100 MODEL AVIATION
Greg Gimlick, E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL ELECTRICS
Bob Kopski-designed Skyvolt. See text for setup details.
Keith Shaw’s own-design, 10-year-old Flashback. Details of its
setups are included in the text. Shaw photo.
Dave Grife’s 9-year-old Mystery Ship originally flew with
AstroFlight brushed motor on 36 cells. Now it has Hacker C50 on
Thunder Power 10S4P Li-Poly pack. Grife photo.
CHANGES ABOUND: Did you open up the magazine and wonder
what that strange sound was? It’s just me rattling around in the giant
footprint left by Bob Kopski. Talk about a daunting position to be in!
Bob’s 10-part series about Electrics years ago got me started, where
I learned the basics before attending my first KRC (Keystone Radio
Control Club) electric fun-fly in Pennsylvania to see how it all came
together. I thought I had landed in the Promised Land, it was so
spectacular—yet it doesn’t even begin to compare with where we are
today. I could go on and on about Bob’s contributions to the hobby, but
I know it’s being done elsewhere and I’m confident that his place in
the Model Aviation Hall of Fame is secure.
When I got my first job writing an electric-flight column in 1993,
Bob was the first person to call and offer his help and support. What a
relief it was to know that someone of his stature would offer a new
columnist a resource like that.
Through the years I’ve heard of others who wrote for magazines
say he did the same thing for them. To say I’m humbled to have the
opportunity to come behind him and try to hold my own in the
Electrics-column end of this magazine would be an understatement.
Bit of Background: I’ve been in the RC end of the hobby since 1980
but have flown CL and FF models since I was a child. I started “adult
life” going to school to become a teacher until I won the draft lottery
and changed course. Since I was too afraid to be a “grunt” and they
were enticing college guys to become helicopter pilots, that’s the
course I took.
I went through flight school and did a tour before returning to
civilian life to become a teacher. After a short stint at teaching, Uncle
Sam recalled me and I never looked back. I spent a wonderful career as
a helicopter instructor pilot until I retired.
I love all sorts of airplanes: electric, glow, gas, FF, Indoor, Giant
Scale, sport, you name it! Electric models are my first choice because I
love their cleanliness, quietness, and longevity. No fuel soaking and
vibration damage happens through the course of time. To get a feel for
how long some of these models last, look at the history of some of the
airplanes in the photos.
I think we’re a giant community of modelers who have a lot to offer
each other. I suggest that you read every column in the magazine and
glean from it the points that will transfer to your particular interest.
Where We’ve Been: For a great appreciation of where we’ve come
from, I turned to Keith Shaw. Most of you are probably familiar with
Keith; he has designed and built countless unique subjects and flown
demonstrations at air shows for longer than he cares to remember. I
recently talked with him about Bob’s retiring and the electric
community in general. You might find his remarks as interesting as I
did. They follow.
“We were weird loners rewinding windshield wiper motors,
eggshell-fragile airplanes, dismal Ni-Cds, and exhilaration when your
airplane actually gained altitude! Then the pride of being able to loop,
albeit with a shallow dive to help.
“Being amazed when you found another ‘nut’ like yourself, and
further amazement when you saw a completely different approach to
the problems. Big thrill when simple aerobatics could be flown, of
course nowhere near what glow could do. But someday …
“Cobalt motors and Sanyo Ni-Cds jumping the performance by
an order of magnitude overnight. Years upon years of small
improvements and trying to convince the public and manufacturers
that electric flight just might become at least a small accepted
niche market. Brushless motors for all-out performance but at a
102 MODEL AVIATION
Hacker C50 in Dave’s model before he converted setup to Li-
Poly. See 30 Sanyo CP-2400SCR cells in fuselage. Grife photo.
Jim Ryan’s Wildcat spans 30.5 inches, has a 170-square-inch
wing area, weighs 18 ounces using standard Speed 400 6-volt
motor on eight NiMH 1000 cells. Ryan photo.
Opposite ends of the spectrum at recent electric fly-in: a
hovering foamie and Scale Cub. See, we can all get along!
“Although a giant stride backward in technology, the proliferation
of cheap, ferrite-powered ‘fun’ airplanes capable of flying in restricted
areas on limited budgets. ARFs, foamies, and small affordable radio
equipment to entice the masses. Li-Polys to propel the power-to-weight
ratio far past what glow could ever hope to achieve, with airplanes to
run circles around the typical glow airplane at the field.
