Hi Mike,

Yes, I would be glad to help. 

I found the Legacy to be the easiest conversion  (gas plans to electric actual ) that I have done.  This conversion was helped by the use of  incorporating certain structure changes and mounting systems which were previously used in the 5 other electric full bodies planes (and 4 profiles) that I have built and flown over the past 7 years.

I have always found, and I'm sure others will agree, that the simplest system is usually the best.  Applying to both assembly as well as maintenance.  I just took some pix of the "inside" of the Legacy and will try to describe the various techniques that I use.

The first two pictures are there just to show the "color scheme" that Bob Branch alluded to in his posting on the SV..when he asked "guess which colors Ricks Legacy was?"  Yes, it is in a yellow and black sunburst, the same scheme I have been using on most of my stunters (other than the semi-scale ones)  since 1957.  In fact the other full  size plane picture is the Legacy next to a plane  (original I-beamer called the "trike). I built back in 1964 while in college.  Other that an obvious tail size difference...has that much changed in the last 46 years? The conversion of the Trike to electric power  early last year was previously described in an earlier posting in "all amped up".

I will continue in the next posting with a description of the "inside" of the Legacy.

Rick Sawicki

Hello again.

To complete the mounting of the major power train componests we still have the timer and speed control to mount.

There is a small horizontal plywood plate that is screwed  vertically down into (4/40 tapped once again) to the motor mounts which are behind the firewall.  On this plate i have velcroed both the speed control unit..PX 45.. where it is it gets plenty of air from the  cowling air intake directly in front of it.  In addition the Will Hubin FM-9  ( I highly recommend this timer, it is fantastic and very easy to use) is also mounted to this plate thus giving very quick and easy access to it when a change is desired using the program box.   The On/off button is mounted to the side of the body near the plate and that again is an easy to access location.

Hopefully the above description and pictures will show just how easy it is to put electric power into a Legacy...or any other type of  full bodied plane can all use parts or all of the above mentioned and described system.

As I mentioned at the very  beginning, the system has been developed over many years and one of the main objectives was to keep it simple, with a quick installation and also allow easy change of components for testing.  I hope that after you review it and understand it, that you will agree that I have achieved my objective.

Other specs of the plane you might be interested in...Batteries used are Rhino 4 cell 3700..prop is APC 12/6E pusher.  Plane flown on 63 foot lines at 5.2 seconds/lap at a governed rpm of 8574.  Total plane ready to fly weight 60 1/4 oz.

 I hope all this helps, and please keep us advised of your progress.

best,
Rick Sawicki

PS... after reviewing some of the earlier pictures i felt the "firewall with motor mounts behind it" was not clearly shown due to the component plate blocking the view.  Attached below are some close ups of this item. It is on my  George Aldrich AG-1 cropduster (classic model) built a few years ago.  Only difference it that now i am using a thicker motor mount and tapping them 4/40, instead of the lock nuts shown in the pictures.  In addition the small vertical formers in front of the firwall (used to set zero thrust) clearly come out in these pictures.  Hope this helps.

One additional mention..the battery being set on an inclined plate. besides allowing a tremendous range of battery placement for c/g change...allows a lot of air to go over it for cooling.
 

Hi Mike,

It's no secret that I am a big fan of ARs  (ARFs/ARCs). With that said your idea of building just the fuse from your kit is a good one. When I started my Vector E conversion I wanted to cut out the MM, make the front lighter, top hatch, etc. It looked to me like it would be messy and more trouble than it was worth. So building a new front end from scratch looked like it would be easier. I'm glad I did it, the work load may be a push but the results are a little more E friendly. It gave me a full top hatch + the original bottom hatch and it is a little lighter with better cooling. 

I cut the fuse right in front of the canopy, see photos below. Then made some patterns off of the original and made a few mods to make the very front a little wider for more room and better cooling. I hate wasting time doing any building, but it was easier to do than I thought it would be and I think it was easier than doing all the mods with the original AR front end. It allowed me to use the rest of the fuse that was well built, perfectly aligned, had the canopy, and had the wing cutout that made the wing fitting assembly easy. I used the under wing parts, etc. from the original. At the fuse splice I used 1/8" ply and Epoxy-Lite, it is stronger than the original.

We can all hope that the designers of future ARs will follow Brad's excellent lead with his E friendly T-Rex. With a top hatch added it would have been perfect! (Maybe I should forward this note to John? ;-) Brad's firewall motor mounting method and plenty of room up front makes for an easy E conversion.

My guess is that as the world, and later followed by the conservative US, quickly converts to ECL we will see more ARs become E friendly. This will make it easier for everyone. I am sure it is obvious to the most casual observer that having ARs that are more E friendly will help accelerate the movement to ECL. This will likely make it easier for some retreads to add ECL to their ERC model flying too. It will be great when we have ARs with top hatches, E MM (like ERC planes have), wing cutouts for battery location, and/or take-apart two piece RC type wings that will give us the whole fuselage for our E stuff, battery platforms, etc. all built in. .... We can only hope. 

PS: Are you going to make it to the GSC next month? I hope so, we would all like to see you there. 

Regards, 

Mike,

The PA engines sure are beautiful and powerful. And on a pipe they seem to be very quiet. ...... BUT (there is always a BUT isn't there? ;-), if I was you I would sell that beautiful engine while there is still a good market for "wet" engines!  ........ Just joking, I think the PA engines are great. ..... BUT, as a sidebar, the owner of a large LHS here in the LA area told me he used to sell many wet engines every week, now he only sells one or two a month, BUT he sells a lot of E stuff. .....BUT, your milage may vary?

A Plentenberg 25-14 would be very happy in your new Legacy ARF. BUT so would your PA61 on a pipe. 

I hope to see you in Clovis. It is a really nice town, maybe Gary and Roger could give you some ideas for entertaining the family while your flying. Of course I'm sure that Howard could find good paying jobs for them at the contest! 

Here are the photos I forgot to post:

Hi Rudy:

Am I right in thinking (Monty Python set-up line) that your surgically enhanced fuse has both a top and bottom hatch? Assuming "yes" do you anticipate any torsional issues given the lack of a solid box-like structure (or at least a C-tube) at the motor end? In other words, will it flex under load and due to angular acceleration (possibly wrong term) in maneuvers?

Nice work and looks like plenty of venting for cooling.

After work today I will post some photos of the Clipper front end so you can see where my project is headed.