This isn't a build thread but I thought I would show how I am doing the conversion.

Emax GTGT3526/05 motor
MA 13x6 prop (the APC 12x6E wasn't giving me enough watts)
Sky Power 80A ESC w/6A SBEC
1800mAh 4S 35C x2

I used the top deck for the battery hatch. If I were to do it again I would start with a 3/32 sheet laying flat on the deck and build up the cockpit from there. When you bend the sides of the cockpit in it will cause it to warp if there is no support underneath. I was able to get it to sit flat with some hot water, tape and letting it dry over night. I'll get the battery tray in it once the tail feathers are glued on and I can get a sense of where the battery needs to be to get the COG right.

The only other mods I'm doing are the up swept wing tips and I enlarged the rudder and ailerons. You can see how much I enlarged the rudder if you look at the extension I drew on the plans in the first picture. On the ailerons I just made them rectangular instead of tapering towards the wing tip.

I just subscribed I am going to buy one these kits for a build next fall/winter. Love the looks of this plane and the raves about how it fly's. Looking good hope you post up some more on your progress.

I'm still trying to work out how I'm going to build the cowling. The plans have you build up a solid cowl out of balsa and is designed to have the engine removed from the top. That won't work for electric motors since they need access from the front. I'm thinking of building a balsa framework and glassing it. Or maybe use a 2 liter plastic pop bottle and use heat to form it. The nice thing is it will be removable so if I don't like it I can toss it and start over. If anyone has any suggestions or links I can look at for cowling construction I would really appreciate it.

On a conversion I did I made a seperate cover for the motor access that followed the shape of the nose. I put 2 pins in the back of the cover to go into the fuse. I then used magnets to hold the front down. Never had it come off in flight. I can post up a pic of this setup if you would like.

Pictures would be great! I'm open to any ideas.

I will take some pics tomorrow and post them up hope it helps you out with some ideas.

Here is mine. Has been flying about 5 years.
Henry

Originally Posted by Henry Sistrunk

Here is mine. Has been flying about 5 years.
Henry

I think I saw pictures of your plane in another thread. Did you use foam, pantyhose and epoxy to form your cowling? Do you have any detailed pictures of your setup? Any help is appreciated.

Yes, Thats mine. I use a 4 cell 4200 mah battery. I think a lighter battery would fly better. The flap is fun to play with but I'm not sure how effective it is. The motor is no longer available. Here are more photos. Let me know how I can help.
Henry

Thanks for the pictures! I'm just about ready to put the wing bolts in then it's on to making the cowling. I have some light fiberglass cloth coming that I will give a try.

Sorry about not getting the pictures up been busy getting ready for a SEFF trip.

My motor cover wouldn't work on this plane you would never be able to get to the btt. motor mount screws. the front on this plane is a lot smaller than the front of the Dynaflte corsair I did it on.

Henry that looks real nice the way you did the cowl have to do this myself when I get ready to build this plane.

I've been working on the mockup for the cowling. I'm going to try my hand glassing it this weekend if the weather keeps me from flying. It is nice knowing that I won't have much invested in the cowling (except time and blood) so I can just throw it in the trash and start over if I mess it up too badly.

I know it is not the "correct" shape for the contender but I wasn't liking the classic cowling shape anyway. It will be functional with the ESC up in the vent area and there will be a little scoop inside forcing air into the motor. I'm not sure how that will affect the GOG so I'm waiting till the airframe is mocked up to put the battery tray in. With my long battery hatch it is open for battery placement clear back to the tail feather servos.

Of course any time I get a hold of something sharp I manage to drain a little blood from my body. I have cut my left thumb open three times in the last six months! Hopefully the feeling will come back some day.....

Ready for final sanding and covering. I'm still working on the cowling. Using 1oz cloth and WPU, I am not getting the hardness I was looking for. I guess I'll just keep adding more layers. Next time I am going with a built up balsa cowling - it would have been much quicker.

All that I have left to do:

Finish covering the wing
Mount the landing gear
Epoxy on the tail feathers and run the control rods
Mount the motor
Hook up the electronics

It should be flying by this next weekend! I'll post up some pictures of the balsa cowling tomorrow. Not the best cowling I've seen but I spent too much time on the fiberglass one and finally just slapped a balsa nose on it.