Hi,

I have a rascal 40 with 46fx engine. Runs fine but I have to constantly adjust the engine and it stops sometimes in midair...
Thinkin about converting to electric coz I'm tired of the noise, fuel mess and the engine tuning..

Has anyone done the electric conversion? How much would it cost me now to go electric? If so, pls give details...parts..etc
Do you use a lipo battery ? How many flight s can I get in the field ..is there a lipo quick field charger?
pls give all details.

Also what are the ad/disadvantages of rascal electric over gas....why do some people fly electric and some dont...?!

Thanks !
747

747: This is not meant as a slam, but it would be much cheaper to learn to tune your OS engine than to convert it to electric.

Zillions of people fly glow engines without having to constantly adjust them. Yours has an issue, which can be found, and solved. Perhaps a pinhole leak in the fuel line. Perhaps a weak glow plug. Perhaps contaminated fuel. Things need to be checked, but once it is sorted out you should only have to re-tune once or twice a season.

This should give you an idea about the cost. Converting a .40 size plane to e-power isn't going to be cheap. You are looking for a 600 to 800 watt power system.

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/g2e-sigrascal40.htm

You will need about 3 of those $160 lipos to to rotate off the charger if you want to do a reasonable amount of flying. ThunderPower OKs a C-3 charge rate for some of its lipos (20 minute recharge) only if their charger is used along with a balancer. An amp/watt meter is good to own, no, make that vital to own, unless you want to give electric power a bad name. Without an amp meter, your only clue that you put a too large prop on the motor is smoke or short motor/esc life.

Wow! I might just try and tune the engine with help from my club mates I guess. Electric is complex in its own way looks like...
I am ok with flying but suck at engine stuff...
Thanks for your ideas...Is there a site that has everything about engines? I need to learn how they work, tuning, high/low end difference ..coz am very weak in this subject..which explains why Ive been a beginner for 3 yrs LOL

The best way to learn is from experience but NOT yours. Find the guy at your field who almost never has to fiddle with his engines but still has no problems like deadsticks. Then go ask HIM to share HIS experience. Avoid the guys that are constantly tinkering with or cussing their engines, you can already do that.

You'll get there, it's NOT as hard as some make it.

747: Purchase this book:

http://www.carstens-publications.com/hangar/a11009.html

You will learn a lot in a short time!

For the SIG Rascal 40 the conversion would be something like this, you need not use the brand/model stated below but anything that is similar is fine:

Motor: AXI 2826/12
ESC: 45A
Battery: 3S1P or 3S2P of about 4,000 mAh (for longer flight times)
Prop: APC 13x8E
Charger: Tahmazo T15
Balancer: Electrifly Equinox

Cost? Its better to go glow for the moment unless you are pretty sure you want to go EP. The initial capital outlay on batts and charger and balancer kinda hurts the bank account. For cheap but good motors/esc etc go to United Hobbies. If you want to cruise around only you can get cheap batteries from Common Sense RC or 2Dogs RC. For me I am all EP now ... no more glow.

Charging time for lipo is usually about 60 mins per pack (if it is 80% drained), no matter now big or small. There is NO quick charging for lipo packs!

Advantages of an EP Rascal ... your plane be clean and powerful. I love EP because I am LAZY ... tired of the mess from glow. I used to fly glow engines like YS, love them to death but just am getting lazy. The power of EP is amazing but you have to spend $$$ on batts and that is very painful to be honest. Its all nonsense that EP flies like cr@p with no power ... its the same as glow. Look at your mags ... every other article or ad is on EP. So the fact is EP has a great following at the moment if not the manufacturers will not be advetising that hard. Still the truth is EP is expensive.

At the end of the day EP vs Glow is like Apples & Oranges ... you take your pick. PM me if you need assistance.

I whole heartedly agree. A large percentage of the world champion F3A (pattern) flyers are flying electric, I don't think it's because they can't figure out how to make glow engines work.
I think a lot of people judge electric planes by the cheap ready to fly toys sold by the hobby shops. That's like judging glow engines based on your experience with some RTF toy plane powered by a Cox .049 reed valve engine.

Remember Jason Schulman when he won with the EP plane? So funny back then, he had sandbags to protect people whilst the batteries were bring charged!

Hmmm, I think this year I'll buy the book : 2-Stroke Glow Engines For R/C Aircraft (A11009) Gierke
and hope to make my OS46fx work well tuned and not stop often .

If it doesnt work I'll go for EP (electric) next season....spend the extra $$[]

Can any one give me a rough idea about the rascal 40 EP conv total estimate in USD? Hobby lobby makes it seem like $400 plus...

And this year with the glow engine can I put a 11x7 plastic prop for the rascal? Can I go higher or is this perfect?