Official Freewing MiG-29 Fulcrum Twin 80mm Thread

[GliderGuy]

That's astonishing! Between this plane and your AL-37, how do you find the time to fly so much and are your thumbs worn down?

Kinda works out like this....Flying nut...I know. Always have been fascinated by flight.

1) Live 20 min from a couple of good places to fly.
2) Rarely ever get in less than 2 turns/sets on the batteries when I go out. The number of flights depends upon what birds I take: For 2 turns: Pure MiG = 10 flights, MiG+F-4 = 12 flights, AL37+F-4 = 20 flights) . I also get in 3 flights on my P-38 per turn while the big batteries are finishing up their charging.
3) On a pretty day during the week, I get in a set at sunrise (love this time of day), then log in for work (still working and now am working remote even though years past retirement age), then get in 2 turns after work (summertime).
4) On a pretty weekend day, I shoot for 3 or 4 turns. My max endurance is about 40 flights...with a break for lunch.
5) I enjoy club flying, too...but most of my flying is independent.
6) Not married...and my kids are grown.
7) My goal (at my age) is to play all I can afford to play. No clue how many "tomorrows' there are left for play.

When I travel to the sailplane airport on a weekend for some full scale flying, I typically get in 2 turns around sunrise before the day's soaring activities begin. I may even get in a set near sunset, if it's not to hot.

-GG
Power Equipment list; 3 4-station chargers, 10 6S batteries, 6 4s batteries (I keep telling myself that golf costs more to do!) and a heavy duty alternator on my pickup truck.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Aside: Some of you in the past have asked how well the batteries have held up. The Admiral Pro 6000 50C batteries put into service 04/2020 have finally started to show signs of their 14-month age. All have a very slight puffing and the internal resistance readings are starting to creep up. Time to spend some $$$. They've supported a large number of flights with the AL37, F-4 and MiG. I got my money's worth outa these (charged at 4.5 amps, consumed about 4000 mAh with a typical flight profile, never charged below a 50F outside air temp, no cool down after a flight...put them right back on charge upon landing).

Just a suggestion on batteries. RudyD54 turned me on to SMC graphene batteries. Of the 100's I've tested with IR meter and Power draw meters, these are by far the best I've come across. Their advertised C is their actual C (unheard of-this is for their "Flight Batteries", the others they have are for car guys and Danny Sullivan, owner, told me those C ratings are inflated because car guys don't know the difference and he has to compete with everyone else that blows their C rating way out of proportion-but the Flight batteries are ACTUAL C).

The first set of SMC's I tried were 8100 mah 20 C that I use in my F-16, which are outstanding. Actual 20 C (which is still higher than the Admiral 6000 50C's). I just picked up a bunch of his 5300 mah 40 C's for my soon to be completed Mig. Rudy flies with these and gets well over 4:30. They tested at 40C, higher than HRB 50C, Roaring Top 70C and way above the Admiral 50 C and higher than anything I've found yet. The weight is only 684 gr. I also picked up a bunch of 6200 40C's (same actual C, higher than anything I've ever tested) for my F-18's, F-4's, etc. The weight is 812 gr, so it is still lighter than the Admiral 6000 50C by at least 20gr and blows it out of the water for IR (the Admiral 6000 tested out below 20 C). Cost is $125 for the 6200 and $100 for the 5300. I'm almost to the point of converting over completely to SMC. Preparing a huge boat anchor made up of Roaring Tops, Admirals, HRB's and a bunch of others!

For what it's worth, if anything.

[GliderGuy]

Thanks Hugh….good stuff!
-GG

[xviper]

SMC graphene batteries.

Are they available only from SMC directly?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Are they available only from SMC directly?

Yes, as far as I know, and you can deal with Danny Sullivan (owner) directly, headquarters in Staunton Virginia. You can e-mail him directly at orders@smc-racing.com and he'll get back to you promptly. He has 3 basic "lines", the graphene Flight batteries, which test out to a true C as labeled and are lighter than comparable batteries of the same mah, also an "economy line", which is maybe 50% cheaper, but still test at advertised C with the only difference being that they are heavier and use difference chemistry, and a third line which is mostly for car guys with inflated C ratings (virtually the same battery as the Flight battery, just a typical over inflated C printed on it, like 100C where it's really 40C). ( xviper, I answered this in the open forum more for others if they are interested, as you and I have discussed this elsewhere.)

[xviper]

Thanks, Hugh. You’ve always been very generous with your information. Greatly appreciated.

