From the Field -- E-Flite F-4 Phantom II 80mm EDF Flight Review (The RC Geek)

[@michiganengineer8621]

Great looking Phantom, the only thing "missing" is the smoke trail when you go beyond half throttle!

[@Thercgeek]

Right?! Crazy how much those j79s smoked. Like chimneys!

[@michiganengineer8621]

@@Thercgeek We loved using F-4s for flight testing onboard CV-60. With the automatic landing system, as SOON as the computer told the plane to throttle down, it dropped, throttle up and up went the bird. An excellent calibration tool, as long as the "meat" pilot trusted the computer system!

[@Thercgeek]

Awesome!

[@BobK-NH]

Thanks Chris for all the setup details. I enjoy watching you fly, very smooth and in control. The F4 is a beautiful fighter

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you! I have cg info as well as my Dx file my written article also.

[@TheMrskydog]

@@Thercgeek nice flying. Where's that flying field at, and what's the name of it ?

[@avipatable]

Beautiful flying. Your scale turns and aeros give it much more presence than most people when they fly a foamie. Very nice. Great landing. I have started giving a bit of a blip of throttle just before touchdown with my little Durafly Spit and it makes the world of difference. So satisfying pulling off a greaser!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! Agreed, those greasers are so satisfying! Gotta take them when you can. 😉

[@OUTLAW-2024]

My uncle flew the phantom in combat over north Vietnam.. he would love this.

[@Thercgeek]

cool! Please thank him for his service for me. My dad is also a Vietnam Vet as well. He flew Huey gunships.

[@OUTLAW-2024]

@@Thercgeek Thanks, and thanks to your dad as well for his amazing service..love those hueys.. Great videos RC ..

[@elishaarturo3662]

@Jericho Carl Yup, been watching on flixzone} for months myself =)

[@simongage6752]

@Jericho Carl yea, I've been watching on flixzone} for since november myself =)

[@robertsikiyan1593]

I just maiden my F4 and what a fantastic flying airplane. Definitely one of my favorites!

[@Thercgeek]

Nice, congrats!!

[@raminkt4466]

It was an excellent flight with an excellent plane. Thanks Chris.

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you!

[@JeffsCustomRC]

Great flight Chris, this is a nice jet, thanks for another great review 🔥

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks man! I'm switching up the format a bit to be able to get videos out quicker. Hoping you guys will like it! Though, I missed a few talking points in this one. :-\

[@SuperMagnum2011]

Chris, love your reviews . 🏁🏁🏁 many , many , thanks.My phantom arrives on 28th November. Looked at your reviews before purchasing.

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you for your kind feedback! Enjoy the phantom, it’s phantastic! 😉

[@warbuzzard7167]

An awesome flight, and some dope-a** rhymes, yo. Nice play!

[@Thercgeek]

haha, thanks! I know what you're thinking, I missed my calling as a freestyle rapper...

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Nicely done!!!

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you!

[@bmoorear]

That is one of the best EDF foam jets I have seen, in the air as well.

[@Thercgeek]

Yeah, this one is really well done. The assembly is simple and it flies wonderfully!

[@bmoorear]

@@Thercgeek I would seriously be all over one of these if my field did not have a no fly zone restriction just east of the field. It makes EDF...... even small ones tough to work with. I need a new plane though, still rocking my Eflite Splendor and Parkzone Artizan. I am thinking the Eflite or FMS Trojan. Something scale with good aerobatics that does not eat up airspace quickly.

[@Thercgeek]

Yeah, that's pretty tough. You need something that'll go straight up from takeoff. The F-16 will do that. ;)

[@victorbeauchamp4168]

Great video, does the Phantom come standard with those engine exhaust fire lights? I don't see those listed in the specs and thinking maybe you upgraded? Looks great either way 👍

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you! The CenterBurner simulated afterburner lights are a product that I sell. They are available at thercgeek.com/centerburner

[@humbertomontalban3932]

Are you putting audio effect,?

[@Thercgeek]

I’ve not added anything and don’t plan to. The flying site is on a military base and there were f18s landing behind us which is why you hear some of the jet noise.

[@ddfwaj]

@@Thercgeek Very cool, what field is that?

[@humbertomontalban3932]

how you compare this one with freewing F-4?

[@Thercgeek]

Both the freewing and eflite fly very similarly and exhibit the same characteristics and very similar performance. The freewing is bigger and so flies as such in comparison.

