Funtana S40 from Hangar9 (conversion to electric)

Post here about current projects being worked on.
User avatar
retiredVTT
Posts: 5599
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:59 pm
Location: Bedford, NS,CANADA
Contact:

Funtana S40 from Hangar9 (conversion to electric)

Unread post by retiredVTT » Thu Apr 23, 2020 7:32 pm

Way back in November 2019, ( seems like a lifetime with the past few months of Covid-19), I bought this brand new (2003 or so) Funtana S40 from Mike of the Avon Flyers.
Anyway, not sure what I was thinking at the time...or NOT thinking..because this plane was set up for an ENGINE up front..not a "Motor"..!

So I figured maybe the batteries could sit on the wing directly under the fuselage where the two parts meet, so after some careful measurements were taken, a hatch was cut into the fuselage directly above the wing, for servicing the batteries. I had decided to use two 5S 2200mah packs in parallel, giving a total of 4400 mah.
With the hatch surgery done it became obvious that the Lipo packs should be recessed down INTO the top of the wing...so further surgery was undertaken to actually construct a suitable battery plate with strap to secure the packs.
After this was completed it was time to install the wing and check the CG for balance.

Wow...was this thing tail heavy ...not even close. The answer..one big ole mother of a motor..! So it was off to the cupboard to check the stock..
I decided on the biggest motor I had..a Hyperion 4035 that should swing a 15/6 prop right smartly on 5S power.
But now..looking at the stock front end , it would need some additional beef to strengthen it for this motor, as well as to position the motor correctly for a decent cowl install, so more designing, cutting, and bolting mounting plates was undertaken.
In the end, the balance came out extremely well, and the cowl fits nicely.

It will be interesting to see how it flies..!

Img_7315xx.jpg
Attachments
Img_7236xx.jpg
Img_7278xx.jpg
Img_7309xx.jpg
Img_7293xx.jpg
Bill
HEFA #5
MAAC #13708