[Dutkoski]

I'm getting ready for Wingham Jets later this month and am getting as many EDF planes ready as I can. Remembered I had a NIB Nitro Plane Bobcat 52 in the garage, so pulled it out. Made a plywood mount and attached a Hoaye 89 mm EDF unit. Rather easy conversion for using a EDF unit instead of the .46 two stroke pusher. Will be using a Turnigy 1500 KV motor, a Turnigy 80 amp ESC and a pair of Zippy 5000 3S1P's that have a 30 - 40 C rating. This setup produces 1270 watts of power at only a 56 amp draw.
Laid it out on the workbench and it's not a bad looking airframe. Not going to put in retracts, just to keep it simple. Will be reducing the length of the landing gear struts as they are quite long having to accomidate the prop clearance of a pusher, not eeded with EDF.
I'll post pic's shortly after I get it ready.
If anyone has had any experience with this conversion, any advise would be appreciated.

[Dutkoski]

Well, the ARF went together fairly easy, parts fitted pretty good. The EDF mount is 1/8" plywood epoxied together, held to the fuse with four 8-32 cap screws. I lowered the landing gear struts so the mains give a 4" clearance which gives the plane a much nicer stance than the Daddy Long Leg struts needed for prop clearance. Also, I swapped out the stock foam wheels as they fitted very sloppy on the struts and were out of round. I found on Hobby City some really nice sport wheel that have turned aluminum hubs at a price I just couldn't say no to. When I got them I was very pleased, well made, very light and they come with inserts for several wire sizes. I'll be ordering a lot more of those.
I'll be using the receiver battery to do the final balancing of the airframe. The twin batteries fit nicely in the bay in front of the location where the regular fuel tank would be installed. The hole for the fuel lines provide a clean way of getting the motor wires into the fuse but I will be securing them somehow as they will be right under the EDF unit and coming up in front of the impellor.
Tomorrow night should see the completion of this project, just in time for Jets Over Wingham this coming weekend.

[Dutkoski]

Well, the conversion worked fine, however, as I posted in the thread regarding my Banshee II, I accidentally fried my 6 cell setup. Oh what to do....... first, had a beer, swore a little bit, then did some actual thinking. I have a bunch of 1800 kv motors, so took out the 1500 kv and swapped in an 1800. This way, I could use a 5 cell battery which generated over 1250 watts of power. Ok, plane was ready and we were off to Wingham Jets. Well, my good buddy, Ted Antonopolus was elected, well, not really, I told him he was testing the planes. After all, I drove and it was a long way back to Toronto.......so he agreed. Well, the plane took off beautifully, he advised it could use more power. Flew it around abit, seemed stable and manouverable. However, the first landing was a bit hard, but normally, it should not have caused a problem. But the main landing gear on both sides collapsed which was interesting as both collapsed identically in the same manner. Upon operating on the plane with the razor knife, I discovered that the landing gear support blocks were not secured to their location properly and in my opinion, not with the proper type of glue. Both blocks were attached to one of the spars and the side of a plywood rib which should provide suffiecent support even for a rough landing. In both cases, the blocks seperated with no damage indicating inferior workmanship, in my opinion. I re-attached them with a generous amount of 30 minute epoxy. Then to cover the damaged area, I use packing tape ( not pretty, but it works ) to cover over the area where I had to remove the balsa covering. The second flight started off really good, then part way through the flight the canopy blew off, guess my elastic hold down wasn't strong enough, totally my fault. Ted did a great job in bringing the plane in for a safe landing, considering the areodynamics of the airframe changed instantly. The landing was a bit fast but fairly smooth. Upon inspection, the stock landing gear wire had bent backwards by about .75". The stock wire dose not have a curl in the wire, it's simply bent 90 degrees. The spring design would have prevented this. Even if you spent the extra on an oleo strut, I think the wire would have been bent back.
So, there you have it, my mods will be, make a new set of struts, and get a bigger 6 or 7 cell battery or put back the 1800 kv motor and stay with the 5 cell or push it to 6 cells. Oh, Nitro Planes have replacement canopies for $7.00 USD so it's not really worth it to make my own, but this time I think I'll use a more positive hold down system, or a bigger elastic band.............
Now the question is, is the landing gear system a design problem or just my plane, well, I obtained a second set of wings, booms and stab from a friend whose plane isn't any more. The landing gear in both spare wings are damaged identically to mine, you make the call....

[Shotgun06]

Thanks for the flight report. It seems to be a common problem to have weak landing gear with the ARF from Nitroplane. Most of their birds seems to need some reinforcement to that area or simply more glue to hold it together. I have some ARFs from them and overall they are still a interesting considering the price.

Alain

[Dutkoski]

Well, the Turnigy motors are not living up to the info that is on the Hobby City website. I fried both the 1800 Kv and the 1500 kv motors. The 1800 kv was good for only two flights then is simply refused to spin. That was using a 5 cell battery pack, the max indicated on their chart. The 1500 KV seemed to perform well testing it on 5 cells, just not enough power, so i gambled and tried it with a 6 cell setup, one cell more than what is recommended, well, half a flight and it fired. So you cannot push them as you can the Mega motor brands, which I'm petty sure we all do at one time or another.

So, I'm putting in a Mega Acn 22/30/3 which is in the 1500 kv range and will see what will happen with a 6 cell then push it with a 7 cell battery setup.

Anyone out there with any info on this would be appreciated. The turnigy motors are inexpensive so I don't mind burning one out but the Megas are a bit more pricey.....