XF-18 Super Hornet - Twin 70mm EDF Jet - Build Pics & Plans

[Chuppster]

I am building Ben's original F18 from the first page that didn't crash. would you guys recommend it with ailerons and elevators, or elevons, and which one would fly smoother? I don't really want to take any chances because I have been working on this for a while and this is my first big project.

I built mine with ailerons and very much enjoyed the additional control authority. Very much worth the 2 9-gram servos in my opinion.

 

[cri5py]

Ok so update on the landing gear version I've been working on for practically forever, from building and rebuilding. Ive built two of the hand launch version and I wanted to build the retracts version so here it is.

This was the first one it, probably the greatest thing I've ever made lol. It has Powerfun 6s 70mm edfs, flitetest 80 amp esc's, 6s 5000mah lipo, 15amp ubec powered by a small 3 cell, led strips in the ducts, and the Freewing F/A-18C retracts. It also has a 3d printed nose and canopy from jetworks.

Total weight was right at 7 pounds which was very surprising.

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Here is a picture of it without the 3d printed nose and canopy
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I designed all of the decals in google docs lol, but they surprisingly came out pretty good. l used clear and matte white sticker paper and simply printed them out and stuck them on there.

If your interested, here is the google slides with everything on them. They aren't completely accurate they're just what I wanted on there.
VFA-103 75th Anniversary Decals

So unfortunately on the maiden it climbed about 10 feet then nosed almost strait down, even with footage of it I could never figure out why it nosed down, edfs were fine and cg was spot on based on previous ones id built without retracts so idk. The wing and everything behind the intakes was salvageable. I rebuilt it in a couple days and when was going to put the retracts up to put it in the car to go fly it, none of them worked. I had probably tested them 20 times before them maiden and 20 times after it crashed so I have no idea what happened to them. I tried pretty much everything, new wires, different ubec battery, different receiver and tx, but they were just dead. I don't understand how they could have all died at the same time, but oh well.

So now the rebuilt one is finished and I'll have to get around to ordering new motors for the retracts. Also I fixed the slight droop in the nose of the first one bc that annoyed me.

Thanks @Mid7night for the great deigns I have really enjoyed making these!

It might be a little bit bc ill be going back to school, but I will update later.
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Very nice build!

Especially the nose cone... Did you design it yourself? Looks a lot cleaner than the "poly" shape from the foam cut-out.

 

[Matthew Knotts]

Very nice build!

Especially the nose cone... Did you design it yourself? Looks a lot cleaner than the "poly" shape from the foam cut-out.

Thanks, no the nose cone is from a site called Jetworks, I'll post a link. You'll have to pay something super cheap for it, but it seemed worth it to me. I just scaled it to the width and height of where I cut the nose off. Sorry for the late response, its been a while since I've been here.

https://jetworks.online/product/f-a-18e-f-super-hornet-nosecone-stl/

 

[Guy S.]

Are counter rotating EDF's necessary? or would same rotation fans work ok?

 

[Mid7night]

Are counter rotating EDF's necessary? or would same rotation fans work ok?

Counter rotating EDFs are NOT necessary. 😎👍

 

[L Edge]

Counter rotating EDFs are NOT necessary. 😎👍

Actually it helps. Where it shows up is in your sharp 85+ degree turns, you will notice the right and left turns are not the same. Put a set of cw/ccw and it improves the symmetry of the turns. Especially when you do left and right rolls. Found this out when I was exploring knife edges with tv nozzles.

 

[Goose 51]

Hey guys, Does anyone know how to get the all moving stabilators to stay attached to the airframe? Right now I have elevons where some of the horizontal stabilizer is anchored to the airframe but I want to go back to the all moving ones because they are sooooooo COOL!!!! Before when I tried it, the elevators were really easy to pull out. I mean they would stop eventually with the tension of the servo arm, but not after 1-2 inches. how can I get them to sit tightly to the airframe. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -Goose 51

 

[Goose 51]

Also How do I make the nose look good and have a clean curve? The tip of mine is all dented and misformed and I cant make a good one.

 

[Goose 51]

Anyone Have any answers for me yet? Sorry For the persistence I just want to get my questions out there...

 

[Mid7night]

Hey guys, Does anyone know how to get the all moving stabilators to stay attached to the airframe? Right now I have elevons where some of the horizontal stabilizer is anchored to the airframe but I want to go back to the all moving ones because they are sooooooo COOL!!!! Before when I tried it, the elevators were really easy to pull out. I mean they would stop eventually with the tension of the servo arm, but not after 1-2 inches. how can I get them to sit tightly to the airframe. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -Goose 51

You might try a stiffer pushrod wire, and pre-bending it inward so it "wants" to pull the stabilator inwards and hold onto it.

 

[Goose 51]

Ok I will try that. Thank you so much for the tip. I will let you know how it goes.