Official Freewing 90mm EDF Stinger 90 Thread

[Hugh Wiedman]

Is this thread just about dead? And just why James is this "Official" thread in Military Jets and not in Sport Jets!
Anyway, I really like my Stinger 90, flies just as well as the Avanti, but too bad it's kind of looking and having to connect/disconnent 6 servo wires each time out was a pain, so it really needs to be upgraded with a ribbon cable. I wired each side into a 5 pin latching polarized connection so it goes together and comes apart in seconds, with very little stress put on the servo connectors.

Anyway, I spent the last several months upgrading all of my 90mm EDF's to the 12 blade inrunner, with the exception of the Stinger 90. Mine had the old 12 blade 1650 Kv outrunner in it, yet it still flew very well. I wasn't about to spend $100-$160 upgrading the fan for that one, but earlier this month got a 2nd Hornet that came with the 9 blade inrunner. I also bought the 12 blade for that one, so in essence the 9 blade only cost me $20 if I would have got an ARF and the 12 blade fan separate. For that cost, I was more than happy to upgrade the Stinger. Bottom Line, it was well worth it! Flies great now. It's nice to see MRC upgraded the Stinger with the 9 blade (wonder how they're selling though at the new price), but if you still have the old 1650 Kv outrunner, you may want to upgrade it to the 1900Kv inrunner. Oh yah, and definitely rewire the wing connections and maybe do some cool repaint. I'm flying mine on a RT 6250 and get almost 5 minutes of flight time, not too shabby for an "old" EDF.

[leithalweapon]

Anybody else having trouble with the nose gear pin breaking? I just attempted my 3r maiden flight and on all three take off rolls The nose gear pin breaks. Finally got a video of the third fail. After the first maiden and nose gear collapse I tried make a warranty claim and was told to provide a bunch if information. So I provided it all the them and was then told that since I didn't get a video of the event they couldn't help me. I sent a nice email just saying "thank you, I appreciate your help". I got no reply, but within minutes I got an email saying the new pin was ordered. Weird, but they did send me the $4 Pin, of course after I ordered one because I thought I was S.O.L..

https://youtu.be/k9U6g8nqsAQ

[Evan D]

Saw your video. Something ain’t right and they should make it very right.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Anybody else having trouble with the nose gear pin breaking? I just attempted my 3r maiden flight and on all three take off rolls The nose gear pin breaks. Finally got a video of the third fail. After the first maiden and nose gear collapse I tried make a warranty claim and was told to provide a bunch if information. So I provided it all the them and was then told that since I didn't get a video of the event they couldn't help me. I sent a nice email just saying "thank you, I appreciate your help". I got no reply, but within minutes I got an email saying the new pin was ordered. Weird, but they did send me the $4 Pin, of course after I ordered one because I thought I was S.O.L..

https://youtu.be/k9U6g8nqsAQ

Agree with Evan D , something just ain't right. I must have about 150 flights on a grass field that looks about the same as yours and have never had a nose gear pin, or any nose gear failure, and that includes some early on rough landings as this was my first EDF and couldn't land for . You barely got 30 feet down the runway at about 25% of take-off speed before it broke so something's not right. I'm also using a 6250 mah battery weighing about 814 gr so that's quite a bit of weight in the nose section, although I have it tucked way back as far as possible with a CG about 10-15mm further aft than book. Take what's left of the bad pin out and put it in a vise and give a hit with a hammer to see just how much force it takes to break it. If I remember correctly, the pins in the Stinger should actually bend well before they break, unlike the F-4 nose pins that do not bend but break first.

[leithalweapon]

I will try the vice/hammer experiment with the remaining section of pin. It fractures right at the edge of the ground flat spot for the grub screw on the steering collar. Very little if any bending. My experience with gear pins is the same as yours, they should be soft enough to bend. This picture is of the original pin.
I had full up elevator on that take off roll in the video too. I own the Venom and Mig29, another guy flies his Avanti, Me262 and F104 (all Freewing) off this field with no problems. I also have an EFlite 70mm F16 that everybody warns me about the nose gear collapsing and it hasn't after much abuse.

