RE: Large electric warbirds 60 size plus,,,lets see em
Dean RCU, Beautiful P-39!!! One of my favorites. Here's mine so far. H-9 spitfire & P-40. And an ASM F7F tigercat. All are powered with E-Flite power 60 motors, 80 amp CC ESCs and run on 6s 5000mah batts. The tigercat X 2 of course.
Posted on: 8/28/2012 2:13 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Glow to Electric Conversions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11209419

RE: ASM F-7F Tigercat
Hi Don, No I haven't flown the Cat with them, but I do fly my H-9 Spitty & P-40 with the same motor & APC props. The Spitty has an uncut prop and the P-40 has been trimmed a bit. I think the P-40 performs better and is probably getting a few more RPMs, but, she also weighs 1.75 lbs less. Comparing apples & oranges. You can always trim the props down to suit your power output. They always unload some once in the air, especially props with big cuts. I'm hoping to get to the field this Sun. to try out the APCs. Blue skies! Rick
Posted on: 5/29/2012 6:47 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11099260

RE: ASM F-7F Tigercat
Thanks elojim, She's an electric cat. 2 E-flite power 60s. 2, 6s, 5000mah batteries, one for each motor. She flew her maiden flight with a pair of EMP 15 X 10 props but I have since installed some APC 15.75 X 13 props cut down ~ 1/4". Good luck on yours. Blue skies! Rick
Posted on: 5/29/2012 2:26 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11098932

RE: ASM F-7F Tigercat
Fast forward. I put her all back together. I can't emphisize how important it is to gather up ALL of the pieces of your wrecked plane and bring them back for analysis and piecing the puzzle back together. I remade many of the pieces of the structure in the damaged nacells and wing by using the reminents of the original. I used 0.75oz fiberglass to repair the cracked / broken plastic skin and it turned out really well and is very strong. Now here's the kicker, When I did my perliminary power run-ups the right motor kept shutting down with full throttle application. Hmmmm. I didn't notice that before the 1st maiden attempt and in fact I ran 2 complete battery packs through her before the 1st maiden varring the throttle from 1/2 to full and wiggiling the control surfaces just to make sure I could get a full flight. But now I'm getting the right motor cutting off to probably 1/2 power when advancing the throttle from say 1/2 or 3/4 to full but not every time. Now I'm thinking, I bet the right motor shut down just as she was lifting off during the ill fated maiden attempt. What the H3LL??? So I get out the lap top with the castle link set up and go through the ESC settings again. (I had set them both up at the same time before the first maiden). OMG, the right ESC has the current detection on the middle setting, (forgot what it's called), and the left side is set at 'insensative'. (what it should be). Somewhere along the line, I didn't save all of the settings. With ESCs all correct, full throttle for extended periods is now a non issue. So this morning the Kitty took to the skies. I mean you couldn't have driven a needle up my A$$ with a sledge hammer when she went down the runway. But she lifted off nicely did what I told her to do. Needed a bunch of down elevator to fly level but once trimmed was pretty well behaved. I might move the CoG forward a little bit although, she didn't really exibit a tail heavy nature. So I'm pretty happy to finally get to pilot one of my all time favorite war bird models. Pics attached. Blue skies!
Posted on: 5/29/2012 7:03 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11098429

RE: ASM F-7F Tigercat
Well it's been a few months since I've added anything to this thread, but much has transpired. I finally completed the cat just before Christmas and took her to the field the following weekend. What a disaster. By the time I had her ready to maiden, the steering servo of all things went bad I had to change it out, a 8 - 10mph left to right cross breeze had come up. She rolled down the runway for the first time and just as she started to lift off, she banked hard to the right and turned unusually fast to the right. Now with a tail wind and not much airspeed, the control surfaces were non responsive and she mushed back into the ground. At first I believed the cross wind had lifted the left wing turnning her down wind and causing the whole episode. I just wanted to kick myself for not being patient. Below is the pictorial and the aftermath. I hurt her pretty good but didn't kill her. Tore the left nacell right off. busted up a bunch of the plastic on the left nacell and the fuselage & as you can imagine, did some pretty good damage to the left wing half where the nacell ripped away. The pics show her before I picked up the pieces.
Posted on: 5/29/2012 7:01 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11098426

