Cessna 182 arf conversion from Nitro Models

[Feeddacat]

Already thinking ahead to the end of the year, and I believe I want to convert the Nitro Model's scale Cessna Skylane 182 to electric.
Wingspan 2100mm
Length 1600mm
Weight 5.1~5.3 kg
Wing Loading 98~102 dm/2

normal 4stroker is a 120-140
normal 2stroker is a 108-120

I'm only looking for sport performance and flight times of 10 mins would be just fine. Needing advice on motors please.


Ed

[hermperez]

I am also working on one, I would think a 140 4strk would be way overpowered.. 1000-1200 watts is fine. I plan to run mine on a 10 cell pack of A123 cells.

here is a good thread:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5146108/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm

[bernoo]

The link below should help you :D
http://www.modelflight.com.au/eflite/eflm4160a_160_outrunner.htm

[hermperez]

There are a few of the Hangar 9 182 at my club, this a larger plane of 95" wingspan.. two fly with a 20cc zenoah and the other one with a 120 4-strk.. they rarely use full throttle, this is a plane you do touch-and-goes with and majestic fly low passes, not an aerobatic airplane. I considered using an axi 5330 on mine but it would be wasted power.. 100watts per lb is more than you need.

The nose gear should be upgraded and reinforced and there are a couple of things to worry about in the rudder linkages.. CMP has updated the instructions and there should be an addendum sheet in the instructions.

[Coastwatcher]

Hermperez,

In the last post you were mentioning nosewheel problems , ect .......are these related to the H9 Cessna or the CMP model?

I'm thinkng of doing a H9 version but have heard no reports on it as an elecrtic. I have an extra 160 Eflite that should send her sailing .
FRED

[hermperez]

both version have problems with the nose gear, and the full scale one also.. you must land it on the mains.

[Tracon]

Here's mine:

CMP Cessna 182

http://www.teamtracon.com/CMPCessna50/DSC_0139.jpg

Hi Everyone,

Team Tracon is adding a CMP Cessna 182 to our fleet !!!

Wingspan: 1650mm = 65"
Length: 1250mm = 49"
Weight: 2950 -3100g = 6.5 Lbs - 7 Lbs
Motor: AXI 4130/16
Speed Controller: Jeti 77
Battery: Thunder Power 6s 5000

.

[Tracon]

My Cessna build actually started a few weeks ago, but with work and everything I've been really busy and finding time to update things on this thread has been hard...

I finally found some time today to get caught up on things and kick this thing off with some pictures from the first stage of the build...

After opening the box, I found everything was packed really well, after reading all the instructions through a couple of times I got going on the first steps...

The first part of the build was hinging the flaps and ailerons, in the first picture you can see the detail of the strips on the flaps...

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0001.jpg

In the second picture you can see the same detail on the ailerons...

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0002.jpg

There were no surprises using the epoxy to glue the hinges into place for the flaps and ailerons, it all went quite well.

I'm not a big fan of these two piece plastic hinges but this is what came with the kit and the holes were already precut so I used them.

[Tracon]

The second part was installing the four servos for the flaps and ailerons...

I used full size Futaba Standard BB S3004's

In the picture below you can see how they'er installed in the wings:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0003.jpg

The kit has nice covers over the servos to maintain a nice scale look...

Here's one installed with the push rod cut and ready to be installed:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0004.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0005.jpg

[Tracon]

Here's the servos in place and ready for testing:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0006.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0007.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0008.jpg

[Tracon]

Here's a few pictures testing the maximum deflection of the flaps and ailerons:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0009.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0010.jpg

[Tracon]

The next part of construction was putting together the center of the main wing, the kit has made this wing so it can be broken down for transport...

After looking and all the different pieces that holds this thing together I decided that after getting everything together the safe route would be to epoxy the whole wing (All three pieces) after I know everything fits nice and tight...

Here's a couple of pictures of the center of the wing where the joiners are:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0011.jpg

Second shot shows the parts being installed:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0012.jpg

[Tracon]

Here's a few pictures of how the wings join together:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0013.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0014.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0015.jpg

[staggerwing]

Tracon---nice close up details of what you've done--pls continue when possible

Bob

[mpope1]

Where are you mounting the battery tray, or placing the batteries?

