[Thunder Chicken]

I'm in the process of finishing an 8' Unionville Otter kit. For those of you who have built this model, do you know what the weight of it is/was?
I plan to finish it with fabric, on wheels (floats at a later date)
I'm thinking about electric for power, with a turbo otter nose.
I guess it to weigh 12-15 lbs, closer to 15, ready to fly.
Thanks for any insight

Nathan

[CdnFlyer]

I do not have the Otter, but the big Norseman on wheels. It is covered with Worldtex fabric and painted. The aircraft includes flaps and navigation lights, so there is a little bit of electronics on board for switching lights on and off from the transmitter The weight comes in at just over 12 pounds. I am using a Saito 91 four stroke for power, and it flies very scale.

[flytwice]

15lbs won't be bad on an 8ft wingspan. My 8 ft Turbo Beaver is 15lbs, on electric an flies very nicely. It does land a little fast without flaps, but slows considerably with 25 degrees of flap. 8 minute flights are the norm, at 1/2 throttle. 15/8/3 blade Emp provides 1420 watts, 94 watts/lb for genrally good performance. 150 ft rollout without flaps, less than 100 with for takeoff. Your Otter should fly very nicely!! FWIW Doug B

[ray77]

Would love to see some pictures.Had the 6 footer but sold it.
They are great planes.

[Thunder Chicken]

Here's an update on my turbo otter.
The nose section is complete. I am modeling it after the 'Texas Turbines' conversion, which uses the Garrett 1000hp turbine engine with a 4 blade prop. These things HAUL compared to a Pratt!!
I am covering it with koverall/stix-it. Sealing the fabric with Minwax Polycrylic, painting with exterior latex.
Power will be from a Turnigy 50-65, 275kv, 70 amp ESC, 6s or 7s depending after a test run. I am still waiting for the prop to arrive, I ordered a VarioProp 4 blade, 15". The pitch is ground adjustable, for perfect amp draw I hope!
Right now almost everything is covered, the sealing/painting process will begin soon.
The paint will resemble an old MNR piston Otter. Maybe the bosses who sold off the otters will see what they could have had =)

[wild]

Thats a nice conversion! I am planning on a 12s setup also just wondering where you plan on locating the batteries It is a shame that these aircraft end up being cut up. I see it all to often in the last 35 years. Infact I still work on the same aircraft I worked on when I started in 77 (DH product)

I can wait to see your Otter covered and ready for flight!

[Struts1]

That is great craftsmanship Nathen, you did neat conversion job!. I made a plug for 1/72 scale Otter into Turbo Otter many many years ago for guys in plastic modeling to do this conversion and made rubber mold also. If you need close up pictures for ur documentation purposes i have whole roll worth 35mm 4x6 pictures from all different angles to do detailed job that could be yours, let me know.

[Thunder Chicken]

Batteries are located under the hatches with the vents holes are. The esc is just ahead of that with another hatch in the bottom of the nose extension. Not knowing much about electrics I did not want to have long extensions on any of the wiring without adding other components.
I put the elevator and rudder servos in the tail to help with the nose heaviness of the long nose moment and when I mocked it all up before covering it seemed to be 'close enough'. I'll be using a seperate 6v RX battery so I'll be able to move that around in the fuselage to balance the plane out.
I've ordered a set of 1/3 scale J3 wheels, should be almost the right size for the 'intermediate flotation tire'

[SpaceCowboy]

Hi Nathan ; Great job on your Otter.

I am building one now and just working out the installation of the back float supports. My plan & manual does not show any float installation so I had to wing it.
I have put a full width plywood support with steel straps on each side at the location just behind the #3 window like on the real one.
At this point in your build you might want to consider the same.

[dean2287]

Nice build, looks great! Are you going with the same color trim in the pic? I like it.