Quaker Electric Conversion

[rockyboy]

At out last club auction I picked up a beautiful 82" Quaker that I think was built from the 1975 Dave Mathis version of the original 1936 Quaker free flight design (lot of date dropping in there). Link to the Outerzone plans over here: https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2982

And here she is in storage mode hanging from the ceiling

She was a slimer, but I traded the nitro motor for this little electric swinging a 10x6 before I even left the auction It's a CCW with a built-in ESC and so far research is showing this model isn't reversible - thus the pusher prop. I'll switch that for a wooden pusher prop for this plane.



So let's figure out how to electrify this! Since I pulled off the heavy wet fuel motor, I want to get the battery & new motor as far forward as possible so I can reduce ballast needed. I'm thinking a 3s2200 will fit nicely up against the firewall, with a new "sled" to hold the brushless bolted into the existing rails.

A little bit of TLAR and some scrap plywood got epoxied together into a new motor mount.

Next up the sled will get painted black to be classy, and we'll install all the bits and see how it looks and balances.

 

[TooJung2Die]

The Quaker is a beautiful airplane. Can't wait to see video of this flying. Is the bottom of the wings and horizontal stab opaque film?

 

[Zetoyoc]

I love it. That looks like it will make for some nice lazy Sunday flying.

-J

 

[rockyboy]

The Quaker is a beautiful airplane. Can't wait to see video of this flying. Is the bottom of the wings and horizontal stab opaque film?

Yes - I hadn't seen this done before, but the blue horizontal surfaces have an opaque white on their bottom sides. Sure makes her pretty on the ground - will be interesting to see how it looks in the sky.

Motor mount sled painted & installed now.

Looks pretty good! The Quaker does have a funny nose design that really shows off a wet fuel engine.... if I were building from scratch for electric I'd take a different approach

Here's a close up of the battery installation. My 3s2200 and 4s1800's slide in for a friction fit, but I'm going to wrap a rubber band around there before going up in the air to make sure the battery stays in place. I also snuck in an ounce of lead weights in the nose to get her back close to the weight and balance when I got her. Will do a final balance check assembled at the field - might need to add some more...

So this makes two electric conversion projects completed this week - hope the weekend forecast clears up so I can get out to fly!

 

[speedbirdted]

I would have left the engine on it, but that's just me What did it come with? A 30-40 4 stroke would probably fit it perfect. These types of airplanes don't need hardly any power.

I like the method you chose for converting it to electric. It's very easily reversible back to being able to accept an engine. The times I've upgraded planes like this to electric there was always major butchering of the front end which I ended up regretting later.

 

[OliverW]

Yes - I hadn't seen this done before, but the blue horizontal surfaces have an opaque white on their bottom sides. Sure makes her pretty on the ground - will be interesting to see how it looks in the sky.

Motor mount sled painted & installed now.

View attachment 181836

Looks pretty good! The Quaker does have a funny nose design that really shows off a wet fuel engine.... if I were building from scratch for electric I'd take a different approach

View attachment 181837

Here's a close up of the battery installation. My 3s2200 and 4s1800's slide in for a friction fit, but I'm going to wrap a rubber band around there before going up in the air to make sure the battery stays in place. I also snuck in an ounce of lead weights in the nose to get her back close to the weight and balance when I got her. Will do a final balance check assembled at the field - might need to add some more...
View attachment 181835

So this makes two electric conversion projects completed this week - hope the weekend forecast clears up so I can get out to fly!

You're making me want a quaker badly. Its on my build list. Maybe I'll buy a quaker project if I can ever find one lol

 

[rockyboy]

I would have left the engine on it, but that's just me What did it come with? A 30-40 4 stroke would probably fit it perfect. These types of airplanes don't need hardly any power.

I like the method you chose for converting it to electric. It's very easily reversible back to being able to accept an engine. The times I've upgraded planes like this to electric there was always major butchering of the front end which I ended up regretting later.

I'm not sure of the engine that was on it - wasn't a four stroke, but I don't remember much else about it. But avoiding getting any fuel smell in the family SUV I use to carry my planes to the field is a compromise I make to stay in the hobby (and not lose half the house). So electric I stay

You're making me want a quaker badly. Its on my build list. Maybe I'll buy a quaker project if I can ever find one lol

Certainly should! But I don't know if I can picture you flying anything that won't pull into a 3D hover over the runway centerline.... ?

 

[OliverW]

I'm not sure of the engine that was on it - wasn't a four stroke, but I don't remember much else about it. But avoiding getting any fuel smell in the family SUV I use to carry my planes to the field is a compromise I make to stay in the hobby (and not lose half the house). So electric I stay



Certainly should! But I don't know if I can picture you flying anything that won't pull into a 3D hover over the runway centerline.... ?

