Flight Review, Setup, & Programming -- Freewing F-14 Tomcat (Twin 80mm EDF) 

I'm so glad you found this video! :) My dad knew Bob well, but unfortunately, I never got a chance to meet him. He did get to see my original EDF F-14 build back in the early 2000s to which Bob stated that "I did it right" which was pretty cool.

Cool! Thanks for commenting! I'd love to see some of the pics if that's at all possible? Did you ever fly the F-14? Or just the 18? Slats would have been nice for sure, but for a model this size it's not the most feasible to achieve. I have a 1/10 scale F-14 I'll be building in the future which I looked into building slats on. Even at that scale, it's not easy because the wing is so thin and it requires two actuation points. I'm thinking I may add spoilers to it though. We'll see when the time comes.

I never flew the F-14, only the FA-18. I also have a bunch of flight time in the F-16, which the Navy uses as aggressors. Agree with the slats issue. One possibility would be to use one servo (flaps servo), where one side of the servo arm actuates the trailing edge flaps while 'pulling down' the leading edge flaps using the opposite side of the servo arm. In reality, any time I pull G's in the FA-18, the flight control computers automatically program in trailing edge and leading edge flaps, which increases the lift on the wing, giving high performance turns. The second you let go of the stick, or unload to zero g's, the leading edge and trailing edge flaps go back to normal (2 degrees). The whole airframe is unstable and can't fly without flight control computers (which, luckily can run on battery power and has 4 channels for redundancy in case you take a bullet in one of them). No problem on pictures. I am not too smart on RU-vid channel, how do I send you some pics?

@@abusna4716 Too cool reading about your flight experience ! Thanks for your service Sir !

Thank You for your service @abusna Did you fly the Super Hornet or just the “Legacy Hornet”? Also, that’s really cool that you flew the F-16 as well. I gotta say, I have a very special place in my heart for the F-16! But, the F-18 Blue Angels are responsible for getting me interested in aviation, so the F-18 is special to me as well!

+Lozzie74 Thank you so much for the kind feedback!

Lozzie74 si no tuvieran logo belico. seria ideal con cuantos explosivos puede. .

@@Thercgeek does this plane come programmed or do you have to set up the controller

This is one where you are required to install a receiver and program the transmitter.

@@Thercgeek thanks mate

haha! Thanks and thanks for watching! :)

Awesome, I'm so glad to hear of the successful maiden, congrats! Now the fun can begin. :)

+Edward Ling Awesome, I'm glad to hear that!

+Dave Kester Awesome, I'm glad to hear! Congrats on the successful maiden! :)

+The RC Geek .. Thanks.. Now if we could just get that jet exhaust smell out of these little guys.. lol

Thank you!

Thanks for watching! I don't have any experience with the F-18E so can't really comment. I'm a scale purist, so the thrust vectoring is a turn off to me, haha! It looks pretty nice otherwise and seems to fly well from what I've seen.

Thanks! :)

Sounds to me you have the swing wing channel accidentally assigned to the ailerons. Check your channel and switch assignments in the extended menus. In terms of the setup, if you're running the tail servos through the board, you can keep the airplane in standard mode as the board takes care of that mixing for you. The ailerons on the other hand, if you intend to setup the airplane like in the video, need to be plugged directly into the receiver. From there, it requires setting up a mix for each aileron to get the spoileron feature working. I do have my spektrum file available for download on my website: wp.me/p5LuFX-lg

I use poly for refinishing foam airplanes regularly. The one difficulty with the F-14 is that the wings do have some flex to them, so there is the potential for the poly to crack. If you do a couple light coats it should be ok.

+Richard Haynes Thanks for watching! :)

There are two separate speed controls, so the batteries are plugged into each independently.

+EDFjetflyer Thanks! I'd say Bullet Train is definitely worth some extra credit! ;)

+PilotPeteProductions HD Thanks man! :)

+Motion RC Thank you!

