Leccy Seaplanes

[Watts up]

Could we make a list of seaplanes? There isn't many and i would like a list to look at and choose from:D

[Watts up]

Herr Aqua Star

[elhepilot]

Avenura Twin (2 speed 400s)

Cobra on floats (PJS550R)

[fallsflyer]

A friend and I are building an electric version of the CL-415 by RT Models. I have 'floated' a Soarstar and a Sig Rascal with my own design foam floats. I have Herr built-up floats for my Herr 1/2 A J-3 yet to be installed and am convinced that most high-wing and other planes can be converted to water use with a little attention to "the right stuff". See also http://www.geocities.com/ivansplans/ and have fun with ROW!!

[Watts up]

hvpmodell Catalina

[electric mike]

Kavan Wingo on (original) floats.
7,2v 400-motor pusher geared 1,85:1, APC Slowfly 8x3,8, 8xSanyo 800AR,
Jeti 30A ESC, 10-15 minutes endurance with continous splash-and-goes


http://eflight.hedlunds.net/bilder/wingo/approach.jpg

/Mike

[Watts up]

nice

[donjiskra]

Could we make a list of seaplanes? There isn't many and i would like a list to look at and choose from:D

Bonnie20 and Aventura II are both excellent flyers !!!!!!

[Watts up]

The Bonnie is a bit expensive for what it is dont you think

[donjiskra]

The Bonnie is a bit expensive for what it is dont you think
Thanks and I understand your statement, however for what is is, (quality-non foamer), and how it peforms, (superbly), yes it is expensive compared to other planes but, (to me). it was well worth it.
There are plenty of "cheaper" planes available if cost is a determing factor. Ordinarily I would have gone that route, believe me, but since I had a nice tax refund I could "splurge" to get a great quality flyer.
The Aventura Twin is a great reasonable cost float plane and is totally capable, I loved it. I would like to get a single motored Aventura and puit a brushless motor in it, that would be awesome, especially with li-po's, but again is the extra cost worth it, compared to a brushed system?
It's all a matter of choice, isn't it?
Regards,
Don

[Watts up]

You get what u pay for. i have seen what good quality it is

[donjiskra]

I agree completely! After many years of not being able to afford and getting happily by with less, I was fortunate to be able to spend way more than I ever had before and probably never ever will again. It was well worth it.
Don

[mirage1146]

How about the new Hacker Osprey X-28G & the Donald 4 (Hobby Lobby) seaplanes? Any performance infomation on those.

[locolobot]

There was a free plan of a delta wing seaplane in Fly RC. I liked it so much that I decided to build my own version in foam. I have found a few difficulties in doing this but have solved them so far. I will keep you posted as to how it turns out. If it really works this is a cheap and easy build foamy and would cost you only 1 sheet of blue foam and lots of time. Anyone intrested in seeing or building one let me know. I am now waiting on servos and reciever to complete the building process. I have a hacker XL22 brushless motor and Xl12 esc to power it with. Have really enjoyed doing this so far and know some of the places you will have trouble in building it. The plans of the plane I made out of foam is called a Twinkle,( Twinkle is balsa and oracote), and is simliar to then glow powered North Star from Balsa USA. I guess I will call mine the Finkle, since it is in foam. :)

[locolobot]

Here is the web address for the Twinkle of you are interested. It is a free plan published by the owner. Http://keyboardmonkey.com/twinkle/com

There is even a video of the plane in flight. plus the things you need to know to build it his way.

[Thayer]

I don't think that Arron is giving the plan away. Last I checked he was selling them. A reduced version was included with the September 2005 Fly RC though.

Also, the URL above doesn't get you anywhere. You can see a picture of it at http://keyboardmonkey.com/twinkle/composition_flat.html, but probably should just visit the RCGroups build threads.

Part 1
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=306404

Part 2
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=359979

Thayer

[locolobot]

Thanks for correcting me on that. I would not want to give away anything that was not for free. I just used the plans from the magazine and did my own foamie. Sizes are probably off and some other things but since I was not doing the wood and covering bit, I did not care. Just an experiment on my part.

