Posted: 1/25/2004 8:30:45 PM EDT
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I know we have a few RC Aircraft nuts here... What would be a good entry level electric plane for me to try? There are just too many variations and price points and I just need some advice. Thanks much! |
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I flew my RC plance once..... ONCE! Two rules I remember; 1. When the plane flys towards you, the controls are OPPOSITE. When you want the plane to turn to the right of you. you have to turn the control left.... hard to explain but you'll see. 2. Take off is optional, landing is mandatory. |
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the advice about checking out a local club is about the best. YOU DO NOT WANT TO TRY ON YOUR OWN!!!it'll just cost you and you will be demoralized and give up. there are several very affordable trainer aircraft out there. a real person at a club field will be able to explain things to you and someone at the field will probably have a trainer, much better than winging it on the net. my 2 cents is that it is a very rewarding hobby if you stick with it till you solo. and reconsider electric. the batteries don't last long, but need a bit to recharge. a gallon of fuel will keep you in the air for longer duration per flight and many more flights per outing. wait till you see how you feel after you get what was a box of sticks up into the air for the first time. oh, yeah, they also have something called a buddy box. there is a wire that connects your radio to an instructors radio, as you learn and insist on doing a death spiral into the ground, he can take control away from you and save the day. my instructor saved me a small fortune in aircraft not destroyed. i destroyed enough on my own afterwards. editted to say that the local want add usually has some good deals on slightly,if used at all, equipment. a lot of people can't follow through with the commitment and sell their stuff pretty cheap. [url]http://www.towerhobbies.com/rcwairclub.html#usa1[/url] this is a list of some of the clubs in your state. there will be others not on the net. ask at your local hobby shop if those listed are too far from you. |
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May I suggest a glider. Do you live near any hills that the wind might blow on. If so I highly recomend a combat foamy, made of EPP packing tape and some radio gear inside they are almost unbreakable. To prove this I have rum mine over with a car and made 500' straight it pile-drives into the dirt. Pick it up and throw it out for more. Take a peek at [url]www.gliderking.com[/url] for some links and such, the forums are a little slow. Charlie |
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make a offer: Nice & clean Futaba 6AN digital radio 1 6-CH receiver and servo set NIB w/ Battery one NIB non-assembled US Aircore .40 one NIB .48 ball bearing OS motor (for US Aircore) one clean Hobbico BARF Air Vista with .48 ball bearing OS motor and Futaba Rcvr/Servos (under 10 hrs on plane & radio) One crashed Hobbico BARF Air Vista parts plane Field Tote 12V Tx & Rx Quick charger & wall chargers Buddy Box (Trainer Cable) New 12V Electric Starter Glo Starter & charger battery meter Manual fuel pump Hose All you need is fuel. Pics available. |
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The sturdy-birdy is also tough as nails If you are going to teach yourself. I second boomholzer though, a good PC RC flight simulator with control will probably save you a bunch of money. I wasted six cheap planes before I got proficient. I finally bought the simulator to try to learn helicopters, but the helicopter was the shortest lived $800.00 I've ever spent. Put in enough time on the simulator and you will be doing aerobatics on your first flight, providing you set your plane up correctly. Edited to add: Tower Hobbies. Edited to add: Make an offer on Boomholzers stuff. Getting all the little extra things and the spare parts in one shot would be worth it if the price is right. |
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Ummmmm...... I found the only thing more expensive than a gun habit is an R/C airplane habit. Unless you have thousands of dollars to make into lawn darts (They ALL crash, eventually....), don't start, it is Very Addictive. Otherwise, you can get going for about $600, get a $200 trainer and a $120 engine off ebay or something, (R/C Swap meets have GREAT Deals on planes/parts/radios/etc). Or make an offer on boom's setup above, it looks like a good outfit. Make your first radio a 6 channel, as you will upgrade anyway (word to wise). -- Edited because after re-read, boom's setup is everything you need, including spare plane and spare engine.... I would go for that. You can check prices of the stuff at www.towerhobbies.com (I think they have about $8k from me....) Find a local field/club, watch for a bit, you will see who is pro and who is new and who just likes to crash. You will eventually want to get into an "Aerobatic/Sport" plane (unlimited vertical, rolls at the speed of a drill, etc. etc.) to do the fancier maneuvers, go ahead, just make sure it is colored differently on top and bottom, and Fly High. Whatever you do, do not get into "Combat R/C", that is like the heroin of