“Look at most magazines; the advertising column inches are almost
50% electric, and the reviews also. The rare construction article is
almost always electric.
“A friend in Switzerland told me that at a big Pattern contest there,
over a third of the airplanes were electric—seven in the top 10—and
the electrics won the top four places. When electrics win or place at
world Scale competitions, the power system is listed with the same
matter-of-factness as glow or gas. Where does it go from here?”
Reading Keith’s words brings me a sense of wonderment about the
hobby. He and Bob were there at the beginning and brought the rest of
us along for the ride, while educating us too.
Where Does It Go From Here? It just gets better and better. Look at
our motor and controller choices compared to even five years ago.
Name an application and there’s a setup that will work with it. Name a
genre and there’s an electric-powered airplane that can participate in it.
I don’t claim that it’s better than the rest, but it’s another way to enjoy
the best hobby in the world.
Do I like all of the changes that have come with progress? No, and I
don’t think we ever do, but that’s life and progress thrown together.
We’ve lost a bit of the sense of community we used to have as electric
modelers, but I suspect that the new people coming into Electrics
wouldn’t even notice because they are learning how the new
community feels. Change is never easy, but it’s a necessary part of life.
What’s This Column’s Direction? At the risk of sounding like a
cliché, it’s whatever you want it to be. I’m not an electrical engineer so
I don’t design chargers, controllers, and the like, but I know people
who are and they have agreed to help me answer the questions that
arrive in those fields.
I’m an electric-power modeler who is an instructor at heart, so I like
teaching. I like learning and I like seeing what others have done. I
enjoy passing on great techniques and ideas from other modelers.
In the 12 years I’ve been writing electric columns, I’ve maintained
a theme of “what works” and think it’s still valid today. You don’t
have to know all the formulas and calculations that go into making an
airplane fly; you can be successful by using setups that are similar to
those that work well for others.
With the amount of equipment available to us today, there is no
way I can possibly buy and try it all, so I depend on readers to fill in
the blanks. Don’t be shy.
I’m looking for input. I want your photos and descriptions of
airplanes you’ve built and flown. Sometimes a setup looks good on
paper and doesn’t work well in the air. That information can be helpful
too if presented properly. Let me know what works and what doesn’t if
you think it’s good information.
When you send a digital photo, be sure it’s high resolution and
think about its composition. Make sure it shows what you’re trying to
explain and that there isn’t a tree or an outhouse in the background
detracting from the picture.
Give me more detail than you think I’ll want. If you have a setup
that is particularly interesting, shoot a close-up of it. Details, details,
details—those are what modelers are looking for.
Do not use Photoshop to try to enhance your photo! Let the MA art
department work with them.
Covering the Spectrum: I’ve grabbed some photos from friends that
will give you a sense of the changes that have come about in time. The
models have flown on cobalt brushed motors and flew well before they
were updated to brushless motors and Li-Poly batteries.
An airplane I’ll show you in a later issue has been retrofitted with
the older setup because it just felt better in the air with the old system.
If you want to try Electrics and are faced with sticker shock, don’t
overlook some of the deals available for quality cobalt brushed motors.
The models shown span the spectrum in size and style: Dave
Grife’s Giant Scale Travel Air Mystery Ship,
Jim Ryan’s Speed 400-size Wildcat, Keith
Shaw’s Flashback, and David Hogue’s
Skyvolt. They’re all spectacular fliers and
subjects.
Dave Grife’s Mystery Ship was built from
a partial kit that the late Fred Reese offered
years ago, and Keith scratch-built the
Flashback from his own design. Jim’s warbird
Wildcat was the subject of a construction
article in the April 2004 MA and is available
as a kit. Bob designed the Skyvolt and it was
once kitted by Today’s Hobbies. Following is
what David Hogue said about his Skyvolt’s
history.
“I originally used an AstroFlight 05
Cobalt, and Jeti 035, on 10 CP-2400s and a
10 x 7 APC-E. Later the nose was rebuilt to
adapt it for use with an MEC 4.6:1 gearbox,
and the motor was changed to an Endoplasma
with GP-50A ESC and APC-E 12 x 8. This is
the standard brushed E3D setup, as I am sure
you are aware.
“At some point later, I replaced the tiring
Endo with a Hacker C40 12T and a Jeti
Advance 40-3P, changed the ratio to 5:1, and
used a 14 x 7 and then later a 14 x 10 APC-E.
The batteries were changed to Thunder Power
TP8000, 3S4P, and since switching to Li-
Polys I have never looked back.
