r/cdawg

Hi guys,

Just thought I would share a few pictures and info about the EFlite Advance 25e floatplane conversions my buddy bdiesel3 and I did. The Advance 25e makes for a great plane to convert to floats and offers spirited performance with it's semi-symmetrical airfoil.

I have been flying r/c planes off the water since 1974 starting with a Jetco Navigator and have always had something to fly off water ever since. When my EBT met an untimely demise last fall I thought the Advance would make a good replacement. The conversion was pretty straight forward and I'll post a few pictures below to show a few highlights.

The floats are 30" flat bottom floats from www.seaplanesupply.com and to keep things light I simply covered right over the foam with Ultracote. I actually had these floats on my EBT for over 150 flights and the iron on covering has held up extremely well thru countless beachings. Plus Ultracote covered floats and brackets only weigh 10 ounces and I'm very happy with the light weight.

The Advance is going to be a dedicated floatplane so I installed 1/8" ply hard points immediately infront of and behind the wing for the float brackets. I also used the aluminum landing gear brackets that came with my EBT. I believe bdiesel3 used brackets fromt the EFlite Eratix for his. I mounted my esc under the battery tray and cut a hole where the nose gear mount would be to keep things cool.

I added a subfin after the first couple flights and a simple but very effective water rudder too.

The original test flights were done off the snow a couple weeks ago. With the amazing summer like weather we've been having lately here in Michigan we've been able to get out and do some float flying. Typically this time of year the lakes are still ice covered.

My set up is as follows:

Exceed Rocket 3025-950 motor.
APC 13x8E prop.
Hobbywing Platinum 40a Pro esc.
Gens Ace 3s/2600 25c lipos.
Spectrum AR 600 receiver.
Hitec HS-81's on ailerons and elevator and a HS-82MG on rudder.

r/cdawg

Since the Advance is going to be a dedicated floatplane I removed the blind nuts for the nose gear mount and cut a cooling hole for the esc and batteries.

The Advance is set up for mini servos such as Hitec HS-225's or the recommended JR Sport MN48. To save a little weight, and because I will be running a 3s system I went with Hitec HS-81's on ailerons and elevator, and a Hitec HS-82MG on the rudder. I filled the servo cut outs with plywood as seen below.

r/cdawg

The 30" www.seaplanesupply.com floats are a perfect match for the Advance. I have been float flying since the mid 70's and have a multitude of floats and much prefer flat bottom floats for the ease of getting them up on step and effortless takeoffs. Just make sure that when you install the floats you set them up so when the top of the floats are level the wing has a slightly positive angle of attack.

After all was said and done the weight came in at 59 ounces ready to fly with battery.

r/cdawg

I added a sub fin and water rudder complete the conversion as seen below. I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. principle as can be seen in the pictures of my water rudder. I used a .40 size Dubro tailwheel bracket, a piece of pushrod wire, a 2" piece of outer pushrod sleeve, and some duct tape. The pushrod sleeve was attached to the bottom of the rudder using a couple small pieces of Ultracote and this holds the wire to the rudder. I then bent a triangle at the bottom of the wire for the rudder and covered it with duct tape. I do it this way so if I need to make adjustments I can remove the tape, rebend the wire as needed, and reinstall the tape. Easy peasy.

r/cdawg

Finally a few pictures of the float installation. I used blind nuts and socket head screws to hold the brackets in place on the fuselage. Nose gear brackets were used to attach the floats to the brackets.

r/cdawg

With the amazingly warm weather we've been having here in Michigan recently I have been able to get out and do some float flying. Here is a short video from the other evening of the Advance flying off a local man-made lake. As can be seen the Advance gets off the water effortlessly. The Advance is very aerobatic and has very good power even on 3s. I took it easy in the video so the cameraman could keep up as dusk was setting in. Be sure to watch in HD full screen for the best picture.

Enjoy the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaSWs...1&feature=plcp

sherman89

Excellent flying!!!!

r/cdawg

Thanks Sherman89. The Advance 25 is really a lot of fun to fly on floats.

r/cdawg

My flying buddy Brad also has an Advance 25E on floats. He did a little inadvertant durability testing with his at one of our recent flying sessions. I happened to be videoing him flying at the time and got his little mishap. Surprisingly it was unhurt and after drying it out it flew again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Ag_...1&feature=plcp