Hey Guys,

I have gone through two aero birds and now I think its time to up grade to a Mini Piper but I am buying the plane, motor, and transmitter " the receiver, micro servos, speed control and batteries all are included with the transmitter" I'm not sure what motor to but in the plane. The speed controller is a GWS GS100. Does that mean I have to put a certain kind of motor in it or will the speed controller work with any kind of motor? When I get a motor, will I also need to get a battery for it or does the motor run off of the 8.4v/730mah battery that the speed controller came with? Do most servos work with any kind of receiver. Is the Mini Piper a good strater plane for me? I got fairly good at my two aero birds. I am getting most of the working of the plane off of ebay so I need to know these things before I make a bid. Thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by troymills

Hey Guys,

I have gone through two aero birds and now I think its time to up grade to a Mini Piper but I am buying the plane, motor, and transmitter " the receiver, micro servos, speed control and batteries all are included with the transmitter" I'm not sure what motor to but in the plane. The speed controller is a GWS GS100. Does that mean I have to put a certain kind of motor in it or will the speed controller work with any kind of motor? When I get a motor, will I also need to get a battery for it or does the motor run off of the 8.4v/730mah battery that the speed controller came with? Do most servos work with any kind of receiver. Is the Mini Piper a good strater plane for me? I got fairly good at my two aero birds. I am getting most of the working of the plane off of ebay so I need to know these things before I make a bid. Thanks for your help.

The GWS 100 Esc. is only rated at 5 amps. You'll need to consider this when you start buying your motor and batteries.
If you're determined to get that plane, It would be wise to determine what kind of motor and electronics the plane is designed for, and then buy your motor,receiver, servos and esc, based on that. It's always better to have an over rated ecs than one that is borderline or too small.
Of course if the esc designed for a brushed motor will not work for a brushless motor and vise versa.

Ron

thanks for the help....anyone else???

Hi:

The Graupner Mini Piper is designed for a Graupner speed 300 motor (rated at 7.2 volts). On the Mini Piper, it is installed as a direct drive motor and is rated to draw 3 amps with a 125X110 prop (4.9X4.3 inch prop for those of us that are metrically challenged!). With 7 cells, (8.4 volts) it draws 25 watts (3 amps) with a prop speed of 10,500 rpm under load. This should be safe and not burn out your ESC.

Do not buy the Graupner 6 volt speed 300 motor as that one is designed for geared use only, and will draw 10 amps with a 5:1 gear ratio with a 8X6 prop. This will burn out your ESC.

My son has the Mini Piper with the direct drive setup and it flies well. The wheels are too small to be of any real use on grass. The plane flies well with a gentle toss and has a surprising amount of zip to it for such a small motor and prop. Landings are OK, but needs a bit more speed than say a slow stick (I guess that applies to most other planes as well, lol), but flips easily because of the small wheels. He is in the process of finding larger diameter wheels for it.

In answer to your other question...yes, you will run the motor with the 8.4 volt 730 mah battery pack which will also power the receiver and servos through the esc.

Two words of caution...be sure to epoxy the servos to the inside of the fuselage. If you just press fit them in, they will eventually work loose and become ineffective in moving your rudder or elevator. Also, use plenty of expoxy to glue the control horns to the elevator and rudder. If you just screw them in place, they will tear loose very easily.

The build is easy and the foam repairs easily.

Good luck and enjoy your Mini Piper.

Jerry

do i have to get mini seros for this plane? or well regular ones work?

Originally Posted by troymills

do i have to get mini seros for this plane? or well regular ones work?

There is not much space in the servo compartment so mini servos are recommended. My son used the Hitec 55 mini servos, but the GWS pico or naros should work also.

Jerry

Here is some inside pics of mine i just took.

More Pics:

Speddemon281:

How do you like yours? Have you thought of upgrading to a larger motor or going BL?

Jerry