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

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  • Originally posted by davegee View Post
    While waiting for better weather/winds to maiden my new Freewing F-18C, I decided to improve the stock cockpit a bit. That grey interior didn't do anything for me. I pulled the canopy off and added a few details. I repainted the pilot to some photos I saw of the VFA-146 Blue Diamonds pilots back in the day and added some squadron patches to his helmet and shoulder. Added a paper instrument panel, some canopy handles and rear view mirrors, fabricated a rudimentary HUD, and repainted most of the grey interior black. I plan to use this cockpit pretty much for the maiden and several flights afterwards, and eventually get another cockpit and use Elbee's excellent stl files to make up a more scale and detailed cockpit.
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    Thanks, Aros. As I mentioned, my plan is to eventually get the stl parts made up courtesy of the hard design work of Elbee, and make a second cockpit that will be a very accurate representation of the Hornet. For now, with upcoming initial flights whenever the wind and weather improve someday, I'll use the stock cockpit. I just had to make a few improvements on it!

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    • Well winter is here on Cape Cod in full force. Which means for us at the Otis Model Aero Club flying is halted till who knows when. So you southern flyers enjoy your time in the air.
      On a side note for the F-18's. I have 2 F-18 Blue Angels- One with a Freewing 90mm 12 blade 1835KV EDF and one with the new Freewing 90mm 9 Blade 1900kv EDF. I got to say that I am impressed with the performance of the 9 Blade in this plane. Although the 12 Blade (which is heavier) and as a result changes your CG it does have a different sound and initial thrust may be alittle better, both in the air perform about the same and speed difference is not that noticeable . So I guess what I'm saying and that doesn't mean much is before you spend the money on the 12 Blade give the 9 Blade a chance and I think you will be happy with the performance.

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      • I bought the ordnance package for the Freewing F-16 to try and use some of it on my Freewing F-18C. I will definitely use the AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on the wingtips, but was wondering if anyone had put the pylons on the wings to hang the missiles. Outside of one slot on the bottom of the wings, I don't see any way to attach the pylons, and they aren't really the same shape as the ones on the real airplanes. I could probably live with that for now, but not sure how I would hook them on (without gluing them, which I really don't want to do). Any ideas, photos, tips?

        Thanks,

        Davegee

        Comment


        • Originally posted by davegee View Post
          I bought the ordnance package for the Freewing F-16 to try and use some of it on my Freewing F-18C. I will definitely use the AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on the wingtips, but was wondering if anyone had put the pylons on the wings to hang the missiles. Outside of one slot on the bottom of the wings, I don't see any way to attach the pylons, and they aren't really the same shape as the ones on the real airplanes. I could probably live with that for now, but not sure how I would hook them on (without gluing them, which I really don't want to do). Any ideas, photos, tips?

          Thanks,

          Davegee
          You can purchase the mounting hardware from Motion. They sell it as the 90mm F-16 ordinance mounting hardware. It's about $2 if I remember correctly. You could flush mount the female end in the bottom of the wings and put the male end on the top of the pylon to make them removable like the ordinance. I bought the hardware to make a removable mount for my runcam that I can mount on my freewing jets anywhere you can mount ordinance.

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          • Originally posted by Gvasiloff View Post

            You can purchase the mounting hardware from Motion. They sell it as the 90mm F-16 ordinance mounting hardware. It's about $2 if I remember correctly. You could flush mount the female end in the bottom of the wings and put the male end on the top of the pylon to make them removable like the ordinance. I bought the hardware to make a removable mount for my runcam that I can mount on my freewing jets anywhere you can mount ordinance.
            Thanks, Gvasiloff!

