C/LStunt E
ric Rule has more information on electric power for control line, so I’m passing the podium over to him. “Allen asked me to write a col- umn expressing my thoughts on electric power in control line. After thinking of all the reasons that I should not do so, I decided to go ahead and do it, so here goes. “If you are looking for one more disserta- tion from a self-professed prophet who is about to explain for the 100th time why everyone should switch over to electric pow- er, please stop reading right now because that is not what you are going to get! “Here is what I think about electric pow- er. Electric motors are simply one more method of supplying the power we need to get the pointy end of the model aircraft to go through the air. In my time I have flown model aircraft powered by ignition, diesel, glow and electric engines/motors. They all work. They all do the job. They are all good!
“If you, like a good friend of mine, have 300 glow engines in your shop and if, like him, you are satisfied with that power source keep using it. As I like to say to peo- ple: we are flying model aircraft, and it is supposed to be fun. So when it stops being fun to fly, stop flying. There is absolutely no reason why two or more of us should allow ourselves to get into an argument about something that is supposed to be fun. To my way of thinking it is like arguing about what colors we decide to paint our models. You may like yellow, and I may like
red...so what?! If the power system you are using works for you, then it is good.
“From my perspective, here is what is im- portant to me. First, I do not have a lot of time to fly. Second, I have to drive over 50 miles to the location where we can fly pow- ered aircraft lawfully. Third, the very best I can do in any given day is to complete five or six flights before it is time to head for home. For these reasons it is vital to me that my power system work perfectly every sin- gle time! There is nothing so frustrating than to waste two or three flights due to a bad needle setting, a leak in a fuel line, or a bad glow plug. Now I know that none of you reading this have ever experienced any of these frustrations, but I have, and it is a complete waste of time. What is even worse
KR Governor Motor Battery
by allen brickhaus You can reach Allen Brickhausat PO Box 206, Golconda, Illinois 62938, or via e-mail at
abkb801@shawneelink.net
ESC Battery Governor Motor
PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC RULE
Dick Mathis’ Chizler retrofitted with the electronic equipment he got from Eric Rule, available at
www.rsmdistribution.com. The different components are well marked on Eric’s submitted photo.
is when any of these happen during one of my official flights at a contest.
“These are the main reasons that I have invested in a complete electric powered con- trol line system. All I have to remember is to put a freshly charged battery in the mod- el, flip the switch, and I am guaranteed a perfect motor run every time! A very nice additional benefit is that since my power system does not make any noise, I can fly at the local park that happens to be a total of two miles from my home. At my former home, I lived across the road from a park. I could get in approximately two flights on my Fox powered Jamison before the cops rolled up due to a complaint from a neigh- bor. Now two of my buddies are flying with- out any problems every Friday morning in that same park near my former home! Give it some thought ... how many potential fly- ing sites would you have to choose from if engine noise was not a problem? “A few years ago I had a conversation with Bob Hunt about this new power system he was working on. Bob, being the extremely professional individual he is, spent a lot of his valuable time telling me all about what he was doing and how he could take his lap- top to the flying field and make changes to his system before his next flight. Although I was very impressed with what Bob was do-
ing (and when have I not been impressed with Bob?) after that conversation I had to admit to myself that Eric Rule simply did not have the knowledge or the inclination to get involved with something so technical. I pretty much decided that electric C/L was not for me. Good Lord, I was lucky to get a decent needle setting, so what would make me think that I could use a power system that needed a laptop at the field to run properly?
“I left that conversation with Bob Hunt with the thought that electric C/L would be great, but the average flyer simply could not or would not use it because it appeared too difficult to learn. If electric C/L could be made simple to use like an OS .40 FP glow engine, wouldn’t that be great? What kept going through my mind was ‘why did the OS FP engines become so popular in C/L?’ The simple answer was that unlike the older en- gines like the Fox, Johnson, or McCoy, the FP started every time on the first or second flip and ran beautifully with lots of power. “The next step in my thinking was that the only way people like me who were not electronic engineers or technically oriented would ever be able to use electric power sys- tems was if they were as simple to use as an OS Max FP. In other words ‘make it flip and fly’. That is exactly what I set out to do.
ESC
Eric also displays the electronic setup on his P-51 Mustangprofile kit (at left). Electrics will work easily with both full fuselage ships and profile bodies. Eric Rule’s Flip and Fly components (above) are on display in his shot of his products. The explanation of his equipment is described in his text.
42 DECEMBER 2012
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