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-   -   F-16 fighting eagle from famous (https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/electric-rc-jets-198/7978181-f-16-fighting-eagle-famous.html)

koolaid535 09-22-2008 01:05 AM

F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Have anyone flown this jet yet? I need your feed back, I also what to know if u can paint it with a pertective coating.

giddyuperic 09-22-2008 02:18 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
What jet? Is it foam or wood w/monokote?

koolaid535 09-22-2008 04:33 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Its a foamy, and the Maiden flight was a disaster. the wind caught it and it went down, I repaired it the best i could but later today i will see how she will do. how there's no wind.

rcmiket 09-22-2008 05:56 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Are you talking about the 70mm F-16 from Hobby Lobby?

rcmiket 09-22-2008 06:00 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
1 Attachment(s)
If so I own one. Short of the CG being wrong in the instructions its a great flier. Mike

CAPT John 09-23-2008 09:00 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 


ORIGINAL: rcmiket

If so I own one. Short of the CG being wrong in the instructions its a great flier. Mike
rcmiket.
What CG did you use? I have one also and used the published CG, but the maiden didn't go very well. It's repaired and ready to try again, but I'd like to hear what CG worked for you. Also, are you using the stock battery?

Thanks,

rcmiket 09-23-2008 04:25 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I'm about 90mm from the leading edge and think it needs to go back further. My first flight was at 78mm and it took all the up trim I had to get it back safe. Second flight I went 85mm and the same result. When I went to 90mm I needed some trim but it flew well. Its still nose heavy at 90mm. Next time out I'm going to 95mm. Overall I'm really pleased with it. As far as I'm concerned I'm going for a CG with no up trim in level flight. I also had way to much throws in it even with 15% expo it was touchy I've toned them down some and went to 20% expo and it was much better. The rudder is pretty ineffective so don't be surprised there. Even with the nose heavy condition I had no problem with the landing so feel free to experiment.If there's anything else you need feel free to ask. Good Luck .Mike

rcmiket 09-23-2008 04:28 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Sorry I missed the part about the battery, Its stock. I'm looking at some from Max Amps. I've been using them in my Helicopters and my H/L F-18 they really perked things up. Mike

koolaid535 09-23-2008 05:05 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
rc: its the same one like the one from hobby-lobby, but i bought mine from sn hobbies in canada.
ps what does cg mean.

rcmiket 09-23-2008 05:23 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Center of Gravity.

koolaid535 09-23-2008 05:26 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I figured it out thanks. I just came back from trying to fly the bird again, this time it didn't get two feet off the ground and spun and came down and went into pieces.

CAPT John 09-23-2008 05:44 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 


ORIGINAL: rcmiket

I'm about 90mm from the leading edge and think it needs to go back further. My first flight was at 78mm and it took all the up trim I had to get it back safe. Second flight I went 85mm and the same result. When I went to 90mm I needed some trim but it flew well. Its still nose heavy at 90mm. Next time out I'm going to 95mm. Overall I'm really pleased with it. As far as I'm concerned I'm going for a CG with no up trim in level flight. I also had way to much throws in it even with 15% expo it was touchy I've toned them down some and went to 20% expo and it was much better. The rudder is pretty ineffective so don't be surprised there. Even with the nose heavy condition I had no problem with the landing so feel free to experiment.If there's anything else you need feel free to ask. Good Luck .Mike
Mike,
Thanks for the info. My F-16 literally scrapped the grass before climbing out on the first handlaunch (our field is grass and it would not get up enough speed on the take off roll). We used all the up trim and it still was diving. After adding up elevator we launched again and it pitched up stalled and crashed. The CG was set slightly forward of the recommended 78 mm, so I now realize it was probably too nose heavy.

The jet is repaired and ready for another test flight this weekend. I'll set the CG further aft before trying again. Thank again for the insights.
John

ARF Guy 09-23-2008 07:12 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
1 Attachment(s)


ORIGINAL: rcmiket

I'm about 90mm from the leading edge and think it needs to go back further. My first flight was at 78mm and it took all the up trim I had to get it back safe. Second flight I went 85mm and the same result. When I went to 90mm I needed some trim but it flew well. Its still nose heavy at 90mm. Next time out I'm going to 95mm. Overall I'm really pleased with it. As far as I'm concerned I'm going for a CG with no up trim in level flight. I also had way to much throws in it even with 15% expo it was touchy I've toned them down some and went to 20% expo and it was much better. The rudder is pretty ineffective so don't be surprised there. Even with the nose heavy condition I had no problem with the landing so feel free to experiment.If there's anything else you need feel free to ask. Good Luck .Mike
Hmmm?? Wouldn't moving the CG BACK make it more nose heavy? I also have the Hobby Lobby 70MM F-16 and I had to add lead in the nose to get it to balance at the 78MM. I also contacted HB's tech support since there were no control throws in the book and they told me the one they fly on their online video is set up with the linkage on all surfaces on the outer-most hole of the control horn and the servo and with low rates set at 40% for rudder, aileron and elevators. The elevators didn't seem to have much movement so I made the D/R 45% for them.