“So Greg, as you can see, over the years I
have owned and flown this fantastic airplane,
I have upped the power from about 250 watts
to somewhere around 400, and it’s lost about
10 ounces in the process.
“As to the flying qualities, it looks like a
trainer, but will do any non-3D move in the
book, and does it all very well. I still love to
wring it out every chance I get, and it’s
usually the first airplane I get out at the field,
and the last I put away. Thank Bob for me for
a fantastic design.”
For some history of the evolution of
Dave Grife’s incredible Mystery Ship, point
your browser to www.rcgroups.com/foru
ms/showthread.php?t=122100&referrerid=1
382. Dave has dropped 3 pounds from the
original setup and gone to 16 pounds with a
10S4P pack of Thunder Power Li-Poly cells,
for an unbelievable increase in performance
with the new Hacker C50 motor.
Ryan Aircraft at http://home.fuse.net/ryan/
offers a line of Speed 400 warbird kits that
will entice any Scale modeler, and they are
unique in their construction design. They
build quickly and fly incredibly well with
Jim’s stock Speed 400 setup on eight cells.
Many have been upgraded to brushless
setups, but the ones I’ve built and flown
had plenty of power and performance from
the Speed 400 ferrite motor.
Keith Shaw designed and built his
Flashback biplane 10 years ago. He wrote:
“It’s sort of a mix of favorite scale
airplanes. The stagger of Sorceress, the
wing shape (gull) and wheel pants of the
Loving Special, the nose of the Mew Gull,
the canopy and top deck of the Folkerts
racers, and the fin of the Spitfire.
“It spans 50 inches and has 700 square
inches of wing area. The original system
was an Aveox 1412/4Y motor, 15
1700SCR cells, a Rev-Up 10 x 8 propeller,
and it weighed 5.5 pounds. The airplane
was very capable, but only at high speed,
somewhat vicious at times.
“An intermediate setup was an
AstroFlight 15G motor, 12 900SCR cells,
and a Rev-Up 12 x 8 propeller. It had
better handling but was too slow and
heavy for vertical maneuvers. It weighed
4.6 pounds.
“Another intermediate setup was an
AstroFlight 050G brushless motor, 10 CP-
1700 cells, and a 14 x 7 APC propeller. It
weighed 4.1 pounds. It was a great
improvement, with unlimited vertical and
knife-edge loops for five minutes.
“The present setup is an AstroFlight
050G brushless motor, a 3S1P Kokam 2
Ahr (high rate) battery pack, and the
weight is 3.6 pounds Performance is as
before, only partial throttle needed, an
easy 10 minutes. Probably the best
improvement story.”
In the Landing Pattern: I’ve run out of
altitude, airspeed, and voltage for this month,
so I had better end. I’m excited about the
future here and hope you are too. Come along
for the ride and feel free to participate in the
process with your ideas and photos.
Conversions, reviews, new products,
techniques, instruction—it’s all here and
you’re invited to be the biggest part. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/06
Page Numbers: 100,102,104
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/06
Page Numbers: 100,102,104
100 MODEL AVIATION
Greg Gimlick, E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL ELECTRICS
Bob Kopski-designed Skyvolt. See text for setup details.
Keith Shaw’s own-design, 10-year-old Flashback. Details of its
setups are included in the text. Shaw photo.
Dave Grife’s 9-year-old Mystery Ship originally flew with
AstroFlight brushed motor on 36 cells. Now it has Hacker C50 on
Thunder Power 10S4P Li-Poly pack. Grife photo.
CHANGES ABOUND: Did you open up the magazine and wonder
what that strange sound was? It’s just me rattling around in the giant
footprint left by Bob Kopski. Talk about a daunting position to be in!
Bob’s 10-part series about Electrics years ago got me started, where
I learned the basics before attending my first KRC (Keystone Radio
Control Club) electric fun-fly in Pennsylvania to see how it all came
together. I thought I had landed in the Promised Land, it was so
spectacular—yet it doesn’t even begin to compare with where we are
today. I could go on and on about Bob’s contributions to the hobby, but
I know it’s being done elsewhere and I’m confident that his place in
the Model Aviation Hall of Fame is secure.
When I got my first job writing an electric-flight column in 1993,
Bob was the first person to call and offer his help and support. What a
relief it was to know that someone of his stature would offer a new
columnist a resource like that.
Through the years I’ve heard of others who wrote for magazines
say he did the same thing for them. To say I’m humbled to have the
opportunity to come behind him and try to hold my own in the
Electrics-column end of this magazine would be an understatement.
