Electric power This genre has been growing in popularity and has now come into its own. Due to continued refinements in motor and battery technology it is now possible to propel a wide range of aircraft with electric power. Electric motors are available to match the performance of most of the popular nitro and petrol engine sizes. It has also made possible a whole range of very small and lightweight 'park flyers'.

There are basically three main subsets of electric motor and speed controller systems. The first and most obvious is the type which replaces the conventional nitro or petrol engine mounted to the front of a plane and having a propeller mounted directly to the motor shaft or via a gearbox.

Next is the range of electric helicopters which use a setup similar to the fixed-wing planes with the exception that the motors are driving a large gear attached to the main rotor shaft. The smaller 'micro' helis also employ a small motor to power the tail rotor and the bigger machines use belt-driven tail rotors just like the nitro helicopters.

A more recent development has been the use of electric power for ducted-fan jet models. The advantage of electric power in this instance is that the motors can turn very high rpm which helps deliver the thrust needed in the confined space of the ducted fan unit. In addition there is the convenience of not having to worry about access for starting as is required by nitro ducted fans.

Electric power has its pros and cons. On the plus side you have quieter and sometimes more realistic sound (in the case of ducted-fan jets). There is often plenty of power on tap, less vibration and the lack of oily exhaust residue. On the down side you have the added complexity of electronic speed controllers (ESC) and battery elimination circuits (BEC). There is the extra cost of balancers and chargers for the batteries and the relatively high cost of the li-po (lithium polymer) batteries (and you need several battery flight packs because each one may provide 10 minutes of flying time but then could require hours to charge).

Nonetheless there is a large community of electric power devotees who are willing to navigate through the complexity of all that wiring and matching components (which can be very expensive I might ad). Some newer battery chemistry (such as LiFe) might provide a lower cost option to li-pos and although the technical aspect of electric power can be daunting there is always someone who has 'been there and done that' and can help in a pinch.