First flight was yesterday and it wanted to roll left pretty so strong I added 80% right trim to keep it level and quite a bit of up trim and it was flying nicely. Landing, I cut the throttle to about 40% and it started a good predictable decent and I kept slowly reduced power and pulled the nose up as it got closer to the ground. It flared into a nice "mains first", nose high landing. The roll problem was the rudder not returning to center after steering for take-off. I took the push "wire" out and wiped it with silicone plus tightened up the quick connects on the rudder and servo since they seemed quite loose and sloppy. I removed most of the right trim before flying today and it took-off and flew nicely. The wind had picked up to about 10 knots before the batter was recharged and I found the plane wants to climb fairly strong into the wind. Also downwind landings are out of the question unless you have unlimited space.

The low rates make for fairly slow rolls but until I have a few more flights, I appreciate the milder response. I have no problems with enough elevator throw for flying or landing. The plane will slow down really quite slow and show no tendency to drop a wing. Landings are pretty easy. Just line her up and start backing the throttle off till you flare at about a foot above the ground. Carry some power all the way because the light weight and that big duct will slow it down quickly.

Bottom line is you want mild controls at least until you get comfortable with the plane. It seems to like to fly fairly fast if you want it to be responsive and it's not a plane I would fly in any wind over 8-10 knots and then only if you have experience. Gray is a tough color for me to see, even in the clear, dark blue skies of Prescott. Another note of interest; our field is at 5200+ feet and I felt the plane's performance was very good and scale-like.

ARF Guy 09-23-2008 07:21 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Forgive me guys, but reading your posts, it sounds to me like you are moving the CG the wrong way. Putting the GC further back puts more of the plane's weight forward. Anyway, the two fellows that crashed sounds more like tail-heavy aircraft than nose-heavy. Maybe I'm mis-reading your posts.

ARF Guy

ARF Guy 09-23-2008 07:36 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Oh, I got it now. Terminology strikes again! CG and point of balance! Anyway I'd still take nose heavy over tail heavy!

rcmiket 09-24-2008 12:14 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Here's my story. When I finished the jet. I tried to balance it at 78mm per the instructions. It required 3 oz. of lead in the nose to achieve that balance point. First flight I needed so much up to rotate it was ridiculous. In flight I keep adding up trim, all I had and it still was diving. Had to hold up the whole flight. I concluded the jet was nose heavy. I removed 1/2 the weight and flew again. some improvement but not much. I took all the weight out and flew again. Better but still not right. At 78mm the jet is nose heavy. I'm at 90mm right now and it balanced level. I still think it needs to balance back a bit more. As far as I'm concerened the CG point in the instructions are wrong. I realize that everyone has there own preference about how a plane should fly and what CG best fits there style. I prefer mine a hair nose heavy.I want to get it to thr point where there's no up trim in level flight,I'll keep messing with it till I find where that is. As far as the 2 crashes If they flew anything like mine did the first time out it took forever to rotate if you pulled it off green it would stall, snap and crash. Mike

CAPT John 09-24-2008 12:31 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 


ORIGINAL: rcmiket

Here's my story. When I finished the jet. I tried to balance it at 78mm per the instructions. It required 3 oz. of lead in the nose to achieve that balance point. First flight I needed so much up to rotate it was ridiculous. In flight I keep adding up trim, all I had and it still was diving. Had to hold up the whole flight. I concluded the jet was nose heavy. I removed 1/2 the weight and flew again. some improvement but not much. I took all the weight out and flew again. Better but still not right. At 78mm the jet is nose heavy. I'm at 90mm right now and it balanced level. I still think it needs to balance back a bit more. As far as I'm concerened the CG point in the instructions are wrong. I realize that everyone has there own preference about how a plane should fly and what CG best fits there style. I prefer mine a hair nose heavy.I want to get it to thr point where there's no up trim in level flight,I'll keep messing with it till I find where that is. As far as the 2 crashes If they flew anything like mine did the first time out it took forever to rotate if you pulled it off green it would stall, snap and crash. Mike
Mike,
I concur with your assessment. I had to add about 2 oz. of nose weight to get the jet to balance at the recommended 78mm. I had to hand launch due to our grass runway not allowing the plane to build enough speed to rotate. The first hand launch was successful, but just barely as it was very hard to get the plane to climb. I too used all the up trim on my radio and the plane was still diving. In retrospect, I believe the jet was nose heavy. The elevator was not touchy and the landing was hard to slow down.

