After searching the two big sites, RCGroups and RCUnivers for a good build log on this new plane, and coming up empty, I decided to start one here.

I'm going electric, and the only thing I could find was one picture of one showing the location of a hatch for battery access.

I am powering mine with the Rimfire 1.20, Phoenix ICE 100 ESC, and Blue Lipo 5000mah 20C batteries. I will build the battery box for 6S size, but will probably end up using 5S. Yes, I already have spacers/fillers made to be able to switch back and forth, depending on prop used on two of my other planes. I will start with an 18x8, and go from there. I've learned to change props with weather conditions on my big planes, so I also change battery cell counts depending on prop and conditions. It really does make a difference.

Here is the pic of the battery hatch location I borrowed from a post in another thread. It was taken at SEFF this year by Big Lacy.

I've looked over the model and this does seem to be the best way to do this. Wish we could have seen inide the hatch to see how the battery mounts. I'm going to make a kind of tray/box to hold the battery in place.

The main build of the model requires no major info. The model is extremely well designed, and builds exactly as the instructions show. I ran into absolutely zero problems with the basic airframe construction. All the surfaces are prehinged, even, except the rudder. And it required only a little extra pressure to fit the tailwheel bearings down into their slot in the rudder.

The only other thing I had to do was grind the openings/ledges for the aileron servo hatches a little so my servos to fit, as they are a little tall for the openings. I'm using Common Sense R/C's branded Hitech 311 servos, on 6volts for the ailerons, and their hi torque metal geared 645MG servos on the elevator and rudder.

The one thing that looks good, but turns out to be an absolute bear, is their cowl mounting. The back of the cowl is ever so slightly smaller than the size of the mounting ring it is supposed to slide over, requireing sanding it's circumference to fit, which then makes it loose at the mounting point.

The motor mounting system I'm using required me to make stand-offs from dowels, with screws made from 8x32 all thread rod. Here is a pic of the motor mounted so far. Today will be spent doing the ESC mounting and wiring, as well as starting on the battery hatch and inner box.

I took those pics at SEFF showing the way that the G.P. pilot set his up. I bought one that same day,I'll post more pics later today. I wound up using an E-flite 110 on 2 4cell packs in series w/CC 100amp esc plus CC 20 amp bec. The batteries worked out perfect in the forward cockpit (2-5300 Gens ace from Hobbypartz) great bats by the way. Good luck w/your build. BL

Originally Posted by BIG LACY

I took those pics at SEFF showing the way that the G.P. pilot set his up. I bought one that same day,I'll post more pics later today. I wound up using an E-flite 110 on 2 4cell packs in series w/CC 100amp esc plus CC 20 amp bec. The batteries worked out perfect in the forward cockpit (2-5300 Gens ace from Hobbypartz) great bats by the way. Good luck w/your build. BL

BL, thanks, hope you don't mind my using your pic. Just couldn't remember where I got it.

Yes, please post some pics of yours here, especially how you did your motor mounting and battery mounting. The more people can see it, the better. I found a couple flight reports, but no build reports, so I started this one. Did you put yours in front of cockpit like shown?

I have the E-Flite 110 on my GP P-6E Hawk, and I love it. Swinging an 18x10x3 blade Mezjlek fibreglas prop on 8S (4x2) 5000mah 20C Blue Lipos. Have been thinking about getting some of those Gens Ace batteries when I saw the ad, but they weren't available when I bought mine. Have been real happy with the Blue Lipos so far. Use the same 5000mah size in all my larger planes, just different configurations in each. Strangely, the only configuration I don't have is the 4 cell ones. The only one I don't use the Blue's in is the Staggerwing, because the Blues were not available at the time I converted it. It uses the Impulse brand 5 cell 20C 4800mah x2, which they quit making as I bought mine. Got 3 of them when I purchased, which was the last of the stock. Wanted 4. Then the Blues came out, and have been with them ever since.