RE: Large scale warbirds, best ARF for electric conversion?
Hi Andrew, I've done hangar-9 Spitfire & P-40. The Spitty is a great candidate for a battery hatch. Here is a link to my hatch thread; http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1394370&highlight=rickavery The P-40 not such a good candidate as the space & bulkheads aren't as convienent for such. Both are wonderful fliers with power 60s on 6s. The Spitty has split flaps
Posted on: 11/22/2011 10:43 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Glow to Electric Conversions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10824044

RE: need advice on p40 setup
Wingspam, I have 2 battery set ups. 1 is a 6s1p 5000mah battery, (a single 6cell, 5000mah brick), the other is a 6s2p, (2, 3cell 5000mah packs wired in series). I put ~ 60% charge back in, so, I'm being pretty conservative at 5 -7 mins. and could proably strech another min. or two. Several manufacturers make larger batteries, i.e. 6000mah and up, Max-Amps, Thunder Power and others. Good luck. Rick
Posted on: 9/28/2011 7:05 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Glow to Electric Conversions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10738194

RE: ASM F-7F Tigercat
Thanks drob, That's a nice idea for the cables. I'll be all over that! The radials aren't exactly stock. There were dimples in the engine case and the rocker arm perches just sitting there begging for some push-rod tubes. So I cut round toothpicks to length, painted them and glued them in place. Might not be an option with a fuelie and the increased vibration. Heck, they might fall off with the electric also??? They'll be on for the pre-maiden photo opp. Going to pull the retracts out and loctite all of the screws and such. Does anyone have any info on the max pressure the air tank is good for without exploding it in my face? And, what pressures you are running vs. the number of retract cycles you're getting? Thanks again for all the great info. Rick
Posted on: 9/27/2011 11:20 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10737319

RE: ASM F-7F Tigercat
Hi Stagger, Lots of good info here, thanks for the link. So you say you have two tanks, does that mean you alternate between them or you have two tanks on the plane? Also, at 100psi, do you have any gear slamming problems mentioned earlier in this thread where they actuate to quickly? Some have mentioned a valve that I assume can be micro adjusted to slow the introduction of air into the cylinders. I'm kind of feeling a mixed bag of goods nearing the completion of this build. I'm excited about getting her into the air, but feel a bit worried about the structural issues that have become apparent. I mean, I like to fly in a scale like manner, fluid manuvers, shallow take off angles... but loops, rolls, inverted flight, are manuvers this plane can perform in real life and would appear that this model will not stand up to them for very long without major structural modification. Bummer. Such a beautiful and , in real life, high performance airplane religated to flying upright laps. Oh well, I'm sure she's quite majestic in the air reguardless of how she's being flown. Still have some hours of work to do. Thanks again & Blue skies! Rick
Posted on: 9/27/2011 11:17 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10737901

RE: ASM F-7F Tigercat
WOW, this thread has a LOT of good info. I've been slowly putting my ASM Tigercat together for several months and corrosponding with Stagger over at RCG. Between Stagger and the good folks here There's plenty of info to chew on. Thanks to all here who have taken the time to post. Greatly appreciated! I'm on the home streach in my build. Going electric. All motors, ESCs, servos are installed. Tail planes are hinged, attached and connected to servos. Landing gear is installed but not plumbed. I did attach the pull-pull cables to the nose wheel but sure don't like all that sloppy cable flapping around when the wheel is retracted and haven't got a handle on how to keep them from snagging on the axel when lowering the nose gear. I believe I'll go for the seperate nose gear steering servo and eliminate some of the cable. I am a bit dissapointed with all of the QC problems that ASM has bestowed upon us. Some of the parts are chincy and the manual is very general. I'm hoping that by going electric, (minimal vibration), and non agressive flying will give her a long life. Of course, the all important smooth landings will be a major factor in her longevity, but that one is up to me. Here are a couple of pics. I opted to go a slightly different direction than Stagger and cut hatches in the nacells. The dummy radial is from Park Flyer Plastics. With the info from this thread I should be able to complete the main gear doors, gear plumbing get her in the air. Thanks again for the great discussion.
Posted on: 9/27/2011 10:01 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Twin & Multi Engine RC Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10736628

