There's nearly a gillion threads and posts about the Slow Stick mods ranging from ailerons to night flying. And another gillion about batteries, props, etc...

I'd like to add one more...and it's a simple one as there are an awfull lot of experts on this matter.

I built and flew my Slow Stick stock with the exception of an 8-cell 1100 battery. It had a 300 d-geared motor, 15 amp esc and the stock 1180 prop. First flight was a tad over 18 minutes with full throttle about half the flight. It performed wonderfully, climbed nicely, and performed loops whenever I asked it to The flight times seem to be a bit shorter each time now...still seems like there's battery left but the motor sure is getting awfully hot. So is the esc. Battery pack doesn't even get warm. I probably have about 10 flights on this set up. I'm guessing that this motor is getting tired.

I put on a 400 D-geared motor from a GWS Tiger Moth that suffered an early demise and this huge esc from my Electra Streak that I'm keeping on the shelf until I'm ready to fly it. I put the 1180 prop back on. It's too dark to fly now but with a full charge on the battery and at full throttle this plane wants to rip free from my hands!

My question is: How well do you think this set-up will work? I'm not looking for speed, however I would like good climbing power and some decent flight time. Li-polys and brushless are on my wish list but sadly the bills prevail. Would the 1260 prop make any difference?

Thanks!

i am no electrics expert but i have read a lot of the threads on slow sticks and i believe that the 300 spped motor gets damaged with more than a 6 cell battery. something about to much draw or some stuff like that. i use a 6 cell 1100 mhz battery and i get about a good 12 mins of solid flying at full throttle.

concerning the 400 D-gear setup

Same boat as the 300D it seems from GWS data... I typed all this below and didn't read your 400 specs! Anyway, almost same thing, you are using too much prop in both examples and pushing the motors past theire efficient power range and just creating excess heat... here's the gws 400 data link:


http://www.gws.com.tw/english/produc...em/eps400c.htm

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concerning the 300 D-gear setup

With those big nicds in that 8cell pack I think the voltage is too high (making motor try to spin fast) with that prop (a heavy load to spin even faster) it then draws too much current... hence the excessive heat in the motor.. try an 1147 prop instead with that battery pack OR go to a 7 cell pack with the 1180, should drop things back into normal operating temps...

whenever something gets hot (uncomfortable to hold continuously) its usually being pushed too hard... and I've pushed 350s hard in a Formosa by doing this (overpropping) and after it got hot it did get weaker in flight but man it was way too hot to touch... lasted 20 flights and then brushes totally worn away and broke off inside the motor! You may have already done the damage, but replacements are 10 bucks from many online vendors...

heres some data from gws site... 8 cells arent even listed but with smaller (length or pitch or both) props it should be ok....

oops, hard to read. heres the url:

http://www.gws.com.tw/english/produc...em/eps300c.htm



GW/EPS-300C-DS (M0.4) 66 / 10 = 6.6
PROPELLER Volts (v) Amps (A) Thrust Power (w) Efficiency (g) (oz) (g/w) (oz/kw)
EP1147 6.0 3.8 208 7.34 22.80 9.12 322
7.2 5.2 274 9.67 37.44 7.32 258
8.4 6.4 361 12.73 53.76 6.72 237
EP1180 6.0 4.7 228 8.04 28.20 8.09 285
7.2 6.1 274 9.67 43.92 6.24 220
8.4 8.0 360 12.70 67.20 5.36 189
EP1260 6.0 4.5 301 10.62 27.00 11.15 393
7.2 5.8 351 12.38 41.76 8.41 296
8.4 8.5 427 15.06 71.40 5.98 211
EP1080(4B) 7.2 6.8 278 9.81 48.96 5.68 200
8.4 7.8 314 11.08 65.52 4.79 169

Thank you! It's one thing to read about other ppls setup, and another to read responses to your own. Before I read your response just now my son and I took the slow stick with the 400 setup to see how it would do. Yep, you called it. The performance was pretty much the same as with the 300...climbed ok, did what I asked it to do...but was far from phenomenal. I brought it down after about 5 minutes to see how the battery and the engine were fairing and sure enough, the engine was way too hot to touch! Well, we drove 15 miles to fly so we ran the battery out which took maybe another 8 minutes or so and you could see the performance waining rapidly. The engine was damn near sizzling but the battery was merely warm. Definitely too big of a prop. I looked at the links you posted and once I was able to decipher it then it made some sense. It shows the 1080 as being good and the 1047 as being excellent. So if that's a good setup for the battery, motor, and prop...what do you think it will do for the performance?

Thank you for taking the time to respond

How do you like that Formosa? I've been looking at those...

Just remember for props that the higher the pitch, the faster that motor/prop combo will want to go. BUT if the plane is very draggy and holds it back from attaining the speed the prop is try to go, then the motor stays loaded throughout the flight and can overheat... so a smaller pitch is easier on it kinda like first gear on a bike, easy but you don't go fast.

The 1080 is probably a good choice especially if its a little windy.. that way you have the speed to go upwind when its breezy... if the winds are light, try the lower pitched 1047, easier on the motor and battery, probably longer flights but still good.

I've found experimenting with ALL kinds of props on a model (and a whattmeter to test volts amps etc) the best way to get all you can out of it.. I mean right now I have 2 Formosae , one brushed stock motor, one brushless... I try all kinds of different props depending on the battery used and they make it fly differently...

for example on the axi powered one, if I use really light 2S lipo batteries that cant take much over 10 amp draw, then I use a 9x3.8 or 9x4.7 prop which can hover nicely but no excess power.

if I then go to a slightly larger 2S lipo that can take 12 amps I go with a 9x7 which gives a lot more speed because of the higher pitch. I just got a new 10x3.8 which draws 12 amps (perfect for batt and motor) so more length for more thrust and low pitch because more pitch would make the amps shoot up and overheat everything... should make hovering and other slow flight things easier since theres lots thrust to get you moving but pretty slow speed, but at least enough speed...

ok , now I go to 3S packs and have to drop to an 8x6 prop but man is it fast now.. high pitch and 50% more volts mean much faster prop so I can go 40+ mph and it feels glow like.. plenty of power to hover as well but actually its harder, I think because the prop diameter in smaller and theres less "resolution" for control of throttle with the high pitch prop..?? dunno but it seems this way.

but to answer your question... the Formosa is without a doubt in my mind the greatest flying RC plane in its price range... and really theres not much in that price range! Its a great flyer... traditional aerobatics are good even stock and you can play around with some 3d kinda stuff.. a brushless really wakes it up but going for a high voltage pack (for higher rpm) and a smaller prop (to keep watts under control) may be a way to wake up the stock motor.. i'm experiementing with that after reading a lot here about it... lipoly packs are the best upgrade for stock btw... so light makes it fly like a feather when you want it to.. wonderful, you wont be disappointed.. just wait til you're ready, maxed out throws and its pretty agile... totally stock its not too much of a handful.

good luck... I gotta go fly my formosas now, the rain has stopped!