Ground Control RC F-22 Mini V3 build log Part 1 - Intro

Hi Everyone -

Welcome to my build log series of the Ground Control RC (GCRC) F-22 Mini V3.😊

Here is some flight video of this little steed in action😎

As I mention in the video, this plane is build with Dollar Tree foam (also known as Adams Readiboard) but could with the necessary adjustments to the slots on the plans be built with just about any foam you have available.  You can see much more information about this awesome little park jet at GCRC's You Tube channel and his Patreon site.  

Here are the basic dimensions of this park jet.

Wingspan - 22"/559 mm Length - 28.75"/730 mm Height - 4.75"/120.7 mm

In the video, my AUW with a 1050 Mah 3S 75C battery is 326 gr/11.5 oz.

Between us to this point, GCRC and I have accumulated well over 200 test flights with this plane with different props, motors, ESCs, batteries, KF (Kline Fogleman) airfoil combinations. Therefore it is a very well tested and evaluated park jet right from the plans through to the finished flying product😊

In the video, my plane is equipped with the following inexpensive components.

Prop - RC Timer 6x3 electric sport prop;

Motor - Racerstar BR2406S 2600 kv motor;

ESC - Turnigy Plush 30A with built in 2A/5V BEC (good for up to 6 servos)

Battery - Tattu 1050 3S 75C; and

Servos - Two (elevons only) GOTECK GS-9018C 9 gr nylon gear servos.

This is a very agile and fast park jet with the current setup and I would say is in the intermediate category, so I would not recommend it as a beginner/trainer park jet.  However, if you check out GCRC's You Tube channel and Patreon site, he has some better options if you are just getting started in the hobby or park jets.😊

Next up, part 2, cutting out the parts.

Cheers,

Scott

#ParkJetnoise
#ParkJetpilot
#GCRCF22MiniV3

Field test of the Racerstar BR2406 2600 kv motor with Gemfan 6045 carbon nylon prop on 3S

Hi Everyone -

I had this little beauty out today field testing the Gemfan 6045 carbon nylon prop as recommended to me by rcplanepirate😀

Today I was running it on the Racerstar BR2406 2600 kv motor which showed incredibly good numbers during bench testing with this prop. 

You can read more details on the bench testing of this motor and a couple others including the park jet workhorse 2212/6 2200 kv motor at this blog post.

Here is the flight video of today's test session.

I am a very happy park jet pilot after seeing that the field test performance lived up to the bench testing or vice versa😉

This prop really wakes this motor up compared to the previous best setup with the 6x4 APC gas prop which I suppose you would expect with a bit of extra pitch, a stiffer prop and slightly different blade design.

This motor with this prop and ESC setup on 3S is now up in the same category of some of the 2700+ kv motors I have been running.  I am very pleased with how it runs and is actually quite efficient when I look at the amp draw compared to some of the 2700+ kv motors.  To get 1070 gr/37.7 oz of thrust at the cost of only 35.3A is a great setup and even though it was quite cool today, I think this motor and prop combo could be run pretty hard even in the hot summer months without issue.

Thanks again to rcplanepirate for the recommendation, please check out his YouTube channel for lots of great testing, educational and flying videos of some seriously fast planes😀

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott

Gemfan 6045 carbon nylon props initial impressions and testing

Hi Everyone -

I received a couple of packs of Gemfan 6045 carbon nylon props in the mail in the last couple days😀  I tested them today on the 2212/6 2200 kv, Racerstar BR2406 2600 kv and RC Timer FR2306 2650 kv motors.  If you want to skip straight to the test numbers, you can go to my motor test spreadsheet.

As these props were designed for quads, they come four to a pack, two of each rotation.  Lots of prop rings including ones that fit on most park jet motor shafts.  Not a bad deal for $3.79 USD.

The props are quite light, it was hard for my less than accurate kitchen scale to get a good result, but I'm sure they weigh about 4 gr each, the same as a 6x4 APC gas prop, so pretty light.  rcplanepirate has already tested some of these on the bench with very good results.  After watching his tests and having a couple discussions with him, I thought I would pick some up to help boost some more power out of the lower Kv (less than 2700) motors I am currently using.  I figured the little bit of extra pitch with a stiff prop should hopefully give more power at lower RPM and hopefully not drive the amp draw up too high.

