RE: Electric vs Glow & Gasoline power and the R/C press?
Glow vs Electric
I am just getting back into RC planes and I am going fully electric. I have purchased an electric trainer (48” wing span) and look forward to favorable weather so I can fly it. I also built a .10 P-51 Mustang about 10 years ago (and never could get the damn engine to run right, so I never flew it) that I have converted to electric and intend to fly this summer as well - we’ll see how my converting skills turn out.
My main reasons for going electric are:
1) In an Electrical Engineer, so it’s something I am more confident with.
2) I like the ‘plug in a battery and go” ease of electric
3) Electrics should be more reliable (for me at least) than glow.
4) No mess.
In addition, I have done quite a bit of research for my next plane, and I’ve settled on the .60 P-40 Warhawk kit from Top Flight. I’ve got all summer to built it as I learn to fly with a simulator, trainer, and then the Mustang. In my preliminary research, I figured it would cost nearly $650 to get everything I need to fly the thing electric if I got it all from the same vendor. At first I was put off by this, as I figured I could fly it glow for about $400. Then I started doing more research, and found that the prices for motors, ESCs and LiPo batteries change DRASTICALLY between vendors. I figure using less expensive parts from different vendors I could get the electric version down to about $450-500 range. While this is $50 – 100 more than glow, for me, it makes more sense.
Perhaps I’ll learn that the ‘less expensive’ parts from other vendors are less expensive for a reason, or perhaps not – a bit of ‘trial and error’.
In my research (lots of information came from these forums), I’ve found electric motors and ESCs for some awfully big planes (20 lbs+), so I don’t think plane size is a big concern any more. Also, I am betting on prices for electrics/batteries will continue to decrease as more and more people make them and improve the processes (plus the competition) – similar to the way computer costs have decreased.
I’ve talked to a few of the guys from the local clubs and think I’ll probably be one of the first at the field with a .60 size all electric warbird.