FT Spitfire and Mustang - motor question

brinco

Junior Member
Hi! I'm new to the hobby and been flying a FT Spitfire and now a FT Mustang. Both seem just a bit underpowered with the NTM 2826 1200kv motor... Running a 3s 2200mah and 9x6E prop. I really want a little more punch so I want to upgrade but I don't have a idea what to look for. I've come across the Turnigy Park480 1320kv but I'm not sure if it will be more powerful. PLEASE HELP :(
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
I'm assuming you mean underpowered in thrust and not speed. I've seen people use a 10x 4.5 prop on those motors, but test the amp draw to make sure you aren't going to release any smoke. Won't go faster but will have more thrust.
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
How fast do you wanna go? I run the NTM 35-36 1800kv with an 8x8 prop and push 100mph.

I can suggest a motor based on what you wanna do. Let me know.
 

brinco

Junior Member
I briefly used a 10x5 prop on the Mustang but I didn't have nearly enough thrust to climb vertically like Josh at the end of the build video with a 9x6 prop... So maybe my plane is a bit heavier or something but I can't think it is that much. Possibly my motor is bad, but if I'm going to get a new one I might just as well get something a bit more powerful as it takes about a month for the parts to get here to SA from HobbyKing.
 

brinco

Junior Member
I want to be able to climb vertically. That will give me the confidence that I can get out of bad situations as I'm still a beginner :D So as xuzme720 said I want more thrust than speed but you can always throttle down a bit so I guess speed is not really a bad thing?
 

brinco

Junior Member
I had a look and that motor looks like it would do the job, but how will that effect my flight time? If it will really eat my battery, is there something a bit smaller you would suggest? I know this will probably be a whole other discussion but is NTM preferable over Turnigy? Or why specifically that motor?

Sorry for the questions I just want to understand... Google is not really my friend here. And I'm planning to build a Flying Penguin RC F6F Hellcat, will this motor be suitable for that too? Thanks for the quick responses!!!
 

MT Alex

Senior Member
I'm in the same boat as brinco, same motor, prop and batteries. I really wanted to try out a Suppo or Emax motor as opposed to the NTMs I always use, but none of them seem to draw as many watts as the 35-30 linked. Any ideas?
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
NTM is just the best price for the amount of motor you get. Other motors will work great but I like NTM for the overall value, plus I've been very happy with the quality.

Your battery life will be cut down. If you got 10 minutes before, expect 6 now.

The linked motor will work with the hellcat very nicely. Really any plane in the 1000-1300mm range would fly fine with that motor.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions.
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
Thanks a bunch! That's the Suppo I was looking at, but the different numbering scheme had me confused. Now that I looked at it again from your link I noticed the 35-36 in parentheses. I'm looking forward to trying this out.

Heh, yeah it can be confusing. The NTM motors are named based on can diameter and height. Then you have stuff like park equivalent, etc. A good thing to look at is weight and watt limit. This will give you a good ball park now that you have a reference point. One rule is that 3w per 1g of motor is 'safe' performance for the motor. 5w to 1g is a motor that's going to squeeze every ounce out.

Also, lower KV generally means you can use a bigger prop (more thrust) and higher KV means smaller prop but potentially higher top speed.

Hope this helps!
 

MT Alex

Senior Member
Heh, yeah it can be confusing. The NTM motors are named based on can diameter and height. Then you have stuff like park equivalent, etc. A good thing to look at is weight and watt limit. This will give you a good ball park now that you have a reference point. One rule is that 3w per 1g of motor is 'safe' performance for the motor. 5w to 1g is a motor that's going to squeeze every ounce out.
Hope this helps!

Sure does, thanks. I know that the NTMs go on diameter, so I assumed the Suppo 2814/6 was also a 28mm diameter. I'm guessing the 14 is the amount of poles, and the 6 is the wraps, but I have no idea about the 28. The Park equivalent seems very odd for those of us who never spent the time or money to fly E-Flite planes. Anyhow, I hate to further hijack this thread. :)
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
One thing to keep in mind, once you break the 350w range you're leaving the safe speed/Gs that FliteTest designed their birds for. To keep everything happy you'll need to add a real spar. CF or aluminum works great but if you've already built your plane you can use a wood dowel and slide it in the wing tip opening. Use a small enough diam that it will push all the way through to the other end.

I broke my first Spitfire's wing with that Suppo motor and learned the hard way that you need a spar.

Good luck :)
 

brinco

Junior Member
Thank you so much!! I will definitely be getting one of those motors. Would you still prefer the NTM over the Suppo? I see you've had both. But I think HobbyKing's international shipping would be cheaper to South Africa but I'll check out Altitude Hobbies also.

The FT guys always say good things about the forums on the podcast and now I know it's true! Thanks!