Here you go, as you can see I used nylon 1/2" for standoffs w/10-24 threaded stock. Had to add 3.5 oz lead to balance. Would have used the 160 E-flite with no lead but then would need 2 5s batts,which would not fit in the forward cockpit.I hard mounted the series connector u can see it in the pics.BTW the one at seff was cut in forward as the old pic shows but was for 2 3 cell packs. I plan to cut some more holes in the fire wall if needed,am about a week from maiden as is my habit of checking everything a dozen or so times, will start w/18x8 prop.BL

BL, looks great. Is it my eyesite or did you add a little downthrust?

Good idea mounting the batteries in the cockpit as mail. I didn't think of that, as I wanted mine forward. I just finished cutting my hatch like the one you photo'd at SEFF. Since I'm using the Rimfire 120, 6 cells is fine, and I can do any combo. I also use those new series connectors from MAXX/MPI. I like them.

You would be grossly overpowered with the Power 160, believe me. Even your 110 will normally be flown at 1/2 throttle or less, or you'll tear the wings off. The ONLY time mine sees full throttle on my GP P-6E, which is the same size and weight, is when I want to climb till it's out of site. My 160 is in the Staggerwing in my avatar, which weighs almost 22 lbs, and it goes vertical till I stop. I'm thinking of putting another Rimfire in the P-6E, as they are nowhere near as powerful as the E-Flite motors. Not anything against the Rimfires, I now have 4, it's just that the E-Flite's are greatly UNDER rated.

How much trouble did you have mounting your cowl?? I'm thinking of taking a small part off the fuse ring, as it's cicumference is slightly bigger than my cowl. It will only go in by turning 90 dgress and then straightening.

Good luck on the maiden. Mine might be about two weeks away. Get videos!!!

I forgot to comment on the c/ring, I took about 1/8" out of the bottom of it and when I was satisfied I placed a small gusset on the front of it.Glad to here your experiences w/ the E-flite 110 I feel a lot better about the choice now.BL

nice

Originally Posted by BIG LACY

I forgot to comment on the c/ring, I took about 1/8" out of the bottom of it and when I was satisfied I placed a small gusset on the front of it.Glad to here your experiences w/ the E-flite 110 I feel a lot better about the choice now.BL

BL, Good idea. Looking back at your pics I can see it. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Staggerflyer

BL, looks great. Is it my eyesite or did you add a little downthrust?

Good idea mounting the batteries in the cockpit as mail. I didn't think of that, as I wanted mine forward. I just finished cutting my hatch like the one you photo'd at SEFF. ........

Are you taking photos? Hope so. I'm not nearly ready to jump into something this big yet, but it will come, and everything this size seems to be designed for IC only. I really would love to see just how you created the hatch and mounted your batteries in something that was not designed for them.

One question that comes up when looking at the photos is how long are those dowels you've both used to mount the motor? They look so long that I would worry about the motor twisting when the amps really start flowing. Not so much in yours Staggerflyer, those are some pretty healthy looking rods... they look almost like poles in the photo . But the nylon rods in Big Lacy's just look like they might be somewhat flexible. I have no experience with that size of motor, so maybe I am just a bit overly cautious. But when I think of that motor trying to accelerate an 18 inch prop..... Well, I would worry until I actually tried it with the cowl off so I could see just how solid it is.

It is a beautiful plane! Wish I were ready for one now. Maybe next year...

Regards,
Gord

Gord, welcome.

Yes, I'm taking photos all the way.

More and more of these big planes are coming with instructions/guides for conversion to electric. Was really surprised this one did not include them. My Black Horse P-40 did, see my conversion here, about 1/2 way into the thread. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...ls+p+40&page=5 Post #71 is where I start mine.

My ASM F7F Tigercat also came with guides/instructions for electric power, but I went a different way with my battery mounting. Here is my thread on it. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1363163

Every plane is done differently, depending on what we see and learn. Here is my first big conversion, the Great Planes P-6E Hawk, which was just rereleased this year before the Waco's release. (Hopefully there were some updates done to the kit, all the needed ones remarked on in this thread- http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=566585
I first get in at the bottom of page 4, post 59.

