Official Freewing Twin 70mm SR-71 Blackbird with Gyro EDF Jet Thread

[ggillila]

I’ve had good luck rubbing a cold spoon across to reduce it.

I have been trying, i must be doing something wrong. I have the spoon in the freezer for about an 30 minutes, then rub aggressively, but I’m not having a ton of luck

[Evan D]

I’ve had good luck rubbing a cold spoon across to reduce it.

[ggillila]

Oh i just wanted to add
At the end of the day, enjoy it. Nothing is perfect. So while I am saying be more careful, I’m also saying enjoy it and don’t just have it collecting dust because you’re focused on keeping it perfect. Get a good balance🤙🏻

[ggillila]

I am the guy who reported it to GG, so i figured I should say my exact conditions so the rest of you can avoid it.

It was mostly cloudy, and the sun was behind a cloud for 2/3 of the time mine was outside. The plane was only outside for about 5 minutes including the flight. It was 75°

When I landed, I went to grab it and the entire right side looked like a snake, the side that faced the sun for maybe a minute when I was doing final checks. This was only my second flight :(

So this time of year, as GG said, unless it’s COMPLETELY cloudy, do not bother unless it’s early morning or late afternoon. I was very careful with mine because I’ve had something dark like this before, but can’t be too careful as read here.

As for the future of mine….its totally just aesthetic so obviously it’s not out of service and ready to fly whenever, no internal issues or anything. Nothing was hot internally (aside from the battery of course). As mentioned it’s only on one side…..a whole new meaning for “get my good side.”
Now I’m back and forth over if I should sand it down to give it the “wear” look with super fine sand paper because it’d give me a reason to get rid of the snake skin, or if i just leave it because you can’t see 5 feet away anyway (or on the good side)

Aros thoughts?

[Aros]

Yep there's a reason we added a section on the product page about gatoring. Extreme caution is needed to avoid the dreaded basketball texture.

[GliderGuy]

A report about bad foam gatoring has reached me. So, be cognizant that care must be taken to not expose the SR-71 to mid-day sunlight.

To maintain the factory new finish this time of year, I’m going to fly early mornings and late afternoons only, unless it is overcast.

A cloth covering while in the transport vehicle isn’t a bad idea.

-GG

[GliderGuy]

Made 10 late afternoon SR-71 flights today. This puts me about 75 or 80 flights. Here are some general observations based on being more familiar with the bird.
- She flies very similar to most EDF jets this size.
- No bad habits…loops, rolls, inverted are all good. I have avoided stalling her.
- Seems to feel better with a little touch of added throttle when the gear are put down.
- 3:30 at 60% cruise leaves plenty in the tank for a go-around even after a couple of high speed passes with a 6000 mAh battery.
- With factory CG, she’s a ground lover on take-off. But apply lots of up elevator and as soon as the nose rotates, quickly ease off the “up” and “wheelie” her on the mains to liftoff. Looks sooo cool.
- If a tad slow on final down low, she responds well to a burst of power if she begins to drop. A few times, I have stopped the drop with up elevator. She will stop the drop, but this will drag the bottom of the jet nozzles. That makes one heck of a noise.
- I am comfortable with the sight picture as she flies around. Not that hard to tell what she’s doing, “IF” you pay attention.
- After beefing up the anti-torsion bars on the landing gear, I have had no more issues.
- You really CAN make good landings with her at the factory CG.
- I am not uncovering any airframe structural design issues. I’m not seeing any stress creases in the foam anywhere.

So bottom line…nothing unusual about the SR-71 if you are an experienced large EDF jet pilot. She’s a solid flier. One day I may tweak the gyro sensitivity up on the ailerons to reduce the wing rock on final that sometimes happens. For now, I just ignore the slight wing rocking and don’t try to fight it when/if it happens.

-GG

[Aros]

I get why people ask, because the majority of us do fly off of grass fields. Sadly, some models - like this one - are not made for grass, period. It's not impossible, but again, the grass better be like a putting green or you are asking for problems.

[EDF-Jetpilot]

I bought one and wanted to discuss grass ops and/or mods to allow it. I have a very manicured short grass runway at my field, and I noticed a review from James H. stating that it takes off very well, around 200 feet. Does anyone else have any input? Thanks

Nino

I think everyone should finally realize that this beautiful machine simply isn't made for grass. Anyone who dares to do so will sooner or later end up ruining the machine. There are much better things to do than punishing an SR-71 with grass, right?

[Aros]

There’s a reason we insist this bird is not meant for grass. Unless your field’s grass is as short as a golf course, it’s definitely not recommended.

