Official Freewing 70mm BAe Hawk T1 Thread

[dahawk]

Did you see TiredIron's vid of RCJD's new Hawk flying off grass? That grass field isn't exactly groomed for lawn bowling either.

I think weight / wing loading has a lot to do with whether a plane will be successful off grass or not. The 70's and 80mm's perform better than the 90's off grass from my experience. I've flown a lot of the FW squadron off grass and most do pretty good. Some better than others.

Low profile? The F5 is a perfect example of low profile. Small wheels , low ground clearance. No problem. The bigger and taller A6, not as well. Wing loading.

I fully expect this Hawk to perform great and frankly, would be very surprised and heartbroken if it doesn't. My Yak-130 with the same basic lg flys great off grass. Report coming soon.


BTW, the Avanti S is an all out great plane. ! My buddy fly's one. Rotates in about 100 ft. and passed my Stinger 90 like it was standing still. Light airframe with lots of power


Hawk

[RCjetdude]

I have flown mine off of different grass surfaces and in each case the LG have performed well. The plane is relatively light and has plenty of power. The power I feel is the key and Freewing is stepping up in that area. I watched many planes try to get off the ground during eWeek from their very beautifully manicured (not short) grass and the take away was that those that couldn't were under-powered for their class. The bigger heavier 90mm planes had more trouble as Dave stated above. Wheel size matters but is I feel a small part of the grass ops formula. So, after several failed attempts to get some bigger birds off the grass at Triple Tree I was initially skeptical that the Hawk would make it. I was wrong and very pleasantly surprised. The wire LG are not all bad and I have had to mess with them very little to be honest. I have ordered a set of upgrade struts just to try them out for comparison sake. The Hawk is $229 and the upgrade struts are $43 for a total of $272. The Avanti is $329 for a difference of almost $60. The Avanti is a great plane but I am finding the Hawk to be very good as well and I would be willing to bet could easily keep up with the Avanti if not out run it. I would love to get both or see both in a side-by-side comparison. The Avanti is fast but my 8S Stinger 90 will out pace it and the Hawk feels and flies just like my Stinger 90. In the end they are different planes and stand or fall on their own. The wire LG have been used on other planes prior to the Hawk so they are nothing new and quite frankly I find them to be less maintenance. I am having enough fun with mine that it has become my go to plane for now.

Steve

[Ron1950]

ordered the arf plus ther other day and plan to put the fms 12 blade 4 s set up in it that I had in the yak130...its quit a bit lighter then the yak (51.14 oz compared to the yak at 60.67oz} and the yak flew well off grass....probably use the admiral 4s 4000ma battery...wont be as fast as the 6s plane but it stays in my 4s stable

[dahawk]

Trying to get my ducks in a row. Always helpful to short circuit the trials and tribulations with expert advice. Looks like I have a wide array of lipos I could use for this girl. An Admiral 5000mah 50C( 732g) , A Turnigy Gold ASpec 4250mah 65C ( ~ 1150g), A RT 5800mah 35C( 780g) and an Admiral 4000mah 40C( 598g)


Pilot Ryan- What placement are you using for the Admiral 5000mah 50C or the 4000mah 40C ?

RCJD-- What placement are you using for the RT 5800mah 35C ?

Thanks,

Hawk

[RCjetdude]

Trying to get my ducks in a row. Always helpful to short circuit the trials and tribulations with expert advice. Looks like I have a wide array of lipos I could use for this girl. An Admiral 5000mah 50C( 732g) , A Turnigy Gold ASpec 4250mah 65C ( ~ 1150g), A RT 5800mah 35C( 780g) and an Admiral 4000mah 40C( 598g)


Pilot Ryan- What placement are you using for the Admiral 5000mah 50C or the 4000mah 40C ?

RCJD-- What placement are you using for the RT 5800mah 35C ?

Thanks,

Hawk

Here you go Dave. I balance mine inverted with the wheels down where the dot is on the panel line on the wings.



I have an Admiral 6 channel stability receiver mounted next to the connector box.



And the end of my RT 5800 35C battery is lined up even with the foam step in the side wall.

[dahawk]

Awesome !

Thanks Steve ! Exactly what I was looking for. When going to the 6S Admiral 5000mah 50C, I'll be looking to move it forward a bit. CG mark helps alot. I'll be able to mark the proper positions of the various batts I have designated for this plane. Expecting big time cold front with high winds till Sunday.

Salutations,

Dave

[RCjetdude]

Got my upgrade struts today. Takes about 30 minutes to install them. Nothing major to note.



Like a glove.....



Ready for flight.

[TiredIronGRB]

Very nice, I will have to get one of these.

[dahawk]

I must say from an assembly and setup point of view, the Hawk has to be the easiest ARF+ rc airplane I’’ve ever built. Including tweeks , CG testing, and programming I must have a total of 3 hours invested.

Interested to know if the upgraded LG are worth the trouble. I fly off short grass.

Anxious to wring her out. Just need weather to cooperate.

[Felixs10]

Got my upgrade struts today. Takes about 30 minutes to install them. Nothing major to note.



Like a glove.....



Ready for flight.

