Official Freewing 64mm EDF F-22 Raptor Thread

[Hoomi]

With the wing root being at the top of the fuselage, this plane should be balanced right-side up.

[1979hack]

Cool thanks Evan

[smpr]

Dang get a bit worried when I read here.
Flying props atm and about to get my first EDF and have this as a candidate with a gyro. I get the feeling that the way to go is 4S instead of 3S.. but from what I read here It sounds like its still not quite there?
Honest feedback please?

Edit: to clarify just got the feeling that people thought it was still to heavy even with the 4S setup

[Hoomi]

The Raptor is probably not the best for a first EDF. My first was the 3S 64mm Freewing Stinger. I added the landing gear and a gyro, and still have a lot of fun with that bird over a year later.

I've been told the Raptor needs to run at full or nearly full throttle the whole time, while the Stinger does fine with the throttle backed off. The 3S Stinger is relatively inexpensive, easy to transport, and flies on a very affordable battery (I'm running the 3S 1600mAh Admiral battery).

For a little more money, and a bit larger size, the Freewing 70mm Rebel is a pretty good first EDF. I maidened mine this past Sunday, and did just fine with no gyro (though there's plenty of room to mount one). The larger size makes it easier to see in the sky (and that's also going to be a drawback on the Raptor - that scale grey scheme is designed to not stand out in the sky).

If you prefer the idea of a scale warbird EDF, the L-39 is reported to be an easy EDF, though it's a larger bird and correspondingly costs more. Back in the smaller 64mm birds, the F9F Panther is said to be fairly easy to fly.

[Evan D]

The F-22 does not need to be run at high throttle all the time.

[Hoomi]

The F-22 does not need to be run at high throttle all the time.

Are you flying the 3S or the 4S?

(Question is not arguing - just wondering the specifics, and how your experience compares to others)

[Evan D]

I was maidening and then doing the take offs and landings for another person. To be honest I'm not positive if it was 3 or 4S. Let me add the Stinger64 in any configuration is a great flying plane and a great first EDF. If hand launching that is the only time that is high risk. Back when they first came out ($65 back then) I started putting a hook under the belly and bungee launching them. Still do that when I fly mine. Also agree the L-39 is great, I'd say it's in the top three of the FreeWing EDFs.

[Hoomi]

I do a conventional take-off roll with my Stinger. The only real drawback to that, is that I fly off a packed-dirt runway, and the fan tends to get a few dings from small pieces of grit sucked through the intakes. That's one of my worries with the Raptor, with the cooling vents for the ESC sitting on the bottom of the plane. I glued a bit of nylon netting inside the grill, to help prevent sucking larger pieces of grit through, but I'm still on the fence over whether to go ahead and maiden it at our field, or wait until I visit the AMPS field in the Phoenix Metro, where they have a nice paved runway. I'm also debating whether to add some red contrasts to the wingtips, to help with visibility in the sky. When I was younger, I don't think my eyes would have had any problem keeping the plane in good focus, but the old peepers just ain't what they used to be. Another guy in our club has one of the F-35 models, and after his first flight with it, painted the wingtips red, as he was having a very difficult time keeping track of the orientation in the air. Red wingtips ruins the scale paint scheme, but then again, so does a crash.

[MrVoyagerx]

there is no way a F35 w painted red tips,hell no....

I practice on the sim using sunglasses to make it more difficult and get used to seeing an object.

Almost imagine the plane is a ball or a (quadcopter) where and what you want it to do, and will make it much easier to fly. Than trying to see its wings, top, bottom.

IMO the F22 is a easy plane to fly, but needs to be on 4S.

[Hoomi]

Personally, what I think would be rather cool, and would be much better visibility in the sky, would be to repaint the F-22 into the USAF Thunderbirds scheme. There have been a number of speculative illustrations of having the Thunderbirds transition to the Raptor.

As far as the red wingtips on the F-35, it's his plane, and regardless of whether I like the aesthetic of it or not, he made the decision based on the ability of his eyes to see that neutral grey scheme in the sky. The club member who owns it is, I believe, at least in his 70s, and it could be his eyes just won't do any better. If his choice is to ruin the scale paint scheme, or not fly it at all, I can't blame him at all for the decision he made.

[Gilatrout]

Personally, what I think would be rather cool, and would be much better visibility in the sky, would be to repaint the F-22 into the USAF Thunderbirds scheme. There have been a number of speculative illustrations of having the Thunderbirds transition to the Raptor.

