I decided to start a new thread in lieu of extending the old one.

I don't recall assembling a kit since 1973.   But this kit includes enough hardware bits that it beats the idea of building from wood.

I'm starting to dig into this.  But my Brodak Fly In departure is only 24 days away and this may have to go to the back burner because of more immediate priories.

The kit includes some electric bits for a safety cutout plug.  I understand the principle, but don't quite get how the kit thing is supposed to be done.  The stock item weighs 1.45 ounces and is rather bulky. My current thinkig is to set aside the XT30 bits and just plug in the battery.

I couldn't resist pluging in the engine and barking it one time.  It worked good and started on the first flip. After a good bit of spearminting, it still had 66% of charge and 11.71 volts which is above rated capacity.

It had enough thrust to drag the cast iron vise, so I had to restrain it by hand.

I noticed the fuselage behind the wing is rather punky. Will you be adding any reinforcement? Too late after gluing the doublers but I would inlay 1/4" spruce from the mid wing area to the top of the stab.

MM

With the very few variables available, I'm going for lightness.  I measured and weighed the parts before assembly and sanding.
Body - 2.45 ounces
Wing - 1.055 ounces
Tailplane & flipper, 0.470 ounces
Engine assembly - 6.020
Battery - 3.215 ounces
Under carriage complete - 1.475
Flight and motor controls - not weighed yet.

The typical assumption is that lightness will help acceleration.  But the wood parts are only about 4 ounces out of the estimated 17.5 total.  So a half ounce loss or gain mass is only 5% of the total.

Quote from: Motorman on May 22, 2026, 09:45:19 AMI noticed the fuselage behind the wing is rather punky. Will you be adding any reinforcement? Too late after gluing the doublers but I would inlay 1/4" spruce from the mid wing area to the top of the stab.

MM

The fuselage is basswood...

The airframe has cleared the body shop & paint shop.

Now it's ready to go over to trim & final for some mechanical, electric an electronic work.

Well I assembled it morning and flew it. 16.8 ounces.  I even pull-test the whole rig to the 33-pound F2d standard.

It went well enough. Stable.  More than 16 laps. 65% charge remaining.  Not as fast as I wanted it to be.  No TracTrack reading.

Double-safe flying techinque.  The downside of the hand was safety-thonged to the door knob weight and the model was restrained by the SLD.  Both the throttle and the SDL were controlled by car controller #1. #1 is on the gun, the plane and the SLD so I don't forget.

You're making me want to build one. What's the big cut out under the motor for?

Quote from: Motorman on May 27, 2026, 08:37:03 PMYou're making me want to build one. What's the big cut out under the motor for?

I did that so I could have the wires coming out the bottom if I wanted.  I tried three possible wire routings. Every way except up.  Once I get the balance right, I might start shortening the wires.

Like the guy at Indianapolis, I might need some magic super power to win.  Perk E is like Indy Car.  There are a lot of rules to equalize speed, but somehow somebody still go a little more when he needed it.

How high can you set the rpm? Will it top out at some point or will it fry something? Can you use all the KV/voltage or will it over heat?

I crashed my plane this morning. It did not have the power and speed to complete a lap in the wind.  I routinely fly is this much wind all the time.

Per Dr. Bad Ass's charts, the amps are 28.28 and the watts are only 313.9 (0.42 HP), and the thrust is 28 ounces, which is well within limits and nowhere near the motor's potenetial.  With the optimum prop it could do about 50% better.  I did not get a time for the mile, but I doubt that it was into the 70's.  I am interested to read if anybody has some results to report.

Just about everything broke except the wood airframe and the 3D printed motor mount.  This is my first experience with a 3D printed product.  Lucky I had throttle control.  Once the end was near I was able to minimize the loss.  Unlike a gas engine, the motor can be replaced for "only" $45 without the break-in and hand work of a gas engine.

While ordering the spares, I threw in an "illegal" optium prop to experience maximum peformance with this setup.

My 15 Carrier plane, also with a Bad Ass setup, gives 946 amps (1.25 HP) with 83 ounces of thrust and goes more than fast enough to win.  I am allowed to use the optium prop, an APC 8x6.  The trust to mass ratio of this model is 2.30 to one, more than enough to launch a satellite.

Quote from: Motorman on May 28, 2026, 05:03:35 PMHow high can you set the rpm? Will it top out at some point or will it fry something? Can you use all the KV/voltage or will it over heat?

I don't set the RPM.  I use an RC car controller and go 100%.  You cannot over-rev an electic motor.  With zero load it will run at it's fundamental speed all day long without damage. But you CAN burn it down by over-proping and under-reving.

Sorry to hear about the wreck. I pulled out my Perky plans last night. Could you tell me how tall the fuselage is at the biggest point? Hope you get it going soon, love hearing these flight reports. Now I know to pick a calm day.

Thanks,
MM

3-3/16"

Prototype does 77mph regularly with required BA motor and prop on 3S 1300 lipo. Dunno WHY yours was guessed at under 70mph.......

I'll try again when Dr Bad Ass sends the replacement motor and parts.  I fly Clown race and other events with the LA 15, also gas Perky.  This is the first time (since 1959) that I've flown a plane that blew into the circle because to lacked the power to fly the upwind side.

On the UP side, the 3-D printed motor mount was the only this that didn't get damaged,

Doesn't a stunt ship go about 85 mph?

Based on what stunt flyers say, it's 5 seconds per lap on 60' lines, which equals 52 MPH.
My token entries in stunt go 28 seconds for seven laps, which equals 64 MPH. They never blow into the circle in the wind.

I don't understand the point you are making here. Line tension is a function of speed, weight and line length. PerkE's and stunt airplanes fly on different length lines, at different speeds, and weigh different amounts. Collect real data! Step 1, hook your powertrain setup to a wattmeter and verify your amperage. Just because the chart tells you a number, confirm that you are indeed getting it. If you are falling short, figure out why.

I'm having trouble understanding the slow/crash issue as well. I thought I understood the plane was doing about 70 mph from the earlier post. And that it didn't crash at takeoff (torque roll) or after the power shut off. If you were flying it off the stooge and couldn't really apply sufficient line tension at takeoff, I could see that scenario resulting in your "couldn't complete a lap in the wind."

With the reverse pitch prop, it should tend to roll the airframe out of the circle, not into it.

I suppose if the lines were particularly heavy (it is speed) and there was no tipweight, that might exacerbate the situation. I haven't looked up the rules for this event, but I would think that .015 stranded cable would be sufficient.

Given only this info, I would take a serious look at the leadout location. An aggressive pilot can get the plane off the ground with the leadouts too far forward, but a good wind gust might do you in if you weren't constantly whipping?

McSlow

I took off on the downwind side and got in the air OK.
It lost some ground speed on the headwind quarter.
On the crosswind quarter, due to the slow airspeed and large flat side area, the wind simply blew to model into the circle, so fast and so far into the circle that there was no chance to run back far & fast enough to catch it.
This was the second flight on the model, which ws set up 100% to the plan.  It completed the first flight under no-wind conditions.
When I get the new motor & bits, I will confirm the parameters with Dr. Bad Ass before I fly.
I have assembled and flown eleven electric CL models before this one.

Paul, Did you have the motor at full rpm for launch or did you just hit 100% throttle and roll off? Was it CCW or CW prop rotation? Any tip weight? What was the wind speed you are flying in?

Best,   DennisT

Quote from: bill bischoff on June 01, 2026, 07:31:38 PMI don't understand the point you are making here.

The point is PerkE is slow.