Official Freewing 80mm Avanti S Sport Jet Thread

[Vintage Racer]

Very nice work, thinking outside the box is a dying trait in the new world. I commend you, your effort and the result!

Is this Vettle's last year?

VR

[t01ga]

Very nice work, thinking outside the box is a dying trait in the new world. I commend you, your effort and the result!

Is this Vettle's last year?

VR

Thank you man, it is very kind of you to say so!

[Vintage Racer]

OK, had my friend fly the Avanti today, the slight right roll is there with the gyro removed. No change. The right wing fence has a ever so slight deflection in it.Maybe from the way its glued into position.Going to start there, along with checking the actual defection fared on the right elevator vs left.Maybe it has a variation in neutral position fared, causing the roll. .

VR

[Waconut]

I pulled the trigger and ordered an Avanti tonight. I figured I better get something to cut my teeth on before flying my A-10, F-86, F-4 and F/A-18. From everything I have read and the videos I have watched this is a great first jet.

[Helijet]

If I could help, as I own and fly all the Freewing jets you mention.
The A10 and F86 fly the closest to Avanti. The F4 and F18 require a different touch. They are draggy airframes that require a
much different approach on landing.

cheers
Dean W.

[T-CAT]

I pulled the trigger and ordered an Avanti tonight. I figured I better get something to cut my teeth on before flying my A-10, F-86, F-4 and F/A-18. From everything I have read and the videos I have watched this is a great first jet.

Great choice . I'd recommend toning down the ailerons throws a bit at first as the Avanti is very capable of aggressive sport flying and rolls can be intense if wanted.

If it were my pick of what I'd recommend to fly in order of first to last out of the list you mentioned, I'd fly either the F-86 or Avanti first in either order, the A-10 would be next, then the F/A-18C, and last is the F-4. That's just my opinion though.

Before moving onto each jet you mentioned, it may be beneficial to practice slow flight (high enough for safety and recovery), and this would be done gradually by achieving a slower speed as you get more comfortable with practice. You'll then know how much throttle to use to hold straight and level flight or a gradual decent to simulate landing on that aircraft. This can then be done in landing configuration with flaps and gear extended. This will give indicators of how that aircraft will potentially handle during the landing phase. After that, it would be good to practice your preparation for landing in the pattern (when to extend flaps, landing gear, gear check, etc.) and approaches, as well as some touch-n-goes if comfortable with the landing sequence. These can be done multiple times on each flight to get used to how the airplane maneuvers and may provide you with potential "gotchas" to watch out for. Analyze each landing, see if you needed more or less power and a more gradual decent rate or not, more or less elevator throw/authority, any elevator to flap mix preferred, etc. You'll begin to see the difference between the lower and higher wing loaded aircraft and what is likely necessary for you to feel comfortable landing them safely and predictably. Sometimes it is easy to have too many flights being used for just cruising, but the landings aren't practiced nearly enough. Practicing slow flight and landing builds confidence with each jet, as well as advancing to more advanced jets. I know this has helped me tremendously over the years, and I wished I would have done those aspects when I first began to fly, especially with jets.

[Waconut]

T-CAT thanks for the tips. I will definitely be shooting landing approaches right off the bat with each jet. I will fly the Avanti quite a bit before advancing to the other jets.
I have a sod farm Just down the road from me that is nothing but 50 acres of grass. Where they stripped the sod up makes a perfect runway. I always maiden my planes there as I can always take off and land straight into the wind and make nice long approaches.

[T-CAT]

Waconut That sounds like a great space to fly! Have fun with the Avanti and all of your jets. You picked excellent choices .

[Helijet]

Waconut take T-Cat's advice to heart.
He is right on the money.
Could not have said it any better...

Dean W.
JPO member
WJM 2011

[Waconut]

Hi Guys,
My Red Avanti will be arriving today. I have painted all my Freewing planes that I have built so far. For the Avanti all I plan to do is tint the canopy dark blue with Rit Dye ( a old school method ) and clear coat the entire plane with Varathane clear gloss. I have gotten the call to return to work on Monday so the stay at home is ending for me. This will be my 4th jet in 6 weeks .

Last weekend I built a rack out of 3/4" PVC for the jets and made room for the Avanti. I can easily move the rack around the room if needed.