Bit of Background: I’ve been in the RC end of the hobby since 1980
but have flown CL and FF models since I was a child. I started “adult
life” going to school to become a teacher until I won the draft lottery
and changed course. Since I was too afraid to be a “grunt” and they
were enticing college guys to become helicopter pilots, that’s the
course I took.
I went through flight school and did a tour before returning to
civilian life to become a teacher. After a short stint at teaching, Uncle
Sam recalled me and I never looked back. I spent a wonderful career as
a helicopter instructor pilot until I retired.
I love all sorts of airplanes: electric, glow, gas, FF, Indoor, Giant
Scale, sport, you name it! Electric models are my first choice because I
love their cleanliness, quietness, and longevity. No fuel soaking and
vibration damage happens through the course of time. To get a feel for
how long some of these models last, look at the history of some of the
airplanes in the photos.
I think we’re a giant community of modelers who have a lot to offer
each other. I suggest that you read every column in the magazine and
glean from it the points that will transfer to your particular interest.
Where We’ve Been: For a great appreciation of where we’ve come
from, I turned to Keith Shaw. Most of you are probably familiar with
Keith; he has designed and built countless unique subjects and flown
demonstrations at air shows for longer than he cares to remember. I
recently talked with him about Bob’s retiring and the electric
community in general. You might find his remarks as interesting as I
did. They follow.
“We were weird loners rewinding windshield wiper motors,
eggshell-fragile airplanes, dismal Ni-Cds, and exhilaration when your
airplane actually gained altitude! Then the pride of being able to loop,
albeit with a shallow dive to help.
“Being amazed when you found another ‘nut’ like yourself, and
further amazement when you saw a completely different approach to
the problems. Big thrill when simple aerobatics could be flown, of
course nowhere near what glow could do. But someday …
“Cobalt motors and Sanyo Ni-Cds jumping the performance by
an order of magnitude overnight. Years upon years of small
improvements and trying to convince the public and manufacturers
that electric flight just might become at least a small accepted
niche market. Brushless motors for all-out performance but at a
102 MODEL AVIATION
Hacker C50 in Dave’s model before he converted setup to Li-
Poly. See 30 Sanyo CP-2400SCR cells in fuselage. Grife photo.
Jim Ryan’s Wildcat spans 30.5 inches, has a 170-square-inch
wing area, weighs 18 ounces using standard Speed 400 6-volt
motor on eight NiMH 1000 cells. Ryan photo.
Opposite ends of the spectrum at recent electric fly-in: a
hovering foamie and Scale Cub. See, we can all get along!
“Although a giant stride backward in technology, the proliferation
of cheap, ferrite-powered ‘fun’ airplanes capable of flying in restricted
areas on limited budgets. ARFs, foamies, and small affordable radio
equipment to entice the masses. Li-Polys to propel the power-to-weight
ratio far past what glow could ever hope to achieve, with airplanes to
run circles around the typical glow airplane at the field.
“Look at most magazines; the advertising column inches are almost
50% electric, and the reviews also. The rare construction article is
almost always electric.
“A friend in Switzerland told me that at a big Pattern contest there,
over a third of the airplanes were electric—seven in the top 10—and
the electrics won the top four places. When electrics win or place at
world Scale competitions, the power system is listed with the same
matter-of-factness as glow or gas. Where does it go from here?”
Reading Keith’s words brings me a sense of wonderment about the
hobby. He and Bob were there at the beginning and brought the rest of
us along for the ride, while educating us too.
Where Does It Go From Here? It just gets better and better. Look at
our motor and controller choices compared to even five years ago.
Name an application and there’s a setup that will work with it. Name a
genre and there’s an electric-powered airplane that can participate in it.
I don’t claim that it’s better than the rest, but it’s another way to enjoy
the best hobby in the world.
Do I like all of the changes that have come with progress? No, and I
don’t think we ever do, but that’s life and progress thrown together.
We’ve lost a bit of the sense of community we used to have as electric
modelers, but I suspect that the new people coming into Electrics
wouldn’t even notice because they are learning how the new
community feels. Change is never easy, but it’s a necessary part of life.
What’s This Column’s Direction? At the risk of sounding like a
cliché, it’s whatever you want it to be. I’m not an electrical engineer so
I don’t design chargers, controllers, and the like, but I know people
who are and they have agreed to help me answer the questions that
arrive in those fields.
