RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

When I find a "committed" student, these are my recommendations:

Tower 60 size trainer...very stable and fixable

OS 61 fx....... when a students is done with his training plane, he can put the fx in Sig fourstar 60 to continue learning

Futaba 7c 2.4..... this radio is easy to program and will handle 75% of planes the average flyer would fly.

Real Flight 5.5 sim..... takes many hours off of pilot training

Chris923
Flying Electrons
Meno. Falls Wis

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

I am not fond of the Nexstar. All that garbage in it, AFS and add on wing parts. It fights itself constantly. Some guys love it and that is ok with me.

Give me a Sig Series Kadet or other similar trainer. I won't teach anybody on a Nexstar. That is my policy. I won't recommend it either.

I recommend the LT40, or the Hobbico 60 if the student wants to start with a bigger trainer.

Magnum engines last a long time as long as you do not run them lean. If you add two capfuls of castor to a gallon of fuel it may be sloppy but your engines will last SO much longer. Oil is a friend when running two strokes. It lubricates and also assists in cooling. Plus it will add a little more smoke trail when flying.

I have twenty plus years on some of my two strokes with no problems. I run them a touch rich and add castor to EVERY gallon of fuel I open. Luck no. Understanding two stroke engine theory and being a small engine mechanic for years has assisted my experience.

Simulators are good for one thing. Learning the basics of stick control. It does not provide the effect of the real thing at the field. It also does not provide for sudden wind gusts and changes of wind direction during the flight. It does not provide the distraction of others at the field. Some are not accurate for torque of the engines either. I have one but seldom use it. I prefer the real thing. The breeze on my face the sun shining. The birds singing and flying across the field as I land.

Many who use simulators develop "tunnel vision" they are not aware of other things around them. Thus they have a midair. In all my years I have not had a midair because I can catch another plane in my vision before it can get to my plane and I can make a correction to evade.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

I started and soloed with the Hobbico Supertar 40 and then transitioned to the Sig 4 Star 40. It seemed to me that the 4* was easier to fly!! But maybe I had more experience by then?

A major factor for me was that I fly off a grass field, so a taildragger works better for me. Something to consider when picking/assembling a trainer.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

Goldberg Tiger 60. Now that is a very good plane. You don't ever out grow it from what I read.


Pete

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

I put zip code 71801 and 71802 in the search box at http://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx
Nothing within 25 miles but 4 clubs within 50 miles. Texarkana, Kirby, Arkadelphia, Camden.
That may seem extreme but I drive 45 miles each way to fly at a great club. It will be well worth the drive to get some help learning to fly. Once you're soloed out you may or may not continue the commute.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

A decent simulator is worth a bunch - especially if you live far from a club or have lots of winter weather. Two of my sons each "played" with an old Dave Brown simulator one winter. They probably had 30-40 hours and hundreds of crashes each, and both soloed their first day at the field.

I like the NexStar ARF, not the RTF. I have two in the fleet at the moment, one with a Thunder Tiger .46Pro and the other with a Magnum .52 four stroke. Both have the wings setup with the speedbrakes and stall caps, and both fly beautifully.

I'm a fan of the Tiger 60, too.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

Kyosho Calmoto..... Overlooked here in the states, but if you can find one on ebay they are great flying planes...... They come in low wing and high wing configurations..... Very nice planes

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

Kadet Senior. Period.

Nexstar? Never in a million years.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

If you can find one or the other I highly recommend a Falcon 56 or Falcon Senior. They were made by a company called "Golberg". Excellent trainers that could take you far past this stage of learning.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

We teach all the youngsters around here on an old 60 U-CAN Do with the rates turned way down. Most of them have a vertical learning curve ability and they grow into the performance pretty quick. Otherwise they get real bored with the basic trainers. Sim time is a plus. Just another tool for learning. Most all engines are usable these days. Like anything else, you have to learn how to tune an engine. Just part of the game of this hobby. No magic silver bullet with the OS. There good but highly overrated. Big status symbol. There's lots of good used equipment available out there for cheap that one can learn on and have a ton of fun for not much $$$

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

You do an injustice to our hobby, by saying, they, the youngster have an upward learning curve. I was personally exposed to these kids that fit your description and over 90% of them failed. They all wanted to copy what the 3D pilots were doing and shunded the basic trainer that we offered for flying lessons. Out of fifthteen youngster only two remain and they have become proficient pilots. The two that remained are still flying with us and yes they are flying 3D airplanes but they know the basics. Those others went quickly because they fooled themselves into believing there was nothing to flying. We don't offer assistance to the young people anymore unless they are sincere and willing to take our instructions. I'm am so tired of hearing how the simulator can turn you into a proficient Top Gun pilot.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

Who said that a sim can turn someone into a Top Gun Pilot? They are great for learn basic flight manuvers. Lousy for learning how to land.

