Official Freewing F/A-18C Hornet 90mm EDF Thread

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks for the shout out Brinka . I was just hoping your upgrade to the 12 blade would have been more dramatic, but didn't realize how good your old outrunner really was. For me it was a huge upgrade, but then I was going from the original stock 1750 9 blade outrunner that my Grandmother had.

BTW, as I've reported to some already privately, I just got a hold of some of the new Graphene SMC 5300's and 6200's. These have tested out better than any other battery I've tested (Admirals/HRB/Roaring Top/Spektrum/ Hobbystar/Venom/etc./etc). These are labeled 40C and test out to that on the Progressive IR meter (un heard of), where the highest C I've ever found till now (on advertised 50C to 100C) has been 34. The 5300's weigh in at an extremely lite 684 gr (most 5000's are 720-750) and will be used in my new Mig and the 6200's weigh in at 814 gr and will power all my 12 blade 90mm inrunners (except my F-16 that loves the SMC 8100 mah and gives over 5 minutes). The individual cell amps are great at around 160 mamps, and the individual cell IR's are around 1.3 mohms. Discharge C and cell amps stay consistent from fully charged down to 30%. On my 90 mm 12 blade inrunners, the power draw is up to a whopping 127.7 Ah (oh , I've only got a 130 amp ESC), and up to just under 3200 W, by far better than anything I've tried. I'm still using my RT 6250's on my Stinger/Avanti and A-10 (because I have so many and they don't need a huge C rate) and the Admirals on most of my prop planes, but from now on, most of my EDF's will be dining on SMC!

Speaking of EDF's, a little sneak preview of my nearly completed F-18 number 2. Got it, along with the Mig, the day before the price increase and have been working on the repaints of both for over a month now. Picked a livery that it turned out was even more complicated that my first F-18 I did in the 1867-2017 Canadian scheme. She needed a wing man, so came up with another Canadian version, but one I haven't seen much around. Now I now why; it was a B..... to do! I'll post finished photos in the next couple of days (when/if the rain stops ), but here's some early on ones from several weeks ago. Anyone care to guess what the livery is? (And it's not Linus's "Great Pumpkin" from Charlie Brown). The Mig is about a week out from being released! My garage, kitchen, main foyer and office/hangar has been been littered with aircraft parts in various stages of painting for over a month and finally today most areas have been cleaned up, just in time as my wife had an appointment with a divorce attorney!

[Airguardian]

Looking good!

I want to get my hands on some SMC batts so badly... T.T

[fredmdbud]

Thanks for the shout out Brinka
Speaking of EDF's, a little sneak preview of my nearly completed F-18 number 2. Got it, along with the Mig, the day before the price increase and have been working on the repaints of both for over a month now. Picked a livery that it turned out was even more complicated that my first F-18 I did in the 1867-2017 Canadian scheme. She needed a wing man, so came up with another Canadian version, but one I haven't seen much around. Now I now why; it was a B..... to do! I'll post finished photos in the next couple of days (when/if the rain stops ), but here's some early on ones from several weeks ago. Anyone care to guess what the livery is? (And it's not Linus's "Great Pumpkin" from Charlie Brown). The Mig is about a week out from being released! My garage, kitchen, main foyer and office/hangar has been been littered with aircraft parts in various stages of painting for over a month and finally today most areas have been cleaned up, just in time as my wife had an appointment with a divorce attorney!

I'm guessing this.

[IdidItOnPurpose]

Hi guys,
Did anybody try to Exchange the landing gear of the f-18 with the eflite 80mm f-18 because of the scale look?

Best regards

dario

Yes I did the swap along with 'fix'ing the doors. Quite a bit of hacking involved but pleased with how it turned out.

[Elbee]

...Speaking of EDF's, a little sneak preview of my nearly completed F-18 number 2...

Hugh, you never fail to amaze. Your fleet is definitely taking on a theme. Looking forward to any and all pictures and info from you, Sir. Thank you for the battery updates as well. Best as always, Steve

[Alpha]

Hugh Wiedman Please leave the key to your workshop under the doormat in the back. I'll swing by and.... "borrow"... that orange Hornet as soon as you're finished with it, please and thank you.

[Hugh Wiedman]

I'm guessing this.

You win the lottery, unfortunately the funds have already been withdrawn by my CO!

Finishing it today but still raining outside and need to get some decent pictures. Alpha, you can "borrow" anything I've got!