I’m an electric-power modeler who is an instructor at heart, so I like
teaching. I like learning and I like seeing what others have done. I
enjoy passing on great techniques and ideas from other modelers.
In the 12 years I’ve been writing electric columns, I’ve maintained
a theme of “what works” and think it’s still valid today. You don’t
have to know all the formulas and calculations that go into making an
airplane fly; you can be successful by using setups that are similar to
those that work well for others.
With the amount of equipment available to us today, there is no
way I can possibly buy and try it all, so I depend on readers to fill in
the blanks. Don’t be shy.
I’m looking for input. I want your photos and descriptions of
airplanes you’ve built and flown. Sometimes a setup looks good on
paper and doesn’t work well in the air. That information can be helpful
too if presented properly. Let me know what works and what doesn’t if
you think it’s good information.
When you send a digital photo, be sure it’s high resolution and
think about its composition. Make sure it shows what you’re trying to
explain and that there isn’t a tree or an outhouse in the background
detracting from the picture.
Give me more detail than you think I’ll want. If you have a setup
that is particularly interesting, shoot a close-up of it. Details, details,
details—those are what modelers are looking for.
Do not use Photoshop to try to enhance your photo! Let the MA art
department work with them.
Covering the Spectrum: I’ve grabbed some photos from friends that
will give you a sense of the changes that have come about in time. The
models have flown on cobalt brushed motors and flew well before they
were updated to brushless motors and Li-Poly batteries.
An airplane I’ll show you in a later issue has been retrofitted with
the older setup because it just felt better in the air with the old system.
If you want to try Electrics and are faced with sticker shock, don’t
overlook some of the deals available for quality cobalt brushed motors.
The models shown span the spectrum in size and style: Dave
Grife’s Giant Scale Travel Air Mystery Ship,
Jim Ryan’s Speed 400-size Wildcat, Keith
Shaw’s Flashback, and David Hogue’s
Skyvolt. They’re all spectacular fliers and
subjects.
Dave Grife’s Mystery Ship was built from
a partial kit that the late Fred Reese offered
years ago, and Keith scratch-built the
Flashback from his own design. Jim’s warbird
Wildcat was the subject of a construction
article in the April 2004 MA and is available
as a kit. Bob designed the Skyvolt and it was
once kitted by Today’s Hobbies. Following is
what David Hogue said about his Skyvolt’s
history.
“I originally used an AstroFlight 05
Cobalt, and Jeti 035, on 10 CP-2400s and a
10 x 7 APC-E. Later the nose was rebuilt to
adapt it for use with an MEC 4.6:1 gearbox,
and the motor was changed to an Endoplasma
with GP-50A ESC and APC-E 12 x 8. This is
the standard brushed E3D setup, as I am sure
you are aware.
“At some point later, I replaced the tiring
Endo with a Hacker C40 12T and a Jeti
Advance 40-3P, changed the ratio to 5:1, and
used a 14 x 7 and then later a 14 x 10 APC-E.
The batteries were changed to Thunder Power
TP8000, 3S4P, and since switching to Li-
Polys I have never looked back.
“So Greg, as you can see, over the years I
have owned and flown this fantastic airplane,
I have upped the power from about 250 watts
to somewhere around 400, and it’s lost about
10 ounces in the process.
“As to the flying qualities, it looks like a
trainer, but will do any non-3D move in the
book, and does it all very well. I still love to
wring it out every chance I get, and it’s
usually the first airplane I get out at the field,
and the last I put away. Thank Bob for me for
a fantastic design.”
For some history of the evolution of
Dave Grife’s incredible Mystery Ship, point
your browser to www.rcgroups.com/foru
ms/showthread.php?t=122100&referrerid=1
382. Dave has dropped 3 pounds from the
original setup and gone to 16 pounds with a
10S4P pack of Thunder Power Li-Poly cells,
for an unbelievable increase in performance
with the new Hacker C50 motor.
Ryan Aircraft at http://home.fuse.net/ryan/
offers a line of Speed 400 warbird kits that
will entice any Scale modeler, and they are
unique in their construction design. They
build quickly and fly incredibly well with
Jim’s stock Speed 400 setup on eight cells.
Many have been upgraded to brushless
setups, but the ones I’ve built and flown
had plenty of power and performance from
the Speed 400 ferrite motor.
Keith Shaw designed and built his
Flashback biplane 10 years ago. He wrote:
“It’s sort of a mix of favorite scale
airplanes. The stagger of Sorceress, the
wing shape (gull) and wheel pants of the
Loving Special, the nose of the Mew Gull,
the canopy and top deck of the Folkerts
racers, and the fin of the Spitfire.
