. . . anti social nature of ic activity . . . ?

[Clifford Stone]

Well as a follow on to my thread 'Not as I remember' . . . I have had time to think . . . the main thing that struck me was a lack of atmosphere, or should I say, it was not the same as it was 20+ years ago, this we have already established in the previous thread.

Talking to a friend on the phone this morning . . . who was competing this year, he mentioned something that probably is a factor. Noise, very reduced motor noise . . . aparently the arobatic flight line was 100% electric this year, helicopters were heavily towards leccy, fun fly, seemed quiet, so perhads that has a leaning the same way? Another friend who I have not seen for 20 years, I learned today, now flies 'electric scale' . . . ?

The model airshow which was a the opposite end of the airfield had plenty of ic and jets I recall. My friend who is in the trade believes that two or three years down the line, model flying will almost exclusivly be electric? What with the cost of glow fuel, and the percieved anti social nature of ic activity . . . ?

I think he might be a bit previous, may be five years? Oil, noise and smoke will be tolerated where flying sites are out in the back of beyond, we have an old air field in our area, concreat runway etc., no grass. The club that runs it is poular with the ic modeler. Price and avaliability of ic motors as demand reduces, manufacturing cost go up may have a bearing in the future?

Just a though . . . CJS

[Phill @ Elite Workwear UK]

Hi,

Couldn't agree more - I find myself leaning more toward electric flight although I get an odd feeling when I think about it.

Noise for me and my flying sites isn't a problem however the sheer speed and the smaller amount of field kit needed for electric flight is undeniable.

I love the sound of a burbling laser 70 and the growl of a nicely engineered twin.

I think electric will overtake IC in popularity but I think there will always be someone who wants to make some noise and savour the smell of burning castor. I for one will be mixing both but will never completely go electric.... I may be stubborn but things just wouldn't be the same.

P

Edited By David Ashby - RCME on 31/08/2012 15:54:32

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I think the future is how Phil sees it - mixed. Three years ago - outside of the local sports hall, I wouldn't have been seen dead with an electric powered model! But now half my hangar is electric!

How has this happened? Well once I built one - just a 3s 2200 powered little jobbie - the enormous particular advantages of electric became incresingly apparent. I could bung the model in the boot of the car with a couple of batteries and a Tx and fly absolutely anytime I wanted. No field box, no fuel, no "leaks" in the car. It was great.

Now as I say I'm probably 50:50. Currently I'm putting twin together - again not impossible with ic - but a lot easier and more reliable with electric. I doubt very much I'll ever stop using IC. Of the three models "on the bench" at present one is electric and two are ic - so ic is with me for the foreseeable future. I love the sound, the smell and all the fiddling about.

But there's no getting away from it - electric has its own advantages. So I'm happy to do both, and I think and incresing number of modellers will be doing likewise. Afterall, where exactly is it written down that you have to belong to only one camp?

BEB

[Alan Cantwell]

i think there will be more and more of a turn to lekky, but, as with four strokes when they came out, they where quiet, now, not so, some of the bigger ones, and the racy ones, are downright noisy, i have also noticed lekky getting noisier, as motors are developed, the power will increase, as batteries develop bigger, more apm drawing mega motors will appear, and the noise will increase, but will lekky ever take over? well, not with me, not with a lot of my mates, and not in the models shops either,

[Greybeard]

I doubt that I.C. powered flight will ever completely disappear, just as some people still use film and print their pictures in a darkroom, but following the same line of thought I am quite confident that battery power will come to dominate our hobby just as digital photography has, and for similar reasons. As a returnee I have had to make a decision on which power source to adopt, my heart said 4 stroke but was overruled by my brain.

[Phil 9]

larger models all seem to be pertrol. I think more model shops will become internet based that means less and less shops near to where you live. this makes glow fuel more difficult to buy thus making glow models less popular.

but I still think you cant beat a good 4 stroke engine. I dont think I will ever buy another 2 stroke glow motor using electric in smaller sport models.

[ken anderson.]

like the song by Bob Dylan...the times they are a changing....who would have thought-not so long ago that now we would be discarding ic engines in favour of electric one's ..... the future is impossible to predict.....

ken anderson ne.1. future dept.....

