flyfisher117

Just curious if anyone knows of any floats for a hobby zone champ? Ive seen the schematics on how to make your own but im not feeling that crafty.

HobbyZone lists these: secure.hobbyzone.com/GWSFLOAT535.html

It says they will work on a stick plane so would they work on a champ? Im not worried about still being able to do backflips or any "crazy" flying (crazy for a champ) Just want to have a little fun at the local pond.

EDIT:...Wait a minute...I thought when I first read about those floats it said they were 7" long... not 21"

JeffinTD

I have these.

http://www.seaplanesupply.com/micro.html

You do have to build the mounts





I've got the floats a little too far back, relative to the CG in this photo. Also, I've found using a battery with a higher C rating (like Nanotech) is needed to get the thing to pull the floats off the water.

Otherwise, it is a blast.

JeffinTD

Here's a better shot of the float mounts. Made from a couple pieces of bass wood, a couple pieces of music wire, and the cross braces are carbon fiber.



The front mount fits into the stock gear slot, and the rear has a 90 degree bend. You cut a little slot in the bottom of the fuse, hook the 90 degree part in that, and rotate the mount to push the front mount into the stock gear socket.

Here's a shot of the slot for the rear mount, strengthened with tape.



It makes it easy to swap floats for gear and vice versa.

flyfisher117

Did you just use the standard wire from the landing gear to make the mounts?

JeffinTD

The step in the float should be just behind the plane's CG.

I left the stock gear alone, and bent up the front and the rear float mount from music wire. 1/32 or something, if I recall. I didn't make the float gear quite as tall as the diagram shows.

flyfisher117

Think I may have to get a couple pairs. Sorry for the last stupid question but can you point me towards batteries with better c ratings? Would they charge off of my normal charger?

JeffinTD

Look at nanotech from Hobby King. I think they have a 130 and a 160 mah. Works fine with standard charger, but can accept a faster charge.

flyfisher117

Ok thanks for the info!



Before I spend the time / money on floats I sort of want to upgrade the motor, is it possible to get a new motor for under $20, that will plug right into the plane and require no major mods

JeffinTD

I have no idea on that one. Just more battery capacity did give mine more power.