[Hugh Wiedman]

I will try the vice/hammer experiment with the remaining section of pin. It fractures right at the edge of the ground flat spot for the grub screw on the steering collar. Very little if any bending. My experience with gear pins is the same as yours, they should be soft enough to bend. This picture is of the original pin.
I had full up elevator on that take off roll in the video too. I own the Venom and Mig29, another guy flies his Avanti, Me262 and F104 (all Freewing) off this field with no problems. I also have an EFlite 70mm F16 that everybody warns me about the nose gear collapsing and it hasn't after much abuse.

The break in that pin looks very similar to the stock nose pin in the F-4 that will not bend a mm, eventually just breaks, but to get it to snap off takes a hellava lot of force (still, many guys were breaking them but NEVER on take-off, only on moderately hard nose gear first landings). In that aircraft, I initially replaced it with a Spitfire main axel shaft to be safe, and with just some minor altercations to fit right (same length but needed longer flat spots and had to grind down the "head" end to smaller diameter to turn freely), and that pin will not ever break, but will bend with slightly less force than the stock breaks at. After learning how to land consistently, eventually put the stock pins back in both my F-4's. But to be honest, I had to strike the stock pin with a hammer a couple times fairly hard to get it to break and from your video, there could not have been much force on the pin to get it to break, maybe it was just a "bad" pin (but 3 have broken on you so that makes no sense). I can see why you're frustrated, that would pi... me off as well. If this keeps up, you may want to try the Spitfire axel instead and I could send you the size specs to see if it would even fit, but you shouldn't have to go through that.

[Evan D]

Hugh, he’s posted on here and RCG. His first post was saying major design problem which it is not. It’s a quality problem either the pin.

you pointed out the F-4 and there were a few that had that pin break (I wouldn’t say many) and I replaced mine with a different one, I think for the F-14, it’s been a long time.

Anyway he needs to let Motion know there’s an issue (not just ask for replacements) and then maybe look for alternative pins or a retract with a larger diameter pin like the MiG 29. But the there’s the issue of if that unit will fit the plastic mount.

[leithalweapon]

This is a pic of the broken pin next to a pin from my Sebart mini avanti. As you can see there is absolutely no bending. The Sebart pin did bend like it should, because it was designed and built with the correct hardness. The Freewing pin was designed and manufactured out of metal far to brittle. That's what I meant when I said it's a design problem.
I guess I will contact Alpha, but I'm sceptical after buying a Mig29 at the first pre order and having one of the first nose dive experiences early on and nobody believing me. I was called inexperienced and a bad pilot until it happened to others. Kinda got the same vibe when I made the warranty claim on the pin.

[leithalweapon]

I contacted motion and this was their reply
I guess hope Alpha sees the post. and can help.

[Hugh Wiedman]

I contacted motion and this was their reply
I guess hope Alpha sees the post. and can help.

Not much help there and IMO, a totally unacceptable response. I believe your grass field looks no worse than the one I fly off of and as I said, I must have at well over 100 flights on the Stinger at this field and have never "busted" a pin. Unfortunately, I do not have any videos of the Stinger flying at our field, just a couple crappy photos, but I do have a bunch of videos on our field of the A-10, F-18, F-16 and F-4 for comparison. Attached is one of the videos of the F-4 so you tell me, doesn't seem to be any better than your field. We have a lot of bumps, imbedded rocks and divets, and your pin broke so early in the take-off run that you couldn't have even been much more than 25% of the required take-off speed!

[leithalweapon]

The yellow looks so much better! I am going to have a stronger pin made, but I may also see If I can find a different front retract with a larger pin like the Mig 29. Or find 2 larger diameter wheels for the stock strut. My Freewing Venom has no problem with this runway. Why they aren't smart enough to put larger diameter wheels on a sport jet I don't know. It's not like it has to be scale looking. The Freewing Avanti glides right over this field. A good rule of thumb would be to avoid using a small pin with small wheels on the nose gear. I bet you could put a lot of weight over the Avanti nose wheel and run it up and down this runway without a problem.
ALPHA, JAMES IF YOUR READING THIS HELP ME PLEASE!! Probably just a cry for help in the dark.

