Hi, I've been looking around for an RC plane for a few weeks now, and I am wondering if anyone wants to evaluate my yard and tell me if any electric plane could possibly fly in it? Thanks in advance.

P.S. I wouldn't mind any tips for a cheap transmitter, and good plane. May I add money is veeeeery tight right now...no summer job... I have minimal experience in flying because I have an Echargers Intruder.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/da...Backyard_2.jpg

http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/da...ard_lowres.jpg

I dont think that would be a good idea, unless you have some previous experience. Try for an electric, or maybe even gas heli for that yard, but to do more advanced things than hovering around you would proabably need something bigger, like a club, or soccer field. A parkflier would fly in there if you had enough experience to be able to "contain" it, but a sudden gust of wind, or brain lapse, and it will be in the trees.

Not a chance with a GLOW powered plane.
You could try one of those slow park flyers but you would need tons of experience to fly even those in there...not for a beginner like you...

The best would be for a micro chopper.....But the prob is you have to learn to fly a bigger sized chopper in order to fly that little thing!!!!Learning to fly on that is not an easy task i would say....

THe best advise for you is to get a 40 sized basic trainer with a 4 channel radio(go for a 6 if you can put in a little bit of money as you might need it for your future planes but its actually up to you) get a TT or OS 40-46 engine and thats it( of course u will need the glow starter, fuel etc) i think if i'm not mistaken you could get all above for about $300-400.

Then you would need to find a proper flying field and get an instructor....It does look a little more then you asked but actually this is the best thing you could do to fly. You could get one of those 3 channel electric planes too but definately you can't fly it in that place and would need a bigger field.

I was really hoping that I could disagree with bikz and ykol, but I think they're right. Your yard is ju-u-ust about big enough for a GWS Tiger Moth, maybe. But you'd have to turn constantly which is difficult and not all that much fun.

I believe that a mini IFO would fly there okay, but they're actually more of an indoor flyer, and don't take wind all that well.

In any case, even starting with a small, 3 channel, electric, foam Park Flyer, will cost you $250 to $300.

The only other viable option would be an Aerobird or Fighterbird which run in the $90 to $160 range and are fairly complete (radio, battery pack, charger).

I personally don't like these last options because they come with 27 mHZ radio gear, and it can not be used in other planes later. Many of them also only offer two channels, and you really need a bare minimum of 3 channels to experience what RC flying is about.
(These will also require at least a large soccer field size area to fly.)

Best I can do for you based on your input.

You can also try EZone. Strictly electric flyers there, and many threads on park flyer type stuff.

http://www.ezonemag.com/

Good Luck, and I hope you find the money and time to really get involved.

By the way, if you can find a local club, and an instructor, you can often find a used trainer and radio gear. That and some basic field equipment (starter, fuel, glow igniter, 12 Volt battery) would end up costing in the area of $250 to $300.
Dennis-

Thanks for all the help. I forgot to mention that about 200ft up the road I have 3 little league baseball fields that I fly the current beginner plane. Up by my school, we have four soccer fields connected together for a huge flying field, but I'm not sure about if there are restrictions (most likely noise restrictions from the houses nearby). I definitely want to go electric simply because I don't have the money, or resources to go glow.

I landed a sweeeeet job tommorrow hauling tree limbs from a lot for 20 bucks an hour. 3-7. That will put me at $160 to spend on the plane and radio.

Any more help will be greatly appreciated.

Why not you save up a bit more after the $160...wait a little longer and get a good 4 channel electric plane? I think getting a plane with all 4 channel control would be more worth it......You could use the radio which you have purchased for other planes later in the future as well if you want to go up and get a glow powered plane.

So just think about it and make the best decision for yourself....Any others fly nearby your place?

Cherry - I was thinking the same thing about that Mini IFO. Neat little airplanes.

Thats pretty small. I flew my first plane on a 60yd long by 20yd field and crashed it into the wall near by so i would say bigger.

I was just in that same situation as you. I bought the Slow Stick because I read so much about how good this plane is. It is a great plane and I'm glad that I have it. But I will say that between flying that plane for a month and tearing up FMS flight simulator, I'm bored and moved up to a glow trainer. They are both fun and have their +'s and -'s. But I don't think you can go wrong with the Slow Stick.