[bz1mcr]

These are great little water planes. I fly my FROG off Houghton Lake in Michigan every time it calms down. My fuse is wider at the bottom (about 1.5 at the max. width. and the wing ski's are double thicknesses of FFF and about 1/4 inch longer than per plan. With a STRONGRCMOTORS 22.7 (http://www.strongrcmotors.com/) CD-Rom it will ROW nicely on a 340 or 750 mA 2S battery, and is over powered on 3S to the point you can't use anywhere near full power before lift off or it will dig in rather than take off. Both are available at : Foam Fly (http://www.foamfly.com/customer/home.php)

Frog Airplane Kit - White Foam (http://www.foamfly.com/customer/product.php?productid=18399&cat=&page=&XCARTSESSID=88e36909e748aa0118197fc23f11ae40)
The Original Frog Slowflyer. http://www.foamfly.com/image.php?productid=18399



Pelican Seaplane Kit (http://www.foamfly.com/customer/product.php?productid=18409&cat=&page=&XCARTSESSID=88e36909e748aa0118197fc23f11ae40)
Easy to assemble Kit version of the popular parkflyer. Uses "Slot and Groove" Construction.
http://www.foamfly.com/image.php?productid=18409

Below L-R: STRONG SuperKit, Modified Frog, and Frog motor and mount view.

Don -Owner StrongRCMotors (http://www.strongrcmotors.com/), LLC

[bz1mcr]

Here is the web address for the Twinkle of you are interested. It is a free plan published by the owner. Http://keyboardmonkey.com/twinkle/com

There is even a video of the plane in flight. plus the things you need to know to build it his way.

That link does not work for me???

[Watts up]

NEMO

Found this one 2day http://robotbirds.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29_32&products_id=443

[Watts up]

and this one

PIRANHA 3D HYDRO PLANE

http://robotbirds.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29_47&products_id=572

[bz1mcr]

Thanks,that worked.

[elhepilot]

The cobra on floats with a brushless motor (PJS 3D 550 R) 2S1500mah Kokam, 10X4.7 APC prop, Phoenix 25 ESC is fantastic. Very acrobatic even on floats.

[theKM]

Twinkle... http://www.keyboardmonkey.com/twinkle

...to ammend... the 50% plan is "free" in FlyRC, but not free from the owner :) ...only 100% properly colour printed with build instructions from the owner. ;)

[hobbyshopguy]

House of Balsa has a smallish size slimer flying boat--- Float Plane 10. Wish I knew how satisfactory this would be when electrified. Anybody have data on same?

hobbyshopguy

[donjiskra]

Neat looking plane! Don't see why it can't be electrified!
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0006p?&T=1&I=HOUA1054

[locolobot]

Fly Rc is running a contest on the twinkle built from their "free plans". Seems like the owner of those plans should be the one who has a problem with the people who build from said plans not some other person. Excuse me for doing so and I willl not do it again.

[hobbyshopguy]

donjiskra, PM sent---hobbyshopguy

[donjiskra]

Thanks and good luck!
Don

[TLyttle]

... if you buld your own. I have a long list of flying boats to build, and only 3-views to work from (I prefer scale). I had a sketchy 3-view for the Sea Otter (follow-up to the Walrus), so what I present here is not even close to scale (I can't call it a Sea Otter, so I call it the She Otter Fly), but it sure was fun to build. I have yet to fly it; probably this spring, so I don't have any performance figures. Power is a 280 direct drive, span is 24", balsa & tissue construction. Tip floats are not yet installed.

Hope this pic goes through...

[locolobot]

Well the float plane is like so many others. Here today, gone tommorrow. I enjoyed it for a while and have now taken the parts and built a QTEE. I will have to show the pidture of it some other time as I have not taken any as yet. The QTEE is a kit that was made in the 50's and the company that made it is out of business. I see that SR Batteries makes a kit similiar to it called the Cutie. Must be a copy right? I still have the kit and box that came with the QTEE. Many thanks to Fly RC and the originator of the plane I used as a guide to build the Twinkie. I hope he has straightened out his problem with Fly RC and I wish him the best of luck in the future. Sorry I created problems for any of you.

[lindart aviation]

jimsp has a Slow Stick based flying boat design that is an excellent performer. He sells the foam parts for $20 shipped,you adapt to your SS.Mine is the version with the pylon mounted motor. With a BP12,it takes off in about 5 ' and lands in less ! jimsp1@yahoo.com

[TLyttle]

A few guys are converting the GWS BN2 into flying boats, and I plan to do the same with mine. Unfortunately I got it just as the flying season ended; I want to fly it "stock" to see what its characteristics are like and compare the 'boat version. Apparently there was a company in the UK that has done this conversion full-size, successfully I understand.