“It spans 50 inches and has 700 square
inches of wing area. The original system
was an Aveox 1412/4Y motor, 15
1700SCR cells, a Rev-Up 10 x 8 propeller,
and it weighed 5.5 pounds. The airplane
was very capable, but only at high speed,
somewhat vicious at times.
“An intermediate setup was an
AstroFlight 15G motor, 12 900SCR cells,
and a Rev-Up 12 x 8 propeller. It had
better handling but was too slow and
heavy for vertical maneuvers. It weighed
4.6 pounds.
“Another intermediate setup was an
AstroFlight 050G brushless motor, 10 CP-
1700 cells, and a 14 x 7 APC propeller. It
weighed 4.1 pounds. It was a great
improvement, with unlimited vertical and
knife-edge loops for five minutes.
“The present setup is an AstroFlight
050G brushless motor, a 3S1P Kokam 2
Ahr (high rate) battery pack, and the
weight is 3.6 pounds Performance is as
before, only partial throttle needed, an
easy 10 minutes. Probably the best
improvement story.”
In the Landing Pattern: I’ve run out of
altitude, airspeed, and voltage for this month,
so I had better end. I’m excited about the
future here and hope you are too. Come along
for the ride and feel free to participate in the
process with your ideas and photos.
Conversions, reviews, new products,
techniques, instruction—it’s all here and
you’re invited to be the biggest part. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/06
Page Numbers: 100,102,104
100 MODEL AVIATION
Greg Gimlick, E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL ELECTRICS
Bob Kopski-designed Skyvolt. See text for setup details.
Keith Shaw’s own-design, 10-year-old Flashback. Details of its
setups are included in the text. Shaw photo.
Dave Grife’s 9-year-old Mystery Ship originally flew with
AstroFlight brushed motor on 36 cells. Now it has Hacker C50 on
Thunder Power 10S4P Li-Poly pack. Grife photo.
CHANGES ABOUND: Did you open up the magazine and wonder
what that strange sound was? It’s just me rattling around in the giant
footprint left by Bob Kopski. Talk about a daunting position to be in!
Bob’s 10-part series about Electrics years ago got me started, where
I learned the basics before attending my first KRC (Keystone Radio
Control Club) electric fun-fly in Pennsylvania to see how it all came
together. I thought I had landed in the Promised Land, it was so
spectacular—yet it doesn’t even begin to compare with where we are
today. I could go on and on about Bob’s contributions to the hobby, but
I know it’s being done elsewhere and I’m confident that his place in
the Model Aviation Hall of Fame is secure.
When I got my first job writing an electric-flight column in 1993,
Bob was the first person to call and offer his help and support. What a
relief it was to know that someone of his stature would offer a new
columnist a resource like that.
Through the years I’ve heard of others who wrote for magazines
say he did the same thing for them. To say I’m humbled to have the
opportunity to come behind him and try to hold my own in the
Electrics-column end of this magazine would be an understatement.
Bit of Background: I’ve been in the RC end of the hobby since 1980
but have flown CL and FF models since I was a child. I started “adult
life” going to school to become a teacher until I won the draft lottery
and changed course. Since I was too afraid to be a “grunt” and they
were enticing college guys to become helicopter pilots, that’s the
course I took.
I went through flight school and did a tour before returning to
civilian life to become a teacher. After a short stint at teaching, Uncle
Sam recalled me and I never looked back. I spent a wonderful career as
a helicopter instructor pilot until I retired.
I love all sorts of airplanes: electric, glow, gas, FF, Indoor, Giant
Scale, sport, you name it! Electric models are my first choice because I
love their cleanliness, quietness, and longevity. No fuel soaking and
vibration damage happens through the course of time. To get a feel for
how long some of these models last, look at the history of some of the
airplanes in the photos.
I think we’re a giant community of modelers who have a lot to offer
each other. I suggest that you read every column in the magazine and
glean from it the points that will transfer to your particular interest.
Where We’ve Been: For a great appreciation of where we’ve come
from, I turned to Keith Shaw. Most of you are probably familiar with
Keith; he has designed and built countless unique subjects and flown
demonstrations at air shows for longer than he cares to remember. I
recently talked with him about Bob’s retiring and the electric
community in general. You might find his remarks as interesting as I
did. They follow.
