ferried it to another base, all on his own. Without having a very strict mission planned as he usually had, this was a real treat!