Official Freewing 80mm MiG-21 Fishbed Thread

[Arcangel]

Ahhhhh, mine does not get here until Monday :(

Which means I have to wait a week before I can build her and fly her. Hopefully by then I can have the thrust vectoring of my FreeWing F-18 ironed out. The servos do some weird stuff when I engage the T V + dual rates on my DX-18 radio and they never center properly after I disengage it. I hope a swap out for Hi-Tec digital servos and some pre-installation programing will fix my issues.

[crxmanpat]

The Mig has arrived and has already been assembled and prepped for maiden tomorrow morning! I'm going to use a Turnigy 6S 5000 40-50C in it. I have a regular pack, and a Heavy Duty 60C.

[crxmanpat]

Maiden and a total of 3 flights this morning. No bad habits at all, very smooth and stable platform. May get another couple flights in this evening before my club's night fly event tonight. Overall I am very satisfied with this plane!

Now for paint and decals!

[dkalwishky]

Mine is ready to fly but it's too windy. :( I'm hoping to maiden when the wind dies down and before the rain comes.

Pat, can you tell me (or post a picture) where you mounted the battery in yours? I'm using an Admiral 5000 and even at the back of the wooden tray the plane is a little nose heavy.

[crxmanpat]

I put my 6S 5000s all the way at the back of the battery bay and CG came out spot on.

[dkalwishky]

Thanks Pat.

[dkalwishky]

It was a cold autumn morning in the Soviet Bloc, comrade Dave took up the new version of the MIG-21 for its first flight.

The brave pilot made two circuits around the airfield when he realized the sun was blinding him so he made the right decision by landing.

Additional shakedown flights will be needed but the initial flight shows that the new MIG is a fine flier.

[crxmanpat]

Man, I hate fields with east facing pilot boxes. Makes morning flying very challenging. It's the only thing I dislike about Apollo field in LA.

Congrats on the short maiden. Hopefully you'll get some longer flights in soon.

[dkalwishky]

From Wednesday through the weekend we are supposed ot have nice weather with light winds. I plan on flying the heck out of this plane!

[gooniac33]

I got mine and started on assembly. it is a huge bird!!! I will finish it up today.. installing ESC and other electronics....

[CFIT rob]

Two questions to anyone with the mig in the air. Any elevator to flap mix required? See no reference in manual. Is anyone using the a3L GYRO with it located on plywood surface in very fwd part of battery compartment? Manual shows freewing gyro mounted in this location. About as far as you can get from cg.

[crxmanpat]

I have no mixing set up. Even with full flaps I saw no real nose pitching. I have read on another forum that some guys are using a few mm of mix though. A slight mix would probably help to keep the nose up without much stick pressure.

That item on the plywood is not a gyro, it's a control box for the flight controls. All of the servo leads plug into this box, and then you plug the single leads from the end of it into your RX. My RX sits on the empty spot on the ply.

[CFIT rob]

Thanks for info on flap/ele mix. The item mounted to the plywood is indeed the blue control /junction box for the flight controls. The assembly instructions also show mounting the optional freewing gyro on the plywood piece the control box is mounted to. I was wondering if this location will work for the a3l gyro. Does anyone have a gyro in this location?

[Arcangel]

Thanks for the inflight flap/elevator advice pat.

I got mine Monday night and spent most of the evening looking it over and drooling. I so much want to start building it this weekend. :D I must say that I am still impressed with FW design and assembly of the model. I am a little disappointed in the fact that they put a split horizontal and elevator combination on this particular model and not the more accurate full flying stabilizer that is on the real aircraft. { only slightly disappointed though :p } All in all, I think I will be very pleased with her and I can't wait to get her flying soon.

[crxmanpat]

Thanks for info on flap/ele mix. The item mounted to the plywood is indeed the blue control /junction box for the flight controls. The assembly instructions also show mounting the optional freewing gyro on the plywood piece the control box is mounted to. I was wondering if this location will work for the a3l gyro. Does anyone have a gyro in this location?

OK, was not sure exactly what you were saying regarding the gyro. I don't use a gyro. My opinion is one is not needed, she's a pretty stable flier despite the small wing area. She is a delta after all. ;)

[crxmanpat]

Thanks for the inflight flap/elevator advice pat.

I got mine Monday night and spent most of the evening looking it over and drooling. I so much want to start building it this weekend. :D I must say that I am still impressed with FW design and assembly of the model. I am a little disappointed in the fact that they put a split horizontal and elevator combination on this particular model and not the more accurate full flying stabilizer that is on the real aircraft. { only slightly disappointed though :p } All in all, I think I will be very pleased with her and I can't wait to get her flying soon.

They really tried to do full flying stabs, but it would have been a lot more engineering than was practical. You don't notice the split elevator in the air. ;)

[RCjetdude]

My Mig-21 in Azerbaijani "what if" attire. Basically stock but added an A3-L on the forward ledge and removed the blue connector box as it was "possessed". I have installed 60mm JP brakes which help a lot on my shorter runway and I am in the process of installing some strobes and landing lights. She runs great on 6S 5800 35C Roaringtop's. I have 10 flights on her so far and she handles like a dream. Total flying weight with battery is just over 7 lbs. Balanced at factory CG, no need to add elevator trim with flaps. I love this plane! Good power and very cool looking in the air.

[urrl]

Awesome work RCjetdude !!

[urrl]

Morning flights with Doug and I.

[RCjetdude]

Awesome work RCjetdude !!

Thanks Bill. Awesome sauce on the video... as usual.