Dang you! Motion RC! I keep throwing my $$ at you guys! Please keep up the great work. As a fellow veteran it gives me great pleasure to help support your business!

+2warhammer34 Thank you for your service! My dad is a veteran as well.

Hi Chris, I have sent you numerous emails about help with My F-14 from Freewing but Have not heard from you by any chance are you going to have some time to respond soon. :(

Uhh ohh what?? No Danger Zone?? No Top Gun Anthem?? Oh come on guys!! LOOOOL We use every excuse for any Top Gun soundtrack in our flying squadron still (I am ground personel for the record) :-D

You'll need to add a secondary assignment to the flap channel on the swing wing switch that positions them to the up position when you hit the wing sweep switch. Keep in mind, that as soon as you unsweep the wings the flaps will immediately go back to wherever they were previously positioned if the flap switch itself hasn't changed.

The experience I've had is if you get the airplane slow and you pull quickly on the elevator, it'll tip stall. I had this happen to me a couple times during landing. Having all that camber out at the wing tip does result in the tip being a bit more prone to stall. So, if it's windy, it's best to keep the speed up a little more. Also, if you have the ailerons raised slightly to the flaps when the flaps are down, that should help a little too. On the spoilerons, yeah I had them operating all the time.

My recommendation would be to use two roaring top 35c 6s 5800s. I ultimately changed out the zippys to those and they were lighter and provided better power. Just make sure you mod the battery area so you can push the rear battery all the way back to the carry through spar and you should be fine. www.roaringtopusa.com/35c-5800-mah-6s-is-35c-5800-6s

I ended up turning on the transmitter, pushing throttle to full and then plugging in both esc’s simultaneously to calibrate them both at once.

@@Thercgeek Thanks

It’s called an accuthrow meter and it was made by great planes. Unfortunately, it’s not made anymore. 😕. I’ve had this one for a really long time.

Thanks man, I appreciate you watching! 😊

You will need to experiment with reversing the servos in the radio. If that doesn’t do it, then swap the ports the servos are plugged into in the receiver and try again.

The airplane doesn’t need a gyro imo, but it does help with the wings swept config. The model can move around a bit in winds with the wings swept and so a gyro helps stabilize some of that out.

Thank you! I have heard good things about the inrunner setup and I would imagine it’ll provide a nice performance boost. Mostly on the low end thrust and in the vertical.

Yep, that’s what I’m now using. Been using Spektrum from a number of years now.

I’d recommend the newer AR8360 if you’re looking for something with a gyro in it. I’d recommend having at least one remote satellite receiver with it as well.

Thanks for watching!

There are a few things that happen aerodynamically. First of all, whenever you deflect a control surface, there is a pitching moment associated with that deflection. depending on the proximity to the CG (and other things), some surfaces are more effective at generating this pitching moment than others (elevators are a good example). When dealing with flaps and wing surfaces, you get a secondary effect where the downwash of the air coming off the trailing edge of the wing changes as the flap deflection changes. So, the angle of the air that's approaching the leading edge of the tail changes and so that causes a pitch change also. For the F-14 with full span flaps, there is a very significant pitching moment change, so it's very important to include the recommended trim I have in the video. Even with the single flap surface, there's a small pitch change.

Yeah, you should be able to do that in the programming. It's been quite a while, I'd have to do some digging in there to remind myself which settings you'd want to adjust. It should basically just be the end points on the aileron channels I think.

@@Thercgeek ok... I'll get it set up:)

@@Thercgeek the roll control is very crisp with ailerons

They are indeed! I ended up picking up another one of these. Planning a full refinish and repaint once I get it out of the box.

@@Thercgeek I pretty sure Dustin is finished up with tooling the aluminum wing/gear platters. Let us know if that's something you are interested in upgrading.