[@toby1444]

Hi Chris , awesome channel, great reviews and content. Thank you! I Love my F4 Phantom 2 but at my club we fly from a grass runway only. I keep damaging the front retract. Would a larger diameter set of front wheels improve ground clearance? What would you recommend?

[@Thercgeek]

Larger tires all around should help the grass operations. Larger tires will help roll over any bumps/ruts better.

[@EDF_FANatic]

Toby how did you go with upgrading the wheels ?

[@CNSFX]

Flight pack info? Flight times? Temps? Looks good, pretty visible in that scheme, nice job!

[@Thercgeek]

That's all in the article portion of this: wp.me/p5LuFX-1LF I didn't have my talking points list handy and so I missed some of the details in the vid that I needed to cover, but it's all in the article in full detail. On the batteries, I'm using roaring top 5800s and and about 4+ minutes of very sporty flying with it.

[@DadsRCHangar]

Great flight, love this plane. On my must get list 👍🏻

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! It’s a really great flyer.

[@leedavidsonshangar9908]

After a month now what you think you of it ? Any problems come up with it ? The landing gear still work good ? Thinking about getting one .

[@Thercgeek]

The airplane has flown great from day one and just locks in every flight. The mains are pretty stiff which has been ok flying off pavement. But yeah, no complaints with the airplane otherwise.

[@leedavidsonshangar9908]

Sweet thanks you the man !!!

[@EDF_FANatic]

Rc geek which is your favorite eflite edf so far and why ? : )

[@Thercgeek]

I really like the f-18 actually. Mostly because it looks so scale maneuvering in the air. I just got the su30, so I’m excited to fly that one! 😊

[@Sabotage_Labs]

Hey Chris Aka Geek 😋 I'm torn between this F4 or the SU-30 as my next purchase. I currently have the F16 and A10 from Eflite. So, if you had to choose...which one do you prefer to fly? I already have the 6s 4000 batteries for the F16 and A10. Suspect the F4 should do fine on 4000s. The SU-30 does look substantial bigger and hauling planes in a Malibu...yea, can squeeze the F16 and A10 with wings off and the Spitfire in there now. Not sure if I had the SU-30 too. Eh...either way, which do you like flying the most? 😁

[@Thercgeek]

Well, I have not flown the su30 yet, but I have one on the way. I’ve heard that it’s a pretty fantastic flyer, so I’m looking forward to trying it out! Being a twin, it really needs a good capacity battery to get a decent flight time though. That said, the f4 is a fantastic jet that flys great. For a given battery capacity, I think you’d probably get better flight times from the f4 vs the su.

[@Sabotage_Labs]

@@Thercgeek hmmm... figured you had the SU already. Looking forward to your video on it. Yea...twins can chew up the battery. The A10 is pretty good. I can get 5-6 min flight time but they are 64mm and I'm not a throttle hog. 😁 Gonna wait a couple few months anyway. In Phoenix and flying season... over until like late Sept early Oct. Too damn hot. Thanks man!

[@Thercgeek]

That little A-10 is an amazing airplane and the flight times are killer! Once the SU arrives, I’ll be doing a review. Will probably post sometime in august.

[@jeremytarbuck5221]

Chris you think could be a first edf for someone. I know they say the viper is

[@Thercgeek]

If your comfortable with high performance airplanes, then yeah I don’t think it would be an issue as a first edf. It’s a super forgiving airplane. It does have safe if you need it too.

[@jeremytarbuck5221]

@@Thercgeek thanks Chris...keep seeing being flown by purple who say it's there first, so may give it a try!

[@tomasjay1005]

Be nice to know where you are at . What RC park is this ?

[@Thercgeek]

This field is on grounds of MCAS miramar in San Diego. miramarrcflyers.com

[@tomasjay1005]

Thank you ! TJ.

[@cobrat7712]

that thing looks rock steady or is it just the pilot? hmmmmm. So how does it compare to JHH F4? size, weight flyability? really curious

[@Thercgeek]

This one is quite a bit smaller and lighter than the JHH. It's hard to beat the smoothness of flying a composite airframe, but the flight characteristics are pretty similar I would say, but with a much lower wing loading in this case. Same as the Freewing too.

[@ret737]

I put the F-16 power system in mine and WOO HOO!!

[@Thercgeek]

Ooooh, nice!

