Official Freewing 64mm F/A-18 Hornet Thread

[Katodog]

Hello. I am currently trying to test my edf. When it's plugged in it goes through a bunch of beeping patterns and never turns on. If I press up or down on the throttle nothing happens. But the edf itself sounds like it's beeping?

[DougCLind]

Welcome Doug.
When a plane is nose heavy you add up trim to fly level right? That up trim causes the plane to sink when flying slower and to pitch up when flying faster.
Same for a tail heavy plane that you give down trim to, pitches down the faster it goes. In this case people are adding nose weight to correct for CG and remove the trim so it doesn't change pitch with speed.
Another thing to add is wing and stab incidents. Some model makers don't get that right and it can cause a similar issue.
Hope that makes sense.

Thanks Evan. Well, I've never heard of wing and tail incidents so I don't know what that would be. I'm not a builder, just a flyer (unless you call gluing foam pieces together to be building.) Your point about trim makes sense if it's a trim issue. I didn't feel like it was a trim issue because that would come in to play with speed, not throttle. And it seemed like the effect was immediate, before the plane's speed increased. I could be wrong. (It wouldn't be the first time!) At any rate when I get the chance to fly it again I'll see if my tinkering with the nozzles has had any effect and if not then I'll move the battery forward.

My Roaring Top 2200 35C's are a little lighter than the comparable Admirals. They're 210 grams vs 226 grams for the Admirals. But my CG is about 65mm with battery and canopy on and that seems to be what I've seen other people use. In James' and Captain Blasz' videos they didn't seem to mention using a different CG and James' setup for the elevators seemed to be aligned with the glue line on the fuse so that's where mine was initially before I cranked the clevis out a turn.

I'll be sure to post an update after I fly it again.

[DougCLind]

Update on the F18 trim issue: I finally got the chance to fly it again today and there were very calm conditions. Nice flying. The bottom line is that my nozzle tweaking was exactly what I expected. The plane flew straight with no variations depending on throttle setting. I made 4 flights, 2 with my Roaring Top 35 C's, 2200 maH, 210 grams, and 2 with a pair of Zeee 50 C's 2200 maH, 241 grams. The CG was around 65mm just like before.

So my conclusion is that, not surprisingly, the nozzles are not just some decorative element on the plane. It's important that you glue them on very carefully, exactly flush with the matching surface, so that the exhaust goes straight out of the plane. The slight downward slant of my nozzles, which I didn't notice until I looked very closely, accounted for the plane diving when given throttle.

This should be explained in the manual or else the nozzles should be factory mounted. JMO

[spec450]

Here’s mine. Just got it a month ago. Haven’t flown it yet. Is the intakes and cheaters underneath it enough. I’ve seen other cut my holes for airflow. Is this necessary?

[Phantom]

I only added additional ventilation after swapping up to a 70mm.

[FlyingDutch]

Hi Guys, I bought this flyer as a beginner, worked great for me but want to extend the flight time, anyone upgraded to a larger battery? Thanks!

[Mountainrc1111]

Here’s mine. Just got it a month ago. Haven’t flown it yet. Is the intakes and cheaters underneath it enough. I’ve seen other cut my holes for airflow. Is this necessary?

How did you get the old stickers off for the maverick decals? or did you just repaint the fuselage?

[planes43]

can you fit a 4s 3000 in this f-18 ok?

[bth9318]

Here’s mine. Just got it a month ago. Haven’t flown it yet. Is the intakes and cheaters underneath it enough. I’ve seen other cut my holes for airflow. Is this necessary?

Yes we would like to know about the paint job.

[spec450]

Yes we would like to know about the paint job.

I did not remove stock decals. I lightly scuffed the surface of the entire plane. Sprayed the whole jet with primer, then shot a flat clear over the primer. The primer is the correct grey to begin with so I left it as the base coat. I masked and painted all the gloss black on the spine and tails. The blue lines are also masked and painted on. The top gun decals are from Callie.

[krkcdad]

Just my 2 cents.. I fly the F18 64mm using an admiral 4s 2500mah pro I’ve upgraded the edf to a Qx motor 3800Kv and use a ZTW esc 65amp, I use the landing gear, I feel it’s more realistic with the gear.. I think it flys great like this! In my opinion really no need to put a 70mm fan in it, and believe me I thought about it!. the air intakes are not designed for it and just adds weight that it doesn’t need!!