Are you using the full span flap mod? Full span flaps requires quite a bit of up trim. However, the stock flap configuration does not. So, if you are using the stock config the airplane only needs just a touch of up elevator mix.

cool, I'm glad it was helpful. You can run them outside the box should you choose, it's kind of the same either way except the radio has to be setup for elevons when running the tail servos outside the box. Let me know if you have any questions.

I want to disable the flaps on sweep. I'm just not sure how to do that. My guess is that i mix the flaps with the sweep but how does that work to prevent the flaps from moving? Your help would be appreciated.

The way I would approach that is through some logical switch assignments. So, in other words, for the flaps to activate, your flap switch should be tied to both the flap switch and the swing wing switch such that the swing wing switch must be in the extended position for the flap switch to operate the flaps. Does that make sense? What radio are you using?

I'm using a Spektrum DX-18. It has a separate flap set up. I'll take a look and see if there is an option of second switch.

ah, ok. That being the case then, you'll have to do it through a mix. It's a flap-flap mix assigned to the swing wing switch that does -100% when the wings go to the swept position. As great a radio the Dx18 is, I found it rather limiting in setting up the F-14. You have to do work arounds (like a flap-flap mix) to get certain functions to operate the you want since you can't assign multiple switches to functions. The other thing is, there's no flight mode delay, so you can't time the rates to change as the wings sweep. Not a big deal, but I was really surprised that it's not an available function.

To program the tomcat as I did here, you need 9channels.

@@Thercgeek great thanks that the program you have on line?

Yes

It requires having the ailerons plugged directly into the transmitter and then operated through a mix. That mix then needs to be assigned to the swing wing switch so that the mix is deactivated when the wings are swept.

@@Thercgeek cool thanks. went to your site and saw the details and also grabbed the dx file. with that file work on a DX8 2nd gen? As always many thanks for you help and support.

I’m not certain if it’ll work on the dx8. To accomplish what I did requires a minimum of 9channels. So if nothing else, if it loads ok, one aileron won’t work.

@@Thercgeek ah ok understood. Will need a DX9 and a 9 channel minimum to do this right. However, wondering if I can have a triple rate with the factory setup where I can further lower the rates for the ailerons only when wings are swept back. Will have to test.

Yeah, you can adjust the rates however you like on the stock setup.

+daniel alessandrini You could setup full span flaps and taileron only control pretty easily with 7 channels. You would have to remove the aileron servos all together and physically connect the inboard flap and aileron surfaces together on each wing to make a flap single surface on each. From there, you simply run everything through the stock mixing board and then into your receiver. Unfortunately, I don't think you could do flaperons with 7 channels, so you would be flying tailerons only. The airplane does fly very well with tailerons only though. It only suffers in the max roll rate which didn't bother me hugely when I flew tailerons only. You will have to give a max roll input for a decent 360 deg roll.

+daniel alessandrini Thank you for your answer and your time. I had some issues with the f16 freewing cause It had to land very fast to compensate the lack of flaps, and I see this plane is more heavy so I was kind of worry before I purchase it, Again, thanks a lot

+daniel alessandrini No problem! There's lots of lifting area on the F-14 and so can be landed at a really low speed.

+The RC Geek thank you! sorry to bother you again, just the last questions... I found the 5800mah 40C is it ok 40C or do you recomend a higher discharge rate? like the 5000mah 60C do you think it will take off from grass? thanks a lot

+daniel alessandrini Not a bother at all! The 5800s I'm using are actually 30c packs so 40c should be plenty...60c is overkill. C rating is there as a measure of headroom primarily and when you start flying larger capacity packs, you don't need as much C rating as you're making up that difference with the larger capacity. What I mean is, assuming that 30c is the rating, that means that with a 5800 pack you can potentially pull 174 amps (5.8amps*30c) continuously (Now truthfully, these Chinese made packs have slightly inflated C ratings IMO, but it's close enough). Using these packs in an 80-100 amp application means that you can operate all day long without issues or overstressing the packs. Now, if you want to pull 80-100 amps from a 2500 mah pack, then you definitely have to step up in the C rating. I have been using 30c packs in all of my EDFs for a long time as I prefer higher capacity packs for longer flight times. Bumping up to something like 60c doesn't buy you much more in performance when dealing with larger capacity packs and they are ultimately heavier.

