flyinredneck

Hello everyone. If I may, I'd like to add my opinion on a good trainer.

After buying, building and crashing (on a glide test), a Herr Engineering "Air Boss", I moved onto a "Slow Stick". It also crashed after many hours of reading and tweaking. Next up, the GWS "Beaver". All stock except for a LiPo batt, it never took off. I finally, finally, got in my first couple of flights today with the Hobbico "Red Hawk"! I posted a detailed flight report earlier, but just had to say that after many frustrating attempts at flying, and almost selling off all that I have, this little "bird" has restored my faith in the possibility to fly.

Just my opinion.



Jim

highlinebag

My plane i stared with is a oriole it does'ent do airobatices [&:]but does small cercit's i fly it this moring it was my starter to the prop planes

highlinebag

crapy spellings by me soz

sputnikxxx

I have the slow stick.. looking for a step down... I have trouble with the slow stick.... mainly because of limited flying area.... im looking for something similar to the size of the airhogs..... like you see at wally world... something that would be good for a new flyer..... that flys slow enough and is small enough to be flown in a back yard... I am weary of the air hogs... cause im not sure if they would give me the enjoyment and experience me and the kids need to jump back to the slow stick.... I was wondering what you guys thought.... there are really no parks to fly at where I live.... there are a few fields around my town that I can go to sometimes but most of the time its the backyard only... and the slow stick is just too big for my yard

AirforceRcks

i learned on a little flyzone swift flyer that only had 2 ch and now i have a parkzone typhoon and its awesome.
low control throws make it fun to fly and easy. put it at medium or high and u could do 3d all over the place.
very nice plane.

ozrcboy

.... there are really no parks to fly at where I live.... there are a few fields around my town that I can go to sometimes but most of the time its the backyard only... and the slow stick is just too big for my yard


Take this as you wish and be understand I am just parroting what I have read elsewhere and have no experience with the plane in question, but I have read that the GWS Pico Moth (Tiger Moth Biplane look a like, 3 channel) is slow enough to fly in a back yard. I have my doubts, but perhaps you can do the research and make up your own mind.

Ozrcboy

http://ozflyingrc.blogspot.com/

mecevans

i learned on a gws esarter with brushless and lipo by myself . it want that hard after a couple of hours on the xbox playing san andreas flying planes!.you really have to get the setup right which i learned on these fourms from others mistakes and mine. what size battery and prop did you have? what surface where you trying to take off from?

Cyler

I was wondering if there were any thoughts on the "Wingo" from HobbyLobby? It says it has come back, and was one of the best begginer aircraft? But I was wondering if anyone had information to prove/disprove these statments and where this plane might fall on the list of beginner aircraft? Thanks.

P.S. - To me it seems ugly enough to be a starter but wasnt sure.

mecevans

get a slow stick

IWC

does the ss use fishing lines or control rods?

stinger40

I don't know if it is mentioned, but my first electric trainer was a Soarstar. It looks kind of like the Wingo, from Hobby Lobby. If you look at my Member Profile, then there will be some more details on it. This plane is fun no matter what skill you are. Use the motor to go as high as you can see, then, kill it and let the breeze float you around. I can get about 30 min. of flying on just one battery! It also rolls and loops. It takes off and lands superbly! All you need are servos and a reciever. You don't even have to buy a battery! This plane is a lot of fun! I recommend it to any beginner or expert pilot that wants to learn, or to just unwind with a gentle flight. This is an excellent plane.

S40

westdccs

Okay,

I've been reading several of the posts in here and I'm looking forward to receiving my FlyZone Cessna 182 Skyhawk later this week. This will be my first plane (in about 17 years) to fly. The last one was piloted by my grandfather who handed me the controls after he got the plane stable in the air -- and then retrieved the controls for landing.

However, I do have some newbie questions - One of the things that I have noticed is the designation of propeller sizes. How does one read those? For example, what does 4.5 x 4.1 mean? How does one get used to the "reverse" affect of a plane coming at you (you know, turn left, the plane goes to your right as it approaches)? And finally, what is a folding propeller?

Thanks!

AJ1202

West the prop designation means 4.5 is the diameter and the 4 is the pitch

Not sure how to tell you to get used to orientation, what I did was sort of turn the same direction of the plane untill I got used to it

A folding prop is used more for gliders, it is so when you cut the throttle it will fold and create less drag and when you land it will be folded and not drag on the ground

stinger40

West, welcome to RCU!!

RaceCraftRC

my father and i got into this hobby at the same time we went to the local store and each got a plane he choose a GWS slow stick, and much to the disaprovale of the store no it all i got a ZAGI for my first plane. It took about 3 hours to assemble the planes. WE decide to wait untill the next day to launch them my glue needed to dry. so anyway the next day we go outside his yard is a gaint feild formarly a apple orchard the perfet open launch space we drew straws he would go first the plane rolls ford and than snaps over to its back, we thought maybe to much wind he tryies again gets it in the air and the plane is getting blowen around and finally crashes down brecking the wing (some sort of foam looked like a meat tray to me) After seeing this i get scared maybee this is going to be to hard of a hobbie for me but i try to launch the plane anyway. i do the test launch without power it should glide it falls to the ground place battery pack back a little bit some up elev it sort of glides neet i reave the engine the might 400 speed (about 4 times larger than that of the slow stick) give it a might hurl into the sky. My first flight lasted about 20 min the plane was perfect it would fly nice and easy at 1/4 throtle and climb out of sight at full throtle. I still have that plane its been crashed more times than i care to count the plastic that covers the moter is long gone the very worst crash i ever had resulted in me having to tape the fins back on. I my self still fly that thing and have trained at least 12 people to fly with it. The ZAGI is perfect it will do anything you could ask out of a trainer but better

sputnikxxx

Hey guys I finally figured this flying thing out after a few planes, lol... but I have had the best luck with a scratchbuilt foamy called the blu beagle by gene bond.... look it up on google, for the plans, it is pretty simple to build and durable, and the best part is if you got all the supplies you need like servos, raidos flight packs etc.. it is real cheap to build your own

ozrcboy

I've been wondering about the idea of using flying wings as trainers - they are very tough and there really isn't that much that can go wrong with them on impact. The only downside I can see is that really ugly inner wing stall they sometimes get when in a banking corner without enough airspeed - one of them might be enough to convince a beginner they could never do this hobby. Maybe a good aileron trainer?

egens

Complete agree. I wasted like 500 bucks on expensive trainers. Never flew more than 10 sec. I bought a Red Hawk and it flew perfectly. Moving to aileron soon.

