Official Freewing 80mm EDF F-86 Sabre Thread

[radfordc]

This is a most definitely buy them both answer. If the question was a first and (not only) jet, the F-86 hands down. Both fly incredible, but the F-86 has more forgiving flight and stall characteristics over the T-33. It's also more forgiving in a minor crash, and can fly much slower, so if you're a newbie, and if this is your first jet then....I'd suggest the F-86.

However if this question was a one and only jet, then the T-33. Due to it's higher performance, still amazing flight characteristics, scale fidelity, and power setups efficiency. Although an easy jet too fly, it's no where near as easy or forgiving in flight or while landing as the F-86. Properly balanced, the F-86 will literally land itself.

Both are excellently priced, compared to other simular edf jets, so to me this is a noooooo brainer. Buy both, cut your teeth on the F-86, and then show off your airshow skills with the T-33.

P.S. I have both and love both, I've had the F-86 since 2015, I've got I've got more flights on her than any other bird in my hangar!

Ordered both tonight. Wanted to get ahead of the price increases! My jet fleet now includes the F-86, T-33, Mig-21, Su-30, Su-35, Me-262, Gripen, and BAE Hawk. (Mig-29 RIP).

[radfordc]

I flew 4 flights on my new F-86 today and what a nice flying jet. I ordered the PnP version with the 12 blade outrunner motor. First thing I did was swap in a 9 blade 1920kv inrunner system for better performance...and it proved to be fantastic.

Reading through this thread I was somewhat concerned about flying from a bumpy, grass strip. Turned out to be a non-problem. I did change the nose gear slightly....put in a larger wheel and a 3mm spacer to raise the nose and increase AoA for takeoff. The F-86 literally jumped off the ground in only a short distance and climbed out with authority. I was flying with a RT 4400 mah battery and performance was really good. Most of the flight was at 50% throttle or less and only going to full power for steep vertical climbs. From a high speed pass, pulling to vertical the plane continued to climb until I decided that it was probably going to go out of sight if I kept on. By the 4th flight I had increased the timer to 4:30 and was still landing with 40% left in the battery pack.

This one is a worthy addition to the fleet.

[radfordc]

On my last flight today I had an interesting occurrence. When it was time to land I dropped the gear and entered a downwind leg. I hit the flap switch and the plane immediately rolled hard to the left...past 90 degrees of bank. I immediately reversed the switch to the flaps "up" position and the plane recovered and landed OK. Turned out that the plastic clevis for the left flap had sheared off the cross pin so that the clevis was totally disconnected. Not sure why this happened but it could have been fatal.

[xviper]

On my last flight today I had an interesting occurrence. When it was time to land I dropped the gear and entered a downwind leg. I hit the flap switch and the plane immediately rolled hard to the left...past 90 degrees of bank. I immediately reversed the switch to the flaps "up" position and the plane recovered and landed OK. Turned out that the plastic clevis for the left flap had sheared off the cross pin so that the clevis was totally disconnected. Not sure why this happened but it could have been fatal.

Same thing happened to me a few years ago with my ViperJet. The control arm on one of the flaps had come unglued (yup, they were all glued, not screwed). Luckily, I had the mindset to undo what I had just done (flipped the flap switch back).

[radfordc]

Nice flying plane.

https://youtu.be/xK7g06BF3ng

[flyinhigh042]

Nice flying plane.

https://youtu.be/xK7g06BF3ng

Well done!

[Beeg]

I've always loved my Freewing F-86 with it's classic lines but it's performance in the original setup was a bit anemic. It sat in the hangar being flown rarely and I didn't want to spend the money but finally broke down and did the EDF/ESC upgrade. I wasn't sure it would be worth the additional cost for the upgrade parts but I'm now glad I did. It is a definite improvement and transforms the Sabre into an even more fun model yet still handles and lands like a trainer. Before, flying around with the drop tanks took a pretty high power setting but even with them on now it scoots along nicely with a lot less throttle. Clean configuration still isn't as zippy as an Avanti or T-33 but pretty close. If you have an old Sabre hanging in storage it makes it way better than the original Sabre.

[Evan D]

I agree. I swapped in a low power 90mm fan in my original one. I bought one of the new HP ones a few weeks ago and love it. Great EDF trainer and all around plane.

[Kokopellimusic]

Love mine. I did the V2 upgrade of the motor and esc. Nice improvement.

[marwady]

This plane just looks like something I have to have!!

I love that it uses 6s batteries like a lot of my other airplanes.

So I ordered one 😁😁🍿

[DCORSAIR]

This plane just looks like something I have to have!!

