WLToys F949 Floatplane Conversion

XeonKyle

New member
Hey all! This is my first post on this forum, so if its in the wrong category please move it over for me. Thanks!

After reading some pretty glowing reviews of the F949 on this forum and some others, I decided to use it to dip my toe and test the waters of RC airplanes for the first time. I recognize that it will probably take me a fair bit of time to get used to the aircraft, but I hope to practice often and mature relatively quickly.

My question is this: do you guys think it would be possible to convert the F949 to a floatplane? It is a small aircraft (Cessna 182 based) with a wingspan of only 500mm, and it weighs a mere 58g. I hope to make two floats out of some kind of foam or balsa, hollow them out, and make a system of two smaller batteries running in parallel, each housed inside the floats. I made this design choice because i have concerns about the high center of gravity on such a small plane causing it to faceplant on water landings from the high friction of the floats on the water, and lowering the batteries may have an effect on this.

So... what do y'all think? Will the small size of the aircraft be too large of an issue to overcome?
 

quorneng

Master member
I think you may be over worrying about 'face planting' with floats. Remember the floats extend well beyond the prop so provided you flair properly and the floats are set at the right angle a nose over is much less likely than even a tricycle set up.
The problem is normally landing too fast so as soon at the float touches it pitches the plane up which result in a significant bounce followed by a nose down landing and then a nose over!
Landing on floats is much more like a 3 point landing with a tail dragger.
 

Arcfyre

Elite member
If memory serves, the Hobbyzone Sport Cub S has a float option, and at 600mm wingspan it is in the same ballpark as the WL949. You could probably get a set of those floats and just make them fit your plane.

I wouldn't bother putting batteries in the floats. By the time you run wires and stuff the whole setup will be too heavy for a plane that small.