Spirit of Sam Power System Decoded

I’ve had a number of inquiries for an alternate Spirit of Sam power system. I worked out a system for Phil Pearce. He’s had a chance to do some run time and amp draw tests. Here are his comments thus far.

Phil Pearce Spirit of Sam Afterburner Setup
Phil Pearce Spirit of Sam Afterburner Setup

Good morning Dave. Here are a few picture of the little 5 oz Wren, built for the Spirit Of Sam event at the Society of Antique Modelers events. The rules call for the power battery be a single 160 mah lipo. The task is endurance, using the second best flight time of two flights. The motor you provided is an “Afterburner High Performance Brushless Motor. The number on the info. sheet says: MR-012-030-4000-1.5 I ended up using a GWS 9/7 prop. As the picture shows, the rear lipo is for radio power. The BEC is disabled. My procedure for maximum flight time is to hand launch with full power of about 1.5 amp draw, than establish a slight climb at minimal power of probably about 1 amp. I level out at about 200 feet and only use enough power to maintain altitude while looking for signs of lift. The motor will start slowing down at somewhere between 8 and 10 minutes with no thermal help. I must immediately start a landing approach while the prop is still spinning and plan on landing in about 15 seconds. Unfortunately a folding prop is not allowed. The drag on a stopped motor is dramatic on this small light model. I hope this is what you wanted. Thanks again for you help. Regards, Phil

P.S. If you have any advice on another prop, please advise. PP

Phil Pearce and his 5 ounce Wren Spirit of Sam competition model.
Phil Pearce and his 5 ounce Wren Spirit of Sam competition model.

Equipment is a 4000kv 12mm Afterburner with 1.5mm shaft. Running in a GWS LPS gearbox 4.8:1 ratio.

close up of gws lps gearbox with afterburner motor installed.
Close up of GWS LPS gearbox with Afterburner motor installed.

Links to parts supplied by Radical RC:
GWS LPS 5:1 “B” Pinion: GWGER002
GWS LPS 5:1 “B” Blue Spur Gear: GWLPS4B
GWS LPS 5:1 Blue Spur Gear: GWLPS4B
GWS LPS Ball Bearing Set: GWLPS2A
GWS LPS Gearbox Shaft: GWLPS6A
GWS LPS Gearbox Frame: GWLPS5A
Afterburner Motor (Take 1.5mm shaft option): MR-012-030-4000
Screws for AFterburner Motor: MR-SCREW-080-125-2
All parts needed are contained in the system linked below. Replace motor with 12mm Brushless Afterburner. Note, If you buy the brushed motor system to get all the parts, consider buying a pinion. A puller is needed to remove one from the included brushed motor and it can be ticklish. Some skill, minor tools and a drill press (or press of some sort) are required to install a pinion on LPS RXC OR RLC Drive take “B” gear ratio option: GWLPS-RXC or GWLPS-RLC
GWS LPS Gearbox Frame: GWLPS5A

side view motor and rx battery spirit of sam geared brushless power system
Side view motor and RX battery.

Note, the point of this blog post is to record what we did in a way that will last longer than my memory. If you want to do the same thing, all the links are provided. 😉

Some thoughts that I have based on what I know thus far: An “A” ratio (less reduction) could be considered in order to reduce the pitch or perhaps the disk diameter. That might lead to a 9-4.7 or 9-5 or 8-6 being optimal. I’m tickled by the idea of a 4 or 5″ high rpm setup in order to try and get the model to glide with a stopped prop longer than Phil reports with 9″ props. Not being experienced in the competition, my thoughts might be completely off base here. The higher KV Afterburner motor should be avoided because the higher no-load current. Although it might be more efficient at wide open throttle, the minimum no-load current would kill you in cruise (partial throttle flight). So, the lesson is stick to the 4000kv motor. Anything you can do in this contest to utilize a low non-load current motor would probably be an advantage over most motors with higher no-load currents. The no-load current rating is one of the fixed parameters (motor constants) of every motor. Explaining it fully is beyond the scope of this article.

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Biden: Obama Might Use Executive Order to Deal With Guns

Listed on Drudge, an article from The Weekly Standard reports:

“Vice President Joe Biden revealed that President Barack Obama might use an executive order to deal with guns.