[Aros]

Oh momma!! Hugh Wiedman you continue to outdo yourself. I can't wait to see the finished results!

[DCORSAIR]

Yes I did the swap along with 'fix'ing the doors. Quite a bit of hacking involved but pleased with how it turned out.

That looks great, now that's what Freewing should have worked on before it was released, that was one of the reasons I sold both of mine, that ugly gear....

[Hugh Wiedman]

Oh momma!! Hugh Wiedman you continue to outdo yourself. I can't wait to see the finished results!

The wait is over, cloudy and rainy outside so had to take some indoor photos, definitely not filmed in it's "natural environment". My first Hornet now has a Canadian cousin and they both can speak Canuck-ese with each other, EH? Alpha, she's yours to fly anytime you want.

My initial idea was to get a 2nd Hornet, just to fly the snot out of it and use the other Canadian as a show plane, which only has about 35 flights. Then I stumbled across this livery and thought, that should be easy. Turned out to be the most difficult repaint I've ever done (not that I've done a lot). Had to get the different orange shading using nothing but different Rustoleum spray paints (hey, no air brush for me, OLD school). It was a challenge but finally figured it out. Then went to work on the white stripes, black stripes and the rest. Turned out Callie's graphics not up to her usual excellence and most were either too large, too small and not enough (ended up using 2 sheets and a lot of hand painting and Callie had to resize the vertical stabilizer graphics). I'm guessing I'm the first one trying to use her graphics, but ended up doing most on my own. Seems there are a lot of really smart people out there who avoided this one, and one really dumb guy! The other Canadian graphics were spot on, so really can't fault her. Ended up doing my own version of a 2D cockpit as the 3D cockpit I did on the first was fabulous (thanks to Elbee ), just kind of a bear and added an extra 4 1/2 ounces to the nose (making balancing at 110mm tough). This one only weighed in for an extra 1 1/4 ounces (and no, the pilot does not play for the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday). Did a few upgrades as well:

• 12 Blade Inrunner
• "Revised" 2D cockpit and new pilot (not the midget it comes with)
• Carbon Fiber tube reinforcement on nose gear support bar
• All electronics and wires "below" deck (making for a nice clean battery bay area-thanks to many who showed pictures of theirs and suggested putting everything under the battery tray)
• Bypassed BB and wired Ailerons/Flaps/Elevators directly into the AR637T with gyro and satellite (had flap trouble with the first and doing the same, including changing a "chattering" elevator servo)
• RC Geek Twin After Burners and nozzles lined with aluminum foil A/C tape
• 4 coats of Clear Gloss exterior water based Spar Urethane on everything

Next up is the maiden, but now I'm just my pants thinking of it flying off into the Everglades to join the Panthers out there! Maybe Brinka will do me the favor of his 5000+ F-18 flights and maiden this as well, why not, he maidened my other Canadian. Or I'll take a trip to Spain and get the Post Stall Svengali Airguardian to maiden it. But then the jet would refuse to fly for me, kind of like dating Victoria Secret Models all your life and then having to date one of the current crop of women (are they from the local women's prison or maybe they're actually men). Anyway, got my application in to VS to be one of their new thong models and I'm thinking I got a pretty good shot!

Now I can turn my attention to setting up the electronics/upgrades on the Mig and the good news is the repaint is also complete for that, wow, what a busy month, thankfully the weather sucked for most of it and kept me from flying instead!

[Evan D]

Excellent work!

[SanExup]

Yeah Hugh, what Evan said, Excellent work!

[Elbee]

The wait is over, cloudy and rainy outside so had to take some indoor photos

Hugh, Very nicely done, just outstanding. Bravo Zulu, Sir.Best, LB

[Aros]

Simply outstanding Hugh Wiedman !!! WOW!

[Gatorbait]

Question for you guys who fly this off grass. I've got about 10 flights on mine now and I've fly it off grass early in the morning. I'm getting a lot of debris sucked up into the cheater vent at the bottom of the plane. Wet grass clippings from the dew is getting pulled right into the EDF. I'm assuming that this cheater vent is necessary to produce enough thrust and probably need to prevent moisture and debris from getting pulled into the motor. How do you guys circumvent this issue other than flying off a non-grass strip?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Question for you guys who fly this off grass. I've got about 10 flights on mine now and I've fly it off grass early in the morning. I'm getting a lot of debris sucked up into the cheater vent at the bottom of the plane. Wet grass clippings from the dew is getting pulled right into the EDF. I'm assuming that this cheater vent is necessary to produce enough thrust and probably need to prevent moisture and debris from getting pulled into the motor. How do you guys circumvent this issue other than flying off a non-grass strip?