            Davegee

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            • Has anybody done the rcinformer front landing gear mod? I am ordering the extended battery tray to do this mod. Looks like it will beef up the front gear. What do you guys think

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              • Falcon195, Welcome to The Squawk. I have not seen the video you quoted; however, any strengthening of the mount is good if you're running 'grass ops'. Hugh Wiedman flies off grass and could give you the best answer if needed. Best, LB
                I solemnly swear to "over-celebrate" the smallest of victories.
                ~Lucky B*st*rd~

                You'll never be good at something unless you're willing to suck at it first.
                ~Anonymous~

                AMA#116446

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Falcon195 View Post
                  Has anybody done the rcinformer front landing gear mod? I am ordering the extended battery tray to do this mod. Looks like it will beef up the front gear. What do you guys think
                  I fly off grass with 2 of the F-18's, both with the 12 blade inrunner. I've got maybe 80 flights on grass and never had a problem with the stock nose gear. Not sure why you'd need the extended battery tray or even any nose gear mod to begin with.

                  My F18 Canadian is quite heavy (and the Tiger Meet only slightly less so) with the heavier fan, after burner, paint, graphics and an additional 250 gr weight in the 3D cockpit/pilot plus I'm using a 815 gram SMC 6200 as well so I've got a heavier than usual F18 and stock nose gear has been fine.

                  I think the recommended CG might play into that as the manual recommends something like 88 but that's way too nose heavy. Start at 100mm and work back from there if you dareq. So I can't imagine you'll even need an extended battery tray unless you use a smaller battery than even a 5000.

                  Can't remember why Rich suggested a nose gear mod in the first place but in my experience, that's definitely a waste of time, unless maybe if you like flying very nose heavy and tend to land nose wheel first 🤣 (obviously not recommended with any jet).

                  Only thing I did to the nose gear was add a small diameter CF tube in the channel of the plastic brace rod suggested by a friend with some 300 F18 flights, even though his never broke.

                  I've been following this thread probably from the beginning and honestly can't remember anyone even mentioning needing a nose gear mod. Wonder if Rich was talking about the E-Flight F-18. I'm not the sharpest tack in the pack, so could be wrong about this. 🤯
                  Hugh "Wildman" Wiedman
                  Hangar: FL/FW: Mig 29 "Cobra", A-10 Arctic, F18 Canadian & Tiger Meet, F16 Wild Weasel, F4 Phantom & Blue Angel, 1600 Corsair & Spitfire, Olive B-24, Stinger 90, Red Avanti. Extreme Flight-FW-190 Red Tulip, Slick 60, 60" Extra 300 V2, 62" MXS Heavy Metal, MXS Green, & Demonstrator. FMS-1700mm P-51, Red Bull Corsair. E-Flite-70mm twin SU-30, Beast Bi-Plane 60", P2 Bi-Plane, P-51.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Hugh Wiedman View Post

                    I fly off grass with 2 of the F-18's, both with the 12 blade inrunner. I've got maybe 80 flights on grass and never had a problem with the stock nose gear. Not sure why you'd need the extended battery tray or even any nose gear mod to begin with.

                    My F18 Canadian is quite heavy (and the Tiger Meet only slightly less so) with the heavier fan, after burner, paint, graphics and an additional 250 gr weight in the 3D cockpit/pilot plus I'm using a 815 gram SMC 6200 as well so I've got a heavier than usual F18 and stock nose gear has been fine.

                    I think the recommended CG might play into that as the manual recommends something like 88 but that's way too nose heavy. Start at 100mm and work back from there if you dareq. So I can't imagine you'll even need an extended battery tray unless you use a smaller battery than even a 5000.

                    Can't remember why Rich suggested a nose gear mod in the first place but in my experience, that's definitely a waste of time, unless maybe if you like flying very nose heavy and tend to land nose wheel first 🤣 (obviously not recommended with any jet).

                    Only thing I did to the nose gear was add a small diameter CF tube in the channel of the plastic brace rod suggested by a friend with some 300 F18 flights, even though his never broke.

