Thought I'd start a thread here on the EPO F-16 from Hobby-King.

I just got it 1.5weeks back and have had a blast with it these last two weekends.

It comes ARTF with a 70mm fan (even though its advertised a 64mm fan - those dummies)

I took the junk 70mm fan that is apparently not balanced well at all according to many others and gutted the fan and supports. I put what was left of the plastic ring around a 64mm Cyclone "Red Velocity" edf unit with 3900kv rating. Glued it back into place and swapped the junk ESC (heard stories of it catching on fire at start up) and replaced with a 40amp Turnigy ESC (switching BEC version). That's a Turnigy 60A you see pictured, but after the first crash (loss of orientation) i swapped out to the 40A -- the 60 is nice but overkill and over-weight.

custom added a rudder. normally comes no rudder, 3ch with steerable nose and elevon mixed with seperate flaps on wings and horizontal stabs controlled in unison by single servo on either side. I'm actually suprised how well this setup works and smooth it flies. I changed out TowerPro servos for better HS65-HB's all around.

Basically i used the plane for the airframe only. $84 plus $46 shipping. $130 for smaller but nice EPO F16 airframe -- maybe that's a bit expensive i guess. The decals aren't great, the color tends to chip off of the sticker.

The foam is real nice, durable. thick side walls, tunnel walls - 15mm or so... I crashed it once (too far out lost orientation) and tore a wing off and nose tip. Epoxied up in one evening (and some CA in key places) and flys like new again... looks, well, er, sorta new

It comes with wooden spars in the wings. I added two 3mm carbon fiber spars to each wing, that extend from the root of the bird out into the wing.

I did the very same for the horizontal stabs -- two 3mm CF spars from the base/root of the jet out into the wings. Also a CF spar in the Vertical stab, and CF spars in each of the horizontal stab's flaps.... Very sturdy at the roots now. Probably would have been fine w/out the extra spars, but ya never know.

I've flown it on Turnigy 1600mah 4s 30C lipos... 888grams AUW.

Also on Mystery 3000mah 4s 30C lipos... 988 grams AUW.

Both setups fly GREAT!! the 3000mah a bit more robust on climbout and whatnot.

Plenty of room in the hatch to have the 1600's all the way FWD, and the 3000's all the way aft.... and balances perfectly each way.

No dual rates, set up for 100% servo throw, with no EXPO mixed in - seemed best for responsive flying. its a little twitchy, but I like it to be a nimble as possible

Fun little bird. I'm still pretty new to planes & success in one sentence. Started to get real good with a Cessna so this is my next step forward. Hoping to fly a thrust vectored for my next bird.

Love the F-16 for some reason. Did the bottom of wings & horz stabs in red wing tape... gives a decent amt of contrast for flight orientation. I have bad vision / thick glasses so i need all the help i can get

On the bench in the plane the fan goes just about 600 watts on the 1600mah and 645watts on the 3000mah. Pulls 43-46amps.

The duct exit is 55m. The intake gives just enough room that you can see the full edge of the 'intake' ring on the fan through the duct, since it originally fits a 70mm fan.

3mins fly time on 1600mah; Battery takes back about 75-80% capacity.

2.5mins on 1600mah, takes back 60-65% capacity.

3.5 mins on 3000mah, takes back about 60-65% of capacity. 3mins a very easy 50% capacity.

(i don't like to use more than 70% lipo capacity MAX, seems to shorten # of charge cycles and punch)

Its juice hungy for sure... i tend to fly alot of wide-open throttle, not all the time though.

Anyways -- 9 flights/landings so far all but one successful.

The beauty of EPO though -- pick up Humpty Dumpty's pieces and put 'er back together again. Bought the only gripe is the 15grams in Epoxy you add each time... CA works too, i need to get some kicker though!

Was thinking maybe the RC LANDER 68mm with 6s lipo and 2400kv setup would be PURE wicked in this jet. Maybe that would accomplish unlimited vertical. This setup has good climbout, but not unlimited.

The 6s RC Lander 68mm fan is 66grams heavier than the 64mm Cyclone fan -- so at 1055grams (combine a 2s 30C 1600mah lipo at 100grams to make 6s total) with that setup it would really really scream i imagine.

Pics and couple pretty amature short videos (sorry for the shady camera work). My good buddy Jamie taking the vids for me..... he's gettin' better; in his defense i can be a sporatic flyer at times.

Thanks for lookin' ! Gonna work on better video (close-up) footage next week or maybe today!!


Vids are on the 1600mah lipo

EDF JET - HobbyKing EPO F-16 - - - - swapped with Red Velocity 64mm fan on 4s lipo. #2 (3 min 36 sec)

EDF JET - HobbyKing EPO F-16 - - - - swapped with Red Velocity 64mm fan on 4s lipo. #1 (4 min 27 sec)

i removed the 64mm Cyclone fan from this jet and have replaced it with a 70mm HET 6904 and 2W20....

finished it today and going to maiden it now...

Excited!! I ran up the HET fan and WOW is it smooth as silk, love it. It also SCREAMS extremely loud --

using 3000mah 35C 4s lipos --- on the bench not in the model the fan made 60.8peak amps and 895 peak watts, 14.37 low volts.

The jet made 550-600watts on the Cyclone 64mm fan with the same battery as above. With this 64mm fan the jet very performed nicely and was ok on speed, ok on vertical. NOT unlimited by any stretch and I was always wishing she had a little more speed. As my edf flying skills are getting better i'm looking for more speed in my models lately.

I'm excited to fly as now I feel the vertical WILL be unlimited with this setup.

On the 64 Cyclone the jet was 989grams AUW same battery as above.

With the HET the jet is 1030grams (the power system is slighter lighter than the cyclone but i used a much heavier 60A instead of 40A esc with the Cyclone... So in the end i pick up weight but NOT much compared to how much power output i just picked up. From a 64 to a 70 fan and from 550watts to nearly 900watts, jet gains only 4% in weight.

Should be fun!! Will report back with results

sounds awesome!! your going to make a video and show us all, right

Yes, I am using a HET with 2W-20 for the first time in one of my planes currently under construction, and it is way louder than anything I've ever had before. When I first started to do a test runup, I had to stop and go get my hearing-protection earmuffs from the garage, because the decibel level was definitely in the hearing-damage level.

Originally Posted by herk1

Yes, I am using a HET with 2W-20 for the first time in one of my planes currently under construction, and it is way louder than anything I've ever had before. When I first started to do a test runup, I had to stop and go get my hearing-protection earmuffs from the garage, because the decibel level was definitely in the hearing-damage level.

There is ZERO doubt the sound is hearing damage capable -- NO DOUBT. I was wearning nice set of protectors

Funny thing is, up in the air she sound like a JET dream. The air rushing through adds a jet like whine to 'er and I was just in aw.

This fan is AWESOME and packs incredible power. She's not as fast still as the Little Jpower 50mm WEMOMANIAC F16 I got going this weekend --- but she packs just a tiny tiny bit shy of unlimited vertical. Flys 10 times better than prior --- thrust is incredible and will lift the plane out like its nothing. Prior with the 64mm fan felt like it was constantly laboring to keep up. This feels grossly overpower and its downright nice. 5 minutes flight easy -- plenty of capacity in the 3000... took back about 57% or around 1700mah.

Love this jet --- but its tricky cuz then i try to fly the 50mm Jpower and it KNOCKS your socks off as its is twitchy compared to a larger 70mm jet.

FUN FUN FUN all day. Was great whether.

I will make VIDS of both jets next weekend come HECK or high water.

Finally got some decent video -- HET6904 with 2W20 motor .

This first two vids are on a Turnigy 40C 4s 1800mah lipo.

The last vid is on a Ebay Mystery "30C" 4s 3000mah lipo. I put that in quotes because the lipo seems more 25C to me. Anyways the jet flys decent with it.

AUW something like 1030 - 1090grams between the lipos. The 3000mah lipo is heavier, 285g vs 230g for the 1800mah.

She flys quite nice -- well mannered in the air, plenty of nice vertical scoot when necessary. Turns nicely too.

3rd vid i BIF it right into the ground skidding to stop under hard throttle as I was trying too hard to show off for the camera and blew it bigtime.

Yanked and lost a control linkage arm -- sorry but that ended me day. Least the fan was ok after having corn-on-the-cob for dinner.

VIDS are uploading youtube now, i'll link 'em in a few...

Props to the CameraLady -- My MUCH better half shot quite well I thought -- 2nd VID is the best shot -- almost zero 'dead' camera finder time.

1. HET 70mm F16 Jet EDF -- 4s (2 min 58 sec)

2. HET 70mm F16 Jet EDF -- 4s (3 min 33 sec)

3. HET 70mm F16 Jet EDF -- 4s ---- SKID CRASH!! (2 min 1 sec)