Please check out RCPP's YouTube channel, tons of great test and educational info.😀

These props are very stiff, even stiffer than the 6x4 APC gas props, but I am a bit concerned they might be a bit brittle, or perhaps this was just one prop.  As I was trying to get a grip on one of the quad racing motors I tested today to tighten the prop nut, I must have pushed against the prop blade a bit too firmly and it broke cleanly almost right at the hub as you can see below.😒

I compared it's length to the 6x4 APC gas prop and it is 3/16" longer as you can see in this picture below.

There is also a bit more prop blade surface area as you can probably see in the picture above and below.

I know it might be hard to see in these following pictures, the blade thickness seems to be a bit thinner on the Gemfan prop and the pitch is not as aggressive at the hub compared to the 6x4 APC.

The prop blade also seems to have a bit more of a curve or "under camber"(?) compared to the 6x4 APC.  Due to the blade shape and it's stiffness, it is certainly as quiet as the 6x4 APC and again while difficult perhaps to see in this pictures, I can definitely see the increase in pitch down the length of the blade.

Test results discussion

The biggest improvement in power with this prop showed up in the 2212/6 2200 kv motor which is the most popular park jet motor around currently and the Racerstar BR2406 2600 kv.  There was a noticeable increase of mid range power with the RC Timer FR2306 2650 kv motor, but not a big increase in top end, although it did break 1000 gr of thrust on the bench with all three motors which always gets my attention😉  I will focus mostly on the 2212 2200  and Racerstar motors for the rest of the discussion.  I have found in field testing that the RC Timer motor doesn't quite have the torque to continue pushing good power to the top of the throttle range compared to the other two.

I tested all the motors with both the Turnigy Plush 40A and Turnigy AE-45A ESCs (links for these are on the spreadsheet linked in the first paragraph).  For the Plush, everything was left at factory default.  For the AE-45 I used different settings depending on the motor based on experience from my previous testing.  Below I am listing what I think would be the best setup for each motor.  Gens Ace 2200 3S 45C batteries were used for all the testing.

2212/6 2200 Kv motor

I found the mid range power to be best with the Plush ESC, not much difference (5 gr) at top end thrust, so I would probably choose the Plush unless I find another custom setting that would work best with the AE-45 and this motor/prop combo.

50% throttle - 11.9A/145.7W producing 540 gr/19 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 32.3A/391.8W producing 1020 gr/36 oz of thrust.

Wow😲  The mid range thrust is about 60 gr more than the best I have seen with any other prop/ESC for about the same amp draw.  At full throttle, it is about 70 gr more than the previous best I have seen, with about 4 more amps drawn, but still under the 34A limit that these motors seem to have.  This is the first time I have seen more than 1000 gr of thrust out of this motor on a 2 blade prop!

Racerstar BR2406 2600 kv motor

I found that the Turnigy AE-45A ESC with custom settings of 22.5 degrees timing and 24 KHz on the PWM (pulse width modulation) frequency works best with this motor, so that is what I used.

50% throttle - 12.6A/154.2W producing 560 gr/19.8 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 35.3A/426.1W producing 1070 gr/37.7 oz of thrust.

Again...WOW😲  Compared to the previous best results I have seen with this motor which is with this ESC with the settings listed above and the 6x4 APC gas prop, it is a 30 gr increase in mid range power for the same amp draw basically (.1A difference) and a 110 gr increase at full throttle for only 1.1 more amps drawn!  If this performance translates to the field with this inexpensive motor, it puts it right up there with the "big boy" quad racing motors I have tested thus far😀

I am very excited to test the GF 6045 prop on the Multistar Viking 2208 2600 kv motor which is the strongest of the sub 2700 kv motors I have tested thus far😉

Of course not to get too excited, but I have run the Racerstar BR2406 2600 kv motor and the Viking motor a lot, so I feel pretty sure they have the torque in the air to keep swinging this prop with authority throughout the throttle range.  But only one way to find out, strap it in a plane and get to the field.😀  I hope to get some initial field test results in the next week weather permitting.

Stay tuned for more bench and field testing with this prop😊

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott

Bench testing Racerstar BR2406 2600 Kv motor with the Turnigy AE-45A ESC - 16 Feb 2018

Hi Everyone -

Now that I have the issue solved with my Racerstar BR2406 2600 Kv motor (you can read more about that at this blog post😳), I decided to run it through some testing with the Turnigy AE-45A ESC.

You can read the full details on my motor test spreadsheet.  By scrolling along the bottom, you will find a tab that says ESC testing using this motor.  I had already run a full series using the Racerstar BR2306 2700 Kv motor, you can find the tab for that motor along the bottom of the spreadsheet as well.

