Ok, so i was cleaning out my closet and i came across two RC cars. I stripped them down and took out the motors just out of curiousity and i was bored. Well the first one i took apart gave me two identical motors. The second, faster car i stripped apart produced a bigger more powerful motor. i also took apart the gearbox and i got a smaller motor from it. Since i am in Physics i know a little about how the things work and such so i got a 9v and i played around with them and then i got a battery pack and tested it on the motors. Of course they all ran. (O and the tiny motor you see in the pic is from a little RC car that i got at the mall). Anyways me and my friend are really determined to put these things to use somehow, and we decided that we are gunna try and get something airborne using what we got. We would like to see the two identical motors used in a duel prop plane or something like that if it is possible. I want to hear from you guys and tell me what you think about what we should do. We don't want to spend a lot of money but i know we will need to buy some things. Anyways i want to hear from you guys about what we should do and give us any information you guys can. Tell me what type of motors these are, if it is possible to use these and build a simple electic plane, if so should we try the two identical motors or just use the one and which one should we use?. Do we buy a foam plane body or do we have to make a body ourselves? If we succeed in getting something in the air, is there any SIMPLE way to control it i.e. steer the plane? How and if there are different ways the please give me al the information you can and tell me what we should do. It would be awsome if this could actually work. I'm not interested in throttle control its basically just gunna be on/off, so basically just give me any comments or information on how we can make a plane with the motors i have and how do we control it? Thanks for helping us out!

A couple of things:

It's going to be pretty hard to identify those motors from just a picture. If you can locate any writing or numbers on them, it might help to jog someone's memory. Knowing what cars they came out of would also be helpful.

As far as being a total newbie, I suggest you make yourself not a total newbie. It's not practical for me, or anyone, to write down EVERYTHING about electric R/C aircraft every time a "total newbie" pops up. There's a lot of information to digest. I suggest that you should start working on educating yourself about the basics of aerodynamics and R/C. Learn the terms, and how things relate to each other. As far as a good resource, you've got the whole WWW. You're not going to find all of this is some neatly packaged little nutshell, and it's going to take some time to get it all straight in your head. Since when has anything good ever been easy?

You can always experiment... Get yourself a cheap foamie glider from WalMart, glue the motors on, and start experimenting.

This sounds like this could be a fun project. However, I will agree with Matt. You need to get familiar with model flying. If you do as Matt suggests and purchase a cheap glider and affix a motor to it, I would recommend testing this thing with no power first (maybe from the top of a small hill). Test it as a glider with all your equipment installed (motor, battery etc) and the plane properly balanced. Remember, safety first. As far as control, most RC pilots use radio equipment specifically designed for RC airplanes (light weight servos and receivers and transmitters capable of transmitting at least ½ mile). However if you want to go cheap, the best thing you can do is set this up as a free flight plane. You can experiment with free flight adjustments by purchasing cheap, wood, stick gliders you can pick up in a drug store for a few dollars. This will teach you basic control (this is what the Wright Brothers did). Some tips: Your wing is the most important part of the plane. Make sure you have a good straight wing that has plenty of wing surface area (a long wing would be best). Next, you need to make sure the plane is light in weight and the center of gravity is set properly. Some pitfalls of your experiment are going to be the fact that this plane will probably be under powered due to the fact that the motor you have is an inexpensive, low powered can motor (7-9 volts) and you will probably be using a direct drive setup (the propeller connected directly to the shaft of the motor) along with a battery that cannot provide much current to the motor (standard 9volt). So, in your case, you should use a large, light weight propeller with a small pitch that spins slowly (stay away from a 2 motor setup). Remember, if your plane does fly, with no motor control, the plane will fly until the battery dies (this could be dangerous). Now, here’s another suggestion. You say you are into physics. There are plenty of physics involved in flying. For instance, there are physics involved in propeller theory (fluid dynamics), aerodynamics, electricity, thrust, power etc. Do some basic home work in understanding some of these fundamentals. Then introduce these topics to your physics instructor. Maybe you can get the class involved. Maybe the class has a small budget where the purchase of some RC equipment can be requisitioned. Anyway, have fun experimenting, don't let anyone poo-poo on your ideas and keep studying youy math and physics.

Joe T.
Sr. Engineer

As they say, get a bunch of stuff and cut away everything that doesn't look like it will fly. Stick all the rest together and put her up! If it doesn't stay up, try again. Let us know how it works out.

Tom

Hey dude, I believe you are going to have some work and some physics formula's to work out to get that plane off the ground. One of the main things you will have to figure out first is....and I know this from flying hang gliders for years is, how much wing area you will need to lift the amount of the weight of your plane. And of course this will be based on how much power your motor will produce to give lift to the wing. As was said you may want to consult with your physic's professor...I'm sure he can put you on the right track for the formula's you need. You would be really upset to just start building and then find out you don't have near enough power or wing area to lift the planes weight.

Hope this helps you get started.
Bill