Official Freewing 64mm F-14 Tomcat Twin 64mm EDF Jet Thread

[xviper]

Actually the reassessment was whether to get the wings at all. Buying from Motion isn’t a consideration, for precisely the reasons you pointed out. A while back I calculated the cost to my door of getting the F4 Phantom: from Motion I’d be looking at about $1500; from RCC or Ali $1000-$1100. Not Motion’s fault, it’s the shipping & currency rates.

The wings cleared customs and should be delivered today. That's 4 days from RCC. Brokerage, taxes, fees, etc ................. 15 Canuck bucks. You can just guess what it would have been if it was FedEx or UPS.

(Well, actually I can give an example.) Not quite on par in terms of declared value, but I bought my Ares from MotionRC not long ago. Brokerage, fees, taxes and taxes on fees came to $114.00. At about the same time frame, I bought the twin 80mm MiG29 from RCC (a much more expensive plane than the Ares). ALL brokerage costs ......... $19.00. Of course, I only had to pay for shipping from RCC once.

[kallend]

Keep hitting refresh John

Even if they get some, I wonder how fast they'll sell out. Last batch they had apparently went almost instantly.

[Evan D]

Keep hitting refresh John

[kallend]

That’s what he said and they should show later this week or early next. Always possible he was blowing smoke too.

Not showing yet.

[CF-105]

Actually the reassessment was whether to get the wings at all. Buying from Motion isn’t a consideration, for precisely the reasons you pointed out. A while back I calculated the cost to my door of getting the F4 Phantom: from Motion I’d be looking at about $1500; from RCC or Ali $1000-$1100. Not Motion’s fault, it’s the shipping & currency rates.

[xviper]

I was about to order a set from RC Castle myself, till I saw the $77 shipping! Once the shock wears off I’ll reassess…

I see you are "down east" from me. I bought 2 sets. The price for shipping was much less for 2. Did you also notice that the price for the wings is $56.00US? Motion's price is $96.00US. If US citizens put another 3 bucks of something, they get shipping for free (we won't). That 40 buck difference is what the customer pays for the first leg of shipping. They call it "free shipping" but is it really? If I were to order from Motion (which I have done many times in the past), not only do I pay for the first leg of the shipping, ie, the "free shipping" part, I also have to pay again when they send it across the border to me by UPS or FedEx or mail. This automatically incurs HUGE brokerage fees (couriers), taxes and other fees. In the case of the V2 wings, purchase one set at $96.00US, pay for shipping at ~$50.00US by mail +any brokerage and taxes (~$20.00). So, about $166.00US .............. converts to $227.00CAN +currency conversion at about 2.5%, let's make that 230.00 Canuck bucks.

Had I bought 1 set of wings from RCC, it would have cost me ~$130.00US, BUT, I pay in CAN $$$ at RCC, hence, no currency conversion fee (PayPal or CC). Any way, I ended up paying $171.00CAN per set, delivered. If you buy just one set, it'll be a bit more. So far, the shipment has not been brokered by Canada Post, so there may be another 20 bucks to come (UPS/FedEx would be a guaranteed 30 - 40 bucks and higher taxes). (I've had $1000.00 planes from RCC where Canada Post did NOT broker it and no fees or taxes ensued.)

There you have it ........................ $230.00 vs <$200.00. It's a shock either way, just less of a shock from RCC. You can reassess sooner than later, while they still have stock.

[CF-105]

RC Castle has just updated their F-14 V2 webpages with newly available spare parts, of which the wings are now included and in stock.
Monetarily, it may not be advantageous for those in the US to buy from RCC, but it is for me as I have to pay for shipping only once from RCC. From Motion, I have to pay again to have it shipped by FedEx or UPS and also to pay for the high brokerage prices. I get my stuff from RCC by mail, which often times avoids brokerage and tax.

I was about to order a set from RC Castle myself, till I saw the $77 shipping! Once the shock wears off I’ll reassess…

[Couchbr]

Has anyone tried to fit a gimbal under the canopy? I have the Caddx GM3 gimbal and I’m looking for a bird to put it into. I might just buy the canopy/battery hatch and see if I can get it to fit, if no one has tried this yet.

[xviper]

Hmmmm ..................... There was a time when I purchased stuff from Motion (and ate the 2nd shipping cost and brokerage) that they would ship within hours of ordering something. Something's changed. This makes me wonder, of all the parts that came into stock for this plane, why do only the wings take a week or two longer to unpack, take inventory and put on the website?
I still remember the days when "Alpha" used to make special things happen with a PM.

