Official Freewing Twin 80mm F-14D Tomcat Thread

[T-CAT]

Aros and Brinka, the Jolly Rogers livery looks great.

[Alpha]

Brinka and Corsair Nut, thanks for sharing! It's nice to see the Tomcat in such exciting places and capable hands.

[Brinka]

Brinka and Corsair Nut, thanks for sharing! It's nice to see the Tomcat in such exciting places and capable hands.

Humble TY Alpha, you and Motion changed the game for the better, sometimes I show up to the field and my Jets look more scale than some turbines, and they all take notice, grateful you guys designed a EDF Tomcat, no complaints, we can always get through the small tedius issues.

[dusmmdb]

quick question..... my landing light isnt working when plugged into the designated slot, but works in another. Is it ok to simply Y it into another slot, basically two lights in the one slot??

[Elbee]

Yeppers, though some slots might have differing voltages, I think. So you might check that the voltages are the same in all slots first. LB

[Aussie1]

Aros and Brinka, the Jolly Rogers livery looks great.

I travel to the USA regularly, or used to!! One thing that I always enjoy is going to the aviation museums and some of these pics that I took were taken in New York and Seattle of full size Tomcats and this inspired me to try and fly a Freewing model with a small turbine. It flys very well and came out slightly lighter than the EDF version.

[T-CAT]

I travel to the USA regularly, or used to!! One thing that I always enjoy is going to the aviation museums and some of these pics that I took were taken in New York and Seattle of full size Tomcats and this inspired me to try and fly a Freewing model with a small turbine. It flys very well and came out slightly lighter than the EDF version.

Nice . Did you use the Kingtech K45G3?

[Aussie1]

Nice . Did you use the Kingtech K45G3?

Thanks, no, I just use the standard K30 and it will climb vertical for as long as you want. Power is probably equivalent to a 8s setup. I also own X45's, but I use one of those in my Eflite SU30, which is of similar size to the F14, and even at half throttle, the SU30 still goes like a bat out of hell!!

[T-CAT]

Thanks, no, I just use the standard K30 and it will climb vertical for as long as you want. Power is probably equivalent to a 8s setup. I also own X45's, but I use one of those in my Eflite SU30, which is of similar size to the F14, and even at half throttle, the SU30 still goes like a bat out of hell!!

The miracle of turbine efflux, ha-ha.

[GarrisonR]

Well I picked up a F-14 ARF, I have wanted one for a while now and I was inspired by Cosair Nut’s build/paint videos, I figured while my flying fields are shut down and with all this extra time I’d make it happen. I’m filling in panel lines, repainting and using A-10 ESCs with T-33 9 blade inrunners. Might test out the 12 blade rotor eventually.
I designed this 3D printed main gear brace. I don’t fly off grass but my clubs runway has it’s issues and I figured for the occasional hard landing it’d be worth it. Plus I have the time..
I’m open to any and all feedback on the design, especially before I glue or epoxy it in. Thats my other question, do you guys think I should glue it in with Foam Cure or use epoxy? The glue I'd use is similar to the included freewing glue and has a bit of give to it.
The brace weighs 35g with 15% infill but was honestly plenty strong with 10% infill as I increased the wall thickness and top/bottom layers.
I also plan to strengthen the nose gear, likely with some variation of the RCINFORMER’s method.
If others are interested I can post the STL also.

[Aussie1]

Well I picked up a F-14 ARF, I have wanted one for a while now and I was inspired by Cosair Nut’s build/paint videos, I figured while my flying fields are shut down and with all this extra time I’d make it happen. I’m filling in panel lines, repainting and using A-10 ESCs with T-33 9 blade inrunners. Might test out the 12 blade rotor eventually.
I designed this 3D printed main gear brace. I don’t fly off grass but my clubs runway has it’s issues and I figured for the occasional hard landing it’d be worth it. Plus I have the time..
I’m open to any and all feedback on the design, especially before I glue or epoxy it in. Thats my other question, do you guys think I should glue it in with Foam Cure or use epoxy? The glue I'd use is similar to the included freewing glue and has a bit of give to it.
The brace weighs 35g with 15% infill but was honestly plenty strong with 10% infill as I increased the wall thickness and top/bottom layers.
I also plan to strengthen the nose gear, likely with some variation of the RCINFORMER’s method.
If others are interested I can post the STL also.

