Vintage 41" span electric conversion- brushed to brushless.

Started by Frank v B, March 12, 2022, 09:52:52 AM

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Frank v B

A cute little vintage 41" span 3 channel (no ailerons) plane landed in the back of my car after my last meeting with Peter Palumbo.  It had a geared brushed 380 motor on 2 cells with a stick mount.

Pulled out a 3 cell brushless motor/esc combo, cut off the stick motor mount, made a balsa stand-off and just glued it to the face of the firewall.  It was easy to center.  Just put the glue on the back and hold the motor centered through the shaft hole in the cowl until the 5 minute epoxy set.

Total conversion time- about two hours.  Had to Dremel sand out the cowl to make it fit properly around the new motor and motor mount.

Thank you Peter.

F.

ps: as if photos in focus cost extra!  I am a modeller, not a photographer.   :D
"Never trade luck for skill"

Frank v B

Maidened the plane today and it flew well.  Most flying and take-off were done at half throttle.  May switch it to 2S from the current 3S because it doesn't appear to need all this power.
Overpowering a vintage plane on 3 channels makes it difficult to fly as I learned about 3 years ago maidening Guy's green vintage airplane.  Once we switched from a 3 cell to two cell battery it became controllable and enjoyable to fly.

Frank

My two grandsons Elliot (6, left) and Noah 8 came in from Guelph for two days and helped with the maiden flight.
"Never trade luck for skill"

GuyOReilly

Quote from: Frank v B on March 16, 2022, 08:18:04 PM
Maidened the plane today and it flew well.  Most flying and take-off were done at half throttle.  May switch it to 2S from the current 3S because it doesn't appear to need all this power.
Overpowering a vintage plane on 3 channels makes it difficult to fly as I learned about 3 years ago maidening Guy's green vintage airplane.  Once we switched from a 3 cell to two cell battery it became controllable and enjoyable to fly.
Frank

@Frank v B you are correct, there is such a thing as overpowering a plane.  My Buzzard Bombshell flies on 2-cells and it is quite powerful enough.   ;)
Congratulations on a successful Maiden Flight!