All-New Freewing PJ50 Twin 70mm EDF Jet - Official Thread

[xviper]

Twin 70 mm 12 blades

"High zoot" inrunners, no less. At first I was a little surprised that this plane is 50 bucks more than the AL-37 but then I thought back to what I did with mine. I went and bought the more powerful inrunners to put in the 37 after mine ditched in the alkaline pond. Well, let's just say I spent way more than 50 bucks. Those inrunners made my ginormous 737 a rocket ship of sorts. I'm thinking they'll make this smaller jet even faster and more impressive. Plus, it comes with trailing links - a huge bonus for me. Besides, it's my retirement "play money", so what does it matter.

[GliderGuy]

There are several “similar” profile EDFs offered for sale. I’ve been holding off buying as I looked for something with a more unique profile. This one fits the bill. Ordered one!

Can’t wait to see how she holds up to lots of flights.

By the way…The MiG-29 overall is holding up great. Just needs attention to (beefing up) the plastic main gear attachment box support area.

Good job bringing the PJ50 to market!

-GG

[Gilatrout]

Hugh Wiedman - Every. Single. Release.

The negative ones always start louder, just wait a little while for them to disappear for a while and the ones who are interested remain. Today was a good day for civilian jet fans. Everyone will have their day

I would go so far as to say today was a good day for scale jet fans.


Just like all the airliner mods,.this too can be customized from warbird to business jet. Looks fun to fly too.

[xviper]

There are several “similar” profile EDFs offered for sale.
-GG

Do you mean other similar "looking" EDFs? When I see the word "profile", I'm thinking of those flat, 2-dimensional 3-D stunt planes or foamboard pusher props. I don't know of any mass produced foam BizJets. All the ones out there are really large custom jobs that are usually powered by turbines. This one is in a class of its own.
Had this been a Honda Jet of the same size, I'd have been the first one to have clicked the pre-order button. I'd have no patience to wait for that one.

[rifleman_btx]

I know dynam makes one but.... I'm very glad freewing stepped up and made a quality unit vs one that is decisively less desirable.

[GliderGuy]

Semantics...LOL Silhouette (top / side) would be a better choice of words. What I was getting at is the number of times folks see my Mig-29 and call it one of these by mistake: F-15, F-18, SU-30, F-14, etc.

Being in a class of its own with a unique silhouette is why I pushed the order button.

-GG

[xviper]

I know dynam makes one but.... I'm very glad freewing stepped up and made a quality unit vs one that is decisively less desirable.

That's right, they do. I've seen one at my field. Small. It didn't fly well. Underpowered, sounded like a sewing machine, flew on 4s, poor build quality, needed a bunch of mods just to make it hold up to daily use. It didn't fly more than once that day. Then there's the UMX one from Eflite. It flew very well but so small. For the price, it wasn't bad (for a bargain basement product). On the other hand, I went through 3 of the Dynam A-10s, so the price was basically triple for a mediocre product. Just never learned. It was early in my RC "career", so I was a bit younger and a lot dumber.

[rifleman_btx]

I've always looked at that one myself, but always with that, eeeeeeh no feeling.

[Gilatrout]

... I went through 3 of the Dynam A-10s

Dynam is one of those manufacturers that I will almost never buy. The quality control is just awful and I know I'll end up replacing everything.

[xviper]

Dynam is one of those manufacturers that I will almost never buy. The quality control is just awful and I know I'll end up replacing everything.

You are right. But remember, I was just starting out in this hobby. Didn't know a good manufacturer from a bad one and Dynam was "affordable". Experience and years teaches a lot.

[Gilatrout]

You are right. But remember, I was just starting out in this hobby. Didn't know a good manufacturer from a bad one and Dynam was "affordable". Experience and years teaches a lot.

That's the same lesson I learned,.we.all learned the hard way.

[MeyerVW]

I have flow for 20ish years off and on. Mostly in the last 2 years. I never get to excited for new releases because you never know what will show up. Yesterday felt like Christmas eve as a kid and super excited to see what would show up today. To my surprise this PJ50 showed. It took all of 2 minutes to pull the trigger and buy it. I really have fun with my AL37, even though I keep crashing it. Its a fun aircraft. I love the size of this with a twin 70mm. I think its perfect for me. I seem to be having nice success with twin 70's. My 262 is all worked out and flies amazing. Al37 is a hoot in Kulula livery. This one will get people added in the windows. I have talked with Callie graphics about this with the AL37 and hopefully will be able to do it with this one. Less windows will make it easier for the PJ50. Thank you for another great looking aircraft.

[Gilatrout]

Already heard back from Callie. The graphics are in the works. I also printed a pair of 1:16 pilot heads and started painting them as coastie pilots. Can't print the body because I don't know what kind of room is in there.

I needed a plane fix pretty bad it seems.

March is what...3 months away? That's 90 days...2160 hours... I can wait. Maybe.

