Refinish A Foam Jet Ep 5 -- Freewing F-14 Custom Programming & Flights

At last, here is my finale episode in me Freewing F-14 refinish series. It took much longer to get here than I had hoped, but she is done at last! In this video we talk through some of the final touches added to the airframe, talk through the custom programming in detail and then finish it up with flying the airplane. I really enjoy having a tomcat in the hangar again and in the new refinished look, it really presents much like the full size in flight. #FlirCat #F14Tomcat #KitBashing
Please note, the setup information provided in this video is for informational purposes only. The airplane flies quite well stock, but for me, I was looking to mimic something more scale.
Ep 1 ► • Refinish A Foam Jet Ep...
Ep 2 ► • Refinish A Foam Jet Ep...
Ep 3 ► • Refinish A Foam Jet Ep...
Ep 4 ► • Refinish A Foam Jet Ep...
First Flights ► • Flight of the Flir Cat...
AR10360T 10-Channel Receiver ► bit.ly/SptmAR1...
Spektrum Satellite Receivers ► bit.ly/SptmSPM...
6s 6250mah Battery ► bit.ly/RT6s6250
Spektrum NX Radio ► bit.ly/SpktmTx
Twin Centerburner ► thercgeek.com/...
That Airshow Pass 00:00
Intro 0:15
Final Mods 1:25
Custom Programming 3:32
Flying the Flir Cat 9:02
Flight 12:04
Final Thoughts 14:50
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[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Amazing work! Love this plane, and love how you make it look! Thanks so much for sharing this process Chris!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks so much man!

[@will3kgt]

Mine makes me happy too Chris. 🙂

[@johnw5734]

Very cool mixing functions. I know what you mean about roll sensitivity when wing is full swept back. I have a sweep-able Depron park jet F-14 without that compensation and with full sweep the roll rate is crazy.

[@davidsnyder238]

Im glad to see you do the walkthrough on programming and showing what to do. I agree with you on the power system as I have flown both and the inrunnner does have more punch. As always beautiful flying my friend!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks David!

[@JeffsCustomRC]

Excellent work as always Chris!!! Live the paint and scheme, looks super realistic, thanks for all the great information 👊🏼👊🏼

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks man!

[@jasonryhal2278]

Chris no one compares to your scale of detail man. I've seen a few good ones on rcgroups but nothing like yours, awesome work dude thanks!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks so much!

[@Fleetwoodjohn]

Totally awesome! The backdrop adds to the realism too. Nice scale flying.

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you! 😊

[@scotabot7826]

Beautiful as Always Chris. Those twin motors sound fantastic!! Very inspirational buddy!

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you!

[@rodgerhecht3623]

Man it looks so real, and you really have that dialed in now. Thanks for sharing your talents with us.

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks Rodger!

[@goneballistic]

Dude this looks soooo freaking good

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you!

[@robsrc2018]

Great video!!!! Plane looks fantastic!!!! Thank you Chris for doing the setup with the actual radio, it really helped to figuring out the mixes when the wings swept back, your videos are awesome, keep up the great work, thank you Robert

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you! So glad the setup info is helpful. I’ve had a number of questions about that.

[@CNSFX]

The AB effect is the best looking compared to the rings. Cool jet, love The Cat!

[@timothygiggey1610]

Nice Transmitter I picked up 1 up 2 and sent my iX12 to CA Nice work also

[@Thercgeek]

Nice 👍

[@janne-pekkahuuhtanen4691]

Just Maverick and Goose are missing. Great Job Again Chris! Greetings from snowy and icy Finland.

[@davidpoling7748]

Awesome Job! Always fun to see these series progress. I try to watch as much as I can - pulled some of your techniques while rebuilding an fms p39 I crashed awhile back

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks man! I’m so glad these are helpful. Lots more of build type content planned for this year. 😊

[@jetjacko]

Chris, you build some fantastic looking aircraft, but your Flir Cat is just spectacular. I was waiting for a Freewing F-14 Mk2 to appear, you've just made it very difficult to resist clicking on the current F-14. Well done.

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you so much!

[@yellowbird911]

Great video. Since different guys may use different radios it would be helpful to have the control throw measurements. Also I tend to use the inner most position of the servo arm to achieve the throw I need to get as much mechanical advantage as I can so a particular rate may not be the same travel for me. Thanks and enjoyed the video.

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! I actually provided the deflections in one of my older videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5bQd4yvhtZpgbs this is setup the same.

[@espinela]

Fantastic video and content, thanks!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks!

[@halroofner4069]

You did a phenomenal job on the 14 Chris.

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks man, I appreciate that

[@jonoedwards4195]

What a Beauty! Great work and show. Thanks TRCG,

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks man!