Do you have the exact QX edf unit number? Did you get the complete edf or just the motor? If the unit, was it 12 blade? I know this is an old post, but any info would be appreciated

[StevenR]

Do you have the exact QX edf unit number? Did you get the complete edf or just the motor? If the unit, was it 12 blade? I know this is an old post, but any info would be appreciated

We’ll it’s been a few years but the QX edf was the complete unit and 12blade out runner motor! You may want to look into the new freewing 64mm inrunner from Motion RC I believe it’s in the 64mm F22, go into the spare parts link for that airplane and it should be available.

[StevenR]

Do you have the exact QX edf unit number? Did you get the complete edf or just the motor? If the unit, was it 12 blade? I know this is an old post, but any info would be appreciated

It’s the freewing 64mm 4s 3100kv inrunner, I’d be tempted to try this!

[santanig5]

Would anyone happen to have a rudder set for this jet? Used in working condition is fine.

thanks

[paulrkytek]

My Freewing F/A-18E Super Hornet. I have added working rudders and sprung nose leg and twin nose wheels, 2200mah 4s 60c lipo. Takeoff weight = 1075gms with Xfly 64mm dia 4s 12 blade fan, 2840 3200kv motor, 50amp esc. 1250 gms static thrust 1000 gms actual. Now waiting for Spring when our grass field will be rolled and cut.

[Bronxbombr]

With individual and functioning rudders, and upgraded E-flite 2840-3150kv motor and esc from their F15.

[YAWspeed]

[FONT=Times New Roman][B][SIZE=16px]My Freewing F/A-18E Super Hornet. I have added working rudders and sprung nose leg and twin nose wheels,

Nice setup! Do you mind sharing what servos you used and what parts you used for the nose wheel? I’m too nervous to fly mine without rudders, so I’ll be adding them before I maiden. Have you flown yours yet with that setup?

Thanks for sharing!

-Jason

[paulrkytek]

Jason TGY-1440A 4.5g 0.6kgf analogue servo from Hobbyking or any 5gm 0.6 Kgf 8mm thick MAX THICKNESS FOR A NEAT FIT servo you can find with correct connector end will work i had these in stock from a few years ago and they worked well on my F22 64MM. the nose gear you cannot buy, I made this up from a unit I had in the old spares box fitted into a cf tube with ply angle bracket to create solid support. Had a dozen flights on my F22 64mm no problems. The nose gear works well off my grass field ( short grass ) and the rudders work well for wingovers, landing approaches etc see this to check out requred servo calcs https://www.radiocontrolinfo.com/inf...ne-calculator/

[paulrkytek]

YAWspeed Jason. EMAX es9051 servos https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesa....home.search.0 also works also consider this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32509335059.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.2.1b67OVtuOVtu79&algo_pvid=fea8f20c-1976-4140-9ee7-702ef678247b&algo_exp_id=fea8f20c-1976-4140-9ee7-702ef678247b-1&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%7D&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21GBP%217.11%217.11%21%21%2167.18%2167.18%21%40211b61a417452266003174975e609c%2110000015807974893%21sea%21UK%214695351652%21X&curPageLogUid=wqXejmsB6UYL&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A

[YAWspeed]

Jason TGY-1440A 4.5g 0.6kgf analogue servo from Hobbyking or any 5gm 0.6 Kgf 8mm thick MAX THICKNESS FOR A NEAT FIT servo you can find with correct connector end will work i had these in stock from a few years ago and they worked well on my F22 64MM. the nose gear you cannot buy, I made this up from a unit I had in the old spares box fitted into a cf tube with ply angle bracket to create solid support. Had a dozen flights on my F22 64mm no problems. The nose gear works well off my grass field ( short grass ) and the rudders work well for wingovers, landing approaches etc see this to check out requred servo calcs https://www.radiocontrolinfo.com/inf...ne-calculator/

Thank you Paul! I’m going to get to work adding rudders before I maiden. Thanks for the detailed information and resources. I’ll share my experience once I get it together and up in the air.

-Jason