Hello from Ottawa, Canada.

A new hobby store opened in our neck of the woods and to my delight my wife got me a Hobbyzone Super Cub LP RTF. I did a little research and a little thinking, then went to the same store and purchased the Phoenix flight simulator.

Why Phoenix? It came with a Spektrum DX5e 5-channel flight transmitter, AND it models the Hobbyzone Super Cub LP. Yes, the RTF comes with its own transmitter... but it's 75 MHz. So with my wonderful wife's blessings Ireturned the RTF version and ordered the BNF, to which I will bind my Spektrum DX5e. Still waiting for the plane to come in.

In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of virtual flying with Phoenix and I'm very happy with it. It took awhile but now I'm used to reversing the controls when flying towards myself, and my takeoffs and landings have improved a lot. More recently I've been flying with the wind in the sim set at the maximum recommended for the Super Cub, so I'm getting more used to real world conditions, including upwind takeoffs and landings.

I'm glad I've found this forum and Ilook forward to hanging around.

Welcome to a fun, and sometimes frustrating, hobby.
If you have not already found it, visit http://www.maac.ca
This is the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada.
You'll find information about regulations on the hobby as well as a way to find local flying fields and clubs.

Do yourself a favor and find an experienced RC pilot to help you. You will Thank me later, Dave

We are glad you did too. We can help you along as you learn to fly your new plane and get involved in this hobby that we all love.

Ok.. well, first off, let me say this: You are not "reversing the controls" when the plane is flying toward you. Well, what I mean is, you are flying the plane, not vice versa. Everything you do is with reference to the plane.

Put it on the ground and stand behind it and operate the controls. If it has ailerons, learn what direction the surfaces move when you move the aileron stick to the left, and then to the right. What we try to ingrain in our students is that, when standing behind the plane, right stick moves the right aileron UP. If you learn this ONE THING, you will never have a reversed aileron control.

Next, stand in FRONT of the aircraft. Move the aileron stick to the right. The same surface moves up, but now, it's on YOUR LEFT. That's not reversed, it's the PLANE's right, not YOUR right.

This is a practice you should learn and memorize, and do each and every time you fly that plane. Not just the first time you fly that day, but each and every time you fly that plane. This is ground preparation and pre-flight that every pilot should commit to memory.

Hey, the list goes on, but, judging from your original post, you have what it takes to grasp these basic functions.

As suggested, and if available, find a qualified instructor and let that person guide you through the basics. You won't regret it.

Meanwhile, ask away. We will give you whatever help we can.

CGr.

Gotcha. That's what i meant... guess Iexpressed in incorrectly.

No ailerons on this plane. There will be on the next one.

Much appreciated. And Iwill look into instruction.

You will enjoy the super cub. Make sure the first time you fly it, that you have a friend hand launch it. It needs to be launched firmly ( but not hard) nice and level while you have your hand on the stick and the plane is full throttle. Your first instinct will be to yank back to climb, but your job will be to slowly climb while keeping the wings level ( you are probably out of trim). This plane doesn't have enough power to climb straight up so if it wants to climb too fast you may need to push the nose down a tad while still maintaining a slow climb. While you are climbing to altitude you may need to do some nice slow turns until you get a few mistakes high. Then take your fingers off of the stick and see what the plane does. It will likely be out of trim. Now is the time to get the wings level again and then make the proper trim adjustments. By this time you may need to turn the plane around so it doesn't fly away and re check the trim. Once you have it flying straight, just take it easy with some nice slow turns, maybe do a nose dive for 2 or 3 seconds and pull back for a loop. Have fun, you're gonna get hooked.

Thanks for the tips! I'll bring DW along... she's interested in the hobby and she's already been warned that crashes are inevitable.

Congratulations for joining an excellent hobby! As a newbie myself, let me tell you that you have found a community of vast knowledge and extremely helpful people.

One thing to remember, there are no "silly" questions to ask, so IF you have any doubts or anything -regardless of how self-explanatory you feel it may be- please post the question. You would be helping other newbies too.

Great plane by the way, good luck !!!
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That's the best advice anyone could offer. No one, well, almost no one , will laugh at your questions. Often times, you may get more than you bargained for, but that's the nature of this hobby. Everyone is willing to offer some form of assistance.

Best of luck!

CGr.

I'm another newby and this forum is fantastic. I am getting all kinds of support for problems I have as I too got new equipment in November ARF and though it came with a 2.4 TX, I'm finding I need a mixing switch. The manuals are terrible and nothing on line. Support has yet to respond .

I'm finding the need for a major brand of TX is possibly the only reliable way for support. The on line hobby sources just do not support the equipment they sell so, early into this I see that buying quality, like with all else in life, is the only sure way to get it right. 

I now have 2 new TX and neither brand will do what's needed from what I can find so far.

Good lick and I'll see you in the forum along the way to a great and fun new hobby and passion.

AltaTed

I,m a bit confused by your statements, however I think what you may have said is definitly true. Cheap is junk? Of course when someone starts they're not likely to want to spend $400. on just the radio when they can get plane,radio,etc. for less. Herein lies the problem which perhaps could be avoided with having done sufficient research. It never fails to amaze me when reading these forums how often the same questions are asked and answered.Anyway that's life. There are many knowledgable folks here that are always willing to help but to obtain help try to include as much info as possible relateing to your question. Also do your research.

Sorry I confused you by my statement. I guess I should have stated cheap is going to get you junk as you clearly stated.

Your comments are so true.

