Alan Hodgson 1

Thanks again guys. The prop saver may well be a simple solution (though it's the airframe I'm concerned about saving, not the prop or the engine mount) 😁

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The foamies I flew were indeed pushers, it's a very forgiving layout for a trainer. Obviously not going to work for my Mam'selle - maybe instead I could reverse the polarity on the motor and fly it as a canard 😉 More seriously Chris there may be something in your suggestion around using nylon bolts , perhaps to retain the motor block. With the low power motor I'll be using small diameter nylon bolts would be strong enough to hold it firmly in place but would hopefully shear on impact. Joe, I can see the merits of your 'coffin' proposal and will have a think if I can make it work on the Mam'selle Cheers Alan

Hi all I'm building a Vic Smeed Mam'selle and intend to use a small outrunner electric motor. I've only recently returned to the hobby and this is my first attempt at building a vintage design with an electric motor (my last "vintage" was a Veron Cardinal in the 1970s with a DC Merlin ). I gather quite a few people have done this before but have been unable to find any pictures of how the motor was mounted. It seems to me that I'll have to remove the engine bearers to make space for the battery directly behind the engine former/bulkhead. I'm concerned that if so do this and still mount the motor on the bulkhead using the usual mounting box arrangement, then on the first heavy landing the bulkhead will snap off as it would now only be supported by the 1/8 by 3/8 balsa fuselage crutch and 1/8 by 1/8 balsa stringers. I could possibly move the engine bearers to allow space for the battery so that the bulkhead has additional support. I'm just concerned that this might simply result in crash damage being transmitted further into the fuselage, making it harder to repair. I realise that the answer to this may be that I shouldn't crash the plane ! However I've been flying a couple of foamies for the last year or so and guess have got used to their ability to bounce, or at least that they allow you to easily stick back together any bits that are knocked off. With the latter in mind I have toyed with the idea of using a lump of foam to create the motor box in the hope that this would absorb minor impacts without damaging the rest of the fuselage. I am concerned though that it would distort (especially after a few bumpy landings) so altering the motor thrust lines. All thoughts/suggestions welcomed Cheers Alan