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

[Evan D]

Motion has yet to post any reviews though the site says 4.7stars with 34 reviews.

Edit- Reviews are up. 34 reviews and only two are critical.

[thedarkwraith]

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?.

The one thing that is really critical with the flaps is ensure that they don't allow the wings to sweep back with them deployed. You need to ensure this on both low rate and high rate. The onboard gyro takes care of the logic for this so you just have to ensure that you have enough travel in low and high rate for the gyro to 'see' flaps are deployed.

[rlcamden]

After reading a few posts about the flap hinges, I decided to check mine out of an abundance of caution. I discovered that the right wing had very little glue on the hinges, and the left wing had a tad bit more, but all the hinges were relatively easy to pop off. This is definitely something you need to check if you own this plane. I haven't flown it yet, but I am glad I decided to check those hinges. Waiting to upgrade the swing-wing push rods.

[Chris_WaterGuy]

After reading a few posts about the flap hinges, I decided to check mine out of an abundance of caution. I discovered that the right wing had very little glue on the hinges, and the left wing had a tad bit more, but all the hinges were relatively easy to pop off. This is definitely something you need to check if you own this plane. I haven't flown it yet, but I am glad I decided to check those hinges. Waiting to upgrade the swing-wing push rods.

Pretty much as expected, the hinges on my example pulled off very easily. In fact they just 'popped off' with a little force with a blade underneath each of them. As I think I mentioned before, it's something I've learned to do with all my EPO models when they are new.

[rlcamden]

Finally got my F-14 complete and was able to get the maiden out of the way. I needed a lot of up trim with the book recommended CG and stabilator neutral position. But no issues.

Maiden was a non-issue. I run flight modes on my flaps, so I was able to get all the trims set and fold the wings back on the maiden for a few passes. This thing flew like it was on rails on a 10-15mph windy day, without the gyro on.

2nd flight was seeing how the gyro affected the flight characteristics. It seemed a little sluggish on the controls, but that may have been me. Get a few fast passes with the wings in and out. I even inadvertently checked the sturdiness of the airframe and the upgrades to the landing gear.

She covers a lot of sky in a short amount of time, so be prepared for that. All in all, I like my 80mm better, just didn't like having to do all the upgrades to get it to fly the way it should. This 64mm version is a winner due to the ease of transport, the flight envelope, and the appearance. Kudos to Freewing and MotionRC.

https://youtu.be/LysPA8EAxhw

[kallend]

The stock nozzles on this F-14A are incorrect, they just look like scaled down parts from Freewing's twin 80mm F-16D. The nozzles on the A version were quite different - see image below .

Here is a STL file to 3DP a (more or less) correct nozzle. Exit diameter is unchanged from stock.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6607424

[nuts-n-volts]

Nice nozzle, Kallend. I'll use it. Thanks!

And, here's my trick... To take the stock nozzles off easily, I used acetone. I spray a small stream around the inside of the nozzle in between the plastic and foam. You can then just tug around the outside diameter and she'll loosen right up and off. The acetone won't hurt the foam. Only use a small amount to get the parts to loosen. You don't want streaks running through your paint! That is, unless you're going to re-paint anyway. The acetone could damage the nozzles, altho I used only a small amount and had none. The cool thing is that the glue stays put. I lined my ducts in foil tape for afterburners and needed to get the nozzles out of the way. I put them back on by simply "painting" the glue with acetone, which thinned it out. Stuck them on within a few seconds and presto!