I kept them in the box mostly for simplicity. Bypassing the board will remove it as a potential failure point.

@@Thercgeek I downloaded the file from your site but all it had was receiver port assignments….did I miss something?

There should be a .spm file in there too. That’s what gets loaded onto the memory card on onto the radio.

@@Thercgeek Ok…thanx …I will look for it again…..👍. Cheers buddy

The upgrade to get would be the 12 bl 1820 kv setup. I know a few guys running this setup. You'll need the whole power system as the motor itself won't fit into the stock fan. You will need a 100+ amp ESC too.

thank you!

+steve K Well, They definitely fly awesome! :)

+PatBALEX Thanks! I hear you on the gear; they would look better painted white. Having pylons on the wing glove would also hide the retracted wheels too. I have 1/10 scale Tomcat I'll be building once I finish up my big Skyray project and it will have a full set of gear doors. I can't wait to start that one!

Haha, thanks! 🤣

That is correct, you have to bypass the control board on the ailerons and run them straight to the receiver.

because I only have a 8 channel rec. is it possible to fuse the flaps and ailerons together and then mix them together to do flaperons

Because of the swing wing, you need a 9 ch Rx since the ailerons require two channels. The tails have to be run in elevon mode which means that one is plugged into the elevator port and the other plugged into the aileron.

The RC Geek what tail? I only have 8 channels and decided to run full flaps and tailerons only. Im also using a AS3X receiver and I’m having fits trying to get everything to work correctly. But again this is the most programming and mixing I’ve ever done. I’m used to WWII warbirds

The aileron port on the control board is used to move the tails as tailerons in combination with the ailerons. So, if the ailerons are yharnessed into aux 2, you’d still need aileron from the board into the receiver to achieve the taileron function at the tails.

@@Thercgeek thank you for insight on that

Well, everything fastens together on that airplane except for the nose section which is intended to be glued. So, if you’re wanting to put everything back in the original box, I’d recommend devising a fastener setup for the nose so you can remove it. You want a very positive attachment for the nose. Everything else already is removable.

I've flown mine off of a 325 ft paved runway without any issues. You have to apply full power right away on the takeoff and the full span flap helps it to really slow down which helps with the landings, but you've gotta land it on the numbers. Because they have ball bearings in the tires, I would typically roll off the end of the runway on landing, but not too much. Plus, the field has a nice runoff area.

Okay, so 325 feet would be about the minimum in your experience.... That's a heck of a lot more attainable than 500 feet long. Thanks!

Yeah, that's about as short as I would go. I'd recommend flying it at a field with excess field length first though just for assurance on the maiden if possible.

Yeah, don't want to have to run into a curb on the maiden

yeah, not on the maiden...or ever probably... ;)

haha, thanks! With the wings swept, I'm flying the airplane with tailerons only. I flew the airplane originally in the stock setup and I really didn't like how it flew wings swept with the ailerons moving. It flew well wings extended, but didn't roll right (not scale). This is why I ended up setting the airplane up this way. I love how it flies with this control setup and do all kinds of aerobatics with it including rolls on takeoff. :)

+Alpha10 Ah, interesting! I wasn't aware of a flight mode delay. I'll look into that.

+The RC Geek Definitely. i only discovered it while playing with this jet.

Hi Alex, I haven't had any issues to this point with the FHSS-3 receiver. At the time I made the video, it was the only way I could get done what I wanted to with the programming since that was my primary radio.

I'm glad to hear that. I'm about to receive a Stinger90 and might try the fhss3 receiver I have. I sure wish they would use digital servos!

yeah, definitely test it out first.

