A10-warthog

I was wondering what kind of plane you could handle when you've mastered the wingo? Can you take on a more difficult 1 then or will you eventually need an instructor to reach a new level? The handling of the wingo is so easy (not what I thought during my first flights [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]), that I'm afraid the difference could be too big to fly a more difficult 1.
I'm not talking about flying a fuel powered plane (always electro), but fe a plane with a low wing, faster plane, ...

I was just wondering about this, since I only recently bought this wingo. I'm far, very far from mastering this plane [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] but I'm really starting to enjoy it atm. I still have a major deal to learn about this plane and I'm sure it will bring me a lot of joy the following months (years?)

A10-warthog

some other questions as well :

- What exactly is a "gearbox"? What does it do?
- I'm not into the technical stuff, so I wonder about the difference between battery packs : whats the diff between 7 or 8 cell pack and what does the "mAh" mean? What does it take to get longer flights and can a change in battery pack give the plane more power? Also : I see my plane has a 6V motor, then why is that battery pack over 6V? Does it matter how much V the battery pack is?

I know these are stupid questions when you are into this, but I've got no idea about it all and it would be good to know at least a minimum about it.

thanks a lot

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

Happy to hear that you are getting along with the Wingo. If the motor is rated 6.0V it will need 4 1.5 V alkaline batteries or 5 nicads. Alkalines have 1.5 V per cell and nicads 1.2 V per cell. The smallest motors are usually 7.2V which reqires 6 nicads. 8.4 V requires 1 more nicad, and so on up the scale 9.6 V, 10.8 V and so on. Some of the larger scale electrics use 20 to 30 cells. mAh is miliamperehours and is a measure of the expected endurance of a battery pack. 1,000 mAh is one amp. If your motor requires 1/2 amp to run 5 minutes you need a 500 mAh battery pack. Usually with electrics your ESC (electronic speed control) should have a BEC (battery eliminator circuit) if the receiver and the motor run on the same pack. The BEC will shut down the motor when a certain voltage is reached and leave enough power to run the receiver. Typical shutoff is 4.8 V. Most electric flyers prefer nicads because they are rechargable. Some can be recharged up to 700 times. Compared to the cost of alkalines you can save the cost of a charger quite soon. Please note the above figures are general. I have a GWS Slow Stick with a 7.2 V, 400 mAh battery pack that will run full throttle for 7 minutes static. That's on the ground without moving. In the air it is not necessary to fly full throttle at all times. Slow the motor down and the airplane will fly about 11 or 12 minutes. A gear box allows you to turn a larger prop when needed and is usually necessary for two meter sailplanes that typically fly with 10 or 12 X 8.4 props. If you want your electric to resemble a real life airplane Sig makes an ARF (almost ready to fly) that includes the motor and ESC. It is a lovely little plane. If you have mastered the Wingo you should handle the Rascal quite well. The Hobby Lobby catalog has a listing of many airplanes and you can get as large and complicated as you wish.

A10-warthog

thanks for the reply.

I think I understand about the battery now. I've found out how useful the ESC is already, in 1st place the shut down of the motor when the voltage is low, but also this : I was going to fly and turned on the receiver + radio...nothing happened and I heard a beep coming from the ESC like when the battery is empty. Since I charged it before, that wasn't the problem and then I saw what had happened : I accidentaly moved the controls so that it was at full power. Luckily this ESC has got the safety that it's impossible to turn it on at full power..it could have been very dangerous since I wasn't paying attention at the prop.

I'm gonna buy a NIMH battery pack since I heard it's better for longer flights or maybe a nicad pack with higher mAh.
The problem is the wind around here, for me the plane doesnt have to move at topspeed all the time, but with the wind I cant but give it full power. Else it wont move a bit. I try to glide as much as possible along the wind when it's possible, thus saving some energy.

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

Sorry I didn't tell you about the inherent dangers of electric flight. One touch of a switch or throttle control and you have a prop that goes instantly to full power. A lot of glow flyers learn the hard way. With glow engines that problem will not occur unless the ni-starter is on the plug and the prop is pulled through. Just because glow engines are usually larger and swing larger props people are more careful. They forget that glow engines will give you an audible warning by popping. Electrics don't say anything they just start swinging. The props may be smaller but they cut just as deeply. If you haven't already done so try smoothing the edges of the prop with a bit of sandpaper. Not enough to change the airfoil shape just enough to lessen the knife edge. The leading edges should be more or less rounded in any case but the trailing edges are sometimes very sharp. As to NiMh batteries it is true that they will give longer flights and do not have a memory. With this comes some small disadvantages. Most NiMh packs will have one more cell than a regular nicad for the same output. The nicad gives instant full power whereas an NiMh takes a couple of instants to reach full power. Usually not very noticeable.

A10-warthog

Thanks for the tip about smoothing the prop edge, I will try that. It was my fault being not careful enough. I'm lucky I haven't learned the hard way and I will pay more attention at it for sure in the future.
I hope to get the new battery pack today. Flight times with the current 1 are short and I think (I hope I'm wrong) there is a problem with it. I charged it at home yesterday, went to the flying field and I could only fly for about 2 minutes. I recharged at the flying field and then I had a normal flight time. I hope this battery set isn't broken losing its energy in time.

thanks

timfly1

My Feedback: (1)

Since I have a bunch of foam I was thinking of makeing a new flatter wing for my wingo and add aerolons I would only have to add another servo. Still keep it a pusher.

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

Adding ailerons sounds like fun. There is someone in another post that did that to a Slow Stick and says it works very well. You might consider making the wing just a tad larger to carry the extra weight of an additional servo and the aileron operating rods, etc.. Another servo will also eat up a tiny bit more from your battery but I doubt it will be very much.

timfly1

My Feedback: (1)

My servos are the Futba mini servos they wiegh almost noting. I was going to reduce the sq. inches of the wing a little use a semi semetrical airfoil.
Stifen the vertical tail a little as it flexes when the prop is going.
maybe a new landing gear with tires that stay on.