[Waconut]

I decided not to tint the canopy as the factory tint was very nice. I just decided to paint the cockpit black and add the instrument decal and call it done.

Some items I was waiting for arrived with the Avanti, I can now watch R/C video's on the big screen in my hobby room between coats on the Avanti.

[Waconut]

I finished up the Avanti yesterday, controls are set per the manual and the balance is set at 110mm. The clear gloss really helped the looks. Now if I could just get some decent flying weather. It’s either raining or the winds are blowing 20mph.

[Robbie9859901]

A short vid. https://vimeo.com/417011445

[Silver Fox]

As I understand the F3 rules for jet acrobatics, no gyro is allowed.

Hi Hugh & all.... I'm very late to the party....but have just maidened my first AvantiS last week & now have 10 flights on it. Just trimming it out now for F3S competition.
I saw the above and needed to clarify for those who are interested. Gyros ARE allowed in F3S competition in all classes, including EDF jets.
Here is a direct link to the website that I am the webmaster of. www.jetaerobatics.org
Any info that anyone may need regarding EDF/Turbines just send them to us from the website.
Best regards to all and looking forward to learning about EDF's as I go along into the "electron" world.
Wayne (Matthews)

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hi Hugh & all.... I'm very late to the party....but have just maidened my first AvantiS last week & now have 10 flights on it. Just trimming it out now for F3S competition.
I saw the above and needed to clarify for those who are interested. Gyros ARE allowed in F3S competition in all classes, including EDF jets.
Here is a direct link to the website that I am the webmaster of. www.jetaerobatics.org
Any info that anyone may need regarding EDF/Turbines just send them to us from the website.
Best regards to all and looking forward to learning about EDF's as I go along into the "electron" world.
Wayne (Matthews)

Silver Fox Better Late than Never! Sorry I got the rules wrong, but then I was never very good at following the rules. You will love the Avanti, it is such a sweet flying bird. I must have about 70 flights on mine and it never gets boring. I also have a gyro, the AR636, but it probably doesn't really need one. I fly mine a little heavy, with a RT 6250 mah battery, all the way back, but I get at least 5-6 minutes of aggressive flying on it. It is almost like a trainer. I also added an RC Geek afterburner just for kicks, and yes I know, this jet shouldn't have an afterburner but it looks way too cool and I have one on all 8 of my EDF's. One word of caution, with some of them the flaps will sometime stick remaining deployed. At the beginning, virtually every other flight after using full flaps on landing, one of the flaps would not return to the up position, and it was a different one each time. A few others (not everyone) had the same problem. I solved my problem by reducing the flap speed to 0 instead of any delay (not the best solution, but it worked). Several others, including me had the exact same issue on the B-24 and that same solution solved the problem on both mine. Must be some issue with the blue box. This solution did not work for everyone though. If you've already flown it 10 times with no problem, you're probably not "infected" with the flap virus. It is troubling though if you drop flaps for a slow pass, raise them up and one stays down, you'll have to quickly get on the aileron and put the flaps back down.

Good luck at the competition and please keep us posted and send lots of pictures.

[Silver Fox]

Silver Fox Better Late than Never! Sorry I got the rules wrong, but then I was never very good at following the rules. You will love the Avanti, it is such a sweet flying bird. I must have about 70 flights on mine and it never gets boring. I also have a gyro, the AR636, but it probably doesn't really need one. I fly mine a little heavy, with a RT 6250 mah battery, all the way back, but I get at least 5-6 minutes of aggressive flying on it. It is almost like a trainer. I also added an RC Geek afterburner just for kicks, and yes I know, this jet shouldn't have an afterburner but it looks way too cool and I have one on all 8 of my EDF's. One word of caution, with some of them the flaps will sometime stick remaining deployed. At the beginning, virtually every other flight after using full flaps on landing, one of the flaps would not return to the up position, and it was a different one each time. A few others (not everyone) had the same problem. I solved my problem by reducing the flap speed to 0 instead of any delay (not the best solution, but it worked). Several others, including me had the exact same issue on the B-24 and that same solution solved the problem on both mine. Must be some issue with the blue box. This solution did not work for everyone though. If you've already flown it 10 times with no problem, you're probably not "infected" with the flap virus. It is troubling though if you drop flaps for a slow pass, raise them up and one stays down, you'll have to quickly get on the aileron and put the flaps back down.