Chris923

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

I would recommend the Hangar 9 Alpha 60, with the Evolution 61 or an OS 60 engine. Flies great and very easy for a beginner to keep up with. Big and easy to see!


Ron

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

I was a student with my own trainer. Alpha .40 RTF by H9. I was on the simulator for a week or so and then went to the field where I knew noone. I alowed one of the guys take it up and he got it trimed out and landed it. Then another person took it up for me and handed me the remote. After a few minutes in the air I gotbored with it because it was to easy to fly. I flew several times trhat day and met some real cool people. One of the guys I met has a private field behind his house and I went almost every day with him helping me out. 2 weeks after the maiden flight I was soloing the Alpha .40. I still have that trainer today and have taught my 13 year old to fly with it. He got his own plane for Christmas and enjoys the Hobby very much. Now a year later after the trainer I have several planes RTF and I'm not afraid to put any bird in the air. The guys I fly with say that my pilot experiance is that of a five to seven year flier, I now have 1 year at the sticks since my first public solo. I said all that to say this. H9 makes a great trainer and they make great ARF planes. What I do not like about H9 is replacement parts. A fuse cost almost as much as the whole ARF. A wing half is half the cost and if tyou need a whole wing it is sometimes 2 part numbers instaed of one. Tower has a great trainer at a good price and if it hits the ground, buy another and drive on. As for my favorite engines.. Saito and OS 4S. I have not found any real diffrence other price in the 2S engines on the market. I have had Thunder Tiger, OS, Super Tiger and Evolution. I like them all when they are purring away pulling my planes through the air.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

That's like saying that a new computer can make you intelligent.....

The simulator helps a lot with hand/eye coordination, orientation when the plane is coming toward you, and keeping the plane close enough to see. New pilots of all ages benefit from the stress-free practice simulators allow.

Over the years, I've helped many (more than FIFTEEN) new pilots progress to solo. The ones who have spent the time on a sim learn faster, the video gamers next fastest, and the only one I've ever had fail to solo was in no physical condition to fly R/C. Sounds like poor instruction to me....

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

G'day all

There are many types of beginners. Each has slightly different needs.

When I learned, I was 39. At the time I had a 12 year old son. Our needs were completely different. He could have learned on just about anything. I needed something bigger and slower and with more stability. Sadly, I did not discover the Kadet Senior for a couple of years and "re-kitted" a number of planes in the mean time. (I even tried a Duraplane. Now there is a plane with "issues".)

At the present time I am teaching two older blokes (52 and 64) and they need something like a Kadet Senior. I have previously said that I really like the Kadet but I have found that young kids quickly get bored with it and so I only use it with younger folk for the first couple of flights. After that they are better off with something with a semi symmetrical wing and a bit more speed. The late lamented World Models Skyraider Mach 1 would be a good match but there are many others. But for the older beginner the Kadet is fine - especially the kit built version with no ailerons. But here again, there are problems. The plane is not happy with crosswinds for take off and landings and so this limits its use to some extent. Then again, the stability that it does have is very handy when dealing with a hamfisted older learner. All they have to do is let go the controls and given enough height, the plane will sort the problem out its self. It knows how to fly better than most of us.

My least favourite trainer is the Phoenix Classic. Having said that, it makes quite a good trainer for a young kid. They have the eyesight to see it (it is quite small) and the reflexes to handle its slightly twitchy flying style and with an AX 46 it can really get up and boogie. But for an older trainee it is not a good starting place and although I can fly one, I just think it is too small for comfort.

So as usual, it is a case of "horses for courses". There is no BEST and there is no WORST just good and bad matches to particular needs.

Mike in Oz

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

Ok, Ya right, The sim sucks and is useless and only way to learn is with an instructor screaming at you while hitting the student upside the head with a map.... The military practices every sortie in the sim before the hop and the airlines do all their training in the sim as well. Disservice to the student? I don't think so. The sim allows repetitive practice at NO risk and mistakes can be made without jeopardy. This applies to models or full scale. If the youngsters are failing out, then it's the INSTRUCTORS FAULT for not briefing and making sure that the student has complete understanding before flying.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

My original Kadet, kit built, strip ailerons added. They do not come any better !

