SKITZ0721

I have been working at Hobby Town USA for a month now. I have been playing the Great Planes Real Flight G3 Flight Simulator every day. I am ready to get a plain but im not sure which one. I have narrowed it down to the ones I like. I wanted to get the Spektrum DX6 (for sure), lipo, and maybe a quark/hacker combo. I need some feedback. Please help me make the right decision. Thank you.

Mr67Stang

I did not vote in your pole because none of those are good "first" planes. If you want to go electric look at this first.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJKE1&P=7

You will have much better luck with this and an instructor. All the Sim work you have done will help a lot but when you get hands on the instructor is kinda like the reset button in the sim that saves you the money in repairs/replacement. I can tell by your list that you want to do cool 3D stuff right out of the box. What the trainer will teach you is to recover when things go bad. I know you are probably going to ignore this advice but if you stick with this hobby after you crash $500 worth of performance RTF planes you will remember this advice. So I will leave you with... good luck.

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

I didn't vote either. None of those planes are 1st planes.

Much as you do not want to hear it, you need a TRAINER. The life expectancy of one of the planes in your poll is going to be under 30 seconds. You will most likely be able to salvage the receiver and servos from the plane. The motor and lipo battery will be a crap shoot.

If you crash wrong you will bend the shaft in the motor. For what it will cost to replace the shaft you may as well get another motor for a few dollars more. As for the lipo - contrary to what a lot of people believe, lipo batteries are fragile. As little as accidently dropping the battery on the floor can cause the battery to swell, at which point it is useless AND A FIRE HAZARD. A crash is going to have a lot more force behind it than accidently dropping the battery on the floor.

If you have that much money to squander, send it to me and I will send you a video of the plane and equipment it bought. The video will also show the plane doing all that cool 3D stuff and safely landing so it can do it all over again.

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving - have a nice Christmas.

22Ryan22

ugh. please get a nexstar. it was my first plane and i wouldnt have changed anything now that i look back on it. if you ever get into trouble, this nifty little plane will help alot, and from experience i know that this is normal for novices. i never put my nexstar in danger nor crashed it and i learned how to fly by myself three months ago.

overbored77

My Feedback: (11)

Skit as you are an employee of a hobbyshop, would you reccomend someone with no real time flight experience to buy a very expensive hard to fly plane ? wait don't answer that I remember the hobbytown that used to be close to me.

Sorry, I know not all hobbyshops give bad advice in the hopes to make a quick buck.

If you read all the posts about getting a first plane they are like a broken record so why should this be any different.
1.Find a club, and go there and check it out, 2. Join the AMA 3.please don't try to fly yourself, a good instructor and a buddy box will have you flying solo and safely in a short time. 4. Fly trainers on the sim and practice the basics of flight Taxi, Takeoff, Right and left patterns, and landing. Use the flight instructor if your sim has one. that way when you get with an instructor you will have some idea
how to control the plane. You will find after the first real flight that the sim will shorten the learning curve but can't teach real world flying.

This is my opinion and I have been known to be wrong. If you choose to ignore it I wish you the best of luck, I only posted to help a fellow new flyer so they don't make the mistakes that I and alot of other people did. If you take the advice of these guys and me you may find that learning is very enjoyable and make some new friends at the same time.
Good Luck and Happy Holidays

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

none of the above should have been a choice.
I re-learned on the NEXTAR myself solid plane for learning the basics of RC flight, if you are dead set on elec. than get a stable trainer with parts you can transfer to something hotter later you will regret the trick planes that dont let you actually learn to fly in the real world .
BTW I love my sim and I think it helps in a big way just don't judge your ability by it you will find your not as good as you think you are.

overbored77

My Feedback: (11)

I like that one tim, I found out how true that was my first instructed flight.

I flew that sim every night for a minimum of 1-2 hours for 2 weeks prior to my first instructed flight. I thought I was gonna just go out there and solo my first day. I did find that it helped my learning curve tremendoulsly, but it was so different when I realized that I was looking at My plane 200ft in the air and there was no reset button on the controller, but I have to say a the sim helped me to know what to do when the instructor said "You have the plane".

Mr67Stang

There are two references to the Nexstar in this thread so far. I too learned to fly on a Nexstar. I starteded witha Parkzone J-3 Cub but learned on a Nexstar. Now for the shocker!!!! DON"T GET A NEXSTAR! You don't have to spend that kind of money. A Tower Trainer will do the same job. But it seems you want electric flight so I stand by my recomendation in my first post for the Sig Kadet EP 42. Good Luck.

Flak

My Feedback: (1)

Avistar 40 with the engine and radio pre-installed. Good luck.

SKITZ0721

I didn't think those would be that hard to fly. When I was using the trainers in the sim, they would react too slowly. I didn't like them at all. And we have had nothin but complaints about most of the trainers we sell. People have had a hard time getting them in the air to begin with. What about the ParkZone Typhoon 3D RTF or the ParkZone F-27C Stryker Electric RTF? I was told by the president of the local flying club they were good.

Missileman

What kind of complaints? What kind of trainers do you sell? Did they have an instructor?
Without help from an experienced flyer any airplane will be hard to fly if you have never flown before.
As far as the Typhoon and Stryker I think we have already answered that question.
There are many of us here that have demolished our first airplanes with the idea that we could actually fly them with enough sim time. We were wrong. Yes there are some people that have gone out and flown without a hitch (or so they say) but that is rare.
If you insist on your choices then I suggest you get one of each and with some luck you may be able to get a couple of days out of them.

