Gricey

Hi Extreme Speed Prop fans... posted this to the glider and sailplane area (didn't see an area for pss??) got no response for a week, did an upgrade anyway, here are some pics.... extreme speed with an Electric? am I kidding?

---------
Hi guys,

New to the sloper scene, have had a Twinjet up for a few flights and found it transformed the plane from boring as h€ll to heartstopping (it's windy here on the slopes of Ireland)....

Got the hang of it pretty quick though... my fav IC plane currently being the Weston Magnum (www.westonuk.co.uk/magnum.html), I was wondering if someone more experience in PSS could tell me if this plane would convert ok to Sloping, maybe with a speed 600 and 10cells?

Any ideas/comments guys.....


__________________
Regards,

Gricer


Magnum (West 50)
Twinjet (480's)
Edge 540 (Retired)
SC 1.20fs looking for a home
Recommendations?

Gricey

So anyway, 10 views no replies... I figured that either people aren't interested in quick deltas for sloping or I am so far off the track that it's not funny.

Anyway, pulled in to a hobby shop quite close by, the guys are big on the Electric scene so I brought in a Magnum shell (no radio or engine). They seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea and were not wide eyed so I though this should be fairly straight forward.....

We chatted for a while about where i was going to fly etc, they threw some ideas around, weighed the plane etc and came up with the following budget combo which should fly ok from a flat (nothing like the west 50) and would be suitable in a big wind at the slope for some fairly high speed (160-180mph).

Aero Naut 650 Race (7.2v) with gearbox
Hacker 50amp ESC
12*8 Aeronaut cam prop
8-10 cell pack (unfortunately not in stock)

So I signed up, thinking if nothing else, it will be something a bit different at the slope.

Anyway, took a few hours of fiddling and got the gear installed. I hit the slope this afternoon, just to find that there was barely any wind at all today.... damn, no wind, just when you want some (or lots). Last weekend it was 60-80mph with gusts, would have been perfect.... (ever seen a twinjet fly backwards? - on power)

I didn't have an 8 or 10 cell with me, only 7 and low capacity at that, still I wanted to give it a shot so with a quick launch found it well short of the mark and pulled the screws out of the engine mount when it came down on the nose... doh! end of Magnum flying for the day...

Looking back on it, the lessons I learnt were:

1. Run in the motor, electrics need a good few runs (battery tankfulls) to bed in the bushes etc, I could easily have run in the motor on a 12v starter battery I have kicking around.
2. Don't try to use a 7 cell standard pack when told by the shop that 8 is a minimum.
3. I was at the slope, I should have used the wind. Problem was there wasn't enough, time to put the Magnum in the boot until next weekend. Always keep a Twinjet to hand, they fly anywhere....
4. I'm sure there is more, feel free to remind me!!

Luckilly enough, no damage to the model, it lives to fly another day. Will probably go for a couple of 10 cell packs so that I can use them in an electric Ducted fan down the track.....

Here's some pics of my unusual conversion, post yours if you to have an eMagnum...........

btw, I am buying a new Magnum for IC use as my old one was getting scrappy looking, that's why I wanted to give this project a go.....

also, if you've never been flying on a slope, man you've got to try it, adrenaline city with the right planes....

Gricey

These are the bits you need to convert a Magnum (also a battery or 2.....)

Gricey

If you get a similar motor to the one I have, the firewall cutout needs to be enlarged... quite tricky without doing big surgery on the front end. I used a cheapy rasp after a cheapy hand hacksaw broke (2wice).... cheapy project, what can I say?

Gricey

The engine is mounted with 3 quite small screws, I looked at them and didn't think it would hold... and it didn't.... now that I've covered over the engine hatch I have to do some cutting to operate......

Will look at making a trapdoor along the bottom, although due to landings this is a high stress area..... decisions, decisions...

suggestions?

Gricey

I must say, the folding props do look the bus. Fairly tough with carbon blades too. Took the handlaunch crash no problem... I guess it was in to quite long grass so:

Lesson 4# pick your launch sites well - I didn't this time, it was luck :-)

Gricey

Here's what it looks like with the wing on (yes my covering departed a few weeks back). I found some similar covering but have not yet found the patience to make the big swoopy patterns. Just went with a straight triangle. Will do some stencilling another day when it flies well..

Gricey

A couple of mates to egg them on....