[Tracon]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by, I'm going to build the battery tray right where the fuel tank is made to sit. I think it's going to need to be as far forward as possible...

I'll take some detailed pictures when I get to that point.

I did a little more work on her this morning, here's the left / right elevators and the rudder all hinged in place:


http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0018.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0019.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0020.jpg

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0021.jpg

Sam

[hermperez]

Tracon, your pictures show a new change, pushrod exits for the rudder on both sides of the fuselage.. I guess this is intended for a push-pull setup on the rudder.. a modification that many people on the web are doing. They did an addendum to add a support piece of wood to the internal rudder horn a few months back.

Aparently CMP keeps an eye on the forums and updates the planes as needed, this a good responsive company. Changing the mold is not a trivial thing.

I noticed that you used the quick connectors on the ailerons/flaps.. I worry a bit about this, make sure you use some threadlocker so they dont unscrew themselves.

Good job on the photography!

[hermperez]

Dont forget, the struts add a lot of support.. that is one big wing to keep it in one piece.


After looking and all the different pieces that holds this thing together I decided that after getting everything together the safe route would be to epoxy the whole wing (All three pieces) after I know everything fits nice and tight...

[Tracon]

Just came up from my hangar...

I don't like those quick connectors an I probably will change them out...

Do have any suggestions for those ??? I usually just Z-bend the wire and put it on the servo...but there's got to be a better way...

I just got my AXI and ESC today going to put them in tomorrow...

I've been working on the nose gear, everyone says it's pretty weak...

I did some mods there also, I've put some fuel tubing over the wire in between the keepers to take up some of the shock on landing, usually my landings are pretty good but you never know what can happen.. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the comments on the photography, we have some nice stuff in our gallery on our website also...

www.teamtracon.com

Sam

[Tracon]

I also painted the wheels yesterday:

http://www.teamtracon.com/cmpcessna/DSC_0023.jpg

All the landing gear is installed and I'll have some pictures of it up tomorrow...

[bernoo]

Tarkon, get yourself a Robart nosewheel leg. The origional kit leg WILL bend. Trust me I know :D

[wiz310]

I second that. or change out the leg for a piano wire one. I used some springs in the places your putting your fuel hase until I built a whole new setup. worked a treat, just didn't look scale.

[hermperez]

Here is one:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXES72

just too gorgeous to hide under a wheel pant..

this is probably what I will use, practical, just to avoid problems:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXH133&P=7

a couple of smaller units:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXH129&P=7
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXH130&P=7

[Andrew McGregor]

Just FYI... fullsize 182s are frequently seen without wheel pants, because even fullsize the plane is quite capable of operating off fields that are bumpy enough to break the pants. Most of the 182 pilots I know keep the kit for removing pants in the plane, just in case they break one while out in the boonies.

[Tracon]

Thanks for all the info guys...

I'm just getting ready to goto work, I'll have more pictures up this evening...

I like the look of the wheel pants, but I've read all the horror stories about how the nose gear on this thing is weak...

Is the nose gear you are showing me, would that be scale to this little bit larger than the .40 size plane ??? because this is the new 50 size one...

Thank in advance,

Sam

[hermperez]

oops.. the ones I showed where for the 120 sized one.. no wonder the fuselage looked different in your pictures.

[hermperez]

From what a pilot told me, labor and maintenance on the brakes is more expensive when you have the wheelpants on.. something like $5000 more?, so many people take off the wheelpants due to that.. take this with a grain of salt since it is 2-3rd hand information based on my memory :)

Just FYI... fullsize 182s are frequently seen without wheel pants, because even fullsize the plane is quite capable of operating off fields that are bumpy enough to break the pants. Most of the 182 pilots I know keep the kit for removing pants in the plane, just in case they break one while out in the boonies.

[Chuck McHugh]

From what a pilot told me, labor and maintenance on the brakes is more expensive when you have the wheelpants on.. something like $5000 more?, so many people take off the wheelpants due to that.. take this with a grain of salt since it is 2-3rd hand information based on my memory :)
That is a bit off. The pants only added about 1/2 hour more labor to get to the brakes or wheel bearings. At least on my 182 that was the case.They are easy to damage on rough fields thou. BTW that is a nice looking model. I looked at the larger one but just too many projects on the que.
Chuck

[brancoli]

Can anyone tell me the net weight
(fuselage + wing + all hardware)?

