OK, remember that I am a newbie at this and I'm trying to catch on to this game. I found a program called P-CALC (from someone called DMA - Diversity Model Aircraft. I decided to punch in a few figures to see how my stock Hobbico Superstar EP w/ailerons fared. Using Sanyo 2000SCR as the battery (it's actually a 2100 mAh, but that's close enough for me), the Graupner Speed 600 8.4V motor and the 1/1 gear (direct-drive) with an APC 9x5.5 and what I got was a draw of 25.4 A, an output of 99.2 W, in-flight thrust of 18.9 oz and a full-throttle duration of 4:43.

First of all, does this look kosher ? If I read it right, the flight time for the battery sucks (which is why I will buy something better, it just ticks me that this is what they recommend online), but it says 99.2 W output (although I'm not sure if this is "per lb" or overall). If that is overall, then with a loaded plane weight of 2.7 lbs, we're talking only 36.7 W/lb (sounds like it wouldn't even get into the air).

I then dropped the prop down to APC 8x4 and got better duration (6:29) because of lower motor draw (18.5 A), but only 87.6 W output however the in-flight thrust drop was just to 18.2 oz. So, lastly, I went a different direction and tried it again using a 2.5/1 gearbox with a Master Airscrew 10x8 prop, figuring I could extend the duration. It did that (up to 10:50) and the motor/gearbox/prop combo only draws 11.1 A, but the power really sucked, providing 57.76 W output and only 12.3 oz in-flight thrust.

So, it sounds like the stock version (the direct-drive motor and 9x5.5 prop) gives me the best power at 99.2 W(unless that output is not per lb., in which case I'm nowhere close at under 37 W/lb) and I should just increase the battery to give me a bit more kick and longer flight time (for the heck of it, I punched in a 3300 mAh battery and got 25.9 A draw, a nice 102.9 W output, in-flight thrust of 19.3 oz and a flight time of 7:38 full throttle).

Am I using this correctly ? I plan on trying MotoCalc when I get home (trying all of this at work right now) to look at the numbers again. If I am using it right, then would the key fields on which to focus be the system output and flight time, while still keeping a lesser eye on motor draw and in-flight thrust ?

Thanks for any help and/or advice on this !