Official Freewing 70mm F-16C Falcon V2 Thread

[JLambCWU]

After a few hold ups I’m finally calling this one done! Now to save for some batteries.........

Working on this same scheme as well. Great job!

[Hawk4me]

Gotcha Beetleman, I was able to find the USAF grey's set at hobby lobby and going to play around with those color's on some spare peices to see how everything lays down. Finally found me some Foam Primer as well which is hard to source out. Amazon seems to have just about any color you can think of in the set so if this stuff works it maybe a big purchase from them coming up in the future. Couldn't find flow improver at hobby lobby though so I'm going to use 10 drops in the cup at most to keep it from drying to quickly.

[Beetlemankurt]

Ahhhhh...sorry for the bulk attachment of pictures.......still getting used to the functionalities of posting on the forum LOL.

[Beetlemankurt]

Hi Hawk4me, no problem. I grabbed my paints off eBay as no local supplier here either. They came from the UK.

Says on the back “medium to improve the flow and delay the drying of paint on the needle. We recommend adding 1-2 drops flow improver to 10 drops of paint in the cup of the airbrush”.

in short, I guess it acts as a thinner of sorts....I only bought it so that I didn’t end up stuck with a half painted jet while I waited for a compatible ‘thinning’ type of product to arrive in the post if I had any spraying difficulties. I’d say it’d be particularly useful if painting in hot temps.

Hope this helps, cheers Kurt.

[Hawk4me]

Hey Hawk4me, I’m new to airbrushing too so it’s been a bit of trial and error. Paints on this one are Vallejo Model Air paints (Israeli paint set) with a couple of drops of flow improver where needed. It was pretty good straight outta the bottle to be honest.

Tape was Tamiya tape put on my jeans to reduce tackiness but I had some similar problems to you, post it notes were the best as they were not very tacky at all. Camo edges were free handed as in my view, a bit of an imperfect finish is more realistic....that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it :)

Have heard of people using blue tack for soft edge masking. I did have some paint pull off mainly if I just pulled the tape straight up instead of folding it 90 degrees across itself and pulling it up. Also tried some pliable 5mm tape used for auto body shop detail work but I preferred the post it notes. It’d be interesting to see how liquid mask works as the rc car community seem to use this a bit.

Can’t wait to get this flying! Have decided to hinge the control surfaces with CA hinges first for additional safety thanks to advice received here.

All the best. Kurt.

Thanks for the info Beetleman. I've heard great things about Vallejo Air paints but I can't find any of them locally. I've found the box set of the USAF grey scheme's but that's about it. Really looking to get insignia red's and blue's and stuff looks like it may need to be ordered to find stuff like that. Can you post a pic of the flow improver i've never heard of that. Is it just a thinner made by Vallejo?

[Beetlemankurt]

Hey Hawk4me, I’m new to airbrushing too so it’s been a bit of trial and error. Paints on this one are Vallejo Model Air paints (Israeli paint set) with a couple of drops of flow improver where needed. It was pretty good straight outta the bottle to be honest.

Tape was Tamiya tape put on my jeans to reduce tackiness but I had some similar problems to you, post it notes were the best as they were not very tacky at all. Camo edges were free handed as in my view, a bit of an imperfect finish is more realistic....that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it :)

Have heard of people using blue tack for soft edge masking. I did have some paint pull off mainly if I just pulled the tape straight up instead of folding it 90 degrees across itself and pulling it up. Also tried some pliable 5mm tape used for auto body shop detail work but I preferred the post it notes. It’d be interesting to see how liquid mask works as the rc car community seem to use this a bit.

Can’t wait to get this flying! Have decided to hinge the control surfaces with CA hinges first for additional safety thanks to advice received here.

All the best. Kurt.

[Hawk4me]

After a few hold ups I’m finally calling this one done! Now to save for some batteries.........

Beetleman, What paint did you use in your airbrush for that job? I'm still new to the airbrush scene but I am learning more each day. Issue I have is when taping off the lines for patterns and stuff the paint always peels up when I pull the tape off. I've used blue painter's tape with pretty much 0 tackiness to it and still pulls up the paint. I've tried the very thin Testor's tape that I always put on pant leg several time's to get the tackiness off and same thing pulls that primer right off the foam. I've so far used testor's with a 2:1 ratio on paint to thinner and have had decent results with it. Got a few things painted up with Tamiya acrylic's as well but that stuff seems to dry up so quickly on the cup that it gets hard to keep it consistent. The testor's enamel seems to take weeks to cure which causes it's own problems.