As far as the red wingtips on the F-35, it's his plane, and regardless of whether I like the aesthetic of it or not, he made the decision based on the ability of his eyes to see that neutral grey scheme in the sky. The club member who owns it is, I believe, at least in his 70s, and it could be his eyes just won't do any better. If his choice is to ruin the scale paint scheme, or not fly it at all, I can't blame him at all for the decision he made.

I just got through repainting mine to more accurate scale colors. I'm pretty sure I made it harder to see.

Anyway, even though there are no colorful schemes, I'm seriously considering copying design elements from the heritage strike eagles. Invasion stripes and checkerboard nose...

[MrVoyagerx]

I fly quadcopters to train flying an object based on its movement and not by what is been seen.

Just like flying, takes some time, just same principle as flying quads. Is true quads have two tone colors for front and back. A flying object about a foot by one foot at 400 feet, those props all look the same, by then is based where is the object moving and not by front back wings. Lights help at night, during the day, almost invisible just like rc plane lights unless it is an after burner.


I kept mine the gray color, only made the edges darker gray and the rudder wings metallic blue, just looks darker than the rest of the plane, but overall I like how it looks and flies as is, just like flying before sun is completely out.

[Gilatrout]

When a mommy Strike Eagle



And a Daddy Raptor love each other very much



They can make a baby




I didn't care for the original color, and I guess I got a little carried away.

Decals are a mix of custom waterslides and original freewing decals.

[MrVoyagerx]

Ja ja, that's funny.

You did a good job on the paint scheme, dig it.

[StevenR]

I purchased the 3S version and before even flying I swapped out the fan for a 12blade 3800kv the I git on eBay for 30$ and used a 65amp ztw esc from motion RC And using an admiral 4s 2200 battery, trimmed a little foam right behind the front wheel and placed the battery almost touching the front wheel shaft. Placed the receiver behind the battery against the firewall also trim some foam for the receiver. Plane balances perfect with no added weight. The plane flys awesome with vertical performances and 3:30sec flight times! I even like I better then my F18 64mm from motion RC !

[sanjoseraptor]

The F-22 does not need to be run at high throttle all the time.

Yes. I only use 100% for hand-launch. then use about 50% throttle all the way until landing.
Mine F22 is 3S version...

[HangarQueen]

A couple of months ago, I was able to obtain a second-hand F22 for a very small price. The guy that I bought it from, upgraded it to 4S with some 5-blade EDF unit. I was a bit apprehensive about it being a "screamer", but I shouldn't have.
The first flight was a bit disappointing, as it barely flew at full throttle. I quickly discovered that I had used a 3S battery instead of a 4S, and when that was corrected, it flew like a dream.
I installed an S8R receiver with gyro, just to be able to hand launch it without worries. It launches so easily now, I can just use both hands to throw it.
But somehow I was missing thrust vectoring, I'm a real sucker for TV.
I knew there was a 3D print kit for the 90mm version, and I first thought about scaling it for this model. But it just looked like overkill to me. And so I decided to just go ahead and start cutting.

I cut about 5cm into the duct, so that I have a decent deflection surface.
Shaping the contact/hinging surfaces, I can reach enough deflection to mu liking:

I drew the hinge line, then cur away some material to allow for better movement of the aft part.

The worst part of the operation was to guide the extra servo wires through the existing wire channels for elevator and aileron. There is nothing straight in these channels, it took a pull wire and tons of patience to get the wires through.

To give you an idea: this is how narrow that channel is abeam the EDF unit; I had to remove the wooden supports for the EDF to get access: (seen from the top)

The only problem remaining is to sink the wires into the front of the inlet duct:

Another detail is that the hinge line on the top part isn't really parallel to the top skin:

I then connected top and bottom nozzle part through an expoxy strip, screwed to a small woorden support block, which is then glued to the foam of the nozzle:


With the servos in place and all hinges glued in, it is really coming alive now.
I will be mixing tailerons on the nozzles, some more fine tuning, and then the wait is on for better weather (strong wind and rain here now) to try it out.
For the first launch, I will disable the TV first, then give it a try at a couple of mistakes high.


Can't wait to try it out.

[SanExup]

Very cool!

[MrVoyagerx]

Is July.... What happened? How did it fly?

[JamHo]

I'm looking for an airframe for the 64 mm f22 I can't find one anywhere. A little help would be appreciated greatly