I have a Dream Flight Weasel which has not had much flying mainly because the slope winds are not always kind.

http://dream-flight.com/products/weasel-trek

This proved to be the case recently and Ray mused "I wonder what it would take to add a motor?". He has a Weasel as well but he knew I would immediately take the plunge .

So I did a quick mod and added a BE1806-2300 with a plastic 5x3 prop borrowed from my 250 Racer spares along with a Turnigy 12A ESC and 1000mAH pack. The weight has increased by a shocking 15gm . Others, of course, have also done similar conversions if you search them down.

The static thrust of the motor/prop combination is 390gm just slightly above the AUW of 380gm so vertical is possible. Pack is good for around 15 minutes at full throttle and an hour at cruise. Air to the ESC behind the battery could be improved by removing top hatch or putting a tunnel through to the launch finger hole?

The changes to the fuselage are straightforward with the removal of the rear wall of the original battery box and a ply firewall braced backwards with triangular ply doublers - the foam is too squishy.

I could have just cut the nose off and end glued the firewall but I wanted to preserve the lines reasonably well. I used WeldBond white glue which takes a while to dry but is slightly flexible and adheres to the foam quite well.

Test flight confirms performance and certainly easily vertical. Two longish flights and only 270mAH from the pack. A rather bleak damp day but caught some thermals as well - surprising .

Props were breaking too easily even with nose up landings. I have replaced the fixed prop with a cheapy folder by drilling out its centre to fit the threaded stub style motor mount. The folder looks like a 6x3 Graupner originally designed for a S400 brushed motor. Hopefully the prop pins, which are a press fit will stay put. They are a press fit but the spinner is intended to fit over them as well.