[gooniac33]

Anyone have an ugly maiden with this bad girl? Attempted the high performance maiden with a 5000 pack. Granted, not the greatest conditions, but I was determined. Lots of up elevator which I figured it would need. Pretty decent amount of "wiggle" to it which I am attributing to the wind (the Rebel demonstrated it as well). After 3 flights I still don't have it dialed in and already bent the front retract due to a hard landing. Upon inspection I noted the right elevator was partially torn. Very thankful I found this on the ground as I very well may have lost the plane in the air. Just to get back to baseline, I wanted to get some input from you all:

1. What type of hinges do you recommend for my elevator repair (I believe the kit came with some, but stupidly may have tossed them. I can't find any hinges on the spare parts page).

2. Those that are using flaperons, what are your flap settings at. I arbitrarily set takeoff to 50% and landing to 100% but feel this affect flight character far too negatively and reset them to 20 and 40%, respectively.

3. Anyone have any issues rolling out? Prior to, it seemed like it wanted to tip left and I'm not sure of that's an elevator/ail trim issue or not. Since I had to trim so much up elevator, I am guessing it wanted to stay down longer. Being that it didn't seem to track straight, I figured it'd be more susceptible to something like this.

I imagine once I can get it dialed in it'll fly just fine. I anticipate more break-in/tweak time due to the 5000 pack I'm using rather than the recommended 4000. Otherwise it looked and sounded incredible! Any advice here would be appreciated, those first flights are always nerve racking!

It wasn't a maiden but yes it did happen to me too. Mine had torn and I used blenderm but made the mistake of doing it over the paint. On a high speed pass it all gave up. Almost lost it but saved it....

Also on the landing you need to get used to how the plane does high alpha. Once you figure that out it will help a ton with landings. will cut the roll outs by quite a bit

[Beetlemankurt]

That looks amazing! Top job! Can’t wait to see some pics of that fine F 16 of yours in the air!

Glad you got the A4 down in one piece, it’s much too pretty for battle scars for sure. (Checked out the other thread).

mmmm you got me thinking I should do hinges and tape also, who says a project is ever finished.....ha....ha . Might as well add an afterburner while I am at it I guess, no point in doing things by halves :)

[Hardway]

Thanks Bro!! I just posted on the A-4 thread about the maiden. There are also more pictures of her a page or so back in that thread...

The tape sure won't hurt. I have F-16 number two I am finishing and I didn't want to cut the control surfaces off for CA hinges, but I may do that and the tape. I just don't want this one to bite the dust!!!

[Beetlemankurt]

What a great paint job and weathering!!! Love it!!! Jerry

Cheers Jerry, i had forgotten just how much fun an airbrush can be and that it’s surprising what given a little patience, you can achieve. Looking forward to getting this bird flying. Should look pretty realistic in the air I reckon....hopefully my wife will take some in air photos for me.....

p.s. love the RNZAF paint scheme you did on your A4 in the ‘show us your photos’ thread.

Question for all who may be reading given the discussion around hinges failing from time to time, is Blenderm tape usually sufficient to fix this potential problem? This is the first time I’ve used the stuff and I’ve done it purely as a preventative measure. Don’t really want to cut the control surfaces off to install CA hinges if Blenderm is sufficient to do the trick. Happy to hear people’s experiences with this tape.....cheers Kurt.

[C17loadmaster]

Yes... but I purchased 2 at the same time and the other one was defective too. Channel 9 was inoperable. I learned my lesson to not buy crap receivers

[Hemidoo]

Haha... I flew with 5000s when the elevator ripped off. There was a significant change in elevator effectiveness with the bigger batteries. When I replaced the fuselage I put a Lemmon 10 channel receiver in it that I bought on clearance from Amazon. Everything worked fine during setup but I found out the hard way that it lost signal at about 100 yards away. The failsafe was set to hold on the throttle... On takeoff climb during the first flight it lost signal and flew 1/4 mile away at full throttle before exploding into a tree and falling into the middle of a busy road. Amazon did nothing when I wrote to them... I put the receiver in another plane and taxied it 100 yards and the signal was lost again... mystery solved

Did it range test ok ?