R/C Flying (clipping streamer of opponent while towing streamer). Cheap planes are used, extremely overpowered and extremely aerobatic. It is a Perfect thing to WATCH. Once you start, you just keep building/buying Floyd's. Just keep in mind that you will crash, maybe not today, maybe not next time, but that plane is history, if you can accept that, go for it. (I lawn darted a 1/4 scale due to servo failure, 8'+ wingspan, not a cheap plane) There is an excellent PC R/C Simulator (with actual "Radio Joystick" for about $200), it is pretty accurate for the feeling. losing right/left and up/down when inverted or coming towards/away is key. They fly >90mph, and you don't have more than a 1/10th second to realize a mistake before you have a pile of rubble buried a foot into the ground. (BTDT) |
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I was sort-of in the same boat when looking into r/c flying as a hobby. I tried the 'building-from-scratch' glo-powered balsa kits and I knew right away I'd rather be flying that spending a whole lot of time building. I ended up junking a partially built Piper Cub when I lost interest and never finished the plane. I look back now and think I may have had more interest in the hobby if I had started with an arf electric kit. Look at the Wingo on the www.hobby-lobby.com site. Some cool aerial photo pics too. |
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Quoted: Join a local club and have an instructor train you. I till be much cheaper that way. It's harder to learn to fly them you think. Tis true. You use thier plane, fuel, patience. Once you solo its all gravy then. You might have more fun with glow fueled planes than electric, getting back in the air is faster and such. Also your first planbe make sure it is a '40' or '60' size high wing, they fly easier as a trainer. I made the mistake of getting a '20' and that thing was all over the place, any butterfly flying within 500 feet would make it go batty on you and you get stressed on that onne mandatory thing like landing in one piece(hopefully) You can carry a heavier payload on the glow engines like dropping soda cans as napalm or hooking up rockets to launch off the wingtips, be sure that no one who cares about the environnment is there when you shoot these off your plane or they will call the police and say that you were chasing geese and shooting them down or some other BS story. you can even carry camcorders on them and have a nice video of the time you flew you plane and clipped another plane mid-air, see how cool the world looks as you see parts of your plane scatter the sky like confetti as the camera rushes towards that rocky patch of ground to the left of the airfield, what a rush. Ok, I am done for now, that might qualify for .01 cent.... Had to add that I had put together a kit called an Eagle 2 that proved to be easy to fly, stable and proved to be tollerant of my destructive nature, it weighed about 3 pounds more with all the added epoxy after the first year. I cant remember the company that makes it but just go to any hobby shop that caters to RC and you are sure to see the kit, hopefully it hasnt gone up much in cost, I bought one at around $50 a few years ago. Another interesting thing is dont put the kit together when you open the box, go buy a bunch of balsa, hardwood and light ply that is in the kit and make coppies off the templates, now you have bought one kit and built multiple airframes off the kit. Just be sure to have a trainer with you on the buddy box so you dont have to worry about trashing any plane... till you are ready, to accept that you actually screwed up and killed your plane and not blame it on a servo getting a glitch, just have fun with it |
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Quoted: Join a local club and have an instructor train you. I till be much cheaper that way. It's harder to learn to fly them you think. No kidding here. I learned to fly real airplanes after trying to learn to fly RC. Real airplanes are much easier to learn to fly! |
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Quoted: till you are ready, to accept that you actually screwed up and killed your plane and not blame it on a servo getting a glitch, just have fun with it Hmmm, wonder what that was in reference to.... [;D] Actually, another hint: When playing with the Big Ones, do not skimp on servos, get Ball Bearing/metal geared servos ($80 ea, 9 in a plane of that size). As far as that servo story goes, it wasn't exactly "pilot error" so much as "builder error". Possibly a better pilot could have pulled out of it, but I was doing a box to a high speed low (10') pass. Nylon geared servos on split elevator (1 servo per side). Load too great after some intense tricks before The Last One. Only one side of elevator moved, other stuck, like miniature ailerons, and it just rolled wing into ground and cartwheeled from there. Was about 1/8th second to catch/correct error, so, yes, it could be pilot error due to being unable to overcome minor failure. "Dead Stick" landings are no problem, and losing half the elevator wouldn't have been a problem if I wasn't at the speed and altitude I was at. (similar to the thunderbird crash) Lastly, when looking at radios, just get a PCM right away if you plan on continuing the hobby, otherwise you just lose money upgrading. Otherwise, 6 channel with dual rate switches, and some sort of memory for different planes (digital display basically a given). |