Looks great! This is a big, reasonably heavy foam jet and I know that some of my landings were way less than perfect! So anything that strengthens this high stress area, is a plus.

[Brinka]

GarrisonR The nose gear is actually a lot more robust than the main gear, but that brace should work well. As for the white plastic strut support bar that will snap in half easily especially on grass. Remove it from nose gear and under there's a gap where you can add a carbon fiber rod in between, just cut right fit and CA or super glue gel works well. This will save you in the long run, that support bar keeps the steering from losing control.

Main gear has always been the big issue on this jet, once you have a hard landing, it will crack the fuselage and you won't be able to sweep wings. Yes you can try those large plates RC informer uses, but I have a great work around that has helped after hundreds of landings. I made a long cut from the top of fuse above each gear and installed a flat carbon fiber rod deep enough to add support to each main gear. Pictured below. I did about a 4inch cut, and then used foam tac glue, sanded a bit on top, then a little grease so the wing servos don't work so hard. This to me is vital for your F14 to last with out having to go through a fuselage every time you have a hard landing.

[Brinka]

GarrisonR oh wow I just realized you posted the pics of your main gear brace support, duhhhh, my bad, that is perfect, I would go with a softer glue rather than epoxy, as I feel a little slight give helps absorb the blows it will take. Foam Tac.

[Brinka]

After watching Top Gun this week I realized that most of the movie it was training against the A4 the whole time! Super cool shot back when we used to fly in February! 😔

[GarrisonR]

Thanks Brinka. I did go with the softer glue. I like your carbon rod addition, nice and simple.
Im waiting on Callie graphics, going with the Jolley Rogers as well. Still haven't decided on black verticals or if i want to go grey/low vis. Your A4 looks sweet as well!
What Fans are you running in the 14?

[GarrisonR]

Thank you! I love the turbine on your F-14, I've seen this done once before. Definitely a goal of mine someday, I like the idea of adapting smaller turbines to foamies. Were you able to get the tank on the CG?

Looks great! This is a big, reasonably heavy foam jet and I know that some of my landings were way less than perfect! So anything that strengthens this high stress area, is a plus.

[Aussie1]

Thank you! I love the turbine on your F-14, I've seen this done once before. Definitely a goal of mine someday, I like the idea of adapting smaller turbines to foamies. Were you able to get the tank on the CG?

No, not quite. I cut foam back as far as the aluminium swing wing support and that put the tank partially over the CG. My tank was 750 mils and with the K30 was good for at least 7 minutes of flying. Some conversions have fitted two 500 mil tanks inside the inlet ducts and that would put the fuel right over the CG. One guy has even fitted two X45's where the EDF's were and that would give 22lbs of thrust, so you would have to be extremely careful with the throttle!!

[Brinka]

[QUOTE=GarrisonR;n249763]Thanks Brinka. I did go with the softer glue. I like your carbon rod addition, nice and simple.
Im waiting on Callie graphics, going with the Jolley Rogers as well. Still haven't decided on black verticals or if i want to go grey/low vis. Your A4 looks sweet as well!
What Fans are you running in the 14? [/QUOT

Good choice with Jolly Rodger, scheme looks bad ass at the field, TY, the A4 was a custom Callie job for the VT 7 training squadron. I've been flying stock motors for 4 yrs now, on 2 5000 HRB lipos. As far as the scheme you can go with a matte black and yellow, all your choice, I personally like high visibility for flying. Low vis Jets look cool but just not for my eyes especially on grey cloudy days or sundown flying.

[Brinka]

My Jolly Rodger with a scale F14, low vis scheme

[Brinka]

Cool video of my F14 with https://www.lightburner.co/shop Twin 80mm EDF Afterburner kit!

[GarrisonR]

Some more progress on the F-14
Repainted, well one shade at least.. needs weathering and possibly some mixing in of darker grays. Not sure if I want to do a low vis or Jolly Rogers scheme with black tails yet.
Did the hatch mod that I saw on Corsair-nut's videos and added a full length battery tray. The 9 blade T-33 1920kv inrunners are installed with homemade afterburners.
Installed D85MG servos for the elevators, I had considered changing them anyways but the stock ones were unacceptably notchy throughout their entire travel. Will probably maiden before moving forward with anymore paint/graphics/weathering, hopefully soon.