RealFly

Plenty of info here on RC Universe.  However, it may be hard to find if you don't know exactly what you are looking for.  On our club site I post a lot of information related to beginners - from what to select in terms of planes, batteries, starters to keeping logs and why it make sense.  i started a little over two years ago so it is all fresh for me so i posted info to our site from that perspective.  You can check our site at www.toponewjersey.org although you will find abundant info here as well.  I post it under LenD.  Eventually I will move a lot of it over here, but I can tell you I confirmed gleaned a lot from this site on what to do...and also made some posts...

overbored77

My Feedback: (11)

Things needed for Glow powered flight:
Plane
Transmitter, receiver, receiver battery, servos. (most radios can be purchased with all this in it)
engine
Propellers (more than 1)
fuel line
Some form of starter. (chicken stick will do, electric starters are probably the safest and easiest)
Fueler (some way to get fuel from jug to plane)
Glow plug heater

Electric flight
Plane
Radio system, as described under glow, no receiver battery needed
motor
speed controller
Propellers (more than 1)
Flight batteries (at least 2 or 3)
Charger for flight batteries
Some way to charge flight batteries at field, (My wife dropped me off one day with my small electric plane, and no one else was there
and there is no power outlets at the field thank god I have 5 batteries for that plane)

kiwibob72

So she's didn't want to wait the 1/2 an hour it would take to run through all those batteries??? (lol)

spadeng

Kodiak,

spadeng

Kodiak,

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

That it's why I only have one electric plane, with glow you can fly 5 12-15 mins flights with one battery charge.
With electrics you can only fly 10-12 mins per charge, so bring a charger and sit and wait or bring several batteries($$$$)

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Buying and bringing extra batteries to the field is a basic requirement for electrics. It is not something above and beyond but rather essential. And the price of Lipos has dramatically decreased. You can find 3 cell 2200 mAh lipos for $10 now.

Kurt

overbored77

My Feedback: (11)

Kurt you are 100% right, I can get 4 batteries for MY largest electric for less than $100, Buy 5 Gallons of super and a quart of oil for the gas engines
and fly for months, I love my nitro planes, but mine are slowly going bye bye

JeffinTD

I can easily get 20 minutes of shooting landings with a 3300 3 cell in my Apprentice.

Having an audible volt monitor in the plane is kind of handy. If you are flying mellow, you can get more time than you think without pulling the pack below 80%.

Kodiak599

Spadeng, where was this hobby shop on base? Would love for there to be somewhere I could look...at anything.

Admiral052

Jeffin can you please talk about this audible alarm you have? I was wondering how to time the flight time of my new electric plane so I don't run down the LIPO below what it should end up at. Is this a product and do you have a link?

Thanks

The Admiral

spadeng

It WAS in the hangar club, on the other side of the parking lot from the base Gym, or across the street from the bank. I got fuel from there, they were pretty sparce on airplane stuff, but they could order it for ya,(I could do that myself).

The flying field there is a city park so you dont have to belong to the club (I never was) but I did Join the AMA. (I did ask how to join the club and was asked "why do you want to do that" then I never bothered) but there is usually someone there on the weekend (usually helicoper guys) but someone may be able to put you in contact with someone who can sell you some used stuff (thats what I started with)

Good Luck

JeffinTD

A buddy bought a bunch and was selling them cheap. I think he got them off e bay.

Anyway, if you google low battery buzzer, it will hit on a bunch of them.

The one I have has an LED readout that rotates through total pack voltage and each cell's voltage. Above that are two buzzers, and between those is a little button. Poke it, and it will show what voltage it is set to go off at. Keep poking that to change the value. If any cell drops below that voltage, it starts beeping.

