johnnymax

I have been out of RC since 1981. I built, crashed. repaired, crashed... repeat, repeat, repeat...
Anyway, I have been following here and been planning to get back into it. I am ready.
I am wanting to buy an inexpensive RC Transmitter that will connect up to "Clear view" on my computer, so I can build up my skills with the transmitter I will be using.
What about the Flysky FS-i6 6CH 2.4GHz AFHDS RC Transmitter?
Then I am wanting to get a simple "affordable" receiver, battery motor, etc and start making Dollar Tree Foam Board planes.
The build is half the fun! (Uhhh.. maybe more than half!)
I am interested in light, slow moving planes at first like the this "Puddle Bug" I have already brought the PDF into AutoCAD and I am scaling it up to plot a bigger version. (60" span)
If you could give me advice, or point me to the best threads to get me up to speed I would appreciate it.
There are SO MANY POST! I am overwhelmed.
I joined this forum about 10 years ago... Yes, I move a little slow sometimes, but now I am moving
Is there a decent transmitter in the $50 range?
Do ya'll recommend 4, or 6 channel?
Any generic advice and direction is appreciated.
And a list of what I need to start will REALLY help me get going.
Thanks in advance.

Lee Taylor

Not a noob here but back after 30yrs. The industry is in sad array. You will notice as time passes. The demand has diminished and shifted. The suppliers have dried up and some have vanished. I have been looking for a TX also. I do not have a price restriction on my search. So far the online R/C society has narrowed it down to Spectrum, Futaba, and FrSky (not to be confused with Flysky). The radio gear, engines, and motors seem to be out there. The planes not so much. Planes are much less available now days due to the lack of interest and lack of demand.

The first thing I did was purchase a Real Flight Simulator RF-8. It has changed the game for me altogether. It builds confidence and muscle memory. My flying skills are back and significantly improved.

The 60" span does not seem to be that popular now days. Seems the smaller electric ARF's and Foamies are in demand. They are fast to the field and quick to rebuild after a crash. The 1/4 scale and larger seem to be in demand to some degree. Very expensive $$$

Bottom line is the industry ain't what it use to be

BalsaGhost

I was out for 18 years, and when I got back in I was blown away at the amount of folks who were flying airplanes like helis. Just hovering around on the prop at midfield for most of the day...haha.

It's still a fun hobby, but different.

Kit building is almost extinct
Foamies are everywhere
Electric is great for conversation at the club (since everyone flies 5 mins and charges an hour!)
Gasoline engines are popular since people like to constantly tune and hate glow residue.
The radios are WAY better these days, no worries about interference, and they're easily programmable.
3D planes are the norm. Bring a warbird or sport glow plane and you'll be unique!

johnnymax

Thanks for the response. I may break down and get RF-8. I can afford it, but trying to save up to built the wife a house. I played with RF on a friends PC a few years ago. It was awesome and did not cost me money and work when I crashed! I may just stick with the original small size for the Foam Board plane. Start simple and proven, then start designing and tweaking.

johnnymax

The wife bought me a cheap small drone last Christmas on Black Friday. It is OK, I did not mention it, because it is not what I am used to. I am really interested in planes, because I want to bank, loop, roll, and take off and land down a runway.
It seem more challenging to me for some reason. I had to Google the term 3d Planes, LOL. I always just called them stunt, or aerobatic planes. I learned something.
Now I need to Google "Sport Glow Plane?" I know what a War-Bird is
I am getting with an old friend this weekend. He has a building he built just for his RC addiction. He just talks over my head a little. RC Info Overload! I need to snap a few pics.

rgburrill

I don't think you can do better than the FlySky or Turnigy i6S transmitter. The Turnigy is the same as the FlySky but is from HobbyKing. They have a warehouse in the US, maybe 2. Mine came from Oregon and came with two receivers, one with 6 standard ports and one with just a serial port. Whichever one you buy do the firmware upgrade as soon as you get it and then the Turnigy will even say it is the FlySky. And for those who poopoo it to get you to buy the more expensive brands you can buy three of them for the price of the others.

