Official Freewing 80mm Avanti S Sport Jet Thread

[Bgelok]

Got a high performance Avanti a few weeks ago, and after about 30 flights I was confident it wasn’t doing anywhere near 115, or even 100. Today I flew with a HP Hawk, E-Flite F-16 and a 70mm Yak 130 and every one was drastically faster than the Avanti. At one point while full throttle and seeing the F-16 pulling away from me, I asked if he was full throttle, which he wasn’t. Haven’t been able to actually measure its speed yet.

That being said, I actually love the current flight envelope of the plane. I’m just scratching my head as to why there’s such a large gap between the claimed speed and the actual?

The claimed speed is in a down line. The max level flight i can attain is 175 kmh or 108 mph

[rsunleaded]

Hi i have just ordered this bird and I have read about upgrading the nose wheel supports could someone give me the post number that I may find some information on this , I have been reading lots of post but cant find any re this upgrade
ta

[Roadrunner]

Got a high performance Avanti a few weeks ago, and after about 30 flights I was confident it wasn’t doing anywhere near 115, or even 100. Today I flew with a HP Hawk, E-Flite F-16 and a 70mm Yak 130 and every one was drastically faster than the Avanti. At one point while full throttle and seeing the F-16 pulling away from me, I asked if he was full throttle, which he wasn’t. Haven’t been able to actually measure its speed yet.

That being said, I actually love the current flight envelope of the plane. I’m just scratching my head as to why there’s such a large gap between the claimed speed and the actual?

[T-CAT]

Really outstanding, and I love your exhaust nozzle. Where did you get it?

I agree with you completely, the Avanti S and the Stinger 90 are 2 of my favorite EDF's to fly, each with a couple hundred flights on them, and it never gets old. Actually it helps going back to them occasionally to get my confidence back after a slight mishap with any of my other EDF's. I already re-painted my Stinger 90 some 100 flights ago, but now you got me thinking of doing something with the Avanti. They both already have afterburners, but I would love to add that nozzle!

Thanks Hugh! I appreciate it. The nozzle is from Thingiverse that Ken designed and can be found in the link below.

Your Stinger looks great! Nice job. I imagine the excellent reputation and sales of the Stinger 90 sparked the thought for Freewing to bring the Avanti S to market. Hopefully the success of all these sport jets means more of them in the future.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4525277

[Hugh Wiedman]

It was time to give the Freewing Avanti S a makeover. My favorite sport jet look is one that rocks a scale jet livery. The Diamondbacks VFA-102 50th Anniversary is one of my favorites, so I knew that was the livery I was going to paint. If your Avanti jet is getting old, consider freshening it up with a new look.

I also filled in the rudder hinge slots, concealed the forward screw holes of the vertical stabilizer and the four screw holes of the horizontal stabilizer, filled in some dents/dings, etc., and added a 3D printed tailcone that I painted (3D print was of Ken's great design as shown on this thread page above and offered on Thingiverse).

This is still my favorite foam EDF jet from Freewing and it never gets old to fly.

Alpha Since the Stinger 90 and Avanti S sold so well,, hopefully Freewing and Motion are considering another sport jet in the not too distant future to bring to market.

Really outstanding, and I love your exhaust nozzle. Where did you get it?

I agree with you completely, the Avanti S and the Stinger 90 are 2 of my favorite EDF's to fly, each with a couple hundred flights on them, and it never gets old. Actually it helps going back to them occasionally to get my confidence back after a slight mishap with any of my other EDF's. I already re-painted my Stinger 90 some 100 flights ago, but now you got me thinking of doing something with the Avanti. They both already have afterburners, but I would love to add that nozzle!

[T-CAT]

It was time to give the Freewing Avanti S a makeover. My favorite sport jet look is one that rocks a scale jet livery. The Diamondbacks VFA-102 50th Anniversary is one of my favorites, so I knew that was the livery I was going to paint. If your Avanti jet is getting old, consider freshening it up with a new look.

I also filled in the rudder hinge slots, concealed the forward screw holes of the vertical stabilizer and the four screw holes of the horizontal stabilizer, filled in some dents/dings, etc., and added a 3D printed tailcone that I painted (3D print was of Ken's great design as shown on this thread page above and offered on Thingiverse).

