Official Freewing 80mm EDF F-86 Sabre Thread

[Kokopellimusic]

Well, after much discussion and thought, I purchased the Sabre last night. Looking forward to receiving her. Any tips would be appreciated on flight characteristics, battery placement, etc... From Pilot Ryan's videos, he likes the battery right by the ESC. I've seen some posts about moving the ESC and placing the battery over the top of where it is now. I'll be using the Admiral 4500 6C. Thanks guys.

[rifleman_btx]

This is my next planned jet. At some point...

[C17loadmaster]

Well, after much discussion and thought, I purchased the Sabre last night. Looking forward to receiving her. Any tips would be appreciated on flight characteristics, battery placement, etc... From Pilot Ryan's videos, he likes the battery right by the ESC. I've seen some posts about moving the ESC and placing the battery over the top of where it is now. I'll be using the Admiral 4500 6C. Thanks guys.

First thing to do is separate the thin plastic that cover the gear screws and ,with the gear extended, work the gear and retract mount loose and pull them out of the wing. Then fill most of the wing with a good adhesive and put the entire gear unit back in place along with the thin gear cover. If you don't do that, you are sure to have them rip out on landing and have the sharp edges gouge the bottom of the plane and most likely strip the flap servos.

The battery placement is not too important in this plane, or for me it hasn't. I move them as far back as I can, from halfway on to of the ESC or right up against it. A lot of people do the tail test. That is where you put the battery in before flight, set the airplane back on its tail. If the battery is far enough back the plane with slightly rest on the tail. Then you barely put downward pressure on the nose of the airplane while its resting on the mains and the tail, and the plane should gently fall forward and rest on the nose gear as it should. With that CG check, you cannot go wrong.

I also have my flaps for landing set as far as they could possibly go. There is no up elevator trim needed whatsoever for flaps. This was my first EDF and I have flown it so many times there is no way I can remember. I only had one crash... due to a rudder servo malfunction. The plane is very fun to fly and steadier that almost anything I've flown.

i hope this helps... Have Fun!

Jim

[Kokopellimusic]

I go in spells it seems, flying with the drop tanks on. Some days, all my flights will be with them on. There is some difference you can feel with them on. But no big deal for sure.

Here's a video when i had the drop tanks on.

Beautiful flight. I'm still amazed at how slow this jet will fly. Looks so scale.

[Kokopellimusic]

First thing to do is separate the thin plastic that cover the gear screws and ,with the gear extended, work the gear and retract mount loose and pull them out of the wing. Then fill most of the wing with a good adhesive and put the entire gear unit back in place along with the thin gear cover. If you don't do that, you are sure to have them rip out on landing and have the sharp edges gouge the bottom of the plane and most likely strip the flap servos.

The battery placement is not too important in this plane, or for me it hasn't. I move them as far back as I can, from halfway on to of the ESC or right up against it. A lot of people do the tail test. That is where you put the battery in before flight, set the airplane back on its tail. If the battery is far enough back the plane with slightly rest on the tail. Then you barely put downward pressure on the nose of the airplane while its resting on the mains and the tail, and the plane should gently fall forward and rest on the nose gear as it should. With that CG check, you cannot go wrong.

I also have my flaps for landing set as far as they could possibly go. There is no up elevator trim needed whatsoever for flaps. This was my first EDF and I have flown it so many times there is no way I can remember. I only had one crash... due to a rudder servo malfunction. The plane is very fun to fly and steadier that almost anything I've flown.

i hope this helps... Have Fun!

Jim

Thank you! What is the "foil" looking material? It's covering something toward the rear of the battery tray?

[C17loadmaster]

Thank you! What is the "foil" looking material? It's covering something toward the rear of the battery tray?

It’s Aluminium ducting tape for household insulation. I use it to line the exhaust in airplanes with afterburners too. It makes them look awesome

[C17loadmaster]

You won’t regret getting this plane. It’s what I fly when I need to be relaxed and just have fun. It’s one of my favorites for sure. One more thing I thought I should bring up is the wheels are pretty small in diameter. So if you are flying on grass keep that in mind when taking off. I fly on a golf course and my takeoff roll is slightly down hill. I don’t have any issues.