[C17loadmaster]

Haha... I flew with 5000s when the elevator ripped off. There was a significant change in elevator effectiveness with the bigger batteries. When I replaced the fuselage I put a Lemmon 10 channel receiver in it that I bought on clearance from Amazon. Everything worked fine during setup but I found out the hard way that it lost signal at about 100 yards away. The failsafe was set to hold on the throttle... On takeoff climb during the first flight it lost signal and flew 1/4 mile away at full throttle before exploding into a tree and falling into the middle of a busy road. Amazon did nothing when I wrote to them... I put the receiver in another plane and taxied it 100 yards and the signal was lost again... mystery solved

[purduephigam]

I figured it might double for the A4 as long as I can adjust for the CG with it. But just seems like a better choice for me for the 70mm. I've heard of folks flying 5000s with this jet, but it was like trying to saddle a wild mustang yesterday. I'm looking forward to part 2, the plane looks and sounds incredible.

[C17loadmaster]

Thanks for the tips. I'll need to look into mixing tailerons with flaperons. As for the batteries, I just went ahead and ordered from Admiral 4k pros. Figured I could probably use them for some 80mm platforms as well.

I'll get her patched up and back and on the deck by this weekend. Looking forward to it!

That’s the same battery I prefer to use in this plane and it’s perfect. I use that battery in the 80mm F-86 and 90mm F-16. Obviously getting less flight time and the position in the battery bay is further forward but they fly light and fast

[purduephigam]

I lost my first fuselage with a ripped elevator on the second flight. It can fly ok with 5000’s but it’s more suited for 4K and below. I used the plastic ones that came uninstalled and applied hinge tape as well. My flaps seem to work best at about 75% throw on the flaperons. I don’t like that the only support for the horizontal stabs is that flimsy strip that is glued in on the build. I think it would turn a lot better with a stronger support. Also, for takeoff and landing I use flaperons with tailerons mixed. I think this plane is harder to land than it 90mm big brother.

Thanks for the tips. I'll need to look into mixing tailerons with flaperons. As for the batteries, I just went ahead and ordered from Admiral 4k pros. Figured I could probably use them for some 80mm platforms as well.

I'll get her patched up and back and on the deck by this weekend. Looking forward to it!

[Hardway]

After a few hold ups I’m finally calling this one done! Now to save for some batteries.........

What a great paint job and weathering!!! Love it!!! Jerry

[Hardway]

I lost my first fuselage with a ripped elevator on the second flight. It can fly ok with 5000’s but it’s more suited for 4K and below. I used the plastic ones that came uninstalled and applied hinge tape as well. My flaps seem to work best at about 75% throw on the flaperons. I don’t like that the only support for the horizontal stabs is that flimsy strip that is glued in on the build. I think it would turn a lot better with a stronger support. Also, for takeoff and landing I use flaperons with tailerons mixed. I think this plane is harder to land than it 90mm big brother.

I lost my first one from an elevator departing the fuselage at full throttle in a 20 degree dive and as I did a 5G pullout, wham.... :(

[C17loadmaster]

Anyone have an ugly maiden with this bad girl? Attempted the high performance maiden with a 5000 pack. Granted, not the greatest conditions, but I was determined. Lots of up elevator which I figured it would need. Pretty decent amount of "wiggle" to it which I am attributing to the wind (the Rebel demonstrated it as well). After 3 flights I still don't have it dialed in and already bent the front retract due to a hard landing. Upon inspection I noted the right elevator was partially torn. Very thankful I found this on the ground as I very well may have lost the plane in the air. Just to get back to baseline, I wanted to get some input from you all:

1. What type of hinges do you recommend for my elevator repair (I believe the kit came with some, but stupidly may have tossed them. I can't find any hinges on the spare parts page).

2. Those that are using flaperons, what are your flap settings at. I arbitrarily set takeoff to 50% and landing to 100% but feel this affect flight character far too negatively and reset them to 20 and 40%, respectively.

3. Anyone have any issues rolling out? Prior to, it seemed like it wanted to tip left and I'm not sure of that's an elevator/ail trim issue or not. Since I had to trim so much up elevator, I am guessing it wanted to stay down longer. Being that it didn't seem to track straight, I figured it'd be more susceptible to something like this.

I imagine once I can get it dialed in it'll fly just fine. I anticipate more break-in/tweak time due to the 5000 pack I'm using rather than the recommended 4000. Otherwise it looked and sounded incredible! Any advice here would be appreciated, those first flights are always nerve racking!

I lost my first fuselage with a ripped elevator on the second flight. It can fly ok with 5000’s but it’s more suited for 4K and below. I used the plastic ones that came uninstalled and applied hinge tape as well. My flaps seem to work best at about 75% throw on the flaperons. I don’t like that the only support for the horizontal stabs is that flimsy strip that is glued in on the build. I think it would turn a lot better with a stronger support. Also, for takeoff and landing I use flaperons with tailerons mixed. I think this plane is harder to land than it 90mm big brother.