Do you think that Hobbico will sell the nextar all by itself with out all of the extra stuff? I do not need all the extra items.

I can't speak for Hobbico, but they should. This has got to be one of the most attractive trainers that has ever been produced. I've only flown a plane with the auto pilot thingy-ma-jig once, and on take off the plane went inverted by itself and drove right into the ground. I'm still not sure what happened on that one...

You have to remember that the AFS system only works in certain amounts of sun-light. It is why I prefer to just rip the darned thing out and even replace the reciever as well with a better 7 channel one to go with my Futaba 6 EXA radio. The Sky Sport just doesn't do it for me.

Also, Hobbico/Great Planes WILL NOT REPLACE YOUR PLANE despite what the manual says. The manual states success gauranteed or else if your plane crashes, even after the primary precuations are taken at the AMA certified field of your choice, they have to have the plane in their hands in order for them to do an investigation. But even then, they have never replaced a plane. I know my plane had a switch failure during the flight and the plane went down. I sent it in for their inspection and said it was my fault. Screw them is what I say. But I sure do love the plane without all that AFS junk in it.

Well, Nurch your comment wasn't 100% true. I myself was training someone on his Nextstar. He was doing a loop and his reciever just quit working and crashed into the ground on throttle. I helped him out with the preflight and made sure everything was secure, the battery was peaked, and his switch was fine.
My student then went to hobbico and they gladly replaced the plane. No if ands or butts.

You can always buy the Nexstar and sell the Rx, AFS, and simulator on ebay! It is a very nice looking trainer. I've had the chance to fly one, and it is great. I which they had something like this when I started.

FWIW, I put the plane inverted (pretty high up) and the AFS got it back upright when I let go of the sticks. It also works great keepin the plane steady in the wind. It is a bit weird though, because you need to keep the stick pushed to the side to keep the plane in a turn.

Carl

RCFury: I spoke with Great Planes (Tower Hobbies) about the Hobbico trainer. They said that they have never replaced a plane via Hobbico before. And I stress their word NEVER. It took nearly 4 hours, and going up the chain of command to get my new trainer. Perhaps you lucked out. But from what they told me, Hobbico has NEVER replaced any trainers.

nurch,
he must have been the lucky one. Because my student came back to me with another nextstar and told me he didn't pay a dime for it. Well at least shipping to hobbico. I cant really tell you with your perdictiment.

I flew one of these for the first time with a new student this weekend. This was my first experience with Pilot Assist. There was a pretty good cross-wind and from the beginning I felt I was fighting for control for the airplane. Then my student said two times that he didn't have the airplane when I had the button down on the buddy box and he was doing figure 8's. After the second time he said that I landed the airplane and disconnected it. It was set on the least sensitive setting, but it really made me feel like I just didn't have the airplane. Had plenty of sunlight so this had nothing to do with it. I read one of the post saying that it helped steady the plane in a cross-wind. What I experienced was quite the opposite. I felt it was fighting me on take off from the beginning. Maybe I was fight it, but we sure weren't working together.

All in all I really like the trainer. it looks really good and seems to fly very well. I can see where a person without a buddy box, or instructor might benefit from Pilot Assist, air brakes and spoilers, but being totally honest about it, I can see where all this stuff needs to go pretty quickly, or it actually becomes a hindrance in the learning process to the student. Just my opinion after my first experience with this new trainer.

We,(My oldest son & myself) Have a Hobbico Nextstar that was donated by our LHS (Hobby Oasis) for the porpouse of getting some of the spectators at our local field to get a real first hand "feel" of what flying an r/c plane is all about. The plane has performed Flawlessly since the first flight.That was at least 60 flights ago.Other than the trim on the tail giving up it's stickum, no problems have surfaced.Anyone would be hard pressed to build a trainer that has 1/2 of the features & looks of this model for 200% of the price.The AFS is a real distraction for an accomplished pilot because of it's self-righting qualitys and I know that.But in the manual it tells you how to unplug it. As with all ARF's I would recommend triple checking everything & anything you find not up to "your" building standards fix it. This is a great leap in trainer technology and will probably take some getting used to by the "Old School" guy's (me included) but overall I personally can find no fault in this model. Just my personal observation but, cudos to Hobbico & Dave @ Hobby Oasis for helping intrested people have a short-cut to success in our great hobby.

The Nextstar is definitely an excellent plane hands down. I hope people did not get the impression otherwise. I was merely complaining about Great PLanes and Hobbico's policy about my replacement plane.

I have had one very successful flight on my new Nextstar without the flaps or the AFS. I think those two items are hinderances in the learning process. But I can understand the benefits it can provide to people with less agile hand-eye coordination and learning to fly for the first time. I also think it is a very good looking plane, though I found myself going over the entire plane with a covering iron and a heat gun to get all the wrinkles out.

I definitely love my trainer. It is a keeper! I can't wait to upgrade my reciever so I can use my FUTABA 6 EXA radio. That Skysport just doesn't do it for me.

Just got back from the field, I suppose this is about the 10th time out with my Nexstar. Absolutely love it, I'm new to the hobby this year. I had an instructor help me get started but have been going out now with no help. I still have the leading edges and air brakes on, I've never used the AFS.....you just have to turn down the dial to zero, no ripping out or unplugging necessary, get a grip people (oops cocktail talking). The receiver works fine too, makes it go up and down and everything...but it's not silver, crud. Tonight the club president from last year happened to be out when I was and couldn't say enough nice things about the plane or how well I was doing for my first year. The plane rocks.

The Nexstar has started getting praise at my flying field as well. At first people were skepticle about it because it wasn't a Hanger 9 Alpha trainer. I do not hate the Alpha Trainer, but it could be better, like the Nexstar.

The only reason why I took out so many features is because I wanted to learn how to fly more quickly. I love Low-wing planes to death! I want to be able to master my trainer by the end of June or early July. I really want to fly a P-51 Mustang, or a T-34, or an AT-6, or especially my most favorite plane, the P-38 Lightning. Oh dear, I started drooling again. Anyways, by far, I would recommend a Nexstar for a person's first trainer.

I too am new to flying this year, and have had my Nexstar up for about 25 flights. I ripped the AFS and radio, and installed the 6EXA before I ever started the engine. (Got $125 for the stock Tx. radio and servos and got a complete 6EXA flight pack for $160 - not a bad upgrade for $35)

My instructor believes in working in the following order:
Perfect patterns
Perfect Figure 8's
Perfect Appraches at altitude
Perfect T/O's
Perfect Approaches at 30 feet
Landings

I am just fine tuning the low altitude approaches and ready for landing. I regularly fly in a 90 cross wind, and other than weather vaning the plane flies perfect. Everyone at the club comments on the looks, construction and flight capabilities of this plane. For me, it got me in the hobby in 1 easy purchase. It responds well in most weather and I am very impressed.