ShankRC (AviationStation.net)

The following pictures are of a Great Planes Giant Aeromaster that was built built for a customer in the Arlington, VA area. Construction is pretty straightforward and is typical of most Great Planes kits. If you have any questions or comments concerning the construction of the Great Planes Giant Aeromaster please feel free to email me.

One of the unique features of this Giant Aeromaster is that it will be converted to electric power. The fuselage construction will be modified to accommodate the LiPo battery packs up front. There will be 2 LiPo packs, each being 2″x2″x6 1/2″. It just so happens that a wax paper box cut in half yields 2 2″x2″x6 1/4″ boxes….close enough for battery mock-ups. The front end of the fuselage was mocked up per plan at first in order to sketch out the changes necessary for the batteries. Complicating matters were the need to access the front cabane bolts through the battery compartment and the front bottom wing bolt plate. After scratching my head a bit and conferring with the planes owner, we came up with the changes detailed in the following pictures. The inside of Former B was further cut out to let room for the batteries. Former C was cut apart with the bottom portion staying put and the top portion being repositioned as a support for the battery tray. Former D was cut apart and rebuilt to allow the batteries to be placed in the fuselage and then slid forward onto the tray. The battery tray also has cut-outs to allow access to the front cabane bolts which will be installed through 1″ cooling holes in the landing gear plate directly below.