I try searching for answers for my questions on the forums but many times I may not know what I'm looking for, terminology etc. I seem to search and search and get more confuesed the deeper I go.

I have made connection with some great people who have helped when I  ask questions that, had I found something (that by the way, I still don't have an answer to my question on), I would probably never have met on them the forum.  These people who are supporting us are great and very much appreciated.

Many clubs offer a club owned trainer for those new to the hobby to try out flying RC. Often, the club will provide an AMA Approved Intro Pilot to help you through the first few flights with the club trainer so that you can see if this is what you want to do with your life..

All kidding aside, this is a great way to get into the hobby without any expense. Even the AMA offers a "temporary" AMA card to get you through the first few months of your RC beginning.

https://www.modelaircraft.org/joinrenew.aspx

So, if you are new, and looking to "try" things out for a while before you decide what to buy, this is an excellent opportunity.

Check with your local club if they do, indeed, have a club trainer and see if you can get started that way. It can't be much "cheaper" than $19.95 (AMA) for the three month temporary membership, now can it!!!

CGr.

Thanks for the tip... I'll have to check out the local clubs in more depth. And in my neck of the woods, it would be MAAC vs AMA.

AltaTed,
What plane and radio do you have? If there's no brand, can you post a link to the seller's info about it?

Learning the terminolgy will come in time. For now, what do you mean by "mixing switch?" Or, can you describe what you are trying to do?

Carrell

I have a Wingtiger.40" wingspan trainer. I use Clear View simulator program and have a simulator controller.
Catalog picture attached of my trainer..

I also have a delta wing plane thats has some good recomendations as a good slow flyer choice for beginners, not necessarly the first plane however. I have a Fly Sky control for it that's got a MIX in the programming on the computer. I'm clueless as to theright setting to make using it nor do I understand exactly what mix does if acontrol has just a switchtoturn it on? I'm just planning ahead while I wait for flying weather here by doing as much prep work as possible so I'll be ready and prepared.

I have the list of all of them and have tried to reach the other local clubs but none have responded to my calls. Leaves me feeling they are too busy to handle newbies.
I await an opening in the best of them and are 12th in line for an opening.
Ted

Your delta wing plane, if like my Stryker, only has 2 servos that control roll and elevation. The mix comes in so when you move the elevator stick, both control surfaces move in the same direction. And also when you move the aileron (or rudder depending on how you like it) they move in opposite directions to make the plane bank/or roll.

Again, I am comparing it to my Stryker...which only has 2 control surfaces on the horizontal and none on the vertical (or rudder).

So basically...the mixing lets you use both servos for both aileron and elevator...depending upon which stick you are moving.

My Jetiger is very similar to yours with just 2 servos. Setting up my transmitter using the computer to program it is my problem. You said both elevons work together which I sort of understand. What I get now is if one moves up the other moves down. Mu question is how to set it to climb or put the nose downward ?

Thee computer give chouces of say channel 1 leading or following channel 2 and I have percentages I can assign. I can assign stick setting also and with all the choices I'm scratching my head. First I just need to understand what happens if you have a mix switch. How does it give you commands to take the plane up or down and at what stick position do you go up and down with your stryker?

Picture of the Jetiger attached.

Ted

Ted,

I use a Spektrum DX7.  It has a "delta wing" configuration within.  And the manual (for the DX7) instructed exactly how to set it up.

Im at work right now and its been since mid summer since I set it up, so I dont really recall all of it at the moment.

But in short...the mixing basically separates the signal for elevator and aileron (which is what is called "elevons").

I run my radio to have the aileron function (left / right motion of the right stick) move the elevons in opposite directions to make the plane bank left or right.  Then, I have the elevator function (up /down motion of the right stick) move the elevons in the same direction to make the plane climb or dive.

Works just like any other plane when flying.

Is this the transmitter? http://www.hobbypartz.com/79p-ct6b-r6b-radiosystem.html

Does the radio work with your trainer? Or, do you have a radio that works with it?

I searched for online manuals and found some links on this page http://www.mycoolheli.com/t6config.html
The one that appears to be the 'official' manual does not describe mixing in enough detail for me to understand it without having the radio and plane in front of me to experiment.
The 'expanded manual' has a lot of info but is explaining heli setup rather than plane.

You might post a new thread in the radio forum http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_157/tt.htm
Title it something like 'Need help setting up delta wing mixing in Fly Sky transmitter'

Good choice on Phoenix and getting a lot of what looks to be 'planned out' flying process on your sim first.

While you can always hear of folk raving as to how good the Phoenix flight physics are for heli's in some of the heli forums I belong to (my primary aircraft is a nitro heli, though I do have a .61 powered 65" trainer 'plank' as well), I actually found I got more from Phoenix when it came time to learn how to fly a plane.
It's a great tool to learn on, and will get you further along a lot faster than had you not brought a good sim .... it'll also save you an absolute fortune in crashed aircraft when your trying to push the envelope a little down the line - I'd HATE to think of the real world value of all the aircraft I have crashed in Phoenix (I think my house would cost a LOT less - LOL).
Lastly, while it is a GREAT and very accurate tool, it's not exactly like flying your real plane (each has it's own separate 'feel' re setups), so for your first few flights it would still be a good idea to get a helping hand form an experienced pilot (with a buddy box setup) until your happy with your plane and how it really flies (and that you know you can land it), as I personally found even a little difference in expected feel can be a little offsetting when your still green.
Best of luck with your future flying!

I totaly agree, it can be a frustrating but addicting hobby. Enjoy the new plane and welcome to the forum.

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