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30) Install your ESC now, before mounting the motor perma-
nently. Note that ESCs can vary a lot in size and shape, so it is
difficult to give "one size fits all" instructions on the best mounting
location and method. This step describes how we mounted our
Castle Creations 75A ESC in the top of the nose, which still left
plenty of room for the lipo battery pack below the ESC.
a) First solder appropriate battery connectors to the battery
leads of your ESC. The connectors for the battery leads are nor-
mally supplied with the ESC.
b) The next thing we did was to remove the secondary former
that is right behind the main plywood firewall. This former provides
a stop for the front of the glow fuel tank, which you obviously don't
need in your electric motor installation. Removing the former will
provide a little more room in the nose for the ESC and battery
pack. Working through the round hole in the main firewall, simply
push on the secondary former with a screwdriver or dowel, and it
should pop loose.
c) Next locate the small balsa wood block that is provided in
this kit. Epoxy glue the block inside the nose, at the top, tight
against the top stringer and in front of the middle nose former (see
drawing below).
d) When dry, mount the ESC onto the balsa block with common
Velcro® tape (not furnished).
e) Now route the ESC’s servo wire back to the receiver and
plug it in.
f) Connect the ESC's motor wires to the motor. Operate the
motor and check the direction of rotation. Always do this without
a propeller attached! If you need to reverse the rotation, refer to
the instructions that came with the motor and ESC. Changing the
direction of rotation is normally a simple matter of swapping two
of the motor wires.
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31) Next bolt the motor mount box on to the front of the airplane,
using the M4 x 20mm Socket-Head Bolts and Flat Washers pro-
vided.
NOTE: The best tool for this job is a “hex ball driver” (not fur-
nished). With the hex ball driver you can easily access the top
two bolts over the top of the front firewall. And you may be able
to access the bottom two bolts by going through the bottom two
blind nuts in the front firewall. If that does not work for the bottom
bolts, then you will need to drill two additional holes in the bottom
of the firewall that line up better with the two bottom bolts.
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32) If you have not already re-attached the X mount plate to the
back of your motor, do so now. Then use (4) M4 x 16mm Socket-
Head Mounting Bolts and Lock Washers to bolt your motor in
place on the plywood motor mount box.
HOW TO SECURE YOUR LIPO BATTERY PACK
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33) The lipo battery pack will ride in the nose of the airplane.
The exact location fore and aft is important for balancing the air-
plane, and thus the best location will depend on the actual weight
of your battery pack. In most instances you will find that you need
to put the battery pack as far forward as possible.
The space in the nose is not huge, so the method you use to se-
cure your pack from shifting in flight can vary depending upon the
actual physical measurements of your battery pack.
METHOD 1 (6 cell pack):
When a tall battery pack is being used,
we recommend that you mount your battery pack directly onto the
plywood floor piece that is built into the fuselage. Use a long strip
of Velcro® (not furnished) along the entire bottom of the pack, with
the matching piece stuck on the plywood floor in the fuselage.
Along with that, use one of the supplied Velcro® straps to hold
the battery down against the plywood floor. Fish the Velcro® strap
thru the two slots in the plywood floor.
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