Electric Class One
Highlights of Electric Class One Combat
It is very inexpensive, the equipment required to compete costs less that £60.00 in total.
All of the equipment is readily available from numerous well known sources.
The class is fair, everyone has to use identical motor/ battery combinations.
The early models are simple and cheap to build. Free PDF plans and DXF files available.
Any model design is allowed and no material is off limits.
The rules have been written to encourage entries, everyone gets the same amount of bouts.
No pit crews required.
No specialist electric power knowledge is needed. Just buy the items listed.
Push button start and stop, no messing with awkward diesels.
Electric power is quieter than Glow/diesel power. This should open up more flying sites
It is an ideal club contest, competitions are easy to set up and run.
It is clean and you won’t smell after a days flying
It is very inexpensive, the equipment required to compete costs less that £60.00 in total.
All of the equipment is readily available from numerous well known sources.
The class is fair, everyone has to use identical motor/ battery combinations.
The early models are simple and cheap to build. Free PDF plans and DXF files available.
Any model design is allowed and no material is off limits.
The rules have been written to encourage entries, everyone gets the same amount of bouts.
No pit crews required.
No specialist electric power knowledge is needed. Just buy the items listed.
Push button start and stop, no messing with awkward diesels.
Electric power is quieter than Glow/diesel power. This should open up more flying sites
It is an ideal club contest, competitions are easy to set up and run.
It is clean and you won’t smell after a days flying
There are a new set of proposed rules. See below for rules and explanation of all of the components required.
Motor 2212 1400kv.
Brushless outrunner. Comes with mount and spinner. No brand name other than occasionally known as XXD Gold coloured. Typical price on Aliexpress is about £4.00.
Brushless outrunner. Comes with mount and spinner. No brand name other than occasionally known as XXD Gold coloured. Typical price on Aliexpress is about £4.00.
ESC. Electric Speed Controller
30 amp, with 3.5mm bullet connectors for the motor and XT60 battery plug . Again, no brand name, Price on Aliexpress is again around £4.00
30 amp, with 3.5mm bullet connectors for the motor and XT60 battery plug . Again, no brand name, Price on Aliexpress is again around £4.00
Battery 3s 11.1volt 1300mAh lipo
I use Zeee make, UK warehouse good price and free delivery from Al-iexpress. arrive in 2 days. Price is normally around £22 for 2 batteries. This battery gives a 4 mi-nute run with 28% charge remaining
I use Zeee make, UK warehouse good price and free delivery from Al-iexpress. arrive in 2 days. Price is normally around £22 for 2 batteries. This battery gives a 4 mi-nute run with 28% charge remaining
Propeller - Plastic size 8x4 - 3mm bore
Sold in packs of 10. Price is around £2.75 for a pack of 10 on Aliexpress. They suit the motor battery setup well but they are quite flimsy,
Sold in packs of 10. Price is around £2.75 for a pack of 10 on Aliexpress. They suit the motor battery setup well but they are quite flimsy,
Here is some detail.
Motors.
These must be Brushless Outrunner design size 2212, 1400 kv 2212 is the physical size of the stator inside the motor, 22 mm by 12 mm, the motor itself is bigger and weighs 68 grams. The 1400 kv rating is measurement of how many revs it will do under no load per volt.. They are classed as unbranded and are freely available and vary enormously in price but I get mine from Aliexpress at around £4.00 each. They come with a radial mount, all the screws and a spinner. They are easily identifiable gold coloured motors and work very well. See the pictures. Always buy with 3.5 mm bullet connectors to fit straight on the ESC With our battery at 11.1 x 1400 is how fast it will spin. This suits the 8/4 prop perfectly.
Propeller
Plastic 8x4 props for electric motor with a 3mm bore. The ones I use are orange and cost around £2.75 for 10 props. You read that correctly. Perfectly suited to this motor/battery combination, they break easily but they’re 27p each!
ESC Electric Speed Controller
A 30 amp ESC is ideal for our needs. The ones I use and recommend are also from Aliexpress, again unbranded, yellow in colour, make sure you buy the ones with Bullet connectors to fit the motor and an XT60 connector to fit your battery. This saves soldering connectors on to bare wires which is a chore. These are around £3 to £4.00.
Battery
These must be 3 Cell (3s) Lipo batteries which again are freely available. I use Zeee “shorty” 1300 mah batteries which are sold in pairs for £21 to £23 on Aliexpress, free delivery and they are delivered in a couple of days from a UK warehouse. The same item is available from a host of other suppliers but at a higher price. There are thousandsof ba tteries but these do exactly what is required. Coupled with the little 2212 unnamed motor the 1300mAh ones will fly for 4 minutes after a full charge and leave 28% charge in the battery, which is ideal. Running Lipo’s flat is a bad idea.
