Originally Posted by pookielips1954

Flight report: The Kraft/Kyosho Chipmunk is a huge success!

I did a few things different than Tom in his conversion. I added a steerable tailwheel and used a servo on each aileron.Oh, and bigger wheels, too. RTF weight with a 1300 3S is only 21 ounces. The 2212 outrunner is MAJOR overkill for power - it takes off easily at less than 1/2 power, needs LOTS of right rudder at full throttle. It flies so well I nearly cratered it on the first flight - I lost track of time, was flying it well in excess of ten minutes then decided to make a low (20 feet, that's low for me) inverted pass at 1/2 throttle. When I went to power up, the battery was gone and my 1/2 roll to upright finished about 4 feet off the ground. Yikes! I'd rather be lucky than good, poor judgement on my part.

Like Tom said, it's a crime this model isn't available today. Russ Farris

Not such a different approach..

I also used a 2212..but the 1000Kv version with an 8x6 APC Thin e...gives us about the same pitch speed and amps/watts . Mine is major overkill as well.... I used a Gens Ace 3S 1550mAh with gives a little more power than the typical 3S 1300 pack in the same model.

Hated to trench up this rare foamie with servo wire runs and servos showing out in the wings, so decided to use a single aileron and torque rods... works great.

I went to larger wheels as well, plus I added some tubing to the stock wire gear to make it look less skeletal. Ditched the yellow plastic tailwheel from the stock kit and used a normal tailwheel. Still have not added a steerable tailwheel, but it steers nicely on the ground without one, unless there is some excess wind.

Flew mine this evening...a delightful model!

Looks like the MRC Ryan will have to wait. I snagged one of these recently, should make an outstanding electric conversion! Russ Farris

http://eam.net/EBAY/models/C-180/C-180.htm

Nice score, Russ. I still have a partially assembled Bentom Schweizer looking down at me when I enter my workshop. It is on my some day list.

Tony

Originally Posted by Thomas B

If I ever come across a good deal on a Cox Cessna Centurion, I would likely add that to my collection. I had one when it they first came out.

I have a COX Cessna Trainer New in the box. I'd like to say it's mint but it's not. The original owner lost the cardboard packing dividers and now there are some indentations on one side of the fuselage. Considering its age, I would rate it in good condition or better. This will make a good flyer or a nice addition to your collection.

Due to how rare these are, I'm at $200.00 firm If interested PM your email address and I'll send detailed photos.

Anthony

I had a mixed case of the Kraft Chipmunk's and Cessna's when they were getting ready to start importing them. They gave several of the engineers a mixed case each to try out. My mother was an engineer there at the time and let me try them out. They were way over weight and under powered with the electrics but they flew great with a Cox Black widow. They didn't last long though, I was only 14 at the time and abused the heck out of them. Should have saved one of each for later, but later to a 14 year old is next week. I did have an old Cessna style foam plane designed for somewhere between 1/4A and 1/2A, I think the brand was CCMI or something similar. It flew great with a Black Widow also.

Well i just got back from neat fair and i picked up a sureflite p39 kit and a sureflite sportfire. Which looks like a spitfire mk1 with an open cockpit . These are older one piece wing kits and it shoukd be interesting figuring out how to go to electric power on them

There used to be an outfit named Model Electronics Corp. in the Seattle area that had a line of brushed motors with names like War Emergency Power, using open gearboxes and fairly large props on 7-8 NiCds (this was the early to mid 90s). I had one of their Superboxes on an early Aveox BL motor, and it was a potent combination. They also had an amateur video of their products, and it demonstrated several of the Sureflite birds - including the P39 and larger Cub - being hauled around nicely by their systems. My guess is a modern outrunner equivalent turning an 11 - 12" prop and 3S lipo should be adequate.

Tony

My main concern is adapting from the old nitro motor plywood rails to an outrunner style mount. I dont mind buying a large low kv inrunner like the ammo series. But i cant recall ever seeing a nice looking conversion. I would like to keep the thrust angles that are built in, rather than hack into the nose and reinvent the wheel

Originally Posted by cgoffa

My main concern is adapting from the old nitro motor plywood rails to an outrunner style mount. I dont mind buying a large low kv inrunner like the ammo series. But i cant recall ever seeing a nice looking conversion. I would like to keep the thrust angles that are built in, rather than hack into the nose and reinvent the wheel

Some hacking will be unavoidable.....outrunners do not mix well with the ply crutch type of motor mount used for glow motors in these models.

Should not be too tough to cut away some amount of the ply crutch and add a plywood plate for the outrunner the correct distance back from the firewall. If you square up this ply plate to the ply crutch, it will maintain the original thrust angles.

I was reading the supplementary instructions and they mention cutting the nose off to install a firewall style mount. It just seems like a poor solution. It would be nice if someone made a metal motor bracket like the greatplanes brushless firewall mounts, with flanges to mount directly into nitro motor rails.

On one of the conversions I bent a triangular shaped motor mount from 1/16 in. aluminum that screwed to the rails. The motor bolted to the vertical angle.

Gord..

Only have one old foamy left -- my Midwest A-4. Originally had the .049 Axiflo in it which was marginal at best the biggest problem being that of having some fuel left after starting and tuning, even tried it with a bladder tank! Is now electrified witha 64mm fan running on 4S and is a great flier, belly take offs are a must so grass only. Note the Econokote is original from over 20 years ago! Wish I could locate another at a reasonable price, could then build in some scale detail.

We may have had this discussion already but that a4 is nice. It occurs to me that in some ways the engineers who design kits now can basically throw any crap together and it will fly because of the massive power available from brushless motors. These old kits were really something from a design perspective, or they didnt fly at all

We can now have bricks fly straight up & out of sight.

What designing was required ?