[Evan D]

Three days since I ordered my P-51 now. I remember when they shipped same day.

[xviper]

Always possible he was blowing smoke too.

I hope they are better than that.

[Evan D]

That’s what he said and they should show later this week or early next. Always possible he was blowing smoke too.

[xviper]

I did see the one about the wings possibly being in the same shipment as the plane but maybe not yet unpacked and put on the website? Was that what you are refering to? I did see that RCC isn't shipping some stuff to the US.
Raymond only said that the Freewing factory has VERY limited stock left on the V2 wings after he got me my 2 sets. No idea if any or how many were sent with the plane order. I suppose we'll see very soon at Motion.

[Evan D]

I assume you didn’t see my post on RCG.

[kallend]

RC Castle has just updated their F-14 V2 webpages with newly available spare parts, of which the wings are now included and in stock.
Monetarily, it may not be advantageous for those in the US to buy from RCC, but it is for me as I have to pay for shipping only once from RCC. From Motion, I have to pay again to have it shipped by FedEx or UPS and also to pay for the high brokerage prices. I get my stuff from RCC by mail, which often times avoids brokerage and tax.

Just tried to order from RC-C. They show in stock, but no shipping options available.
???

Supply chains are so f-d up!

[xviper]

RC Castle has just updated their F-14 V2 webpages with newly available spare parts, of which the wings are now included and in stock.
Monetarily, it may not be advantageous for those in the US to buy from RCC, but it is for me as I have to pay for shipping only once from RCC. From Motion, I have to pay again to have it shipped by FedEx or UPS and also to pay for the high brokerage prices. I get my stuff from RCC by mail, which often times avoids brokerage and tax.

[xviper]

I have just been informed that 2 sets of V2 wings (for my and a friend's V1 F-14) have just been mailed to me from Hong Kong. I should have them by early next week. These were secured for me at a time when the last shipment from Freewing was being processed at the docks for Motion. Since Motion just got new stock on the V2 F-14 (and many other parts) but still no V2 wings, I suspect it could be a while before the next product run of them. From what I understand, my 2 sets of V2 wings may have been some of the last of the current stock at Freewing. It's unknown when the next production run will be.

[kallend]

Unacceptable customer service performance for this product issue on the part of Motion/Freewing. Huge miss on the product design resulting in catastrophic damage for many owners due to design flaw. Kudos for issue recognition and re-design. However, major fail in velocity and magnitude of the resolution for V1 owners. Appropriate redress by supplier should include priority availability of V2 wings & required ancillaries at cost. My March of 2025 V1 purchase has not had a single flight due to this product issue. For my part, future purchase decisions for new Motion/Freewing/Flightline offerings will require 1+ years favorable community experience before I invest.

It's now more than 3 months that we've been waiting for V2 wings from Motion.

If anyone from MotionRC is reading this, how about an update?

[nuts-n-volts]

Gotta say it... Motion got the second jet right. Flew my V2 again today and it flew great! Nice high nose approaches. Lots of T&Gs and landings. All real smooth. Amazing what correct aerodynamics will do for a plane.

Has one issue as they all do in my experience. The landing gear springs all get replaced before I fly. I hate the pre-loaded bounce back into the air. I use fuel tubing and O-ring lube. Never an issue anymore. Nice and soft.

[Fast N Light]

Re: The V2 wings ............................... It appears as though Motion got "some" in the last couple of weeks but they lasted about a "micro-second". I guess they didn't get many. I didn't get a notification of their availability so I must have been way down in the list of "notify me". You would think that with the seemingly high demand for these V2 wings from V1 owners, that a much bigger order would have been put in. Can anyone from Motion comment on this part coming back into stock?
Of all the sellers on AliExpress that have been carrying these wings, only one still has a webpage to order a set. Delivery could be near the latter part of March. However, the rating for this seller is NOT positive. I recall it was the same seller I ordered the Ares from. Within a few minutes after paying for it, I was informed the product was "out of stock". Took weeks to get my refund.
Another seller has indicated that they have run out of stock and a couple others are selling V1 wings, hoping nobody will notice the detailed specs.

Unacceptable customer service performance for this product issue on the part of Motion/Freewing. Huge miss on the product design resulting in catastrophic damage for many owners due to design flaw. Kudos for issue recognition and re-design. However, major fail in velocity and magnitude of the resolution for V1 owners. Appropriate redress by supplier should include priority availability of V2 wings & required ancillaries at cost. My March of 2025 V1 purchase has not had a single flight due to this product issue. For my part, future purchase decisions for new Motion/Freewing/Flightline offerings will require 1+ years favorable community experience before I invest.