hello to everybody.
I bought the great planes reactor bipe and i want to convert it to glow.I dont know anything about the motors so if you could recomend type and size of a motor i would be grateful.

thanx a lot

Recommended flying weight is right around 3lbs. so you'll want to be shopping for a .25-size 2-stroke and a 4 oz fuel tank. Good luck and report back on how the project turns out!

with this motor you think it will perform 3d's well? or maybe a 32 engine would be better?

A .25 ball bearing 2-stroke would fly a 4lb to 4.5lb plane in a sport/scale. I was taking into account that you'd chosen a high performance 3D plane and I'm confident that a good ball-bearing .25 2-stroke will be plenty of engine for all-out aerobatics.

You'll want to be concious of the engine and muffler's overall weight, but if you find a .32-size two stroke that isn't any heavier than a good .25 2-stroke, I'd say go for it.

What bothers me about this project is its apparently your first glow airplane and the fact you have choosen to post in the beginners forum. I cannot think of a more inappropriate first glow airplane and even worse doing it as a glow conversion.

To be honest a far more practical engine for this airplane would be a good .15 and more likely to contribute to the airplanes longevity. While it may not be a blood curdling hover monster it would be a much better step along the way to building your skills.

Having said that if you insist there is only one combination I would use with that airplane, An OS .25FX not a .32 or .36 and if spell binding power was desired then equip it with an Ultra thrust quarter wave pipe from Performance Specialties in Nevada like these. It is a true quarter wave tuned pipe, not an empty can muffler like the tower muffler.

John

it's true i am a beginner but that is my second plane.I first bought the arc beaver to learn how to fly and now i bought the reactor bipe for 3d's but the electric motor is [:'(][:'(][:'(]

i finally ordered the oz .25fx today.Thanks everybody for your help and i hope i will post the plane when it will be finished
Thanks again

Then you should really change the motor and battery pack to provide more power.

The Reactor Bipe is purposely lightly buiilt and designed for the smoother output of an electric motor.

At the very least you'll need to re-inforce the firewall and the firewall attachment areas to deal with the extra stress of the glow engine.

After looking at the MA article I thought they come with a glow motor mount crutch too, no?
Chris...

after 2 months of hard construction i finally finished the conversion to the reactor bipe thanks to the help of a friend and yours.
here are some pictures and a video of its first flight.
The video is taken by mobile phone so dont expect too much.
Thanks again everybody[sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n1hQ2I-Yxg

That's awesome, rmcctr! Congratulations, it looks like a nice flying plane. It warms my heart to see electric planes converted to glow.

How is the .25 FX going to work out? Do you have the power you want for 3D aerobatics?

I wonder how good your original batteries were.

After looking at your video, and having flown a well set up Reactor Bipe, I can say that the EP version I flew was faster and climbed equal to or better than what I see in your video.

Typically if an EP plane feels "underpowered" or seems to be a dog, then the power system is not properly configured, or the batteries are sagging under load.

I had a couple of EP planes where I also though them underpowered... after changing out the packs for ones with a higher "C" rating, the difference was night and day.

I also fly several .25 - .30 sized planes with electric motors in them, and if anything their performance compares to a similiarly sized .32 plane with a .46LA engine, which is not bad at all!

Indeed I second that


This airplane is likely still inappropriate for you at this stage so please at the least seek out an experianced test pilot for the maiden and subsiquient tweeking.

John

Based on the video depicting a successful flight and landing, I'm optimistic that things turned out well on this project.

rmcctr:
Congratulations for this great conversion.
My eyes are now on some electric planes that I wish to have with a similar conversion.

In the video the motor is running in half throttle because i didn't want to push it to much on it's first flight.
So the motor is running very well.The plane was climbing easily with half throttle.
I will post another video with the real test when i find the time to do it.

If you use a .25 equivalent electric motor with the proper batteries the performance should be no less than an equivalent glow, and it should be slightly better.

I was poo-pooing electric setups until I discovered the hard way that my batteries were not up to snuff and not holding voltage.

Changing out the batteries, testing the EP setup with a watt meter to get the correct draw & prop for my .25 equivalent motor, resulted in performance exceeding a .32 engine on a .25 model.

Did you ever test your original setup with a watt meter?

If so did the batteries hold voltage over time at full throttle?

What was the wattage draw?


Even at full throttle performance should not be so dramaticly different that opting for a glow engine would be better...

Not that I dislike glows at all...

But normally there is no need ( particularly for the smaller planes ) to go this far to get good performance.

i used a 3700mah pack for the plane that costed as much as the .25fx and only lasted for some minutes and then i had to wait an hour to recharge the batteries.That's why i convert it to glow and i am glad i did it

Ouch!

That's why I started purchasing batteries from hobby city... much cheaper batteries...

I can fly a .25-.32 motor equivalent for over 16-18 minutes on a 3780mAh 14.8v pack with no problems and no performance power issues.... and that's on a larger heavier Diamante .25e. It will EASILY outperform a .25fx this way.


With glow fuel prices climbing, the cheaper battery packs do pay off over time, though you do need to have more than one pack on hand...

Judicious choices in battery packs can be leveraged over several planes, making owning multiple packs more attractive and viable.