Li Poly electric vs. glow power, costs?

jim breeyear wrote in news:cgcrl8$kfrl$1 @swen.emba.uvm.edu:

Given that my "park flyers" (I don't think of them that way, but I should) are made out of about $2 worth of sheet balsa and a few zip-ties, it's hard to find an electric system that DOESN'T cost several times what my parkflyers do.

Actually, it's tough to find a good gin&tonic that doesn't cost more than the airframe.

Seconded.

Take my latest park flyer.

Motor £13.50 with gearbox ESC £18.50

2 servos at £13.50 each = £27 Receiver at £30 appx Xtal at £6.50 Prop at £2.00 3s LIPO battery at £27

Total £108...

Airframe? About £5 if as I do you build many models at the parts cost is amortized over them and the little bits of scrap balsa, ply and solite and wire don't need purchasing for every model.

Now I've seen IC ARTF KITS at vastly over the cost of £108.

If - as happened last month - the park flyer is totally destroyed, unless you damage the avionics, the actual parts cost of replacing it is trivial. I lost the £27 battery, but that's not the end of the world either. Especially since I had a new one ready for another model anyway.

Essentially that £108 - maybe $170 - has allowed me to fly anywhere at anytime the weather has been reasonable, including in and out of several large back gardens, for a year. My maximum costs for the next year excluding build time, will be a further $40 or so for the replacement pack.

I know its not comparable with IC performance wise, BUT given that I don't have to drive to a club, buy fuel, I reckon that its overall cheaper for a year than any IC flier can achieve.

Of course, the quest for more all weather flying takes one into larger heavier models, with the equivalent LIPO pack coming out at over $100 for a .25 sized model, and maybe double that or more if I were to waltz towards .40 or .60 sized.

But even at those power level, its not that much more horrendous than a big 4 stroke is. And the airframes even at that size, if scratch built, are not much over $100.

And the one pack/many models approach together with low discharge rates means my one pack per model size approach works well over several models, which charge-to-fly ratios (assuming pre charged packs in the first instance) means I can get up to half an hours flying before needing to recharge, and a second model and pack will fly the next half hour until the first is almost charged...

..which is to say, if you play to the strengths of electrics RATHER THAN ATTEMPT TO DUPLICATE THE FLYING EXPERIENCE OF IC you end up with many hours of pleasure on a very limited budget indeed.

Its not the SAME experience, but its a GOOD experience nonetheless.

As I said before, even the best technology can't match a tuned racing 2 stroke for sheer speed and rate of climb, but very few modellers actually build those sorts of planes. And in any case the noise and smell of a brute like that is probably part of the fun. Dunno. My electrics are already too fast for MY reflexes and concentration.

| Given that my "park flyers" (I don't think of them that way, but I should) | are made out of about $2 worth of sheet balsa and a few zip-ties, it's hard | to find an electric system that DOESN'T cost several times what my | parkflyers do.

Not that this is restricted to electrics.

Spads (basically made out of coroplast) have had this problem for years now -- your plane is made of about $10 worth of plastic, but has a $80 engine and $150 worth of radio equipment in it ...

Of course, as I see it, it's a good thing!