Funtana 90s Electric conversion

[Firefly]

Well its not a giant, but it will be my biggest electric, here's the story:

At the 2008 Neat Fair Rodman and I decided to do a project for next Neat fair 2009.
The plane is a Hangar 9 Funtana 90s, We are calling this project the E'tanna.


We wanted this to be a 3d flying machine so I began researching the motors, speed controllers, and Batteries.
Rodman started fixing up the plane and making modifications.

I ordered a HXT 63-64-B 230Kv Outrunner (Eq. 5330/18 or 5330/24)
but received a Turnigy C6364-230


Specs:

• Model: C63-64-B
  Input Voltage : max. 37V (10S Li-po)
  Kv : 230 rpm/V within 10%
  Internal Resistance : 28 mohm
  No Load current @ 7V: 2.16A
  Dimensions : 63mm X 64mm / 2.48in X 2.52in
  Shaft diameter : 10mm / 0.39in
  Weight with cables : 640g / 22.58oz
  Number of poles/magnets : 14
  Recommended model weight : 6000~10000g / 176~352oz
  Power equivalent : .90 - 150 Glow engine
  Prop: 14x10~18x12 (lipo from 6 to 8 cells)
  ESC Required: 60A Minimum
  Watts: 1900W

Purchased from Hobby City for $50.00

The speed controller is a TURNIGY Sentilon 100A HV



The specs are

• Cont Current: 100A
  Burst Current: 110A
  BEC Mode: N/A (no BEC)
  Lipo Cells: 5-12
  NiMH : 5-36
  Weight: 125g
  Size: 60x60x11mm

HobbyCity price $100



We've chose to go with 10 cell on our set up, will be using two
ZIPPY Flightmax 5000mAh 5S1P 25C



Specs.

• Capacity: 5000mAh
  Voltage: 5S1P / 5 Cell / 18.5v
  Discharge: 25C Constant / 35C Burst
  Weight: 628g (including wire, plug & shrink wrap)
  Dimensions: 145x50x40mm
  Balance Plug: JST-XH
  Discharge Plug: 4mm Bullet-Connector

HobbyCity Price $81.82

I been searching for a new cowl, with no luck.. still looking.

That's all for now, more to come.

[Firefly]

Propeller is a three blade Mejlic 18 x 10, to help with the ground clearance.




Here's the bench test data:

• Turnigy C6364-230 outrunner motor.
  10 cells 10,000mah
  18x10 3 blade mejlic prop.
  
  1/2 throttle run up
  11.35 amps
  456.3 watt peak
  40.21 volts
  
  Full power run up
  62.35 amps
  2310.6 watt peak
  36.23 volts
  6940 rpm.

[Dave_ORCC]

You're gonna love this as electric. A good friend of mine, Tommy321, had one set-up on electric and it had more power and maybe a bit lighter than my glow version. He was running an AXI motor on 10S 5000 batts, if I remember correctly. Full power he was putting out close to 2300 Watts and that was more than adequate for 3D. Vertical was unlimited and "giggle-worthy" I believe his AUW was in the 11lb range.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Cheers,
Dave

[Firefly]

Here stuff Rodman did:

Rodman > I had to open up the motor box for air flow not just for the motor but the batteries get must air inside the plane.
here I marked the out lines on the motor box



Next I cut out everything and sanded.



Finally a quick coat of paint on the motor stand offs and the motor box, to spiffy it up a little.

here the motor is in place and the wires connected.



I have to have some sort of way to vent the air out of the back of the plane,
this is normally done with some vent holes on the bottom of the plane.
The bottom of the Funtana is all open nothing there to support the covering if I cut holes in it.
So I had to add some balsa wood for support I cut circles in the wood for vent holes.



Bottom of the plane is now covered.



more to come . . .

[capp1]

Looks Good!

May want to shim the gear for some additional prop clearance!

[Firefly]

Rodman continues:

The Side force generators cut out and sanded



The wing tips did not have enough support for the S.F.G's so I needed to support them
I did this by making plywood end caps with T nuts in them to screw the S.F.G's to.



Cover the end caps and epoxied in place



Next in line was the battery box I glued in some hard wood rails in then epoxied plywood to that for the floor.



Here you can see the batteries in place with the Velcro straps.



Next I wanted to put the safety switch through the side of the plane these switches are made from Deans plugs.









Radio tray compartment is completed and installed.




continues . . . .

[Firefly]

Looking sharp!



Rodman>

The maiden:
the first two flights totaled about 5 minutes, we then took the plane and ran it on the bench, there we continued to run it another 7 minutes for a total of 12 minutes.
We now can estimate that we can safely fly the plane for 10 minutes with a 2 minute reserve.

next day:

I took all the weights off the tail except one stick of lead.
I did 2 flights one with out the side force generators and one with.

The C.G. now feels perfect! no dramatic change in flight characteristics with or with out the S.F.G's.
now I can move the radio receiver battery and remove more of the lead off the tail.

Performance was great at 5 minutes into the flight I dropped into a hover, throttle position was just over half stick on the radio.
at 10 minutes into the flight I did a full power unlimited vertical climb to about 300 feet.

The S.F.G.'s did their job Harriers were smooth and stable Knife edges were more stable then with out them.

I was able to do some slow rolling Harriers that looked great, all in all I was very happy with the plane.
And best of all! "NO GLOW FUEL CLEAN UP!"

at Neat Fair 2009 (Sept 20th):

Proud that I flown the E'tanna at Neat Fair.

We got to wiegh the plane, came out to be 12.5 lbs.

[ben_beyer]

Cool, I need to check out that Turnigy motor.