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An RC Seaplane floats on its belly...An RC Seaplane makes for an awesome day at the lake I consider an RC seaplane to be an RC airplane that actually floats on its belly. In other words, there are airplanes with floats, and then there are airplanes that float! Actually, planes with floats could also be considered seaplanes. But this particular page covers some of the more popular RC airplanes that can land and take off from their belly.
The PBY CatalinaThe PBY Catalina, developed in the mid 1930's, was one of the most widely used multi-purpose aircrafts of WWII. Serving in both the U.S. Army and Air Force, these flying boats were armed with depth charges, bombs, torpedoes, and .50 Browning machine guns for patrolling the skies over the Pacific Ocean. 
The "PB" stands for Patrol Bomber, the "Y" denotes that it was produced by Consolidated Aircraft. Although originally designed to locate and destroy enemy ships, this flying boat was also used for carrying cargo and served as an escort for military convoys. Because the PBY Catalina could float, it had the advantage of being able to land anywhere over the ocean allowing it to rescue thousands of downed pilots throughout the war. Long retired from military service, PBY Catalinas are still being used as aerial tankers for fighting wildfires.
Great Planes EP Catalina Seaplane
Great Planes PBY Catalina Seaplane is an ARF designed to be powered by an electric motor. As you can see in the picture to the right, it's a fairly decent size RC airplane with a 53.5" wingspan. This seaplane is designed to be powered by two Great Planes Rimfire 400 28-30-950 outrunner brushless motors, with two 25A Silver Series ESC's with 11.1 2100mah 20C LiPo pack. Of course you can use any brand of electronics you'd like with this seaplane, the above are the recommended sizes. This ARF includes all the hardware, two props, prop adapters, two machined aluminum prop hubs and a set of detailed instructions. It even includes two spare bubble observation canopies. The Great Planes Catalina RC seaplane is constructed from high-quality fiberglass and wood and finished with a trim scheme that looks exactly like the full-scale Catalina 
The Great Planes PBY Catalina comes with this handy little cradle. Since the Catalina doesn't have wheels, this cradle is really nice for working on your plane when you're at the lake. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, well, a video is worth a million! Check out the video of this RC seaplane!
Guanli Catalina Seaplane
Guanli also makes a Catalina RC Seaplane. There are tons of these on eBay, even though many of the listings don't make reference to "Guanli". As far as I know, Guanli and Great Planes are the only ones who make a Catalina RC Seaplane. If you know of another brand please let me know. 
The wingspan of the Guanli Catalina RC seaplane is 54.3", just a hair longer than the Great Planes version. You can also just look for the Guanli logo to confirm who make it. The Guanli Catalina was originally released as a ready to fly model. The RTF version comes with a four channel radio system, twin 370 brushed motors with gearboxes, 25 amp speed controller, and 8.4V 1000mah Ni-MH battery pack. Although the original version seemed to have plenty of power, we RC addicts are never satisfied are we? There is a gentleman that buys the airframe from Guanli and sells a brushless kit version of this RC Seaplane. This brushless kit combo Check out the following Guanli Catalina RC seaplanes currently available on eBay. Plans for Giant Scale CatalinaIs electric power not your thing? Would you rather have a huge scale Catalina RC Seaplane pulled through the air by two internal combustion engines? Check out the below RC airplane plans currently available on eBay for giant scale PBY Catalinas! Back to top Seawind
Great Planes make both an electric powered Seawind ARF and a larger Seawind ARF designed to be powered by glow engines. R2hobbies also makes a fairly popular version of the Seawind. Great Planes EP Seawind
Great Planes Electrifly EP Seawind, with a modest wingspan of 39.5", is available either as an ARF or RX-R. The RX-R stands for receiver ready. This RC seaplane comes with a RimFire™ 400 outrunner brushless motor, 24 amp ESC, and micro servos. You will have to supply a transmitter, receiver and 3S LiPo battery pack Of course you must provide all the electronics for the ARF version. It takes longer to charge the battery than it does to get this amphibian flight ready. The water portion of the rudder is removable for hand launches and for landing in the grass. This Great Planes EP Seawind also comes with a nice little stand to hold the model for storage of for use in the field. If you're a fan of small but powerful electric powered planes and looking for an amphibian aircraft, you will be very happy with the Great Planes EP Seawind.
Great Planes .61 -.91 ARF Seawind
Great Plane's Seawind .60-.91 Sport-Scale Amphibian ARF is fairly decent size RC seaplane with a wingspan of nearly 6 feet! It's designed for either a 60 size 2-stroke glow engine, or 70 to 90 size 4-stroke. Since it is an ARF you will have to supply the radio, receiver, and servos. It's constructed from wood with gel-coated fiberglass covered with MonoKote®. The wings are easily removed and this RC Seaplanes comes with a foam stand for assembly and starting. You know it's a top notch quality RC airplane if it's made by Great Planes. If you are looking for the best quality, largest, most powerful RC Seaplane; the Seawind .60-.91 Sport-Scale Amphibian ARF is most definitely the one you want. Here is a video of this bad boy in action! Back to top R2Hobbies Model rcpl71019
Another popular electric powered version of the Seawind is made by a Chinese company called R2Hobbies. With a wingspan of 41.8", it is very close to the same size as Great Planes EP Seawind. You will find a lot of these on eBay. Many of which do not make reference to R2Hobbies, but most do make reference to the rcpl71019 part number. This Seawind also comes with a stand.
RC Seawinds on eBayBack to top The Taylor CootThe Coot is a two seat home built seaplane designed by Moulton Taylor back in 1969. Coot is the name of a bird that spends most of its time in the water. Taylor was an aeronautical engineer well known for the development of his flying car, the Taylor Aerocar.
ArtTech Coota Amphibian RC Sea Plane is a ready to fly version of the Taylor Coot with a 26.8" wingspan. It comes completely ready to fly including a 4 channel 2.4Ghz E-Fly radio system, 25A ESC, brushless motor, 1800mah Li-Poly Battery, wall charger, and even a flight simulator kit. Below are Artech Cootas currently selling on eBay. Back to top K54 - House Of Balsa Chea-Pass Float Plane 10 Kit
The K54 House Of Balsa Chea-Pass Float Plane 10 Kit has a wingspan of 45.5" and requires a small .09 to .12 size 2-stroke glow engine. The House of Balsa Cheap-Pass RC Seaplane is similar to the Coot. The big difference is that it has a standard tractor-type prop (not a pusher). This RC seaplane also has a high wing with less dihedral than the bottom mounted wing of the Coot. This also makes wingtip floats necessary. This is a kit, so you will have to build it from ground up. If you like building kits and you're looking for an RC seaplane, the House of Balsa Float plane is worth considering. If you think RC seaplanes are cool, you'd really like RC Flying Boats! Back to top Related Pages
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