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

[thedarkwraith]

Found a great video showing a modification you can do to the wing sweep ball links/control rod to improve it tremendously:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJEH-oUxKII

According to his video there have been others that have experienced ball links popping off the wing sweep servos and resulting in a crash. This is something I will be doing to my next one for sure.

[kallend]

I don't hav this plane yet. I will.......... I've seen 2 u tube vids so far crashes. . implying 1 wing swept only... But way more happy chappy's vids that is. Get with the program.. u pay for and assemble yourself. A thing u then put in the air...mmm. Risky on its own. Ask ramy RC how much his planes cost..
Just sayin. Hopeing I'm not outta line.. just hate the it's somebody elses fault world

Parts that come "pre-assembled" and are advertized as such should be assembled properly. If they aren't then they are defective and the manufacturer is liable.

[f4u ausie]

The wing sweep mechanism does not come preassembled .. happy flying

[kallend]

The wing sweep mechanism does not come preassembled .. happy flying

There have been reports even from MRC of the gyro pitch leads being reversed as supplied pre-assembled. Also of flap hinges having no adhesive and pulling out causing crashes, of stabilators having no adhesive to the plastic part that goes on the stub axle, and of retract mounts pulling out with essentially no adhesive. All pre-assembled parts.

[flyboy56]

I crashed my F14 a couple of days ago. I had a total of 12 flights on it. The first 4 or 5 flights the plane flew fine with gyro in stabilized mode. The next few flights it started to try to tip stall to the right while landing. On my final flight I was doing a left hand turn when all of a sudden the plane turned violently to the right and went into a dive from which I could not recover. I will not be getting another one of these F14s . I kind of have the feeling that Freewing released this plane on the market before working out the bugs in the gyro.
Show less

[Jon @ Two Bros RC]

I crashed my F14 a couple of days ago. I had a total of 12 flights on it. The first 4 or 5 flights the plane flew fine with gyro in stabilized mode. The next few flights it started to try to tip stall to the right while landing. On my final flight I was doing a left hand turn when all of a sudden the plane turned violently to the right and went into a dive from which I could not recover. I will not be getting another one of these F14s . I kind of have the feeling that Freewing released this plane on the market before working out the bugs in the gyro.
Show less

That was neither a "tip stall" nor a bug in the plane. It has to be flown with throttle or it will stall while banking. It's a heavily wing loaded jet. It's not forgiving to pilot error and will drop a wing if it's not being flown correctly. Fortunately, it's not hard to fly, you just have to have the presence of mind to keep throttle engaged while banking and coordinate turns, and make sure that you're landing it with throttle as well.

[Evan D]

Flyboy56, sorry to hear. The F-14 is a special plane but seems not quite right.

[f4u ausie]

That was neither a "tip stall" nor a bug in the plane. It has to be flown with throttle or it will stall while banking. It's a heavily wing loaded jet. It's not forgiving to pilot error and will drop a wing if it's not being flown correctly. Fortunately, it's not hard to fly, you just have to have the presence of mind to keep throttle engaged while banking and coordinate turns, and make sure that you're landing it with throttle as well.

Maybe motion as well as showing us ( the fancy bits and bobs)on a new plane,, should mention in vids,, its a high wing load, keep up speed ,, till on final... the only vid they did was james,, at cob county field,, was an old plane,, f4 (keep up the speed in the turns or it will fall like a brick) he said.. so in turns im on the power... less crashes is to everybodies advantage.. cause it is a beutiful bit of foam a little reminder,, here or there does not hurt

[Jon @ Two Bros RC]

Maybe motion as well as showing us ( the fancy bits and bobs)on a new plane,, should mention in vids,, its a high wing load, keep up speed ,, till on final... the only vid they did was james,, at cob county field,, was an old plane,, f4 (keep up the speed in the turns or it will fall like a brick) he said.. so in turns im on the power... less crashes is to everybodies advantage.. cause it is a beutiful bit of foam a little reminder,, here or there does not hurt

They probably should, yeah. I went in-depth on my channel and explained how to get the most out of it, and how to avoid wrecking it. Not everyone watches me, though.

[f4u ausie]

Yes ya teck info is the best cya

[Rayant]

The rear landing gear rubs on the fuselage when I pick it up. Do you have this problem too?

[thedarkwraith]

The rear landing gear rubs on the fuselage when I pick it up. Do you have this problem too?

I had no problems with any of the landing gear. Rears when retracted had ample clearance from body and fit nicely in the spots provided in the body. Do you have pictures to show what you are referring to?

[Rayant]

https://youtube.com/shorts/Hkg_o62I5tw?si=sjaHzo-mmNtgBnvT

[Rayant]

Thanks for the help

[thedarkwraith]

You all might find this interesting. I believe one of the reasons why my F-14 went down was due to inadequate glue on left flap hinges. I repair electronics and used my microscope to zoom in and take a close look at the left flap hinges and hinge pockets on flap and wing.

[thedarkwraith]

Follow-up video where I look at the flap pockets on the left wing

[Cobbster]

I'm so glad I'm not having the troubles some of you are.Mine has been nothing but wing sweeping joy and top gun quotes since day one.I've got 14 flights on her so far. The changes I've made are:
moved aileron pushrod to second to innermost hole on the servo end,took out elevator up mix w flaps, dampened bounce on nose gear{HUGE HELP on landings} added RIO. Ive written two reviews for motion,two weeks ago, I guess they didn't like them.

[kallend]

You all might find this interesting. I believe one of the reasons why my F-14 went down was due to inadequate glue on left flap hinges. I repair electronics and used my microscope to zoom in and take a close look at the left flap hinges and hinge pockets on flap and wing.

You aren't the first to report this.

Mine had almost no adhesive on the stabilator where the control horn attaches.to the foam.

[Cape Jets]

Found a great video showing a modification you can do to the wing sweep ball links/control rod to improve it tremendously:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJEH-oUxKII

According to his video there have been others that have experienced ball links popping off the wing sweep servos and resulting in a crash. This is something I will be doing to my next one for sure.

Heard of the same issues with the wing sweep stock ball links. This was my solution. Du-Bro ball links with 2-56 treaded rods with carbon fiber tubes over the treaded rods to keep from flexing.

[Rayant]

What range do you have set on the flaps? In the manual it says LOW RATE 11 mm. and at HIGH RATE 19 mm. They are right?.