Sound Systems for Electric Planes

[Cosmith]

Does anybody have any experience with these?

I thought these things were super cheesy considering the array of nice noise making IC engines we have available to us...but in time I started realizing that I really liked the convenience/consistency/low maintenance of electric power and I started to like the idea of more scale like sound. After doing a little research I discovered that they've come leaps and bounds in terms of volume and accuracy of sound, to the point now that the sounds are actually recorded from full scale aircraft and include start-up and shut-down sounds. Obviously, my application wouldn't be something like a 3D plane, but they are starting to grow on me for scale applications...my interest for this is in warbirds.

In my very limited research their seem to be two types, those that use conventional speakers and those that use sound transducers that turn the airframe into the speaker. The advantage to the transducer is lighter weight, smaller footprint, higher volume and more bass, the concern is vibration to the airframe. That said, guys on other forums are claiming that the transducers are working on wood airframes and aren't causing failures. Mrrcsound claims up to 108db from one transducer and their system allows for multiple.

Here is a video of a Flyzone Beaver with the Mrrcsound system, notice the start-up sound and that the camera is still collecting audio from the plane at significant distances:


Interested to hear what others think, or know about these systems? Anybody have experience with them or even heard one in person?

[Vettster]

I dont know much about them... But that was a very cool video. Yes I was amazed that you could hear the plane so clearly even at a distance.

Please go ahead and buy one and post your results on here

[Vettster]

I found this...http://www.randyrcplanes.com/fms-pla...tem-installed/

What you do is go to the link he provides..Pick a plane..Then he receives the plane and installs an all out sound system, even with guns and lights.(for a fee ofcoarse)

Im very tempted!

[Cosmith]

Transducer mounted in a balsa plane:


Just read a thread on RCGroups...sounds like the way to go on a wood plane is to mount the transducer to a square of foam and mount the foam to the airframe.

[tbrum]

I did a ton of research on these when I was gonna do an electric GS Beaver. The transducers are the way to go and use the airframe. Definitely on the bucket list here.

Please pull the trigger for us Cory . An important step for the hobby, LOL!

[Vettster]

Cory.. can you provide the link to RCG where your getting your info pls

[Cosmith]

Cory.. can you provide the link to RCG where your getting your info pls

Here are a couple to get you started:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...900457&page=49
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1900459

Mrrcsound has it's own section over there as well: http://www.rcgroups.com/mrrcsound-845/

I did a ton of research on these when I was gonna do an electric GS Beaver. The transducers are the way to go and use the airframe.

Trevor, do you know anybody else doing transducers other than Mrrcsound??

[tbrum]

Mrrcsound was the only ones I could find. But that was late 2014 so likely a few others have popped up by now.

[CF-105]

There is another fellow that uses the transducers, but doesn't really advertise. There is a thread in one of the electric forums on RCG where the guy has posted. His work is custom, and even the guy from Mr. RC Sound says he does incredible work. Look for a thread in either electric warbirds or electric scale scratch/kits about sound systems, and you'll see some posts by the guy (he also does FX sounds for car guys with Batmobile replicas, etc.).

I have the MR RC Sound unit installed in my balsa T-34. Transducers are mounted to a sheet of dollar store foam, which in turn is glued to a section of fuselage that's only covered with Ultracote. Sounds fantastic. It's almost painful when I'm standing by the plane. In the air, it carries well... but can't quite compete for volume with the noisy fuel planes. It's almost close though!

[Cosmith]

I have the MR RC Sound unit installed in my balsa T-34. Transducers are mounted to a sheet of dollar store foam, which in turn is glued to a section of fuselage that's only covered with Ultracote. Sounds fantastic. It's almost painful when I'm standing by the plane. In the air, it carries well... but can't quite compete for volume with the noisy fuel planes. It's almost close though!

Awesome, do you have any video???

In other news, I may be making a deal for a 72" ESM Spitfire in the next few days...I think this could be a good test bed for a sound system!

Only caveat is, the same guy has a 50CC ESM Spitfire NIB and if the price is right I may have to abandon the sound project altogether for a bit. Won't be spending for a 50cc equivalent electric system anytime soon.