I love that it uses 6s batteries like a lot of my other airplanes.

So I ordered one 😁😁🍿

Your going to like it, like I said before, mine is at least 3 yrs old or older and has many many flights, its beat to death, I never thought a foam jet could last this long, lol, it is bone stock with the old first generation 80mm fan/motor, it was given to me from a guy who smashed it into a fence which broke it in 1/2, he gave it to me and I glued it all back together and its still flying today and it has the original main retracts, but I had to replace the front one, I fly it inverted with the tanks on and fly it all the time with them on as well, lands so easy, just flies great with nice scale looks, this is one I would replace if mine finally crashes or it looks so bad I have to retire it to the trash can......

[Laserdude]

I need some help.
On the 86 the elevators have one standard servo and one reversed. Mine do not center the same leaving the servo arms at different angles causing the elevators to have a different amount of total throw. They are about half a cog difference so moving one servo arm one cog does not fix the problem. I corrected the problem by plugging one servo into an auxiliary channel, mixing it with the elevator channel, and then adjusting throws to get an equal amount on each elevator. I would like to get back to the two servos on a y harness and using just the elevator channel so that I can add a stabilizer. Any ideas?
Thanks

[xviper]

^ I have a huge collection of used servos from old, dead planes. I’d use a servo tester and test all the servos I have that are the same brand and type until I found 2 that center exactly the same. Put those two into the plane and use a servo reverser on one of them. If you don’t have used servos laying around, you could go to the hobby shop and buy a couple of servos after you test them for center. Again, if you can’t find a reversed servo, get a servo reverser.
PS, in reality, a gyro acting on a servo will rarely (if ever) approach full travel when stabilizing that servo (or set of servos), so it’s not so important if the max throw is a little off for that purpose. If the difference in max throw doesn’t cause the plane to roll during a tight loop, again, it’s not enough to worry about.

[billd3]

TE

[radfordc]

I need some help.
On the 86 the elevators have one standard servo and one reversed. Mine do not center the same leaving the servo arms at different angles causing the elevators to have a different amount of total throw. They are about half a cog difference so moving one servo arm one cog does not fix the problem. I corrected the problem by plugging one servo into an auxiliary channel, mixing it with the elevator channel, and then adjusting throws to get an equal amount on each elevator. I would like to get back to the two servos on a y harness and using just the elevator channel so that I can add a stabilizer. Any ideas?
Thanks

Back in the day it was possible to adjust servo centering by inserting a tiny screwdriver through the hole in the output shaft and adjusting the pot. The pot had a screw slot just for this. I don't know if today's servos allow this or not?

[paulrkytek]

I need some help.
On the 86 the elevators have one standard servo and one reversed. Mine do not center the same leaving the servo arms at different angles causing the elevators to have a different amount of total throw. They are about half a cog difference so moving one servo arm one cog does not fix the problem. I corrected the problem by plugging one servo into an auxiliary channel, mixing it with the elevator channel, and then adjusting throws to get an equal amount on each elevator. I would like to get back to the two servos on a y harness and using just the elevator channel so that I can add a stabilizer. Any ideas?
Thanks

You could add an arm at the side of the servo arm using a couple of tiny bolts/screws and epoxy then re drill the hole to match the position of the second elevator that way you are starting from the same pivot point

[paulrkytek]

My F86 with 12 blade in-runner at the field today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvCUGzz3e_k

[Evan D]

I've been flying well over 50 years and while I have heard of this I've never seen one. Any idea of brand and model servo?

Also used to be on some, I used Futaba mostly, there were little screws holding the pot in the case and you could loosen the screws rotate the pot and then tighten it back down. Now they are friction fit, you may be able to do something similar but really most planes aren't effected by a little more throw to one side.

Many digitals are programable for end point, centering and direction (a lot of the Hitec are)...

Back in the day it was possible to adjust servo centering by inserting a tiny screwdriver through the hole in the output shaft and adjusting the pot. The pot had a screw slot just for this. I don't know if today's servos allow this or not?

[Dave Wave]

I am going to be flying of a rough grass field. I am a bit concerned about the landing gear being on the weak side. Is it possible to reinforce it so grass ops are not an issue?

I know it might be sacrilege, but has anybody converted this to trailing link gear? I have an Avios jet with such a gear and grass has not been an issue with the stock gear.

[SanExup]

There are nose gear braces for the F86 available to buy or to print. My Sabre, future Fury, shows up tomorrow and I already have the brace. I'll post a photo when I install it.

I'm planning on flying it from grass. I'm considering belly landing it if the grass is too long to cleanly land it without damaging gear. But I don't want to shred the belly either.