QUADZILLA
Model Airplane News|November 2020
A four-motor sport flier with pattern-ship performance
MARK RITTINGER
QUADZILLA

QUICK SPECS

MODEL: QUADZILLA

TYPE: 4-MOTOR SPORT PATTERN PLANE

WINGSPAN: 50 in.

WEIGHT: 43 oz.

WING AREA: 375 sq. in.

WING LOADING: 16.5 oz./sq. ft.

RADIO REQ’D: 4-channel

GEAR USED

RADIO: Hitec Eclipse 7, 555 receiver, HS81 servos (hitecrcd.com)

MOTOR: 4 Graupner Speed 400 can motors

SPEED CONTROL: Castle Creations 45A w/BEC, wired in parallel (castlecreations.com)

PROPS: APC 4.75x4.75 (apcprop.com)

BATTERY: FlightPower Evo 25C 3-cell, 3700mAh LiPo (flightpowerusa.com)

Yeah, I know. This plane looks like the parent company of the B-17 Flying Fortress, Boeing, decided to build a Reno Racing machine! But really, the Quadzilla was born from my desire for something totally different. I was thinking that everything had been done in RC: helis, jets, scale, pattern—even twin pattern models! So what haven’t I seen before? A four-motor sport pattern ship! This would be a nightmare with glow but easily accomplished with electric power. How to keep it simple? Inexpensive brushed motors would only require one speed control and relatively simple parallel wiring. So using my multi-motor experience and some basic parameters, I conceived Quadzilla with a 50-inch-span with a sheeted-foam wing and basic box-structure fuselage. It uses four Speed 400 or “long can” 480 motors, a single 45- to 55-amp speed control and a 3-cell, 3700mAh LiPo battery pack.

This story is from the November 2020 edition of Model Airplane News.

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This story is from the November 2020 edition of Model Airplane News.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

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