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Fattie F-14 Tomcat by enjoy2fly

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  • Fattie F-14 Tomcat by enjoy2fly

    This is NOT intended to be a promotional post. I am not trying to promote or sell this plane for anyone or to anyone. This is something that is interesting to me and I don't wish to continue to pollute the Freewing F-14 Tomcat thread with this. Something this goofy looking should not fly and yet, it does.



    This is the first commercially produced Fattie. Previous to this, they had to be made by the DIY out of Depron or foamboard. (I personally, had a Fattie F-18 years ago that I flew for a couple of years.) They come as PNP, complete with 6-axis gyro, retracts with sequenced door, flies on 4s. Although it is sold as a pusher prop, it has already been converted to twin 50mm EDF.

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    EDF version:


    FNRC unbox and build video:
    Attached Files

  • #2
    Did you get yours yet? Super interested!!!

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    • #3
      I got my shipping notice today. Hope to have it in about a week.

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      • #4
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        It arrived today. This is about the only picture I'll post as there are plenty on the product webpage. I may post a video of the first flight or two later.
        The whole box weighed almost nothing. This thing is a featherweight. There's nothing to it.
        It comes with a Pulsar gyro, mostly all wired up.
        Since ordering this plane, that company is now offering a version with an EDF kit that the buyer installs. Very soon, they will also sell a completed PNP EDF version. If it flies OK as a pusher prop, I'll put in twin counter-rotating X-Fly 50's.

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        • #5
          Pretty cool plane!
          I watched a video of it from Essential R/C the other day and it flew very well. The only problem was if you rotate a little too steep on take off the prop will hit the ground.
          I think I will watch for the EDF version.

          Steve

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          • #6
            There is a video of the EDF version on the Fattie site.

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            • #7
              BTW, I'm saying this is the most "manly man" voice I can muster up .......................... This is the cutest RC plane I've seen ever. It's the only one of the 150 planes I've gone through that the wife actually likes.

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              • #8
                This is totally awesome!!! Even if I never decided to fly it, I'd even love to hang it on my ceiling.

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                • #9
                  Just finished it. Ready to maiden when the winds die down. As far as I can tell, the Pulsar gyro has a very effective steering gyro. The rest was easy to set but won't know till it flies. It's got "self level", OFF and rate gyro. The Pulsar, if it works well, will make adding a steering gyro and flight gyro so much cheaper.

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                  • #10
                    So cool! Good luck with the maiden.

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                    • #11
                      Thanks.

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                      • #12
                        The EDF kit just arrived. Sold by "X-Flight" ..... http://www.x-flight.com.hk/index.php...cat0=6&id=477# Arrived in less than a week.
                        Comes with 3D printed housing, so installation should be fairly goof-proof. Also come with one ESC (uses existing ESC for one fan) and a Y for the throttle leads. It's possible to buy just the pair of 3D printed fittings. I may later buy more powerful counter-rotating fans if the performance is lacking. It's recommended that thrust tubes be made for each fan unit. I will still fly it with the pusher prop first for a comparison.

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                        I took the Fattie out yesterday for the maiden but the wind was quite ferocious when I got to the field and even flying my 8s, 90mm Yak 130 was a bit dicey on the crosswind landing, so I elected to just do some ground runs instead. The prop version is very powerful and the steering gyro on the Pulsar was very effective, perhaps as effective as an Assan steering gyro, of which I have several in many planes. Alishamao showed in his demo that ground handling can be just as wild as the Freewing B2 due to the short wheelbase. It was all over the place. He didn't have the gyro turned on for the first take off. He later suggested that the first flight should be done with gyro ON. The steering gyro only works when the gyro is ON. When ON, the little guy tracks flawlessly straight down the centerline of the runway.
                        Will try again to get it in the air tomorrow.

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                        • #13
                          Thanks for posting that, good luck with the maiden!

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                          • #14
                            Maiden done. The following is a video of my second flight. (I don't like doing a video of the maiden as it's too distracting.) As already seen from other videos, there were no surprises with this plane. With gyro ON, it just takes off pretty much by itself once it gets enough airspeed. It has to fly fast or it falls. Rolls in both directions were a non-issue as was looping. An inverted pass was also a non-event. Landing needs to be done fast or it drops too fast. With such little wheels, it doesn't roll far after touchdown. There were a lot of really nice planes at the field today but the little Fattie seemed to get the most attention, especially when flying. Most people didn't think it would fly at all.
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                            WARNING: Hatcam



                            Next ...................... Twin 50mm EDFs go in.

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                            • #15
                              So cool!!!

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                              • #16
                                Flew the Fattie this morning with the twin 50mm EDFs as supplied by X-Flight. Somewhat DISAPPOINTED! I used the same amount of runway as I did when it was a pusher prop. It did not get off the ground before running into the grass at the end. Sheared off both main struts and nose gear doors. Once repaired, I will attempt again using the full length of the runway, instead of only 2/3 of it. It definitely did NOT have the same grunt of speed as the pusher prop did. If I could do it again. I would buy just the 3D printed fan mounts from X-flight and get a pair of counter-rotating 50mm fans from RC Castle that puts out 920g of static thrust each. The units from X-Flight puts out only 700+g each.
                                I have a feeling that once I can get this thing in the air, it will have to be flown at full throttle all the time. I don't like flying planes that way. Rather than buying new, more powerful fans, I'm going to go back to the pusher prop. It's got the speed needed to make it fun. It can also get off the ground in 1/2 the length of our runway (as can be seen in the video).

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                                • #17
                                  Sounds like you had a good day on one hand and not so good on the other...

                                  Good intel for the rest of us.

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                                  • #18
                                    Yeah, it was like having one hand in luke warm water and the other in an ice bath. The big Mig was a joy as was the Bird of Time.

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                                    • #19
                                      Fattie F-14 on EDFs ............................... DISAPPOINTMENT! Everyone at the field wanted so much to see it fly but no joy. With the recommended X-Flight fans, this little guy simple does NOT have the jam to go fast enough to get off the ground at my altitude of 3200'. It just barely lifts off if I crank on the elevator but that's too soon and it begins to tip stall. Luckily, no damage occurred. I'm sure at sea level, it would work and I'm sure with the higher kv fans from X-Fly, it would work for me at my altitude, but I'm not spending any more money on this thing. It flies quite well as a pusher prop. The fans are coming out and the prop is going back on. It was an interesting experiment and I don't regret trying it but if I were to do it again, I'd go for the higher static thrust fans from RC Castle.

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                                      • #20
                                        Ok so I received a Fattie F-14 for Christmas. It uses the pusher prop configuration and it flies surprising well...most pilots at my field were amazed that it could fly. I did buy the entire EDF conversion kit from X-flight with the hope to convert my Fattie to a proper "jet". However, after looking online and reading this thread I'm finding that most people that have done the EDF conversion and successfully flown the model have removed the landing gear and are hand launching it. It may be that the EDF Fattie needs more runway to get up to speed? Anyway, I decided to not use the stock EDFs the conversion comes with purchase two X-Fly 50mm EDFs per xviper's recommendation.

                                        X-Fly 50mm EDF - 4S 4600KV produces 900gm static thrust @ 16.5V

                                        I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully I'll have some video.

                                        Cheer,s
                                        Vic

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