Flyzone’s
PHOTOGRAPHY: LARRY KRUSE
AIRCore
A 1980s technology gets perfected for modern day micro models!
By Larry Kruse PHOTOGRAPHY: LARRY KRUSE I 28
’ve had fun over the past year review- ing several of the new offerings from Flyzone for this magazine. Without ex- ception, the Calypso, the Tidewater, the Nieuport 17, the Tiger Moth, and the Mini Switch all proved to be soundly engi- neered, well-designed, and very capable ad- ditions to any modeler’s stable of electric powered planes. This month’s opportunity, Flyzone’s “Air- Core Power Core”, embodies an updated concept that initially appeared in the com- pany’s Uberlite offerings a year or so ago. As such, the “Power Core” series of models was of particular interest to me as review sub- jects, since the Uberlite series was not quite
as integrated and used actuators instead of servos for surface controls.
The power module
It should be noted that the idea of a power module that can easily be moved from one air- plane to another is not a new one. It can be found in modeling publications and designs that go back to the early years of powered freeflight models, and was promoted in the 1950s with several published controlline de- signs. Most recently, in addition to the Uber- lites mentioned above, the idea was developed commercially into a series of .40 size glow- powered radio control planes marketed under a very similar name in the ’80s and ’90s.
What’s different about the new Flyzone product is the miniaturization of an electric power source which includes the motor, bat- tery, ESC, receiver, servos and pushrod con- nections—all in one compact unit and easily moved from one plane to another. Using a plastic/carbon fiber elongated chassis to mount everything, the “AirCore Power Core” module (front to back) consists of a
2181 Kv brushless motor, a 4-channel micro Tactic SLT receiver, a 6-amp ESC, three dig- ital ultra-micro servos with four magnetic ended pushrods, and a 7.4 V 250 mAh Li-Po battery hook-and-loop mounted to the top of the receiver. This entire unit has a combina- tion of tabs and magnets that can be slid
JANUARY 2014
Modular Power System
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