Powerhouse (oz7625)

About this Plan

Powerhouse. Indoor electric profile model. Wingspan 24 in, wing area 80 sq in.

Quote: "Hi Steve, Here's another plan that was free to subscribers of RC MicroFlight magazine, this one from January 2001. It's in its original format (.gif) [converted now to bitmap pdf]"

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 17/4/2023: Added article, thanks to theshadow.

Quote: "Back in the '50s, a host of small free-flight models made the scene thanks to the introduction of tiny glow-fueled engines such as the Cox Tee Dee .010 and .020. the KCB Infant, Atwood Wasp and Anderson Spitfire .045. These models usually ran between 75 and 125 square inches of wing area. Because of the size of RC equipment back then, the thought of radio control never entered the minds of the model designers.

But now, close to 50 years later, we have the new world of micro RC that can help rejuvenate our modeling thrills of the past. A case in point is the little 1949 Profile Powerhouse (oz5468) that was originally kitted by Berkeley Model Supply Co (owned by Bill Effinger) of West Hempstead, NY.

I built and flew one of these little models powered by a K&B Infant .020 engine back around 1952 or 53. Believe it or not, I still have the plan in my files. I decided to build a new version and try to keep as close as possible to the original planform.

The model shown here is a full-size version of the original with a 24-inch wingspan and 80 square inches of wing area. After consulting with Don Srull and John Worth, I selected the new HY-50F 'Firecracker' motor with a VL Products 5:1 planetary gear-box. A 5-1/2 inch diameter black plastic prop with square tips (I believe it's a K&P) ended up as the prop of choice, and Don Srull suggested I use six of the 'Double-Time' 12OmAh NiMH cells.

With this setup, the prop turned 4,400rpm with a motor current of 1.3 amps and a measured 6 volts under load. All of these units are available from Cloud 9 RC.

The rest of the equipment included my new GWS R-4P micro receiver, two Hitec HS-50 sub-microservos and a Castle Creations Pixie 7A ESC with BEC. Total weight of the finished Powerhouse - including the battery - ended up at 3.8 ounces. This provides a wing loading of 6.8 ounces per square foot.

Power has proved to be more than enough, so that most flights are at about 1/2 to 3/4 throttle. At full power, the motor run time on the 6-cell 120mAh NiMH battery is around 5 minutes. At reduced throttle, the flight can easily be extended to over 7 minutes..."

Supplementary file notes

Article.

Corrections?

Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)? That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction