RCU Forums - View Single Post - Hobbico Superstar
View Single Post
Old 01-02-2006, 05:57 PM
  #10  
mmc205
Junior Member
 
mmc205's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Pottstown, PA
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default RE: Hobbico Superstar

I bought the superstar EP about a year ago and learned on it. I trained myself via a simulator and then did my first solo on it. I have since moved on to 3D flying and aerobatic electric flying but decided to modify the ol trainer and have some more fun. Initially i canned the original motor and put a reverse magnetic mayhem with a 2.5:1 gear drive and swung a 12x8 prop with it. I junked the stock battery pack and got some 3000 mah nimh 8.4 V packs from www.batteryspace.com for about $15 each. It flew pretty well like this. Powerful enough to ROG from short or tall grass, even light snow. I believe it weighed about 42 ounces and made about 25 ounces of thrust. After about 8months of unuse, i decided to change the power system. I left the old motor on, regeared 3.8:1, same 12x8 prop, and put 2 11.1 V 1800mah lipo packs in parallel for an equivalent 11.1V 3600 mah pack. I dropped about 6 ounces, added some capacity and some voltage. I also added ailerons just for the heck of it. The plane now weights roughly 36 ounces, and creates about 36 ounces of thrust. I added only $10 in hardware, and $60 in lipo packs for this performance gain. Remember guys, you don't have to have brushless to get good power. The magnetic mayhem is at 11.1 Volts and pulling 21 amps at full throttle. Every good old brushed motors can do the trick. In my opinion, its the power gain and weight saving that lipos offer that really make the difference. If you can only spend money on one thing, get the lipos, keep the brushed motor. If anyone would like more details on this transition, shoot me an email at
[email protected]
I'll try and post pictures if i remember.