[@ret737]

@@Thercgeek It's night and day Chris. I've been upgrading most of my edf jets with systems from Xfly, FMS, and Freewing and turned hum drum planes into fun machines. I'll be flying the F4 tomorrow at my field and I'll do a video. Checkout my KZbin channel Perry F. I'm new to the KZbin thing so my videos are a bit lackluster but hopefully fun and educational.

[@ret737]

@@Thercgeek kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWq2p5h-d6qkqtU

[@synaptik111]

Nice flying! What field is that you're flying at? It looks really nice

[@Thercgeek]

It's the miramar RC Flyers site. miramarrcflyers.com

[@synaptik111]

Thanks @@Thercgeek I'll have to check it out next time I'm in San Diego

[@octane2099]

Who make that F-18 freewing? 😝

[@Thercgeek]

The most scale freewing ever! 😂

[@scottyd035ntknow]

Maidened mine today. Factory CG was way too far forward. Needed a ton of up elevator compensation. After that was fixed she was great. Super easy to fly and a gorgeous airplane.

[@Thercgeek]

Nice!

[@scottyd035ntknow]

More flights today. 5000mah Roaring Top battery all the way back in the compartment, just a little up elevator trim and aileron trim and she was good. This thing is FAST... probably will be the fastest plane I own until I get a Mirage or F5...

[@Thercgeek]

Awesome!!

[@stale7001]

so many thanks. awesome.

[@michaelbrinkley9323]

Very nice !

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks!

[@victorrcjets7660]

Oh your cameraman did not drop that danger zone line, perfect use of throttle on your landing definitely nicely done! But of course excellent flying as usual! Now get that freewing F-4 out?

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! I'll get my review done of the Freewing soon hopefully. That one has been a very long time coming, haha!

[@facundoschachtner7087]

perfect landing.

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks!

[@shelbyseelbach9568]

Very nice.

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks!

[@Uts9000]

nice....no drag chute

[@Thercgeek]

Nah, too much weight in the wrong place on an airplane this size.

[@jameswright5572]

Does this come with an AS3X receiver? Put one in my Sea Vixen and it is like a trainer now.

[@Thercgeek]

Yes, the bind n fly comes with an as3x receiver pre-installed.

[@FalconWing1813]

Man I hate they discontinued this one, wish they still had it.

[@Thercgeek]

Oh wow, they did? I didn’t even know! 😕. Great flying jet.

[@cobrat7712]

that aint a rap but a wrap up.....lol

[@Thercgeek]

Are you saying you didn’t like my freestyle?? 😂

[@hechtspeed]

#superdork :p nice flight :)

[@Thercgeek]

Yup, haha!

[@vintageguitarz1]

I'd buy this E-Flite F-4 ARF if it wasn't "NAVY", that ruins it completely! Should be USAF (they had them BEFORE the Navy and Marines got theirs!

[@Thercgeek]

I hear you, the F-4 does look great in SEA camo. You could always repaint it, it would look awesome! So, the Navy were actually the first operators of the F-4 (it was originally a Navy contract). They had F-4A's (F4H-1Fs) in 1960 and then F-4Bs in 1961. The Air Force got their F-4s in the mid 60s after requesting a few mods to the F-4B which resulted in the F-4C/D. One of those was that the AF wanted low pressure main tires which were wider and required the wing root fairings (F-4B had thinner high pressure tires and no root fairings). The AF's C/D model actually influenced the Navy's F-4J as it carries those same features.

[@Mmyers1177]

Worked on an F-4G Phantom II in the Military, what a Piece of 💩

[@Thercgeek]

haha, still awesome though! :)

[@Mmyers1177]

@The RC Geek- Your flight skills are pretty Awesome! Nice job with your channel! Subscriber for life!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks so much man!!

[@queenjane7054]

BAD. ASS

[@andyaim4764]

£500?????

[@Thercgeek]

It's $450 USD here in the states for the bind n fly version.

[@andyaim4764]

Don’t worry UK always gets ripped off. iPhone is the same in dollars n pounds..how????

[@Thercgeek]

Yeah, I dunno. 😕

[@andyaim4764]

In my dads time there were 4 dollars to the pound!!

[@aeromustang4054]

Great plane...but you can't buy one anymore

[@Thercgeek]

Yeah, she was a good one indeed

[@EDF_FANatic]

How does this compare to the viper or f16 ?

[@Thercgeek]

This one is a little bigger and has a little better overall performance. It’s faster and performs larger verticals, etc. it’s a great flying jet!