RE: need advice on p40 setup
Hi Wingspam, I have a Hangar-9 P-40 & a Spitfire Both 60e size that I built up as electrics. The P-40 weighs in at just under 9lbs. and the Spitty is 10.75lbs. They both share the same power system. E-Flite Power 60 motors, CC P-80 amp ESCs on 6s, 5000mah Lipos. The P-40 has an APC, 15.75 X 13 3 blade prop that I cut down to ~14.75" in dia. The Spitty has the same APC prop not cut down. The P-40 is noticably faster, but at 2lbs less, you would think so, although, I think the smaller prop is getting me higher RPMs & prop speed & is helping the performance. Not that the Spitty is a slouch. There was a club mate at the field a few weeks back with the same Spitfire using a fuel motor of some type and it was clear that the e-powered model of mine performed much better. The draw back is 5 to 7 min. flights vs. his 12+ min. Good luck.
Posted on: 9/26/2011 1:38 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Glow to Electric Conversions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10735163

RE: twin engine choices
Leadtongue, Yea, we also saw that. The amps pulled, using a watt meter, were well within the ESCs ability. I don't remember the exact numbers, but checking amp draw is ALWAYS part of the build and a good margin of safety is built in. As a plus to Castle Creations, they warrenteed both ESCs with new ones. The only thing we could figure with the 2nd ESC starting to burn was a major malfunction upon impact or some big voltage spikes when the first one fried. Without rudders, she's pretty much uncontrollable when one motor shuts down. If I were to build one, I'd disable the BECs and run a seperate UBEC to power up the Rx & servos. This was not the case with this model, although 4 small servos on 3s shouldn't have been a problem. I've gone to using UBECs on everything. Good luck. Rick
Posted on: 12/6/2009 11:53 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric General Discussion"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9307941

RE: 2 brushless motor wiring?
Hurkeybird, A couple of things to mention. When you wire batteries in series, you increase the voltage & not the capacity, (mah rating). When you wire them in parrallel you increase the capactiy & NOT the voltage. Two 3s2p say, 4200mah batteries, wired in parrallel = 3s4p, 11.1v 8800mah battery. Wired in series = 6s2p, 22.2v 4400mah battery. BIG diference! Also, just because the manufacturer calls for a 45 to 60 amp ESC, doesn't mean the ESC will draw that much from the battery. That is determined by the voltage of the battery, the size of the prop, the kv of the motor & how heavy you use the throttle. If a 45 to 60 amp ESC is reccomended, I'd go for the 60 amp just to be safe. If you wish to use two batteries, wire them in parrallel. Make a 'Y' , (if you're using deans), 2 male, battery leads soldered to a single female lead, black to black, red to red. This plugs into both batteries. The voltage is not increased but the capacity is & both batteries will be drained at the same rate. Then make another 'Y' just the opposite, a single male to 2 female leads. These will connect to your two ESCs and supply voltage to the motors. you will aslo need to 'Y' the ESC connectors together to provide a single input to the Rx. I'd remove the center pin, (usually red), from the Rx connection and power the Rx & servos with a seperate UBEC. Good luck. Rick
Posted on: 12/5/2009 11:34 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric General Discussion"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9307050

RE: twin engine choices
My Bro-in-law had the same plane and outfitted it with HiMaxx 2816-1220 outrunners, 8X6 3 bladed counter rotating props on a single 3s Lipo 3000 to 4000mah I don't remember exactly & TB 36 ESCs. She flew very well and had plenty of power well over scale flying. Not unlimited vert. On about her 5th flight one of the ESCs malfunctioned, and caught fire in flight. She crashed and burned, literally!!
Posted on: 12/3/2009 10:38 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric General Discussion"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9302047

RE: Finished my Avro Arrow.
Thanks Larry, Your EDF looks great! The legend of the Arrow lives on! Rick
Posted on: 2/25/2009 3:26 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8517444

RE: Finished my Avro Arrow.
Was able to get a windless day last Sun. afternoon for some 'Blue Sky' photos. The sun was very low in the sky and made for some neat pics. Enjoy. Rick
Posted on: 12/24/2008 1:08 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8277085

RE: Finished my Avro Arrow.
The lines of this plane just drip with speed. From the needle on the nose to the sharply swept tail to the delta wing. She looks fast setting still!! I knew the minute I saw it , that I had to try and build one. Best of luck with your new model!! Blue skies. Rick
Posted on: 12/17/2008 12:17 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8253874

RE: Finished my Avro Arrow.
One other note, I used the CoG per the plans & to this point, it has worked well. Rick
Posted on: 12/10/2008 11:30 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8231824

