What is everyone's opinion of the new FT radial motor?

sms021

New member
First off, I'm totally new to all this so take this as you will.

I picked up a few at FF Texas and over thanksgiving my wife and I made hovercraft's based on Peter's video. I put the small FT motors in mine, and some of the Emax branded ones in my wife's. Mine was crazy fast compared to hers. Took it down to the local hobby shop and they said it was just a better motor and suggested a couple larger ones for my wife to bring it up to the same speed.

Personally i like them. Here's a link to the video of us "Racing", if you can call it that, and to the hovercraft build if your interested.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
A lot of win here if you ask me, maybe double the price but you get what you pay for. Also keep in mind the motors a lot of people buy from China and the slow boat will soon see a drastic increase of shipping fees.

That might not make a difference if the things are still being made in China. Apple's a U.S. company, but their phones and computers are made in Shenzen, China. There's higher fees to ship it over here. Same with a lot of board games; they're up 15-30% in prices this year because of shipping out of China and Hong Kong. It's the unfortunate truth.
 

Grifflyer

WWII fanatic
I think they look great, but I'm unable to find the C pack sized motor that I need, because my old one bit the dust (broken bearing I believe) I asked about the 2218 motor in the article but haven't gotten a reply as of yet. And the warranty on them looks amazing!!
 
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AkimboGlueGuns

Biplane Guy
Mentor
What do you mean by "radial motor?" If you mean that the outside spins around the inside, that's because it's a brushless motor and they are more efficient. No brushes to wear out, there are lots of little magnets that make it work. Pretty ingenious, really. They seem to weigh a lot less, too.

Just to add some clarification, a rotary engine has the main mass of the engine rotating around a central shaft, commonly used on WW1 aircraft like the Fokker Dr.1. The radial engine was much more common in WWII and looks very similar to the earlier rotary (look at a gnome rotary compared to a P&W R-985.) A radial simply has the cylinders in a circular arrangement and drive a central shaft. This cuts down on extra torque which made WW1 aircraft very difficult to fly.

On the topic of the new motors, I got a chance to play with some pre-production versions about 9 months ago and I was blown away. They're awesome quality motors and put out a lot more power than their E-maxx equivalents for not a ton more. The lifetime warranty is awesome too, it will be great to have a motor which is high enough quality for the seller to put that warranty on.
 

SlingShot

Maneuvering With Purpose
I think they look great, but I'm unable to find a C pack sized motor that I need, because my old one bit the dust (broken bearing I believe) I asked about the 2218 motor in the article but haven't gotten a reply as of yet. And the warranty on them looks amazing!!

You can find 2215/09 motors at various places. That's what FT is showing for a C Pack Twin.
 

Bricks

Master member
For a newbie the newer motors with the warranty are a big plus I have pile of cheaper motors sitting here that have bent shafts and I cannot get replacements. Maybe more expensive but in the long run actually cheaper.
 

d8veh

Elite member
I can't find any info on the warranty. Where is it? Does it cover crash damage and burning by using the wrong prop or battery?
 

FoamyDM

Building Fool-Flying Noob
Moderator
I didn't even see these new ones... GTK.
The warranty as a newbie is pretty awesome, although, I have yet to bust a motor flying. always a installation error.
 

BS projects inc.

Elite member
I can't find any info on the warranty. Where is it? Does it cover crash damage and burning by using the wrong prop or battery?
Yeah that's a good point. If you destroy the motor by using it improperly or crashing it too hard does the warranty still cover that?
 

Grifflyer

WWII fanatic
You can find 2215/09 motors at various places. That's what FT is showing for a C Pack Twin.
Yeah I know, but in the picture of the article they have a 2218 1180kv motor which I'm guessing will replace the old C pack motor, but there aren't showing that motor in the store.
 

Tjhochha

Active member
Does anybody know why the Twin C- power packs are on back-order? The singles are in stock and it looks like they have stock of the components. Are they switching the motors out for the new radials and waiting for them to be in stock?
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
You guys are also forgetting that Amain has tacked on their piece of the action price wise.

I have seen several normal FT items with signifgant price raises.
For example the delrin gremlin frames have over doubled to match the prices of their carbon equivilents and those have gone from 13 dollars to 20 dollars.

Just be aware that is happening and if its too much an issue then vote with your wallets and shop elsewhere. I am sure the quartely audits will show a distinct varience and wont take long to be looked into.
 

SlowPoke40Flyer

New member
I was thinking about ordering one of them and trying them out but I do agree the price is a little bit steep. But hey at least FliteTest still offers many other things. But I do agree the other motors I got so far seem to work just fine for my Planes. But here's my question what do y'all think you think it's worth the try ?
Thanks.
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
I was thinking about ordering one of them and trying them out but I do agree the price is a little bit steep. But hey at least FliteTest still offers many other things. But I do agree the other motors I got so far seem to work just fine for my Planes. But here's my question what do y'all think you think it's worth the try ?
Thanks.
The consensus thus far seems to be "I don't know." I say, if you've got a spare couple bucks lying around, buy one and let us know how it is.
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
The C-Pack equivalent radial motors will be added to the store in the near future as well. This has been in the works for a long time and I'm looking forward to trying these new radials out myself.