Electric v. Glow?!
 

Ok, I'm not trying to stir up any worm cans here. However, I'm really enjoying my electric corsair. It only takes two trips to the car to load up and unload, no battery to plug in the night before Iwant to go flying (which I've forgotten to do more than once), and no slime to clean up when I'm done. That being said, Ireally like glow flying, too. Ilike the sound, Ilike the smell, and Ilike the speed. Am I the only one torn between glow and electric?

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

Yes. Electric flying is a consolation for when you can't fly glow.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

Cool - an electric plane without batteries.http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...ular_smile.gif

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

LOL!!!

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I am very much like you, but I am not torn between them. I enjoy both of them. I thought electrics were corny wannabees until I saw the PZ Corsair and the Phase3 EF-16. Now I own both of them and I'm waiting on my Great Planes Spad 13 to come from Tower. It came last week with only one wing so now I gotta wait some more. Anyway, I also own 5 glow planes and you cant beat them for pure speed and power without shelling out big bucks for the electric set up. I have 2 young children, and the electrics allow me to be quick and clean at the neighborhood park when I don't have time for all the that's required to take the glow planes. Enjoy both of them when you can and then you don't have to choose sides.[sm=wink_smile.gif]

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

For convenience, electric planes, with brushless/LiPo power systems win IMO. However, the cost of the larger electrics, and enough battery packs for 4-6 flights without recharging, gets to be a bit much though.

I've got several nitro planes, and right now I've just got a few smaller electrics. The Parkzone F27C Stryker is my favorite so far. It weighs less than two pounds, will do 60-80mph, and can fly in 25mph winds if you want it to. I've got two of these Strykers and 9 LiPo packs for them, so I can go to the field anytime I want and get up to 9 flights in before I call it a day (and usually 6 flights is plenty for me).

Sure glow sounds cool, but I care more about how they fly than how they sound! For now, I've got several glow planes and helis, and about 17 gallons of glow fuel, so I figure I'll use up my fuel (and maybe some of my planes) before I start converting over to all electric.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I am in the same boat as brett65. I like both, but stick to smaller electrics and glow for the bigger stuff. The large electrics are still too expensive IMO. Though, it does seem kinda funny when I watch my electrics fly by silently - doesn't seem very realistic. :D I put gearboxes in a lot of my electrics so they make at least SOME noise.

BTW, as far as speed, there are phase3 F-16's going 140+MPH around here, so they can be fast. Also, there are some electric hotliners that are going closer to 200MPH.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

So I am an addict, huh? lol!

I originally bought the corsair to practice tail dragger take-offs ( and landings, too) after I saw some guys at the field with the pz trojans and was impressed with how well they flew. I've got about 10 flights on it now and am starting to feel pretty comfortable with it.<br type="_moz"/>

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I would love an electric plane - I love how they can glide by silently, prop not even spinning, then expel 100% of their energy into a vertical climb and haul out of site. I also love the regenerative breaking :DUnfortunately the planes I like require two $500 batteries to fly at a time and a generator at the field to charge them. And an expensive motor, ESC, etc. etc.

An engine for $280 will fly the same plane.

Really it all boils down the same, about $2.00 a flight if you include battery cost, glow fuel, etc. It's just a matter of paying most of it up front or distributing the cost of fuel over a few months.

Edit:just have to throw in that Iam having an absolute ball with my new YS FZ110s supercharged 1.1ci, 2.5hp four stroke engine. How freaking cool is that?! Looks cool, sounds cool, and the torque is absolutely incredible.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

Hey, Joe,

Do you like the YS better than your 120AX? I realize their different animals but how do they compare for sound and power to you? Which do like better for each?

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

there are supercharged rc engines?!  pics please!!

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

heres my simple forumla for chooseing between electric and glow</p>

 electrics&gt;.25&lt;glow </p>

their are special cases but in general thats how i do it. </p>

i love the sound/power/tinkering (i love messing w/ engines) of glow engines. not to menton the fact when im out of fuel i just fill up</p>

electrics are great for backyard flyers, any bigger and its not worth it to me</p>

</p>

</p>

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

120AX is easier to maintain and uses less fuel. FZ110s has insane amounts of torque and sounds really cool.

I love thermodynamics and once I saw/read how the YS uses the chamber under the piston to compress air and feed it into the combustion chamber, along with pressurized fuel, I had to have one. Sorry I can't find a link right now.