“We were weird loners rewinding windshield wiper motors,
eggshell-fragile airplanes, dismal Ni-Cds, and exhilaration when your
airplane actually gained altitude! Then the pride of being able to loop,
albeit with a shallow dive to help.
“Being amazed when you found another ‘nut’ like yourself, and
further amazement when you saw a completely different approach to
the problems. Big thrill when simple aerobatics could be flown, of
course nowhere near what glow could do. But someday …
“Cobalt motors and Sanyo Ni-Cds jumping the performance by
an order of magnitude overnight. Years upon years of small
improvements and trying to convince the public and manufacturers
that electric flight just might become at least a small accepted
niche market. Brushless motors for all-out performance but at a
102 MODEL AVIATION
Hacker C50 in Dave’s model before he converted setup to Li-
Poly. See 30 Sanyo CP-2400SCR cells in fuselage. Grife photo.
Jim Ryan’s Wildcat spans 30.5 inches, has a 170-square-inch
wing area, weighs 18 ounces using standard Speed 400 6-volt
motor on eight NiMH 1000 cells. Ryan photo.
Opposite ends of the spectrum at recent electric fly-in: a
hovering foamie and Scale Cub. See, we can all get along!
“Although a giant stride backward in technology, the proliferation
of cheap, ferrite-powered ‘fun’ airplanes capable of flying in restricted
areas on limited budgets. ARFs, foamies, and small affordable radio
equipment to entice the masses. Li-Polys to propel the power-to-weight
ratio far past what glow could ever hope to achieve, with airplanes to
run circles around the typical glow airplane at the field.
“Look at most magazines; the advertising column inches are almost
50% electric, and the reviews also. The rare construction article is
almost always electric.
“A friend in Switzerland told me that at a big Pattern contest there,
over a third of the airplanes were electric—seven in the top 10—and
the electrics won the top four places. When electrics win or place at
world Scale competitions, the power system is listed with the same
matter-of-factness as glow or gas. Where does it go from here?”
Reading Keith’s words brings me a sense of wonderment about the
hobby. He and Bob were there at the beginning and brought the rest of
us along for the ride, while educating us too.
Where Does It Go From Here? It just gets better and better. Look at
our motor and controller choices compared to even five years ago.
Name an application and there’s a setup that will work with it. Name a
genre and there’s an electric-powered airplane that can participate in it.
I don’t claim that it’s better than the rest, but it’s another way to enjoy
the best hobby in the world.
Do I like all of the changes that have come with progress? No, and I
don’t think we ever do, but that’s life and progress thrown together.
We’ve lost a bit of the sense of community we used to have as electric
modelers, but I suspect that the new people coming into Electrics
wouldn’t even notice because they are learning how the new
community feels. Change is never easy, but it’s a necessary part of life.
What’s This Column’s Direction? At the risk of sounding like a
cliché, it’s whatever you want it to be. I’m not an electrical engineer so
I don’t design chargers, controllers, and the like, but I know people
who are and they have agreed to help me answer the questions that
arrive in those fields.
I’m an electric-power modeler who is an instructor at heart, so I like
teaching. I like learning and I like seeing what others have done. I
enjoy passing on great techniques and ideas from other modelers.
In the 12 years I’ve been writing electric columns, I’ve maintained
a theme of “what works” and think it’s still valid today. You don’t
have to know all the formulas and calculations that go into making an
airplane fly; you can be successful by using setups that are similar to
those that work well for others.
With the amount of equipment available to us today, there is no
way I can possibly buy and try it all, so I depend on readers to fill in
the blanks. Don’t be shy.
I’m looking for input. I want your photos and descriptions of
airplanes you’ve built and flown. Sometimes a setup looks good on
paper and doesn’t work well in the air. That information can be helpful
too if presented properly. Let me know what works and what doesn’t if
you think it’s good information.
When you send a digital photo, be sure it’s high resolution and
think about its composition. Make sure it shows what you’re trying to
explain and that there isn’t a tree or an outhouse in the background
detracting from the picture.
Give me more detail than you think I’ll want. If you have a setup
that is particularly interesting, shoot a close-up of it. Details, details,
details—those are what modelers are looking for.
Do not use Photoshop to try to enhance your photo! Let the MA art
department work with them.
Covering the Spectrum: I’ve grabbed some photos from friends that
will give you a sense of the changes that have come about in time. The
models have flown on cobalt brushed motors and flew well before they
were updated to brushless motors and Li-Poly batteries.
An airplane I’ll show you in a later issue has been retrofitted with
the older setup because it just felt better in the air with the old system.