[@EDFBHOOR]

absolutly amazing workmanship !!!!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks so much!

[@volksyes9477]

Pylons really made the plane looked cooler plus hid the wheels very well

[@mnaef]

Ah... that's very top gun B) Especially the dusk parts :D And now for the Skyray! ;)

[@Thercgeek]

Haha, yes! 😊

[@seanmolloy9422]

you just keep getting better. looks amazing!!!

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks man!

[@pdr6900]

Nice flying but the camera guy is the best! 😉

[@Thercgeek]

Haha, yeah he is!! 🤣. Couldn’t do it without him. 😊

[@marclaren6193]

Need one so bad !! 😎🤩👌

[@Bengraziano]

Looks so good. I’d love to see this done to the Freewing 90mm F-22

[@Bengraziano]

Hey Chris. I was wondering if you could elaborate a little more on that minwax polycrilic stuff? Is this supposed to seal up the foam on the airframe and protect it from “hangar rash”. I try my best to baby my airplanes but those small dings and dents are inevitable. I can’t imagine putting all this work into a plane like this and having it get any kind of imperfection in the foam. I’d love to do something like this to my 90mm F-22 but I’d be so afraid of damaging it.

[@Thercgeek]

The poly seals the airframe and filler in preparation for primer and paint. It does stiffen and harden the surface a bit, but that’s not the primary purpose for applying it.

[@Bengraziano]

@@Thercgeek gotcha. I would love to have some kind of coating that I could cover my nicer models in. I love my Eflite Draco and Freewing jets. Too bad they won’t stay pristine forever.

[@Thercgeek]

Yeah, that’s a tough one. There’s really nothing out there that will do that because ultimately the protection is only as good as the material underneath it. Only option I could think of that would do that is to have a legit plastic coating over the entire thing, but that would have to be done in the manufacturing process.

[@garrygilbert4635]

That is a sweet paint job!

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you! 😊

[@SanDiegoUteFan]

Pretty work, Chris.

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks Scott!

[@michaellipousky9143]

Fantastic! I love your videos! You are a real likable guy. Next time you harden a part, quench it in oil not water. 👍🍻

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you! I’ll keep the oil in mind for next time. Someone else mentioned that too. Good to know!

[@memcrew1]

Will any oil do?

[@michaellipousky9143]

@@memcrew1 I don’t remember but I think in shop class we used to just use 10/30. I don’t think synthetic oil would be a good choice. I’m sure you could find a lot of debate on that.

[@memcrew1]

@@michaellipousky9143 ok, cool.

[@artconn2538]

a little late to the party here but I've never seen such work by your peers here on YT. Good work Chris!

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you so much!

[@halroofner4069]

It is better to quench steel in oil for improved hardness, but do it outside in the open in a metal container. It may flame up.

[@Thercgeek]

Makes sense

[@halroofner4069]

@@Thercgeek Being in metalworking for many years it does work good. Sometimes you can over harden a part and make it brittle , but in your use and the weight of the plane it should be good.

[@memcrew1]

@@halroofner4069 what oil do you recommend?

[@dutchloveRC]

amazing work

[@Thercgeek]

Thank you!

[@MayMay-fe2ki]

This is the most beautiful F14 I have ever seen. It's so beautiful. May I have the Brand Names of white plastering material, soft sand paper model no., tool holding sand paper, sprayed paint colour model no please. If the front seat with 360 camera is liked controlling F14 jet flying, it's perfect !

[@Thercgeek]

I have links to all of that stuff in my blog posts here: www.thercgeek.com/blog I covered the whole process there in addition to the videos I put together.

[@dsmithwc04]

Try to get the aluminum hotter and dip in linseed oil or similar. Water can cause cracking in certain situations.

[@victorrcjets7660]

That's what a few things to say, 1st off I like your pylon idea. I was considering removing them, But I like your 3-D printed alternative. 2nd I like your update update of your receiver, As well as the programming. Currently I'm using the older programming, For the wing sweep to cancel out the ailerons and using tailerons only in mode 3. Mode 2 is tailerons with ailerons. Mode one is stock. Of course I like your receiver choice because because it has the AS3X. Lastly I think the T-45 nose strut is great too, I was wondering if the stock pin is the wrong size for that strut? Hopefully take my tomcat out again soon. I guess this weekend...

[@Thercgeek]

That’s man! The t45 strut is a drop in fit and matches the pin on the retracts. Only drawback is the soft metal used.

[@marclaren6193]

😎👌👏 I'd say the last details missing are some black exhausts when the (after burner?) jet lights go out, some short vaper trails imitating white fumes from the wing tips, as well as some accoustics faking super sonic booms at flybys 😁👌😉 . May i ask if the after burner LED-lights are stock ?

