Advice on electronics for simple glider first project

[MicahM]

I am building a simple glider out of one of those cheap foam airplanes as a first project. My current plan is to connect a small battery (maybe using one from a tiny toy drone I had that broke) to a receiver and just run the elevator and aileron servos off that. However just poking around online I've seen that you're supposed to run a battery through an esc and to the receiver to power control surfaces. Would my current plan work, or do I need a big battery and something more complicated? Any advice appreciated.

 

[quorneng]

Provided your battery is near to 5V (4x1.2V or 5x1.2V Alkaline) you can connect it direct to the receiver The battery has to have sufficient capacity (say 1000mAh) to run the servos for the duration of the flight (the receiver itself takes little power).

If you want to power your glider the battery has to be be much more capable, likely a 2 or 3 cell LiPo which must not be directly connected to the receiver. The motor requires an Electronic Speed Controller (ESC). For convenience most ESC have a separate 'regulated' 5V power supply (Battery Eliminator Circuit or BEC) which you can safely connect the receiver with its servo so using the big motor battery for everything.
I have done several cheap foam RC conversions.

 

[MicahM]

Thank you! I was thinking about motorizing it after I get it working in the glider configuration. The plane I'm using is smallish, 1.5 ft wingspan, so would you recommend scratch building a larger plane if I were to want a motorized one?

 

[Shurik-1960]

It flies great. Children 6-8 years old, I cut and glue in half a day. With the 2205 engine, it flies fast and just walks through the sky. 2 servos : for ailerons + elevator. 1 the glider just flew away when thrown down the hill - it rose on a thermal and ...