[Airguardian]

All the info I've been privy to also points in the direction of SMC being the best in the trade.
They pretty much seem to be the state of the art for the RC world at the moment.
I'm just pissed we can't get them (yet) over here in the EU.

Come on Danny!

[fredmdbud]

Can anyone identify the type of connector used
for the ribbon cable? Thinking of doing an adapter harness to bypass the blue box but still use the cables for separate ailerons (flaperons).

[Skosh25]

First time with a RunCam 4K

[Airguardian]

Not quite 'our' MiG-29 but bet many around here will enjoy it ;)

[Airguardian]

Back to the Freewing one...

[Hugh Wiedman]

Almost finished with the repaint and modifications of the Mig 29, now going on 6 weeks! Exterior is finished, still need to get RudyD54 to help with installing the channel expander and gyro for the TV nozzles and programming the AR 836T AS3X receiver and TV mixes to mirror his outstanding setup.

Ever since this came out, I was trying to figure out what scheme to do since I couldn't leave well enough alone. There were so many outstanding repaints posted here, but wanted something a bit out of the ordinary (yes, that's me in a nutshell). Then my CO said why don't you do something in yellow/black, to help visibility and similar to your refurbished Firebird 400/Ram Truck/Stinger 90. Finally found a livery that actually existed (rare for me). Turns out there were only 2 done in this scheme, and the Russian pilots crashed into each other in an air show maneuver over London and it was never used again. Boy, that's just my speed, a failed livery never repeated again! Tried to locate the Russian pilots, but seems they've somehow disappeared somewhere in Siberian at a "special undisclosed location". Of course I still couldn't copy it exactly, needed to change it's "Karma", so designed some cobra images and of course Callie did the rest.

Upgrades Include:

• TV Nozzles and channel expander for them along with a Hobby Eagle gyro for TV
• AR836T AS3X RX with remote satellite
• ProModeler DS150 elevator servos and servo horns/control rods/control horn upgrades courtesy of Alpha
• 20 amp Castle BEC
• RC Geek afterburners with nozzles lined with aluminum AC foil tape
• RF chokes
• Upgraded cockpit instrumentation and JHH full body pilot
• enlarged the cheater holes by about 30% as per Corsair nut outstanding build video post #1740

The Birth of a Scheme:



The Finished Product, now known as the Mig-29 "Cobra". A vicious and lethal squadron, fortunately made up of only 1!


Made several different "snake head" nose cones.

[themudduck]

I'm completely stunned, that is one of the coolest custom paint jobs I've seen here. The workmanship is out-of-the-park. Super! OUTSTANDING! (sorry William!)

[GliderGuy]

Ditto Hugh! I can't wait for the videos and still fly-by photos to post. Lots of creativity, love and care put into this MiG. Kudos to Callie, as well.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks themudduck and GliderGuy, really appreciate it! It's mostly about visibility in the air for me, especially with the blinding Florida sun, and yellows/black or red seem to stand out the best, but aren't exactly conducive to "Military Liveries"! And of course I tend to gravitate towards the "strange and unusual", as I myself am "strange and unusual'! Can't wait for the maiden of this and my F-18 Tiger Meet. A good friend at our club is one of the best turbine (or any kind) of jet pilots around, is a "Top Gun" winner, BVM rep, and serves as the Air Boss at most out of state Jet events and he's planning on doing the maiden for both. (and that's not even another of our members, Pablo Fernandez, the number 1 turbine 3D pilot, designer of the Havok, and owner of Elite AeroSports-man am I lucky to see these guys fly for free) Currently he's at Jet's over Kentucky, but hopefully back next week. Turns out he's also one of the best video/still/drone photographer I've seen as well, with thousands of posts on youtube under his handle, MarvinF14. He wanted to shoot some of these aircrafts as well, but I have to figure out how he can be the pilot, shoot stills, shoot ground video and drone video all at the same time. Looks like he's going to have his hands full! My occasional phone video posted on my channel is kinda crappy, but better than nuttin!

[radfordc]

Hugh, see to it that your plane doesn't suffer the same fate as the original.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh, see to it that your plane doesn't suffer the same fate as the original.

That most likely would only happen if I leave it in Hangar , which ain't going to happen!

[fredmdbud]

Hugh, see to it that your plane doesn't suffer the same fate as the original.

That would require the presence of another MiG-29 in the same "box" airspace.

[T-CAT]

Excellent work on the recent projects, Hugh.

[xviper]

Hugh doesn't just do excellent work. He's a true ARTISTE!