[GliderGuy]

I bought one and wanted to discuss grass ops and/or mods to allow it. I have a very manicured short grass runway at my field, and I noticed a review from James H. stating that it takes off very well, around 200 feet. Does anyone else have any input? Thanks

Nino

Watch his attempts to use grass.

They Warned Me About This Jet.. Freewing SR-71 Maiden - YouTube

Looks “IFFY” at best.

-GG

[Nino]

I bought one and wanted to discuss grass ops and/or mods to allow it. I have a very manicured short grass runway at my field, and I noticed a review from James H. stating that it takes off very well, around 200 feet. Does anyone else have any input? Thanks

Nino

[Nino]

[Aros]

Im gonna brag about your technique in RCG so deal with it.

[DCORSAIR]

Alright, you, fine sir get the GOLD Star!! I don’t know for sure if it’s the fold half and then half again thing but I followed your instructions to a tee, powered her up, hit the switch…

It flew out of that compartment like it was running from a crime scene!

Thanks bud! I feel a video is worth creating to show others who are having issues with chute deployment a sure-fire method that works!

Well hopefully it works for you more than once...

Not bragging but I would have had 28 out of 28 times that it worked but I left the chute packed all week one time and it did not like that at all, on the next flight it flew out of the door and did not do anything but tumble behind the bird and would not open, so after that I just stuffed it loosely in one of the exhaust nozzles for storage and it worked every time after that so good luck......

[Aros]

Well my chute deployed 27 out of 28 flights with no issues so I can't figure out what your doing wrong. All I did was stretch out the chute, then fold it in 1/2, then again in 1/2, wrap the strings around the chute not to tight until you get to the cord but don't roll the orange cord around the chute, just stuff the chute in first and then the cord on top and hold it down with one finger and close the doors quickly, lol.

Alright, you, fine sir get the GOLD Star!! I don’t know for sure if it’s the fold half and then half again thing but I followed your instructions to a tee, powered her up, hit the switch…

It flew out of that compartment like it was running from a crime scene!

Thanks bud! I feel a video is worth creating to show others who are having issues with chute deployment a sure-fire method that works!

[Aros]

Well my chute deployed 27 out of 28 flights with no issues so I can't figure out what you’re doing wrong. All I did was stretch out the chute, then fold it in 1/2, then again in 1/2, wrap the strings around the chute not to tight until you get to the cord but don't roll the orange cord around the chute, just stuff the chute in first and then the cord on top and hold it down with one finger and close the doors quickly, lol.

Man I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong? The only thing I haven’t tried is folding the chute in half AND then another half before wrapping the string around it. Otherwise I’ve tried the cord on top and on bottom. I am going to figure that darn thing out for the life of me!! LOL

[DCORSAIR]

Always trying to sneak a flight whenever possible if weather permits, I took my lunch break to get a quick flight in. Trouble was, it was way windier than weather.com reported. Had one approach that put my heart in my throat as I severely underestimated the head wind gusts. So the 15-25% of throttle for landing was far too low. Went around, came in with more power and the landing was fine.

However, second flight and second time the dang parachute didn't deploy fully! I even tried a different technique I read about online and still didn't deploy. I think the chute/strings got caught on the deploy mechanism. Next time I am going to do some fast taxi work up and down the runway and deploy the chute until it works.

Too windy for the gyro to be as much help as I wanted, but I can only imagine how bad it would have been without a gyro. Not a speed demon by any stretch but good luck finding a cooler presence in the air!

Well my chute deployed 27 out of 28 flights with no issues so I can't figure out what your doing wrong. All I did was stretch out the chute, then fold it in 1/2, then again in 1/2, wrap the strings around the chute not to tight until you get to the cord but don't roll the orange cord around the chute, just stuff the chute in first and then the cord on top and hold it down with one finger and close the doors quickly, lol.

[Aros]

Always trying to sneak a flight whenever possible if weather permits, I took my lunch break to get a quick flight in. Trouble was, it was way windier than weather.com reported. Had one approach that put my heart in my throat as I severely underestimated the head wind gusts. So the 15-25% of throttle for landing was far too low. Went around, came in with more power and the landing was fine.

However, second flight and second time the dang parachute didn't deploy fully! I even tried a different technique I read about online and still didn't deploy. I think the chute/strings got caught on the deploy mechanism. Next time I am going to do some fast taxi work up and down the runway and deploy the chute until it works.

Too windy for the gyro to be as much help as I wanted, but I can only imagine how bad it would have been without a gyro. Not a speed demon by any stretch but good luck finding a cooler presence in the air!

[Aros]

I plan on trying some dawn flights at the beach this Summer before it gets crowded (and the tide is low). I've flown early at the beach on low tide a couple times and it's fabulous. And the dawning Sun would be at my back. Even better.