Well got the stinger today and did test it with the fhss3 receiver and it was causing major intermittent buzzing. Tried a fhss1 receiver and zero buzzing. I feel the high frame rate would slowly kill the servos. Really need to be sure you are not getting chattering with these stock analog servos with that receiver. Thanks for the very informative vids and info!

I don't recall much buzzing, I will have to check. I know that the nose door servos buzz when closed, but mostly a result of a little binding with the nose strut.

Sure thing!

Never mind, I found your Spektrum programming setup. Did I mention I hate reading and it shows!

oh good. I wasn't sure if that would be helpful for the ix12 actually. I've been flying mostly spektrum these days actually. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I don’t recall as it’s been a long time since flying one of these stock. If I recall correctly, what’s recommended in the manual is a good starting point.

+daniel alessandrini I'd avoid the AS3X initially. If you want to try it, once you've flown and trimmed the airplane you can give it a shot. I know of a few guys who've used the 3 axis igyro system, but I'm not aware of anyone who's used AS3X. The igyro system is about the best you can get though.

ok thank you very much

They move with the steering yes, and then when I do a knife edge wing sweep pass, I'll use a little rudder. Otherwise, I don't use the rudder much. It will roll the airplane pretty notably. Oh, and if you want to do a flat spin (which the airplane will do), then you need max rudder deflection. ;)

With my current refinish series with the freewing tomcat, I’ll keep this in mind. I was planning to come back to this a little bit.

@@Thercgeek thanks

I'm sorry to say, I have no experience with the Radiolink radios. In fact, I had never heard of the radio before you mentioned it. That said, the throttle should be plugged into the throttle channel. So, check your manual what the default channels are for your radio. IT's likely either channel 1 or 3. The wing sweep should be on an aux channel that you'll have to assign a switch to. I have a more in depth discussion about the approach I took on the programming on my website: wp.me/p5LuFX-lg That said, there's nothing wrong with setting up the airplane in the stock configuration. The airplane flies well that way, and the programming is much easier. But I would recommend disabling the ailerons with the wings swept if you're able to do it. So, how experienced an RC Flyer are you? I'm getting the sense you may be newer to it. I recommend finding local RC club and having an experienced flyer help you get the airplane setup and flown for you. The F-14 is a great flying airplane, but it is best to get some experience flying high performance aircraft under your belt before stepping up to the tomcat.

I took them down as they’re not compatible with the newer ix or nx radios unfortunately.

Thanks!

The tails should move in the same manner as the ailerons. So, a right roll command should move the right tail trailing edge up and the left tail should move trailing edge down.

@@Thercgeek thanks you just saved $600

Thank you so much!

Thanks for watching! Have fun with your tomcat, it flies great!

I've heard about a twin 80mm coming out soon-ish but don't really know much about it.

I spoke to an associate of Motion today and he almost slipped. JUST TOLD ME ENOUGH TO RAISE MY BROW,and then said he wasn't supposed to say axcept that it's an 80mm with a power pack conversion to 90mm twins and it was going to be on something with an 80 in. wingspan. ??? Thinking A-10, A Super FA/18 Hornet, Super Me262??? See what you can dig up. Thanks and Happy Flying my Friend. Skip

I don’t recall off hand for the stock setup, but it doesn’t require very much.

My apologies, but I have no experience with the hobby eagle equipment. So, I’m not sure I can help answer your question.

@@Thercgeek I found the answer last night. The large top cover over the wing/fuse area must be removed - under it is a lot of wiring and electrical components - I found a Spektrum receiver there - it has the usual bind port I was looking for. I guess it is put there to avoid running long wires up to the front of the hatch area were there is room for it -

Ah, ok that makes sense. I was thinking it was an integrated rx/gyro system.

@@Thercgeek I needed to bind so I could check out the major parts - I'm going to sell them on ebay - the receiver, gyro, motors, escs and servos and maybe a few other parts.

