Official Freewing 90mm F-16 Falcon Thread

[purduephigam]

I've scoured the web/YouTube, only to really find one example of smoke in a 90mm F16 and through comments found out they just rigged a smoke grenade to the plane. Being that the smoke apparatus at motion runs on 2 3s batteries, I can only assume this will be an incredibly tight fit with I'm assuming significant modification. Does anyone have any photos of their battery bay? Is it relatively roomy, or even possible to consider this setup without ruining the flight characteristics?

[purduephigam]

Anyone ever attempt smoke in the Thunderbird version? Thinking about it now after seeing the t-birds this weekend LOL

[rifleman_btx]

Yeah exactly what happened with my P38. But the replacement worked very well. Since lost that bird. Whole other story. But wouldn't hesitate to use that replacement retract in anything.

[silver182]

It could also be that the knee joint on the locking support is binding. Happened to my F-16 after a while. Removed the E clip, opened up the fingers a bit until the joint was smooth, and then it worked fine. No issues since.

I believe I found the problem after disassembling the complete nose gear system. The torque end of the knee joint locking strut...set screw threads were stripped out. Also I noticed the aluminium seems to be torqued out of shape to make that (critical torque alignment) sloppy....causing the knee joint to not over throw enough to lock...when this happens the nose gear will not stay locked in the down position. New parts on the way:(( Darn that didn't last but approx. 30 flights..disappointed as the gear basic design is great only thing lacking is refinement of aluminium strength at critical points! i.e. a little more beefy please....

[F22]

I have had better luck with a different manufacturers landing nose gear same jet just stronger more reliable gear ,good luck

[silver182]

Thanks everyone....new nose gear servo & nose gear strut system on the way to my front porch ....I believe the problem area is the servo drive output shaft slipped or broken alignment... also notice thing morning after a couple flights the allen set screw stripped out...time for the new setup....seems like a weak spot in the gear. The only other thing about this bird is it seems to be underpowered. Of course everything up here 5400 MSL seems underpowered. I'd like to see a souped up version....like the F-4....I just got my second one recently....now all I want to see is many paint schemes...the Blues first..

[EDFjetpilot]

Anyone know of a fix for the nose gear....arm Not Locking? Now the drive motor either doesn't go far enough or has stripped or something but darn thing won't lock down.....Oh well for now I'll fly with the gear down & locked (manually). Is there a trick to fix??
Hey just noticed I came up as Student Pilot...he he he...changed that....been doing this for over 40 years!! Up R/C over 40 years

Welcome!

The actuating shaft from the retract to the strut could be twisted as well. That also calls for a replacement if so. Also ensure the set screw in the strut hasn't stripped.

Sean

[rifleman_btx]

Yes that is a good idea, would check that as well

[F106DeltaDart]

Anyone know of a fix for the nose gear....arm Not Locking? Now the drive motor either doesn't go far enough or has stripped or something but darn thing won't lock down.....Oh well for now I'll fly with the gear down & locked (manually). Is there a trick to fix??
Hey just noticed I came up as Student Pilot...he he he...changed that....been doing this for over 40 years!! Up R/C over 40 years

It could also be that the knee joint on the locking support is binding. Happened to my F-16 after a while. Removed the E clip, opened up the fingers a bit until the joint was smooth, and then it worked fine. No issues since.

[rifleman_btx]

Hey welcome to the squawk! More than likely there is a bend in the worm gear or a small malformation in the casing it rides in. Only way to fix that is to buy a new unit and transfer the strut from this broke one to the new.

[silver182]

Anyone know of a fix for the nose gear....arm Not Locking? Now the drive motor either doesn't go far enough or has stripped or something but darn thing won't lock down.....Oh well for now I'll fly with the gear down & locked (manually). Is there a trick to fix??
Hey just noticed I came up as Student Pilot...he he he...changed that....been doing this for over 40 years!! Up R/C over 40 years

[seaviper]

As far as the gear go, check the little motor wires. You have to remove the gear to get to them. Mine had to be re-soldered on the F-104. And it's the same gear.

As for the batteries, a good break in is critical. I almost lost my T-45 due to a weak battery that was not yet cycled enough. On the old Admirals it took about 10 or so cycles. On the new ones, maybe 3 or 4 cycles. On my Turnigy HD brick, it took only 1 or 2 cycles.
They are all different.

