Show us your seaplanes

[cpmalish]

all arfs no real time to scratch build maybe a little backyard engineering

[AeroCat Man]

Here's a couple pics of our Polaris Seaplane. It was designed by Steve Shumate and based on Laddie Mikulasko's legendary North Star. I was lucky enough to meet Laddie at the Toledo RC show this year.

The Polaris is a great flyer off water, grass, or snow!

Scott

www.ModelAero.com

[Larry3215]

Laddie is a legend in RC circles and Steve Schumate is getting there!

You must be selling a million or so of the Polaris kits - and with good reason!

I was at a float fly here in Seattle on Lake Washington 2 weeks ago and I think there were 3 or 4 Polaris models there in addition to my XXL version. They are outstanding flying machines and they look really cool too.

I took the liberty of copying your Coast Guard scheme on my giant scale version.

Here is a shot of a standard size Polaris next to my 2X version with my Mega Capricorn in the background.

[AeroCat Man]

Larry,

The Polaris has been a huge kit for us, and I can't thank Steve and Laddie enough for the design.

Your XXL version looks great! I would love to see a video of that bird flying. Maybe you posted a vid and I missed it? Anyhow, the Polaris/North Star is a timeless design. It's fun to see what modelers do with it!

Scott

www.ModelAero.com

[Larry3215]

Hi Scott,

I thought Id posted the video in this thread but it looks like I didnt. Here are the two I have so far. It flys great!

YouTube Video

and the maiden

YouTube Video

[AeroCat Man]

That is impressive Larry! Nice work. The water video is great. Thanks for posting.

Scott

www.ModelAero.com

[cpmalish]

alright first off nice video now to my problem just got my rudder for my float plane from maxford usa today installed it but when the plane rudder goes to neutral the water rudder does not its like it hangs up but unable to figure it out any help. thank you ,chris

[rawy]

Hello all, here is my Polaris attempt waiting to fly !

Not completely finished, maiden should happen these days, hope to post an inflight pic here soon

[Larry3215]

It occurs to me that the Polaris design is one of the very few models that looks good even before you add any color or trim it out.

Yours is no exception

Good luck on the maiden!

[rawy]

Flew 5 Batteries

2 motors

2 recoveries

Once trimmed it's the perfect flyer, can only recommend this build or the kit, the full maiden story is here :

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=14287

inflight pics as soon as I get some

rawy

[Larry3215]

congrats!

[Maine Flyer]

My latest seaplane had a successful test flight yesterday. I had a more competent pilot than I (Bob Chapman) fly it while I took some photos and videos.

The airframe was built by Art Aube of Skowhegan, Maine. He built a total of five this past winter, one for himself and rest sold. Several of us made ours electric. The covering and finishing is my own work. Somewhat like an Almost Ready To Cover.

Very pleased with the results so far.

Wing span: 48" Area: 426 sq.in. Wing loading: 17.85 oz/sqft. Wing Cube Loading: 10.38 AUW is 52.8 ozs. Powered by a BP A2620-6 brushless, a Tornado 8x6-3 prop, CC Phoenix 45 ESC, and 2 TP 2S1P 2200 Extremes in series. Max amps is 26 and max power is 332 watts. AR7000 receiver is used in the plane. HS-85MG servos are used for all functions.

Joe

Video here: http://www.modelaviators.org/2009/Vi...%27s%20SM2.wmv

[dmmalish]

nice video main flyer dave

[lake flyer]

Here is my latest , a Hansa Brandenburg W.29 , 1914 German Navy plane used In WWI and between WWI and WWII .

Between wars it was disarmed and used as an observation plane .

Video

Hansa Brandenburg W.29 flight #5

[Larry3215]

Nicely done!

[nascarwings]

Nice Job!!...looks great

[Tracon]

Hi Guys,

Here's my latest project, the Hobby Lobby Cessna 172:



Sam

[Evo]

I found some of these EZ Sports Aviation Floats (40) at the LHS... No instructions and the box Looked as though it had sat for a few years before I found it... Made in Japan.

Has anyone heard of these before? They're really nice, I'd like to buy a second set but I can't find the manufacturer anywhere.

AUW ended up at a hair over 2500g (5.5lbs).

