Official Freewing 80mm A-4E/F Skyhawk Thread

[seaviper]

Got some flying in today with a flying buddy and his F4u. 1hr 3 mins flight time on the A4 to date. And believe it or not, the paint is still intact! I love the Scoot

[dahawk]

Dave I missed the discussion about expo share it with us. I'm curious about what Mike had to say about this being a self taught flyer I can always use more information.

Here's the Vid Captain Mike did at our event. And no, I'm not the President of our club. Should I run ? LOL https://youtu.be/84vRkQvEJGg

[farmflyer]

That makes so much sense now thanks for posting that Dave.

[dahawk]

Yeah,
Finally, an explanation that makes sense. Going back on other planes to adjust the mushiness. LOL

[themudduck]

Just watched the video and enjoyed it - I think this is a very useful technique, and I had not seen it before. Its certainly important to find out if you're inadvertently engaging other channels just like Capt. Mike explained. An eye opener! It should be really useful to do this test and fix that "inadvertent engagement" if it exists. (makes me wonder if I do that!)

But I feel pretty strongly that this is not the only purpose for using expo.

As Capt. Mike said at the beginning of the video, expo "deadens" the stick. Well in addition to fixing the "inadvertent engagement" problem, expo can be useful if you're flying a very sensitive aircraft. High-speed aircraft with very sensitive controls can be almost impossible to handle without expo. Take the little Durafly ME163 for example, or a 3D airplane with 90-degree throws. Without expo these planes are virtually impossible to fly at high speeds. In other words, expo limits the response around center, which can be VERY important for certain planes especially when they're going fast. Anyone else agree?

With super sensitive planes (mainly ones that fly really fast) I have used up to 75% expo. For most of my planes I use 30-35% but sometimes I dial it up a bit until the sensitivity is where I need it to be. I like to fly my warbirds scale (smoothly) but sometimes you need that extra (full) control throw to do tight maneuvers and expo is perfect for that. If the plane reacts too fast you can create a high-speed stall and expo can help control that.

Obviously we could get 100 different opinions about this. I'm not saying anyone else is wrong!! Like Capt Mike said, this is really up to each pilot to adjust to his own style. And kids these days... I've seen some use negative expo to make their planes hyper sensitive!

[themudduck]

By the way I've been wanting to mention this, maybe it fits in with my previous post. Have any of you noticed this with the Skyhawk.... it rolls like its a freaking drill when you use full aileron at high speed, but I find that after 3-4 revolutions it does some kind of strange wiggle and pitch-up when I stop the roll. I'm not sure what's going on but I think maybe the wing stalls after several revolutions. I do NOT see this when I do rolls at "normal" speeds. Anyone else notice this?

[seaviper]

That's probably coupling as your stick comes back from being pegged over. The further you move the stick, the more chance of adding in a little movement on the elevator.

[RCjetdude]

I don't have mine set to roll so insanely fast. About +/- 11mm is all I need for a comfortable roll rate.

[themudduck]

That's probably coupling as your stick comes back from being pegged over. The further you move the stick, the more chance of adding in a little movement on the elevator.

I hadn't thought about coupling until I watched Capt. Mike's video. I understand, well, I guess it's possible... but I don't think that's what's happening. Last Sunday it did it while I was rolling, I let go of the stick (aileron) and it recovered. In other words, it does it while it is rolling, after several rotations. I'm curious if anyone else has noticed it.

Ehh, who knows. Maybe I'm accidentally hitting the elevator.

[RCjetdude]

Could you be dealing with a a high amount of centrifugal force and an above or below vertical canter of mass? At a high rate of roll to could throw it into an out of control situation I would think.

[themudduck]

Could you be dealing with a a high amount of centrifugal force and an above or below vertical canter of mass? At a high rate of roll to could throw it into an out of control situation I would think.

That could be... but there are a bunch of us with this plane, I'd like to see if anyone else has seen this happen or is it just me. If its the plane, then probably some others have seen the same thing.

