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

[Cape Jets]

Thanks Elbee I forgot that I had spare wings to practice on and sure enough that's precisely what I did. Those wire hangar lines FW provides sure come in handy. Now I need to figure out what Hitec servo would fit best...Thinking the Hitec HS-85MGs...

Just a random question. Any reason you re upgrading the servo's for the aileron's? Been hearing some guys are up-grading for the flaps too... Issues?

[Aros]

I was having some issues with my aileron servos so I decided the best route would be to upgrade them. One less thing to worry about once she's airborne.

[Elbee]

I was having some issues with my aileron servos so I decided the best route would be to upgrade them. One less thing to worry about once she's airborne.

Stop it, Daddy, you're scaring me. Aros, I am a prudent guy, but am I rolling the dice here? My Hornet is from the first batch of the "All Gray" kits. I thought we were dealing with elevator servo wire abrasion and servo mount play. Not complete servo replacements. Inquisitively, LB

[Mizer67]

Ailerons and rudder servos are the only ones I haven't touched on mine.

I've had to replace wonky elevator servos a few times, so I went aftermarket (~$66). Flap servos, I had one issue, once. Not wishing for a repeat, I replaced them. For ~$26 more, it was worth it to me.

Initially I wasn't in love with the plane, but the more I fly it the more I like it and now it's one of my favorites for all-around performance and how it takes off and lands. I am going for some new foam or an ARF soon I think as mine's a little beat up after ~150 flights. The wingtip rails are the biggest issue on the plane. On grass, if you catch one, it's bad news no matter the speed.

[Evan D]

They really should sell the rails separately.

[Aros]

They really should sell the rails separately.

I couldn't agree more. I spoke to Alpha about it last year and while he gave me a knowledgeable answer, I still couldn't make sense of it. It's clearly a part that would sell extremely well so they should have thought of that in the production phase.

[Mizer67]

I had some spare rails 3D printed. They're not as nice as factory though.

When I get around to it, my plan is to use rare earth magnets vs. the screwed-in fixed locations. That way the rail will just pull vs. breaking.

[JamesonC]

I couldn't agree more. I spoke to Alpha about it last year and while he gave me a knowledgeable answer, I still couldn't make sense of it. It's clearly a part that would sell extremely well so they should have thought of that in the production phase.

Speaking of Alpha, he has been MIA for quite some time!

[T-CAT]

Speaking of Alpha, he has been MIA for quite some time!

He must be cooking up a doozy of a delicious jet, eh (and other aircraft of course, ha-ha).

[Aros]

Yeah I can happily report Alpha is safe and sound. Always noodling on some new project to make the masses happy...I'll remind him to take a break from the laboratory, come up for air a bit and say hello.

[Cape Jets]

Ailerons and rudder servos are the only ones I haven't touched on mine.

I've had to replace wonky elevator servos a few times, so I went aftermarket (~$66). Flap servos, I had one issue, once. Not wishing for a repeat, I replaced them. For ~$26 more, it was worth it to me.

Initially I wasn't in love with the plane, but the more I fly it the more I like it and now it's one of my favorites for all-around performance and how it takes off and lands. I am going for some new foam or an ARF soon I think as mine's a little beat up after ~150 flights. The wingtip rails are the biggest issue on the plane. On grass, if you catch one, it's bad news no matter the speed.

What did you use for the flap servo's?

[Elbee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h4qqDgWAHQ

Hey Hornet Fans. Above is the link to Video #2 of a retired Blue Angels F-18 being delivered to Dallas Love Field from Pensacola, FL where it will remain in their Frontiers of Flight Aviation Museum. Pretty cool and great shots of the airframe. Around 18 minutes the is a few frames of the cockpit for those of you thinking about adding that detail to your airframe. Enjoy, Best, LB

[Mizer67]

What did you use for the flap servo's?

These:

https://gator-rc.com/kingmax-km0940md-13g-4-5kg-cm-torque-digital-aluminum-gears-mini-servo

About double the torque of stock in package that fits easily. There's a little grinding of the plastic pocket involved to make sure the wires clear well, but it's minor.

