Good job Neversommer! Looks like you got quite a bit done last night. I guess I was lucky that the plastic hooks for the nose gear doors weren't broken. I'm sure you can fabricate something out of a paper clip or something similar. My nose gear is raked forward as well, guess that's how it's designed. I'm off tomorrow, as our club is putting on a flying demostration for a children's group. I'm tempted to bring the F/A-18 as I simply have to screw in the nose gear, make the connections, and it's ready to fly. I may bring it and wait until everyone leaves around 2:00 PM and try fliying it at that time.

Originally Posted by kydawg1

Neversommer - looks like you have less issues than my plane (also from Hobby Lobby)....this means there are some QC issues at the factory (and a wide range of quality variations and problems getting out the door). Looks good - keep us posted of your Maiden.

I did let ready2fly know about quality control issues which they will forward to freewing directly.

I am actually happy that I have not that many issues.

Wait for my videos to come, I am still trying to find the small missing part, if not I have to think of something else.

Originally Posted by Mike_Then

Good job Neversommer! Looks like you got quite a bit done last night. I guess I was lucky that the plastic hooks for the nose gear doors weren't broken. I'm sure you can fabricate something out of a paper clip or something similar. My nose gear is raked forward as well, guess that's how it's designed. I'm off tomorrow, as our club is putting on a flying demostration for a children's group. I'm tempted to bring the F/A-18 as I simply have to screw in the nose gear, make the connections, and it's ready to fly. I may bring it and wait until everyone leaves around 2:00 PM and try fliying it at that time.

Cheers Mike

I simply could not resist.

I got home, the package was there...I took my canon hd camera and the big parcel and went down to my hobby room to start making pictures, movies and of course the build.

Bring your F/A-18 Super Hornet with you, surely it will turn the eyes

I have to think of something for the missing small piece.

Problem is since my floor is sort of blueish, I cant find this small thingy.

I had the epoxy ready then my small part vanished from my table....

Then my mum came in and wiped the floor, lol.

Besides I got a bit high cause I forgott to open the window for air circulation and came up with a red face and had a laugh attack for some reason, lol!

Cant wait to get home to finish up my current flagship!

Regards
Neversommer.

I am very curious...would I be able to fly this model with my DX6i if I disabled the VT? I want this model so bad, but I dont want to have to buy the DX7 just yet.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

- Jordan

Originally Posted by JGuilty13

I am very curious...would I be able to fly this model with my DX6i if I disabled the VT? I want this model so bad, but I dont want to have to buy the DX7 just yet.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

- Jordan

The DX6i should fly the plane fine... the mixing takes place on the transmitter, correct? The plane comes with plenty of y-harnesses so as long as the DX6i supports the mixing, I would think it would work but I don't know. I don't think either Jason (Flyboone) or Mike (hiflyer) are monitoring this thread so you may want to post that question in the Hobby Lobby forum.

Soo w. 6ch you have;

Throttle
Elevator
Ailerons
rudder

so the plane will fly.... Plus channell 5 can be TV via mixing, and channel 6 maybe the flaps?


im just guessing here, but it should be able to work.

Originally Posted by JGuilty13

I am very curious...would I be able to fly this model with my DX6i if I disabled the VT? I want this model so bad, but I dont want to have to buy the DX7 just yet.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

- Jordan

I rigged mine up to a DX6i... Works perfectly. No need for the DX7! Here's my breakdown:

1-Throttle
2-Aileron (Y-cable)
3-Elevator
4-Rudder TV/NWS (y-Cable)
5-Landing Gear
6- Elevator TV servos (Y-cable)

The y-cable I used for the vertical TV has a third port if you purchased from HL, so I think you could actually fly this on a DX5 if you dared to be so bold. You could also use that option on the DX6i and use the extra slot for dual aileron control, thus enabling "flaperons". You'd have the TV on all the time though...

I simply used a 100% mix for the elevator TV, tying the "flap" function to the elevator function so that I can disable it using the flap switch if needed.

Originally Posted by JGuilty13

I am very curious...would I be able to fly this model with my DX6i if I disabled the VT? I want this model so bad, but I dont want to have to buy the DX7 just yet.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

- Jordan

It's already been answered, but yes you can use a 6 channel. Heck, you could even do it with a DX5.

Jason Cole

Well guys, I had to do it. I had no choice. I installed the nose gear retract tonight and much to my dismay, the gear doors wouldn't close around the new, larger wheels. Not when the gear was retracted, mind you... it fits in the wheel well with plenty of room to spare. The new wheels don't fit while the gear is retracting. I played with a new piece of string and the problem became that the doors wouldn't fully close. With time quickly slipping away, I decided to be done with the gear doors and pulled them off the plane. That was easy but then the plane looked awful stupid from the side view. I then went about gluing the doors in permanently, and carving enough of them away so the wheels and strut pass cleanly through them. It's too bad it came to that, but I remembered what most modelers have told me.... gear doors are a pain in the tuchus and aren't worth messing with. I agree! I mean it's a flying hunk of foam, not a Top Gun-worthy model. So I got over it.

The plane certainly doesn't look as sharp as it did when it was new, but I bet it flies just as good. Gonna give it another shot at the CHARM event we're hosting tomorrow. Wish me luck and a post-flight report to follow tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I also mixed in some flaperons; let's see if this helps me get off the ground.

@Mike Then: Try glassing the doors and dremel the foam away after to allow the door to close behind the tires. But Ya. I finally resorted to a sequences servo to operate the doors on my Euro. That's what they did on the LX models too.

Originally Posted by Maxthrottle

@Mike Then: Try glassing the doors and dremel the foam away after to allow the door to close behind the tires. But Ya. I finally resorted to a sequences servo to operate the doors on my Euro. That's what they did on the LX models too.

Too late, I already butchered it up. It looks OK, and I'm alright with that as it flies great.

A quickie post-flight report: I tried to fly it with the flaperons and elevator and it took off but it took a lot of runway to do so. The new wheels/axles really roll smooth. I increased the flaperons and elevators throws just a bit, and the next flight the plane leapt off the ground! It immediately started to nose-down a bit but that was due to the flaperons. The next two flights I was prepared for the dip of the nose and all I did was hold a little more up-elevator until the jet got on-step. The final takeoff was the smoothest of the day, with a quick retraction of the flaperons and pulling the gear up.

I'm very happy, guess I'm keeping the jet after all. I can post my elevator and flaperon numbers if anyone wants them.

Well guys I thought I woild post these two posts here. They are in the other thread but since this is a build/mod & tips thread.

10-19-10

OK guys. I hooked up a AR7000 & a couple 3s batteries. Here's what I found.

1: All the LED's work fine. They do seem to be as brite as the B-25 but yes they are different than the B-25 Led's. I'll have to judge them togeter sometime.

2: I realize now that both horizontal TV control rods are bent & are suposed to be. The nozzles are a very tiny bit loose but not bad. About the same as my SU-34. However the control horn was NOT centered when the servo was plugged in. I had to pull the cover off to center it. It was real off. Way too much to just use the sub trim to center it.

One Aileron control was way off & not certerd. However I don't know if it's just the horn or the clevice. I did crew the clevice way down for now.

3: Wings, & fins line up nice & tight.

4: Here's the sad part. left main retract works interminttently.
It some times sticks in the retracted position & sometimes in the down position. If stuck in the retracted position, the motor will wine VERY load. To unstick it it has to be helped by pulling it when hitting the switch.

I pulled it out and it works more often but it did stick a couple of times. I kinda think the overload circuit is way to senstive on it & that's causing the sticking. I did trim the cover just a tad because the the strut was contacting it when it went down. Didn't help. I'll call HL to get a replacement.

4: The fan seems pretty balanced. I don't think I'll pull it for now unless I get some extra time.

Now I just have to glue all together.

OH! Does anyone have the exact DX8 programming yet? I set it up as the intructs say for the DX7 but nothing works the way it's suposed to. I might just copy the SU-34 progamming off my DX7 & see if that works.

10-22-10

I gave up trying to program the DX8. I just programed my DX7 exactly just like my SU-34. A couple channels might be reversed compared to the 34 but It works exlactly the same. The D/R rudder switch turns TV on & the 3 position Flaps/flight mode switch turns on TV. 0 does nothing, 1 turns on vertical only & 2 turns on aileron TV. The SU-34 DX7 proraming is not at all what the F-18 manual says for the DX7.

I got the two extra landing lights installed & I also pulled that one flakey retract & took it apart. Tightened the nut on the worm screw a bit & put it all back togetheer. It's still a bit noisey but it does not hang up or stay put when the gear switch is activated. It goes up & down every time now with no whining when it stops. I guess I'll leave it in now & see how long it lasts & keeps working. The first sign of trouble though HL gets a call. I have a set of E-Flite ele. retracts I can put in now too till HL sends out a new one if it comes to that.


I'm stuck not flying. Can't find any batteries locally. Hobby King sent me the wrong batteries. They sent me two tiny 3s 2200mah 20c's insted of the 2 6s 4000mah 30c batteries I ordered. Stupid people!!!! Not even an invoice with them. Tried calling the US warehouse all day & no answer.

In case anyone is interested on stock power system I am getting just a bit over 1400 watts at 64 amps using 2x Turnigy 3s 3600 30c lipos with just a couple cycles on them.


I have also found that the programming for DX7 described in the manual is not entirely correct. The manual states to reverse channels 2 & 3 and that ALL other channels should be in the "normal" position........ I discovered that I also had to reverse channel 7 to get the aileron vectoring to work right and reverse channel 4 to get the steering and rudder vectoring right. This set-up per manual only seems to allow the elevator vectoring to be turned on/off with the mix switch. The aileron and rudder vectoring is always on...... not sure if I like this, I might want to be able to turn all vectoring off.

Anyone come up with a good starting point for the elevator neutral position? This would also be very helpful to put in the manual

Originally Posted by huggett

Anyone come up with a good starting point for the elevator neutral position? This would also be very helpful to put in the manual

I don't know what the actual neutral position is, but I can take a pic of neutral on mine and post it if you like.