Date: September 25, 2008

Another long break doing just about everything except flying or building my airplanes. But I'm getting back to them again.

Back to this telemaster, I decided to get back into it by mounting the motor, or more specifically, the ESC and the wires for the motor.

First I needed to decide where I would mount the ESC. At first I thought to mount the ESC onto the bottom of the sub-firewall. But there didn't seem to be enough area. But I still wanted the ESC out in the open, near the motor, for better cooling. I decided to mount the ESC onto the firewall, under the sub-firewall.

First, I mounted the motor and sub-firewall. (Pictures 1 and 2) Only a couple screws to hold it in place. I drew a line on the firewall for a guide, and removed the motor. I placed the ESC in place, and marked the upper and lower location for the mount holes. (Picture 3)

I drilled the holes and fed a zip tie through the firewall and back out. It sits in place quite nicely. (Picture 4 and 5)

Next to put the motor back in place and zip tie the excess wire so nothing bad happens. I decided to drill two holes through the bottom and lower front of the sub-firewall. The picture is a little fuzzy, but you can see the wires are neatly coiled out of the way. (Picture 6)

Finally, almost a year in the making, I could actually test spin the motor. I never done it before. I connected the ESC to the receiver, and a couple batteries. The power switch worked as hoped. Even without the propeller attached, I could tell this motor has some power. Hitting the throttle the torque made the elevator and rudders twist a little.

If I haven't already... The drivetrain for this bird is as follows. The motor is Rimfire 50-65-450. I plan to spin a 15x8 APC electric Prop. Providing the juice is an 80Amp ESC connected to a 6S2P battery setup of GP 3200mAh LiPo batteries. According to MotoCalc, I should get about 100w/lb. The plane should weight about 209 oz.

Next up... balancing the plane and mounting the batteries.

Picture 1: Motor partially mounted. There's room for the ESC under the sub-firewall.
Picture 2: Motor partially mounted. There's room for the ESC under the sub-firewall.
Picture 3: Motor removed, ESC placed were I plan on mounting it.
Picture 4: A couple holes later, and a zip tie, And it's ready.
Picture 5: A couple holes later, and a zip tie, And it's ready.
Picture 6: Another zip tie holds the motor wire snugly onto the sub-firewall.