Model: Herr Engineering Aquastar Type: Speed 400 electric aerobatic seaplane Status: Active Weight: 12-14 oz Controls: R/E/T Wing Span: 42.5" Wing Area: 245 " sq Airfoil: Flat-bottomed Wing Loading: 7.05 oz/sq.ft

After constantly hearing about Speed 400-powered airplanes in all the popular model magazines, I decided that I'd see what all the fuss was about. I've always been amazed at the quality of Herr Engineering kits (all laser-cut parts), so I picked up an Aquastar kit with the intention of converting it to electric power. I framed up the kit in three evenings work, and spent another couple working on the covering scheme. I intially thought of patterning the design after the Canadair water-bombers that fly out of Calgary airport, but eventually I just started adding colours and stripes until I got a kind of Germany-meets-Canadair kind of scheme. I like it a lot. I'm always amazed at the amount of junk that goes into a gas-powered airplane, so I was able to junk a lot of bits that weren't relevant to electric power. I made my own nacelle out of lite-ply and foam, then covered it in Monokote. I power my airplane with a Graupner Speed 400 6V on 8-500mah Sanyo green cells, and I'm amazed at the power-to-weight ratio! I can see why these models are so popular! With the batterys fully charged, I typically get about 6.5-7 minutes of aerobatic flight, or on one occasion a 12.5 minute flight with a little thermal help. With the center of gravity pushed a ways back, I can do any aerobatic maneuvers that are possible with elevator and rudder, with rolls,

spins, stall turns, chandelles and inverted flight all being very easy to perform. I actually just finsihed repairing the Aquastar after an incident where a gas helicopter took off while I was giving an electric flight demo to a local gas club. I couldn't hear the motor lose power, and I stalled the airplane coming back into the 20km/h wind on a downwind turn. The resulting cartwheel was ugly, but very repairable. This is a good example of why I refuse to fly with gas pilots anymore - except for tow pilots ;)                Back?

Here are a couple of post-crash photos. The pink nacelle is just foam that hadn't been covered with monokote yet.