As for my "crash," I chalk that up to a bad hand launch throw. I'm going to remove the nose weight and try again this weekend. I'll report back with the results.

John

rcmiket 09-24-2008 12:39 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Sounds like you have a handle on it now. I'm flying off pavement and have no experience with hand launching but I've seen several go wrong. You'll be fine. Good Luck . Mike

ARF Guy 09-24-2008 01:12 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I noticed at RC Groups a couple of fellows have complained about motor glitches and determined that the ESC is most likely the trouble. Have any of you had runs with the motor cutting out? I have and once AFTER flying it, I tried to throttle up and nothing happened. I power cycled the plane and it seemed to reset. The battery was reading 3.7 per cell except one that was 3.6 so there was no lack of battery power.

Thanks,

ARF Guy.

rcmiket 09-24-2008 01:40 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I haven't had a issue like that yet. The F-18 I have from H/l had that problem I swapped it out with a Phoenix I had laying around and it cured it. Mike

ARF Guy 09-24-2008 02:36 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I've contacted HL to see if there is an issue.

How do you like the F-18? It looks good but it's smaller and for me with bad eyes, I suspect, hard to follow.

rcmiket 09-24-2008 02:42 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
1 Attachment(s)
Actually its easier to see. Stock set up is perfect if your just looking to fool around. Its really quite slow but fun. The only upgrade I did was a Max Amps 1550 ma 25c pack. Its a bit larger than the stock pack and you need to cut out the bulkhead between the bays to get it to fit. It gives a lot more flight time with a bit more power. I take mine out every time I go flying. Its that much fun. Mike

Chris Balling 09-24-2008 04:11 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
1 Attachment(s)
I have 51 flights on my HL F-18. I did initially have a cut out problem with my motor but quickly isolated it to a poor connection between ESC and the motor itself. I replaced the "Red" line connector and have had no problems since. The little Blue Angel is a fun airplane and is rather easy to see.

Chris Balling
"Real Pilots Wear GOLD Wings"

ARF Guy 09-24-2008 05:31 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Thanks for the F-18 info, guys.

ARF Guy

ARF Guy 09-24-2008 07:57 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Oh, if you get any bings and bongs in the foam, the light-weight 'pink' spackling paste can be smoothed into a dent and then painted with acrylic poster paint from any craft store. I bought a bottle of white and black and mix them to the color of gray I want. It dries flat and looks like what's already on the plane.

ARF Guy

philld 09-25-2008 12:40 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 


ORIGINAL: ARF Guy

I noticed at RC Groups a couple of fellows have complained about motor glitches and determined that the ESC is most likely the trouble. Have any of you had runs with the motor cutting out? I have and once AFTER flying it, I tried to throttle up and nothing happened. I power cycled the plane and it seemed to reset. The battery was reading 3.7 per cell except one that was 3.6 so there was no lack of battery power.

Thanks,

ARF Guy.
Yep, I've experienced this issue in my HL F5 also. From what I've been reading others have also experienced this on RCGROUPS. They suspect the ESC. I've swapped receivers which work well in other planes but are no help in the F5 or F16. I totalled the F5 (unfortunately) thinking it was a recvr issue. I wont dare try a maiden with the F16 until I can get a glitch free pre-flight. I'll go for insulating the ESC and Wires in aluminum prior to swapping out the ESC. It sucks that we have to go through this with a new ARF. I'm sure HL is aware of this by now. I see the mftr placed a yoke on the speed controller to recvr cable to no avail. I think they too were aware of this prior to sending to HL. More to come.......

ARF Guy 09-25-2008 08:25 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I cleaned the connectors from the ESC to the motor with denatured alcohol per the advice of one of our electric experts. I suspect the sweat shop in China doesn't have much in the way of any standards with handling electronics. Figured it would hurt to clean the dried Kung Pao chicken residue off and try it. However another issue popped up. The strap that holds the bottom of the duct on broke and I'm making one out of some clear plastic that everything seems to come packaged in today. Won't get to try the plane until tomorrow or Saturday. I let you all know if cleaning the connectors helped. Nothing back from my request to HL yet (it's only been a day).