EvaderMaster

Neither[:'(], those planes are definately not designed for the begginer. Get an easystar for your first plane..... Even though the G3 simulator has probably been helping you, your better off going with a plane that can get you up in the air. I don't know how your experience is on the simulator, but for the average begginer if you start out with those planes you'll go through 6 of them by the time you get a decent flight.

Flak

My Feedback: (1)

Hey guys,
When you post a reply, make reference to what plane you are referring to. Statements like, "Those planes" "That Plane" "These Planes" could be anything. Make a clear statement like, "The Tower 40 is a trainer with a flat bottom wing" or "The avistar 40 has a semi symetrical wing". See what I mean? Otherwise, the reading of the post gets very confusing as to what part of the thread you are writing about. Darn, now I sound like a moderator. I'm out of here. Back to the Turkey!!!

ChuckW

If somebody has trouble getting a trainer off the ground, the problem lies with their own lack of knowledge, training and reluctance to follow instructions. Any trainer airplane from a good manufacturer will easily get into the air (They even fly when I build them which is kinda hard to imagine). I think people are shocked when they actually fly a plane for the first time because they're a lot faster and react quicker than they think. Watching others on video and in person makes it look easy but that is decieving. I know trainer airplanes aren't as cool as a 3D aerobat but you wouldn't put a 15 year old student driver with no experience in a top fuel dragster or formula 1 car would you? The airplane thing isn't quite that extreme but it's the same idea. You may be able to handle a high performance plane on your first try; there are people out here with that kind of ability. It would probably be expensive and frustrating trying to find out though. Just as with any sport or hobby, start simple and learn the basics and you'll progress to the cool stuff before you know it.

As for the siulator, they are great. I have Realflight G3.5 and use it 2-3 times a week. They do a good job of teching you control sensitivity and basic flight techniques. As great as they are though, they don't, in my opinion, 100% duplicate real flying.

I know everyone isn't exactly telling you what you want to hear but they are right. Follow their advice and you'll have a rewarding, lifelong hobby. And welcome to the addiction.

pcsketch

Go to an AMA field. Fly the club trainer with the club instructor. Then see if you want to teach yourself.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Wait for the Parkzone T28 Trojan that's coming out. It's a better trainer than either RTF electric that you mentioned.

Of the two you did mention, you might have a chance trying to fly a Stryker. The Typhoon is a nice plane for an experienced pilot. Wait and get one after you've destroyed a few easier-to-fly planes first.

The best first plane that Parkzone makes is the Slo-V. It's a wonderful flying airplane that is manuverable enough to fly indoors in a gymnasium when the weather won't let you fly outside. You can fly the Slo-V, it flies a lot like the Great Planes BLT on the Real Flight G3.5 simulator.

LEOIII

The Stryker is definietly not a a good first plane! I know this because my wife got it for me for christmas. I have been flying 2 ch planes fora while and decided to join the AMA and the local rc park. I have a lot of sim time including the Stryker and am having a bit of a hard time with it in real flight.But when I let an "experienced" person fly it they had no problems. I bought an Extra 330l RTF and am doing better with that. My next plane I think will be some flat fomie that if I crash it is cheaper to replace the body. Just rember (like someone else said) there is no reset button at 200' in the air. The sim does help and remember every crash on the sim is cheaper than the real thing. HAPPY FLYING[sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

oldhippy1

My Feedback: (21)

Here is a trainer I would refer. I also recommend you get with a club and instructor.
http://www.towerhobbies.com/products...co/hcaa12.html

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

I gotta throw in my two cents. WE have a guy out at our field who came out with the same idea, I.E. he had lots of simulator time and was sure he was gonna solo his first time up. Our field, BTW, is not a club field, it's a local Naval Aux. Field where we can fly on the weekends. There is a loose club out there, a freq. board and a fairly good policing committee. So he didn't go up by himself, he was buddy boxed. Guess what? In his own words, "it's a lot different!". It's a whole different world when it's your plane up there, even if it is a cheap-o slo stick. Simulators are great.... helped me out tremendously when I was learning to fly. But they aren't an adequate substitute for buddy box time.


Our guy? He soloed after about two days of buddy box time, and is progressing along nicely.

Andy

Oh yeah.... I third the Sig Kaydet EP.... can't go wrong with that airplane...

Lomcevak Duck

My Feedback: (14)

Guys if you'll look at the dates of the first posts up to #15 I don't think the thread starter is still needing help. He seems to have disappeared from the airplane world. (I wonder what plane he finnaly decided on?) Most of his posts are in the cars and tanks forums.

stinky424

Hello
I am new to this also I have been fly realflight sim for 2 years now and this year finally bought a real plane. I picked up a hobbyzone super cub lp BNF I aready had a spectrum DX6i and love this plane. Friend of mine worked with me for about a week with buddy box then after that I was solo flying for the next 2 months.Then I went and bump up to the Flyzone Sensei and did the same thing there with buddy box working great. Both planes just about fly their selfs. So now I have just purchased my next step up which is a Airfield P51 1450mm warbird cant wait to buddy it up and fly it. And yes the sim was very helpful but still isnt the real deal. And there is no reset button for crashes.

Wish you the best of flying
Keith