Hello,

I am new to RCUniverse, and relatively still new to RC planes.

I have a Hobbico Electristar EP 63" RTF trainer, which I believe I have almost mastered, but recently ran into a lightpost trying to knife edge through a 5 or 6 foot gap showing off for my friends. (no video GRRRRR :P )

I believe the damage is significant enough (shattered wings, fuse in pieces, firewall destroyed) to buy a new ARF plane for the components, but have had little luck finding anyone who has done this.

My plane weighed about 7 pounds flying weight (im using the NiMh, not lipos), so I assume just about any plane out there with similar flying weight and wingspan will work. Am I wrong?

So far, i have been looking at the Hangar 9 Cessna 40 size value series, but have found NO reviews, and only a couple comments ranging from "worst ARF ever" to "favorite plane in my museum" type thing.

could someone please reccomend a couple of planes I can look into that will fly (at least casual flight, i dont need to do more than barrel rolls and loops) with stock electristar components?

I am most interested in long flights with the possibility of carrying a payload of some sort eventually, if that helps.

Thank you RCUniverse Crowd!!

For what it's worth I had some experience flying the Hanger 9 Cherokee, which is the value series as well. Most of the fuse of these planes, not the wings/stab, is plastic (not a problem, but not as easy to repair as balsa/PVC), which is why I believe it's a 'value series'. The wings and stab, etc. are standard balsa/pvc. Other than that the plane looked great and flew even better. If I were looking for a cheap, great looking and fun flying plane I would buy one.

The Electricstar's motor system is the equivalent of a GOOD .32 or an LA type .46 engine.

If you elect to transfer the electronics to another plane you have several things to consider.

- Select a slightly SMALLER plane for good performance
- How are you going to get the batteries in and out at the field?
- What batteries are you going to continue to use?


Most people end up going over to LiPo's because of the better weight/performance/output ratios.

The power setup in the Electricstar would work great in a .32 and a lighly loaded .40 ARF, but most .32 non-trainer ARFs would have real problems with the big battery packs used.

On the other hand you could probably drop everything as is, into [link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCAS2&P=ML]One of these! Click me![/link]

Battery access would be obtained by removing the rubber bands.

With most other planes you'ld have to fabricate your own hatches, battery trays, etc. not this is undoable.

I have an Electristar that I fly quite often. It's a sweet plane IMO. I've not done a nitro to electric conversion, but I did recently pick up a Pulse XT 40 which is capable of either glow or electric out of the box. That means the battery compartment is built in.........or go with the fuel tank, owner's choice.

I use the NiMH batteries in my Estar also and they are relatively big which might pose a problem if you were try to install them into something like a Pulse, but some minor mods shouldn't be too difficult as long as you consider the CG. Point is, I see an awful lot of ARF kits out there that can go either way so finding something that will do what you want may amount to nothing more then finding the plane that will fly the style you want and not so much under what power. Just my thought.

Paul

The Pulse XT may work, because of it's large wings, low weight and availability of a built in hatch.

It will also handle the lower power output of the Electricstar's EP system with aplomb.

Putting a lower pitch but bigger prop on the motor will slow the plane down some, but give it excellent pulling power with the Electricstar combo.

Of course this all should be tested with a Watt meter...

Thank you for your input.

Room for batteries aside, wont I be weighing down a .32 size plane with my batteries/motor? I imagine the plane will need to be cruisin pretty quickly to avoid stalling. For that matter, is there any way to tell optimum wing loading? I have seen planes advertising everywhere from 10-33 oz/sqft. Is there a maximum oz/sqft I should stay away from?

im remembering a quote i heard, "with enough power, you can make a brick fly..."

Actually, Thunder Tiger makes the perfect plane for you:

http://www.thundertiger4u.com/thunde...r-p-12711.html

The Tiger Trainer OBL comes with everything you need for glow or electric flight (fuel tank and electric motor mount) plus it has a removable hatch for battery access. At $99.99 it is an absolute bargain. Thunder Tiger makes wonderful ARFs.