I did a refinish series on the F-14 and I show that in episode 5 here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5jyhcCBc0mk.html

+daniel alessandrini Setting up a "crow" configuration like that can be done and is done on other airplanes. I've not found it necessary at all on this airplane. The airplane lands incredible with the scale full span flaps.

+The RC Geek thank you very much for the information...you have done everything... Im surprised

No problem!

You may be right. I ended up picking up another one recently that I'll be featuring a refinish on. I'm looking at adding some scale mods too.

+BarracudaHawk I've never measured the thrust. there are quite a few things that can affect static thrust, so I wouldn't expect for you to get what is stated in the manual. A couple questions, did you calibrate the speed controllers? What batteries are you using and how old are they? Lastly, what's the length and surface type of your runway?

+The RC Geek Hi. Thanks for replying, i appreciate that a lot. Yes i did calibrate the speed controllers, one at a time. (had to power one of them with a small battery to do this because the BEC is on the other) I used 2 x A spec Nano Tech 4000, 65C. I am not flying these because I have Turnigy 5000, 60C Batts coming in a day or two. The runway is tarmac, 90 yards. We use an arrester cord with damping to avoid overrun.. works well and is kinder to the gear than going Off Piste.!

+BarracudaHawk 90 yards is pretty short, but should be manageable being paved. I've flown off of 300 ft with no issues, but landing usually ended up using the full length since there are ball bearings in the wheels (why? I don't know!). Plan to use the full runway length. For the maiden, it may even be worth doing a brake start having someone hold the airplane while you apply full power before letting it roll to give yourself a little extra length.

+The RC Geek Yes we nearly always use full length. If you still have your model and feel like a static thrust test, i would be grateful knowing the base line thrust is identical. I'm sure it is but hey, it's be good to know before i launch..!

+BarracudaHawk Unfortunately, I don't have a good way of measuring installed thrust. It's not typically something I do specifically. I test thrust on the bench typically knowing that installed thrust is always less than that.

Keeping it stock, what you would need to do is plug in the ailerons into a y harness and then plug those into your 8th channel and set them up with a channel mix. Then put that channel mix on your swing wing switch such that is is active with wings extended and inactive with wings swept.

My 8th Channel is AUX 3. So I mix AUX 3 with AIL and assign that mix on my swing wing switch( H) ? I will give that a shot. Thanks! @@Thercgeek

I got it to work...Thanks for the help!

Glad to hear it, I’m glad I could help! 😊

@@TheGnat111 hello just wondering if you can share your mixes for the f14 I too have a dx8 and want to set it up like you did

Cool! I actually have a dx file available for download in the article written along with this video at: thercgeek.com/2016/01/freewing-f-14-setup-flight-review/

The RC Geek ok nice one 👍🏻 what channel reciever do you use ?

And what do you set the wing type as ? 2 ail one flap or what ?

@@rileyhowe9610 To setup this model like I did, you need at least a 9 channel receiver. Keep in mind that the airplane does fly well stock also in the event you don't want to do all of the programming.

@@rileyhowe9610 If you have the elevator servos plugged directly into the receiver, then it should be setup as tailerons. OTherwise if you have them running through the stock board, then it would be standard 1 elevator, 1 aileron. Then the ailerons need to be plugged directly into the receiver and are mixed in separately through a channel mix.

+F Huber Good luck on the maiden, this airplane flies great! The NASA scheme should look awesome.

Well, there are a number of RC jet companies out there in addition to turbine engine companies. In terms of turbine engines, kingtech is a pretty prominent one in the states. For jet companies, airworld, skymaster, ultimate-jets are a few that come to mind. This F-14 however comes from MotionRC.

Can it be swept from take off to land.

Glad you found it. Are you asking if you can takeoff and land with the wings swept? It’s been done, but it doesn’t land that well in that configuration.