                    I've been following this thread probably from the beginning and honestly can't remember anyone even mentioning needing a nose gear mod. Wonder if Rich was talking about the E-Flight F-18. I'm not the sharpest tack in the pack, so could be wrong about this. 🤯
                    The nose gear mod he is suggesting is he extended the battery tray to go over the front gear. Then he runs a machine screw through the front gear mount up from the gear well into a blind nut mounted in the extended battery tray. This stiffened the gear box. The extended battery tray is not for moving the battery forward, it is used to give the machine screw a place to fasten. RCinformer has a YouTube video showing this mod. The name of the video is something like "freewing F18 90mm modifications".

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Falcon195 View Post

                      The nose gear mod he is suggesting is he extended the battery tray to go over the front gear. Then he runs a machine screw through the front gear mount up from the gear well into a blind nut mounted in the extended battery tray. This stiffened the gear box. The extended battery tray is not for moving the battery forward, it is used to give the machine screw a place to fasten. RCinformer has a YouTube video showing this mod. The name of the video is something like "freewing F18 90mm modifications".
                      You are correct, I eventually found his video and reviewed it. He did a nice job on the elevator servo bay upgrades, I did something similar. His nose gear mods certainly seem to make it more solid, so certainly can't hurt to emulate that either.

                      I have not done that with either of mine as I've yet to have any issues there and fly 90% of the time off grass, so you'll have to decide if you want to do that as well, just not sure it's mandatory or a priority with this one. I doubt many others have followed, but would love to hear from others out there if anyone has found that to be a problem. On the other hand, any additional support anywhere can't hurt.

                      The one thing I think can be better is the exhaust nozzles if you install an AB (certainly worth it-have one in ALL my EDF's except A10). Rich painted them white, not bad, but take the extra time to put aluminum A/C duct tape instead. Makes it Soooo much better than even the white.

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                      Hugh "Wildman" Wiedman
                      Hangar: FL/FW: Mig 29 "Cobra", A-10 Arctic, F18 Canadian & Tiger Meet, F16 Wild Weasel, F4 Phantom & Blue Angel, 1600 Corsair & Spitfire, Olive B-24, Stinger 90, Red Avanti. Extreme Flight-FW-190 Red Tulip, Slick 60, 60" Extra 300 V2, 62" MXS Heavy Metal, MXS Green, & Demonstrator. FMS-1700mm P-51, Red Bull Corsair. E-Flite-70mm twin SU-30, Beast Bi-Plane 60", P2 Bi-Plane, P-51.

                      Comment


                      • What I understand is Freewing has made some kind of improvement on the way the elevator servos mount. I wonder if they are using something similar to RCinformer's modifications to the elevator servos mounts. Can anybody onfirm this?

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by Falcon195 View Post
                          What I understand is Freewing has made some kind of improvement on the way the elevator servos mount. I wonder if they are using something similar to RCinformer's modifications to the elevator servos mounts. Can anybody onfirm this?
                          I have the V1 and V2. I can confirm that the V2 has a bolt that runs through the plastic mount to a blind nut in a piece of blue plastic flush mounted with the top of the fuselage. It's almost unnoticeable. If you have a random square of plastic molded into the fuselage above where the elevators are, you have a V2 fuselage. All I did to fix my V1 was pry up the blue plastic mount from the foam and slather some 30 minute epoxy in there. No problems in almost 200 flights.

                          I also did my own nose gear/battery tray mod after I tore my nose gear out after overrunning the runway into a mole hole. I extended the battery tray all the way until the end of the nose gear retract and did 4 blind nuts mounted in the tray with 4 pieces of 2-56 threaded rod holding in the nose gear instead of screws. That thing isn't going anywhere now. It also gave me the opportunity to make new slots for the battery strap further back, as I was strapping my RT 6250 so far back that the stock strap barely held the end of the battery. The plane flies so much better and lighter with a 100-105mm CG.