Using the Pulse as the example, H9 recommends a 46 brushless outrunner for a motor with 2-4200MAH 2S2P 7.4V (THP42002S2PPL) [Series "Y" harness required] or 1-4200MAH 4S2P 14.8V (THP42004S2PPL) batteries. The plane should weigh out at about 5.5 to 6 lbs with the battery installed. Wing loading is 18 - 23 oz/sq ft.

The motor in the Estar is a 42, so it should act similar in the pulse to a 40 glow. Might not be the best match but I think it would fly fairly well. Key word there is 'think'. I'm sure there are better people than me to figure that out!

Paul

I won't dazzle you with math. The Tiger Trainer OBL is a similar design to the Electristar, and its 69.5" wingspan will provide even lighter wingloading than your old airframe. I'm quite certain the Tiger Trainer OBL is the perfect replacement airframe for a crashed Electristar.

No argument from me on that. If a replacement trainer is the goal, then the Pulse isn't the plane. I find it to be a great 2nd, but certainly not a trainer. Since the OP had said that he was doing a knife edge with his Estar, I assumed that they might be looking for more than a trainer. I love to fly the Pulse...........but I always bring the Estar when I go to the field too. I love flying that plane just as much.

Never could get it to do a knife edge, but then I'm still quite new to something like that so maybe I just was afraid to try to hard. Might have to see what happens this weekend.

Paul

The Electristar comes with a 45A ESC and uses a pair of 7.4v batteries.

Assuming that the ESC has a build in safety margin, and that the Estar runs at around 40A full throttle ( which is what we measured one day )....

That works out to about 600 watts or .8 HP. 1 HP = 745 watts.

The Pulse XT usually runs with a .46 engine that delivers about 1.7bHP... assuming that this is optimistic, and the engine produces less, say 1.4bHP, the Estar's electric system still only produces about 56% of the power of the engine that is normally used.

Likewise for a .40-.46 trainer...

However trainers fly SLOW and don't require a lot of power which is why the Estar originally came with this combo... note that everyone also recommended upgrading to LiPo so as not to make the Estar so sluggish in flight...


Will the Pulse XT fly with the Estar's engine? Probably but NOT well but it will fly.


The Pulse is a WONDERFUL second plane. I've flown the .46 XT and the Mini Pulse extensively.

They float in very slowly but you'll never tire of this plane.

However they do not tolerate rough landings, so I hope you are at the point that hard landings are very infrequent.
Re-inforce the gear area, and bring it in with a bit of throttle and you'll do fine.

Remember that tail draggers tend to yaw at takeoff.... and you should check the plane's tracking before flying it.

Go for the Pulse .25e.



If I were doing this however, I'd opt for the new Pulse XT .25E.

That would be a PERFECT match for the Motor & ESC combo, but you would have to use 14.8v ~3800mAh LiPo 20C/30C packs.

This would give the Pulse XT .25E more than ample power.

The Pulse .25e is also set up with a hatch and nominally accepts the 3800mAh packs.



Re: .32 plane

The point was that the EP combo is about the equivalent of a .32 to .25 glow engine. So it is perfectly suited to a .25 to .32 plane.

The NiCD batteries may be too big and heavy for most .25 to .32 planes though, excepting big winged trainers...

If you buy LiPo's instead however everything changes. ( Hint: Rhino's from "Hobby city . com" are VERY well priced... remove the spaces ).

Opjose.
The Rhino's are a product of Zippy batteries. I have over 100 charges on my Zippy packs and they are going great,
It's nice to know that some quality products are available at a great deal.

Most of the guys at my field flying .40 size electrics are using hacker A40 or equivalent motors, 70+ amp ESC's and 5s 3700-5000 mah packs.
they seem to get very good power and 10+ minute flights on 5-6 lb planes.

Yup, I've been flying both the Zippy's and the Rhino's on several planes with great success.

I've been pleased with the batteries, and it's nice to be able to have affordable packs.

Again, thank you guys for the comments.

Change of plans. I have the opportunity to get a kadet LT 40.

now, the flying weight is a little more than the electristar, but the wing span, wing area, and wing loading is MUCH better. It reccomends a .40 - .46 2-stroke motor. Will the electristars motor be strong enough to power this beast?

Did you read my prior post?

Short answer, no.

AND LONG ANSWER... YES BUT MY COMPREHENSION IS LOW...

