Official Freewing 90mm F-16 Falcon Thread

[Bellke]

I finally got past some of the electrical issues I've been having and are setting the rates and want to make sure I'm reading this right. On p.14 of the manual, it shows the Elevator rates at 16 & 25mm but then below that is shows "Full Elevator Center Diagram" as 7mm. Is it saying the a "neutral" elevator should be setup with a 7mm up angle then set the low and high rates at 16 & 25mm? Kind of confusing me since it seems to be saying 2 different things.

[Bellke]

This is what I'm looking at in the manual

[Hugh Wiedman]

This is what I'm looking at in the manual

Bellke,

I believe what they are referring to is that the neutral position (H) is located approximately 7mm above the bottom of the rail (second photo). The arrow in the picture, although it seems to be pointing to the bottom line, is really only pointing to the "area" they are referencing. Set your neutral hands off position at least 7mm above the rail, although I will tell you on mine that at that position, I still needed some up trim to keep it level, but then I set my CG at 120mm so I am at the nose heavy side of the CG. Landing is much better nose heavy, and I found if you set your CG too tail heavy, she's a bear to land. Reducing throttle causes it to pitch up, then drop like a rock as it looses lift.

The first photo suggest that you measure your high and low rates at the leading edge of the elevator, instead of at the trailing edge like normal as is done on the aileron, flap and rudder. H1, low rate they suggest 18mm up from the neutral position (which is already 7mm above the rail-so that puts it 25mm above the bottom edge of the rail). H2, high rate is then 25mm above the neutral position. Hope that helps.

[C17loadmaster]

Bellke,

I believe what they are referring to is that the neutral position (H) is located approximately 7mm above the bottom of the rail (second photo). The arrow in the picture, although it seems to be pointing to the bottom line, is really only pointing to the "area" they are referencing. Set your neutral hands off position at least 7mm above the rail, although I will tell you on mine that at that position, I still needed some up trim to keep it level, but then I set my CG at 120mm so I am at the nose heavy side of the CG. Landing is much better nose heavy, and I found if you set your CG too tail heavy, she's a bear to land. Reducing throttle causes it to pitch up, then drop like a rock as it looses lift.

The first photo suggest that you measure your high and low rates at the leading edge of the elevator, instead of at the trailing edge like normal as is done on the aileron, flap and rudder. H1, low rate they suggest 18mm up from the neutral position (which is already 7mm above the rail-so that puts it 25mm above the bottom edge of the rail). H2, high rate is then 25mm above the neutral position. Hope that helps.

Well said. On the maiden I would have the CG as far Forward as you can get within limits. Watch pilot Ryan’s video on the MotionRC product page. They give a good reference for lipo placement.

My first day of flying this plane at book CG is remembered as being unpleasant haha. It was my second EDF though... I overshot my “run/fairway” by 100 feet

[Bellke]

Bellke,

I believe what they are referring to is that the neutral position (H) is located approximately 7mm above the bottom of the rail (second photo). The arrow in the picture, although it seems to be pointing to the bottom line, is really only pointing to the "area" they are referencing. Set your neutral hands off position at least 7mm above the rail, although I will tell you on mine that at that position, I still needed some up trim to keep it level, but then I set my CG at 120mm so I am at the nose heavy side of the CG. Landing is much better nose heavy, and I found if you set your CG too tail heavy, she's a bear to land. Reducing throttle causes it to pitch up, then drop like a rock as it looses lift.

The first photo suggest that you measure your high and low rates at the leading edge of the elevator, instead of at the trailing edge like normal as is done on the aileron, flap and rudder. H1, low rate they suggest 18mm up from the neutral position (which is already 7mm above the rail-so that puts it 25mm above the bottom edge of the rail). H2, high rate is then 25mm above the neutral position. Hope that helps.

That makes sense. I was having a mental block and it just wasn't clicking. Also appreciate you mentioning to measure the throws from the front of the stabs and not the rear. This plane has been messing with me and I probably would have missed that.

[Aros]

I am soooo jonesing to pull the trigger on this one as an ARF + and put an inrunner system in it. But I also want that AL37 pretty bad too.

Alright F-16 aficionados...Talk me into this F-16 and what system you would put in her please....

[Hugh Wiedman]

I am soooo jonesing to pull the trigger on this one as an ARF + and put an inrunner system in it. But I also want that AL37 pretty bad too.

Alright F-16 aficionados...Talk me into this F-16 and what system you would put in her please....