😂😂😂 You're mind is gonna be blown when I finish up my F-16 then hahahaha

 

[rockyboy]

😂😂😂 You're mind is gonna be blown when I finish up my F-16 then hahahaha

I've seen those hovering turbine and EDF powered Rafale & Mig 29's all over youtube!

 

[OliverW]

I've seen those hovering turbine and EDF powered Rafale & Mig 29's all over youtube!

Ok well you've got me there haha. I doubt I'll be able to get my little bobber to hover or my phaeton II crop duster that I'm building

 

[kpixels]

Sure is a beautiful plane, what a great find!
I stashed an old 38" Cox Lazy Bee (styrofoam) in my attic 20 or 30 years ago, naively thinking at the time that I would convert it to electric. Once I looked in to it, back then, it wasn't very practical but I kept it anyway. I'd had the similar problem from wife with the smell is the only reason I never got into gasers.
Your post reminded me that I had this thing and then realized that I probably already have everything I need to convert it. I noticed you are only using a 900KV for your conversion for 82". I have some 920KV/2212 motors and 30A ESCs but was thinking that would be too small. Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[rockyboy]

Sure is a beautiful plane, what a great find!
I stashed an old 38" Cox Lazy Bee (styrofoam) in my attic 20 or 30 years ago, naively thinking at the time that I would convert it to electric. Once I looked in to it, back then, it wasn't very practical but I kept it anyway. I'd had the similar problem from wife with the smell is the only reason I never got into gasers.
Your post reminded me that I had this thing and then realized that I probably already have everything I need to convert it. I noticed you are only using a 900KV for your conversion for 82". I have some 920KV/2212 motors and 30A ESCs but was thinking that would be too small. Any suggestions much appreciated.

A friend in my local club has a 54" sized Quaker and says his was way over powered with an 80% thrust to weight ratio. This thing has so much lift and such a long glide slope that it shouldn't need much "oopmh" to get it up in the air!

 

[rockyboy]

With a 4s battery she flew - very sensitive to air currents though, and difficult to handle at the flying site on top of the hill.

 

[TooJung2Die]

She's not tail heavy, she's extra sensitive in the vertical axis! 😜

 

[rockyboy]

She's not tail heavy, she's extra sensitive in the vertical axis! 😜

That's the truth!

At one point on my third flight with her, I was mebby 40 feet up (only 1 mistake high) coming towards the base leg of a landing setup when with no changes to my stick inputs she dropped like a rock for about half that distance with a dip in the wing and nose too. Barely recovered, and had a rather bumpy landing. I suspect since she flys so slowly in general, she was hit by a tail wind gust that killed all the lift. I'm looking forward to flying her again - but not at the field on the hill and without the 10-12mph winds.

 

[TooJung2Die]

she dropped like a rock for about half that distance with a dip in the wing and nose too

That's sounds almost exactly how the Pietenpol I restored flew! It should've been very stable with it's big high wing and low center of gravity. It had a beautiful glide but for no apparent reason it would seem to just drop out of the sky unexpectedly. Never figured it out. I chalked it up to it being cursed and gave it away. 😁

 

[Monte.C]

She was a slimer...

"She was a slimer..." Oh no! I never heard that term used.
That sure is a good looking plane. One of its best features is its use of transparent film.

 

[rockyboy]

That's sounds almost exactly how the Pietenpol I restored flew! It should've been very stable with it's big high wing and low center of gravity. It had a beautiful glide but for no apparent reason it would seem to just drop out of the sky unexpectedly. Never figured it out. I chalked it up to it being cursed and gave it away. 😁

It's certainly not the performance behavior we're planning for with these planes I'm going to give her a couple more tries before throwing in the towel though.

As I was putting her back up in storage, I noticed some cracking at the landing gear and peeled back the covering for a quick repair.

All fixed now. Sometimes it's possible to avoid replacing a chunk of covering by carefully peeling it back and ironing it back down. If the covering doesn't want to stick, using Balsarite or Sig Stix-it heat activated coating on the balsa will give it renewed holding power.

 

[speedbirdted]

I had similar CG issues when I converted the King Burd to electric power. I have a feeling a lot of these old timers will have CG problems when converted as such due to being originally designed with heavy gas engines in mind, hence the short noses. After it was damaged in a crash I opted to extend the motor about 4" forward but it still needed 2 ounces lead in the nose plus a pretty hefty battery to maintain CG.

 

[rockyboy]

Sharp looking Burd!

Yeah, extended noses help a lot with the old designs.

Maybe I should put one of these on it....