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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> "1/2 A" & "1/8 A" airplanes >> RE: Going electric
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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 3:13:53 PM   
digital_trucker



Posts: 1311
Joined: 2/4/2006
From: Dorr, MI, USA
Status: offline 		I like small airplanes, I just want to be able to build and fly them just like their larger brethren. This requires an engine MADE like their larger brethren, and it's certainly possible (it's just not being done). There simply is no reason you can't have a small glow engine that has all the features standard in every other modern engine, while taking into account a couple of peculiar needs inherent in small engine (turbo plugs being the prime difference). Any engine of any displacement that lacks the common modern conventions has only two uses, either as a novelty or for competition. Novelty and competition are fine, but there's a whole untapped market for everyday sport flying.

I'm definitely sensing an elitist and 'purist' mindset. This is why 1/2A is dead, for all intents and purposes, and why electrics have taken over the small plane market. 1/2A hasn't modernized in line with the rest of the IC world....by and large it's still all about decades-old technology and standards.

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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 3:39:34 PM   
planebuilder66



Posts: 1033
Joined: 11/6/2003
From: Mystic, CT, USA
Status: offline 		Yeah, 1/2A engines are nostalgic to say the least, the norvel .074 was the pinnical design of 1/2A engines, but faded away and to never be seen again. So what were left with is the second best engines on the market, but they're not complete junk, yes turds in some shape or form, but I don't see korn sticking out of them. I still fly my 1/2A engined planes, because of economy, I figure about 30 flights a quart( I spill about 2 ozs), my topflight p-47 burns 16 ozs of 15% every flight, don't even get me started on my moki 2.10 I had in the pica waco. 24 ozs a flight.
I do agree that we may not have to grow up, but we do have to grow old, as well as pay more for these engines. You can only trim the fat soo much in production before the quality starts to go down in order to make it cheaper. If norvel .074's were still in production, I'd pay 100 for each motor, why? Because they're worth every red cent. (russian joke) I hope that some day the norvels come back or some other manufacturer steps up and makes something similar to that little jem. If I hit the lottery, I'd fund a small engine development project to revive the .074, but they would be about 100 a engine, maybe you could market them with a few spare glow plugs/heads to make it seem worth while investment. I remember my buddy sent one of his RB buggy engines back to the manufacture because it was worn out, they rebuilt it for a few bucks and shipped it back to him. That's customer care and commitment to me. But with most small engines now a days, there is no customer support or service to speak of, so were all left to tinker and fiddle till we get it right.

(in reply to Remby)
       Post #: 27

RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 3:58:06 PM   
combatpigg



Posts: 10136
Joined: 11/22/2003
From: arlington, WA, USA
Status: online 		There may be some VA RC engines still floating around? DT, if you ever get the chance, there is your engine. I use mine almost exclusively for 3D with a 6x2 prop and the engine has infinite control, great throttle reponse.

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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 4:59:16 PM   
digital_trucker



Posts: 1311
Joined: 2/4/2006
From: Dorr, MI, USA
Status: offline 		I know, I'd really like a VA MkII. That looks to have everything an engine should (so why don't the chinese make a copy of THAT engine?). Good luck finding one, owners aren't likely to want to part with one (can't blame 'em either). If someone has one or two, I'd be willing to consider a trade (I have some MP Jet PB R/C engines, and I could be talked out of one of my Norvel .074's - none of which have been run).

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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 5:36:31 PM   
tangerine-jack



Posts: 310
Joined: 8/20/2006
From: Chesapeake, VA, USA
Status: offline 		This is not a problem at all as I see it. Any forum member fed up with the archaic technology involved in proper 1/2A flying can send me all of his or her .049 and .051s. I'll be sure to take them off your hands so you can feel free to enjoy electric flight absent of any guilt. I'm just doing this as my part in ensuring the hobby of RC flying stays alive and well. In fact, I encourage all forum members to immediatly "see the light" of the future of electric flying, abandon all of your slimer 1/2A's and send them all to me right away, then I will drop off the forum and never interfere with "proper" RC flying again.

I feel this is appropriate, if I can contribute to freeing my fellow flyers of any stigmas by holding on to all remaining 1/2A engines in the world, then I will take the bullet as it were and simply drop out of society and cloister myself at a local field and perform the dangerouse mad scientist experiments with glow engines. No one need ever hear from me again, save for a distant buzzing sound over the horizon.....