Good luck at the competition and please keep us posted and send lots of pictures.

Hey Hugh.... Thanks for the above info. The only time I'll be using the flaps is for landing....So I don't think I'll experience a "hang-up" of the flaps as others have. I'm in the process of trimming out the AvantiS for competition and have found several issues. Firstly, the recommended throws in the instructions are WAY too much for precision flying. I also had to push the battery as far back as it can go to get a good "feel" of the flying capabilities of the plane. The roll & pitch coupling seems to affect only the right rudder as the left rudder needed very little mixing with elevator or ailerons. There was a LOT of left roll with right rudder. This will affect some of the maneuvers in the EDF sequence, if not trimmed out.

Yesterday, I ordered the gyro that Motion RC sells for it, so I'll experiment to see if it helps with how it flies. My Leonardo uses the "rate mode" and not the "heading hold mode" for practice & flying, so I think I'll stick with that & see how it (Avanti) handles in the wind. I'm a bit hesitant to make many changes right now, as I only have 10 flights...but this weekend, I'll add to that figure.
Thanks again,
Wayne

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey Hugh.... Thanks for the above info. The only time I'll be using the flaps is for landing....So I don't think I'll experience a "hang-up" of the flaps as others have. I'm in the process of trimming out the AvantiS for competition and have found several issues. Firstly, the recommended throws in the instructions are WAY too much for precision flying. I also had to push the battery as far back as it can go to get a good "feel" of the flying capabilities of the plane. The roll & pitch coupling seems to affect only the right rudder as the left rudder needed very little mixing with elevator or ailerons. There was a LOT of left roll with right rudder. This will affect some of the maneuvers in the EDF sequence, if not trimmed out.

Yesterday, I ordered the gyro that Motion RC sells for it, so I'll experiment to see if it helps with how it flies. My Leonardo uses the "rate mode" and not the "heading hold mode" for practice & flying, so I think I'll stick with that & see how it (Avanti) handles in the wind. I'm a bit hesitant to make many changes right now, as I only have 10 flights...but this weekend, I'll add to that figure.
Thanks again,
Wayne

Wayne, interesting observations, I also only use flaps in landing. I agree that the recommended throws are a bit much and have no doubt for precision flying, it needs to be "toned down". But for me the last thing I would even be capable of is "precision flying", so if I keep it from slamming into the ground, that's about the best precision I can hope for. I still use the higher rates, but I end up using a lot more expo than most, as much as 30-40%.

I started using a lot of expo from flying my Extreme Flight 3D planes. They recommend expo's in the 70-80% range in high rates, but we're talking about surface deflections in the 60-75 degree range. I also have an issue of very unsteady hands, something I've had all my life, and still, after several years of flying, I sometimes get strangely nervous and my hands shake, so I need a lot of expo to keep the plane from flying like an insane jitterbug. With the jets, I'll still use expos in the 30-40% range, but with the higher rates. So under normal flying, moving the sticks 0-50%, it "acts" like low rates, but if I need more deflections, it's there, even if it means getting there fairly quickly from 50-80% stick movement. Most, if not all good pilots (I'm definitely not in that category) don't use as much expo as me. I've had some top pilots fly my planes/jets and they definitely don't like having to move the sticks that much, but it's what you're accustomed to. I've gotten so used to and comfortable with having to make "exaggerated" stick movements to get where I'm going that I don't even think about it any more. If I fly someones plane/jet with little to no expo, I'm all over the place, kind of like a drunken sailor in a race car!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got about 20 total flights in yesterday with the Avanti (7 on that one), Stinger 90, F4 and F16 in 25 mph headwinds. The Avanti handled it with no problem and full flap landed high alpha into that wind like a trainer. What a sweet flying machine, zero "pucker" factor.

[Vintage Racer]

Going to start there, along with checking the actual defection fared on the right elevator vs left.Maybe it has a variation in neutral position fared, causing the roll. .

VR

Quick update, problem was a small split between left and right elevator. Very small, so now it flies fine. matched them up with a digital protractor, from my incidence meter. Mystery solved.

VR

[Hugh Wiedman]

Vintage Racer Outstanding, glad you got the mystery solved, this is such a sweet flying EDF and I'm glad you got it straightened out. Now get thee to the field!