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Slow Stick Trainer - Torque 26T/1135 Motor & Hobby Lobby SK400XT Motor. Need 15 min flight time which one & Battery?

W

waid302

New User
I have been away from RC hobby for some time and looking to get back in to and also train my two sons. Slow Stick is probably the best place to start. I found two of my old outrunner motor which are Torque 26T/1135 Motor & Hobby Lobby SK400XT Motor. I want about 15 minutes of flight time using the following two motors. What size of battery do I need and also which motor should I use ?

Torque 26T/1135 Motor​

Perfect for 6-14 ounce “foamies” and park flyers. Available in 2 winds and KVs to better suit your application.​
Weight: 43 g
KV: 1135
Max Current: 12 amp
Prop shaft: 3 mm
Recommended prop: 10 x 4.7 on 2S, 9 x 4.7 on 3S - electric props only​

SK400XT​

Found on RCGROUPS: 3-cell 1000 mah 12C LiPoly pack and the GWS slow flyer 8x6 prop.​
Current draw was between 10 and 12 amps static load. That was between 100 and 120 watts of power!​
 
Either will work for a slow stick. Do you have the SK400 motor? Because Hobby-Lobby is long gone and that motor might not be available. For flight time, a capacity 10 times the amps should get you where you want to go. I.e. pulling 10 amps a 1000 mah battery. For a slow stick I would stick with 2 s and swing the biggest prop you can. But they fly ok on small props too. Flight time is highly dependent on flying style too. If you throttle back as much as possible you’ll be surprised at how long a plane can fly. Open it up to do loops and stuff and flight times will drop.

hope this helps

Hank
 
I like your capacity calculation for sport flying. I think the function is divide to keep the units a bit closer, Amps to Amp hours. But we all get the idea that you are trying to get the numbers to match the marketing nomenclature.

I tend to use weight as my driver of battery capacity.

But to answer the Op's question if the motor is proped for 10 amp. I assume cruise current is about 6 amps. So 6Amps x .25hours = 1.5 Ah. So you will want cells of 1500 mAh capacity. But 66 Watts is a lot of power for a Slow Stick. I fly a Slow Stick on about 35 watts .

I think a 1000 mAh battery will be more than adiquate for slow training flights.

Check out these proven components for the Slow Stick. Note the 1300mAh battery.
 
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Hank GB Z said:
Either will work for a slow stick. Do you have the SK400 motor? Because Hobby-Lobby is long gone and that motor might not be available. For flight time, a capacity 10 times the amps should get you where you want to go. I.e. pulling 10 amps a 1000 mah battery. For a slow stick I would stick with 2 s and swing the biggest prop you can. But they fly ok on small props too. Flight time is highly dependent on flying style too. If you throttle back as much as possible you’ll be surprised at how long a plane can fly. Open it up to do loops and stuff and flight times will drop.

hope this helps

Hank
Click to expand...

I bought 5 or 6 of those motors back in the day and still have them! My car projects got in the way so my RC hobby took a back seat and now looking to get back in to it. It was a rude awakening how RC Air hobby changed over last 10 years. Lots of major players are gone and choice of airplanes shrank dramatically. Even though the JR, Hitec and Airtronics are gone, there are lots of new choices for RC Radios which is great. I bought two Flysky FS-i6X 2.4 radios with receivers for $110 from Amazon which is crazy. I am glad to see that Aloft is selling Slow Stick. After my kids solo on Slow Stick, I will transition them to 40 Glow powered trainer.


Waid
 
If you have most of the support equipment for electric flight why step back to the 6.5cc glow motor for a trainer? There are still a few electric aileron trainers on the market. Glow fuel cost is exorbitant. With the Lipo there is actually LESS of a fire danger that with alcohol fuels. There is also a less of a mess. And If the kids are getting of that age there is less smell with electrics, which will help their social life.

Most models actually fly better with electric power as the motor can spin a much larger prop that we could with glow at the same power output. While Aloft doesn't sell these there are some nice aileron trainer aircraft sold by Horizon Hobbies and MotionRC, some actually look like general aviation aircraft.

While we still see glow models at the field it is usually us older flier that have them. If looking at things with a critical eye glow usually comes up short when looking at all that is available.

Don't get me wrong I love glow. But if looking for the best trainer and sport aircraft , electric power really is so much more practical.

All the best,
Konrad
 
Konrad said:
If you have most of the support equipment for electric flight why step back to the 6.5cc glow motor for a trainer? There are still a few electric aileron trainers on the market. Glow fuel cost is exorbitant. With the Lipo there is actually LESS of a fire danger that with alcohol fuels. There is also a less of a mess. And If the kids are getting of that age there is less smell with electrics, which will help their social life.

Most models actually fly better with electric power as the motor can spin a much larger prop that we could with glow at the same power output. While Aloft doesn't sell these there are some nice aileron trainer aircraft sold by Horizon Hobbies and MotionRC, some actually look like general aviation aircraft.

While we still see glow models at the field it is usually us older flier that have them. If looking at things with a critical eye glow usually comes up short when looking at all that is available.