For yard flying a Slow Stick is a great recommendation. I like the Tiger Moth as well though. I fly mine from my front street with no problems other than drawing in the neighborhood kids and getting asked all the "questions". I once had to declare an in-flight emergency and land on my neighbors' roof though. No damage and was pretty cool how I landed it perfectly.

Good luck,,,,one heck of a yard you have there.

I'm pretty sure a megatech x-ec diversion could fly in there!
Plus it's cheap and fly's great for such a small model...

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/diversion.htm

-Nik

hm... now that I think about it, the slowstick is pretty big. almost a 50" wingspan. Does anyone think that would be too big to fly around at the little league fields? (after I learn for a while at the soccer fields). I don't know if I even want to go that big just because I dont have any transportation for myself. I would always have to ask for a ride. Are there any smaller planes that fly remotely like it? I saw the Lite Stick and that looks pretty fun. http://nyblimp.com/litestick.htm Does anyone have any examples of a small plane that flys well?

bikz - im not sure if there are any others around me. I think I heard about a registry somewhere where you can find other flyers around you. is there such a thing?

that X-EC Diversion looks like a fun little plane.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Tiger moth from GWS...I hear its the easiest thing to learn on and in a small space (but bigger than your yard),, I had good success learning with the fd stick myself in a schoolyard.....Rog

The slowstick will fly just as slow as a TMoth despite is larger size.

The only downside to teh TMoth is any little breeze will toss it around....

Guys IS THERE A way he can find any flyers around his place.
Sorry Bribri.. i really dont know......hope the others will let you know...
Good luck buddy.

Man I saved for two years to get a mkIII trainer with a .91 fourstroke plus field equipment around 800 bucks!! I didn't spend anything except gas and insurance on my truck so why dont you go like me and you will feel better at the end of the long wait.

I still vote the slow stick. I looked at all of the other planes but they just didn't make my cut. The slow stick is stong, moves slow, and can take some wind. The other smaller planes will limit you to only flying with little or no wind. The tiger moth is a great plane but it has a lot of parts that can easily be damaged on bad landing. Don't let the size of the slow stick bother you. You will need its size for learning and it will glide really nice when you cut the throttle back which is a great time to learn. And finally, the wing is held on by a rubber band. It really doesn't matter which plane he goes with, he is still going to need someone to help him get to the soccer field because he will need to bring extra batteries, a charger, and 12 volt, etc unless he is just going to the feild with a few batteries and the plane. Even if you don't go with a slow stick, I would suggest you look into a bigger plane for you first electric. Maybe you should ask your LHS what they think about a small electric plane as your first plane. Again, I'm not knocking the smaller planes, I'm just speaking from my own personal experience with learning how to fly on my own.... Last but not least, regardless of what you go with, find someone to help you balance and trim the plane..... Trying to learn that on your own isn't much fun! Good luck.

cainebean

And if you go with the slow stick and want a good list of possible modifications let me know. I've done a lot of research on this plane.

cainebean

Ok, you guys have convinced me. I think I will go with the Slowstick. It's gotten so much good feedback that it's hard to turn down. And if I break the plane, its only 35 bucks!
I'm gonna try and get my friend into this stuff, and then it wouldn't be so boring or lonely at the field. Now that I've decided on the plane, any help at all in aquiring the needed equipment would be great. I am thinking of this:
*A inexpensive 4ch radio w/ or w/out servos
*I could get servos seperately, depending on the size needed for the slowstick.
*A speed controller
*Batteries
*Charger
If I missed anything, or if anyone has any ideas for these things, please post them. Thanks again for all the help!

I promise you won't regret it. Get a radio then get a micro flight pack for the slow stick. If you plan on staying in electric I would get a really nice charger. And if you can afford it, get 3 batteries. One flying, one cooling, and one charging.... = No waiting. I've got an older 4 channel if you are interested.

If you are going with GWS check out there park flyer radio its only for park flyers but it is cheap. The best way to get the servos is to buy the GWS Flight pak for the Slow Stick. You will get everthing you need except the crystal. Make sure you know what radio you are getting before ordering since you need to get the right shift rx (pos JR/Airtronics, Neg Futaba/Hitec)