RE: Aurora 60 Build Thread - Electric Power
Roary, interesting comment which begs opening another can of worms. At the risk of doing that.........my thoughts on the subject:
-1600Watts (to the motor) is what I'm planning. Given an estimated 8 lb aircraft weight and resultant 200w/lb ratio, that should be the equivalent to an absolutely fire breathing .60 2 stroke equivalent performance. A fair statement is that all pattern ships, old or new design, simply fly better with an overage of power. My goal here is to build one of the faster pattern airplanes capable of still flying the early FAI style turnarould well....and have excess power which should help. It's a cool design as well.
-I've may have already offended some Aurora "purists" out there by virtue of modifying a few things (plug-in wings and stab, slightly thinner airfoil, etc). At the end of the day, it will still look and smell like an Aurora. Might even fly better? Who knows.
-Having read about the Senior Pattern Association which I think is pretty darn cool, I noticed that they allow 4-strokes on the old designs. I don't know about you but I attended many pattern contests in the 70s and I don't remember 4 strokes being on the front of those older designs. There may have been the odd one but the 4 bangers of the era were relatively anemic and heavy compared to 2 strokes. I think the SPA is correct to allow certain changes.....it's about keeping the balance between retro/current times/ parts availability, etc. And that's my point: in my opinion, electrics will only gain popularity in the future and the type of conversion I'm performing may become common.
Having said all that, I'm eyeballing a Kyosho Oxalis 50 ARF (for electric power) as a potential Christmas gift. Best of both worlds!
Jeff L