This is still my favorite foam EDF jet from Freewing and it never gets old to fly.

Alpha Since the Stinger 90 and Avanti S sold so well,, hopefully Freewing and Motion are considering another sport jet in the not too distant future to bring to market.

[AceMigKiller]

If you could make it variable with a servo you could open it up for take off and squeeze it down in flight for speed.

You really won't see any advantage in flight by squeezing it down. Not on it's own anyway.

[Bgelok]

What we really need is aTV nozzle for the avanti. That would liven things up a bit.

[paulrkytek]

Short 2 minute clip of my Avanti and Rebel evening flight, with royalty free music on the following link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQF9BlEbAFQ

[Mach9]

I designed a 3D printed tailcone for the Avanti S, kinda based on the F-35 tailcone. Free to download off Thingverse

Kewl! If you could make it variable with a servo you could open it up for take off and squeeze it down in flight for speed. Maybe add an afterburner in there.

[Ken LaPointe]

I designed a 3D printed tailcone for the Avanti S, kinda based on the F-35 tailcone. Free to download off Thingverse

[Giovanni_L]

I have a 2-year old Avanti S (still flies very well and is in good shape) and would like to experiment with a simple performance upgrade. I am considering the 3658-1920kV inrunner motor with new 9-blade fan, which apparently is being sold with the current version of the Avanti.
Would the performance noticeably be improved with this new power system, compared with the old 12-blade fan and 3530-1850KV outrunner in my Avanti?
Is the new power system truly a drop-in replacement for the old one?
Can I still use the existing 100A ESC?
Any replies and comments would be greatly appreciated😀

[Chilly Bear]

The only issue I see is one retract that hung up 1/4” from being fully closed. I’ll investigate it later.

I had the left retract not extend after a few flights. Cycling it a time or two got it down for landing. It then worked flawlessly until I flew it again. Repeat of initial failure. Took the strut off etc. couldn't find anything wrong. Wouldn't fully retract and wouldn't extend. If you'll put it on its back and compress the strut by just pressing on the "tire" you may find the problem child is binding. After about 4-5 compressions the bind was gone and it appears to work without issue again. Unfortunately during looking at it, it fell out of the stand on the horizontal stab which I'm going to replace when stock arrives.

[LuckyArmpit]

Currently at field...grass runway....used hrb 5200’s
for balance, battery all the way up front...cg almost to end of range. Maiden pretty hairy!!!! Had a little too much throw. Dropped ailerons down to 50% and increased expo to about 43. Dropped elevator a little too. 1st landing it bounced and flipped over... broke tip
of vert stab. Used pack tape and threw in another 5200 pack. 2nd flight much better!
batts are new...1st flight on them. Got roughly 3 minutes of flight. I aasume a few cycles will bring them up to their 5200 rating. Gonna 6000s for this jet. And flight time should be a bit longer. Other than that, still shaking from the first couple flights!!

Dave

[TScott]

Thanks HW!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Maiden flight + 2 more! It’s been 13 years since I have flown anything other than a simulator. I had previous experience with a BVM ducted fan F-86 and a turbine Viper jet.

I chose the Red Avanti high performance for my reintroduction. Setup was straight forward with no issues. I’m using an older Frsky Taranis X9D w/RX8R Pro receiver....no gyro. My Horus X10S is in for repairs due to a mistake I made inserting a battery backwards. 😒

I used 2 Admiral 6s 5000 mah and 1 HRB 6s 5000. Used the same location for both brand batteries even with the HRB being slightly heavier. CG was set at 115 mm, Low rate ailerons were programmed for my medium rate, low rate was slightly less and 30% expo was used. All other settings were by the manual with 25% expo on elevator. Learning from my previous experiences, I used a super low rate rudder/nose wheel setting for take offs only. Try it! Take off was right down the center! It lifted off easily in 100’ without forcing it. 5 clicks of up and 4 clicks of left aileron had it flying straight at 50% throttle.

It flys really stable and 3:30 goes by quickly. Landing was no problem chopping power on the turn to final and slowly adding a few clicks back in. It floats! Finding the end of the runway will have to wait until another day and more flights.

Both of the next two flight I opened it up for low passes and vertical that didn’t stopped until I turned it around for a return power-off low pass. A couple touch-n-go’s were practiced with uneventful landings to follow.

