Never before has an electric F-14 beenproducedin this size and with this high a degree of scale fidelity and quality.Easilyoneof the most beloved jets in history,we’re especially excited to offer thisthrilling F-14D Tomcat. For us and manyRC pilots in our customer family, it isa dream come true!
Our team workedtirelessly to develop an RC model whichbrings the excitement and scaleperformance of this hallmark aircraft to yourlocal flying field and toappropriately honor the F-14 Tomcat’s rightful placein aviation history. We choseto depict “Bullet 101”, the specially marked F-14Dfrom the VF-2 squadron“Bounty Hunters”, which was painted in the mid-1990s tocelebrate the 25thanniversary of the F-14’s service in the United States Navy.This rendition of“Bullet 101” is an appropriate salute to all the personnel whoserved alongsidethis breathtaking aircraft throughout its 32 year service toour country.
The signaturefeature of the real F-14 is its sweepingwing, and we've worked to design thismodel around this function as well. Whereprevious foam F-14 models failed,This F-14 succeeds. This is due to thelightweight aluminum “Wing Box” whichsupports a rigid wing in both forward andswept configurations. A sloppy wingcan be dangerous and so this F-14 wasdesigned around the Wing Box todistribute the loads across the fuselage andensure the model couldconsistently withstand high speed maneuvers withoutneeding any maintenance andadjustment to the wing sweeping mechanisms. Thewings pivot on flat bearings toreduce resistance and wear. Electric servolessactuators extend and sweep thewings along a four second span using steelcontrol rods and brass ball links.The result of this design is a dependable,maintenance-free, durable wing sweepfeature which when used with ourrecommended control settings provides pilotswith a worthy F-14 flyingexperience without the worry traditionally associatedwith swing wing models.
Scale fidelity,surface details, and builder-friendlinesswere also specific areas of focus.The PNP model arrives with the main fuselagecompletely assembled. All theelectronics –servos, EDFs, ESCs, UBEC, retracts,and lights—are completelyinstalled at the factory for the PNP variant. Thebuilder simply needs to screwon the wings and tail surfaces, affix the upperwing box plates with theprovided Allen bolts, epoxy on the forward nosesection, pop on the magneticnose cone, and then glue the assorted surfacedetails like the ventral fins,wing fences, antennas, pitot tube, etc. Bind yourreceiver (not included) tothe pre-labeled connections, match the recommendedsettings, and you’re readyto fly! The decision to add this F-14D to your fleetwill be an easy andresounding “Yes!”.
To furthersimplify the wiring and setup, this F-14incorporates an onboard mixing circuitboard which controls all the servos,taileron/aileron mixing, wing sweeping,and the lighting package. “Day-Bright”LEDs are used throughout the aircraftfor realistic lighting. With six staticoutputs and three flashing outputs,pilots can arrange their LEDs to keep thewingtip and wingroot lights on allthe time and leave the tail lights to flashintermittently, or experiment withother combinations. The wing box and circuitboard are accessed by removing asingle cover with six screws for convenientadjustment of all these features ifever needed.
While thecomplexity of this F-14D make it the largest,most impressive, and heaviest EDFjet avaialble at Freewing to date, theaircraft uses two 80mm 12 blade EDFs andtwo 6s 4000mAh batteries which canpropel it through the sky at 100mph. While100mph is good, we would not considerthis a "speed jet". The deisgnspecifically focused on slow flightstability in order to widen the model’scontrollable flight envelope. The modelcan cruise at 60% throttle, can turn at40% throttle even with the wings sweptrearward, and can land at less than40mph with full flaps for safely controlledlandings on the reinforced landinggear and aluminum compression struts. TheF-14D’s two powerplants utilize thesame 1750kv outrunner and 80A ESC which haveproven themselves in the 80mmclass of jets for a great balance between thrust,weight, efficiency, andflight duration. The EDF’s rigid metal shroud, combinedwith 12 blades insteadof the tradition 6, provides a pleasing “whoosh” sound asthe model rushes byinstead of the usual high pitched “whine”. An 8 amp UBECsupplies the tenservos with dependable power to all systems.
Intended as a"Scale Plus" flyer, this F-14Dexcels in scale maneuvers andstability throughout its flight envelope. Thismodel EDF jet flies more like atrue turbine jet and less like a smaller lowwing loaded foam jet. Accordingly,we recommend this aircraft for Expert levelpilots who have proficientexperience operating large 90mm jets at airfieldswith sufficient clearance(>1,500 feet long x >800 feet deep) and runwaysurface appropriate for alarge foam jet. Pavement, mat, artificial turf, or smoothlyrolled/compacteddirt are preferred. For operation on a grass runway, a smoothsurface no tallerthan 1” is recommended. Compared to some of Freewing’s other90mm jets, theF-14 is closest to the F-16 and ME-262 in handling. With fullflaps deployed,we clocked the F-14’s average safe landing speed at ~38mph, andwe clocked anaverage top speed of about 100mph in level flight. With mixedthrottle, twoAdmiral 6s 4000mAh 60c batteries provide 3-3.5 minutes of safeflight.