[Aros]

I was pretty surprised by the initial negativity shown in the beginning chat from the live show. Then I realized that most of us resonate towards warbirds and military jets so we are pre-dispositioned to expecting that from Freewing. However, I have always been a huge proponent of diversity when it comes to varying classes offered in the hobby. And strengthening the civil class has always been top of my list. The AL37 was a tremendous genesis to kick off the class. This PJ50 looks to follow that same path. I am not concerned that this will be a model that doesn't sell well. In fact, I feel the opposite. I have a feeling it will be another one of our top sellers. What concerns me is this divisive attitude with some in the hobby. I recall reading someone's comments earlier today where he said something to the effect that "I have a hard enough time bringing my F4 to the club...If I bring this model they will laugh me out of the club!"

Why?

First of all, to me, that's not a very welcoming and inclusive club. We should embrace EVERY model that hits the market because it strengthens our hobby. An astute hobbyist said (paraphrase) "I love these new releases from Freewing! It forces the competition (FMS/E-flite, et al) to improve their models which in the end benefits us all!"

And being an employee of Motion RC for 8 years now I can honestly tell you that is something we love too.

I think there are a lot of people out there who don't realize that the bulk of Motion RC employees are all diehard RC pilots like most of you reading these words. Not faceless, could care less people. But people that want the same thing any RC pilot wants. Quality, attention to detail, diversity and above all else a product that delivers.

It is of my personal opinion that some of the negative folks were plants from competitors. I won't name names. They will go to great lengths to undermine what we, and Freewing offer to the hobby and have for years now. No matter. Proof, as always, remains in the form of sales.

I can't wait to snag this model. It hits all the right notes for me personally. And yes, there will be plenty of military jets and warbirds ahead.

[GliderGuy]

Well said, Aros! But you neglected to mention that negativity is not an uncommon human trait. I am a member of 2 sailplane clubs…one large and one small. The larger one is rampant with politics and negativity. The smaller and newer one is rampant with positivity…so far (LOL was that a negative ending comment?).

It’s good to be able discuss the inevitable design compromi$e$ and attempt to mindshare solutions. The MiG-29 is a prime example. Lord knows the negativity came hot and heavy with that bird. The end result, however, was several modifications were tried and flying techniques developed and MiG crashes were avoided. Mostly positive posts are now the norm for the MiG-29 (which….I hasten to add…is my favorite <albeit modified> EDF).

Discussions about prop backplate cracking with the P-38 led to an improved backplate design (and thank goodness). Nose gear brace development for the large A-10 is another. How the top wing skin cracking issue with the AL37 can be forestalled with an internal bracing solution discussed in that forum is yet another…and so on and on for other birds discussed in their respective forums.

Positivity is more fun. The PJ50 is, IMO, a positive…something fresh/different. Keep up the good work. But if a design compromise or odd flight characteristic is uncovered with the PJ50, I look forward to reading the work-arounds.

-GG

[Warbirdfan29]

I'm not usually into civilian aircraft, but I really like this model. Well done!
For me this model came as a surprise, I would have expected a Hawker Hunter, a F9F Panther or maybe even a T-7A red hawk.
In addition, there are countless variants of the "Gulfstream" that guarantee freedom for redesign and repainting.
In Germany, for example, there is the HALO research aircraft.
In other countries, the model is also used for military purposes. Think of the C-20 in the USA and the U-4 in Japan.

[mshagg]

This thing is going to be a rocket and will sell like hotcakes. I think they've read the room brilliantly. Great job guys.

There's a decade long back catalogue of military EDFs for people to work through.

As for pricing, I heard the US is nudging 7% inflation? And you're gonna benchmark price against planes released years ago? Come on.

[mshagg]

Im going to wring it out more this week now that the reveal is done. I was babying it with it being the only one. Just needed enough footage for the hype video. Definitely will try to get Major Croasdale on the sticks. He was there for the flight I showed (had a new baby, hadn't seen him in a bit). Hang tight.

But yes, Evan is right. The book calls for 5mm up, I did have to trim the elevator down on my maiden, but it was flying great for me so I didn't further play with it. I will now. Monday looks sunny and calm

Lol I assume it's considered poor form for the head of global marketing to put the demo model in!

[Twowingtj]

When I looked at the manual, I was curios about the 5mm of up elevator. After looking at many images, including those above, there is usually a pronounced negative angle of attack in the horizontal stab.

This is such a sleek looking bird. It will be a welcome addition to the hangar.

[BigJim]

I've noticed a couple of potential issues in the videos. The first is that James seems to be carrying a ton of up trim on his elevators indicating that his CG and possibly the book CG is way too forward. The second issue is that in one of the slo-mo landings, it looks like there is some fuselage flex in the aft section.

Both are easy to solve. For the flexing issue, I'm going to add additional carbon fiber slats internally along the tail and up the fuselage to stiffen the area where the two pieces meet. As to the CG, Ill figure out if I need to do more than move the battery after I add the stiffeners.

March is soo far away....

Saw the aft section flex during landing as well. I wonder how many landings the tail can take before they start to fail. I hope to remember this in March... age ya know!