Since the late 70's, several research and development projects deal with future Power-by-Wire-technology for aircraft flight control systems, aiming to reduce the overall system weight, as well as installation and maintenance effort. The design of appropriate electrically powered actuators still is a key technology. An overview about typical functional and performance requirements on primary flight control actuators is given. With electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHAs), based on an electric motor driven pump directly connected to a hydro-cylinder, safety functions can be realized with low effort by means of small valves. The two basic EHA principles are considered here: the EHA-SM, having a constant displacement pump driven by a speed controlled, electronically commutated brushless DC motor, and the EHA-SP, with an electrically controlled servopump driven by an uncontrolled AC induction motor. A rating method for these EHA-types is proposed to design components very close to the actual requirements, aiming at weight saving solutions. Using characteristic motor torque-speed curves as well as pump performance maps, partly leads to iterative solutions due to interdependencies between the components. Weight and typical dimension envelope estimates were developed as functions of the performance/design values calculated before. Finally, nonlinear dynamic simulation models are set up, thus completing a little 'toolbox' helping the flight control actuation developer, particularly - but not exceptionally - during early project stages.