hey, i wanna get into 3d with a foamie. what is the cheapest way of doing that?

The cheapest is not always the best way. I would go with a Shockie. Don't get the Mini Funtana, i have one and it tip stalls and snaps. Plus you can fly a Shockie in your house.

If you're determined, got to [link=http://www.foamyfactory.com]foamy factory[/link] and look up the free plans for the mini 3dx. A 1000x700 sheet of depron, and a few bits of carbon are all you need.

I will be posting a full review of the Insane Foamies YAK shortly. I am putting it together this weekend. $299 for a complete setup less crystal. This is a full 3D foamie with excellent equipment - (brushless motor, Li-Po power, Castle BEC, GWS RX, servos, linkages, EVERYTHING! ), I have not been able to put together a better package myself for that cost.

You literally put it together, plug in your crystal and go.

Check them out - www.insanefoamies.com

DP

Get this deal right here:

http://www.nesail.com/detail.php?productID=3318

For $99 you cannot go wrong. There are several foamy plans out there for free. I even went as far as to buy a couple just to use as templates untill I could get the hang of it. You'll just hafta buy the servos (HS 55's are the most popular) and a couple batterys. Also DO NOT SKIMP on the receiver. I went with GWS and haven't had any problems, but I hear if you fly indoors with alot of people, you might get hit. I've got a Berg now and have never had the first problem.
FWIW, I would buy a Chuck Flyer and when it comes in, use it as a template and cut you out several out of the blue foam to try b4 you crash the original thats made of Depron.
This is just my $.02
Ive seen that motor & Speed controller (I have it too) on a Chuck Flyer runnin with a 1350 3S 11.1V Li-PO Thunder Power bat and it was everything you could ask for in a foamy.

As far as cheapest? Thats prolly the cheapest way I've seen so far if you are gonna do it right. Remember its like any other aspect of this hobby. There is no "kinda into it". Either you are or your not. If you set yourself up right from the beginning, then you have the best possibilty for success.

WWW.3DFoamy.com or www.RCAIRWORKS.com

RCAIRWORKS is a distributor of 3DFoamy, so the same planes are here. You can also download plans from 3DF.

As for motor, go with a Hacker A20-22l. Seems to be the best, but you can also go with an Axi 2212-34 or an equivilant HIMAXX outrunner.

For speed controller, a Castle Creations Pheonix 25 or a Jeti 18 amp will work real well.

Bluebird servos are supposed to be good at $14 each.

Not really a way to go really cheap, but a setup like this will get great performance.

I am not sure where you can get this but the ST MOdels YAK foamie is really good stuff, cheap and with the stock power plant she will be able to pull out of a hover strongly on a 3S1P set up. Stock motor also means you only need some cheap GWS ESC. I have flown quite a few foamies and I think this is the best value for money since you really can do full 3D with a stock set up. I crashed mine and now use the stock motor set up in my Micro Whizz, its flies the Micro Whizz nicely.

www.stmodel.com

richohealey,

This is Darin from RCAirWorks.com, I have a bunch of 3DFoamy kits in stock (all new Pro Version with the awesome G-Force wing) and they are priced cheaper than anyone (by the way, they are the best foamies made!). Buy one from my site and I will throw in one of the new mini Tiburon Bipes or the mini VTO. These are the same great quality as all the other 3DFoamy kits, just much smaller...they are awesome for indoor flight! This deal goes for the first 6 people who get on my site and buy a regular size kit at my already low prices! I only have 6 of the mini kits so don't wait if you want a buy one get one free deal. You must email me first so I can put the free mini kit aside for you. The first 6 emails get the free kits. Thats a deal!!

Darin
RCAirWorks.com

sorry darin, i live in australia and have no steady income as yet, what with being 15. i will be slowly building up to flying one. dad has one that is not yet built, but i am reluctant to try anything to crazy with a plane that isn';t mine. anyway thanks for the help guys some useful tips. are they hard to build, (ie if you mess it up do you know, or is it possible to have it look right, but snap in the middle of some tumbling manouver due to dodgy workmanship?)

Everythings exposed so it should be easy enough to spot a problem, but keep a bottle of CA and kicker with ya just in case. If it snaps in the middle of something just shut the throttle and let it fall outa the sky.

I really like those 3D Foamy kits but painting them is a major pain if you ask me. The Shock flyers come pre-painted and really fly well. I'd say that would be your best bet but that's just my opinion (and I happen to own one...my bud's really like it).

dont worry about paint, just throw some bright stickers on it til you're well practised in foamy flying, then make a good one with a nice scheme. My £0.01

I use fan fold foamies (made from the plans at 3dfoamy.com) for practicing with..... smack into the ground, pick it up and keep flying....
They are easy to build and no guilt when they die....