I fly off grass as well, but unfortunately there is nothing you can do to prevent grass/debris/moisture from getting sucked up in the vents. And yes, the vents are absolutely necessary assuming you want the best performance out of the EDF, which you need to get enough take-off speed on grass. I usually like to fly early in the morning and here in South Florida, that means moisture on the grass, and even worse if the grass was just cut recently. Just something you have to deal with. Took off one morning with my F-16 (also with vents) after a night time thunderstorm and my aircraft looked more like an unlimited hydro shooting up a rooster tail of water. Barely got off, but at the end of the flight, I had to wipe all the moisture off and clean out clumps of grass from the fan by removing the fan cover on the bottom of the fuselage to get at it better.

So now I generally try to fly my prop warplanes or 3D planes early if the grass is wet and wait for the runway to dry up before moving on to the EDF's. Unfortunately, I think it's just "the hand we're dealt". Wish there was a better solution, but if there is, I'd love to hear it.

[fredmdbud]

Maybe if you can figure a way to mechanically link the gear with a sliding cover/shutter or louver over the cheater hole, similar to the MiG-29 auxiliary intakes.

[Gatorbait]

Maybe if you can figure a way to mechanically link the gear with a sliding cover/shutter or louver over the cheater hole, similar to the MiG-29 auxiliary intakes.

This seems like a cool mod, but when I take off grass it already seems like it takes a lot of runway to get off the ground. Closing the vent would even take longer to get off the ground.

I think I might consider putting some sort of poly mesh w/ large holes on the inside the vent. Although, the grass might just build up on the vent and cause restriction. Would need to make sure it's really well secured so it doesn't come off mid flight and foul the engine 🙄

[Gatorbait]

I fly off grass as well, but unfortunately there is nothing you can do to prevent grass/debris/moisture from getting sucked up in the vents. And yes, the vents are absolutely necessary assuming you want the best performance out of the EDF, which you need to get enough take-off speed on grass. I usually like to fly early in the morning and here in South Florida, that means moisture on the grass, and even worse if the grass was just cut recently. Just something you have to deal with. Took off one morning with my F-16 (also with vents) after a night time thunderstorm and my aircraft looked more like an unlimited hydro shooting up a rooster tail of water. Barely got off, but at the end of the flight, I had to wipe all the moisture off and clean out clumps of grass from the fan by removing the fan cover on the bottom of the fuselage to get at it better.

So now I generally try to fly my prop warplanes or 3D planes early if the grass is wet and wait for the runway to dry up before moving on to the EDF's. Unfortunately, I think it's just "the hand we're dealt". Wish there was a better solution, but if there is, I'd love to hear it.

When I took off the other day, it actually looked like you could see engine exhaust, which was the moisture from the dew. It looked awesome! Later in the day I checked in the engine vents and there was a lot of grass in the fan and intake. After pulling out a few bigger pieces, I ran up the motor and it shot out so much grass. I will try the mesh vent idea and see if that is a workable idea.

[Airguardian]

I typically epoxy the area in front of the fans so it will take better the damage from sucking debris up and I routinely replace EDF rotors when they get too badly chipped.

My first Hornet now has a Canadian cousin and they both can speak Canuck-ese with each other, EH? Alpha, she's yours to fly anytime you want.

Now, that's an amazing paintjob you made right there, great stuff Hugh!

Next up is the maiden, but now I'm just my pants thinking of it flying off into the Everglades to join the Panthers out there! Maybe Brinka will do me the favor of his 5000+ F-18 flights and maiden this as well, why not, he maidened my other Canadian. Or I'll take a trip to Spain and get the Post Stall Svengali Airguardian to maiden it. But then the jet would refuse to fly for me, kind of like dating Victoria Secret Models all your life and then having to date one of the current crop of women (are they from the local women's prison or maybe they're actually men). Anyway, got my application in to VS to be one of their new thong models and I'm thinking I got a pretty good shot!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Post Stall Svengali, now that put a smile on my face... from now on it will be right under my avatar, see what you did!
It's all your fault!