[Cape Jets]

These:

https://gator-rc.com/kingmax-km0940md-13g-4-5kg-cm-torque-digital-aluminum-gears-mini-servo

About double the torque of stock in package that fits easily. There's a little grinding of the plastic pocket involved to make sure the wires clear well, but it's minor.

Have you used these servo's on other models? Not much info on the Kingmax and with the very low price point alittle cautious on the quality.
I have heard of some issues with the Flaps when deployed at a fast cruise speed and fast servo speed.( anything below 5sec.). Any one else there having issues with the Flap servo's?

[Aros]

Well I had an interesting maiden. Takeoff was fine, however I was a bit surprised by how much trimming I needed to do in flight but I got her tamed mid-flight. Got the 1 minute warning so I started my landing procedure, came in on the low approach but I was too hot so I went for the go around. Problem was, I felt I was running out of time so I decided to come in on the high approach over the woods on the east side of the runway. Unfortunately I dropped too much throttle because of altitude (high and hot are never good combos on approach especially with a small runway with obstructions) trying to bleed a little speed...

Next thing I know I must have hit stall speed or close because the wings started rocking and I tried to recover but she flew out of control at a 45 degree angle into the woods. Sigh.

I've had replacements from bad servos but this one was all on me. I lowered my head, actually refrained from my usual profanity-laced tirade and began my walk of shame fully anticipating finding an explosion of blue foam. My buddy was my recovery specialist, braved the sticker bushes and branches, walked approximately 50 yards into the woods and found her...

Sitting on the ground, nearly fully intact.

Only the starboard H stab and port wing was damaged. The rest of the plane, gear and all, was completely fine outside of a few slight cosmetic issues that took all of 10 minutes to repair.

I was able to replace both stab and wing due to my last carcass which restored her to literally new condition. I thanked my Flight Angels and drove back out there to get the bad taste out of my mouth. The re-maiden was perfection. She flew like a champ, landed like a breeze and I was able to go home a happy camper, restoring my faith in my abilities and the hobby in general, lol.

Now that she's dialed in I can start working on Elbee's awesome 3DPup cockpit. Paint the inside intakes and gear white and just enjoy her.

[Evan D]

Wow!

[Elbee]

Well I had an interesting maiden...and just enjoy her.

Congrats, Aros, 5th time's the charm. Best, LB

[Mizer67]

Have you used these servo's on other models? Not much info on the Kingmax and with the very low price point alittle cautious on the quality.
I have heard of some issues with the Flaps when deployed at a fast cruise speed and fast servo speed.( anything below 5sec.). Any one else there having issues with the Flap servo's?

No, first model I've used them on. My experience is that the stock servos fly the model just fine and have rarely encountered an issue, with either FMS or FW planes, except with the F/A-18. So, I've had no reason to try out a bunch of different brands. The stock servos in many of the PNPs are somewhat imprecise and sometimes don't center well, but a gyro smooths some of that out.

I've got a little over 30 hours of run time (transmitter time) on these two Kingmax servos without issue. I usually fly back to back and rarely leave my transmitter on very long between flights and set a 3:00 timer, so even at 6 min/flight, that's ~180 flights or so w/o any issues.

Not a statistically significant sample of course, but a lack of sufficient torque is the issue with the stock servos deploying and these take care of that. On a non-critical flight surface and I'm happy with them and don't worry about what speed I deploy the flaps (both airspeed and I have the flap deployment set at 2 sec.).

It's difficult to find a 9 gr. form factor servo that will have a lot more torque than stock.

[Airguardian]

Well I had an interesting maiden. [...]

Next thing I know I must have hit stall speed or close because the wings started rocking and I tried to recover but she flew out of control at a 45 degree angle into the woods. Sigh.

Yup, the Hornet has a horrible stall.
I just crashed mine (again) just a few days ago. Lost orientation (low light, grey cloudy background) and stalled, then hit a treetop, fell from about 20m.
Thankfully the damage wasn't that bad (although nose snapped in two) and the jet is almost ready to remaiden but still... gotta keep reminding yourself to keep speed up on approach (and to fly her before sunset, lmao).

[Airguardian]