EDF Jets...

I'm in need of a new toy that hauls balls and is cheap, good ole' fun. Cue: EDF jets.

However I can't decide between two 64mm EDF's... the Exceed F-35 or the G&C F-16.

Anyone have experience with either? I know the Exceed will have slightly better overall quality (linkages, foam molding, etc), but I've been told the G&C has better flight characteristics (and I'm not concerned about the fact is has no LG).

Perhaps this will help:

http://www.rcpowers.com/rc-rtfadvanced.htm



Also Dave Powers has some vids of the F-18 with a bunch of mods he has done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZzmfoS3TH4



f-35:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AntFdtFN3Hw

I like them both!

Do you have experience with EDF jets? I have had one and it was fun as hell!!!
It liked to puff batterys though. Cant go cheap on the electrics those motors
are hungry.....

I ended up putting the biggest outrunner (stick mount) I could find and pput
a pusher prop on it. Still hits in the 80~90mp with the wind......
But I like the torque of the prop better makes it a little bit more fun for me..

G&C F-16 showed up the other day.

Haven't had a chance to fly it yet because I'm still waiting for the crappy supplied glue to dry... Next time hot glue or elmers only.

Will post pics later.

would def like to hear how you make out with this, I was thinking of getting the same one.

Tomorrow will be the first flight... assuming it's not raining here. I figured the glue is about as dry as it is going to get.

Just a couple things about the build so far...

-The supplied glue is complete bullshit - to be blunt. I don't know if it's the humidity or what, but it just becomes a really stiff gel when it dries. It won't harden up, and it starts to oxidize and get bubbles all in it while drying. The first problem I had was when I was sticking on the rear stab: you need to use A LOT of glue. The next day when I came back to it after everything should've dried, I practically was able to peel the rear stab off with little force. I went back over everything and added as much glue as I could (without pulling the main wings off for fear of breaking something). Hence all the goop everywhere along the seams. Even with me sanding off all the paint before gluing things together, the glue just doesn't cut it.

-The foam molding is really nice. Everything fit together beautifully and didn't need much help with lining up everything for assembly. The scale details are also really nice. The electronics are thoughtfully ran along the interior of the fuselage. The only issue I had was the canopy that comes glued already wasn't lined up properly and required trimming.

-All the elevator and aileron linkages are easy to adjust and assemble. No issue with them as of yet... but that may change after a few lands with no LG's.

-You get two access panels to everything... the canopy comes apart to get to the Rx and Battery, and the underbelly comes apart to get access to the ESC and EDF. Both are held in with some earth magnets.

-The electronics aren't terrible, but they're not the best. NitroPlanes claims the Tx is a Futaba, but it looks and feels just like some generic Chinese mass produced brand. The chinchy OEM ESky & Exceed Tx's are better quality. The reciever, servos, ESC, and EDF don't have any branding on them. The "Famous" 11.1 20c LiPo battery doesn't come with an adequate balancer. The supplied balancer is only capable of putting out around 800ma.

-The two weakest parts of the plane look to be the nose cone (some paper thin plastic), and the wingtips (they just glue right onto the main wing, with not much support).


Looks fast, doesn't it?



No good way of routing the antenna.



Canopy looks like crap in this picture, but I trimmed it up so it looks proper.



Nice view of the control surface links.... really amazes me how similar it looks to a real (Aves) Falcon from under.



LiPo comes with a nice velcro strap. For best C.G., the instructions say mount it all the way forward. The Rx on the other hand, didn't have anything to hold it in place. It was flapping around until I used some double sided tape.



With the access panel removed, you can see the EDF; it doesn't appear to be held in place by more than just simply glue on one side, which scares the out of me. The ESC is nice and tucked away, however. The ESC is not held down by anything in particular except the plastic cover, which seems to work just fine.



"Famous" - It's as scary as it looks.

Hey,
This is a little late it seems but for the future use a 2 part 30 min. epoxy. Also clear packing
tape works extremely well for stiffening joints and holding these jets together. I have
had my jet in the air for 2 years. It is a blast to fly enjoy it!