I also have RealFlight but a much older version. I have even learned how to fly helicopters without destroying them.

r ward

about the same as you,...out for 40+ years and just starting to fly again at 63. in my opinion, the guys that return after so many years, return just to enjoy the hobby and all the little details about the newer electronics don't really matter all that much. a basic 6 or 8 channel with 2.4 technology, is what you should look at. most probably have more programmability than you are capable of using,....at least that's my experience,....( I have to keep the owners' manual right by my side all the time these days !) I don't think any brand has bad stuff now a days. competition is pretty good and they all make radios that will compete within their particular niche. I have a Futaba 6EX ,....not exactly new by today's technology any more, but far better than my 4channel "Attack" system. the 6EX now out of production as well,..... so I will be shopping, if anything goes bad with it. the good thing is that there are many radios that are either entry-level or a bit better that can be had for nearly half of what a similar radio cost 30-40 years ago and "entry level" is pretty dang good now-a-days.
join a club, if there is one near by,...... the support and camaraderie is well worth the membership cost.
in my area the, 60 inch and bigger planes are still very popular, but I live in the country and the clubs are in small towns with lots of space around the flying fields. in my area building is still "state of the hobby art" as well. in all my 36 years living in the small town I now do, I have never seen anyone flying a park flyer or a foamy,.....we still build real planes around here !.

Lee Taylor

I have never been a fan or giving up my money. In the case of the simulator I have zero regrets. Here is the one I purchased. Purchased from Tower. Zero problems. Just like the old days.

https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXGWCM&P=ML

Would I do it again? Yes, in a skinny minute

This is me
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johnnymax

Thanks for the video post Lee, that was the push I needed.

Lee Taylor

I was immediately attracted to the Sbach, Extra, and the Yak. I like the way the Yak flies. I like it best. A lot of the way it handles has to do with the degree of deflection of your flaps. The transmitter allows you to adjust the maximum degree of deflection. With these planes I like full forward trim on the throttle. During landing it prevents me from reducing the speed too much and suddenly dropping to the ground. Different from the actual field in that they fly straight and true and need no trim. When I fly slowly I sometimes like to feed in a little up trim. But then when you throttle-up you have to come off off the up trim or it will continuously climb and climb.

Another great thing is NO fuel required! Just reset and you are ready again. Crash? No problem. Just reset and you are back flying agian. I think it is a marvelous creation. Kudos to the people that put this thing together.

Sbach


Extra


Yak

johnnymax

Well I did it! I ordeted RF8 and a cable to hook up the transmitter. They should be here by Thursday.

Lee Taylor

Congrats! I am excited for you. I may put in a few more flights on mine before bed. I made a "beginner" video tonight. I know there must be some kids out there that can use this info. I love the sound of this twin engine B-25 Mitchell Warbird. Would love to own and fly one at the field but the high dollar large models cost a lot in a crash. I have re-built many R/C planes that I have crashed and I have always tried to stay conservative. At the moment conservative to me is .60 glow engine size

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Lee Taylor

Was flying some tonight on my simulator. The simulator takes a LOT of the "work" out of modeling and flying. I really enjoy flying large models on the sim. I am SURE I would like it in the field except for the expense of crashing. That is the BIG crux for me. The expense of crashing. I have noticed while flying on the sim my moments of disorientation have almost completely disappeared. For a while there I was making a point to say out loud to myself.... your disoriented. It is not something to be ignored in my opinion. It is important to recognize moments of disorientation.

jester_s1

Having a procedure for what to do when disoriented is vital too. Mine is to input some left rudder. If the dot goes left, it's flying away from me. If right, it's pointed toward me. That's after checking elevator function to make sure I'm not inverted.
The other thing for disorientation is to know what your last known position was and be mindful on what inputs you've given. When I fly my pattern plane, which is pretty fast, I frequently have moments when I can't visually verify the plane's attitude. But if I keep in mind the plane was flying away from me 2 seconds ago and I just pulled back on the elevator, I know it's still flying away from me with the nose up. So I assume I'm right and give it the input that will get me what I want. 99% of the time that works, and no one even knows I was disoriented.

