There is a bit of humor (for me) in your question.

There are a couple of obvious questions that no one has asked and I was kind of waiting to see when someone would.

You are right. If you looked at the original design for the wing mount, it did look good on paper but when I was designing this plane, the plane didn't exist. Once I actually had a fuse and a wing built, I realized just how big this plane is and so I rethought the wing mount.

Once had the plane and wing in front of me I began to consider that 'the fuselage hangs from the wing' and I thought of it less that 'the fuse is holding up the wing'. It seems trivial, but if you take a moment to think it through it changes the requirements of the wing mount area.

On this plane:
- Both of the main gear will transfer their stress to the wing and much less to the fuselage.
- Although it hasn't been discussed, the LiPo batteries will be secured to the bottom side of the wing. They will not be attached to the fuse, so the stress of the battery weight will not be transferred through the wing mount
- My goal is to secure the radio, radio battery, air tank, and anything else to the underside of the wing

I should have the remainder of the wing mount done in a day or two so I will post photos then, and you can add your comments when you have photos to look at.

Your question about motors is one that I thought would have been asked early on.

I plan to use six of the E-Flite park 480 OutRunner 910 motors, with six ESCs (haven't chosen yet) and six Thunder Power Pro Lite 2100mah 11.1v battery packs. The batteries will be the last item purchased to I am open to suggestions. I haven't had LiPo's before so I want a battery pack and charger combination that work well together. Also, I have purchased Master Airscrew 9 x 7 three bladed pusher props.

I bought MotoCalc 8 and I am confident that I entered all of the info correctly, except that I may not be entering the cells correctly. Everything was rather straightforward to enter and select, except when it came to entering the cells. I used the wiring wizard to select 6 batts, 6 esc, 6 motors. But when I enter the cells, do I enter 3S6P (for 6 packs) or do I enter 3SP1 (for EACH pack)?

I don't recall my final selection, but if I did it right, it shows a 21mph stall speed and up to a 20 minute flight depending where you want to place the throttle. I would welcome assistance with this!

Here are my MotoCalc selections:

Eflite Park 480 OutRunner 910KV motors (brushless)
Thunder Power TP1320 cells
Prop Diam 9" Pitch 7 Blades 3
Parallel motors 6
ESC Castle Creations Phoenix 35
Wing span 114"
Wing area 1254 sq in
Empty weight (does not include motors or cells) 128 ounces
Airfoil: Clark Y
Fuse cross section: Circular
Surface finish: smooth
Landing gear: none or retractable
Protrusions: None

Well, hopefully that answers your questions. Let me know your thoughts on the MotoCalc entries, the motor, esd, and battery selections. I think that my 128 ounce empty weight is still attainable. Time will tell.

Mike Roerig
[email protected]