Tony and Jason, 2 of the 3 Twinjet terrors in the otherwise quiet valley....

When are you guys getting Magnums?

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

I think it has potential, my only concern in the slope would be when power runs down being in a bad place, as I have recently found out after test flying my magnum, they don't glide worth a damn!!!! LOL

But, I think with the right engine, right cells, right prop, and cover the entire front end over and blend it all nicely, it will keep up or go faster than the IC magnum

Gricey

Hi Jeremy, after sleeping on it, I think I'll go for 10cells 3000mah NiMH. Will come out slightly heavier than a stock Magnum so glide will not be great. At least if I crash I'll be equipped to go play EDF.

The planes really do haul on the slope though...
cheers,

Geoff.

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

I've watched a couple guys flying the E pylon stuff around here (F3D I think it is?) anyway, drawing something like 100amps and getting speeds of 240mph, 28" wingspan birds and holy crap do they haul. It's scary, the friggen batteries are so hot after a flight you can't touch them LOL!!!!!

The Epower world is definitely impressive now!

Gricey

Yeah, it's cool alright, not sure that I could finance the expensive birds like that. (Why is it that all top birds are expensive? lol...)

When you think that a brushless esc is the same price as 3 Magnum kits (without Wests) then it brings it in to perspective though....

I would love to let the Magnum rip out in the valley with the ic engine, but the guys would kick me off the slope. We fly in a big valley and there's loads of houses and farms down in the bottom of it. They wouldn't know we were even there until they heard the wail of a west at 20,000 echoing through the valley. Don't think they would be too impressed :-)

Gricey

I think the 10 cells will be expensive enough, probably already breaking the rule of trying to make the plane on a budget.

Rudeboy

Fai designation for electric pylon is F5D... F3D is pylon with IC engines...

And yes, them super sleek small things really haul around, you almost can't see them...

The F5D race course is shorter than the F3D course... originally that was because those planes were so slow they couldn't complete 10 laps around a normal course... their batteries would be dead after 6 rounds... No seriously, they only did like 100 mph in the beginning, so it took them ages to do 10 laps on the standard track.
With the speeds they reach now, I think they're glad their course is a little smaller... visibility of those things is terrible...
I think they're scary... you can't hear them coming... and all of a sudden something whizzes by at over 200 mph...

Gricey

Will be interested to see how the Magnum handles the high winds. Will get a little speedy glider for the calmer days. Someone told me that Ireland is one of the windiest countries in the world, I thought that was a disadvantage for RC, but not on the slope ;-) ......

Paulus

Not anymore. The course is 400 Meters now just like F3D. I believe the record is 66 seconds.

Paul

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

Oops, my bad, and I actually knew that too LOL, oh well, it was late when I typed it

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

ok, confused...
slope gliding.... electric... rightt.........
a prure glider magnum may work on one of our big slopes.
but for electric i'd go brushless, aim for high revs like the West 50 rather than the bigger Fthingy ships.

Gricey

will give it a shot on the 10 cell, if it's no good I'll relegate to rx battery in the front and pray for wind... quite a walk down in to that valley too....

Henke Torphammar

YAY!

way to go

but the Magum would like a hot motor, not a cheapie can motor

Mega 22/20/3 on 9xSanyo2600 8x8 or 7x9 APC Jeti ESC Rated 50A+

would do 140 or so

Gricey

Is that you volunteering torpis?

Let's see you put your Kroner where you mouth is... lol

Seriously though, if you have any experience of sloping a similar style plane to the Magnum (or a Magnum), I'd be dead keen to hear about it. It's not too late to pull my gear out and throw it in a glider if it's unsuitable.

I'm trying to keep this at a budget though, aiming to just give it enough to keep afloat, do a climb in the up draft then come whistling down power off and do it all again.......

Rudeboy

Woops, I didn't know that... when were the rules changed?

66...wow...they are getting close to the F3D guys... scary...

Henke Torphammar

Hi

I´m always volunteering

never been slopeing as I have no good slopes here... so I put on high power motors for speed instead!

Gricey

Fair 'nuf! would still like to see a brushless Magnum tearing up the skies.... I haven't heard of anyone else doing it so you could be the first! go for it!

Gricey

Here's a shot of the Magnum with the front covered over, you might notice the spinner is off centre, this was after the failed take off, will get in there and do some fixing up on the mount to get it back to centered.....