Lee Taylor

I could not agree more. When I become disoriented, if I am not "in trouble", I try to not do a thing until the disorientation passes. I do not usually have to make an input to figure out what is going on. In my early days I felt compelled to give a command when I was disoriented. For me, this would often make things worse. Recognizing I am having a moment (or three) of disorientation is important to me. It seems the more I fly the less I get disorientated. When I am disoriented I tell myself this out loud over and over (you're disoriented, you're disoriented) until it passes. It seems I am saying to myself... don't do something stupid... just figure out what the plane is doing

Lee Taylor

Well it is Friday now. Did you get it?

donnyman

Hello!
It seems to me you fella's need to join up with us old timers (old timers 50+ only) in the club house thread. Johnnymax has dropped by recently.

Stickslammer

I get disoriented every time I fly, which I just chalk up to the notion that I don`t fly enough to have it be second nature or keep the "muscle memory" in play. I figure I would have to fly at least 3 or 4 hours a week to get to the point where my plane doesn`t wobble a lot. Simulator? I don`t know. I spent some time on the one at the hobby shop and it just feels totally different to me.

Appowner

Sims can help when set up right. Especially at the beginning. But nothing replaces hands on stick time. And the key as you suggested is practice, practice and more practice. And every plane being a bit different (or even a lot), means some practice will be required for each plane.

I do 5-6 touch and goes every time I fly. Why? Well after doing this for years it turns out there is nothing I can't grease in a landing with. As a result I get called on a lot to save models. And mastering the approach and landing in this way goes a long way towards mastering all aspects of flight. Landing is the ONLY maneuver that is mandatory. All others are optional.

Lee Taylor

They have one set up at the local hobby shop here also. I tried it before I purchased mine. It is horrible. I don't know how to explain that. The one I have at the house is excellent. I think the one at the shop is very old.

Flying on the sim, as opposed to the field, feels different to me also. No wind or air pockets for starters. I think you can program that in but who wants it? The thing I like about the sim is the ability to try new maneuvers with no worries of crashing. It seems I only crash when trying something new. The great thing about the sim is flying again after a crash is instant. Not so at the field.

Last night I was practicing my dead stick landings. I hate dead stick landings, but who doesn't hate em. My problem is airspeed. I find my way to the landing strip but my airspeed has depleted and the plane does a wing tip stall. At that point I have no control and the plane bonks the ground. If I arrive at the landing strip with enough airspeed, I have no problems

Another maneuver I was practicing last night was the vertical hover. The biggest problem I have with this is when I go past vertical and become inverted with zero airspeed. I immediately become seriously disoriented because the ground is only 20 feet away. The answer is throttle and down elevator but I have yet to grasp that

Lee Taylor

What causes the wobble?

Lee Taylor

In the past I would get disoriented when the plane would switch from going away from me to coming towards me. I would typically get disoriented when in the process of switching my thinking from left-is-left to left-is-right. I have grown out of it. Now days I fly just as well with the plane coming at me as I do with it going away from me. I have practiced it so much that my brain easily makes the transition now with no disorientation at all.

Lee Taylor

Beginner attempts at simulator hovering

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Stickslammer

Well, I`m no where near hovering, since I don`t even have anything that would pull unlimited vertical. By wobble I mean trial and error just to see which way I need to push the stick. I know how pathetic that sounds, but really, sometimes I wonder if I`m firmly ensconsed in the dyslexia spectrum. But like Appowner says "practice, practice and more practice. I can hold my own at the flying field and genuinely enjoy myself. Touch and goes are essential practice, I know, but getting down on the ground safe leaves me reluctant to push the stick back up for another go around. I probably should get a RF8. It wouldn`t hurt and is better than watching some dumb show on TV.

Lee Taylor

My experience at the field, way back in the 80's, was to get it on the ground and take it home in one piece. If you put it back up, you risk the chance of a re-build job.

Now days I am like App... I do landings all the time. The more you do them, the easier they get.

I feel I have gotten my monies worth out of the simulator. I have at least 20 solo field flights so I know the difference. I see some claims that the sim is not realistic. I disagree completely. It is VERY realistic in my opinion. There are definitely differences but it is a GREAT tool. I have used the sim quite a bit and learned quite a bit about myself that I did not know.

I am in the market for a plane and transmitter and I will likely join one of the local clubs before spring 2019. I am working on some of my old gear and an old kit I have 85% complete.

Unless you record your simulator session and make it public, no one knows, or cares what you do with it. I can be a totally private experience