Hi boy electric conversion

[DAVID TAYLOR 19]

Hi guys. I wonder if you can help. I have just got hold of a part built precedent hi boy. I would like to convert it to electric. Any help on battery, esc, prop, etc. Would be most appreciated.

[kc]

Welcome to the forum David.

Nobody else has answered yet!    21 hours for a reply is a bit slow for this forum!

I have never owned a Hiboy but they were once a popular and very good trainer - but could work out a bit heavy depending on what covering used. So assuming you can build to less than 5 pounds ( 4.5 would be better ) then a 500 watt setup would work OK.

I am using a 500 watt setup in a different model but it would work OK for a Hiboy - a Turnigy 3536/9 910kv motor, with 4S 3000 Lipo and 11by 5.5 APC style prop. 40 amp ESC ( 60 amp might be better) Gives 500 watts and good for about 6 minutes of flying. A larger capacity 4S lipo would give longer flights, so consider a 4S 4500 Lipo. Bigger Lipo might help with CG too. Of course you need 3 or more Lipos for a decent flying session.

Let us know whether the model has been covered /painted yet.

I would expect you might need to extend the nose abit to get the model to balance without using lead. Maybe somebody else has already electrified a hiboy and will advise further.

Edited By kc on 26/01/2020 16:39:21

Edited By kc on 26/01/2020 16:51:02

[DAVID TAYLOR 19]

Thanks for the reply. Having learned to fly on the IC version, which I still own, I totally agree with your suggestions. After doing some research this morning. My conclusion on motor, battery, etc are very similar to yours. I will endeavour to keep you posted on my progress with this project. Again thank you for your advice.

[Nigel R]

Hi David

I think the 3536 are right on their limit around 400w. For 500W or more I would go with a slightly larger motor (3548/900kv) together with 4S 5000mAh lipo as a "40 equivalent" myself. An 11x6 on that comes in around 500W, just as per kc's suggestion.

[kc]

Nigel may well be right about the Turnigy 3536/9 but mine has just done 1778 flights so far and is still going well...... Both that and the preferred 3548/ 900kv seem to have gone out of stock at HobbyKing recently so it may be necessary to choose an alternative.

It was common to cover the HiBoy in SolarTex years ago but now that's not easily obtainable and the alternative is very dear. Many people use HobbyKing film instead of Solarfilm or Solartex and it might be advisable to recover the taill parts in this lighter weight film especially for electric motors.