The only issue I see is one retract that hung up 1/4” from being fully closed. I’ll investigate it later.

Be safe everyone and thanks for all of your tips and hints.

Welcome to the Squawk and congratulations on a very successful maiden. You'll find this EDF will do anything you ask it with ease, and a few things you can't even think of, yet anyway. And this forum is a great place to get helpful answers and tips for any situation, just an outstanding forum. Don't be afraid to ask "stupid" questions, all mine have be answered and no matter what you ask, you'll never pass me for "king of the stupid questions'!

[TScott]

Maiden flight + 2 more! It’s been 13 years since I have flown anything other than a simulator. I had previous experience with a BVM ducted fan F-86 and a turbine Viper jet.

I chose the Red Avanti high performance for my reintroduction. Setup was straight forward with no issues. I’m using an older Frsky Taranis X9D w/RX8R Pro receiver....no gyro. My Horus X10S is in for repairs due to a mistake I made inserting a battery backwards. 😒

I used 2 Admiral 6s 5000 mah and 1 HRB 6s 5000. Used the same location for both brand batteries even with the HRB being slightly heavier. CG was set at 115 mm, Low rate ailerons were programmed for my medium rate, low rate was slightly less and 30% expo was used. All other settings were by the manual with 25% expo on elevator. Learning from my previous experiences, I used a super low rate rudder/nose wheel setting for take offs only. Try it! Take off was right down the center! It lifted off easily in 100’ without forcing it. 5 clicks of up and 4 clicks of left aileron had it flying straight at 50% throttle.

It flys really stable and 3:30 goes by quickly. Landing was no problem chopping power on the turn to final and slowly adding a few clicks back in. It floats! Finding the end of the runway will have to wait until another day and more flights.

Both of the next two flight I opened it up for low passes and vertical that didn’t stopped until I turned it around for a return power-off low pass. A couple touch-n-go’s were practiced with uneventful landings to follow.

The only issue I see is one retract that hung up 1/4” from being fully closed. I’ll investigate it later.

Be safe everyone and thanks for all of your tips and hints.

[long-love-rc]

Can you experienced pilots please share how slow I can fly the Bae Hawk? I enjoy slow flying, like cruising... Will a 30% throttle plus half flaps be able to maintain level flight?

Maybe I shouldn't have had a Jet at the first place at all, haha

[T-CAT]

Hi and thanks for your reply much appreciated and your right i brought aliron throws down to 70% with 40-expo plus i reduced rudder which i can't remember to off the head and shifted CG slightly back which has sorted the problem it fly's lovely now! After the maiden and how it flew i was so nervous about putting it back in the air lol but after a few packs put on it today with adjustments ive got it dialed in! I fly my FMS Bae Hawk 100% throws all round 30% expo all round and never had any issues thats how i fly instead of having high and low rates but this avanti was almost uncontrollable like that **** me up it did!! Only thing now is my rear landing gear get stuck in the compressed position the spring isn't pulling the wheels back as pivot point is really stiff? It wasn't like that before i flew it so ive done it but all landings were pretty smooth and nothing looks bent or out of shape?

Check to make sure all the grub screws are tight enough on the struts. Make sure the main gear door has not shifted and therefore isn't hitting and sticking on something within the wheel well. Lastly, see if the trailing link joint where the main struts bend isn't rubbing against each other at that metal to metal joint. I have had to add some 3-in-1 lubricant to that joint and work the trailing link and spring to ensure it loosens up and is free to operate as normal.

[Trooper]

Hi and thanks for your reply much appreciated and your right i brought aliron throws down to 70% with 40-expo plus i reduced rudder which i can't remember to off the head and shifted CG slightly back which has sorted the problem it fly's lovely now! After the maiden and how it flew i was so nervous about putting it back in the air lol but after a few packs put on it today with adjustments ive got it dialed in! I fly my FMS Bae Hawk 100% throws all round 30% expo all round and never had any issues thats how i fly instead of having high and low rates but this avanti was almost uncontrollable like that **** me up it did!! Only thing now is my rear landing gear get stuck in the compressed position the spring isn't pulling the wheels back as pivot point is really stiff? It wasn't like that before i flew it so ive done it but all landings were pretty smooth and nothing looks bent or out of shape?