[Kokopellimusic]

You won’t regret getting this plane. It’s what I fly when I need to be relaxed and just have fun. It’s one of my favorites for sure. One more thing I thought I should bring up is the wheels are pretty small in diameter. So if you are flying on grass keep that in mind when taking off. I fly on a golf course and my takeoff roll is slightly down hill. I don’t have any issues.

Im lucky to fly off a 400 x 20 paved runway at our club. Curious though, I read somewhere on here to not take fast turns to sharp w this jet. It will stall into a spin? Do you guys use more rudder in the turns w a EDF? When I fly my props I usually use a combination rudder and aileron. Sometimes just aileron but mainly a combo.

[DCORSAIR]

Im lucky to fly off a 400 x 20 paved runway at our club. Curious though, I read somewhere on here to not take fast turns to sharp w this jet. It will stall into a spin? Do you guys use more rudder in the turns w a EDF? When I fly my props I usually use a combination rudder and aileron. Sometimes just aileron but mainly a combo.

I never had an issue with mine doing that, mine was giving to me and was crashed, the guy flew it into a chainlink fence and broke it in half, he put several flights on it before that, I repaired it and it is still on the original retracts, they are so sloppy it wobbles down the runway like an old granny, we pass my radio around and let others fly it as well, we have beat the tar out of it and it is still going strong 2 yrs later, I fly it with a 5000 45c and 60c Gensace lipo, it has got to be the best EDF out there to learn on I would say for 80mm. You will enjoy it and yes I do use a little opposite rudder in a turn only when I want to do a nice scale turn but other than that, it's turn and burn for this poor little Sabre.

Here he is playing with my other big boys..............:Cool:

[C17loadmaster]

Mine does not do that either it’s a very predictable flyer. At speed you can whip around corners fast enough to put stress folds on the top of the wing. I’m on the original gear as well... I had to epoxy my main’s struts into the retract mechanism to get the plane to roll straight enough for takeoff. Maybe it’s time to replace them haha

[C17loadmaster]

Last night the flap servo connector ripped free. Being as flaps are not essential I landed fine. I looked at the other connections and they seemed good. Tonight was the aileron... it didn’t work out so well haha

It had been flown so many times that the gear barely worked and I knew something was going to break soon. I’m keeping it American this time

[Kokopellimusic]

Oh man, so sorry. Factory servos?

[C17loadmaster]

Oh man, so sorry. Factory servos?

Yeah... both times it crashed. This time the control horn ripped out of the foam on the actual aileron. The F-86 does have the worst servos in it that FW makes. I have only swapped out the two elevator servos in the F-14.

[Kokopellimusic]

What servos do you guys use?

[C17loadmaster]

What servos do you guys use?

The stock servos in the F-86 are the cheapest versions that they make. Hitec HB-65HB are good servos to use. It will get expensive to replace all of them on the plane but ailerons and elevators are worth it. If I had done that I’d go fly it right now

[Alpha]

Consider also the 80mm Avanti's servos. By the statistics it's our best performing 9g in any EDF.

[Hemidoo]

Last night the flap servo connector ripped free. Being as flaps are not essential I landed fine. I looked at the other connections and they seemed good. Tonight was the aileron... it didn’t work out so well haha

It had been flown so many times that the gear barely worked and I knew something was going to break soon. I’m keeping it American this time

Looks like she took one for the team again for sure !!

[Kokopellimusic]

Hey guys, my jet arrived. I’m putting it together and noticed there’s a gap in the top of the tail cone. It’s snug around the sides and bottom. I have not glued it yet. Do I just need to “force it” to be flush?

[C17loadmaster]

I think that’s pretty standard unfortunately. After I glued mine I filled the gap with balsa filler and painted it. It bothered me too

[Lon]

Hey guys, my jet arrived. I’m putting it together and noticed there’s a gap in the top of the tail cone. It’s snug around the sides and bottom. I have not glued it yet. Do I just need to “force it” to be flush?

I have 2 of the 86's. That's "Normal"....On my second one, i spent time seeing if I could close that gap...i gave up :) My 1st FW86 i repainted a couple winters ago to the camo.