I'm thinking of installing a Zenoah g23 (1.58kg)
Want to estimate on flying weight and c/g.
Thank you.

[bernoo]

Can anyone tell me the net weight
(fuselage + wing + all hardware)?

I'm thinking of installing a Zenoah g23 (1.58kg)
Want to estimate on flying weight and c/g.
Thank you.

Do you have the G23 yet? If not you dont need it. Use the Zenoah 20 electronic. It is smaller and has ample power th fly the 182.

[bernoo]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=640759&page=2 Look at this thread. It will show pics of the Zenoah 20 installation

[brancoli]

Oh! I 've the g23 already.
But, thinking it may be too heavy ....
Because the c182 wing area is only 52dm2 ...
Any comments?

[brancoli]

What's the weight of g20 + ignition battery of yours.
I can base on your flying weight by diff of 2 engines ...

[Chuck McHugh]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=640759&page=2 Look at this thread. It will show pics of the Zenoah 20 installation
I think you are in the wrong forum, this thread is about ELECTRIC conversion.
Chuck

[Erwin Z]

Here is one:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXES72

just too gorgeous to hide under a wheel pant..

this is probably what I will use, practical, just to avoid problems:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXH133&P=7

a couple of smaller units:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXH129&P=7
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXH130&P=7

don't you think fults wont fit into the wheelpant? do you think this will work?http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXES65&P=ML

[mediq]

Here is a pic of my power system
Eflite 160
CC110
EVO 10s5350
Robart nose strut

Erwin
that strut you are referring to at the bottom is too small for this plane i use that strut in the Hangar9 Corsair.

[Tracon]

Hi Guys,

Sorry about cutting the build thread short, I got busy with work...

I finally got my Cessna finished tonight and I took her out for the maiden flight.

Power setup:

Motor: AXI 4130/16

ESC: Jeti 77

Battery: Thunder Power Extreme 6s 5000

I had to do many mods and change up a lot of the hardware to feel safe in the air with this plane...( I can explain later if you're building one... )

Here she is sitting pretty waiting for her maiden flight:

http://www.teamtracon.com/CMPCessna50/DSC_0151.jpg

In-Flight Shot:

http://www.teamtracon.com/CMPCessna50/DSC_0165.jpg

Power off hot landing:

http://www.teamtracon.com/CMPCessna50/DSC_0176.jpg

The flight went GREAT !!!

She needed 6 oz of weight to balance, she seemed a little nose heavy..but like someone once said... "I've never seen a plane crash on a maiden flight that was a little nose heavy"

She cruises around at about 1/4 throttle no problem...she does have some tip-stall characteristics at low speeds though....so be careful !!!

Any questions, I'll do my best to answer...

All the best,

Sam

[rloeb]

Very nice! I, for one, would like a summary of the build mods you made, since I'm in the process of building one of these now. I collected a lot of good hints from this, and some other threads, but I'm always looking for other smart ideas.

I didn't like the lineup of the wing servos with the control horns, so I went with Sullivan 2-56 ball joints. Dumped the supplied pushrods, too. Haven't gotten to the elevator and rudder engineering yet, but tempted to go with a pull-pull on the rudder.

Rog

[Chuck McHugh]

Tracon, looks very scale! What is your weight ready to fly?
Chuck

[Tracon]

Hi Guys, just running out the door to work...

I put another flight on yesterday, the plane flies awesome , but the nose gear did fail on me yesterday...just after landing I bounced in a small rut and bent the nose wire all to heck and cracked the nose wheel pant up pretty bad..

I'm going to replace the wire and hardware, I should have listen to others about the nose gear issues...

My all up weight is around 8 3/4 Lbs...

I had to add 6 oz of lead to the nose to get her to balance...

I'll give you more details on the mod tonight when I get home....

Thanks for the nice feed back...

Sam

[bluescoobydoo]

can anyone tell me the amaount of elevator travel they use on high and low rates as i am putting one of these together at the moment and can only get 35mm up and down travel due to my own fault but its to late now!
why do you only have two of the blue metal pins to hold your wings together mine has four? but you have the push rod exit holes and i am stuck with the internal system.
cant have every thing i suppose!!

[lempert]

Hi


I want to buy and convert to electric the CMPro Cessna-50 Can you please help me with these questions?

