Official Freewing 90mm F-16 Falcon Thread

[Hugh Wiedman]

Phantom now you got me thinkin', which is a very dangerous state of mind with me. How in the world do you fit 2 6S 4200 mah batteries in there! I've got plenty of Admiral 6S 4000 and 3300 mah that I use in my Extreme Flight 3D planes and I just tried to get 2 of either in my F-16 and couldn't figure out how (the 3300 almost fit in line though). I'd love to have 8000 mah to play with.

I have the 12 blade 4068-1835 Kv inrunner in it with a 130 Amp Castle ESC and 10 amp UBEC so I think it could handle them. Right now, I'm using either the Roaring Top 5500 70 C (weight 825g) which draws 117.3 amps and 2840 watts (with about 3:30 flight time), or lately been using the RT 6250 35 C (weight 795g) drawing 113.7 amps and 2605 watts (with just over 4:00 flight time). The 6250 is lighter and gives me more flight time, but requires about 30 more feet of runway on grass, so it's a trade off I'm happy to give.

The 4000 Admirals weigh 598g each, which would total 1,196g, about 400g more even if I could get them in. It wouldn't make much sense for me to use 2 3300, which would only give me 6600 mah, vs the 6250 mah of the single RT. What is the total weight of 2 HS 4200?

Secondly, although my father was an electrical engineer, none of his brains passed on to me so exactly how did you hook them up in parallel? I know one of the + battery leads is hooked to the other batteries - lead, but did you make a special EC5 connector for this or does some outfit make one for EC5?

Thanks for your input, but if I ever try to hook up something like this, just look for the big mushroom cloud to your west. Could be something similar to when I thought I could "fix" a puffed LiPo by sticking a needle in it to release the extra air and almost burned myself, the house and most of the neighborhood down. That's usually where my "thinking" gets me!

[Phantom]

Phantom now you got me thinkin', which is a very dangerous state of mind with me. How in the world do you fit 2 6S 4200 mah batteries in there! I've got plenty of Admiral 6S 4000 and 3300 mah that I use in my Extreme Flight 3D planes and I just tried to get 2 of either in my F-16 and couldn't figure out how (the 3300 almost fit in line though). I'd love to have 8000 mah to play with.

I have the 12 blade 4068-1835 Kv inrunner in it with a 130 Amp Castle ESC and 10 amp UBEC so I think it could handle them. Right now, I'm using either the Roaring Top 5500 70 C (weight 825g) which draws 117.3 amps and 2840 watts (with about 3:30 flight time), or lately been using the RT 6250 35 C (weight 795g) drawing 113.7 amps and 2605 watts (with just over 4:00 flight time). The 6250 is lighter and gives me more flight time, but requires about 30 more feet of runway on grass, so it's a trade off I'm happy to give.

The 4000 Admirals weigh 598g each, which would total 1,196g, about 400g more even if I could get them in. It wouldn't make much sense for me to use 2 3300, which would only give me 6600 mah, vs the 6250 mah of the single RT. What is the total weight of 2 HS 4200?

Secondly, although my father was an electrical engineer, none of his brains passed on to me so exactly how did you hook them up in parallel? I know one of the + battery leads is hooked to the other batteries - lead, but did you make a special EC5 connector for this or does some outfit make one for EC5?

Thanks for your input, but if I ever try to hook up something like this, just look for the big mushroom cloud to your west. Could be something similar to when I thought I could "fix" a puffed LiPo by sticking a needle in it to release the extra air and almost burned myself, the house and most of the neighborhood down. That's usually where my "thinking" gets me!

First off Hugh, your message was hilarious especially the ending!🤣

Secondly if you're aren't thinking of crazy ways to modify and hopefully improve your RC experience over what the manufacturer had planned for you, then in my humble opinion, you're missing out!😅

I modified my battery compartment both top, bottom including the sides, when I replaced the fuselage after my 150amp ESC failed on short final. MRC found a bad soldering connection on it and fixed it and sent it back to me. These mods were posted in #534 to #541 of this thread, with pics and the additional room created, measured in mm. I did this mod, to be able to put two 5000mah 65c 4s CNHL Black series batteries wired in series to get 8s power. I was also able to two E-Speed 6200mah 50c 4s lipos wired in series for 8s power.

