 Determining what will it be the power system for your next airplane project is crucial.
The combination of propeller, motor, ESC, battery, will give the result on how your plane flying characteristics, long lasting flight time, wear and tear occur to the motor and ESC. It also determine on how big the airplane for your next build log.
Designing your new airplane should start from determining what prop's size will you use. Unless you are following the ready made build log whereby they did mention about the best power system for that particular design, then you are safe.
The Propeller
 Dave, from RCPowers explain it in details on how to determine the size of your next R/C Airplane project in his video. The size of the plane are pre determine base on the size of the propeller in use. It is based on Dave personal experiences involving with designing a few R/C Plane models in previous years. There are two "magic props" that you need to take into consideration when talking about prop's.
-> 6x4 - for the Jets.
-> 10x4 or 10x3.8 - for Slow Flyer or 3D
The prop's also were pre-category as:
-> Fast Speed - usually for jets or zagi's
-> Medium - World War 2 Plane
-> Slow - more or less for 3D flyer or need for great hovering
What does the number on the prop meant? It's telling your the characteristic of the prop itself. The first number is the lenght of the prop and the second number is the pitch of the prop blades. The second number also tell us that one complete spin around of the prop makes the plane move forward with the same amount of the second number.
The Motor
 The next on the list will be the motor. Once you have decided which prop are your going to use, now it's time to decide which motor specification that suits best with the selected prop. Slow spinning motor wont generate enough spin to the prop, thus less thrust your plane will have. Highly spinning motor can spin your prop termendously great but can heat up and burn your motor. The KV's that's come with the motor is what you need to look at as these KV's determine how much torque that the motor can carry on the prop size.
Same as the propeller, the motor also has a "magic motor" kind of thing. 2200 KV is suitable and the best fit for 6x4 prop. 1000 KV for 10x4 prop. And for medium flight, especially for War Bird, the rough KV would be between 2000 and 1000 KV's. Usually it will be in 1500KV for 8x4 prop.
Battery
 The battery in another point of view, powered everythings up. It's the key to your successful flight or maiden flight. The battery tend to heats up when you are using it with incorrect setup. The more power you put on your motor, the flight time with full speed also can cause your battery to "pop-up" or even worse might end up explode. What you should know about your battery in general,
-> 11.1V also known as 3Cell battery and
-> 7.4V also known as 2Cell battery.
-> 14.8V, 4Cell usually for ducted fan jets.
Speaking about LiPo batteries, another consideration that you should look into is the Mili Amp or Mili Amphere per Hour or mAH. It's the number on the LiPo that give you a rough idea on how long the battery will last in a flying session. 1000mAH usually will run for 5 minutes and while 2000mAH will run for 10 minutes. To be specific on how long the battery will last per flight, none.
There's no specific timing or run time that you can get base only on the mAH. The run time does depending on a few citeria that you should ask yourself.
-> The way you fly your plane.
-> What kind of motor does your plane run with.
-> Full speed non-stop, could only last for 2 minutes.
For example you have a foam airplane that is lighter, get a 3Cell 11.1V with 700mAH. This setup give your plane the same amount of power and suitable for your plane except it will fly with a less run time. In order to have fun flying longer with your plane, stock at least 4-5 LiPo with the same spec will do the trick. The LiPo does smoked out or burst into flame if handle without care. Another spec that literaly displayed on the LiPo is the 'C' rating. C Rating also know as the 'Discharge' rating. Usually for slow flyer, 10C or 15C is fairly enough for it.
With LiPo, do not run down your battery to zero charge. Opposite of NiCAD, if you run down your LiPo completly, it wont come back to life.
After your flight session, do let your battery cool down for about 20 minutes before the next charging session. This will helps expand your battery lifetime span. A Cell balancer also a good hardware to consider. Unless you are planning of buying a new LiPo :-)
The Video
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