Moon Pie

Purchased this glow Ultrasport 40 from a club member with the intention of converting it to electric.
It appears to be constructed correctly, and the price of $60 wasn't too bad. Currently it weights 3.6 lb.
I don't think the wing will need any modification.
Most of the work will be on the fuselage. Right now, I am thinking of cutting off the nose back to the firewall, and
making a motor extension box out of 1/4" plywood. Probably cut a hatch in the bottom for battery access.
I see Fiberglass Specialty's makes a cowl, but I am not willing to spend the money on that option right now.
I am going to have to find some Plum Monokote. It appears to be discontinued.

Moon Pie

The deed is done. Sawed off the epoxy-soaked front end and sanded it smooth.
Cut a battery hatch in the bottom. I would have preferred to load the battery.
from the top, but that didn't seem to be an option.
he point here is just to make the plane fly. I will worry about looks later.

Moon Pie

Motor extension / weight box ready for the arrival of the motor.

Moon Pie

In an effort to reuse the original nose from the airplane I had to redesign the motor mount.
The motor box was SOLID, but it was too big to fit into the original cowling that I had sawed off.
I made this new mount using 3/8" aluminum rod and duralumin plate.
Now I am gluing a plywood former to the back of what remains of the front cowling.
and will soon be flushing out (with balsa) where the nitro engine used to stick out.
I hung the lead weight discs with 3/8" "P" clamps from the hardware store.

Moon Pie

I had cut the original front end off of this bird with the intention of buying a plastic or fiberglass cowl.
Being cheap by nature, I decided to rebuild the original front end. I was able to peal all of the epoxy off
the inside of the cowl, and I cut out the bad wood and white glued replacement wood in place.
I traced a 1/16" plywood former using the front end of the fuselage, and put new wood in place where the engine
cutout had been made.
I would take hours sanding this by hand, but only minuets with my belt sander!!
Almost ready to cover the cowl.

Moon Pie

Here is the final (for now) result of the fuel to electric conversion of my Ultra Sport 40. I think the cowl turned out very nice.
With the combined weight of the cowl, and the spinner I was able to remove the lead from the nose.
Thats a vintage 1980's Tru-Turn spinner I had saved from the 80's.
I did fly the model with the wood motor box, and it had plenty of power, but was nose heavy.
FYI, it is powered with a cheap 4250-800kv motor from China, 60-amp ESC, running on 4s 3300mah using a 12 X 8" prop.
With a full charge, the system is showing around 750 watts.
Looking forward to the next flight.