It looks like this one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005GJ...dir_mdp_mobile

jester_s1

I know it's a can of worms but I'm going to suggest staying away from the super cheap radios. Turnigy stuff in particular is known for being hit and miss on quality control. If you get a bad battery and catch it in discharge testing that's one thing, but a bad radio will cost you an airplane. Sure, some guys do fine with them, but no way I'm trusting the money and time I have invested in even the cheapest nitro planes to them. Tactic stuff seems to be gaining a reputation, but I'll still reserve judgment until they have a few years on them. All 4 of the major brands have an entry level computerized radio for under $250. Considering how much it will get used in the hobby, it just makes sense to go with a product you can trust.

overbored77

My Feedback: (11)

I agree 100%, I just returned my buddies turnigy/skyfly 9x to him. He went to the park the other day and it wouldn't power up. I already
had installed a rechargable battery in it. I did some research online and saw some info about poor soldering, when the case was opened
I found a cold solder joint that ripped off the power switch, he isn't the most gentle person with his equipment more like a gorilla with
a beer keg as a toy. i cleaned the solder globs off of most of the switches ans redid them. I really didn't play with the radio too much
it does have nice features, but I do suspect the quality of the boards and such if the switches were poorly soldered. I flew his Electric
edge with it and all was fine. I realize that lately cost is the determining factor in what we buy, but I don't know if i could trust that
radio. What would have happened if he was flying when the solder joint broke, definitely a crash but the potential for bodily injury
and property damage is definitely there.

Normally I would not take apart someones radio unless I was changing springs or antenna, I am in no ways an electronics expert.
but when it comes down to a radio he bought for less than 50 bucks I figured if I broke it I could replace it. my radios go to
radio south for repair. I just didn't want to recommend that people should repair their radios not only are they complicated
but if something gets screwed up you could end up hurting yourself, some one else, or shooting down someones plane

JeffinTD

I also agree, in that I would suggest buying the best radio you can afford.

If your circumstances mean that is one of the cheap ones, though, I guess I'm ok with that. I've seen the expensive ones lock out, too, and if I were in a situation where it was cheap radio or don't fly, I'd choose fly.

spadeng

One thing about the new 2.4ghz is everyone is dumping there old 72mhz stuff. I got a good deal on a JR 7202. Not many people are flying 72mhz so alot of the freqs are open.  Sometimes you can catch a deal with a nice radio and a bunch of recievers.

oil_can_harry

My Feedback: (2)

If your thinking about buying a used plane, there is a Hobbico Superstar Mk II trainer on craigslist in Lubbock that includes a 40 engine, radio, batteries, charger, radio and everything else you need for 200.00 pretty cheap way to get started.

koastrc

The OP makes a good point. Many have posted very good advice. Most of the advice is to help find a good airplane. All of this has one very common theme. This Hobby/Sport can be very difficult to become part of. The most important thing about this thread is the effort that is put out to help this guy. Makes me wonder about all that negative things some people post about some of the clubs. The person that posted the story about the cheap equipment. I do not think for one minute the dude was doing anything but giving his best advice based on what he knew about the equipment. I like the beginners forum because of the effort of the people that are truly trying to help. All of the people that have made the effort to help have done just that. Made a effort to help. Now the OP and all others reading this will have to make up their minds based on some very solid information.
So I say thanks for the effort of all the people that have had a input. We all had to start some place and this forum is as good as place as any.

jester_s1

I'm a notorious cheapskate, especially for discretionary spending like this hobby. So over the last 6 years of doing the hobby, I've found where one can save money and where one shouldn't. If a guy really needs to do the hobby on the cheap, used airframes are going for practically give away prices. Used engines go for about half of retail, less if they are banged up. It's rare in my experience that engines wear our or go bad aside from being gummed up with castor after a few years. At the worst, they'll need $8 worth of bearings. So those two items can take a lot of the sting out of the hobby. Big lots of used servos come up for sale sometimes, and with thorough testing can be trusted just fine. Field equipment can be a great buy from someone getting out of the hobby, although that doesn't come up just all the time. Sometimes though a field box will come up for sale, usually with several planes and engines in a lot, and will have everything you need. I'm a bit more iffy on radios and receivers simply because there can be intermittent problems and some guys will sell them off instead of getting them fixed. I'd buy one if I trusted the seller, preferably one that is currently in service. Understand though that a used radio often needs a new battery, and that will set you back $30-$40 for a quality one. The absolute best buys you can make are to catch someone getting out of the hobby who has a lot of stuff and make a low offer on the whole lot. It helps when you're willing to come pick it all up and, of course, have cash on hand. Stuff is always worth more individually than in a lot, so if you buy it all and sell off the things you don't need you can have a stock of equipment very cheaply.