I must say I love my Avistar, but am looking at getting a second plane. I have come down to the following planes:

Tower Voyager MkII $109.99
Great Planes Super Sportster $149.99
Hobbico Spectrum $99.99
Phoenix Models Giles 202 $129.99



I am leaning towards the Super Sportster with a Magnum .52 4-stoke. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I have never owned any of your four choices, but do like the looks of the Super Sportster. The wire landing gear is the only negative that jumps out at me. I prefer something sturdier.

I fly off grass and have never had much success with wheel pants on 40 size planes. They do look neat and if your field is smoother than mine they may not be a problem.

Eric

do you want a acrobatic or scale plane?
if scale i would get cessna 182 from gp or h9

I would not recommend a scale plane as a second plane-

The Super Sportster looks forgiving (seen it fly but not flown it myself-)

The Spectrum is a basic pattern design- should go where you point it but will likely be fastest of those you mentioned-

The Giles is an Aerobatic design, would be the hardest to fly of those mentioned-

Not familiar with the Voyager- price looks good though-

If you are still considering other planes:

Sig Somethin' Extra
Magic Extra
Sig 4* 40

Have fun!

Look into the Dazzler 40 ARF or Kit, the Magnum 52 fs would work great in it. and it was my 2nd gas plane. It has a semisemetrical airfoil and has raelly easy maintenence. It has no wheel pants and you can put any size wheels (within limits) on it to suit your needs. the ARF comes with tank, prebent landing gear, engine mount (installed!), wheels, and spinner.

I'll vote for the super sportster. I have an avistar and just got done with the super sportster. I haven't really got a chance to wring it out yet but I do like the way it flies, very similar to the avistar in slow flight, but thats my opinion.

The super sportster was my first tail dragger handles great on the ground tracks straight on takeoff and landings where very confident and true no surprises but just a tad fast. Flight was awesome very responsive and very good stall characteristics. I had mine for years and even though the main gear look a little weak I never had any problems I did remove the wheel pants though.

Supersportster or maybe a goldberg tiger 2 would get my vote. Both land like a trainer but do nce aerobatics as well.
James

I started out with an Avistar and had the same questions a while back.

With a lot of help from RealFlight I moved up to the GP Extra 300S ARF. Mine flies very stable, no tendency to tip stall, and is great for acrobatics. It has over 100 flights and is still flying great.

I've also got a Sig Somethin Extra ... This would be a great second plane. It slows down much more than the Avistar and is very easy to land. You can set up the controls very mild and have an easy plane to fly. As you get more comfortable set the controls with more throw and it will do most any trick in the book. Mine flies great on an OS 46 FX.

Best of luck choosing your next plane.

Carl

I started with a Avistar with Os 46 fx and 5 months after I moved to a Graupner Cap 232 with a Os Surpass 91.
The Cap was way harder to fly but after two shorts flight I was already comfortable with the plane. It is a lot faster and landing are really fast.

If you haven't looked at the somethin' extra I would definetly do so it is truly an awesome plane for the second, third, fourth.....get the idea?

It is nice enough to handle like a trainer, yet capable of doing just about everything. It was my plane of choice after the trainer, my son actually just got signed off using his somethin' extra.

AWESOME flying plane.....do you get the idea that I like the Somethin' Extra?

I agree with the nixing the pattern plane for a 2nd plane. My actual second plane was a cloud dancer which is another really really nice plane to fly, but not for a 2nd plane.

I have not flown the sportster but the people that I know that have them don't really care for them......just hear say though as I have not flown one personally.

Well theres my .02

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the Easy Sport 40 or 60.
I've built one of these (40) and it flies great, I did some modifications too. You can fly it wild or tamed. It's a shoulder wing and semi-symmetrical airfoil. Two of my instructors tested it for me and they liked the way it flies.
Check out Great Planes about this.
Garthwood.

this summer I made my return to the hobby after a 9 year hiatius and stole my son's trainer (egale50)..I thought I might have a problem remembering how to fly??it was easy ! in fact I got bored real fast and knew I needed to get a second plane..and I didnt have time to build as much as I love it..sooooooooI got the arf easy sport..it flies great with an os .46fx..aerobatics are rusty but with this plane I can practice primary aerobatics safely..its a winner as far as I am concerned..and take the man's advice stay away from a scale project as your second plane //god this hobby is fun!!

dont ignore this message because i was looking for a second plane 3 weeks ago and i ignored anyone who suggested this plane. U-Can-Do. i litterly just bought a ucando for my second plane 3 weeks ago and it is perfect. flys slow. easy to land. flys smooth. and on low rates it easy. you should fly a buddy box on it for 2 weeks just to get use to it. but im telling i just bought if for a second plane and it is great. and when you get good with it, it can do any thing you want.

I just picked up this addicting hobby in spring. Wow, what a rush! After learnig on a Sig LT-40 I chose the Tower Voyager because of price. As a beginner you will have to deal with an upside down engine and a cowel. Both complicate getting into the air. The fuel tank is so high that it syphons out. The Voyager does fly well and is fun. Because of the hassle factor with the engine I replaced it with a Tiger 2. It has low wing loading (~18oz/ft2) and a right side up engine. Flying characteristics (as judged by a beginner) are great. I passed on the Sportster (my second choice) for now because of higher wing loading. It too has a right side up engine.

Both planes were recommended highly by fellow RC modelers who each have in excess of 20 years experience and have flown both.

Hope this helps. Have fun!

Of the models you listed I recommend the Super Sportster.

I got an Easy Sport ARF as my second plane. It is a blast to fly. It will do annything I want except hovering. spins, stall turns, slow rudder turns slow inverted rudder turns, rolls, loops, fast flight, slow flight, immelman turns. It is the perfect plane with an OS 46 FX. I would recommend this plane to any one. There are more experianced fliers at my field that have 90 sized engines in their Easy Sports