RE: Finished my Avro Arrow.
DW_Crash, The plans I started with were some I found at RCG in the pusher prop jet forum in a sticky at the beginning. The plans are for a 24" WS model. I enlarged them with an office copier to obtain a 36" WS & taped the pieces together. For the most part, the plans were just a basic guide as I didn't use much more than the basic profiles that the plans provided, and I built her using much of Steve Shumates techniques for building park jets. The plans call for several full width bulkheads which I eliminated in favor of the intakes being flow-through. I also doubled up the thickness of the wing and tail and shaped the elevons to have more surface area. I incorporated a hand hold at the CoG for launching. Here's the plans and a few construction pics. Happy building/flying. Rick
Posted on: 12/10/2008 10:17 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8231602

RE: Finished my Avro Arrow.
Here's a couple of in flight pics. Unfortunately, a cloudy day prevented the contrast I was hoping to get for her first, all painted up, flight. Enjoy. Rick
Posted on: 12/8/2008 12:40 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8223863

RE: Finished my Avro Arrow.
Thanks guys for the kind words. This is a scratch build I made from some plans I found on RCG. It was originaly a 24" WS set of plans which I modified with Shumate techniques. Made from FFF, 1" pink foam, a couple of carbon fiber pieces and a few balsa pieces. I flew her before I painted her up. I make my scratch builds earn their colors. Has a lot of power and thrust. Will go almost straight up!! Not very high all out speed. Don't get me wrong, for a larger model, she scoots right along. Good luck on your condor model. Happy building/flying Rick
Posted on: 12/6/2008 10:23 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8220073

Finished my Avro Arrow.
I've finally put the finishing touches on my Arrow. Final specs: 35.5" WS, 50" length, (not counting the needle), 47oz AUW. A BP 1410kv, 36mm outrunner & BP 60amp ESC on a 4s 2500mah, 25c Lipoo & an APC 8X4e prop, 3amp UBEC running off of the flight pack, 2X HS-81s - elevons & 1 HS-55 - rudder. I've only flown her without paint, so I'm hoping the wing will die down so I can get some in flight pics up. Also a couple of pics of the hand carved pilot. Special thanks to [b]Mark DiMonte [/b]for his willingness to help a fellow modeler. Happy building/flying! Rick
Posted on: 12/6/2008 4:08 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8218955

RE: whats the advantage or disadvantage to edf?
In my experience, EDFs are generally more expensive to build/operate. When compared to a prop power system, fans are less efficient and require a higher output power system for the same performance & usually shorter flight times. This means larger ESCs, motors & batteries, and usually equates to more $$$$. But, EDFs have a cool factor which is high on the scale! They also sound pretty neat, also helping the cool factor. Right now, I only have one twin fan plane and a gagle of pusher jets. I find pushers are less hastle, less $$$ & easier on equipment, i.e. batteries. I still want to build an F-86 EDF though. Happy flying. Rick
Posted on: 11/24/2008 3:21 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8178892

RE: Depron Avro Arrow
I took the arrow out this morning and threw her into the air. She flew very well with no real surprises. I added the slight up thrust Mark suggested and all went good. She balloons a bit with full throttle but when trimmed to fly flat at 1/2 throttle, she came down with the elevons nice and level. I may back off a tad on the up angled motor which should cause me to get a bit of reflex into the elevons & lessen the ballooning. Now she's in the paint booth getting spackeled, sanded, sealed and painted up. This is really the fun part for me as I'm going to paint her up as RL 203. Researching the symbols, insignias & markings, which were slightly different for each plane, is sometimes a challange. Thanks all for your help, suggestions & thoughts. Blue skies. Rick
Posted on: 11/4/2008 8:45 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8113416

RE: Depron Avro Arrow
Here's a few pics of the crashed & repaired Arrow. I hope to try to fly her again in a day or two. Wish me luck.[:D] Rick
Posted on: 11/3/2008 1:15 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8109877

RE: Scale planes w/retracts 25 size or smaller?
Jim, Yes, Allerc is also a fine company to deal with. The Fuse is fiberglass with built up wings and tail feathers. I've had no problems with the retracts on hard dirt or paved runways. As is the case with most gear, if you pancake it in hard, you'll damage something. The most I've done is to bend a leg slightly on a rough landing or two. I think folks have a bit of a problem with them on grass though mostly due to the small, (more to scale), diameter of the wheels and the tendency to want to nose over. I put spacers under the back sides of the retract mechanisms to kick the legs out forward a bit. Have nary had a nose over since. I've been very happy with the quality of the plane, although I must add that I DID NOT build it from the kit. I purchased it from and RCGer who built 95% of it and did not feel confident enough to fly her. There are several threads over at RCG which have much info. I'll try to get up some more pics this eve. Good luck. Rick
Posted on: 10/28/2008 11:33 AM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric General Discussion"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8092460