Not a big deal, just curious. I've never seen this on any other planes (for example my 90mm F104 will roll like it's on a string all the way across the sky).

[RCjetdude]

I think the vast majority of those that have the A-4 are flying with reduced aileron throw. At least most everyone commented on the ailerons being way too sensitive.

[Skypilot66]

How do you like your 90mm F-16 eff??? Any build or physical flaws???

[RCjetdude]

How do you like your 90mm F-16 eff??? Any build or physical flaws???

Not to divert the thread but my 90mm F-16 is no more due to stalling it on approach. I even had it on 8S but it is a heavy bird IMHO. As a result I just could not get comfortable flying it. I tried and contrary to many on the forum, I personally just did not like it but that does not mean it is a bad EDF. You really gotta stay ahead of it.

[DCORSAIR]

By the way I've been wanting to mention this, maybe it fits in with my previous post. Have any of you noticed this with the Skyhawk.... it rolls like its a freaking drill when you use full aileron at high speed, but I find that after 3-4 revolutions it does some kind of strange wiggle and pitch-up when I stop the roll. I'm not sure what's going on but I think maybe the wing stalls after several revolutions. I do NOT see this when I do rolls at "normal" speeds. Anyone else notice this?

I'm with you on this one, mine does the same thing, goes into a flippy and a floppy roll after several rotations, I have my aileron throws cut way back because I don't use expo or dual rates on any of my jets or planes, I have several flights on mine now and still don't like the way it flies, mine does not track well at all, there is just something funny about this jet, it doesn't have that locked in feel I like, I haven't figured it out yet, did add more nose weight and that helped a bunch for my style of flying. I'm still flying it though and will keep working on it, if I don't get it flying the way I like, it will find another home.!!

I will take my 90mm F-16 over this little scooter any day, love flying the F-16................:)

[seaviper]

Well I got 7 more flights on the A-4 today for a total of 21. Mine flies like it is on rails...that is unless you have the hump or the tanks onboard. I do not like flying with those things. She is much more locked in when flown clean.
And she handles fire ants pretty good too...

[seaviper]

I am running high rates on everything, 15% expo on ailerons, 20% expo on elevator, elevator-to-flap mixing as per the book. Just about perfect in my opinion.

The A-4 is actually a delta wing and has a very short span with big ailerons. It will roll like no tomorrow. If you're going to go and do those drill bit rolls and 20G pull-ups like its a park foamy, then you will be talking about your A-4 in the past tense soon enough.
Also those ailerons give you some adverse yaw. That is what you are seeing along with coupling.

[themudduck]

I am running high rates on everything, 15% expo on ailerons, 20% expo on elevator, elevator-to-flap mixing as per the book. Just about perfect in my opinion.

The A-4 is actually a delta wing and has a very short span with big ailerons. It will roll like no tomorrow. If you're going to go and do those drill bit rolls and 20G pull-ups like its a park foamy, then you will be talking about your A-4 in the past tense soon enough.
Also those ailerons give you some adverse yaw. That is what you are seeing along with coupling.

Yeah I really like the way it flies. The wiggle at the end of high-speed rolls are just an odd thing I noticed... my guess is that that weight of the battery is having some kind of pendulum effect when you roll it at very high speed (since the battery isn't on the center of rotation). Its goofy when you do this, but the model flies perfectly when flown in a scale manner. I especially love the way it will float in with the nose in the air for landings.

[seaviper]

I just hit 26 flights on the A-4 today! Flew my first formation flights with a buddy's FMS 70mm Scorpion. Tons of fun. I flew formation both loaded up and clean. No trim required either way. Guess I am getting used to the A-4 finally.

Got home, opened up the engine compartment to find the fan full of gunk from the grass field. Amazing how much stuff gets sucked through that fan. I also repaired an aileron hinge which had kind of worked loose at some point. I used the Freewing glue from the kit to fix the aileron hinge. It worked great. Otherwise not much maintenance required on this bird. She still looks like new.

before cleaning


after cleaning

[PikeStaff]

............................ Missed a spot.............. :)