CAPT John 09-28-2008 02:42 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I removed the added nose weight from my F-16 and the jet flew much better. I'm only getting about 5 minutes of flight time with the stock battery using mostly 1/2 to 2/3 throttle. I also seem to be getting some surging from the motor. It is most noticeable at mid throttle ranges and I don't know if it's the ESC, battery, or something else. Otherwise I am pretty satisfied with the plane.

ARF Guy 09-28-2008 03:13 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I would contact HL. It sounds like you are also having the ESC problem and I believe HL will make it right when they have a solution. I've grounded my plane. The glitch occurs when any of the functions using 2 servos is used. Rudder/steering does not cause the glitch, just elevator or aileron.

ARF Guy

CAPT John 09-29-2008 11:37 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 


ORIGINAL: ARF Guy

I would contact HL. It sounds like you are also having the ESC problem and I believe HL will make it right when they have a solution. I've grounded my plane. The glitch occurs when any of the functions using 2 servos is used. Rudder/steering does not cause the glitch, just elevator or aileron.

ARF Guy
Thanks ARF Guy. I'll do a bit more troubleshooting then contact Hobby Lobby. I had another of the stock LiPo batteries on back order, but just cancelled it. I think a 25 or 30C 4 cell battery would be a better match.


rcmiket 09-29-2008 04:47 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I'm having the same issues with my F-16. I have a 60amp ESC laying around and plan on putting it in if that's the issue than it should clear up. I had the same problem with the F-18 did a ESC swap and it cured it. Hate to say it but the ESC's that come with these are pretty much junk. With the balance point further back it flies great I'm really pleased. Mike

CAPT John 09-29-2008 05:24 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 

ORIGINAL: rcmiket

I'm having the same issues with my F-16. I have a 60amp ESC laying around and plan on putting it in if that's the issue than it should clear up. I had the same problem with the F-18 did a ESC swap and it cured it. Hate to say it but the ESC's that come with these are pretty much junk. With the balance point further back it flies great I'm really pleased. Mike
Mike,
What kind of flight time are you getting out the stock battery?
John

rcmiket 09-29-2008 05:36 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Right now I'm just doing trim flights for balance point and trimming. 4 minutes tops but on the recharge I'm showing I'm using less than 40% of the battery. Once I get this cut out thing solved I'll push it a bit harder and see what kind of times I get. I'm guessing anywhere between 6 and 8 minutes depending on throttle management. Some guys go full bore for the start(less time), I like to explore the whole spectrum ( more time). I'm sure a better quality battery would also help a bunch. I'm looking around for some right now. Mike

CAPT John 09-30-2008 09:37 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Mike,
I look forward to hearing if the ESC swap solves the cut out problem.
John

rcmiket 09-30-2008 03:30 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
It worked in the F-18 from H/L so I'm pretty sure it should work. The instructions say the stock ESC is 45amps we tested the draw over the weekend and were pulling 38 amps. I figure these stock ESC's are pretty much junk (due to all the issues I've read about). I should have the answers Friday or Sat (work gets in the way) . Mike

rcmiket 10-03-2008 10:08 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
I swapped out the ESC this morning and I cannot get power to the receiver. This is weird. I've never had a issue in a ESC swap till this one. I checked the bind and all the wiring still nothing. I shot a email off to the supplier and we'll see what transpires. I'm no electronic genius but its got to be something stupid. Mike

rcmiket 10-03-2008 05:38 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Well looks like a BEC is in order here. I contacted Hobby Lobby about the ESC "cut out" and they are in the process of getting replacement ESC's of "better quality". I have a replacement from them coming as soon as they get them in. stay tuned looks like late next week. Mike

CAPT John 10-03-2008 09:31 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
Thanks for the info Mike. I'll be calling Hobby Lobby tomorrow morning to request a new ESC as well. I have always been pleased with HL's customer service, so hopefull they'll make this right in a prompt fashion.
John

koolaid535 10-06-2008 03:06 AM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
where is the start point for cg,

rcmiket 10-06-2008 12:29 PM

RE: F-16 fighting eagle from famous
 
They say 78mm from the leading edge(at the fuse) I'm back at 90mm. Try it at 78 and see what you think I dint care for it there. Mike


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