[@Thercgeek]

Yep, burners are in stock. 😊

[@stevenk3140]

Awesome job with the F-14 refinish. Could you show where you placed the 10 channel receiver , thank you

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! I covered that placement in the first vid of the series I believe, but I placed it in the area between the nacelles where the esc’s are.

[@stevenk3140]

Thank you Chris

[@bismarckgarza3705]

❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍 Nice thanks for your tips 💪 you have the same fan of factory?

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! I mention it early on in the series, it i put the 80mm A-10 fans in this one.

[@stevestonrcguy5393]

👍👍👍

[@mjg22]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@whitehawk5493]

Annealing aluminium, which is exactly what you did to the nosewheel ram, makes it SOFTER?!. If you want hard-ish aluminium, anodize..

[@New2Kendo]

Do you think a stiffer spring in the nose gear would help the bouncing and potential to flex or bend

[@Thercgeek]

Honestly, a stiffer spring would probably cause more bouncing on the nose than less. The issue is that it’s just soft material. The plunger shaft really needs to be a much harder aluminum.

[@christopherhoffman2560]

We need a automatic wing sweep controller, would require an airspeed indicator and a programmed raspberry pi

[@Thercgeek]

I hear you there, except that I don’t think automatic sweeping with speed is an ideal situation. Having manual control offers much more flexibility since there’s little difference in max speed with wings be a out to wings swept. That said, having proportional control would be nice. Currently it’s purely an on/off type setup with no option for a partial sweep position without sacrificing the full sweep position.

[@christopherhoffman2560]

@@Thercgeek didn’t know that, the real plane swept according to Mach number, but we don’t have to worry about that, you think it goes about 200mph?

[@memcrew1]

@@christopherhoffman2560 more like 100+ mph

[@RC-Take-off]

Wow great. What afterburner do you use? Do you have a loss of power due to the air resistance in the pipe?

[@Thercgeek]

This is my own centerburner design (thercgeek.com/centerburner). I’ve flown a lot of these and have not seen any loss in performance. 😊

[@SanDiegoUteFan]

Beautiful plane and flight, Chris. Which field is this?

[@Thercgeek]

Thanks! This was at the riverside field.

[@ChipMitchell]

😁😁😁😁😁

[@double_0_6ix26]

F14 and viper 90mm are my dream jets own one day. Great vid 😁. Sub +1

[@Thercgeek]

Those are good ones. 😁

[@CalebT_RC]

What receiver do you have in this tomcat? I’m just wondering ‘cause I bought my buddy’s old tomcat from him and am a bit new to it.

[@Thercgeek]

It’s in the video description with a link. It’s The AR10360T AS3X 10ch receiver. 😉

[@johnlnham2720]

Any chance you could share the file for the control set up you have on the f-14? I have the ix 14. Thanks in advance!

[@Thercgeek]

Shoot me an email through my contact form and I can email it to you. Thercgeek.com/contact

[@sebastianarenram4235]

Hi! Nice work! I´m going for the same mod on the front strut. Do I need the complete front gear set, or only the strut from the T-45?

[@Thercgeek]

You can do either but I think that the T-45 uses a larger wire. Otherwise, the retract is a drop in fit if I remember right.

[@whitehawk5493]

Heh.. don't "temper" the leg like the vid.. Aluminium goes soft when you anneal it, which is what he did. I'd get 316 SS tube in stead.

[@friendlyreptile9931]

You need a 7 channels radio and receiver right? I have a question that maybe sounds totaly stupid but maybe it isn't that stupid :D Is there a way to use a 6 channel radio + receiver if you put the landinggear and the flaps to the same channel while useing a y plug? So lets say you hit the switch and the gear comes down in the same speed like the flaps extend? I have a real fear that if i don't buy the F-14 soon, it will be discontinued some day. It's hard enough for me to get the money for the plane + batteries together and i just bought a dx6e a year ago, so there is no way for me to also buy a new radio soon :D

[@Thercgeek]

Because of the swing wing function, 7 channels is necessary to maintain independent control of everything. I suppose tying the retracts and flaps together would conceivably work. It’s certainly not ideal, but seems it might be a workaround so you could use the dx6e. I’m not sure how you could do it otherwise. Just ensure that you have the gear down for both a takeoff and landing flap setting. Don’t tie yourself into just one flap setting. Personally, i don’t really like how the model takes off with the flaps down. So, for the first takeoff, don’t program a bunch of takeoff flap in would be my recommendation.

[@alexgonzales1855]

What i havnt been able to figure out is how to disable the flaps when sweeping the wings. Is it a mix? I know its an old video. I have an nx 10 and the 10 channel rx.