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I bought a Hobbico Aerobird about 6 moths ago.. lost two.. one because I was an idiot and tried to fly it in too small of a field in the middle of the city.. the second I should have wwent flying before the storm moved in.. blew the poor thing away.. Other wise it is a fun plane.. three channels batteries charge in I think 30 minutes and last about 15.. buy a couple extra and a couple wings at $15 and you are good to go.. If you fly in a non paved area ie grass you can only break the 15 wings.. you can buy the complete plane ready to fly out of the box w/ radio charger batteries etc for like 125 on ebay.. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RAAAAAgT8moAsuJLWqXz31t*3zZ6TFTVHlxcA0AJ7ExgENgXXc0ORaVve6BYVYsjcFrjejpO4Qn5dCL7TyXLIkgCuMwGGGTD9Xfa*G2OGfE/CIMG0035.JPG?dc=4675457247271675526[/img] anyone know a small airplane I can fly in a baseball field? |
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Baseball field might be to big :-) I fly one of these in front of the house all the time. [url]http://www.flyifo.com/[/url] Fun as hell, I've got mine set up with mostly standard ( whats recomended ) except for a Lion 2 cell pack instead, it'll hang on the prop and hover, 2 foot loops, just unreal. Charlie |
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I have flow R/C for 33 years. I have done business with Tower Hobbies for 30 of those years, nothing but good experiences with them. I have taught HUNDREDS of people to fly R/C, and can say there is one rule, BIGGER is easier. The biggest mistake you can make is to buy a small trainer. I recommend nothing smaller than a .40 powered trainer, and would really recommend the .60 powered ones as better. BIGGER IS BETTER. The Big Stick series are proven trainers. You don't need a high priced radio, a 4 channel one will do just fine. BUT, don't waste money on a 2 or 3 channel. You might as well buy a 6 channel with 4 servos and be done with it, only a few bucks more. I like Futaba, but Airtronics and JR make equally good radio gear. Buy a good electric starter, my favorite is the Sullivan. Get help. Most clubs will have designated instructors. These are fellows that are known to be good teachers, not necessarily the best flyers who win trophies at pattern meets. Many will assign you a particular instructor/mentor to help you along. They may even have a "club trainer" for your first few flights. You kids will learn faster than you will. Take it on the chin. |
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Quoted: Overload! [whacko] Thanks! Much sorting to do... I really can not afford to step off into a new hobby in a big way but would just like to try it out... Much sorting to do... That's what I said.... $20k later, I realized guns are cheaper, and they don't crash. [:D] |
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jr 6 channel 652 computer radio, comes with charger, receiver, 4 servos, receiver batery $270 almost ready to fly trainer $100 os .46 fx series engine, because all trainer engines are sucky bushing engines instead of ball bearing engines $130 epoxies and glues (more than one type) $30 1 gallon glow fuel $15 to $18 a spare glow plug $5 each glow plug wrench $5 glow plug driver with charger $15 electric starter $25 12v battery for that starter $20 12v charger $15 spare props @ $7 or so each electric fuel pump to fill plane $25 fuel line $5 carry tote $varies wildly yearly membership to acadamy of model aeronautics (almost universally required for insurance purposes) $60 yearly club membership. varies $50 is cheap. this is a low end estimate. if you actually build a kit, you will need more. you are assured of crashing, everbody crashes. more money to get back into the air. i figure that for every plane beyond the 1st, my average is $400 per, and that's not anything fancy. i wasn't going to throw prices out at you to discourage you. i did it because to those that don't know yet, no one tells you what you will REALLY SPEND. fortunately, a lot of the stuff is a one time purchase. don't let this bum you out. about $600- $700 gets your foot in the door.and flying is cooler than shit. they are awesome though. this is my box of sticks after a good many hours.[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=17713[/img] and this is why most clubs make sure you have that ama insurance before they even let you join. stuff like this does happen.[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=22113[/img] that crash wasn't all that bad, good ones leave very little salvageable, even engines,well packed radio equipment usually suvives.[img] http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=22114[/img] who knows, you might REALLY get into it. check this beauty out. damn, now i wanna go home, get the gear, and go flying. [img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=22115[/img] editted to add that the hobby has expanded to also include functional gas turbine powered aircraft. i wish this was me and mine but you get the idea. and you don't even want to know the money these people have in these. [img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=22117[/img] |
