Originally Posted by gulio

Well , I was just gonna ask if the "stock" forum members thought a 11x5.5 prop was too much for stock motor and esc. I only flew it once with the 11x5.5 and have had many flights with all stock set-up. The 11x5.5 pulled 26 amps for me. I think the way I fly it would be ok to use the 11x5.5.

Mine in stock form does loops and rolls pretty easily , but the bird is just underpowered. There's no doubt about it. It really makes it a perfect flyer for what it's intended purpose is. I'm sure that my increased throws and rearward CG are helping me in loops and such. Are you using the stock esc? and as another asked , which prop are you using?

We maxed out throws and that made a huge difference. I personally do not think the plane is "underpowered" per se. It does the job and is what it is. We bumped the pitch up with same diameter, but are also flying at 7000 ft with density altitude topping out above 10000 ft so had room to do that. Stock prop was drawing low amps so we had the headroom due to the altitude.

Check out the video a few posts ago (#1821 on this thread) with a video of my son flying. It does quite nicely (that was on the stock prop BTW). Not an aerobatic plane, nor will it ever be no matter the power, but does enough to keep things interesting and prep for the next plane. Using the rudder and often really helps things on this plane. We have graduate to a Four Star and keeping the Sensei for putting on floats and whenever the time is right to pay it forward to a newcomer who needs a basic plane.

Hope the above is helpful.

Just received a firepower 15 sport motor, and know that some of you have used this motor in the sensei. How did you mount the motor, as none of the holes seem to line up?Two of the holes line up to the cage bracket, but not the other two. Is that enough to hold it if I use some locktite. Then if I mount the cage bracket to the firewall, the motor rubs on the bottom of the firewall. This is my first time I have tried replacing a motor, and not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions would be appreciated?--Bo

Originally Posted by bostomper

Just received a firepower 15 sport motor, and know that some of you have used this motor in the sensei. How did you mount the motor, as none of the holes seem to line up?Two of the holes line up to the cage bracket, but not the other two. Is that enough to hold it if I use some locktite. Then if I mount the cage bracket to the firewall, the motor rubs on the bottom of the firewall. This is my first time I have tried replacing a motor, and not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions would be appreciated?--Bo

Hi Bostomper!

I mounted a Firepower 10 that would have the same mounting hole pattern as the 15 and I used a Dremel to carefully elongate the mounting plate holes. It seems to hold well.

However, I am not happy with flight times I am getting from the 2200 mah batteries. Anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes. I just bought a 2800 mah battery from Value Hobby that fits pretty well in the battery compartment but have not had any air time yet.

I am thinking of dropping back to the Firepower 480 Sport from Heads Up maybe even the 450 size.

I would be interested in hearing your flight times when you get it in the air with the 15.

Roger

My upgraded motor only lined up with 2 holes but it worked fine .... used the blue loctite tho .... for a little insurance

Thanks guys--really appreciate it. Rightfly-- I'm going to be busy for the next week but will give you flight times when I finally get it back in the air.--Bo

Bo,

If you are going to the Firepower 15 Sport motor you will want to replace the stock ESC with something larger. I used a 40 amp Budget ESC from HeadsUp for my 10 size conversion.

You probably already have this covered but I wanted to mention it in case you had not.

You may also have to remove a lot of the weights glued in the cowl to compensate for the heavier motor. I think I ended up with only one or maybe two weights left to get the balance correct.

Good Flying.
Roger

Like Rightfly said...That's what I did with my Sensei. Used the firepower 10 (3536-10 used only the two screws that lined up and a 40 Esc all from HURC. I was using 2200mah batts and found I could only get about 6 minutes and less in strong headwinds.
Sadly mine bit the dust. I have a new shaft for the motor havent got around to doing the job. Was going to try a bigger battery or parallel 2 1800's I had but can't now.
Ended up getting my Wings on an Alpha 450..

rightfly--thanks for the tip on the weights in the nose. It was a little nose heavy when stock, so I will remove some of the weights. I hate the battery compartment as there is very little adjustment to COG to be made there. I may try to figure out a way to position the battery differently. I think some have done something with the drop compartment. Take care when in the air.--Bo

--I had a factory rudder servo fail this weekend. The servo would only randomly center and was causing plane to turn

Originally Posted by immelguy

My upgraded motor only lined up with 2 holes but it worked fine .... used the blue loctite tho .... for a little insurance

--Originally I bolted up the Power 15 to the stock metal motor mount. I was getting a lot of vibration due to weak foam, so I ended up cutting off foam firewall and Gorilla gluing a 1/4" plywood firewall instead. Works great.

Originally Posted by G-Forse

--Originally I bolted up the Power 15 to the stock metal motor mount. I was getting a lot of vibration due to weak foam, so I ended up cutting off foam firewall and Gorilla gluing a 1/4" plywood firewall instead. Works great.

Thanks, I'll keep one eye on that vibration/foam .... and the other looking for plywood.

Sorry, I've been away here for a bit. I was using the Super Tigre 30A ESC and have used a variety of 10 X 5 props(Stock, TGS sport E & APC style) and TGS 10 X 7. I have got it to roll and loop with these but not crisply enough. I haven't adjusted throws as yet and if it warms up enough I'll try that as well.(snowing here already) I am aware that this plane was designed as a trainer primarily and it does that very well. Its just that I think this plane could be more versatile if it had more power to play with. Maybe Ill have to mod with power 15 motor, 50A ESC & parellel a couple of 2200 batteries?

I just got a Firepower 450 Sport from HeadsUp RC mounted which is a 220 watt size motor. I was unhappy with the flight times I was getting with a 10 size motor. I think this 450 size motor should have slightly more power than the original. If it would stop raining and blowing here I might get a chance to remaiden my version 3 Sensei.

Good luck to you guys going to the size 15 motor but I was not happy with getting just 5 minutes on a 2200 mah battery with my 10 size motor. I know I could have added more battery but I chose to go back to nearly stock power. It kind of fit my flying style anyway.

Glad to see the Sensei thread come back to life it was silent for awhile.

I am flying the Heads Up RC Firepower 480 Sport 3530-11. Flying at moderate speeds, doing touch and go's, and an occasional full throttle loop, roll, or vertical climb to stall I am experiencing flight times over 10 minutes. I'm using Zippy lightmax 2200 3s 25c batteries. Typical recharge cycle shows 1500-1700 Mah replaced.

Dennis

Originally Posted by 3rd Try

I am flying the Heads Up RC Firepower 480 Sport 3530-11. Flying at moderate speeds, doing touch and go's, and an occasional full throttle loop, roll, or vertical climb to stall I am experiencing flight times over 10 minutes. I'm using Zippy lightmax 2200 3s 25c batteries. Typical recharge cycle shows 1500-1700 Mah replaced.

Dennis

Hi Dennis,

That is pretty much the time and mah useage I was getting with the original power while practicing landings. I tossed around buying the 480 but ultimately decided on the 450. I have been using 2200 mah 3s 30C EZ Flite batteries from Heads Up. I just could not live with the short flight time of 4 - 5 minutes or so with the 3536-10 motor.

Thanks for sharing your experience on the 480 size - if my 450 is a bust I may go to your choice. Assuming of course that I could get permission from the Treasury Secretary to buy another motor.

Roger