Transmitter
I am sure some readers will expect us to use timers. A transmitter is a better idea. With a timer, if you crash, the motor/battery will try to keep running, which will result in damage, probably to the ESC. With a transmitter the pilot has full control, he can start the motor and stop it immediately if he crashes and he can stop it immediately and if we need to stop the bout for any reason both pilots can hit the stop button. I use a simple car/boat transmitter and I use channel 3, not the throttle channel. This gives me a push button stop/start. It also prevents me from throttling during a combat bout which is a very bad idea. Aliexpress again, I paid £15.00. As long as your transmitter can fulfil the requirements, then it’s OK.
Spares
You’ll need more props so be prepared to invest another 3 quid for another pack of 10 and you might want to get some spare shafts ( £2.75 for 10 ) and 3 mm circlips, 60p for a pack.
Lines. 25 lb Braided fishing line, I use a make from Aliexpress (sorry) called Proberos and up to date it’s been great, very low stretch and it comes on a 300 metre spool for about £4.50. Braid is compulsory, we can not mix steel lines and braid line. You can buy ideal line reels on Aliexpress for less that £2. Handles are not so easily available but they areeasy to make, I’ll do a drawing of mine in the next instalment
So far, the total cost, without the airframe for 2 motors, 2 ESC’s, 2 Batteries, 10 props and a TX/RX and several sets of lines is around £60.00. You will also need a charger, I have a couple that cost about £3 each and take 4 or 5 hours to charge a battery, I’m not sure whether to buy another couple of batteries, which would give me 4 flights, or a field charger, which will cost more but be handy to have.
Motors.
These must be Brushless Outrunner design size 2212, 1400 kv 2212 is the physical size of the stator inside the motor, 22 mm by 12 mm, the motor itself is bigger and weighs 68 grams. The 1400 kv rating is measurement of how many revs it will do under no load per volt.. They are classed as unbranded and are freely available and vary enormously in price but I get mine from Aliexpress at around £4.00 each. They come with a radial mount, all the screws and a spinner. They are easily identifiable gold coloured motors and work very well. See the pictures. Always buy with 3.5 mm bullet connectors to fit straight on the ESC With our battery at 11.1 x 1400 is how fast it will spin. This suits the 8/4 prop perfectly.
Propeller
Plastic 8x4 props for electric motor with a 3mm bore. The ones I use are orange and cost around £2.75 for 10 props. You read that correctly. Perfectly suited to this motor/battery combination, they break easily but they’re 27p each!
ESC Electric Speed Controller
A 30 amp ESC is ideal for our needs. The ones I use and recommend are also from Aliexpress, again unbranded, yellow in colour, make sure you buy the ones with Bullet connectors to fit the motor and an XT60 connector to fit your battery. This saves soldering connectors on to bare wires which is a chore. These are around £3 to £4.00.
Battery
These must be 3 Cell (3s) Lipo batteries which again are freely available. I use Zeee “shorty” 1300 mah batteries which are sold in pairs for £21 to £23 on Aliexpress, free delivery and they are delivered in a couple of days from a UK warehouse. The same item is available from a host of other suppliers but at a higher price. There are thousandsof ba tteries but these do exactly what is required. Coupled with the little 2212 unnamed motor the 1300mAh ones will fly for 4 minutes after a full charge and leave 28% charge in the battery, which is ideal. Running Lipo’s flat is a bad idea.
Transmitter
I am sure some readers will expect us to use timers. A transmitter is a better idea. With a timer, if you crash, the motor/battery will try to keep running, which will result in damage, probably to the ESC. With a transmitter the pilot has full control, he can start the motor and stop it immediately if he crashes and he can stop it immediately and if we need to stop the bout for any reason both pilots can hit the stop button. I use a simple car/boat transmitter and I use channel 3, not the throttle channel. This gives me a push button stop/start. It also prevents me from throttling during a combat bout which is a very bad idea. Aliexpress again, I paid £15.00. As long as your transmitter can fulfil the requirements, then it’s OK.
Spares
You’ll need more props so be prepared to invest another 3 quid for another pack of 10 and you might want to get some spare shafts ( £2.75 for 10 ) and 3 mm circlips, 60p for a pack.
Lines. 25 lb Braided fishing line, I use a make from Aliexpress (sorry) called Proberos and up to date it’s been great, very low stretch and it comes on a 300 metre spool for about £4.50. Braid is compulsory, we can not mix steel lines and braid line. You can buy ideal line reels on Aliexpress for less that £2. Handles are not so easily available but they areeasy to make, I’ll do a drawing of mine in the next instalment
So far, the total cost, without the airframe for 2 motors, 2 ESC’s, 2 Batteries, 10 props and a TX/RX and several sets of lines is around £60.00. You will also need a charger, I have a couple that cost about £3 each and take 4 or 5 hours to charge a battery, I’m not sure whether to buy another couple of batteries, which would give me 4 flights, or a field charger, which will cost more but be handy to have.
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