Doc Holiday asked for some recommendations on a 15 electric over in the 1/2A thread. To answer that question, I am opening this thread. It is not a simple question to answer.

My approach has been to build fairly light weight planes with smaller motors for any of my electric projects, including carrier. I also use the Cheap Chinese Motors (CCM’s) to keep costs down. To date I’ve modified one glow 15 (a MO-1), and built two all foam models that are electric’15’ profiles and I am currently re-fitting a Brodak Clown from glow to electric. The clown makes a good carrier plane. I think for carrier you will want at least 250 watts per pound. For the Clown I plan to fly at about 270watts/lb. So here are some recommendations based on my Clown.

Motor:  350 watt SK35-36-1400. You can check the specs at this site. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7073   Note it is advertised at 550 watts, don’t believe it. CCM’s specs are not that accurate. Look at the weight, 115 grams, multiply by 3 = 345. It is a 345 watt motor. How much power an electric motor can handle depends on how much heat it can dissipate. Again a good rule of thumb is 3x weight = watts.

Battery: High speed counts so I am using a 4 cell lipo. You need a battery that can supply the peak current needed and last long enough for the entire flight. It looks to me like a 2200mah 4s 25c battery gets it done. The peak current the battery can handle is 2.2a x 25=55a. The approximate duration is 2.2a X 60/ave amps(20) =6.6 mins.  http://www.hobbypartz.com/98p-25c-2200-4s1p.html

ESC: The esc has to be able to handle the peak motor current. This motor won’t handle much over 35 a so a 40a esc should be OK. http://www.hobbypartz.com/volcano-40a-brushless-electric-motor-speed-controller-esc.html

Prop: APC 7X5 electric pusher
The estimated performance is shown in the attached chart.

I address so of the control and support equipment in another post.

OK DOC here are some support notes.

1. You'll need a charger. There are a lot of good ones out there. Again you can start cheap and after you learn where you want to go you can trade up.
The things to look for are; it must handle lipos and must be a balance charger. Each cell in a lipo is charged separately and they must be charged to the same voltage. Here is an example of a lower end unit. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=5548 and here is a higher end unit
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXVRS6&P=ML

Note the cheaper charger normally require a DC source, also make sure they will charge at least 4 and more likely 6 cell batteries if you want to get serious.

2. You have to have some kind of throttle controller. I use Clancy Arnold’s U/Tronics and just love it. I mount everything in the handle and transmit the control signal to the plane via insulated lines. (see attachments)  Nylon covered stainless fishing line is common in scale but to heavy for carrier.  I make my own lines. I coat them with water based polyurethane, usually two coats. This adds only a small amount of drag compared to fishing line. You have to increase line diameter anyway going from a 3 to 2 line system in carrier so you don't need any extra drag.

3. Connectors are a problem. I change all my battery power connections to Dean’s plugs. ESC’s use standard servo connectors for control input. I put 2mm banana type connections on the lines and make a 2 mm to servo adapter plug for the ESC input. I try to go directly to the bellcrank with the lines to avoid unnecessary connection.

4. Wattmeter. I bench test everything. If you over prop an electric motor and it lets the smoke out you have a nice paper weight. A wattmeter is essential. It measures current, voltage etc on the bench. Some high end ESC’s can do this and you can download the data. There are also data loggers like Eagle Tree. But I have found the wattmeter and pencil/paper to be adequate. This is the one I use http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LX3605&P=7  it is available with dean’s connectors.