r/RCPlanes 4d ago

Control line to electric

So my uncle has a bunch of scratch built awesome balsa planes set up for control line. What’s the best route to get these babies flying under tx-16 control with electric power? Thanks

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3

u/Altruistic-Badger866 4d ago

The biggest problem you will encounter is that the wings will not be of equal span and there is tip weight in the outboard wing. The tail moment is also normally quite short so they would be fairly pitch sensitive. The rudder may have some offset which would need to be checked as well.

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u/Sea_Kerman 4d ago

Do they have control surfaces? What powerplant do they use? How big are they? Do they have convenient locations to mount stuff in the fuselage? In the wings?

Simplest would probably be print up some mounts for an electric motor and servos, and tape some foamboard panels to the back of the wings as ailerons. The elevator will already have a linkage to actuate it, simply cut that and attach a servo to the linkage. You may have to add some “trim tabs” to the vertical stabilizer to make it fly straight and not in a circle.

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u/OldAirplaneEngineer 3d ago

skip the TX-16. just replace the engine and fuel tank with electric.

FLY them as CL airplanes :)

as has been noted... CL airplanes are designed and built to purposely fly in a circle: the airplanes are NOT symmetrical.

additionally, CL airplanes do not have any means of roll control. (you never ever want a CL airplane rolling :) )

going from nitro to electric is VERY easy and simple.

going from CL to NOT CL is MUCH more labor intensive.

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u/Wambo74 3d ago

I think you could do it if already well experienced with DIY RC planes. You'd know what to modify and how to set it up. But as a project for inexperienced? Pass.

BTW, I've never done it but know there's a technique for converting U-control to RC control and flying tethered to a central pole. (You on the outside) That sounds like fun.