After reading the various post about the Q500/dewalt combinations, I decided to try it this past weekend. The ML archives have quite a few messages on the various dewalt motors. I decided to get the 14.4 volt (380285-14) DeWalt motor (local Black & Decker shop), and install it into a Modelair Tech Sonic 500 ARC (more like almost, almost ready to cover (AARC)). I must say I was quite impressed at the results.

Using 14 cells, it flew great. Not as fast as I thought it would be, but very respectable. The fact that it was completely un-covered (bare wood), had no spinner, wide wheels, and unfinished wing tips could be adding a bit to the drag (I wanted to see if it would fly first). I was impressed that it had a great glide and good power for climbing. Besides the comments from some fellow glow flyers that my plane needed a muffler, they were quite impressed with it’s flying ability. I timed it at 6 min. of mild aerobatics at half throttle with cheap 1500 mAh Dynamite car packs. My current meter only goes to 25 amps, but it doesn’t peg the needle too bad, so I’m guessing it draws ~30A at full throttle. APC prop trials are next…

Setup detail:

Dewalt 14 v motor Zinger 9x7 wood prop 14 cells (two 7-call car packs) Astro 217D esc weight: ~77 oz (2156 gm) (using cheap postal scales) area: 504 sq. in. ~22 oz sq/ft. (I feared it would be far worse than this) three standard servos.

Hopefully by going to some micro servos, and lightening the wing I can shave off ~6 - 8 oz. The only problem is there is not much room in the fuselage, so it’s quite a tight fit (no Velcro needed!) I’m quite happy for what I have for a under $40 motor, two $17 battery packs, $70 plane, and a $35 esc! Thanks to everyone on the ML for the great info.