“The president is going to act,” said Biden, giving some comments to the press before a meeting with victims of gun violence. “There are executives orders, there’s executive action…..”

Obama Might Use Executive Order to Deal With Guns

After 4 minutes and 20 seconds of excuses and other low information voter mindless jibberish, Joe Biden gets around to confessing: “the president is going to act, there are executive orders that can be taken..”

What is next? Liberty does not die all at once, it’s step by step. One small step at a time. And those that suffer it’s loss often participate voluntarily.

Below quoted from: History.com “this day in history” segment.

“…January 30th….. In 1933, president Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or fÃœhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany.

The year 1932 had seen Hitler’s meteoric rise to prominence in Germany, spurred largely by the German people’s frustration with dismal economic conditions and the still-festering wounds inflicted by defeat in the Great War and the harsh peace terms of the Versailles treaty. A charismatic speaker, Hitler channeled popular discontent with the post-war Weimar government into support for his fledgling Nazi party. In an election held in July 1932, the Nazis won 230 governmental seats; together with the Communists, the next largest party, they made up over half of the Reichstag.”

Socialists and Communists working hand in hand in 1932 Germany? No, say it ain’t so! Could it happen here? Has socialism run a-muck again? In the 30’s it was deep hatred of Jews, today we are not too friendly to Israel and we hear much similar hateful speeches describing employers and the rich. Hate is hate no mater the target, it’s ugly. And, Germany is a good example of how easily Liberty can be uprooted and replaced by Tyranny while people cheer.

From the wiki page: Gun polotics in Germany we quote the following:

“The 1938 German Weapons Act… the law restricted ownership of firearms to “…persons whose trustworthiness is not in question and who can show a need for a (gun) permit.”

Additionally “Jews were forbidden from the manufacturing or dealing of firearms and ammunition”

Yes, under Hitlers socialist Germany, law was enacted stating you must “show a need”. Sounds just like the enemy’s of Liberty today doesn’t it! The old battle to enslave or execute peoples by first disarming them has never ended. While it’s true the Germans were racist-socialists and the current leadership is anti-capitalist socialist, to gain power the methods are the same, a scapegoat is manufactured to blame all of societies woes (Even though mostly caused by government). It’s not long before there are Purges & reeducation camps. Have they successfully convinced you that employers and entrepreneurs are to blame? We hear about it on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC and CNN on an almost nightly basis.

Another important point on “need”. No where in our US constitution is the word “need” used to describe our rights or privileges. Use CNTL-F to search the US Constitution: here Sadly, this campaign to judge maters and make law in the USA according to need started a long time ago. It was written by Karl Marx “to each according to his needs.” Read Karl Marx in context on the wiki page: Here It’s part of a fascinating paragraph where he describes the highest goals of his society as “after labor has become not only a means of life but life’s prime want;”. You might notice (if you take time to read it) that “Pursuit of happiness” is never suggested as an important value. I think Karl is describing the perfect slave, his highest want is labor. The same wiki page linked above also describes Karl Marx’s Communism as “scientific socialism”. Not my words mind you. These people and the views they espouse and promote are dangerous. Can you reject the path they suggest?

Directly dictating our constitutional rights by executive pen, that’s a dictatorship. Perhaps we are a socialist dictatorship now? Have you un-wittingly supported the end of America? Have you hid your head from all the warnings? Are you sick for not doing enough to stop it? Do you even care?

It’s the normal condition of man around the world to be on average – dirt poor and subject to tyranny. It has remained that way throughout the ages with only rare exception. America is a great experiment to see if Liberty can triumph over tyranny on a long term basis. That experiment tests the idea of short circuiting the natural movement towards tyranny by establishing a non-centralized form of government. A non-concentrated management of the country were “We the people” can have meaning. Yet, we drift willingly to concentration of more and more power in fewer and fewer hands. And where are we? We are so soft now that the President can have his VP float trial balloons about possible dictatorial orders without fear of significant reprisal or political penalty. Our lives depend on fighting for Liberty day and night with our every breath and stroke of pen. When Honey Boo Boo gets higher TV ratings than either political convention, there is no question, apathy has become completely entrenched. It’s almost over America, what channel was Honey Boo Boo on anyway sweetheart?

When will they come for you? When will they come for me?

My name is Dave Thacker and I’m doing something about it.
What will you do about it today?

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