RE: Depron Avro Arrow
Thanks for the reply Mark. The wing is a flat airfoil. When the motor mount broke, just the motor fell off & I was able to softly land in my neighbors' sandy horse arena. The mounting stick is solid and unchanged. A new motor mount, A beefy one, and a few cosmetic patches where the prop hit the foam before becoming detached was all that was needed to fix. I've always set the thrust line at 0 deg. on all of my other pusher jets, but I will recheck the thrust line and maybe try your suggestion to add some slight up thrust to the motor. I've always used the LAR, (looks about right) method and maybe it wasn't about right.[:D] I love cold war jets! This plane has such a mistique and strange history, that a complete airframe wasn't preserved for a museum boggles the mind!![:(] Your planes look great!! Thanks again for your time and suggestions. I'll let you know how things turn out. Happy flying. Rick
Posted on: 10/27/2008 6:57 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8090448

RE: Scale planes w/retracts 25 size or smaller?
You can get Hyperion stuff at , Bishop power Products & at Quiet RC Flying. Both of these stores are very knowladgeable, friendly and willing to help out. Rick
Posted on: 10/27/2008 4:59 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric General Discussion"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8090047

RE: Depron Avro Arrow
Hello Mark, I just happen to stumble upon this thread as I don’t frequent this site much anymore. What caught my eye, was the plans you posted on the first page. I think those are the plans I used to start building my Arrow. I got the plans from pusher jets forum over on RCG. I scaled them up to get a 36� WS. I did take the liberty to modify the build a bit and incorporated Shumate style techniques in many areas. See the pics. I like the flow-through design as I believe it cools the ESC & motor more efficiently. Unfortunately, after a semi successful maiden flight, where the motor mount broke in half 4mins. In, the arrow went in hard on flight #2. I’m still a bit dumbfounded as to the cause. After the maiden flight in which I had to trim in a lot of up-elevon, to achieve level flight, I noticed after landing the amount of reflex was huge! I took this to be a nose-heavy condition. I was back ~1/2� from the CG on the plans. The plane was also a bit twitchy during roll maneuvers. The response to roll commands seemed to lag then roll quickly. I had read somewhere that if the leading edges of smaller planes were too sharp, that less than stable handling can occur. My leading edges were sanded to a sharp edge so I rounded them off a bit, added some tail weight to bring the CG back hoping to get rid of some of the reflex and went back out for flight #2. When I threw her up, I didn’t give any up angle to my toss, (I’m tossing off of a hill so 30’ straight out gets me 15’ of altitude). She just sagged down the hill and no amount of up stick helped. Into the weeds and shread the nose back to the intakes!! D@mn! I hate when that happens!! Accept for a few dings and missing chunks of foam, the rear & wing survived intact. I couldn’t believe she wouldn’t pull up at all! The only thing I could figure is the surface area of the elevons isn’t enough. So I’ve cut them off, widened the elevons out toward the wing tips. The overall shape of the wing didn’t change. I’ve about got the nose repaired and should be ready for round 3 in a week or two. The power system is no slouch at 450watts and an AUW as pictured at 52oz. If you have any insight to my dilemma and or any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. Here’s the specs on my Arrow; Blu-core, FFF construction. Wing and tail are double thickness. 36� WS, 49� length. BP 36mm 1500kv outrunner with a 60amp ESC, 3amp UBEC, 4s, 3000mah 20c Lipo with an APC 8X4e prop. HS-81s for elevons & HS-55 rudder. Also pictured is my FFF F-15 at 39� WS, 53� length. Same power system but an AUW of 62oz. and a wonderful flyer. Love those bigger jets! Blue skies. Rick
Posted on: 10/27/2008 4:29 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8089926

RE: Scale planes w/retracts 25 size or smaller?
Hyperion make a couple of war birds in 25e size that have retracts. Mustang & Spitfire and I think one more, slips my memory. Here's my Mustang ' Suzy' A solid flyer! Good luck. Rick
Posted on: 10/27/2008 3:04 PM by Author "RickAvery" in the forum "Electric General Discussion"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8089724