By doing the testing on the BR2306 2700 motor, it gave me some clues where not to bother wasting time testing the BR2406 2600 Kv motor, but I ran the motor on the factory defaults for the Turnigy AE-45A ESC anyway (15 degrees timing, 12 KHz PWM frequency).

So, for discussion, here are some thrust results, starting first with the AE-45 on factory default settings.  Prop used for all testing is the 6x4 APC gas and the battery is the Gens Ace 2200 3S 45C, you can find links for these on the motor spreadsheet.

50% throttle - 11.2A/136.5W producing 465 gr/16.4 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 30.1A/356.1W producing 920 gr/32.5 oz of thrust.

On the spreadsheet, I have highlighted in light green the best settings I would use for each ESC I have tested with this motor.  For discussion here they are, remembering that my Turnigy Plush is V3.1 and Hobby King currently carries V4.2.  I have listed from lowest to highest performance.

Turnigy Plush (timing low, factory default)

50% throttle - 11.5A/141.5W producing 487 gr/17.2 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 29.8A/352.3W producing 935 gr/33 oz of thrust.

HobbyWing Platinum PRO 40A ESC (timing 26.25 degrees/8 KHz PWM frequency)

50% throttle - 12.3A/149.7W producing 508 gr/17.9 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 31.6A/369.5W producing 948 gr/33.4 oz of thrust.

Turnigy AE-45A ESC (timing 22.5 degrees/24 KHz PWM frequency)

50% throttle - 12.7A/155.1W producing 530 gr/18.7 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 34.2A/411.6W producing 960 gr/33.9 oz of thrust.

So looking at all these numbers and factoring efficiency from a standpoint of how much thrust is produced for each amp drawn, they are all pretty much dead equal.  What I have learned and now look for with these smaller quad racing motors is the best and most efficient mid range power.  Due to their smaller size, they may not have the same torque as a bigger, heavier 2212 size motor, but it seems that thus far, the better mid range power makes up for this lack of size somewhat.

I know that the amp draw at the top end climbs considerably for not a whole lot of increase in top end power, but sometimes I think I have to take that as a compromise to have better power at mid range where I spend more than 80% of my time when flying.

What is interesting with both the HobbyWing and AE-45 ESCs is that as soon as I switched from the factory default PWM frequency, the mid range power jumped significantly with varying increases in top end power.  I would be interested to know what type of motor these two ESCs are set up for at the factory.  I suspect maybe helicopters?  I did see something in the comments on the AE-45 that flashing it with BL-heli firmware made it work better?  Not something I will probably try, but interesting to see how experimenting with the different settings can help to optimize the power output of the motor for what you are looking for.

Thus far, I think my workload has already been cut in half if I look to optimize the settings for each motor as factory PWM settings don't seem to be optimized for smaller, higher Kv quad and park jet motors.  It will be interesting to see if there is a natural cutoff between motors less than 2700 Kv and those at 2700 Kv or higher as the optimum settings with the AE-45 for the Racerstar BR2306 2700 Kv motor are different than the BR2406 as you can read in this blog post.

So I will continue to experiment and update the spreadsheet as I go along😊

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott

Racerstar BR2406S 2600 Kv motor - Handle with care :)

Hi Everyone -

I have been a fan of the Racerstar BR2406S 2600 Kv motor since I started experimenting with quad racing motors in park jets.  It is definitely the best motor I have tested under 2700 Kv and probably due to the fact it has the widest stator (24mm) compared to any of the other motors I've tested, it has the most low end torque. 

Plus, it is quite inexpensive for the power it produces, regularly priced at $12.87 USD from Banggood, at the time of writing on sale for $10.56.

So a couple days ago, I was taking it out of a plane to do some more bench testing with a new ESC I got from Hobby King, the Turnigy AE-45A ESC.  I must have pushed a bit too hard on the base of the motor removing the mounting screws as when I tried to spin the motor up on the thrust stand, it was binding😖  I pressed on and did the ESC testing with another motor and then came back to inspect the 2406 motor.

It took me awhile to see what had happened and I forgot to take a picture, but in one spot where I had removed the screw from the "X" mount, I must have pushed against the bottom plate of the motor with either the screw head or the screwdriver.  Where you see the bare metal, this small area was bent up and binding just a bit against the bottom of the bell.

Fortunately, by using a very thin bladed screwdriver and gentle pressure, I managed to bend the bottom plate back flat and the motor runs smooth again.