@@Thercgeek I imagine some airbrakes and chute would be needed. Speaking of air brakes, that Mig 17 has them. The artic camo really shows that swept wing bird off well. You mentioned a dual rates on this, so what about flight modes to give more options. Just wondering if you tried it or any reason why only mixes were used. Either way, great what can be done. If you have never programmed a full house motored sail plane on Futaba, Don't!

Yeah, flight modes works too, but even with flight modes, I like the option of changing the rates anytime I need to when setting up a model. That can all be removed once it's tuned. I saw the Mig17 vide, sure does look nice!

Daniel, shoot me an email through my blog contact form (thercgeek.com) and I can help you better. My buddy setup his f14 on a dx9 and I can get you in touch with him.

great! thanks I already sent you the email

For some reason, I'm not seeing your email. Mind trying again? Be sure to include a few words in the body also.

+daniel alessandrini looks like the second time came through. I'll have my friend get in touch with you with his dx9 settings.

thank you very much!!

Congrats on the successful maiden! How quickly were you trying to re-cycle the gear? There is a timing delay on the retracts, so if you flip the switch too soon after the first cycle, they won’t move. At least that’s what I remember.

@@Thercgeek thank you! And it doesn't seem to matter how quickly I flip the switch, it just wants to cycle one time and is completely unresponsive after the first cycle is complete. Really odd so I'm at a loss lol

Yeah, that’s strange. Unfortunately, I’m not sure why that would do that.

@@Thercgeek no worries! You know more than I do so figured I'd give it a shot haha

@@Thercgeek well, to give you an update, the f14 met its demise on the first wing sweep attempt. It flew fantastic with the wings out, but when I swept the wings, my taileron rate was not low enough and it rolled twice or three times before I tried to pull out using full elevator. Unfortunately, I did not have enough altitude to pull out of the unexpected situation. I messaged Motion rc about their manual and how it needs a lot of work, and their response was that the plane was designed and intended for expert pilots, and that expert pilots would not need control throw suggestions, they would find it themselves. While this does have some basis in logic, I will not be shopping at Motion RC ever again. It's a shame because they have some really nice models.

Well, I know what fs numbers they’re supposed to be, but the model I don’t believe was painted with fs accurate colors. I believe they were trying to mimic flat full gray (fs36440) and insignia white (fs37875).

@@Thercgeek Thanks very much; I will find suitable RAL numbers by this way !

@@Thercgeek Just identified our European RAL numbers: Flat full gray (fs36440) --> RAL 7038 Insignia white (fs37875) --> RAL 9001 Again - thanks very much for your rapid support !!

Happy to help! Be aware you will likely have to do some color matching to get the colors to blend. I’d be surprised if the RAL colors matched the model exactly.

@@Thercgeek At least I will give it a try - cautiously :-) !

Oh, I’m all about iron Eagle. I love that movie, haha

Expo is really a matter of personal preference. When I set this up originally, I didn’t use any expo in the programming. I don’t like a super dead feel around center, so even when I do use expo it’s not a lot. That being said, On my latest refinished tomcat (bit.ly/YTRefinishing ), I added about 8% expo to the elevator and aileron controls and then added 30% expo on the rudder because they’re very effective in flight.

@@Thercgeek Alright thank you bro. :D 👍 I already watched the refinish series, its aswesome.👍

I'm not sure the top speed on this model. I would guess about 110 mph.

In order to accomplish this, the aileron servos need to be plugged directly into the receiver into two aux channels. Those channels then need to be mixed in to the ailerons and that mix needs to be assigned to your swing wing switch such that with wings out, the mix is active and wings swept, the mix is disabled. I have a dx file available for download on my site in my full flight review: thercgeek.com/FWF14

@@Thercgeek I'm using a dx9 ..with swept wing and I have jp brakes ...using 8 channel receiver...does this mean I need something better than a dx9 or a 10 channel receiver

@@chrismitchell5260 Well, if you want to program the airplane the same as I did, you need a minimum of 9 channels. Otherwise, you could connect the ailerons through a y-harness and mix them in that way. They would function as normal ailerons vs spoilerons. Then, your brakes you could y-harness to your elevator and actuate them with down elevator. I've not used electric brakes, so I'm not sure how feasible setting them up that way may be. If that doesn't work, then I'd recommend just setting it up stock. It'll do fine that way. You may just need to spend a little extra time tuning the rates with wings swept.

@@Thercgeek ok thank you for helping me out much appreciated

@@chrismitchell5260 no problem!

This is all taken care of in the radio. The ailerons have to be plugged directly into the receiver and then they are setup through a channel mix. To disable the ailerons when wings are swept, then you assign that channel mix for the ailerons to the swing wing switch such that the mix is active with the wings out and inactive with them swept. If you have a spektrum radio, I have the programming file posted on my website.

I'm not sure if you do custom work for people. If so could we talk about you making me an f9f-8 cougar airframe. I would like it light enough to run electric . 6s 5000 to 6000. 90mm ducted fan.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to help, I just don't have time to do custom builds for folks. My parents do have an F9F Cougar kit that's a perfect size for a 90mm fan (jethangar.com). Though, we've flown it on 8s and 12s 90mm, not 6s.

Huh. Are they interested in selling?

Interested in selling what?

Yes, 2” is what I used. Camera angle plays a big part of how the scale looks on camera. Unless I get it perfectly square to the scale, it’ll look biased one way or the other usually.

On full span flaps landing, if you need to abort and go around, is it safe for the flaps to stay down during the entire go around? U see, I may forget to retract them.

Yes, that’s totally fine. I loved shooting touch and goes and left the flaps down the whole time I was in the pattern when I did.

It comes from motionrc.com

@@Thercgeek thz

+daniel alessandrini The nano's should work fine. I don't know about the weight or size though, they will likely be heavier and larger. The 30c 5800s are really compact packs for what they are. Where are you located? I'm seeing them in stock and nicely discounted also: www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9935__ZIPPY_Flightmax_5800mAh_6S1P_30C.html

ok thanks a lot

+daniel alessandrini hello Sr, Im tempted to go with the Zippy compact 6S 40c 6200mah, the weight is 30 grams more than the 5800 and the size is a little bigger, but I might get more time... what do you think?

+daniel alessandrini I think they would work, but the airplane will be a little more nose heavy. You'd get a little boost in flight time, but not huge. My only concern would be CG. I already have the 5800s pushed back as far as they can go. It's only 30g, but if the packs are longer, that could move the CG more than desired (longer moment arm to the center of mass of the pack). As a point of reference, I can fly my Tomcat really hard for over 4 minutes with the 5800s.

+The RC Geek thanks again... I ´ll check the CG and try to move the battery as far as I can.... I might mount part of the second battery over the first to gain more weight on the back

Guys have done it, but I haven’t personally. The best success has come when guys have upgraded the power systems to the 9-blade system that’s in the freewing a-10.

What size are the wheels

+2warhammer34 Thanks! I had to throw that in, haha! ;) The final countdown is an awesome movie.

+The RC Geek thanks again for the setup guide! Just finished the set up. Been raining up here so just waiting for some dry weather. Tomorrow looks promising. Cheers, and many thanks to your father for his service!

I've seen guys who've done it on the airplane. It requires some pretty major modifications to the turkey feather exhausts. Stock the ID is set to finish out the exhaust ducting. So, that would all have to be changed.

ok thank you for your information. Good vids by the way - Im repainting and refinishing my FMS P51 similar to you after your video inspired me to do so.

Thanks! Glad to hear about the P-51, send pics when you're done, I'd love to see it! :)

The rudder settings per the manual. The rudders are very effective and kind of roll the airplane, so I don't use the rudder very much.

Haha, thankfully this is a danger zone free zone 😆