ORIGINAL: bigtim
cost is, you get what you pay for biased as I may be for OS and futaba the tower line of trainers will fly just as well as any other but sorry the engine tower 40 where is that going other than sitting in the garage the 46 is the smallest engine I have and there are a large # of second level planes that need that size to fly well.
Actually the Tower 40 is just the Model number of the plane. It comes with the Tower .46 Pro engine on it & a good pipe! In fact if you put the Tower pipe on the OS engine that comes with the Nexstar you will get a noticeable increase in power. The OS is a great engine, ( I have both of these Trainers) but the Tower .46 out-poweres the OS .46 hands down. I also had no problems whatsoever in getting it broke in & properly tuned. It still runs smooth & strong as does the OS. They are both into their second year of service now with no problems or lack of power. So yes you can put the Tower engine in more advanced model down the road. As for the NexStar, yes it is more pricey & the AFS is definitely an unneccessary training aid that will only get you in trouble. I see alot people suggest pulling it out of the aircraft alltogether. I would not reccomend this as it requires re balancing the plane. I just turned my all the off & now it flys just fine with no effect on the balance of the plane. I did use the airbrakes & droops for the first few flights until I got comfortable with both the plane & my abailities then took them both off leaving me with a perfectly good Trainer. I also found the sim very helpful in that I lost my instructors & ended up having to go it alone. This is where the NexStar shines IMO. If a person is in a situation where he or she is forced to learn on their own ( even though it is not the prescibed method) The NexStar is the ticket!!
It worked for me very well & after I got proficient with the NexStar then my Tower was much easier for me to handle. It is quite a bit hotter & faster than the stock NexStar so it was a handfull for me at first. After I put it away for a few weeks while I learned on the NexStar I was then able to handle the Tower much better & still have fun with it today!!
There are also some simple mods you can do to the NexStar after you get good with it that will make it much faster & much more nimble as well, curing the "Dog Factor"[sm=wink_smile.gif]
So don't let anyone burst your bubble, You can great fun with the NexStar as well as any other Trainer out there! God Luck.
As for what else you need for the NexStar, it is the same as any other plane in that respect. Just need all the usual flight gear. Fuel, glow ignitor, chicken stick or electric starter, glow plug wrench. These minimul items will get you up & flying.