Interested in CL and ECL

[Newtoall]

I have no experience with any controlled powered flight. :D
and I think that ECL would be great for me to train on. Ive tried buying those RTF electric RC planes, but none of them seem to fly. Im tempted to buy the cox ECL plane, but knowing Cox's reputation for their RTF C/L planes, i dont think I will. I was hoping if anyone has any plans for ECL. Cost is also important. I'm planning on doing this with a budget of around 50 dollars. I guess this means ill be using the popular Speed 400s. Since i have such a low budget, Im thinking of using powered lines. This way I could rig of a cheaper 6 cell R/C car battery at 1200 mah.
If anyone could help, it would be great.

[jrb]

Welcome to E-Zone and the new world of ECL!

Some Cox stuff flies and as you noted a lot doesn't. Typically the more it looks like a real airplane the less likely it is to fly!

The glow PT-19 was/is a reall winner! Think it'd be a bit heavy and not a succesful conversion.

Their ECL Sky Cruisers ElectraStar doesn't look bad from the picture, and is probably worth the shot.

[steve lewin]

I don't know the Cox ECL plane so can't help with that.

I'm just putting together a plane powered with a Speed 400 with power down the lines. I actually bought this as a kit, mainly to see what it was like, but the kit is a bit disappointing. It would be easier to scratch build it yourself. Something like 120 sq in built fairly light is what you need.

If you want to power it down the lines you'll need more than a 6-cell pack. There's going to be quite a voltage drop down the lines. I'd guess you'll need 12V at least and even then keep the lines short, say 20 ft maximum.

If you look at some of the older messages on the forum there are several people who've had some success doing it that way but I still prefer to keep the battery on the plane.

Steve

[jrb]

Here's the Cox ECL:

[Newtoall]

Ive been thinking of getting the cox electrastar. Maybe Ill hack it apart for parts and design a lighter profile fueslage, lighter wing, etc. :cool:
If I decide to power it through the control line, The plane might be too light (lol) and it might not be able to overcome the wind.

Also, what should I use as a line if Im going to run power through the control lines? Ive heard people using metal fishing lines, etc. Im thinking of using hookup wire? But Im afraid it might break with the tension of the line. Most control lines are tested for like 40 lbs, or higher to compensate for the stress thats put on them. If i do use hookup wire, what gauge should i use?
Im thinking of 30 awg, 28awg, and maybe 24 awg.

If a control line plane doesnt have to hold any radio equipment (cutting like 4 - 16 oz off), doesnt that mean that I could just build off a rc aircraft or micro rc plan and just attach a bellcrank?

And one last thing, Im thinking of build this plane as a trainer, but im hoping it will be able to pull of some simple aerobatics. Is the speed 400 powerful enough?

[steve lewin]

If you're going to put power down the lines you'll need plastic coated multi-stranded copper. I'm not sure if that's what you mean by "hookup wire". It must be stranded for the flexibility. Stainless steel fishing wire would be good but it has far too much resistance.

The problem is that plastic/copper wire is very draggy. It doesn't need to be very strong though. The plane will weight less than a pound so provided the wire will take 4 or 5lbs strain it should fine. I've used 7/0.2mm but I'm afraid I've no idea what that translates to in AWG.

If you want aerobatics with not much power the main problem will be the drag of the lines, even more than the weight of the plane. You may need to use very short lines to overcome it but then things start to move really fast if you're only on e.g. 15ft lines.

Steve

[dr.E]

Check with Craig at Aerocraft. He did a run of 30 ECL kits for us last year. (PET-1) that I developed for the Hillsdale Flyers as a primary electric trainer with power down the lines and a standard s400 motor.

We tried all of the cox and brodak offerings and they were not as good as the PET-1.