When I reverted back to a 6s power the mods extra room was a bonus.

Pre-mod you can get a
>HS 8000mah 100c 6s battery in your bay. Weight is 920g, dimensions are 135x43x68mm, cost 159.99.

You can also get these lipos in your pre-mod battery bay

>two 3500mah 60c wired in parallel for 7000mah 6s. Weight is 445g a piece for 890g total, dimensions are 133x44x35mm each, at a cost of 69.99 each, totalling 140 bucks for 7000mah 6s.

>two 5200mah 45c 3s wired in series for 5200mah 6s. Weight is 335g a piece total 770g, dimensions 133x43x26 each, cost 39.99 each totalling 80bucks for 5200mah.

I attached pics of these lipos in my modified battery bay showing you the additional room left over, they should fit in your unmodified bay given the extra room I have.

[Phantom]

Above is the HS 4600mah 35c 6s in parallel for 9200mah total. Weight is 570g each 1140g total, dimensions 130x43x47, cost 59.99 each currently on sale normally 69.99 each. So 120 bucks for 9200mah. They have 10 and 20 bucks off sales so often that's usually when I buy my lipos.

[Phantom]

Here my 4200mah 40c 6s wired up in parallel for 8200mah this is my powerhouse setup with over 3000watts of power. Weight is 570g each 1140g total, dimensions are 130x43x47mm, cost is 69.99 esch for 140 bucks total, but as I pick them up on their frequent sales, I've never paid more than 59.99 a piece for them.

[Phantom]

pictured above is the parallel adapter, you can usually pick them up online for about 7 bucks. This keeps your voltage the same but doubles your mah or fuel in the tank. You can solder your own, I have but it's easier to just purchase online.

[Phantom]

This is a series adapter, it doubles your voltage while keeping your mah the same. So two 3s 5000mah lipos become a 6s 5000mah lipo.

Hope this helps, the mods in post #534 to #541 only take about an hour and a half to 2 hours to do. You're just carving and shaving foam, repositioning the battery compartment magnets, and either adding or relocating your battery strap down plate further aft.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Phantom Thanks so much for all the photos and the advice. You're a modifying manic! Wow, 7000 to over 9000 mah. Now that's what I call INCREASED Flight Time!! You're the Man! Love it!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Phantom that Hobbystar 8000 mah 6S 100C looks like a great alternative to 2 batteries without removing foam but I can't seem to find any available anywhere. RC Juice (ebay) and Amazon had them but sold out. There was a German website that might have had some, but my German is so rusty I'm not sure if I was ordering a battery or some strudel. I'm sure in your "neck of the woods" there are probably some places that have them in-stock. I found some very weird place at www.xdevenire.com that claimed they had them, but the cost was $86.40 per battery, then when you go to check out they have a "quantity discount" with free shipping and the total cost for all 4 was $94. If that's the case, send me 100 of them and I'll go into business myself! I think this would also be a great battery for my SU-30. Right now I'm flying it on a Roaring Top 5500 70C and only getting just over 3 minutes, so after take-off and a few Cuban 8's and a couple of Spit S's, it's hurry up and land! So I'm going to keep a look out if they ever get them back in stock. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can get 2 4000 mah 6S in either one. Thanks for the advice.

[Phantom]

Yeah Hugh they sell out pretty fast, but they also stock them regularly. I use the twin 4200's in the majority of my birds, but some like my Venom won't work with the 4200's.

[Johnnyrabuse]

Maidened today

Crosswind at 5

5000 admirals timer set two minutes

3 minutes flight times

Used elevon mix with full and half flaps available

And aerolines I can turn on and off

Thing lands like a pipercub now rollouts can be under 75 feet

Way better than flaperons

Elevons alone are equal to the stock aerolines and have less drag

On half flaps thing will float forever on a chopped throttle

Awesome jet

I have the HS version I'm going to drop 8s in shortly and fly 6000s after I cut out some foam

[Phantom]

Soooooo anybody have an idea on how to swap out the main wheels? I've tried the allen set screw on bottom, see photo, I disconnected the strut to check the bottom side to see if there was another set screw, there's not. I can't seem to figure out how these wheels come off.