[Concorde Speedbird]

There have been a few threads like this before, the last was closed by moderators because of the arguments.

Electric will not replace IC, I'm sure of that. Petrol dominates big planes, and I think it will carry on that way, big electric motors are very expensive and complicated to set up.

For glow, still safe, especially four strokes. For your scale masterpiece, for me IC is the only option. People say that electric is plug in and fly, well if you have a 1/4 scale WW1 bipe, that takes 15 minutes to rig anyway, the practicalities of electric are muted.

IC is part of the hobby, and in my opinion, not having at least an IC plane or two is not making the most of the hobby, I have an electric plane, enjoy it so having both is getting the best of both worlds, like BEB has. I prefer IC, much simpler (no watts, amps, 'C' ratings and if you put the wrong prop on it'll be fine, not burn out the esc) and more satisfying for me, just what I have found.

And who will admit that an electric motor is prettier than this?

CS (Please don't hate me leccy flyers!)

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

I wanted to write something on this topic but Mr BEB just said everything I meant to say.

I have to be honest.....I like it when I can takeoff (leccy) directly from the trunk...with no preparation..refueling etc...I'm older person ....

Please tell me whether leccy or lekky ?

Thanks in advance

Joe

[Peter Miller]

I would like to have read the earlier comments but as usual they have been hidden under the adverts on the right.

I wonder will they ever get that sorted...

I don't even have to waste time commenting on the subject of the thread.

[Concorde Speedbird]

That's odd, it is fine for me.

CS

[..]

Due to my main club loosing a site and the availability of a new club closer to home I have ended up with two electric powered planes this year.

I enjoy the fun of the foamy but in all honesty my heart is heavily on the IC side of the fence.

I find the whole electric thing OK for getting a flight in but in my opinion its rather soulless, OK some/many would argue with that statement but that's my feeling.

Whilst chatting about the subject to a flying buddy last weekend I said if I could not fly IC anywhere I would give up. Not sure if I would but I really do hope I never have to find out.

J

[Ben B]

IC flying is very anti-social.

I mean when I fly my IC planes I just turn up at the field with a big bottle of glow fuel and fly,refuel,fly,refuel etc until the sky goes dark and I go home happy. Hardly have time to talk to anyone.

With 'leccy flight unless you own more lipos than hobbyking you tend to spend quite a lot of time standing around talking whilst batteries charge

[Flite08]

The two flying sites available to me will only except electrics so I am now totally converted, dont really miss ic these days

[WolstonFlyer]

Sorry this is off thread. Mods please delete if you want.

Peter, you don't happen to be using Internet Explorer 6 or version 7 do you? Or have a very small screen resolution like 800x600

The adverts don't go over any of the text in this forum thread in the browsers I have access to use at work or at home.

Internet Explorer 9
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox

[Alan Cantwell]

LITTLE BUTTON, TOP OFF PAGE, SIDE OF THE REFRESH BUTTON, PRESS THAT, AND ALL WILL BE REVEALED, sometimes, it doesnt work though, it adjusts the compativity view--whatever the hell that is

[..]

Posted by Ben B on 31/08/2012 18:40:26:

IC flying is very anti-social.

I mean when I fly my IC planes I just turn up at the field with a big bottle of glow fuel and fly,refuel,fly,refuel etc until the sky goes dark and I go home happy. Hardly have time to talk to anyone.

With 'leccy flight unless you own more lipos than hobbyking you tend to spend quite a lot of time standing around talking whilst batteries charge

I like your sentiment

[Clifford Stone]

I've been designing and building balsa planes for over 50 years . . . you should haseen those first efforts Turned to RC in 1969, had a total breake since 1996. Back this year with leccy, I miss the ic, of course I do. What I dont miss is the oil and noise (of some types) the smell, repairing oil soaked models . . . I have got older and wiser, I think.

Foam ready builts, not for me, I'll fly them, might even buy one as a last resort but they have no soul IMHO . . . its not modeling.

One accepts the need to change, personaly and socialy. I am putting my big toe back into the pylon sceen from whence I came, but electric only. Fast . . . faster than their ic counterparts, all the adrenaling, non of the agrovation the way I see it, although they break just the same when they hit the ground hard!!!!