If you want to try Electrics and are faced with sticker shock, don’t
overlook some of the deals available for quality cobalt brushed motors.
The models shown span the spectrum in size and style: Dave
Grife’s Giant Scale Travel Air Mystery Ship,
Jim Ryan’s Speed 400-size Wildcat, Keith
Shaw’s Flashback, and David Hogue’s
Skyvolt. They’re all spectacular fliers and
subjects.
Dave Grife’s Mystery Ship was built from
a partial kit that the late Fred Reese offered
years ago, and Keith scratch-built the
Flashback from his own design. Jim’s warbird
Wildcat was the subject of a construction
article in the April 2004 MA and is available
as a kit. Bob designed the Skyvolt and it was
once kitted by Today’s Hobbies. Following is
what David Hogue said about his Skyvolt’s
history.
“I originally used an AstroFlight 05
Cobalt, and Jeti 035, on 10 CP-2400s and a
10 x 7 APC-E. Later the nose was rebuilt to
adapt it for use with an MEC 4.6:1 gearbox,
and the motor was changed to an Endoplasma
with GP-50A ESC and APC-E 12 x 8. This is
the standard brushed E3D setup, as I am sure
you are aware.
“At some point later, I replaced the tiring
Endo with a Hacker C40 12T and a Jeti
Advance 40-3P, changed the ratio to 5:1, and
used a 14 x 7 and then later a 14 x 10 APC-E.
The batteries were changed to Thunder Power
TP8000, 3S4P, and since switching to Li-
Polys I have never looked back.
“So Greg, as you can see, over the years I
have owned and flown this fantastic airplane,
I have upped the power from about 250 watts
to somewhere around 400, and it’s lost about
10 ounces in the process.
“As to the flying qualities, it looks like a
trainer, but will do any non-3D move in the
book, and does it all very well. I still love to
wring it out every chance I get, and it’s
usually the first airplane I get out at the field,
and the last I put away. Thank Bob for me for
a fantastic design.”
For some history of the evolution of
Dave Grife’s incredible Mystery Ship, point
your browser to www.rcgroups.com/foru
ms/showthread.php?t=122100&referrerid=1
382. Dave has dropped 3 pounds from the
original setup and gone to 16 pounds with a
10S4P pack of Thunder Power Li-Poly cells,
for an unbelievable increase in performance
with the new Hacker C50 motor.
Ryan Aircraft at http://home.fuse.net/ryan/
offers a line of Speed 400 warbird kits that
will entice any Scale modeler, and they are
unique in their construction design. They
build quickly and fly incredibly well with
Jim’s stock Speed 400 setup on eight cells.
Many have been upgraded to brushless
setups, but the ones I’ve built and flown
had plenty of power and performance from
the Speed 400 ferrite motor.
Keith Shaw designed and built his
Flashback biplane 10 years ago. He wrote:
“It’s sort of a mix of favorite scale
airplanes. The stagger of Sorceress, the
wing shape (gull) and wheel pants of the
Loving Special, the nose of the Mew Gull,
the canopy and top deck of the Folkerts
racers, and the fin of the Spitfire.
“It spans 50 inches and has 700 square
inches of wing area. The original system
was an Aveox 1412/4Y motor, 15
1700SCR cells, a Rev-Up 10 x 8 propeller,
and it weighed 5.5 pounds. The airplane
was very capable, but only at high speed,
somewhat vicious at times.
“An intermediate setup was an
AstroFlight 15G motor, 12 900SCR cells,
and a Rev-Up 12 x 8 propeller. It had
better handling but was too slow and
heavy for vertical maneuvers. It weighed
4.6 pounds.
“Another intermediate setup was an
AstroFlight 050G brushless motor, 10 CP-
1700 cells, and a 14 x 7 APC propeller. It
weighed 4.1 pounds. It was a great
improvement, with unlimited vertical and
knife-edge loops for five minutes.
“The present setup is an AstroFlight
050G brushless motor, a 3S1P Kokam 2
Ahr (high rate) battery pack, and the
weight is 3.6 pounds Performance is as
before, only partial throttle needed, an
easy 10 minutes. Probably the best
improvement story.”
In the Landing Pattern: I’ve run out of
altitude, airspeed, and voltage for this month,
so I had better end. I’m excited about the
future here and hope you are too. Come along
for the ride and feel free to participate in the
process with your ideas and photos.
Conversions, reviews, new products,
techniques, instruction—it’s all here and
you’re invited to be the biggest part. MA