First up in our cavalcade of excellent trainers is the GWS Slow Stick. This has to be the most-recommended first plane on online forums, for good reason. It's CHEAP ($35 for the kit with motor and prop). It's easy to build. It's easy to fly. It's tough. More people have learned to fly, on their own, with the GWS Slow Stick than I care to count.
The nice thing about GWS is that they provide flight packs for their planes. These flight packs include the receiver, electronic speed control, servos, and a battery. You only need to buy a transmitter, receiver crystal, battery charger, and charge lead to have a complete, ready-to-fly airplane.
Most local hobby shops carry the GWS line of airplanes. A sure sign is if they have Hangar 9 products in stock. This means they're a Horizon Hobby dealer, and can order the GWS Slow Stick and all the parts that you need. If they give you lip, send 'em to me
Besides a transmitter and charger (see above), here's what you need for the GWS Slow Stick:
1. GWS Slow Stick Kit: GWS1040
2. GWS Slow Stick Flight Pack: GWS2080 (for JR or Airtronics transmitters) or GWS2085 (for Hitec or Futaba transmitters)
3. GWS Pico Receiver Crystal: GWSXFRM**, where ** is the channel number of the transmitter you bought.
Hopups: The stock battery for the Slow Stick is a 6-cell, 7.2 Volt pack. A cheap and simple hopup for the Slow Stick is a 7 cell (8.4 Volt) or 8 cell (9.6 Volt) battery.