I can fly my leccy 'Wot 4 woody' on the local council provided and maintaind site anytime I want. The woody has issues? . . . only if you want to 'plug and fly', as a modler, I worked at it and sorted it, I now have no issues with my woody. The biggest issue was, is me, I'm having to learn new skills, its tough but I'm getting there.

By the way Justin, surly a bit of chat is a good thing, watch other progress . . . thats a bit like going to a bar and drinking continusly, or chain smoking, 'its for the sake of it rather than the pleasure?'

. . . moving with the times . . . CJS

Edited By Clifford Stone on 31/08/2012 19:29:28

[John Privett]

Posted by Alan Cantwell on 31/08/2012 19:05:00:

LITTLE BUTTON, TOP OFF PAGE, SIDE OF THE REFRESH BUTTON, PRESS THAT, AND ALL WILL BE REVEALED, sometimes, it doesnt work though, it adjusts the compativity view--whatever the hell that is

That will be the "compatability mode" Alan. Earlier versions of IE had a few "bad habits" Well, quite a lot really, and some websites were written to display correctly on those versions of IE rather than adhering to the proper, documented standards. Understandable really, given that IE used to be by far the dominant browser, despite being about the least standards-compliant one out there!

Anyway, nowadays IE is somewhat better behaved and more standards-compliant, but now some sites that were written to cope with the quirks of the older IE browsers don't always display properly on the newer versions of IE - hence the compatability mode which lets IE8 (and I think 9) behave (or misbehave!) like IE7.

Having said all that, I doubt that's the problem here.

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

The compatibility button certainly helps many people with the "thread under the ads" problem on this site.

[John Muir]

I just had the same problem as Peter and pressed the 'compatability' button, and it worked! Marvelous!

I've got three electric models now, but I admit to feeling vaguely guilty when I fly them. Just seems a bit too easy somehow. It's always more of a challenge to get an engine to run for an entire flight I suppose, but more rewarding. It's more of an all-round experience, flying i.c., electric lacks the aural, olfactory and tactile stimulation you get from an engine (and some other things too).

Still, electric is the way it's heading, not just for us, but for cars and full size aircraft too. The world will soon be a silent and sterile place except for the odd beepy, whoop-whoop noises that electric cars are going to be forced to make to stop people being snuck up on and run over.

[Concorde Speedbird]

So what's your view Chris as a Leccy flier?

CS

[Allan Bennett]

I'm glad I read this thread ... the compatibility button has cured it for me (using IE8).

Now, what was the original post about? Oh yes, I converted my first model, a Magnatilla, to electric 8 or 9 years ago, and haven't looked back since. Now all my models are electric, including a Chris Foss Xtra Wot which previously had a very loud OS120FS in it.

One of our club's two sites is for "silent" models only, which precludes even some electrics, and I can see with the pressure of housing development our other site may go that way one day -- despite the fact we've been there for about 30 years.

But I'm still happy to see, and help with, glow models brought by beginners to our site, provided I don't have to clean them after flying

[Erfolg]

I was extremely surprised to read that approx. 50% of BEB's squadron is electric. It seems like yesterday that BEB was totally IC.

For me this says a lot, BEB being a simile for the majority of thinking modellers. It tells me that the percentage of electric powered models will continue to grow for some time.

I totally agree with a lot of the sentiments and imagery used by other contributors. It reminds me of something my farther said to me, When I started work, it was the steam age, trains, ships, power stations, all dominated by coal. Now it is the age of electricity. No it is not, I said, what about cars and trains and ships. Hmmm, was the reply, I suspect trains will be electric powered in time and possibly cars. Of course there will always be steam, in niches. No more factories full of boiler makers though. The times area a changing as was noted.

It is very difficult for those totally committed to IC to acknowledge that the electric model is quieter. Probably as much as 75% of noise is from the exhaust gases from an IC engine.

The other major advantage that BEB noted was you can throw the model on the back seat of the car, and you arrive at the field with no heavy weight field box.

By the way, I cannot part with my IC engines, diesels and glo, to much sentimental attachment. I do sometimes dream of an IC model though. Then reality slinks in.

[Dave Bran]

What's IE, I assume its as old fashioned and out of date as IC??

(Could not resist!!!)