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Trust me...your wife will hate you! My wife will let me buy new rifles/handguns before she lets me buy more R/C stuff, I fly 1/4 scale, I build mine and I have a few from scratch... I have been into R/C for over 15 years and I have a blast with it all of the time. I had to build a shop just to support my building habbits. AMA FUBAR HILL...(even have the shirt!) |
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man, i love the building part. middle of the night/raining/snowing/ too f'n cold/ whatever. when you got time to kill and there is just no opportunity to do anything else, you can always settle in to build your plane. i built only a 1/7 scale gold edition p40. functioning flaps and landing gear. i had definately over 150 hours by the time she flew. yeah, i eventually did a nice lazy/slow corkscrew into the ground.wrecked it all. $1500 went by by. |
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And if you really want to spend some big money you can become a HAM and put a TV camera on your bird, buy an old flight video game that is in them arcades, hook it up to fly from the thing and its like you are flying a real plane by using the controls in the game machine. Now that is really cool[:D] |
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Quoted: you can even carry camcorders on them and have a nice video of the time you flew you plane and clipped another plane mid-air, see how cool the world looks as you see parts of your plane scatter the sky like confetti as the camera rushes towards that rocky patch of ground to the left of the airfield, what a rush. You wouldn't happen to have that video in a digital format, would you? I am trying to find some of my smaller vids of combat flying and some aerobatics. |
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Quoted: Quoted: you can even carry camcorders on them and have a nice video of the time you flew you plane and clipped another plane mid-air, see how cool the world looks as you see parts of your plane scatter the sky like confetti as the camera rushes towards that rocky patch of ground to the left of the airfield, what a rush. You wouldn't happen to have that video in a digital format, would you? I am trying to find some of my smaller vids of combat flying and some aerobatics. I lent that video out to a guy a few years ago and never got it back, that is OK though since I recouped the cost by using his ammo. I still have the one with the wing tip rocket launching though, this one has been transferred onto a VHS. installation was running wire in the foam core wing, mounting 6inch rails of aluminum and hooking up a detachable control box(aerodynamical) at the CG under fuse controled on the 2-6(I think) knob, turn left and left shoots... carried batteries for igniters and the servo to activate some radio shack pressure switches. I got 3 launches b4 plane was introduced to the pavement after not fully recovering from power dive. The crash was not on the video unfortionatly. I need to get back into the hobby and have more fun with them. As an observation sticky pad mouse traps are great in getting volenteers to take rides on the plane |
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I'm an electric plyon racer. I kit (sell) a pylon racer called the Sliver400. Basically it's for a spec-class racing event that uses $7 mabuchi motors and the planes go about 95mph flat and level. Have a peek: www.fastcomposites.com For Guys with deeper pockets there's F5D: a RunWatchaBrung electric International class that has average lap speeds of over *180* MPH! 10 years ago it would have been a dream.... Dave |
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[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=22115[/img] what is that? lancaster? looks sorta like a B24. we had a RC airplane class in my HS. i took it but someone stole half my wing so i never finished my plane. the teacher hogged all the flying and subsequently crashed most kids planes. |
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You've gotten some really really good advice, here, some of it expensive and some of it not. As a person who got started myself, and taught myself to fly both planks and helis' let me offer you some tips that might help get into it more easily.... 1)While .40 and .60 gas planes are a great way to go, and they might be easier to fly, they are MUCH more expensive than a smaller electric trainer. I started with a .40 US AirCore KnightHawk, which was fine, but I was in HUNDREDS of dollars more than I planned for all the auxilliary stuff I didn't anticipate. 2) GET THE SIMULATOR SOFTWARE FIRST> It will tell you if you should proceed or not. I would recommend RealFlight G2 which you can get used on either ebay or some RCFlight places for around 130 dollars or so. I find that I fly my G2 as much as my real planes. If you don't like it, you can recoup most or all of your cost reselling it, which ISN"T true of planes. 