RE: THINGS TO CHECK ON AN RTF
very well put together and informative. Just wish i had read this 4 months ago when I started into planes. I bought a GWS Estarter for the gf for her birthday and we built it together. We did spend alot of time balancing it and really labored over how perfect things needed to be as far as tail and elevator placement relative to the wings and fuselage. Proudly we can say it flew its first try. It also crashed quite spectacularly on its 3rd flight of that day. I was so impressed with it, I bought myself one and decided i was an expert now on building and setting up this particular model. I tore the tail section off on its maiden flight. Lesson learned the hard way! I now have 2 more complete kits waiting to be built and got enough parts to actually rebuild the tore up one from scratch.
When I bought the 2 kits from my LHS I also bought a Aerobird Challenger. I have flown that 3 ch almost exclusively and have become more proficient at control and also found that i can actually relax a little and enjoy the flight, not have to fly it all puckered up all the time. I am still a n00b at planes but am becoming more proficient at checking things before flights and doing a range check prior to launch. Build and rebuild techniques have been gleaned from these forums and I can honestly say that without RCU I would have tossed in the plane aspect of RC and stuck with just heli's.
I wish many of the LHS's would perhaps usher a new pilot to check out some of these forums before even starting thier build/battery charge/maiden flight. 20 minutes on the internet can pay off in hours of enjoyment! I know i spent alot of time after my first crash and rebuild process here.....learning what i could so I could avoid it in the future.
Just a side note............. I bought a flight sim for practicing with the heli's but found myself flying planes alot more than the heli's. My ability to fly the planes more comfortably is directly related to time spent on the sim. Too bad RTF packages don't come with a way to link up with your computer and teach you some basic skills prior to your maiden flight/fright!
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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!