I absolutely love this bird, flies like a sweetheart, with the ordinance looks like one mean SOB, has plenty of speed and power and lands very easy at 30% throttle (with flaps) and eases into a nice 2 point high alpha landing as you reduce power, so,

My two cents (at inflated prices, more like 1 cent) is the following:
1) EDF: 12 blade 4068-1835Kv inrunner (also added the RC Geek afterburner in addition to the factory installed ring afterburner-the 2 look awesome together)
2) Used the Castle Phoenix 130amp ESC (although the stock is fine-just not the gecko ESC) and also a separate Castle 10 amp UBEC for the hell of it
3) Installed the AR636 with AS3X gyro and programmed flaperons. Gains are 25-30-35 (R/P/Y) on FM1-flyaround mode, and 65-70-75 on FM2 & FM3 for take-off and landing flaps (and rock solid at those high rates).
4) Started using the Admiral 5000 battery with the CG at 120mm and got just over 3 minutes, finally went to the Admiral 6000 at the same CG and get over 4 minutes. I played around with the CG a lot and found that if you get it too far back, say in the 130mm range, landing is difficult (actually impossible for me) as it wants to prematurely go into high alpha as the power and speed is reduced (without giving it up elevator), causing it to rise up too fast, then stall and drop. For me, the plane flies and lands best nose heavy 117-122mm CG (echoed by several others in this thread) and still goes into high alpha, but at your command instead of on it's own. I also notice virtually no degradation of flight characteristics with the heavy battery, only additional flight time!

Not sure flaperons are necessary unless you are taking off of grass like me. They make a big difference on take-off, as plane orientation on the gear has the nose in a slightly downward position. I had trouble getting off the deck without the flaperons on grass at first, but after programming them in, take-off was much quicker, which no doubt saves a little on battery use as I am spending less time at full throttle to get her off. I know you fly on pavement, so that shouldn't be a problem if you do not use flaperons, although I will say that landing with them allows you to reduce speed slightly more and bring it into a high alpha landing position easier.

One final thought, I did have to increase the up trim on the elevator quite a bit (at least 10 clicks) from the factory recommendation, so my leading edge of the elevator is at least 2-3mm below the line recommended in the manual. This could be because or the extra weight of the inrunner, the AB and the larger battery, but don't have anything else to compare it to. Additionally, the book high rate aileron deflections are dizzyingly fast, so you may want to tone it down and actually increase the rates on the book elevator deflections (so you can fly around like a snooty aristocrat with your nose high in the air).

As you may know, I made 4 different liveries with the jet, simply by making (with the help of Callie) different rudders and nose cones (couldn't settle on just one), so each time out it's like flying a different F-16 (even changed them at the field a couple of times which only takes 5 minutes), and have gotten several comments like "how many of these damn F-16's do you have"? That's a feature that doesn't exist with any of my other planes, so this one will always have a special place in my hangar.

My Advice: "Get thee to the Church on Time" and pick one up ASAP. Of course in this case, my "Church" is of course Motion RC, where I do most of my praying, like no more outstanding products to suck my bank account dry.

[Phantom]

I am soooo jonesing to pull the trigger on this one as an ARF + and put an inrunner system in it. But I also want that AL37 pretty bad too.

Alright F-16 aficionados...Talk me into this F-16 and what system you would put in her please....

Aros, first off I'm not really a F-16 aficionado, but I do prefer the Thunderbirds over the Blue Angels. Probably because my father was Air Force and I grew up watching them. Honestly in my eyes the F-15 reigns supreme, also probably a throw back to my childhood and my father referring to it as "Gods plane!"

I struggled over getting this F-16C for a really long time. I found out about MRC and the existence of FW jets pretty late in the game, in December of 2018. I started flying RC in 2007 and have been flying almost every weekend since 2012. However I didn't have too many EDF's because they were ALWAYS a disappointment. ALWAYS underpowered and usually very toy like, I prefer more scale like.

I think that is one of the reasons I waited so long to buy this bird. All the reviews screamed of needing more power due to its weight, and the YouTube videos that I watched supported that IMHO. Finally I exhausted all the other must have's on my wishlist and I purchased the ARF plus T-bird edition, thinking I would power it myself. My first 6s attempt just wouldn't cut it, so I went 8s. You can read about by experience with this bird in the previous few pages as I'm fairly new to her my info isn't that far back. I've got only 6 flights on her so far 2 with 6s and 4 with 8s prior to my ESC dying in my downwind half way through dropping the gear. The replacement ESC is in the mail, and that's why she's currently grounded.

She is GORGEOUS, I believe I have heard or read the words somewhere, "dripping with scale details"and I echo those sentiments. She's a heavy bird without a doubt, 8s in my opinion is how she should be powered. But everything about her ticks off all the F-16 boxes. I currently have the MRC 8s 12blade inrunner in her, with the 150amp ESC, but I also have 3 other power systems that I am going to try in her. One from FMS and 2 from Taft hobbies. The FMS setup is a 6s with an inrunner, but others have praised it in this bird. Based on what others have said that's probably the only other 6s setup I'd use in this bird.

Should you buy it? I vote yes, with out a doubt, I wish I hadn't taken so long to pull the trigger. My two cents.