[@alexgonzales1855]

Ok got it i saw a similar comment below saying that you didn’t really need it. Would be a nice safety feature. Ok thx. 😂

[@Thercgeek]

Not worth the effort because there’s no feasible way to get the flap shutoff to work logically. For example, you can get the switch to raise the flaps on wing sweep, but as soon as you extend the wings, the flaps will immediately go back to their commanded position and hang up the wings because there’s no way to delay the flap activation when flipping the switch that I found.

[@thomasfischetti5012]

Do you have a section on how to setup the flight modes?

[@Thercgeek]

Unfortunately I don’t specifically. I didn’t think to cover that in the video as a talking point. Its primarily a matter of assigning a flight mode switch within the flight mode setup (in the extended menu) and then setting independent trims in the trim setup menu for the desired items (aileron and elevator).

[@richardpena355]

Greetings Chris!! Thanks so much for all the wonderful info. With regards to the nose strut, would I require the nose strut assembly alone or the complete setup with the electric retract? Thanks!!

[@Thercgeek]

I’m so glad it’s helpful! Just the nose strut works. It’s a drop in fit to the existing retract.

[@richardpena355]

@@Thercgeek final question, the aluminum rod that you tempered with heat, might you know the dimensions of that rod? I’d like to try to obtain one in stainless steel. Thanks again Chris!!

[@Thercgeek]

I couldn’t tell you offhand. I’d have to pull it all apart to get proper dimensions since there’s the receiver for the wheel axle as a part of it.

[@aerospacematt9147]

I saw another guy carve out some of the foam and put 90 degree retracts to hide the wheels. Do you think it would be worth it?

[@Thercgeek]

I’ve seen a couple folks do that. For me on this project, it wasn’t worth the extra work.

[@jaysonfarmer157]

Chris, my apologies. I should have asked this from the beginning. Do you have the setup in file format for this or the basic setup that I can copy? Thanks, Jayson

[@Thercgeek]

I only have the full span flap program. I can supply the ix20 file if that’s what you’re looking for. Otherwise, the stock setup isn’t too difficult to setup.

[@jaysonfarmer157]

@@Thercgeek Yes, could you provide that file? I want to set my plane up to disable the ailerons and flaps with the wings swept. Thanks.

[@Zek1701]

Thanks for putting this together as it really helps in programming. Perhaps I missed it but I didn't see the mix to turn off flaps when wings are swept. Is that something you programmed and if so could you provide direction on how this is accomplished please. Again awesome video...THANKS!

[@Thercgeek]

I talk about that. It’s done through the switch assignment for the aileron mix. Check from about 6:30.

[@Zek1701]

@@Thercgeek Maybe I'm still missing something but it appears at 6:30 you are turning off the aileron control on wing sweep. What would happen if you had the flaps down and you hit the wing sweep? How to force the flaps up upon wing sweep? Also, now that I watch the video several times - if you only allow ailerons to move up (and not the corresponding down on the other side) during roll won't that cause more of a barrel to occur?

[@Thercgeek]

Oh sorry, I was thinking ailerons. I haven’t turned off the flaps with wings sweep. I have flown these a bunch and not once have I accidentally hit the flaps/sweep in a way that caused an issue or binding in flight. Only on the ground by accident, haha! I setup the ailerons the way I did simply because it makes the airplane roll more like the real one in appearance. The tomcat doesn’t have a very axial roll in full scale based on the taileron/spoiler setup it uses.

[@Zek1701]

@@Thercgeek Using a mix(FLP->FLP) from a DX file on your web site I was able to get the flaps to return to no flap position when the wing sweep was switched on. But I didn't understand how it worked. Then after some additional programming it stopped working. I'll just be careful with the flaps. Over the coming months I'll put the AR10360T in her and tried to replicate your programming. Again thanks Chris!

[@danb7207]

So what are your top three planes to fly? 😊

[@Thercgeek]

I don’t know if I can narrow it down to just 3… 🤣

[@Jhill035]

What brand of main wheels did you use?

[@Thercgeek]

They are robart 2.75” tires. 😊

[@screamingsavage001]

What you got on the F22 90mm?

[@Thercgeek]

It’s a really good flyer!

[@sawan8581]

👍👍👍👍👌👌👌👌💯😷😷😷😷

[@justinmills4566]

Tail doesn’t match the squadron number… why not make it match? VF-103 is a very famous squadron.

[@Thercgeek]

Yes it does 😊

[@Thercgeek]

They’ve carried a couple different tail flashes other than the famous skull and crossbones.

[@Thercgeek]

Here’s the website for the artist who painted the nose art on the full scale bird. pelnyc.com/pages/f-14-flir-cat