Antares elliptical nose FES

[Phill Tadman]

Hi all,

I’ve been thinking of getting an electric motor with a folding propellor fitted to my 1:3 scale Baudis Antares glider.

I was going to use the Torcman motor with its removable shaft and propeller, but would prefer a standard motor, spinner and propeller combination.

However, the Antares nose section is elliptical, so a standard round spinner won’t conform.

I can see two possibilities:
- use a round spinner and re-contour the nose
- modify the cut off eliptical section into a spinner and use a Florian Schambeck ESC that can stop the prop in a desired position.

I think recontourng the nose might be tricky, blending using formers and stringers to from a round to an elliptical shape, filling, smoothng and then tryng to blend a seam and paint line.

The second option may be problematic in securng the propeller yoke into the cut off nose section and then balancing.

What do the great minds here think?

Thanks,

Phill

[Phill Tadman]

I would love to fit an up and go, but there are quite a few cons.

A suitable Orbis 14.5 motor, ESC and mounting kit is €2400 and I’ve estimated the motorised model would tip the scales at around 16kg. I’ve also heard up and go’s suffer from all sorts of problems.

On the plus side, no cooling worries and take off from the existing retract rather than a dolly would be cool.

I’m still tempted, but I certainly wouldn’t fit one just to appease The Scale Police

Phill

[terry white]

Phill, there are two other options here all of which I would be able to help with:-

1) My favorite because it is easy to fit and relatively cheap.
Fit the motor a little way back from inside the nose, Increase the length of the shaft by fitting a shaft and coupler which is locked onto the shaft by just two Allen screws. The lengthened shaft to go through a ball race situated in the nose before exiting through the nose hole of the same diameter as the shaft.All the materials are readily available (I have all the addressees and web sites in this country you will need). The bonus of this design is you can use any motor you wish or change as required. You can use any prop combination, and with the undoing of just two Allen screws the prop and shaft comes away just the same as the Torcman does, leaving the motor and C.G in situ.

2) On the flatter sides of the fus,rather then trying to round them to match the spinner,use this area to fashion two air scoop on either side to feed the motor with cooling air. you will note that the scoop will only be very small just to cover the diameter of the spinner. The rear of the scoop tails off into the form of the fus anyway.You will have to make provision for cooling air anyway so why not this way. I have found that small pots or plastic jars found in the kitchen or workshop cut at an angle makes good scoops.I have also used good quality plastic spoons also cut at an angle. I f this is done carefully there is very little making good to do. down side of this method is the lack of scale fidelity if that is something you are worried about.

Phill as a footnote,although the prop is stopped in roughly the correct position using the ESC you mentioned your handling the model etc soon disturbs this position,then it looks bad, so I don't recommend this method.

I hope I have given you food for thought, get in touch if I can help further. Ter

[Phill Tadman]

Thanks Terry, both good ideas!

Phill