[Hugh Wiedman]

I know everyone says this F-16 is a heavy, underpowered bird, but in my opinion, with the upgraded 6S inrunner and even a heavy 6000mah battery, for me it has plenty of power, speed and vertical capability. I liken it to a fast, very nimble flying battleship that scares the out of anything going against it. I'm not sure the additional power gained by an 8S setup out-gains the additional weight of that set-up as a friend has one (not sure of the exact EDF though it is an inrunner) and his flying times are in the 3 minute range where I'm getting over 4 minutes and we both seem to be using the same amount of throttle doing loops, Cuban 8's, split S's and other climbs. That said, I do admit I'm no speed junkie so flying around at virtually full throttle the entire flight isn't in my program. I love both my F-4s (stock 6S setups) and the F-16 outperforms them (although that may not be saying much).

[DCORSAIR]

I had five of the F-16, love flying them, I had three grey and two T-Birds, flew the frst two stock for awhile then tried the 1680kv when it was availble, all these on 6s, then when the 1835kv came along I went with that, flies great on 6s if you ask me, my buddy went with all the hype and went 8s, yeah it had more speed, but it wasn't worth it, I actually hated flying his, it felt twice as heavy to me even though it wasn't much heavier, he sold his 8S T-Bird and got a gray one on 6S with the inrunner and he loves it, so we all have our opinions and that is mine, I had hundreds of flights on mine and lots of touch and goes, slow high Alpha, no problem, tight turns with the aileron and rudder are a thing of beauty, very scale and fast, I roll miine right after take off as the gear is going up, I hate to see when a person tries it out and then bashes it, this jet is one of the best, you need to learn how it likes to be flown, you just have to fly it and fly it a lot...........!

[Aros]

GREAT input! Thanks fellas! I will pull the trigger soon...Just need the weather to dry out.

[Aros]

Alright, rain and wife be damned I ordered the ARF+, 12 blade 4068-1835Kv Inrunner and 130A ESC...Bring on the Arctic Camo paint and some warmer temps!

[PaulZ]

You will love this plane Aros! I have mine setup using the AR636 gyro receiver and flaperons. Flaperson make a great difference on the F-16 for landings and slow passes!

[Aros]

Thanks PaulZ! I did have this girl years ago and after I figured out how she wanted to be landed she was a blast...Really looking forward to this inrunner version and painting her up in the Arctic Camo scheme. I didn't have flaperon settings before but I think I will this time around.

[DCORSAIR]

I fly mine all stock out of the box, the trick is to be able to pull power on the turn to final, it takes guts to do it but let the nose come up and the tail will sink, add in some throttle as needed to keep everything in check to a smooth landing.


Aros, I hope I didn't talk you into this purchase.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Alright, rain and wife be damned I ordered the ARF+, 12 blade 4068-1835Kv Inrunner and 130A ESC...Bring on the Arctic Camo paint and some warmer temps!

Excellent decision, the exact time to buy it, while it's raining and you can work on it. I do hope I talked you into buying it and with the inrunner, misery loves company (really just kidding). Now I need to convince you to use the 6000mah battery to get extended sorti happiness and add another internal LED afterburner with the stock.

You'll also love the way it plows through any sudden wind gusts, kind of like a semi running over a squirrel and much later saying "did I hit something back there or does this fur and guts come as standard equipment.": The perks of being a "heavy"!

[PaulZ]

Thanks PaulZ! I did have this girl years ago and after I figured out how she wanted to be landed she was a blast...Really looking forward to this inrunner version and painting her up in the Arctic Camo scheme. I didn't have flaperon settings before but I think I will this time around.

I am a big fan of using flaperons on jets that don't have regular flaps and just alierons. The F-16 slows down nicely using them and the real ones do the same.

[JamesonC]

Alright, rain and wife be damned I ordered the ARF+, 12 blade 4068-1835Kv Inrunner and 130A ESC...Bring on the Arctic Camo paint and some warmer temps!

Happy for you Aros but a little bummed for me!

I have been keeping my fingers crossed that the next 90mm to get the high performance option with the 1835kv inrunner would be the F16. Buying it all separate gets pretty expensive. Since you are buying it all separate, and you make the pages for the website, clearly there isn't a high performance F16 right around the corner! Also, I don't know how it works out with your employee discount, but for us peasant customers, it is only $5 more to buy the PNP and the 1835kv inrunner than to buy the ARF+ with the esc and inrunner all separate. Then, you could sell off the stock outrunner to recoup a few dollars. (Can you tell I have been considering the F16 for a while??)

[Aros]

Aros, I hope I didn't talk you into this purchase.

Oh, I didn't need much convincing.

[Aros]

You'll also love the way it plows through any sudden wind gusts, kind of like a semi running over a squirrel and much later saying "did I hit something back there or does this fur and guts come as standard equipment.": The perks of being a "heavy"!