[Hugh Wiedman]

The yellow looks so much better! I am going to have a stronger pin made

I suspect the stronger pin your buddy is making will do the trick and you most likely won't even have to go to larger wheels (using the stock wheels myself), but couldn't hurt. Repainting the Stinger was one of the easier repaints I've done. I did remove the waterslide decals from the wings with clear packaging tape (came off easy) but left everything else on the fuse and rudder. Just first covered it with a spray Rustoleum white primer, then used Rustoleum spray Golden Sunset yellow and hand painted the black with testors gloss enamel and applied the graphics, then coated with 4 coats of clear gloss exterior spar urethane. Sent Callie some images for the graphics and she reproduced them better than the images I sent her. Orientation is no longer a problem for me on this one. I've seen some much better repaint jobs than mine so let your creative juices flow! I also am so glad I rewired the wing connections with the 5 pin polarized latching connections as it assembles quick and easy now.

[leithalweapon]

I got the pin made and installed it today. In doing so I noticed the left main gear wasn't fully retracting. The strut was stuck in the full up position, with the spring fully compressed. I had to work at it to get it extended. I thought oil would help, but it didn't. Keep in mind the plane came out of the box with either two left struts or two right struts I can't remember. I sent a message to Motion RC about it, see what happens. This plane is getting expensive and it's still not right.

https://youtu.be/y14pROQ20X0

[Evan D]

When I saw you say the struts were the same before I went to the spare parts to look and to me there is only one part that fits both sides. I think at this point you should send it back and not buy any more FW jets.

[Ron1950]

wonder why the customer service guy didnt have the balls to sign the return comments that field pics were pretty nice actually

[Hugh Wiedman]

I got the pin made and installed it today. In doing so I noticed the left main gear wasn't fully retracting. The strut was stuck in the full up position, with the spring fully compressed. I had to work at it to get it extended. I thought oil would help, but it didn't. Keep in mind the plane came out of the box with either two left struts or two right struts I can't remember. I sent a message to Motion RC about it, see what happens. This plane is getting expensive and it's still not right.

https://youtu.be/y14pROQ20X0

That's incredible, one thing after another. I've had that happen on a few main strut springs in some FW planes (can't remember if the Stinger was one of them, but don't think so), had to take them apart and sand smooth any burrs that that stupid little screw gouges in the slot. Definitely not something designed at the "Skunk Works" facility.

[leithalweapon]

When I saw you say the struts were the same before I went to the spare parts to look and to me there is only one part that fits both sides. I think at this point you should send it back and not buy any more FW jets.

Their is a left and right strut because the pin in the main retract unit has the ground flat spots at an angle. The retract isn't perpendicular to the fuse, so in order for the main wheels to point straight ahead they must be different. When the person assembling it realized that they couldn't tighten the grub screw on the flat spot because they had two of the same struts assembled. They just pointed the wheel straight and tightened the grub screw to keep it straight so it would retract into the wheel pocket. All I had to do was take the axle out and reverse it, but it took a while to figure it out.

[leithalweapon]

wonder why the customer service guy didnt have the balls to sign the return comments that field pics were pretty nice actually

Good eyes! I didn't notice that. Classic Motion RC.

[Evan D]

One strut, one pin, one axle. The only difference is the gear door. Please sell your Stinger90, you will never be satisfied with it.

[leithalweapon]

One strut, one pin, one axle. The only difference is the gear door. Please sell your Stinger90, you will never be satisfied with it.

Yep your correct. I think I got confused because I just noticed, after the maiden today, that my left wheel is crooked and not even close to straight. The ground spots on the pin are not parallel with the centerline of the plane and one of the phillips head screws in the strut was missing on top of that. I got the strut to operate smoothly, but now need to ground the pins to the correct angle to get the wheel to track straight and find a screw to replace the missing one. So my maiden take off seemed kinda long and I bet it's because I was dragging the left wheel. You guys are right this is one of the best flying planes from freewing. Once I get the gear straight I'm gonna go to 8s and an APD 120Amp esc. If you fly edf's and you haven't heard of APD out of Australia they are very good esc's that weigh in at 24g for the 120amp without wires or have the need for a heatsink. I didn't believe it either, but I'm running one on 8s with a jp hobby 90mm in a Sebart Mini Avanti in 90+ degree temperatures and high humidity without problems.