Swift427

Isn't one reason there is no solid concensus on what RTF plane is the best aileron trainer is because most RTF aileron planes are underpowered with a stock brushed motor? One owner of Hobby-Lobby's new Busy Bee with its brushless outrunner said he felt it was still underpowered.

Wouldn't a 4-channel aileron HZ Super Cub RTF/ARF with at least a 25 amp brushless system offer about the best possible aileron trainer. Isn't one reason most still recommend a pusher prop is because of crashes due primarily to the fact that most of these planes are underpowered with brushed motors that are barely able to perform a ROG.

The following link with photos is excellent.
[link]http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2007/03/01/super-cub-aileron-upgrade-part-1/[/link]
[link]http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2007/03/02/super-cub-aileron-upgrade-part-2/[/link]
[link]http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2007/03/03/super-cub-aileron-upgrade-part-3/[/link]

davidgeorge212

I am not a beginner per say anymore I have flown lots of trainers and I even have a sport low wing foamie but when I go back to school in the fall I dont have a very big space to fly. I can go to a soccer field that has adequate space but I am curious to know if anyone has any suggestions of any four channel w/ailerons park flyer that can be flown in a small baseball field. I think it is just a little leaguers field. I know its pretty small but It is right in my back yard and it would be great if I just walk back there to get a couple flights in each night. The only kinds of planes I see that might work in such a small space are great planes flatouts, can anyone else suggest any other 'types' of planes like a mini built up balsa or a mini foamie?

davidgeorge212

oh and of course I want an ARF not an RTF

darticus

Is the GWS Slow Stick as slow as a SLO-V or slower. I have a Slo-V but afraid to fly it as I crash alot with my Firebird Phantom and got a bad taste. Is the Slo-V really slow so I can keep up with it? Any video on the Slo-V to see how slow? Someone said just fly it straight and land until you get a little confidence to turn. Thanks Ron

darticus

If I wanted a GWS SLOW STICK where is a good place to order one. I do have a JR 400S SPORT 4 CHANNEL RADIO. Maybe I could use it and save some money. What would I need to get started? Kit ,servos,battery, crystal 54. Any suggestions?Thanks Ron

Balr14

I've been flying now for 4 months and gone through 12 planes and about $3000 after starting with an Aero Ace. I'm still looking for something that can fly nearly that slow, but can do all sorts of cool stuff. I'm nearly there. Here's my observations, so far:

Firebird Phantom, Aerobird, Red Hawk, (all of the pod and boom planes) require lots of room and lots of speed and are hard to hand launch. If you can deal with these requirements, they fly very well and are very forgiving. I've owned and wrecked most of them. I really didn't like any of them, so I didn't bother repairing them. I don't want to have to fly that fast all of the time.

The Slow Stick, Pico SS and Slo-V are all much slower planes that require much less space. I have the Pico SS and Slow V (I prefer ailerons to rudder for turning, so I like the Slow V elevons). The one thing about these slow flyers is they are basically way underpowered. Upgrade to lipo and brushless makes an incredible difference in how they fly without making them faster. I would not recommend any of these as a backyard flyer unless you have a really really big backyard.

The Parkzone Cessna 210 is an incredible flyer if it's dead calm. It's a little faster than you'd think, but you can pretty much fly it anywhere if you are good. It's too fast to fly indoors (I've tried), but I've flown it under and around trees in my yard. It takes a lot of abuse and is easy to repair. Highly recommended.

My quest for a decent backyard flyer has lead to my latest purchases, the HyperFlea and Typhoon 2. I love them both. I don't have the skill yet to do everything either of them is capable of, nor can I handle them at the speeds they could run. But they both hand lauch with ease, and will do anything I want them to do at partial throttle. They are also very tough, especially the Hyperflea. They aren't conventional beginner planes, but I prefer them to the ones that are supposed to be for beginners.

When I want to expand my skills, or try flying in my yard, I fly the Hyperflea. I'm going to crash (a lot) but the thing is damn near invulnerable.

When I think I've got some new skill pretty well mastered, I switch to the Typhoon2. It helps expand and refine my skills. It can handle crashes, but not like the Hyperflea.

I fly the Pico SS when I'm in a strange area and there's a risk of significant damage or plane loss (up a tall tree, on top of a building, etc.).

I fly the Slow V in the open field across the street when I feel like relaxing. I have two boys who like to fly the slow stuff, too. They have even less experience than I do.

One last word to other beginners. Real Flight 3.5 seems like an awful lot to spend ($200) for something you weren't planning on buying. BUY IT ANYWAY! It will save you many hours of frustration and lots of money. I've crashed the Typhoon 1000 times and it didn't cost me a cent or a lost second. I can hover it in RF3.5, haven't tried yet for real.

darticus

I can fly the Cessna 210 ok. Now which do you think for a small area should I buy, Hyperflea??? Do you know best place to get one? Thanks ron