VENTUREMAN

i have been into nitro mts for about a year and ive been curious about rc air planes what would be a good beginner.i want a rtf and something thats easy to get parts for.









,thanks

AJ1202

Venture, first to help answer your question more info is needed, what kind of area do you have to fly, parks or big feilds or school yards, there are a lot of RFT kits out there some good some bad, some will require more room than others. Also what kind of $ are you prepared to invest for this curiosity, be forwarned this hobby is very addicting Do you want a scale look or just something good to learn with, do you want something that can be upgraded later if you find you want to stay with flying, I learned that many RTF are great trainers but not very good to upgrade so in the end you either pass them on or fly them till you destroy them or get bored of them. What kind of radio do you use now

VENTUREMAN

i know this hobby is addicting after putting 500 + in my nitro mt i have a small field to fly in not huge not small but i also have a field not to far away that people are always flying at im willing for a rtf to spend around 200 bt i will also save up for some spare parts.

AJ1202

OK good, now a couple more questions, there are typicaly 2 kinds of good first planes for beginners in RTF, power gliders and high wing trainers, in the glider feild I would suggest the Accepter Badius or the Multiplex Wind Star, both are nice planes, the Badius has a plastic fuse and motor is in front, it requires just a couple things to fly well, the wind star is foam and has a pusher motor over the wing, both can be flown in small parks and both glide very nice and yet can do some aerobatics and can be upgrated later. The Badius has parts readily availible, don't know much about the wind star. In the high wing the new hobby zone super cub is getting great reviews by all, the PZ cub is not too bad but I personaly would never suggest it as a first plane, most cubs have high stall rates but I hear the HZ cub doesn't. I would stay away from cessna's and any warbirds as they require some experience to fly look up raidentech on the net and you can look at the Badius and balsapr carries the windstar Not sure who's carrying the super cub, BUT I would suggest going to the park flyers forum and check out the threads on the Cub and the ask questions there also the Badius owners club can give you all the answers you ever wanted on the badius as well as vid of some of them even a recent vid on a new windstar

VENTUREMAN

i know you told me to go to the park forum but what about this plane.[link=http://www.hobbyzone.com/rc_planes_parkzone_j-3_cub.htm]plane[/link]

Fliprob17

That would be a pretty good plane to get. Take a look at the EasyStar as well. hobbylobby.com.

AJ1202

Well the PZ J-3 has been said to be OK for beginners, I have a Shun Da cub and it is not for begginers so I tend to shy away from suggesting them for a first plane, the J-3 is small at 39" WS so it's easy to travel with, the super cub is much bigger and made of EPP foam, this means it can take a beating and keep flying, not so with the PZ cub, but bigger can be a problem with transportation. Oh and the multiplex plane is a easy star not wind star. if you have good coordination on the sticks I think you would be OK with the PZ cub and it can be upgrated to brushless down the road If it were me and I had the room I would go with the super cub. in fact I'm seriously thinking about passing my cub on and getting the super cub, I like the bigger planes

VENTUREMAN

ok thanks for your help.

anatoly

As far as something that is easy to get parts for locally, it seems that many hobby shops stock HobbyZone and ParkZone stuff, so getting something like an Aerobird Challenger would probably work, although you can also order spare parts for it online. But one thing I learned when starting out, my repair skills developed pretty quickly out of necessity because I didn't feel like replacing parts all the time. If you're not already handy with hot glue and a soldering iron, you will need to learn quickly or you will spend a lot more on parts than you need to.

Leo L

Ventureman,

Do not get the ParkZone J3Cub as your first plane. The manufacturer clearly states that it is intended for intermediate flyers and for good reason. On the other hand, the HobbyZone SuperCub, which was just released earlier this summer, is a terrific plane for beginners. It costs about the same as the J3, but is easier to fly AND has better performance. The J3 needs some modifications to make it a decent flying plane, but even after the modifications, its not as good as the SuperCub right out of the box.

Tommyr

I'll say get a T-Hawk. The Easystar I have as well (it is also an excellent plane) and tried learning to fly with it but had trouble for some reason. The T-Hawk is basically the same plane except for the material and boom but was much easier for me to learn with and I can now fly the hell out of it! What a blast! PLUS it comes with 2 main wings, 2 tails, 2 batteries and spare rubber bands in case you damage any of them during your learning curve! An EXCELLENT value IMHO am I'm fairly new to R/C/ flying.

Tom

Bonefish502

I am new to electric RC flying (I have some RC sailplane and a lot of RC sailboat experience). After some research I decided to go with the HZ J-3 as a beginner. I have it assembled and was ready to go to the field, but am now anxious about an observation during assembly and wanted to try to for some help or increased comfort before setting out.

When I went through the battery discharge routine, I noticed that when viewed from above, the prop appears to be canted slightly to the right. When viewed from the side the prop appears to be be tilted slightly down. Is this a normal configuration to compensate for torque...or was this plane damaged in shipment? I do not see any obvious signs of damage.

I hope this is a naive newbie query and I can get to the field soon. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Bonefish

Leo L

Bonefish,

Your plane is correct in the way that its set up. The prop is angled to the right to off set torque steering and its canted down to give the plane a "floating" feel. When you have the plane set up properly, it should be flying level at 50% throttle (you will feel a little catch in the movement of the throttle slider at the 50% position.) This should be your normal flying speed once you are at the proper altitude (at least 150ft.up). If you increase the throttle, the plane should start to rise without you touching the elevator control. If you reduce the throttle, the plane should start to descend. You should be able to get 8-10 minute flights. For the first few flights, I would start to land the plane at 7 minutes. Landing without power is much more difficult.

Bonefish502

Leo: I am very grateful for your prompt and thoughtful reply. Thank you very much.

Bonefish