Regards,
Dan

[Larry3215]

There isnt much you need in the way of instructions with any floats. The basic details are:

1)Set the step near the CG. Some guys say have it dead on the CG some guys prefer the step to be just behind the CG. I think thats where it works best, but Ive flown with the step just ahead of the CG without problems. Have it close and you will probably be fine.

2) Have the main wing at a slight positive angle to the top of the floats. No more than 5 degrees max but a little positive. Again, its not really that critical.

3)If the floats are long enough they will stick out in front of the prop a little bit.

4)They should be spaced apart about 25% of the wing span minimum.

5) They need to be large enough to keep the plane from sinking

Those 5 are the important ones.

6)A water rudder can help but isnt absolutely necessary. They can be a pain to rout linkages to. It needs to be able to kick up at speed or at least be out of the water when your on step.

There are two other critical float flying requirements though other than float setup. The single most important one is -

1)have a recovery plan in place before you take off!!! Boat, canoe, fishing pole with a weight, hip waders etc. You will need it - especially if you dont have it
2)Almost as important - water proof your electronics. Mainly the esc needs to be done but the rx needs it too. I use CorrosionX. Its great and easy to use.

Good luck!

[Larry3215]

Almost forgot one last thing - check the cg of the plane with the floats in place. Adding the floats may move the cg a good bit.

[Evo]

Thanks for the tips Larry!

I have two other float planes so I've already learned alot about their positioning and things to look out for on the plane.

I'm running these about 1/2" behind the CG, and the stance is as wide as it will go. The water rudder is at the back and below the hull of the right float and doesn't retract. If I do use it and don't like the performance, I'll just yank it off.

I'm flying at the cottage so I have a few recovery choices, boat, canoe and kayak ... been there done that.

I was interested to hear about people spraying their electronics. I have typically wrapped everything in balloons, but if I find some of this Corrosion X I might give it a shot. I like the balloons for now though, I just get an ESC that is over rated by about 20% and that keeps things cool enough to sacrifice the air flow around the ESC. I can say I have tested the balloons fully (it not if you will wet the plane, it's when...)

Cheers,
Dan

[Larry3215]

If your happy with the balloons then no need to change certainly.

When I first started water flying I tried balloons, baggies, rubbers with not much luck. On a hot day, if your stuff goes down into cold water its going to get sucked in somewhere

I tried CorrosionX and did some tests that convinced me 100%. I'll never go back.

At the last float fly I was at 2 weeks ago, my big Mega Capricorn got flipped over by the wind. It sat with the ESC, BEC, rx and motor all under water for maybe 5 minutes. The wind came back up before we could get the rescue boat launched and flipped it back right side up.

I was flying 30 seconds later

Thats happened to me several times. The stuff is amazing. The commercials on TV a few years back show them treating a tv set. Then they toss it into a swimming pool and watch TV under water.

Here is my take on CorrosionX and how to apply it.

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/show...84&postcount=3

[HobbyCult]

Nice pictures. I read through all the post and didn't sea one of these. Here is my Guanli $99.00 sea plane from raidentec. Great buy. will fly again tomorrow and take pictures on the water. I reccomend running a 2200ma 11.1 lipo in place of the stock 8.4nicd. i also recomend eflite 10x8 props. flys 10 times better. don't sea it flying stock.Very long anyway. This set up will do a 10mph wind. Either way flys like a dream now Balsa frame surounded by foam and i brush coated it with 5 min epoxy on the belly.I'm going to use my dx7 this time, got my new reciever in... Taking the family out on the baot tomorrow here in sunny CA. Supposed to be 103. good reason to go fly.

[Bill G]

Currently working on an AR196 bashed from a GWS Zero and GWS floats.

[HobbyCult]

Ok I'll load a few at a time this satalite internet is Ahhh. Pictures are thanks to my beautiful wife amber. Got a 15 min flight out of the first run with the 2100 3s lipo on the stock 370s brushed. on the second flite i lost half power to one engine and that was the day. brought it in safe though, time to go brushless. Neat plane never so much fun to fly slow and low.
it only totaled three runs b4 frying one of the stock motors. What type of brushed upgrade motors could i upgrade to with the stock 40amp dual esc the plane has and fit in the 370 gearbox?
I don't know i already have 1 scorpion 22-12-22 i mite just pick up another and run two of those.