Nice thing about electrics is (generally speaking) they work or they don't - no tuning, just plug in and fly away, and you basically get the same performance day in and day out given good battery packs.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I only fly electrics when it's soo cold outside your fingers feel like ice pops, other than that, they seem souless, and the dreaded lipo crash always gets me, usually in the middle of a cuban 8 on the down leg![:@] I stick to glow and gas to have a fuel and fly day, no more waiting an hour + to charge the lipo.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

It's in the owners manual:
The FZ110S .....
This engine offers many exclusive features that have been proven on
other YS engines.
Supercharged system with simplified structure to keep weight to a
minimum while still retaining maximum efficiency.
<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Air chamber that uses crankcase pressure coupled with a double
throttle valve system which allows a bigger charge of fuel and air
mixture to enter the intake valve for more power</span>.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

No reason you can't enjoy both. </p>

I now fly pretty much exclusively electrics, but flew Nitro powered planes in the past. I love both, both have their pluses and minuses. </p>

Electrics are quiet, linear power output, reliable, and the torque is instant. But charging downtime is a bummer, and good chargers are expensive. The old arguement that batteries and motors are too expensive is slowly becoming a thing of the past. I fly a 63" Extra 330L 3D plane with an E-flite power 60, I run 2 LiPo's in series, 2650ma 3s1p packs. The motor was $129.00, the batteries (Zippy's through Hobby King) were $22.50 ea + shipping, not too bad. I won't run the el cheapo Turnigy motors, but the Zippy batteries seem to be holding up very well so far. My plane runs at just over 100 watts/lb, which is plenty for me.</p>

Nitro/gas planes sound cool, Nitro exhaust smells so good (reminds me of being at the dragstrip), You can get some outrageous powerplants.</p>

Downside- cleaning the planes off after every trip to the airfield, carrying around gallons of fuel, tuning, burned out glow/spark plugs, vibrations to the airframe, hot exhaust. </p>

When it all comes down to it, flying beats not flying, however you choose to do it. Enjoy one or the other, or both, just FLY! :D</p>

</p>

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I just heard about those Zippy batteries from someone in our club yesterday. I'm really interested in electric alot more now that I heard prices like that. What Extra do you have?Do you have a link / pics?

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I have two zippy batteries for my pz corsair. they're 3s 2200mah packs. they were about $17 each plus shipping. I've got about 5 flights on each one and so far they seem to be decent.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

<span style="font-size: larger;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">EP and GP? Well I done both for a while now. I can tell you this is what the pros and cons are:

EP

For - clean, plane lasts longer, less equipment, silent, tons of power, almost nil maintenance
Against - expensive set up, short flight duration, caution on power usage so as not to kill batts, gets technical, charging batts take time, expensive to go fast

GP

For - cheaper set up, longer duration, less chances of burning a motor, cheaper to go fast, easy to learn
Against - messy, needs a lot of equipment, noisy, planes do not last as long</span></span>

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I have nine Zippy LiPos I use for my Strykers, they work great for me. HobbyCity carries them. If you buy 1kg worth of stuff from them, the express shipping is only a few bucks more, and you'll get your stuff in a week or less. Even with shipping, my 3S 2200mAh 20C packs come out to about $25 each. That's less than half what Horizon charges for a 3S 2200mAh 12C pack!

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

Hmm. I'm thinking of maybe going electric on a brand new LT40.It has a wingspan of 70". Is there an estimator on their site to determine the size motor and batteries I'd want to get similar characteristics to a OSMax 46AX?

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

If they made a .0001 4 stroke, I would want it.  [X(]  I'm pretty much in the same boat as everyone else.  Electric for park flyers and glo, especially 4-strokes for everything else.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

No more nitro messy oily dirty planes for me. I have 3 gas powered planes (and a 1/4 scale DVIII almost done) and also electrics that range from a Wingo to a 1/4 scale RV. A 5000ma X 6 zippy costs less than $100. I enjoy both (gas and electric). I also have a 40 size electric Telemaster I use a lot. Batteries, controlers and motors have came down a lot in price. Heck my first 4000 x 3 lipodid cost me over $170 if memory serves me well.
Whichever you like the most, is thebest for you. The problem, too many planes, too little time:-) Even the chargers are dirty cheap. You can get a great one that chages 6 cells at once, with balancer for about $40 from Hobbycity

Goodluck

Gerry

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

Rule of thumb is you want at least 100W per pound for sport flying. For Aerobatic or 3D flying you'd want 200W+ per pound. Look at the RTF weight spec'd for that plane (with nitro setup) and use that as a basis for your power calcuation. Then find yourself an outrunner with your desired continous power rating, and look at the motor data for prop sizes, batt voltage, and current draw. Low Kv motors will spin larger props than higher Kv motors with the same power rating, so you want to get a Kv rating that will let you spin some prop sizes that will work well with your LT40.

Once you know the power you need, the motor and prop combo that works, then you'll know the battery pack &amp; ESC voltage/current requirements, and you can buy the appropriate parts.

RE: Electric v. Glow?!
 

I have an LT40 that's electric powered. I had to put taller landing gear on it. I'm certain Ididn't motor it properly. It was my first plane, and my first conversion attempt.

And Ibuilt it a little heavy. But it does fly really nicely. I can give you the specs if you want...