My biggest conversion challange was the Top Flight Staggerwing in my avatar pic. This was my second one, and I wish I had known what I did when I did the F7F, as I would have done the Staggerwing differently. Check it out here- http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1041212 There have been some changes done under the cowl since the last pics, that were done when I installed the new cowl and dummy engine. Will have to get some pics of it and post them over there.

As for your question about the dowels, you could have a point. Big Lacy did not use the square stand-offs included in the kit like I did, because his motor has a bigger "X" mount than mine. However, he did use larger screws, 10x24 as opposed to my 8x32 screws. Actually All threaded rods. So he has more inbuilt strength, but mine has more overall rigidity because of the large 7/8" dowels which are also much shorter. Mine are 81mm or 3 3/16" long. These motor do have huge amounts of torque, and will bend a stainless steel sheet metal mount effortlessly. The mount in my P-6E had to be replaced because it would twist everytime the plane nosed over on taxi on our grass runway. (Constantly!)

Good luck when you decide to get your feet wet on the big ones. Once you do, you probably won't go back. These ones just fly so much better/easier. More expensive... in the short run, yes, but in the long run, no. And with electric, you don't have the vibration and fuel slime to clean up or repair all the time. I've been flying R/C since 1981, U/Control since I was a little kid. I got into the big ones in '85, have had many smaller/faster ones since, but they just weren't as much fun. Went fully electric with Staggerwing. Sold off ALL of my nitro equipment, and have no plans on going back.

Sorry for the rambling, guys, will be back on topic next post.

Don

Originally Posted by Staggerflyer

Gord, welcome.

Yes, I'm taking photos all the way.

............

Don

Thanks for the info and the links Don! I will be reading them all and will be watching the progress.

I did a little CL way back (early fifties), a Testors 049 profile with single balsa sheet wings, undercambered if I recall. It actually flew a few flights on the inner half of the wing alone after the castor oil got to the outer outer half and it fell off. Just got into RC last year when I found out how relatively inexpensive it has become and how far the radios have developed. Never wanted to be bothered with FM, frequency boards and the like. I figure to get the Hyperion Samson II 35e this fall. This Waco will likely happen next year. Thanks again. Won't be taking the thread off topic any more..

Regards,
Gord

Gord, you weren't off topic, and I enjoy yakking. Thanks for visiting, and pop in whenever you like. It's open to everyone. I'm not a tyrant on my threads like some others are about going off topic.

Some pics from today's work. Not getting much done because I have about a dozen things going, and family calling for father's day. Mostly working on cowl mounting and wing mounting. Battery box comes next, after I get the wing fillets glued in place.

After thinking more about the mount on my Waco, and the points mentioned by both of you, I tore it out and did it over today my 7/8 "standoffs are 2&3/4" long now and very solid, I used the ply mounts for the gas version laminated together for the base and drilled for my x mount. BTW the original mount seemed fine at full power ground check,but, what Straggerflyer said about nose overs did it for me,I needed the weight anyway. Thanks again fellows,here's a few pics of new mount.BL

BL, That looks very good. Nice and solid. It looked good before, because I never thought about the twisting till Gord mentioned it, but he was right. The torque these things have is tremendous. My P 110 got loose from me when I was setting up my P-6E. I shouldn't have had the prop on, (didn't know better, yet,) when the ESC armed unexpectedly, (my fault, not the ESC's,) and the fuse left the workbench, hit my desk, tearing thru some foamboard I had standing next to it, breaking 2 blades off the 3 blade Master Airscrew black prop and just cutting up the edge of my wooden desk in the half second it took me to get the throttle closed. In doing that it had destroyed the first motor mount I had on the plane. So now, I pretty much make it a habit to remove the props on all my planes in the house, especially when doing setups with the battery in the plane. And, the stronger mounts like we are using here. I plan on redoing the P-6E and Staggerwing to these type from the metal ones perhaps this winter.