The outside diameter of the bell is 30mm and from center to center, the standard "X" mount holes are 35mm apart, so a tight tolerance between the mounting hold and the side of the bell.

I think I remember watching a review of this motor or one very similar to it on KababFPV's YouTube channel that the metal used for the bell and base of this motor is quite cheap and I would agree, however, I guess you get what you pay for and thus far the performance of this motor has made up for the cheaper materials.

So just a word of caution if you have one of these motors and are using a standard "X" mount to put it in a park jet or other plane to be aware of how big a screw you use and to be careful not to press against the base plate with the screw or screw driver.😀

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott

40A ESC field test - Turnigy Plush vs HobbyWing Platinum PRO - 06 Feb 2018

Hi Everyone -

I had a bit of a break in the weather today to get this little beauty out to get some comparative field testing done with the Turnigy Plush 40A ESC and the HobbyWing Platinum PRO 40A ESC.😊

Video of today's field testing

Before going too far, I must mention that the Turnigy Plush 40A ESCs I am using were purchased a few years ago, so they are version 3.1.

As you can see from this picture taken from the current Hobby King website, they are now up to version 4.2.

You can see when you compare the two pictures, that the BEC (battery elimination circuit) on my version is 3A/5V and the newer version 4.2 has a 5V/5A BEC.  I don't know if any other upgrades occurred, however if you buy a new one, perhaps your performance will differ from mine.  I guess if I'm still using ESCs that are over three years old with all the flying I do, they must be "Bulletproof"😉😏

Here is a close up of the HobbyWing ESC.

You can read more of my initial impressions and testing of the HobbyWing ESC at this blog post.  For more on the testing process I went through to find the best settings for the motor used in today's field test (Racerstar BR2406 2600 Kv), you can go to this blog post.  If you would rather just see the numbers from the testing straight away, please go my motor spreadsheet, along the bottom you will see a tab called ESC testing.

So details on today's testing as mentioned in the video, motor used is in brackets above, prop is the 6x4 APC gas prop used for all the bench testing.  Battery is the Gens Ace 2200 3S 45C

Settings for the Plush ESC in this test are factory default, timing is low which as you can see on the motor spreadsheet gave the best overall performance in bench testing.

Settings for the HobbyWing ESC in this test are timing set to 26.25 degrees, PWM (pulse width modulation) frequency set to 8KHz.  These have to be programmed as the factory settings are 15 degrees for timing and 12KHz for the PWM frequency.

So for comparison for this blog post, here are the bench test numbers using the 6x4 APC gas prop and Gens Ace battery.

Plush

50% throttle - 11.5A/141.5W producing 487 gr/17.2 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 29.8A/352.3W producing 935 gr/33 oz of thrust.

HobbyWing

50% throttle - 11.9A/146.1W producing 507 gr/17.9 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 32.2A/387.4W producing 940 gr/33.2 oz of thrust.

So you can see by the numbers, there is very little difference in top end thrust and I would agree with that from what I saw at the field today.  However, as I mention in the video, there is a definite and noticeable difference at mid range throttle between 50-75%.  I found at 50% throttle on launch, the plane almost wanted to pull itself out of my hand with the HobbyWing ESC and it definitely flew faster at 60% throttle (my normal setting for just flying around) than with the Plush.

After shooting the video, I managed to get a few more flights in before it started raining using the HobbyWing ESC.  I saw noticeable difference in throttle response again between about 60-75% throttle both up and down.  A couple times when I decreased the throttle it happened so quickly I thought something was wrong with the motor and when hammering the "burners"😎, I did notice a slight improvement in acceleration with the HobbyWing ESC.  Beyond 75% throttle and below 50%, response was pretty much identical for both ESCs.

So far I have not noticed any issues with motor skipping, sagging or surging.  As I mention at the end of the video, with some motors I have tested where I have experimented with changing timing, the motor will run fine for awhile and then respond erratically to throttle inputs or just sag in power without the throttle being touched.  I didn't see any of that today with the HobbyWing ESC, mind you I only got about five flights completed before I had to cut the session short due to rain.

So far so good with the field testing, but I will continue to test with other motors to see if the performance continues to be consistent.😊

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom.