Yea that stuff is bad very bad no good, I use low temp electric glue, works the best for me.
I have three of the EDF's they are fun big time. I'am almost ready to maiden my GWS 262 soon
will try and get Video and post here. have the GWS15 on the table also been flyin the HC Hobbys
F/A 18 from NP it flys real well.

sdjb

suriano wrote:

Hey,
This is a little late it seems but for the future use a 2 part 30 min. epoxy. Also clear packing
tape works extremely well for stiffening joints and holding these jets together. I have
had my jet in the air for 2 years. It is a blast to fly enjoy it!

Yeah, the nose of my jet is drying with some glue as I speak.... forgot how to land softly with no landing gears.

You're right. Packing tape is great for foam; really stiffens things up. Probably wouldn't use it for major repair on this jet, due to the thicker foam pieces. Save it for park flyers.

sdjb wrote:

Yea that stuff is bad very bad no good, I use low temp electric glue, works the best for me.
I have three of the EDF's they are fun big time. I'am almost ready to maiden my GWS 262 soon
will try and get Video and post here. have the GWS15 on the table also been flyin the HC Hobbys
F/A 18 from NP it flys real well.

sdjb

I had heard that supposively there was some new improved glue, but I guess I should've expected what I got. The glue has hardened up significantly from what it was before, so all is better.

How's the HC F-18 fly? I almost bought one, then they went out of stock. Then I was going to buy the Exceed F-18, and they went out of stock.


----

So I 'took' the Falcon up in the air today...

I am really impressed with the way it handles. I made a few passes at around 1/2 throttle and it only had turbine stall a few times. It has enough power and is stable enough to pull out of it without a problem.

The ailerons come mounted in the least sensitive position, which I think is ideal for making really docile flight characteristics. It didn't have much abnormal pitch/roll at all flying straight. The elevators however, are a different story. They are too sensitive. I had to adjust the links to limit the servo throw, but they're still very twitchy. And for whatever reason, the manufacturer decided to give you a lot more down elevator then up, so no matter how you adjust it, you've got plenty more down then necessary.

The measley 1300mah LiPo probably will be replaced soon... the motor is really hungry and will suck it dead in just a few minutes. In thinking it'd be more suitable to at least try the supplied Tx, I have to say I didn't have any range or glitch issues that I expected with the 'Famous' Tx/Rx, but I'll probably be dumping it.

No rudder made for some fun turns into the wind, but it wouldn't be that hard to add one if you so desired... trip to the LHS for servo link and hinges, exacto the stab to cutout your rudder, mount servo (here in lies the problem with trying to find a place to put it), plug and play into Rx. I was flying in probably gusts up to 10MPH today and it did alright without the rudder, so I'm not concerned with it.

I only went inverted once, and it felt stable. I'll do more aerobatics as I get more comfortable and polish off some rust.


Overall I'd probably give G&C a 8.5/10 on the F-16 EDF (largely to what you get for the price point). Landing gears would've been sweet for takeover and landing on pavement, and a rudder would've made it a lot more aerobatic. Having said that, I haven't flown other EDF jets, granted there's a huge selection from NitroPlanes, but it's a capable unit that's pretty tough. The electronics are expected from a Chinese manufacturer (Exceed is probably the only RTF EDF Jet kit you'll get slightly better electronics, but you'll pay $50 more), so there's not too much I can find fault in a $130 RTF jet.

Planning on going flying again tomorrow, so I'll have to get some video.

Ryan S here check this out a short flite of my F/A18

sdjb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHGC-iIujDs

Love it. That thing looks super stable at speed and in a gradual turn.

Already thinking about my next EDF.

Yea its a nice flyin jet I did upgrade with Alpha400 4200kv motor from NP they real
cheap at Hobbypartz and it is real easy to replace the motor. He He I tried it on a
gws motor on 4s but it blew the fan apart just before take off lucky for me.

sdjb

Hey Ryan S, Have ya tried the live chat thing yet? it works real well adn easy to talk about this kind of stuff. ya shuold sign up and let me know so we can chat about the EDFs and some setups.

sdjb

Quicky vid of phase 3 fantom EDF converted to pusher.......



I will get better video soon...

suriano, Very nice Bro looks good.

sdjb

Video... https://myrcguidesforum.forumotion.net/rc-videos-f23/flying-the-gc-f-16-64mm-edf-t1007.htm#7231