Don't get me wrong I love glow. But if looking for the best trainer and sport aircraft , electric power really is so much more practical.

All the best,
Konrad
Click to expand...

I hear you but nothing can be compared to a sweet sound of a Saito & OS 4 stroke! I want them to experience both electric and glow powered airplanes. Most of the small 4 strokes are gone. I still have four OS .30 four strokes which I will keep until I die!
 
In the last 10 to 20 years the hobby calculus real has changed.

Nostalgia aside, for basic RC training the electric is so much more reliable. If training is the aim then the 3 to 4 cell 3300mAh power set up is hard to beat with glow.

Besides would you really want to risk a 4 cycle engine doing training duties?

Other than some boutique engine manufactures I think OS is the last of the 2 cycle glow engine suppliers. Have you looked at the price of these engine? Then looked to see if there is any parts support for any OS engine models that isn't currently manufactured. For the price of an OS glow engine I'd get an American made Jett for a percent more. Now that is a glow experience!

All the best,
Konrad
 
Today as 20 to 30 size is an odd size designator. I think we need to set some ground rules as to what we are talking about.
In the King's units I assume this is a plane with about a 55 inch wing span, 450 square inch wing and about 60 oz weight.

In the electric world you are looking at models that are powered by 3 cell with a capacity of 2200mAh to 3300mAh.

As you have or are looking at the slow stick we don't need to look at basic trainer (Basic left and right reversal issues and basic flair and stalls). I also hate to see folks try to learn with gyro equipped models. This just reinforces bad flying technique. If you don't have an instructor that's another topic. But as your kids have you as an instructors avoid gyros with trainers.

The best aileron trainer or advanced electric foam trainer is/was the FlyZone Sensei. The symmetrical airfoil was very benign and never fought you. This has recently been lost from the market place with the bankruptcy of Hobbico. But you might find some new old stock.

The next popular (only in numbers) trainer is the E-flite Apprentice 15. This is a horrible flying model as it has a flat bottom airfoil. It is always trying to climb through the turns. (think of this as a foam Kadet Mark II, if you remember those).

Now a good second to the Sensei are the FreeWing Pandora it has a nice airfoil. and it can also be converted to a low wing aileron trainer. Too bad about it coming from MotionRC. (But that's my issue).

A surprise is the FMS Sky Trainer 182 (AKA the Cessna 182) Again nice airfoil. It is also very strong despite the see through green house.

And a bit bigger getting up to the 6.5cc trainer size is the FMS 1800mm Ranger (AKA Cessna 150) 4cells.
 
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I agree with Konrad on the Gyro based trainer. My dad was teaching my niece to fly and she what having trouble over controling and not trusting her judgement. So i took the box and turned off the gyro and left it in low rates and just had her build flight time and she progress pretty faster after that and is now off flying models in college with her boy friend. My dad has worn out about 4 Aprentice's teaching people to fly over the last 4 years. The sensie is a better plane but you can get parts for the Aprentice. Though not a trainer an Eflight Timber would make an ok transition plane from a slow stick. It has flaps but it lands really well with out them, so no need to worry about it and you can advance to using the flaps later on.


Hank
 
Hank GB Z said:
Either will work for a slow stick. Do you have the SK400 motor? Because Hobby-Lobby is long gone and that motor might not be available. For flight time, a capacity 10 times the amps should get you where you want to go. I.e. pulling 10 amps a 1000 mah battery. For a slow stick I would stick with 2 s and swing the biggest prop you can. But they fly ok on small props too. Flight time is highly dependent on flying style too. If you throttle back as much as possible you’ll be surprised at how long a plane can fly. Open it up to do loops and stuff and flight times will drop.

hope this helps

Hank
Click to expand...

I dug though my old stash and found 3 lipo 2 cell batteries 1000mAh which I want to use on the Slow Stick for training.

Which is motor is better suited for 2 cell battery. Torque 26T/1135 or Hobby Lobby SK400XT Motor ?

Which prop should I use?

How long flight time will get out it ?

Thanks
 

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How old are those cells? Were these stored at 50% charge 3.85? Most cell show 20% degradation in two years. I'd get new cells for my kid's plane.

Are you aware of this on line calculator? https://www.ecalc.ch
 
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waid302 said:
I dug though my old stash and found 3 lipo 2 cell batteries 1000mAh which I want to use on the Slow Stick for training.

Which is motor is better suited for 2 cell battery. Torque 26T/1135 or Hobby Lobby SK400XT Motor ?

Which prop should I use?

How long flight time will get out it ?

Thanks
Click to expand...
As there isn't a nickels differance between these on 2 cells I'd go with the Torque as it is an 1100KV motor. I think the the SK400XT it a 1000KV motor.

I think an APC SF prop 11X3.8SF APC on a good 2 cell is just a bit over 8 amps. You might be able to change to an 11x4.7 SF and still stay under the 10 amp limit. I recall guys burning these up with long duration 12 amp flights.
 
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As I recall those Zippy branded cells were not too good, but you can give them a try and see how much life they have left in them.. Probably not much..
 
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