(in reply to combatpigg)
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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 7:03:06 PM   
planebuilder66



Posts: 1033
Joined: 11/6/2003
From: Mystic, CT, USA
Status: offline 		I'll take a norvel .074 off your hands, heck I have like 6 spare plugs for it, I still have yet to burn out the original.

(in reply to tangerine-jack)
       Post #: 31

RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 8:29:37 PM   
combatpigg



Posts: 10136
Joined: 11/22/2003
From: arlington, WA, USA
Status: online 		DT, without a doubt the most impressive 1/2A demo I've ever seen was with a Formosa [GWS?] on brushless / lipo power. It performed as good as any TOC sized 3D / Pattern job I've ever seen. This plane can go from floating around like a trainer to anything you can imagine.

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Led Zeppelin is NOT "old fogie" music.

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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 10:01:05 PM   
Thomas B


 

Posts: 477
Joined: 7/14/2002
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: combatpigg

DT, without a doubt the most impressive 1/2A demo I've ever seen was with a Formosa [GWS?] on brushless / lipo power. It performed as good as any TOC sized 3D / Pattern job I've ever seen. This plane can go from floating around like a trainer to anything you can imagine.


And how exactly is that electric Formosa flight a demo of 1/2A??...

Raw power wise and size wise, that Formosa was much more like a .15 powered glow airplane, not an .049 model.




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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 11:30:44 PM   
combatpigg



Posts: 10136
Joined: 11/22/2003
From: arlington, WA, USA
Status: online 		Thomas, I asked the guy who was flying it how much it weighed and he said 12 ozs, IIRC. Pretty hard to make a .15 size plane come in at twice that. Sizewise, it looked small enough to me to be "1/2A". I've always wanted to have that combo for back yard flying.

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Led Zeppelin is NOT "old fogie" music.

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RE: Going electric - 8/30/2008 11:52:14 PM   
planebuilder66



Posts: 1033
Joined: 11/6/2003
From: Mystic, CT, USA
Status: offline 		The best back yard flier I've ever had was a GWS pico moth, you could fly it around bushes and do the " blazing touch-n-go's,... at 7 MPH". It was truly a back yard flier, maybe a 70 x 70 area needed at most.

(in reply to combatpigg)
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RE: Going electric - 8/31/2008 12:08:11 AM   
KidEpoxy



Posts: 3610
Joined: 10/14/2004
From: San Antonio, TX, USA
Status: offline 		They make 2 sizes of Formosa,
the original s300/350 and the bigger s400 size FormosaII.
The old s300 sized one did ok on the geared can at 75w,
but yeah, the bigger one looks like a .15 would be at home

Used to fly at a place that had the electrics there in the morning transitioning to glows around 10-11. It didnt take much wind to have this guys gws TigerMoth landing with a negative ground speed

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RE: Going electric - 8/31/2008 2:09:24 AM   
Thomas B


 

Posts: 477
Joined: 7/14/2002
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: combatpigg

Thomas, I asked the guy who was flying it how much it weighed and he said 12 ozs, IIRC. Pretty hard to make a .15 size plane come in at twice that. Sizewise, it looked small enough to me to be "1/2A". I've always wanted to have that combo for back yard flying.



Span on the original small Formosa is about 35" and wing area is about 250 sq in. Pretty close to 1/2A size. I was actually thinking about the larger newer Formosa, that is 42" span and about 350 sq in....that one is more .15 sized.

In reality, all the gas engine comparisons are too limiting for electric, since you can pick any level of power and are not restricted to the power band of a given engine size.

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RE: Going electric - 8/31/2008 2:40:19 AM   
peterburford


 

Posts: 200
Joined: 5/14/2004
From: Tallebudgera Valley, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline 		DT,
Don't spend $20,000,000.00 of your projected winnings on a factory to make $100.00 engines for sale!
Spend $1,000,000.00 on a serious home machine shop and enjoy making your own.
Peter

(in reply to Thomas B)
       Post #: 38

RE: Going electric - 8/31/2008 2:40:28 AM   
tangerine-jack



Posts: 310
Joined: 8/20/2006
From: Chesapeake, VA, USA
Status: offline 		I agree, glow 1/2A is far to limiting for the creative members of this forum. Nobody should have to suffer through the embarassment of showing up at a flying field with a Cox .049. I again offer myself as a sacrificial lamb to the god of electric and will take the sin of 1/2A glow upon myself and stand ready to recieve all remaining glow engines in the world to my doorstep. Do your worst, I am ready to be showered with unwanted .049's......

(in reply to Thomas B)
       Post #: 39