Hello all,
I asked a question about the right engine for a 95" wing span Beaver with floats on another post. Now I need to know about servos. Again I have never built or flown anything this big.
I would imagine it would need to be high torque servos...but how much torque? I usually use Futaba S3010 in my builds but for this what would you suggest? This plane will be flown pretty mellow I think as it's not exactly "aerobatic".
Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

The Hitec D645's at $39,95 are a nice sport servo. Newer technology and HV compatible, with about 180oz at 7.4v's, about 160oz at 6.0v's. They also have the 5645 version, which are digitals, with a little less torque, about $5.00 less then the D-series, and the older analog 645's at about $29... All have been decent workhorse servos, and Hitec has great service if anything ever needs work done or service on them. Very fast if you're in Cali, as they're down in SanDiego area now.

I'd vote for the Hitec D645's myself for that sport/scale flyer. There are other brands as well, but I've been using Hitecs with good results for a long time now, and they're easy to get, from any mainstream supplier.

+1 on the D645MW servos.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the advice.

At the end of the day you need to decide just what you expect from the airplane. I can tell you two things that can make or break any airplane. First one is setup. Second is having precise servos. If you are the type who pugs servos into your RX, makes sure the surface moves the right direction and then goes flying then any servo with enough power will do. On the other hand, if you take the time to set up nice linkage geometry, measure to make sure you have equal aileron travel, use the correct amount of aileron differential to eliminate adverse yaw, check and set appropriate incidence, thrust angles, CG etc. then you may want to look for a nice set of digital servos from Savox, MKS or KST.

To be honest the trainer type of planes I've been flying are getting so easy to fly I don't really do much to them other than setting the linkage up correctly and getting the right CG. I haven't really gotten to the point where I worry much about adverse yaw, incidence and thrust angles.
I imagine those are things I need to learn more about as I get further into this hobby. I've been in the hobby about a year now and I am still learning. I live by a lake where a club has a site and I went there and flew a Turbo Timber with floats and enjoyed that type of flying. When the Beaver was available at a swap meet I picked it up thinking one day I could put floats on it. So I'm basically still learning. I'm not opposed to buying nice digital servos...I just need to learn the difference between nice and average, etc.

There's a whole range of servos available. As you progress you'll learn what you like, and why you like them. My above post is about what I'd put into a plane like you described. There's much stronger and more sophisticated servos of course... and every brand has the "average", "nice", and "OMG" types of servos. Servos are probably at the top of the best investment you can put into your planes... Right up there with radio/engine/battery(s)..

On my giants, I don't hesitate to spend $129 a servo(just bought 6 of them for a project about 3 weeks ago), and I've got servos up to $170 a piece... these are all extreme servos.. none of which you'd need for your plane... but I've been through the size plane you're contemplating, and I've used(still do) the servos I'd mentioned... not every plane needs monster servos, but the fact that you're in favor of decent servos says alot... and there are servos that are perfect for your project,,, take your time and get the best you can.

I suggest study them all, every brand, as there's several brands out these days, many of which I wouldn't hesitate to use. With that said, I'd stay away from cheap chinese pff-brand types often found on Amazon and other sites.. Those are very tempting pricewise, but most of them haven't been tried and tested by mainstream RC companies, which is why they're only seen on Amazon.. don't buy that crap. They'd be fine in for robotic applications, which is what they're geared for, but many/most haven't been used much in model aviation.. which is quite a bit different then Bots.

I'll leave this link here, as it gives alot of specs for hundreds of servos... most of it is up to date, but if there's any info you need use Google as well... check this out... www.servodatabase.com

Thanks DGrant....I appreciate the advice. I'm learning a little everyday. I went ahead and bought the D645's and will start the project soon. I'm enjoying this hobby so much I have gone from foam trainers to "stik" planes and now starting to look at larger planes and warbirds.
I enjoy building kits and really want to build them right with the proper engines, servos, etc. So learning everything I can is helpful. These forums have really been helpful to me.

Very nice. The new D-series servos are great. I've recently equipped another plane with a set. They seem a bit smoother and quieter then their predecessor, which was the 5645 digitals... and the D-series are HV compatible... which doesn't mean you have to use an HV(7.4v) battery, but the option is there if you want it. In the case you dropped down to a 6.6v LiFe, you would lose some torque ([email protected] vs [email protected]), you'd be down about 22oz comparitively, and a tad slower. I would say go for the HV option in that plane if you can. The servos will be faster and stronger.

Thanks for the info...I'll use the HV(7.4v). All good information that I didn't know.

D645 is good choice, and you can use those in the 50cc engine warbirds later.