3) Decide on a good starter plane. If I were in your shoes, I'd start with a "trainer" electric. Good ones are the GWS Tiger Moth because it flies slow, the GWS Slow Stick or maybe the Megatech Merlin. The attractiveness of the Merlin is that it's an ALL-In-One solution. Comes Ready to Fly. YEs, building is a lot of fun, but why buy all the stuff if you aren't Sure you'll get into it. Get a cheap, RTF trainer first and have at it. 4) After deciding on a plane, spend some stick time on the simulator, this will help more than anything else. Suffice it to say, I bought my knighthawk, crashed it three times in about 40 seconds of actual flight time, hung it up for a year, bought the simulator, spent about a month flying on the computer and then on my 4th flight, I was flying circles around several long time pros at my club. When I landed the Knighthawk in a nasty crosswind after our local instructor augered in they asked me how long I'd been flying, nobody believed that it was only my 5th flight ever. I still get teased for that. Most of them didn't know I'd spent hundreds of hours crashing on the simulator. The simulators actually harder to fly because you have such a limited point of view. Anyway, that's my recommnedations; Start cheap, try to get a prebuilt, ready to fly and get a sim. You'll be in a few hundred dollars and you'll find out if you love it or not. Then you can advance from there. But these guys are right, this hobby can EASILY get way more expensive than guns, and with RC, you can't sell it to recoup costs. Once you've seen a 6000 dollar turbine fold up midair, guns start seeming very cheap. have fun, RC is a great hobby. matt |
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Quoted: Quoted: Could one of you guys direct me to a good online retailer? [i]Probably[/i] right here FiveO. Have you decided what kit (or ARF) you're going to go with yet? I really want to keep it cheap at first and see if I get the bug... Kinda want to satisfy my curiosity ya know? I like the sound / look of the Hobbico Aerobird thee12nv posted... Another low end electric...? [peep] |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Could one of you guys direct me to a good online retailer? [i]Probably[/i] right here FiveO. Have you decided what kit (or ARF) you're going to go with yet? I really want to keep it cheap at first and see if I get the bug... Kinda want to satisfy my curiosity ya know? I like the sound / look of the Hobbico Aerobird thee12nv posted... Another low end electric...? [peep] [b]crashburnrepeat[/b] has sound advice above. Real Cheap Start to see if you like it: RealFlight PC Sim, comes with a "Radio" for a joystick. If you like flying with that, and can land (on wheels, they all land [i]somehow[/i]) in the Sim, try it. I think I now know how [b]crashburnrepeat[/b] picked his name. That is basically RC, and I am with Q3131, if I had the money I spent on planes.... ouch. I would say if you are happy with the sim, and watch at a local flying field (after some sim time, another will prolly let you try his on a 'buddy box' where he can take over if something is wrong, or you need to land properly), if all that still has you wanting to fly, go straight for the Glow Engine plane, otherwise the electric you got to start with will be flown for under a month and you will be buying the glow stuff anyway. It isn't a matter of "if I like it or not". It is a given that you will love it. (remember getting your first gun to see if you would 'like shooting or not???') It comes down to two questions: A) Am I capable of it, reflex and perspective wise (RealFlight will answer this after 10 horus), and emotionally (if having your goldfish die makes you teary eyed, you prolly don't wanna start) B) Can I afford it ($600 to start, then $100-500/month after that... [;D]). Quick test, give your wife/girlfriend/stranger $400, or just throw it out the window while going down the highway, if you can do that and not feel too wrecked (pun slightly intended), you are ok in this aspect. Like I said, guns don't "crash" per se, and you can sell them if you don't like shooting. R/C resale is very low, (which helps you get started cheap), but a box of balsa sticks and confetti doesn't sell too well (and you [b]will[/b] make a few "Figure 9's"). |
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FiveO, I wish you didn't live so far away! I've got a lot of electric kits & ARFs, but I'd love to talk ya outa [i]that[/i] idea. I know how tempting it can be to "go electric", but I'd suggest a .40 to .60 engine on a 4-channel high-wing bird. Something like a Kadet, Areostar, Telemaster, or whatever. It's one of the greatest hobbies in the world, but I've seen it ruined for too many people who tried to start off with electric (under)powered planes & other toys (no offence meant to anyone!). The price doesn't have to kill you either. Putting a good reliable (predictable, "honest", & forgiving) plane into the air for $250 is a lot like building a reliable $550 AR. It's not impossible , ... it's not even hard to do, just hit a few swap-meets. If you [b]expect[/b] to pay $900 for a new Bushmaster, there's no shortage of shops who are willing to oblige you. It's the same with hobby shops. You NEED the shops, but there's a lot of them that'll sting the living chit out of a new guy. Join the AMA (the meets are listed in their rag [i]MAN[/i]), [u]subscribe to RCM[/u] & get to a swap meet! You couldn't have picked a better time of the year, btw! |