[DCORSAIR]

Soooooo anybody have an idea on how to swap out the main wheels? I've tried the allen set screw on bottom, see photo, I disconnected the strut to check the bottom side to see if there was another set screw, there's not. I can't seem to figure out how these wheels come off.

I have done plenty of those, a good allen wrench and soldering iron with a small tip to melt the loctite because they put plenty.........

Hold the iron tip in the hole when you pull the set screw out until its nice and hot and use a punch and tap the axle from the inside/outward to get the axle to loosen up, take your time, they will come out.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Phantom exact same thing happened to me on one of the wheels after a landing and it seemed there was no way to get these off, but DCORSAIR is on the money, as usual. Once you get the allen screw out (with a little help from the soldering iron), that's all that holds it in but they put so much loctite on it that the axle is also "stuck" in. Holding a soldering iron inside the hole for the allen screw "melts" the excess loctite around the axel and it should come out.

[Phantom]

[DCorsair/Hugh] Thank you Gents, I appreciate the inside tips. I'll give it a try.

[roys001]

I just finished my re-maiden on my 90mm F-16 after replacing the power system with the new F-22 8s in runner motor and speed control. I'm running it on 2 Admiral 4s 5000 batteries. The battery location moved forward about a half of an inch with the 4s batteries mounted side by side. I had replaced the original power system with a JP fan but it still lacked the punch needed for the plane to fly like an F-16. With the 8s system, the plane performs wonderfully. Plenty of power and great speed. With good throttle management I can get 4 minute flights with plenty of fun stunts. This is such a good airframe, I just had to punch up the performance. The next project is to paint it with the Nellis AFB Aggressor colors.

[Johnnyrabuse]

I just finished my re-maiden on my 90mm F-16 after replacing the power system with the new F-22 8s in runner motor and speed control. I'm running it on 2 Admiral 4s 5000 batteries. The battery location moved forward about a half of an inch with the 4s batteries mounted side by side. I had replaced the original power system with a JP fan but it still lacked the punch needed for the plane to fly like an F-16. With the 8s system, the plane performs wonderfully. Plenty of power and great speed. With good throttle management I can get 4 minute flights with plenty of fun stunts. This is such a good airframe, I just had to punch up the performance. The next project is to paint it with the Nellis AFB Aggressor colors.

I put the same system in mine and in the stock location it did seem tail heavy your half inch forward saved the day


I measured cg with 4000s but I can get fives and sizes to fit

What size battery are you using?

[Johnnyrabuse]

I put the same system in mine and in the stock location it did seem tail heavy your half inch forward saved the day


I measured cg with 4000s but I can get fives and sizes to fit

What size battery are you using?

Oops never mind I see five thousands my 4s should be good for 3 mins mixed flying 5s for four and sizes ......haha five ?????

[Johnnyrabuse]

BTW I took off my rails and replaced them with f5 rails spot on fit no more rail rash

[Hugh Wiedman]

Yeah Hugh they sell out pretty fast, but they also stock them regularly. I use the twin 4200's in the majority of my birds, but some like my Venom won't work with the 4200's.

Phantom the HobbyStar 8000's just came available on ebay from RC Juice here in the states, and in the first 4 hours of them hitting the open market, 36 were sold, fortunately 4 of those to me. Can't wait to drop them in my F-16 (and the SU-30) and see if I get a significant increase in time (I'll even take an extra 45 seconds to a minute and be happy with that) and if these birds will even get off the grass with the extra weight over a RT 5500 (increase in weight of 110g).

[Phantom]

Phantom the HobbyStar 8000's just came available on ebay from RC Juice here in the states, and in the first 4 hours of them hitting the open market, 36 were sold, fortunately 4 of those to me. Can't wait to drop them in my F-16 (and the SU-30) and see if I get a significant increase in time (I'll even take an extra 45 seconds to a minute and be happy with that) and if these birds will even get off the grass with the extra weight over a RT 5500 (increase in weight of 110g).

2500mah additional over the 5500 for only 110g, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with additional flight time in your F-16. You and I have different power setups so I'm curious as to how much more additional time you'll get, so please don't forget to post it here.