                          Comment


                          • ​​​
                            Originally posted by Falcon195 View Post
                            Has anybody done the rcinformer front landing gear mod? I am ordering the extended battery tray to do this mod. Looks like it will beef up the front gear. What do you guys think
                            Falcon195---- Yes I have done the RCInformer battery tray update on both my F18 Blues. I also fly off grass and although we get it as smooth as possible it still has its areas that will give a front nose gear a work out. I figured anything that will help her on the ground is worth doing. I made my own tray and put about 5 coats of poly on it to help stiffen it up some more. Also used a machine screw and nut to re-enforce the front gear mount. If you rip out that front mount it's a bitch to replace since its in the foam..... Just my thoughts...


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                            • Originally posted by Falcon195 View Post
                              What I understand is Freewing has made some kind of improvement on the way the elevator servos mount. I wonder if they are using something similar to RCinformer's modifications to the elevator servos mounts. Can anybody onfirm this?
                              Falcon195... Version 2 has small access panels in the rear fuse behind the rudders. I have both versions and one has the panel and one does not. Click image for larger version

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                              • ​​As with Hugh, I also trimmed out my exhaust tubes with the chrome vent tape. It takes some doing but well worth it to get the full effect of the afterburners. Best to do with the motor out and take you time , that stuff is sticky. Make sure you extend the tape past the motor housing, it will help it from peeling back.
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                                • Has anybody 3D printed a pilot for the cockpit that is on the motion page for the F-18?? Thanks

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                                  • Originally posted by Jay Kuster View Post
                                    Has anybody 3D printed a pilot for the cockpit that is on the motion page for the F-18?? Thanks
                                    JK,
                                    Firstly, Welcome to "Hobby Squawk".
                                    Secondly, the answer to your question is yes. The pilot I printed was designed by a Max Grueter and is available on cgtrader; keyword-jetpilot.
                                    If you have printed and installed the cockpit, you'll want to be mindful of the headroom available once you replace your canopy.
                                    You will need to 'scale' your pilot print accordingly. I used the pilot's body, scaled to a height that would allow the use of the OEM helmet/head from kit.
                                    Breakout your modeling skills here, but it is quite doable.
                                    Best, LB

                                    Join the fastest-growing 3D model marketplace today!

                                    I solemnly swear to "over-celebrate" the smallest of victories.
                                    ~Lucky B*st*rd~

                                    You'll never be good at something unless you're willing to suck at it first.
                                    ~Anonymous~

                                    AMA#116446

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                                    • Thank you.

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                                      • Originally posted by Jay Kuster View Post
                                        Has anybody 3D printed a pilot for the cockpit that is on the motion page for the F-18?? Thanks
                                        Hey Jay, there is another option for the pilot if you are using the fabulous 3D cockpit Elbee designed. Obviously his 3D printed pilot is the "gold standard", but if you want to go a quick and lazy route (my middle name), I put the Jet Hangar Hobby 1/10 scale full body pilot in and just trimmed his legs a bit and shaved some fat off his rear so his head didn't reach the top of the canopy. His knees then go right up against the holes where his legs would go through so it doesn't exactly look like a shark got him last time he ditched into the ocean. He's a bit larger than scale but I like to have "Clint Walker" type pilots who seriously abuse steroids to guide my aircraft. Just a little more intimidating when going after other foreign bogies with "girly men" in them.

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                                        Hugh "Wildman" Wiedman
                                        Hangar: FL/FW: Mig 29 "Cobra", A-10 Arctic, F18 Canadian & Tiger Meet, F16 Wild Weasel, F4 Phantom & Blue Angel, 1600 Corsair & Spitfire, Olive B-24, Stinger 90, Red Avanti. Extreme Flight-FW-190 Red Tulip, Slick 60, 60" Extra 300 V2, 62" MXS Heavy Metal, MXS Green, & Demonstrator. FMS-1700mm P-51, Red Bull Corsair. E-Flite-70mm twin SU-30, Beast Bi-Plane 60", P2 Bi-Plane, P-51.

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                                        • Elbee
                                          Elbee commented
                                          Editing a comment
                                          Definitely the common-sense pilot option, my friend. Again, beautiful cockpit mod, Hugh. Best, LB

                                      • Thanks

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