Official Freewing Twin 80mm F-14D Tomcat Thread

[Tanguy51]

Omg....Ace yours is awsome !!!! I love it !

[Ben De Vizio]

Has anyone managed to fit larger than 4000 packs and replaced the outrunners with Inrunners?

[Aces]

Has anyone managed to fit larger than 4000 packs and replaced the outrunners with Inrunners?

I have 6200 mah packs in my old tomcat. 😜. It’s kind of heavy. And takeoffs are a little longer but it flies great.

[crxmanpat]

I run RoaringTop 5800 35Cs in mine. They are lighter and skinnier than most 5000 packs. No mods needed to the battery trays. Have not put inrunners in mine, but I did switch out the stock power system for the one in the A-10. Plastic shrouds instead of metal, and 9 blades instead of 12. It likes this power system much better, definitely more thrust and more efficient.

[Aces]

I run RoaringTop 5800 35Cs in mine. They are lighter and skinnier than most 5000 packs. No mods needed to the battery trays. Have not put inrunners in mine, but I did switch out the stock power system for the one in the A-10. Plastic shrouds instead of metal, and 9 blades instead of 12. It likes this power system much better, definitely more thrust and more efficient.

When you say “power system” are you referring just to the DF’s? I assume you can still use all other stock electronics?

[crxmanpat]

Yes, "power system" means fans, motors and ESCs only. All other electronics are OK.

[Brinka]

Anyone have trouble with the door sequencer on stock module? Mine is opposite, always worked well for years and after I put it on servo tester the doors are now opposite, anyone have a tip on this issue?

[C17loadmaster]

Dumb question but, Is your nose landing gear plugged into the GEAR DOOR port on the circuit module?

[Brinka]

Dumb question but, Is your nose landing gear plugged into the GEAR DOOR port on the circuit module?

Not a dumb question at all, I checked and made sure it was plugged in right spot, it's totally opposite. I may use the new servo less doors from Hornet instead as all my efforts are exhausted.

[C17loadmaster]

What size/type battery was powering the tester?

[Bmccormick]

So I don’t know if it’s me or this plane. But all the other jets I have don’t act this way on landing. I have half wing flaps and they are set to manual spec deflection at half and full. This thing nose dives like a bastard with flaps on even half at about 1/4 throttle. Both the landing have not been pancakes but both times the main gear cracked through the turtle deck. It’s hard to get smoothly on the ground. Cg is at spec. What flap deflection do you guys use and what mix of up elevator at what throttle percentage?

[fhhuber]

Need to practice your slow flight at altitude. Its a fairly heavy airplane and thus needs more speed on approach or it can just fall out of the sky.

You might be stalling a couple of feet off the ground and slapping the whole airplane onto the runway.

Your setup for landing approach should be able to do laps of the field at constant altitude. Reduce throttle slightly on final and it will sink. A small increase in power to reduce descent rate at about 5 ft off the ground then kill power just after the wheels touch.

It does want some power at all times or you are trading a lot of altitude for airspeed.

[Brinka]

I switched the servo and still the door sequencer is closing when I put gear down and vise versa, is there a way to reset the module sequencer on the Tomcat?

[Lcacing]

So I don’t know if it’s me or this plane. But all the other jets I have don’t act this way on landing. I have half wing flaps and they are set to manual spec deflection at half and full. This thing nose dives like a bastard with flaps on even half at about 1/4 throttle. Both the landing have not been pancakes but both times the main gear cracked through the turtle deck. It’s hard to get smoothly on the ground. Cg is at spec. What flap deflection do you guys use and what mix of up elevator at what throttle percentage?

Here is a video of my landing, this was maybe the 5th flight on her, just starting to get comfortable on the approach speed, I’m using full span flaps and maybe 1/4 mix of up elevator, this gives me a slight nose down attitude in flight. At 16seconds I realized I was coming in a little faster than I wanted so I added a little more elevator, what I should have done was set my AOA further back and manage the power a bit better. But even then it was not bad, this bird will slow down even more. But like mentioned before use throttle management and set your AOA further back, adjust sink rate with power. I have another video with an extra high alpha landing just to show how high it will get and still have some control. Once I find it I’ll post it.

https://youtu.be/UoCkDiFMJpg

[fhhuber]

Nice smooth touchdown.

I've brought mine in at high enough alpha that the sub-fins scraped as the mains touched. Any more nose up and the tail impact would bounce the nose down.

[Lcacing]

Nice smooth touchdown.

I've brought mine in at high enough alpha that the sub-fins scraped as the mains touched. Any more nose up and the tail impact would bounce the nose down.

Thanks....I’ve scraped the sub-fins plenty of times!!!

last weekend I did an abort take off at speed and ran out of runway, the plane flipped and broke the wingsweep plastic tab on the wing.
If anybody is curious about how to replace it, here is what I found.
the part is glued to the wing, PITA to remove, it would not budge with out deforming the foam, solution was to Dremel off the side of the mouthing plate, then use a long blade and cut the glue off, still had to use players to pull up the piece.
I’m not replacing the bottom half, no damage and is not worth the headache. The complete set is $2 not bad!!!

[C17loadmaster]

I have a good spare wing if you end up needing that part. I learned the hard way about using full span flaps while too low and Fast... on my original F-14s second sortie.

The Tomcat is my favorite jet, and that was my worst crash of an EDF to date. All of it could have been been prevented as it was positively 100% pilot error. I have it on video, but it’s filmed by my wife while she’s talking talking to some woman that walked up when I was airborne. The wings are both usable, and both horizontal and vertical stabs were untouched. Everything else was completely destroyed besides LEDs and a few servos

[Lcacing]

Here is another landing, I was trying to find the limit....and I did . I was trying to see how much of high alpha and how slow I could get her. Even on the limit I still had control. For sure this was extreme but she will slow down really nice and will give you plenty of warnings.

https://youtu.be/w59A4RDgw2I

[Aussie1]

Getting a few flights up now with my F14. The K30 turbine is a perfect choice but testing flaps at altitude, I nearly lost it as it went into a near vertical dive!! Quickly retracted the flaps and recovered, so obvious that alot of up elevator mixing required for flaps but the nose high landing attitude has the skids occasionally hitting the runway. With flaps out on landing, I would expect a flatter landing stance.

[Twister006]

Finally got around to my second F-14 build. I still have a few details like A model nozzles and gear doors for the mains. This is Grumman F-14A prototype #6 used for test and evaluation.