What is the weight of the model (without motor and battery) ?

Do you think I can use 4s 3700 pack for this model (or 4s2p 7400 mah) ?
I want scale flight not aerobatics.

Thanks

[Andrew McGregor]

I use 5s 3700. Mine weighs about 2800g empty, and about 3600g with pack. That makes for a clean stall speed around 13 m/s, which is plenty fast enough.

I put 4s 3700 and a Hyperion 4020-10 (I use a 4020-14) into Motocalc, and got pretty decent numbers using a 12x10. It'll fly fine on that, the duration won't be all that long; you have about 3 minutes of full throttle available. 2P brings that to almost 6 minutes, which will make for nice long flights.

[lempert]

Thanks. 2800 g without the motor ??
"you have about 3 minutes of full throttle available" - I believe I will fly this model about 40% throttle. Am I right ?

[Andrew McGregor]

No, more like 55 to 60%. You should get 8 to 10 minutes from a 4s 3700 at that sort of cruise power, so long as you don't do too many touch-and-go's it should be good.

And yes, 2800g including everything but motor, motor mount, prop, adaptor and spinner, ESC and pack. That also includes the Robart nosegear oleo, which is a great part and highly recommended.

[lempert]

Thanks
the same Robart nosegear that fits the Topflight Cessna ?
Robart 650 or Robart 654 ?

[FireryPhoenix]

Thanks
the same Robart nosegear that fits the Topflight Cessna ?
Robart 650 or Robart 654 ?



The 654 - http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXES72&P=7

[FireryPhoenix]

At the current price of $149.99 its DUMB not to buy one... even if you have no plans of ever building, it will go up in price because of:

a)Price of fuel needed to float it from China to U.S.

b)Price of labor in China is on the rise, especially in the areas of consumer electronics and high-tech toys such as this

c)The weakening dollar. Fannie Mae and Mac will be bailed out by Congress/Senate/Pres as they are all friends with the boys on Wall St. Billionaires are NOT going to lose billions when they can just saddle the tax payer and ride us. U.S. 53 Trillion in debt ... what is another tril or two...

So I have one on the way and if it is a good as it looks I will get a 2nd a possibly a 3rd. Heck I have more faith in these things bringing me a return on my money than I do a U.S. Treasury Note!

Phoenix

[FireryPhoenix]

Just ordered a second ... the first arrived today and let me say this, the quality is awesome! There is no way I could scratch build this with all the glass, epoxy, covering, and hardware for under $150 here in the U.S.. I will likely order a 3rd and a 4th in the coming weeks.

One thing to think about:

Do you really think these planes will be available again at $150 once they are sold out? As we all know, China manufactures are like the weather ... always changing.

Phoenix

[Dreamtalker]

Nice thread...just ordered mine for the sweet price of $99.95 65" WS this look's like a great night flyer as well.
Terry

[gp125racer]

Anyone done an e-conversion on the 83" version?

My biggest concern is the motor mount.

Don

[MxHeli-man]

I will be doing one on mine that I am just now starting. Still a lot to decide on.

[gp125racer]

What motor and mount were you thinking of going with? This will be my first "e" conversion. I was thinking of this setup:

* HXT 63-64 280kv Hxt 63-64 280kv brushless (http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=2097)

* This motor mount (http://www.unitedhobbies.com/unitedhobbies/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=5320)
* 10s 4000-5000mah lipo (2x 5s packs)

* 80A+ ESC w/ bec

* 16x10 prop (if itll clear)

* ?? servos

[800mZero]

tuning in on the 83" thinking a torque 4014/570 on 5s.

[MxHeli-man]

I'm still open to all suggestions. Servos are another issue.

[realjumper]

At the current price of $149.99 its DUMB not to buy one...
Phoenix

hmmm....shame about the $203.75 shipping to my place though :(

[Frankus]

Hi guys, have a very nice cmpro cessna 182 50 that I have been collating various bits for so I can start my build, so far I have a set of six ds821 servos a spektrum dx7 transmitter and twin rf receiver, a wasp 400kva motor, 70amp esc, 4900mah high discharge 6cell 22.2volt battery, and a 1800 mah 6v receiver pack, hopefully this should give a fair bit of power and flight time too...
Frank