So it will be a scale conversion!

[lindart aviation]

TLyttle,the plane you are referring to is the Ross Islander. It is a subject in rcgroups.com > discussion > waterplanes > Ross Islander > p.2 > post #17

I had the GWS BN-2 Islander that had the small motors. The plane likes to fly fast ! A slow turn will stall it every time. When the LVC cuts in ,the props continue to rotate,which causes tremendous drag. This called for a fairly straight 20 degree glide path to the landing site. It is not a grass field plane. The nose gear is the first part to let go. Don't bother with the steerable feature. The plane takes off rather quickly from a hard surface. I used all GWS gear with the 8.4 750 aaa nimh packs. The battery compartment needs to be deepened . As in all foam-epoxy -plastic situations, clean everything off with cheap rubbing alcohol first.

Airliners.net has some neat pictures of Islanders. HTH art

[TLyttle]

Yes, Old timers moment; forgot that it is the Ross Islander, thanks Lindart.

In fact, the model I got was used, heavily used. The previous owner eliminated the landing gear (too heavy, he said, besides he was flying off a grass field), and dialled in a few degrees of up on the ailerons. He said that the stall problems disappeared with that change; we'll see...

Once I have flown it, I will start the conversion and make other changes as I see fit. I will try to take out as much foam as I put in, and reshape the surfaces; blunt leading edges don't help performance!

[Dereck]

Duplicated post - can't delete it. Drat and double drat!

D

[Dereck]

http://www.hobbyhangar.com/test/kits.htm

Pondside if you prefer a flying boat, Electric Scout for those who go for floatplanes.

If there was such a category as 'seaplane trainer', "Pondside" would be the photo in the dictionary next to the category! I've had three - the first two were its predecessor "Puddlemaster", but the Pondside is the same model with an up to date laser cut structure. It's a real simple build and a classic example of a minimal structure that does what it's claimed to do superbly well.

Who mentioned problems with plans? Having published a fair few, I've always worked on the mag paying me to publish the plan, whereupon it becomes their problem. As I can't see why a mag would pay to acquire the rights to sell a plan, then publish a completely free and identical version online, this suggests that some moron has gone to the trouble of buying the plan, scanning it into whatever format and putting it up on the web for whoever to benefit from.

Still, the web has brought some funny critters into the daylight, so who knows?

Cutie /QTee? The much later Cutie from SR - Larry at SR openly admitted that QTee was his inspiration when he designed Cutie. However, saying that Cutie is a copy of QTee is about as sensible as saying that the F16 is a copy of a P51. Sure, they do the same job, have the same number of wings and tailplanes in the same order - and there it stops. I've seen several of both Cute / Qtee and the earlier design hasn't anything in common with the later other than that both are parasol monoplanes with open cockpits and taildragger UC. Now, if that's patent-able ... :rolleyes: However, I venture to suggest that the later kit is much more in accord with the average building talent that our hobby now aspires to.

And if you did a little research and work, it wouldn't be too hard to put either parasol atop floats, when it would look even more like something akin to a Pietenpol with boots on. A larger version of a float-equipped parasol has been done, in an English scale magazine a couple of years back.

End of early morning rant. Need coffee :O

[donjiskra]

Agreed, just because there is a similarity does not mean infringement.
Commonality of proven design is commendable because "form does indeed follow function" and vice versa.
As an an example I submit my Stolp Starlet on floats.

[Cyclops]

German, Blohum und Voss made a couple of 4 and 6 engine seaplanes. About the size of a Martin Mars or a small Spuce Goose. Their's really did fly well.

[jimsp]

I have two adaptations of the GWS Slow Stick for flying off water. The first located here (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=359356)is the flying boat configuration. The other is the seaplane version located here. (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=418145)Both are easy to build and very good flyers off water. The threads contain the building instructions and the plans are free. I can supply the foam parts if you don’t want to make them.

[lindart aviation]

Jimsp,The latest seaplane parts arrived this AM. Thanks for the good service.(again) Love the performance !! art