I have a couple depron foamies, but save those for "special occasions"

I think the Shockfliers are a very good starter foamy. I have had the Tensor, raptor, Edge shockflyer and a 3DFoamy Katana. The tensor was the most advanced flying plane out of the bunch. Stay away from the raptor. I would recommend the Shockflyers and the 3DFoamy planes to anyone, but the shocky is a little cheaper and a lot smaller and lighter, which makes it better for indoors. Although you can fly the 3DFoamy's inside, sometimes it can be a little cramped depending on the space that you have. If you want to get out real cheap, go to Lowes, buy some fan-fold foam, and download the plans from 3DFoamy or FoamyFactory.com and get to cutting.

yeah i'm looking at making them myself at the moment. is it difficult. i am also looking at the u can do foamie. it looks very durable, though it is more expensive. would i save the money on repair by buying the indestructible foamie in the first place? (i have seen a photo of the wing bent back to the fuzz without snapping). also, should i get LiPo batteries or NiMh?

OK...sounds like we need to start at the beginning.....

even the expensive foamie airframes are under $50 or so.........

but then there is the electronics...
you can go with a brushed motor, but in my opinion, don't waste your time... I tried.....and tried....and tried....finally bit the bullet and wnet brushless...
Don't bother with brushed,,

so...know we need a brushless motor... you can use a CDrom motor, like the Balsapr.com BP-21 for around $30 on up from there....
good ones are around $60 to $70..........

then there is the ESC.... I use the CC25, love it... there are less expensive... expect around $50 to $75 for a good brushless ESC...
than there is the Rx, and the servos....

all told a decent foamie will run $200 to $300 dollars...or more... I have more money in foamies than in my glow right now!
But it is fun!!!!

insanefoamies.com has full packages for $299....... and they are great packages.... or build a 3dfoamy.com plane with fan fold foam...first one will take a while, but I've built several now so form the time I get my plans from Kinkos to the time I can fly is a few hours......and I can beat the heck out them practicing things I won't practice with depron...but the 3dfoamy depron planes fly very nicely......

so...to start back at the beginning....what is your budget.... ?

OK, I'll stop rambling...

My friend was NOT impressed with that u can do foamy. Stay with the ones recommended here. Nothing's more expensive than buying and building a crappy flying foam plane.

Better advice has not been spoken...do it right the first time...or it will cost you twice as much to do it again

yeah. living in australia makes access to parts and services tricky. living in rural australia makes it REALLY fun to get things. that place that has complete packs for $299, will they ship to ausralia? and does that include a Tx, at the moment i fly a Fut. FF7, and i stil have 2 model memories left so i figure i'll use that. my other option is that i have to same model Tx, but for heli, would the throttle hold work for 3d?

GWS 350C DX 6:1 12x6 prop on 7.4 1200mah lipos, Very cheap, I have used and abused this combination, the drawback: the airplane must be light , the airplane in the pics weight 9.5 oz, but if you have a little more money go for a cd rom brushless (light!) and small lipos (lighter!)

I must say that the GWS set up by Daniel is great for planes in the 12-14 oz weight category. I found that the ST Model power plant (370 turbo motor) with a 11x5 prop (3S1P batt) is amazing for a cheap brushed unit. It can haul my GP Micro Whizz (16 oz) with nice verticals. I hate to say this but after flying a lot of foamies, I am leaning more towards balsa planes. They seem to fly better.

g,day richo Im based in victoria in the western suburbs, if you want cheap foamies in Australia you will have to build them yourself off plans from 3dfoamy etc.You can get depron from a lot of hobbie shops now or direct from Depron australia(look them up on the web) it will cost you about $15-20 in depron and carbon to build one plus your radio gear.its not cheap to start out especially if you go brushless but once you got the stuff it can be used in any other foamies once you kill your first one.I will send you a PM with my details if you want to call me for any advice.I am currently organizing a regular indoor flying night in Melton very shortly if you are interested in comming for a look or have a go.
Cheers Matt

I'm is Aus and went through the same thing. I eventually bought a shocky with an Axi brushless, loads of fun. I bought all my stuff from my LHS. Getting stuff from all over the world was just to hard.

ok. is the small radio gear tuff? coz i don't wanna fork out for a nice reciever only to have it die on crash 1. i have a hitec 555, would that be any good?