Looks awesome ! Do you own a 70 mm Yak ? And if so , are the mains interchangeable?

[RCjetdude]

Looks awesome ! Do you own a 70 mm Yak ? And if so , are the mains interchangeable?

Unfortunately I don't....sorry.

[RCjetdude]

I must say from an assembly and setup point of view, the Hawk has to be the easiest ARF+ rc airplane I’’ve ever built. Including tweeks , CG testing, and programming I must have a total of 3 hours invested.

Interested to know if the upgraded LG are worth the trouble. I fly off short grass.

Anxious to wring her out. Just need weather to cooperate.

Dave, I hope to give it a try this morning before the rain sets in and will report back.

Update.... scratch that, it's raining. Maybe tomorrow?

[dahawk]

I have one but she’s still wearing the chicken legs. Cheap to replace. Work fine off grass.

[cdee]

Such a great looking model... even in the basic gray... which is by the way... my favorite color... : )

[Sky Wolf]

Here are a few pics of the gray one painted up. It was nearly dark when I finally got it to the field for a quick maiden. I did the basic RAF green and gray scheme. Graphics are from Callie. I modified the front of the drop tank to turn it into a belly canon. Cut the foam , filled it with foam filler and embedded a piece of CG tube. Simple. This jet is I think another example of Freewing and Motion RC listening to their customers and providing what they are asking for. I realize the T-45 is already out there but it is in another class and price point. This little 70 mm jet is much like the 70 mm F-16. Simple but upgradeable gear, no gear doors which often just get torn off anyway, a sport jet livery and plain gray for those like me who love Warbirds. Add to that some very effective Daybright LED's and you have a nicely featured/optioned affordable package. I flew mine today with a Roaring Top 5800 35C pack as it balanced just fine at the factory CG of 162 mm from the leading edge of the intakes. I set my throws as follows: Elevator - 20 mm, Ailerons - 15 mm, Rudder - 22 mm. I am running 14 mm for half flaps and 22 mm for full. I noticed no need for any flap to elevator mix. In my DX9 I like 30% expo on ailerons, 25% on elevator and 45% on rudder with it. I flew it with a new Admiral 6 channel stabilizer receiver. It is very smooth and surprisingly powerful. It was airborne off our lumpy Geotex runway in about 150' and it needed only a few clicks of up elevator trim. It felt very comfortable and tracked well but at full throttle it was obvious that the gains on the stabilizer were too sensitive so I spent most of the short flight at about half throttle. It was enough for me to realize it has gobbs of power and is a fast little jet. I had to keep the flight short because I was rapidly losing daylight but those LED's sure helped see it. The landing was no big deal, just carried some power to a flared touchdown. I couldn't have been more pleased with it. Yes, I am sure Freewing and MRC will be delivering more scale/featured planes in the future but this Hawk is gonna be high on the fun factor list for sure. I have not flown a 70 mm EDF until now but it is a good all around deal for the price. Thank you Freewing and MRC for listening and delivering.

Steve, I have become a huge fan of your paint jobs, and I really want to learn how you do it. I’m sure others would agree that they’d like to know some of your thoughts on how to get started and your techniques. Would you be able to do even a small to medium length video tutorial on your t chi question and how to set up a paint job, including camo lines?

That would be awesome if you would/could!

[Ron1950]

Posted this over on rcg but was wondering if anyone besides me and dahawk. Got the arf+ and had the fan hatch glued down? It took so much pulling and pushing and exacto blading the seams it was scary but didnt break. Its a bit out of shap and the seems are about 1/16 out of place seems minor because it will pass the 6 foot away test. But darn why glue the fan cover down?

[ryramZ]

Mine had a thin double sided tape.

[ryramZ]

I put my strutgrades on today and assembled my ARF plus. What a good looking plane. The lights knock me out. Anxious to fly my own. I'm flying the new Admiral gyro rx. I'll have my pots at 40% for the maiden.

Dave we flew our review model by the book and had high rate on elevator and low everywhere else. Also check to see the review vid for placement of our 4000.

i love how it accommodates so many different batts.
Like Steve said, it's easy to swap the struts. They are not necessary for grass ops as Steve has shown but I think they're cool.

keep it coming fellas!

[dahawk]

Could not fly today because of our 2 day heli event. Stopped by the field and watched Ben Storick in from Las Vegas. One of the top 3 heli guys in the world. Holy crap. Amazing.

So it looks like tomorrow if I don’t go to see the Blue Angels or Monday if I can break away. Rates, gyro all set. Dying to fly this girl.

Thanks guys for your advice!

Hawk

[RCjetdude]

Steve, I have become a huge fan of your paint jobs, and I really want to learn how you do it. I’m sure others would agree that they’d like to know some of your thoughts on how to get started and your techniques. Would you be able to do even a small to medium length video tutorial on your t chi question and how to set up a paint job, including camo lines?

That would be awesome if you would/could!

Thank you sir! If I were half as good with painting as you are with videos that might be saying something LOL I am working on on a Blue Angels A-4 and am trying to be diligent about documenting what I do on it. I will try to capture some of the painting process for it on tape. Also, I want to do some weathering on the Hawk which would be a good opportunity to get it on video as well. Thanks again.