Every step up in size I found the airplanes to fly better. That meaning, they land easier, are upset less by wind, easier to see, no oil residue, easier to work on, and most importantly they fly more true like full scale airplanes with regards to flight characteristics. And, its just plain cool to see such a large airplane on the ground, in the air, or on take off or landing. Very realistic and graceful in the sky.
The downsides are there also. I crashed one of my 40% airplanes into a stand of trees once. $6K. ouch! They are big and need a full size van or trailer for the 35% and up sizes. They are more expensive and more bulky to store in your workshop or move around from shop to trailer, etc. You need a larger runway to handle them so many local clubs can't accommodate them.
I still fly smaller airplanes, but only rarely. I have an small foam electric P51 and a 26cc gas (XtraFun) that I fly a few times a month. I don't fly any .40 glow stuff anymore and really have no desire to. Once hooked on the larger airplanes, its hard to go back.
ORIGINAL: wind junkie
My only beef about big bird gatherings is they somtimes tend to showcase money and status more than the actual enjoyment of the hobby. Granted, that's fine for people to enjoy the hobby how they wish, but sometimes, not always, you see guys who barely know how to fly (or fly just enough to be REALLY DANGEROUS with the big planes) buy their way into the hobby, and show up with huge RVs and trailers to match the egos.
There are some of those at any field or event regardless of the airplane size. I've seen just as many guys show up at the local field in their expensive cars with a number of very nice glow planes, and no real flight experience to match. I don't think its at all related to the size of the airplanes! We had a guy show up in a Mercedes with is new 1.20 size P51 wanting someone to teach him how to fly it. Nice trainer!
ORIGINAL: beepee
On the point about big bird events: I used to enjoy going to them, but since they have become the property of the Extra/Edge/Yak ''watch me hover!'' group I have lost most of my interest.
Bedford
I agree, and its turned me off as well. Granted, I like to hover as much as everyone else, but where you have several of them tying up the runway all day long flying just isn't as much fun anymore. For years I went to all the events I could anywhere from So Carolina to Canada, and as far west at Illinois. As some events started turning into hoverfests, I just crossed those events off my list. But it got to the point that I've skipped most of them, and the last couple years all of them. I even sold my RV and trailer since the kids grew up and out of camping and I wasn't using it for events anymore, so it sat a lot collecting dust.
As a result I didn't go to any of the big events for the last few years, mostly flew at the smaller local events (New England states), and spent a lot more time at our club field. I get far more air time, many times with all the airspace all to myself, and even have less distance to travel. I also realized I was missing a lot by not joining in on the local scene. So I guess it was a positive outcome in the end.
My only real beef with constant hovering on the field is safety. Since the planes are close to the pit area while hovering, and recovering from a mistake can easily bring the airplanes in over the pits, I feel I need to keep one eye on the planes hovering. The closer I am to the flight station, the more I need to pay attention. Its hard to totally relax with one eye on the hovering airplanes all day long. I've seen too many pilots (good and bad) miss a beat and recover the planes coming low and right over the pit area. Some events limit the hovering to specific times during the event, and some others have them push the planes hack to the outside edge of the runway. Either are reasonable solutions IMO, especially since there are events (Huckfests, etc) just for people who just want to hover or go nuts all day long.