milky

couple questions regarding e starter:

1. which receiver should i use? R4PII or R6NII (both GWS brand)
2. my estarter comes with 400 motor, which ESC should i use? ICS 400E, ICS 480E, or ICS 600E. (all GWS brand), and what are the differences?
3. is the GWS Rx can be used with hitec Tx? (same shift?)
4. which battery is recommended? 8.4V 750mAH Ni-Cd or 9.6V 750mAH Ni-Cd ?
5. whats the different between GWS pico and naro servo? which one should i put on the GWS e starter?

all of the items i mention above are the only item available from my LHS, so please don't recommend other brand or type.
thank you

Time Pilot

My opinion on some of your questions.

#1. The advertised range of the Naro is farther out (1000' vs 500') so I'd go with that. If your Tx allows it, you'll eventually be able to do flaperons and other mixes.

#2. The 400ESC will be enough. 15 AMPs continuous, 25 burst. The difference is how many amps they can handle. The larger the number, the more amps. My only concern is that the E versions of the ESC have a lower voltage cutoff: 3.2Volts as opposed to the other GWS escs that have a 4.2V cutoff. I'm not the battery expert, but I'm almost sure that you'll have to monitor your own packs and not trust the ESC to cut the engine for you.

#3. From the reports I hear, the 400 begs for a 9.6V battery. That said, I've seen the GWS 400 Tiger Moth fly on a 8.4V battery.

#5. The difference between the servos is their size, strength and the amount of torque they output. I'd recommend the Naro's only because they are the same size as the Hitec 55's which many use.

Good luck with your Estarter. I'm putting mine together now. Should be finished by spring at the rate I go.... [] Good thing I've got 2 other planes to feed my need.[8D]

RCDOC

I have an E-starter along with both of my brothers and my cousin. First of all congrates on buying one of the most fun to fly trainer planes out there. This is the plane I have used to teach my cousin and both my bros to fly on and they all are impressed, no matter if it is the 350, 400 or the Himax 2812 0805. We have flown the wings of the 350's with 8.4 batterys and you get very satisfacory flight times and performance. We will be launching a 400 this weekend for the first time with a 8.4 1100 mah battery (nimh) So I can let you know how this goes later. I was getting 10-12 min. flights on the 350 with a 8.4 750mah pack.

I have used both receivers and was very happy with both and never went out of range with either. If your gonna spend the money spend the few extra bucks and get the R6nII (I have flaperons and a camera mounted in my estarter and I had to upgrade the receiver.

I use the Gws and Hitec servos and both work fine so just pick your favorite color and go with that.

Your hitec transmiter should work with the GWS receiver but just verify with your LHS cause some are marked for futaba and hitec and the others are for JR and Airtronics I beleive.

I now have a Himax 2812 0805 and li-poly 1500 battery pack and castle creations speed controller (pheonix 25) And would Highly recommend this upgrade when the time is right for you. It is a direct bolt on and you get extreme performance with a 10/ 4.7 prop. My E-starter is very heavy compared to most (aluminum landing gear and big battery pack {losts of repairs/epoxy} bigger tires, camera) and it will still almost climb straight up. Without the exrtas it climbs amazingly.

Hope this is helpful later and ENJOY

lwien

On a 400 E-Starter, 8.4v nimh batts isn't gonna cut it, and the 9.6 nimh batts will work but only marginally so. The plane really comes into it's own on something like a TP1320 3s lipo. That's what I've been using and she'll take off with authority within 5 feet at half throttle and climb out at 45 degrees and will cruise for over 30 minutes at a quarter to half throttle. Great plane but you MUST have the right battery............

RCDOC

Do you need that power for a beginner or is that just what is nice to have for a polished flier? I flew the 350 on a 8.4 and It was fine...nothing like my 3 li-poly I have now, but did the trick. Would it fly it well enough to learn on?

lwien

Yes. The E-Starter was my first aileron trainer after flying a Slow Stick. I started with the 9.6 Nimh in the 400 E-Starter and because of it's very low air speed, was very difficult to control and to fly. The 3s Lipo made it much, much easier to fly.

RCDOC

Right you are. The estarter was very slugish with the 9.6 and the 400 But that was with the prop that came with it (10/6) ... we put a 10/8 on and the performance is much better. I agree the 3 lipoly are the way to go but the 9.6 works with the right prop, if you can't afford the lipolys, quite well...especially for the beginner.

RCDOC

I Lied it was a 8.4 volt and now we tried the 9.6 and that made a great difference from the 8.4 The 8.4 and a the prop that came in the kit were not enough but the prop in the kit and a 9.6 work fine. Experiment with props and you may be surprised I know I was.