With advances in technology moving faster than ever, I have been wondering what flight times you guys get on your giant scale birds. Name your plane, power system+battery, and how long it flies. Feel free to include how you fly it, balls to the wall or nice and easy or anything between.


I am starting to look into making a camship in the future and it will be very near giant scale, 80.5 inch wingspan, and I would prefer to use electric for the vibration if the flight times are alright. The system will probably be over what would be used in some giant scales for the extra power, so that's why I'm asking.

Just a couple of examples for you - but remember that I build light and fly scale!

Percival Q6: 112" span, 12pounds AUW, 2 x 8000mah 3s LiPo... 35 mins.
DH Heron: 144" span, 19+pounds, 4 x 3000mah 3s LiPo... 15 mins.
Both models use TowerPro 3520 motors.

Electric power is (assuming balanced props) virtually vibration free so ideal for airborne camera work.

Question is how long do you want to fly? I have planes that I only get 7 mins out of but they are hard 3d planes and then I have warbirds that I can fly for 15 minutes with a little throttle management. None of my planes are set up for extended flight times. I can see a glider type plane getting 30-45 plus minutes or more with the right set up.

I'm not looking to build a rig right now, I just want to get an idea on some giant scale flight times as electric as a comparison to see what I want to do if I build a giant scale cam ship in the future.

Hi.

If you want to build a system where you empty the battery pack in 2-3 minutes you can do so. (And some people do.)

If you want to build a system where you empty the battery pack in 20-30 minutes (or more) you can do so. (And some people do.)

It really just comes down to aircraft design and choise of components. The technology and products are available, you just have to choose what suits your application.

Magne

Not the greatest examples ..

Yak 54 extreme flight 88", 12S5000, 8min
Sundowner F1 80" 10S5000, 7min
Pilatus porter 100", 12S5000 10-15min (very light plane, it could easly fly on 12S2P !)
EDF boomerang sprint 12S5000, 4min

Bogey-Morane 83", 9S 5000.
Timer is set on 8 minutes, aerobatic flying. After timer beebs i start to land, so flight times around eight and half. That uses about 4400-4600 from packs.

Parkzone corsair and Trojan 3 cell 2150mah 10min.
Parkzone corsair 4 cell 2150mah 8min.
Hobbyzone Super Cub 3 cell 1350mah 15min
E-flite Warhawk 2 cell 450mah 5min
E-flite Warhawk 3 cell 610mah 5min
E-flite Deuces wild 2x3cell 5000mah 12min
E-flite Mini pulse 3 cell 2150mah 8min
E-flite Pulse 25e 3 cell 3300mah 8min
Top flite corsair 60 still building with power 60 brushless system with 6 cell 5000mah. info to follow
World models p-82 still building with 2 G46 brushless motors with 2x 4cell 3000 mah. info to follow

All the times I use are my safe times for my flying style. If I fly more aggressive I shave 2 min off and bring it in early on some of the planes.

Originally Posted by wolffcub

Parkzone corsair and Trojan 3 cell 2150mah 10min.
Parkzone corsair 4 cell 2150mah 8min.
Hobbyzone Super Cub 3 cell 1350mah 15min
E-flite Warhawk 2 cell 450mah 5min
E-flite Warhawk 3 cell 610mah 5min
E-flite Deuces wild 2x3cell 5000mah 12min
E-flite Mini pulse 3 cell 2150mah 8min
E-flite Pulse 25e 3 cell 3300mah 8min
Top flite corsair 60 still building with power 60 brushless system with 6 cell 5000mah. info to follow
World models p-82 still building with 2 G46 brushless motors with 2x 4cell 3000 mah. info to follow

All the times I use are my safe times for my flying style. If I fly more aggressive I shave 2 min off and bring it in early on some of the planes.

Lol, just for future reference you do know none of those are giant scale right? Giant scale is generally classified 85" wingspan and over if I'm not mistaken.

So far what I am seeing is the flight times are very similar if not the same to small electric setups, how does the power compare at a giant scale size to gas and nitro?

My larger planes fall short of giant scale. The Deuces wild is 62", the TF Corsair is 62", the Pulse XT 25e is 52" and the P-82 is 70.5".
One day I will own one if I can find the room.

Still just trying to help by posting info.

Wolffcub, my current flight test is an 80" Zenair 701 which I think probably scrapes into the AMA definition of 'giant scale' by reason of being 1/4 scale, but although I originally thought it would make an excellent camera mount I am still trying to tame a tendency to wallow when coming out of a tight bank - so some of your smaller models might make a better platform (at the moment) if they can stand the extra wing loading.

Jbat35 will no doubt benefit from all the info posted and make a better informed choice because of it.

Seems to me he'll be looking for a model that is light enough to carry his rig (a largish one?) yet not so light as to get tossed about by every little whiff of turbulence, so that's probably why he stated he was looking at giant scale as his most likely option.

Originally Posted by jbat35

Lol, just for future reference you do know none of those are giant scale right? Giant scale is generally classified 85" wingspan and over if I'm not mistaken.

80 inches. Says that on thread title.

Mine is an unusual giant scale model (110 inch span) & has been around more than 13 years so it's duration has evolved with the improvements in batteries.

I fly competition scale & at that time electric scale models were not competitive simply because they could not fly long enough to do the required manoevres. To my knowledge this was the first electric scale model in Oz that could fly long enough to compete. Unfortunately, being built with a very low wing loading, it is not smooth enough in flight to compete in all but the calmest of conditions.

Duration started at about 12 minutes, all those years ago, with 1700 mAh fullsize nicad batteries & has improved from there. It will thermal so flight times can be extended to whatever your skill at catching thermals will allow.

Now the 6 x geared speed 400 motors are fed by 3 x 2200 mAh lipos so I just fly to the timer set at 10 minutes, the ultimate duration using all the battery capacity & thermal assist remains unknown. - John.

Ah, those were the days eh?! Those of us who started flying electric in the time of Nicads HAD to learn how to build light and strong - and we were doing well to achieve 7 minutes in the air. You had to have a LOT of wing area to do better - as you clearly did with that B-36 John! Nice one!