Mike
Everyone talks about how reliable an worry free electrics are but at the NATS last year we had to down grade Charlie's flight on the Connie because he lost one engine in flight.
The battery connector came loose.
Clancy
I have been in electronics all my life. The # 1 failure I observed was a no connect: bad connector, broken wire, bad solder joint, etc. The # 2 failure was failed power source: dead battery, burnt out supply, etc. Having said all that I have work on a plated wire memory that has thousands of wires and solder joints for use on the Voyager satellite. Launched into deep space and as far as I know still works. The point is reliability is what you make it. And the fact is electric motors are less affected by altitude, temperature, and humidity. Apply power and they usually will run the same every time. As an example the model of the Spruce Goose in the Howered Hughes movie was all electric. To keep 8 motors running on demand for filming required the reliability of electric.
Having said all that I still fly nitre burners. But is is a matter of cost. I have all of the nitro support equipment and a collection of good engines. It does cost a little to get into electric the first time. But every time My nitro burner quits in the middle of a taxi lap I long for a well designed - well constructed electric setup.
PS The electric model is clean at the end of a flight!
Topic: Putting my Scale Models on a diet (Read 457 times)