Cheers,

Scott

Initial field testing of the Racerstar BR2406S 2600 Kv motor

Hi Everyone -

Had this Arctic camo beauty out for some action in "Arctic like" conditions today field testing the Racestar BR2406S 2600 Kv motor😊

During today's testing, I was using my standard field test setup - 6x4 APC gas prop, Turnigy Plush 40A ESC and Zippy Flightmax 2200 3S 40C battery.  During the video, I misspoke several times about the price of the motor (getting old is not for the weak😒)  If you click on the link in the first paragraph, I bought mine on Ebay for $13.93 USD, it is currently available on sale at Banggood for $10.49 (regular price of $12.87), so an every better "bang for the buck" than I mentioned at the end of the video😏

I have already written a "first impression" blog post, on this motor, I would disregard my thrust numbers, these will be redone in the future when I get my proper thrust stand, from what I saw at the field, I would estimate the thrust numbers to be much closer to 30 oz/850 gr.

Here is today's flight video 

So as I said in the video, I would compare this motor's performance closest to the Multistar Viking 2208 2600 Kv motor that I tested already.  Now that I have had a chance to think about it more and review my flight video of the Multistar Viking 2208 2600 Kv motor field testing, I would say that the Viking motor has e a bit of an edge at the top end, and this Racerstar motor is a bit better for low end torque.  However, we are not talking huge differences here and it is my interpretation under different flight conditions, etc, so take that for whatever it is worth😏.  I suppose the biggest difference is the price, $12.87 for the Racerstar (at the time of writing on sale for $10.49) as opposed to $28.14 for the Viking motor (although I got my Viking motor on sale for $16.10 thanks to rcplanepirate😎.)

As mentioned in the video, I have read and watched mixed reviews on the Racerstar motors, they are certainly quite inexpensive compared to other motors around, but lots of folks use them and I can see why.  I was very pleased with the performance of this motor today, perhaps even pleasantly surprised, it certainly has a good "power/torque to dollar ratio"😉.  It is also quite a bit more efficient at full throttle than the Viking motor, pulling 26.9A as opposed to 29.5A.  

Don't get me wrong, I like the Viking motor, it is a very good quality motor, the Racerstar BR2406S 2600 from what I saw today might just be a better value.  Will it be as durable as the Viking motor?  Only time will tell, I have heard people say that the "paint" might come off over time and folks have reported seeing corrosion on the inside of the bell over time.  I would certainly feel confident running the Racerstar motor with a slightly lighter 30A ESC regardless of the temperature, whereas I would feel safest running the Viking motor with a 40A ESC.

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott

Racerstar BR2406S 2600 Kv motor initial impressions

Hi Everyone -

I recently received the Racerstar BR2406S 2600 Kv motor in the mail😊  I picked mine up from Ebay which is where the first link will take you for $13.93 USD with free shipping.  I could have purchased it also from Banggood  for $10.49, but I got a bit impatient when it was out of stock and Banggood kept changing the restocking date😒  I have ordered a couple of Racerstar motors to test, the other is the Racerstar BR2306S 2700 Kv motor which is quite inexpensive at $8.99.

One of the main reasons I wanted to try this BR2406 motor is that it has a slightly wider stator at 24mm than any of the other motors on my shopping list.

The motor came with several mounting bolts for mounting on a quad and one prop nut, none of which I will be using for my park jets.  The motor wires are 3" long and like all the other quad racing motors I have tried, it does not come with the "X" mount and hardware, nor the 3.5mm bullet connectors to connect it to my ESC.

It has the 16x19mm bolt pattern on the bottom to accept the standard "X" mount that I use in my park jets.  The magnets look relatively thick, not curved with a bit of space in between.  It spins fairly smoothly by hand, not too "bumpy" because of the space between the magnets although the magnets don't feel terribly strong.  It has a hollow shaft all the way through to keep things light and standard "C" clip holding the shaft on the bottom.

It is a fairly light motor, with the hardware, connectors and prop, it weighs 48 gr/1.7 oz.

The bench test numbers with the 6x4 APC gas prop aren't terribly exciting, but here they are.  Test conducted with a Turnigy Plush 60A ESC and Zippy Flightmax 2200 3S 40C battery.

50% throttle - 11.4A/139.1W producing 410 gr/14.5 oz of thrust;

100% throttle - 26.9A/310.9W producing 734 gr/25.9 oz of thrust.

For more details and to be able to compare it to the bench results of other quad racing motors I have tested, you can go to my motor test spreadsheet.  The quad racing motors have their own tab which you can find scrolling along the bottom of the spreadsheet.

I hope to get if field tested soon when I get a decent weather window.

In my research, the Racerstar motors get mixed reviews, but often I heard the comment, "for the price, they are a pretty decent motor", so I will see how they make out at the field and over time.  

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott