Marcham

Im going to get this as a trainer what do you think?


[link]http://www.hobbiconexstar.com/[/link]


heres another link of it



[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=258[/link]

tuwood

I have one and really like it. It's a good size trainer that's easy to see and floats in very well. It lands so nice that I have never had to test it's durability, but I think it's probably pretty tough.

I did buy the ARF, and went with dual Aileron Servo's.

Good luck

Marcham

k. I really like it, but its like $500 with field equipment. It will take a while to save up, but I plane on getting it then joining the AMA and the HHAMS. Here are their websites...

AMA:

[link]http://www.modelaircraft.org/[/link]


HHAMS:

[link]http://hhams.org/[/link]

tuwood

Your making a good choice in joining a club and there's one other huge advantage to learning on the nexstar.

From Hobbico's web site:
The NexSTAR is such a great way to learn to fly that we guarantee your success! As long as you train at an AMA-chartered club with a qualified, club-designated instructor, if you crash before successfully learning to fly, we’ll repair or replace it with any Hobbico trainer of up to equal value...FREE!
See your instruction manual for details.

Marcham

I know its great that they protect me when I crash with a new plane. My only worry is that if it does crash after i learn. (Lets face it we crash sooner or later) It will take me another year to save up for a new one again. [8D]

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

That is one part of this hobby that does get some people. It's an expensive hobby. I tell that to every new student that I get, that if they can't afford to crash then they should get out of the hobby. It's not a hobby for everyone. Some can't take the loss of a expensive crash. I myself don't fly some of the hugely expensive planes, but I've had crashes that cost $1,500. It does hurt when it happens.

Ken

Marcham

I really want to do this hobby because it is really exciting, But I just dont have the money. I can hardly afford my $600 plane and field equipment. I guess i fly till i die. (CRASH)

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Don't fear crashing too much. Even if you wreck your Nexstar after your guarantee period, your radio equipment and engine will most likely survive even a serious crash unscathed. You can buy a Nexstar ARF airframe to replace it for $99.99, then put your servos, receiver, battery, and engine in the new ARF to get flying again. RTFs are how we learn to fly, wrecking RTFs is how we learn to build ARFs and Kits!

BANJOAIRPLANE

I taught myself to fly with the Nexstar Select system.I'm still flying,it ain't.[X(]Tried to teach a friend without a buddy cord.Try to find someone to help you and your plane and your pride will stay intact!

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

There are creative ways to reduce the cost of this hobby.

First, avoid the heavily marketed, gimmicky products, such as the Nexstar RTF. It's a fine trainer, but there are other choices that can be had for significantly less $. For example, I've posted the price of a package consisting of the Tower Trainer, OS .46 LA and Futaba 4YF in a couple other threads this week. Total cost is around $220. Even if you have the misfortune of totaling it, the radio and engine will probably survive and a new plane is only $65.

Also, focus on the bare necessities with respect to tools and field equipment. There are many things, such as electric starters, that are optional, despite what some may say.

Another viable choice is small electrics. If you stay conservative, the up front costs are a bit lower, but you won't spend as much for field equipment and fuel. If I want to take my Slow Stick to the field to fly, all I need is the plane, transmitter, spare props, wrench for the prop, batteries, and field charger. While the electrics are nowhere near as cool as glow, and you don't come home with the lovely scent of burnt glow fuel, it's still flying. I know some people who have a great time with small electrics.

And yet another possibility is the careful acquisition of second hand equipment. If you can find some stuff locally that's in good condition you can save lots of $. However, don't rush over to eBay and start bidding on things you can't see from sellers you don't know. There are some real bargains out there, but there is also lots of junk. As a beginner, you don't need to be dealing with equipment problems while you are learning. Ideally if you're going to purchase some second hand stuff, you'll have an experienced person check it out first, or buy it from someone you can trust.

Marcham

Thank you. I changed my mind because of you (and the price) and im going to get the TOWER Trainer 40.
Thank you piper_chuck! [8D]

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

Lol, Yes it does hurt sometimes. I want my Cap back! Can you believe it came in so hard it knocked the receiver apart? Pulled the antenna right out of it, the end plate was off of it & I never did find the Xtal.[:@] Crash happens though. It's all just part of the deal.

bruce88123

Marcham - Get in touch with your local club of choice. The people there will also be happy to help give you pointers on assembling your plane. It's much easier than over the internet but we will always do the best we can, of course. I agree with Chuck. The Nexstar is a fine plane but is overdone in many ways. The Tower trainer you have settled on will do fine for the budget minded. Welcome to RC flying and RCU. I'm sure you will have a good time. Just remember that it will take some time to aquire the needed skills to fly solo.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Hopefully the price was the most important part!

Before your order anything, contact the club and see if they have any strong opinions on things such as engine and radio brands. if you buy a Futaba, and your instructor has a JR, you're going to need to get a buddy box and cord, or just buy a JR radio. Likewise with engines, some people have a strong preference for a certain brand. Going with that brand, assuming their preference isn't off base, can mean your instructor is familiar with it and will be better able to solve problems if they come up. I do have my preferences, but in general I'll work with nearly anything. I've got engines from something like 10 different companies.

roltech

If you do Crash It would not be as expensive to replace it, You can get an ARF to replace the RTF. you just have to use your motor and the electrical from your crashed plane , the cost is about at least around here 140.00 +- a few dollars.

roltech

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

I like the NEXTAR its durable and has stood up to abuse. after I nosed it in I bought the arf in a panic shouldn't have spent the money. with some CA and epoxy I put humpty dumpty back together and is still flying today, that ARF is still in the closet. the diferance in the 65$ tower trainer is large, they both fly of course but after looking at the tower in person its alot lighter in construction I have seen them disintegrate on contact with tera firma . the extra $ you pay is for the sim.and that stupid AFS system its useless without a doubt, if you go arf 99$, OS-46 115$ and the basic 4ch. radio 100$ you are not paying that much more and you get a durable easy to fly plane and a great all arround motor, the OS engine is alot more reliable than the tower in my humble opinion and if you work the discount option you can save a little more on the extras like flight box, glow igniter, fuel pump,and of course a elec. starter instead of having to flip,flip,flip until your blue in the face. thats my .02C

Kerberos32

A guy learning with a NexStar in our club has had some bad luck. Due to a spotter mixup, he had a head on with a Tiger 60 just as it touched down on the runway. Wing got chewed up by the Tiger's prop. He then clipped a tree on landing and cartwheeled through the parking lot (pavement). Wing was okay, engine was ripped from the firewall, but all was fixed up and she's still flying today. They seem pretty durable.

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

I have both of these planes the Tower & the NexStar. I think they are both great flying planes. They're also both pretty durable, while I have never actually crashed either one of them I have had some pretty hard landings playing in high winds with them & they have both been blown over on the runway a number of times while trying to turn them around to taxi back after a landing instead of walking down the runway to fetch them. The Tower covering is coming off more so than the NexStar but I shredded some of the striping off of the NexStar too. Both engines have proven to be very reliable, they start right up every time with the Tower producing a little more power than the OS. I assume the OS will outlive the Tower but only time will tell if that's true.

As for the price while I bought the NexStar originally for the "gadgets" I soon found out that the AFS is just a $99 paper-weight because that is all it's good for. The sim however was helpfull for me. As for the droops & airbrakes, don't need them, this thing still slows to a crawl for a landing without them & is self-righting enough that the droops aren't neccessary either IMO.

If it was the AFS that had you looking at the NexStar let it go, it's junk. If I had it to do all over again & I wanted a NexStar it would be in the form of an ARF.

If money is an issue, & it sounds like maybe it is then you can't go wrong with Chuck's suggestion of piecing together the Tower ARF with engine & radio equipment of your choice.

In another thread BigEd put up a link for a Thunder Tiger Trainer that comes with a Thunder Tiger .42 engine for $150 wich is also their magic number for free shipping! It's a very nice looking little Trainer leaving only the radio equipment needed. So this is another good value for little money.

Good luck.


http://www.thundertiger4u.com/mark-wgp42-p-7325.html

There is the link if you'd like to take a look at the TT, courtesy of Bigedmustafa.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I learned on a Tower Trainer 40. That was 10 years ago, and I still have the plane today. It's a pretty tough trainer, but it flies really well. As an instructor I've also had plenty of chances to fly the Nexstar too. If I had to choose between the two the Tower trainer would win hands down. It's cheaper and it flies great too.

As said above, if you get the Nexstar with all the gadgets on it your spending money that you don't need too. When a student shows up for trainer I have them disconnect the AFS, take off the speed brakes, and also take off the wing droops too.

Hope this helps

Ken

bruce88123

Mark is correct in that nobody is saying bad things about the Nexstar (except the AFS), it's just expensive IMO. The sim is a nice touch but you can also buy better sim's on the market too with more features.

coipus_coinpurse

I bought my NexStar RTF a little over one month ago, along with all of my field equipment, and solo'd on it recently. I have to say that I love this plane. It puts up with all kinds of abuse, and is very easy to fly. The OS .46 FXi is nothing short of awesome. I've never had any kind of trouble starting and it's very easy to tune.

That said, if I were to start over today I would certainly do things differently. I would buy the NexStar again, but the ARF this time, then a .46 OS engine, and a 6 or 7 channel radio kit. The AFS, speed brakes, airfoils - all useless, don't use them. The simulator, I found, was also pretty poor, and if you're flying with an instructor, you won't need it. The nice part about this setup is that you can get all this for less than the RTF model and have a nicer radio that you can use in the future, rather than the puny 4ch Futaba.

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

The best part of the sim deal for me was that I only had G2-Lite before I got the NexStar. It turns out that Lite & NexStar have compatablity issues & can not be installed in the same computer at the same time, so they had me uninstall lite & sent me the full version of G2 for free.

Marcham

Thanks im sticking with the towert trainer!

cartwheellanding

I started with a NexStar. I liked the plane, crashed it, bought an ARF, had that flying again in a few days. As for the AFS, I never used it. I unplugged it when it was new. When I moved the gear over to the ARF, I was delighted NOT to include the AFS. As others have said, it's useless--so I've been told at the club and hobby shops.

When first getting started in this hobby, I think it's a smart move to start with a simulator.

roltech

Don't get me wrong about the AFS system on the Nexstar. when you follow the instruction that came with the manual it works 100%. however most of the time the light , weather and time of the day is depended on to work, if you are far away from any club and had no way of getting an instructor! this thing could save your plane when no one else is there to help you to save it, I have tried it after I got my wings and you can make lot of mistakes and let go of the controls till the plane corrects itself, however you have to take over the control right after it corrects itself. I too started with the Nexstar. great starter plane and have three other trainer models, but the first one (Nexstar is the best) MHOP.

roltech