[gooniac33]

I only fly with HRB batteries. The 5000mah 50c have been great. The probably have 75-100 EDF flights on them. I decided to try the 6000mah HRB today and I have buyers remorse. The F-16 will get 4 minuets of pretty hard flying on the 5000s. I assumed I’d get a little longer of a flight from the added size. That was not the case. It obviously flew heavier and I decided to land at 3:30. The plane landed great, but wouldn’t provide thrust after it came to a full stop. I had just done the YEP 150amp ESC and FMS upgrade so I thought I fried something. I checked the battery when I got home and it had 3% left. I’m guessing the workload of carrying the extra weight used the battery up quicker? Or do you think it was just a new battery that hadn’t been broken in? I wish I stuck with the 5000... there was a noticeable difference in performance. Oh, that ESC and fan upgrade is a must... both are cheaper together that the freewing inrunner

Sometimes the weight gain doesn't pay off. And it is pretty important to break in your batteries to get the most out of them. It can be annoying and time consuming but it has worked really well for me. Try to get at least 5 flights at low throttle settings, or just run it up on the ground at half throttle for a few cycles before you really start to beat on it. I try to get at least 10-15 low power cycles before I go crazy.

FMS has really done a great job on their fans!! My buddies and I have been experimenting with just the rotor mixed with other manufacturers housings on other planes and the design is really good! We actually have a set up that is lighter than the stock High Perfornamce set up but with much better all around performance! I am really tempted to get this plane and try it out with what we have come up with!

[duke]

Most of the time it's one of the rear gears not working. Cycle a time or two and it works.:Confused:

[DCORSAIR]

This is a great flying plane on 8s from FW. The only problem is the landing gear. Soft landings are a must to keep the plastic mounts in place. The gear just does not work every time, I wonder if the problem is in the control panel? Any ideas?

Sounds like you had your share of problems with the gear, I've had four of these 90mm F-16 and only once did I have a problem with one nose gear, it was acting up so I bought a new one and it didn't want to work right either so I mixed some parts from the old unit with the new and it worked great with a whole bunch of flights after that and then I sold it but it was still working great, my other three didn't have any issues at all and I fly off asphalt and had hard landings. So you could have a problem somewhere in the board maybe. Can you post a video of them working so we can see how they work?

[duke]

This is a great flying plane on 8s from FW. The only problem is the landing gear. Soft landings are a must to keep the plastic mounts in place. The gear just does not work every time, I wonder if the problem is in the control panel? Any ideas?

[DCORSAIR]

Dave, I used the inrunner FW 4068-1680kv on both my Freewing F-16s. One of the guys in our club has a radar gun. Both of my Freewing F-16s came in at 113 - 116 mph straight and level on the radar gun.

Wow, I knew it was fast but not that fast, impressive I would say....:Cool:

[vduniec]

I have the FW "High-Speed" in-runner on a 6S in my F-15 as was thinking about trying the FMS fan in it. Can I assume you would recommend keeping what I have in it instead?

I bought the 8S F-4 with the intent of pulling the power system and putting it in the F-16. I've only flown it once so far as an 8S but it was such a difference that two other guys at my field are now getting the 8S setup as well.

No, I don't have any idea on my speed, don't run telemetry or anything like that, I flew it stock and made the switch in 10 minutes and flew back to back and yes, way better than stock. I didn't go with the FMS because I didn't want to cut on my fuselage, the FW unit is a drop in fit and you can use the stock ESC. I wasn't impressed with the FMS unit in the F-15 so I didn't want to bother with it in the F-16. The FMS is lighter, but the FW sounds better, that inrunner is quiet so you can really hear the wooosh, which is what I like more than performance.

[RCPilot66]

Which EDF did you use?

Dave, I used the inrunner FW 4068-1680kv on both my Freewing F-16s. One of the guys in our club has a radar gun. Both of my Freewing F-16s came in at 113 - 116 mph straight and level on the radar gun.

[DCORSAIR]

At first I was going to do the same and even purchased the Inrunner. I wanted the weight savings so I went with the FMS and YEP 150 because it was so much lighter and actually cost less for both components than just for the heavier Inrunner. I sold it on eBay. Do you have telemetry or a gps unit in yours? Just curious to see what is faster. My F-16 was 111mph in level flight

No, I don't have any idea on my speed, don't run telemetry or anything like that, I flew it stock and made the switch in 10 minutes and flew back to back and yes, way better than stock. I didn't go with the FMS because I didn't want to cut on my fuselage, the FW unit is a drop in fit and you can use the stock ESC. I wasn't impressed with the FMS unit in the F-15 so I didn't want to bother with it in the F-16. The FMS is lighter, but the FW sounds better, that inrunner is quiet so you can really hear the wooosh, which is what I like more than performance.