(sure is nice to make friends, huh? :O)

IMO,

Yes it will fly it, I would use a 14.8 (4s) Lipo of at least
3200 mAh's. More mAh's the better.

Bob

You'll find that the ELectricstar's EP system is about the equivalent of a .7 bHP glow engine.

That makes this combo fairly anemic even for the Kadet.

It MAY fly, if you switch to LiPos but you will not like the end result.

Better to select a slightly smaller plane instead.

The perfect electric power system for the LT-40 Kadet is a Thunder Tiger GP-42 2-stroke and a 600Mah NiCd pack to power the receiver and servos.

Im confused...

the kadet lt 40 specs
SPECS: Wingspan: 70"
Wing Area: 900 sq in
Wing Loading: 14-15 oz/sq ft
Weight: 5.5 to 6 lb
Length: 56"

the electristar specs
Wingspan: 63" (1600mm)
Wing Area: 709 sq in (45.7 sq dm)
Weight: 6 lb (2722g)
Wing loading: 19.2 oz/sq ft (59 g/sq dm)
Length: 53" (1346mm)
Center of Gravity (CG): 3.5" (89mm) measured from the forward edge of the wing at the fuselage sides

When comparing those specs, how is it possible that the kadet would be anemic when the electristar is fairly spirited?
Unless the specs on the electristar are including motor and battery weight and the specs on the kadet are just for the ARF, not power system.

I know almost nothing about electrics but you might want to check out the Sig Seniorita EP at http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...FV4.html?E+Sig. The specs are a little closer than the LT-40. Sig does make great ARF's and their customer service is among the best.

The beauty of the Electristar/Nexstar EP Select RTFs is that the power systems are designed for standard .40-size glow arfs. In my opinion, most other .40-size glow trainers should fly with similar performance to your Electristar if you install the same power system. I believe you could install your Electristar outrunner and ESC in a Kadet LT-40 and be quite happy with the results.

I've seen Electristars in flight while using dual NiMH packs, and I've never thought the power system was anemic. Opjose may actually have stick time on an Electristar, however, where as I do not. I've only observed them in flight as a spectator.

I recommended the Tiger Trainer OBL specifically because of the removable cockpit hatch which provides battery access. The electric pilots I've spoken with who've converted .40-size glow aircraft have told me that having to remove the wing every time they want to get to their flight batteries is a pain in the ass. Cooling the batteries and speed controller are also a concern that would likely require modifications.

If you can cut a hatch and cooling vents into an LT-40, it should work fine and fly similarly to your Electristar. The LT-40 has very modest power requirements when flying with glow engines and I believe it would be just as terrific flying with the Electristar's power setup.

Yup, I've flown several at our field.

The plane flies as it comes with the NiMH packs, but REALLY needs LiPo's to fly more like a trainer powered by a GOOD .32-.36 sized engine...
or a .46LA

In other words, even with the LiPo's it's not up to the power of a .46AX equipped trainer.

This is all in line with the readings with a Watt meter...


He can move the electronics over to the trainers you indicated above, but he'll really need to switch to LiPo's for best effect, given the weight of the packs and the slightly heavier airframe of the TT trainer.

It feels somewhat underpowered with the NiMH packs.

The TT trainer ends up being slightly heavier when all is said and done. It will be a more lightly loaded plane though. The stated weights for the Estar normally include the battery packs.

That said, this is not bad for a newbie.

And that said, it sounded to me as if he is moving beyond the trainers, and has already mastered landings, etc... hence my recommendation of the Pulse .25e.

I trained and soled on the electristar with a
4s 3200 mAh lipo. It made a Great trainer.
It was slow and predictable, not a sport plane
by any means. You will need a Watts Meter to
know how many Amps your pulling at WOT.

Bob

opjose,

that is exactly what i WAS going to do, but the X motor mount does not line up with either of the already in place mounting locations on the pulse 25E so that shot that idea down the drain.

unless i want to redo the fire wall on the pulse, but i think that that wont work very well either without major reconstruction [&o] .

or maybe if the mount that you can buy from HH power 25 would fit the hobbico motor, not sure as i dont have any power 25's here to check.