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

I am a relative beginner and learned to solo with a good instructor on an LT 40. No complaints up to soloing but I wasn't progressing very well beyond that. If I had it to do again I would probably go with an Avistar as you can progress into basic aerobatics. I also have a Tiger 60 and I like it, I wouldn't have thought of it as a basic trainer though because of its low wing but, with a good instructor I bet it would be fine.

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

Agree on the Tiger 60 if training with instructor. Same with the 4 Star series.

Tom

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

the kaos is great if you have a instructor as big  dan mentioned a big low wing now after they learn to fly let them  fly the trainer they add throtle and it climb chop throtle and it drops when they can fly both they are a pilot

i learned on a sig kadet then a kaos every one said it was to much plane for my second  but i loved and flew the hell out of it

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

G'day

Like everything else, Simulators have an upside and a downside.

The upside is that they help a beginner to develop the reflexes needed to fly a plane without thinking about which stick to push and how much.

The downside is that you don't have the same peripheral vision on a simulator and no matter how good the physics are, reality is more complex.

That said, I have found them useful for people I have been teaching.

My current student is 64 years old. He started flying one of my Kadet Seniors on a buddy cord and at first he did what most people do - he tried to fight the model and was banging the sticks and every so often he would simply loose the plot and randomly push the sticks around. I was having to take control every couple of minutes. We persisted like this for a couple of sessions and then I let him "fly" my sim. He was impressed enouh to buy one and he spent the next week on it. At our next outing he was pretty rough initially but quickly settled down and flew for 10 minutes without my having to intervene. I then took him out three days in a row and that really improved his flying. Meanwhile he continued to fly the sim.

He is now flying his own Kadet Senior on a buddy cord with me and is making good progress. Unfortunately the weather this week is not going to be great but as soon as it clears we will be out in the real world again.

Meanwhile, he can continue practicing on the sim.

Another downside is that it can give the student a false sense of his ability. One of my former students was going well and then he started practicing on a sim. This gave him the idea that he was better than he thought and he crashed two models (flying by himself) in quick succession. I had warned him not to fly alone but he did anyway at his property. Unfortunately this spooked him and he has not been flying since which is a pity as he was actually coming along well. He was just not there yet.

Cheers

Mike in Oz

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

I'm partial to my own first trainer, the Goldberg Eagle 63. Nowadays it's the Eagle 2, though. Sweet aircraft, very forgiving, extremely good flier. Tough as can be as well. Put a good .40 or .45 up front and you're all set!

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

It's a matter of opinion of course, but I like the Tower .40 with a .46 LA. It is very stable and very dependable and very affordable. I do agree that the Nexstar is the worst. When I started I had two of them. One flew alright till the wing bolt pulled out, and the other would not fly straight no matter where the balance was and could not be trimmed out.

Bob

RE: Best and Worst Nitro Engine Powered RC Airplanes for Beginners in the Market
 

To the instructor, I wouldn't use 12X6 props on 46AX engines, go with 11X6.
Nexstar trainer was a BIG disappointment for me and I've seen it fail many times for students at our field. It's structurally flawed, flies terrible, it's heavy, can stall easily, the add on wing junk doesn't perform as advertised, the wing bolt is stapled to the fuselage and comes out, the landing gear is horribly connected to the fuselage in plastic clips, and the price tag is just insane, and you can buy a good one and a bad one in the same day with parts that sometimes don't fit or line up. I've seen wings not sit on the saddle after proper assembly. The only good thing is the .46 OS engine it came with. Do they still come with the FXi? The wing joiner is plastic with a few short screws held in place by one wing bolt and plastic dowel.
There is little to debate about on a Nexstar, it's just a bad choice. Not only is the construction lousy, the marketing is over-done and the plane cannot live up to the claims made in that advertisement. Until you have flown both, you can't make a comparison. I've flown both and would never take a Nexstar over any SIG product. It's a fair guess a lot of people wanting to get into the hobby, failed and quit because of the Nexstar failing to live up to their expectations.

I bought a lot of trainers and I've been an instructor. The best I had success with, The SIG Kadet Senior, the easiest plane to teach a student to land with, easy for the student to stay ahead of and it, and it has no bad tendencies. On a budget lots of students started with the Tower Trainer 40. It really depends on the student. I've had students go from Telemaster to Hangar 9 Super Stick 40 without much difficulty also. There are many trainers that can do that job.

With a simulator, and an Avistar 40 advanced trainer (my current philosophy), students can progress quickly, then go into any low wing trainer he wants like Escapade, Pulse XT, Stick this and that, etc. Students that used simulators learned MUCH faster than students using a buddy box only.