Hey gang,

I’m a long time glow flyer and an average 3D pilot with my UCANDO 46 and various SPAD plans. My son is pushing for an electric to practice 3D. I’ve tried to educate myself but I’m suffering information overload and have decided to take the coward’s way out and by some matched GP gear.

Here’s what I’m considering:

Great Planes Flatana FlatOuts 3D EP Park Flyer ARF 36"
Great Planes Rimfire 22M-1000 Brushless Motor
Great Planes ElectriFly BL-8 Brushless ESC
Great Planes PolyCharge4

I’d like your opinions about the choices above and recommendations for batteries, servos and RX (I use JR TX). (I’ll probably go to fanfold foam once we destroy the Flatana.)

I really appreciate the help.

Roger

Sounds like a plan. I would swap the electrifly esc out for a castle creations 18amp esc. Castle Creations has recently dropped their prices on their programmable ESC's, and even the 18A ESC is cheaper than the Electrifly one. In addition if you ever move on to bigger motors, you wont have to buy another ESC.

Since you already have experience with glow 3D, you shouldnt have any problem tooling around with the flatana. It will take a little getting used to, but you'll pick it up quickly.

Im assuming youll be flying outdoors, in which case I would suggest a 3cell lipo. Something in the 650 - 800 mah range should work nicely.

Go for a FancyFoam.com YAK-54. I've had a few of their planes, and this one is the best. The Ultimate Bipe, flys most like a 1/4 scale plane, but in general the foamies fly very differently than standard glow. FF has complet set-ups that make it easy to get into electrics. You need to pick a size and weight range of the type of planes that you want to fly. That way you can easily transfer the electronics from one plane to another without having to invest in different set-up for each plane. Also, RCXPlanes.com make really nice electrics. Their Extra flies really smooth for a foamie and handles wind better than most. Their graphics packages make finishing the planes much easier than most.

The FlatOuts are OK, but not very sturdy. With the set-up that you're looking at you'll be primarily flying planes in the 8-12 oz range. I prefer planes in the 12-16oz range, but that's just my preference. Everyone's got their own opinion, similar to the glow people. Some like .46 size, some like 1/4 scale, you get the picture.

I think that electrics are the best thing to happen to R/C since the computer radios came out. I started flying electrics last year, and have yet to fly my glow planes since...

Bob

Thanks guys!