Electric airplanes????

I'm building my first real airplane.
The motor/pipe/tank/pressure/suction/fuel mix
is voodoo to me. I'm going really simple the first
time. But...........

It looks to me that for the same weight (roughly)
you could put an electric plane together. Am I barking
at the moon or is it worth a look.

I can see the benefits in the construction process.
Less percieved vibration, no fuel soaking to worry about.
Just thinking out loud.......

Sparkies?
I fly with a gent who mainly flies r/c electric. Darn amazing stuff. How about this. My freind flys a 14" wing span Simatr. It is fully stuntable and was made out of a meat packing tray and part of a carbon fiber arrow shaft! I would say give it a try , But getting an electric c/l bird with 450 sq. inches or so would require some healthy engineering. How about a geared 05 and 8 cells? And Mabee a 30 amp ESC. Good luck with you prodject. Steve D.

Expect a bunch of problems and a poor flyer....build something "real" to learn cl.

Lines contribute a HUGE amount of drag, and on-board batteries are real heavy, and do not "shut off", requiring a foolish bit of half flying / half taxiing as they run out of juice.

Running power down lines isn't the answer, either, as the longer they are, the more line loss. It's also out of the AMA Safety Code boundry to fly with anything less than steel lines.

See Ya

Why not ?
True, the batteries are heavy. But you can built the nose much lighter as you don't have the vibration. Then you just adjust the balance by moving the battery. And you can leave out the fuel proofing and save something there also.
The shut-off can be arranged with a simple timer that cuts the motor, or some other devise that checks the voltage and shuts the motor below adjusted level.
Of cource it's not for expert or competition level stunt, but think about the advantages. You can fly on any field in the middle of your city as there is no big noise and fuel/oil residues. I have not done it, but electric cl should be tested (more?).

Some of the problems with C/L electric as I see it:

Time between flights may be much longer due to recharging time unless one has a spare set of batteries/cells on charge during the flight.

Short-ish duration of flights.

The use of a timer/cut out has its problems...what happens if it cuts during a manoeuvre?

'round these parts (Northern NJ), there is a retired Captain that has devoted his energies to electric controline. He has formed a Club, received a stipend from his town, and, generally attempted every avenue to obtain even rudimentry electric critters. To date, most are Chinese replicas of the Chinese COX toy, flown on about 12' copper wires with batteries on the handle. They pretty much screw the "flyer" into the ground, as it is necessary to "whip" them.

Attempts at creating "real" aeroplanes that fly have been frustrating. Weight is a huge concern, and the units soon become too fragile.

My thoughts as to noise are "that dog don't hunt". Noise is not nearly the issue that folks perceive. Stupidity is, and there is no cure for stupid! The electric rc field near us gets calls weekly from the citizenry about "noisy airplanes"! Someone wishing to learn to fly controline is best off with a .15 or larger alcohol powered airplane.

See Ya

Cool. Your e-mail address suggests that you live around Mt. Vernon. If so, I can probably put you in contact with folks in Everett or Arlington that can show you what works and save you time getting engines to run. If you want to pursue electric, though, I'd like to see what you come up with. It should be fun. I live in Bellevue. My e-mail address is [email protected].

Electric is probably doable these days but it wouldn't be cheap. The power needed can be had from lightweight brushless motors that can take a lot of current and some of the newer high strength nicads might do the job. As far as throttling that seems to be an increasingly trivial issue these days (see long RCO thread) and electrics don't need a servo to do it just an ESC. With a bit of developement I think a 40 sized stunter can be successfully done but only with a purpose-built airframe and a power package that will run 3 to 5 hundred bucks. As has been bandied about in 4-stroke discussions if enough power of the right kind is available then weight is not quite as much of a consideration. It strikes me that a geared electric motor/prop might have power characteristics very similar to a lugger 4-stroke thereby offsetting some of the weight disadvantage. All well and good maybe but definitely not territory for the beginner to explore. Maybe the redoubtable Mr. U. or Mr. Z. will have a go at this having successfully scaled the heights of Harley powered stunters. And yeah an electric will not likely be much quieter than a well muffled 4-stroke.

I can not remember the location now, but last year, I was looking a site about electric stunters. At that time, using fairly modest gear, they had stunters that would do the full pattern but not all in one flight. It is possible. People were making snide comments about four strokes too at one time. There is an r/c world competition class where the models perform at levels that make their normally powered mates look pathetic. All it will take is money and the person weird enough to do it. And cost? Expensive? Is a tuned pipe setup cheap? Nah! Cost isn't an issue. It's finding the right person that's the issue.

Elegantly stated, Richard - it is simply a matter of time when the first PA complete stunt pattern will be flown with an electric powered stunter. I'm betting within two years...

Scott --

As you can tell from the above, electrics are certainly not easier, but a very viable and attractive alternative that with some work could be developed. The light 400s might make a good 1/2 A prototype, then work your way up from there.

I'm with Howard. Keep working, and keep us informed of progress.

Even using electric motors,the Great Unwashed are still going to call the Cops because of the noise! I think that more effort needs to go into making model airplanes sound like a team of soccer kids. Then no one would complain about the noise!

LOL

There was pretty large article in PAMPA's Stunt News about electric powered stunters, I think within the last year. It's an interesting project. Don't forget a fuse or circuit breaker in case of a crash. Since there is no engine displacement, you will have to estimate safe line sizes based on weight. If you want to contact me by email, I'll dig out the article. On the other hand, glow engines REALLY aren't that tough to make work, especially if you forsake the traditional 4-2-4 run and go with a steady, rich 2-2-2 run, such as with one of Leonard's reworks or a stocker with the Mac's Muffler setup. Either would be much more practical than electric stunt. Steve

Turns out that Scott works just across the road from my building in Everett, so we can conspire.

Kewl. Maybe another B-17 will result? HAHAHAHAHAHA! Steve

De,

Team of soccer kids??? Funny you should say that! There is a really large park behind my house - it's one of the main reasons I bought the place. And when I got into C/L last year, I had visions of just walking out the back and putting a plane into the air. Hah! There are 3 soccer fields back there, and one softball diamond. All are constantly full of kids playing organized sports!

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for this, and the irony is that there's practically no noise. But it would be nice if I could at least get a little 1/2A time in here...