I'm about to ask some stupid questions so let me start saying that and I am a complete beginner at airplanes as I am into rc trucks and not really airplanes but summer is getting hot and I am tired of messing with my nitro truck in the heat. I am looking to get a gws slow stick as my first plane. There are many questions I have about it. Firstly, does it come with a motor or anything when you get the airplane? secondly what type of electronics am I looking for for this airplane, I get the micro rx and I get what type of battery, but micro servos? esc? I just need some help so I am not completely bewildered in this... sorry and I have looked on this forum and I found some answers but most of them are from 2004 and I just want to be more up to date

Welcome - are you really sure you want to jump in? The water's cold and deep! Just kidding.

First and foremost get hooked up with a local club and join the AMA. You're more likely to hook up with an instructor so that you can learn the basics and solo using the club's gear that includes buddy box that will minimize risk. They will likely have a facility set up for flying and with AMA insurance for your and spectator safety. You may well find someone with a complete setup that's moving to something else - very inexpensively. Contacts can help you repair your plane(s) after the inevitable crash. And it's a whole lot more fun flying with others. Your skills will progress much more quickly than if you try to do it by your lonesome.

You'll find glow guys, electric guys, gas guys and thermal guys. (I'm a glow guy) And there are some Renascence fliers with all of the skills / experience. Get into their heads and you'll find them very willing to share. Pick on a local hobby shop that has the expertise that you're looking to fly. It's good to keep the LHS in business because you'll need their services sooner or later.

Good luck ...

Thanks, there isnt any club around here that flies and you can join... usually a couple of people that get together and fly at the park and such. and my local hobby shop does mostly cars and boats. My only option is basically to learn myself thats why I tried to do some research and found that this plane seems to be pretty popular as a starting plane! thanks though, it would really help if there was an actual club around me.

Stuart Florida RC Clubs:

SUN DANCERS RC CLUB
Flying Site Details
2.88 miles 2375 128 RONALD LOVELLE
Email Contact 344 NW SHEFFIELD CIR
PORT SAINT LUCIE FL 34996
Phone: 772.621.3788

MARTIN COUNTY MODELERS
Flying Site Details
4.69 miles 1625 39 RICHARD ZISA
Email Contact 8846 SE OAK GROVE TERR
HOBE SOUND FL 34997
Phone: 772-546-0809

AIR STORMERS RC CLUB
Flying Site Details
4.69 miles 4887 7 JAMES THOMAS 1617 SE TRADITION TR
STUART FL 34997
Phone: 772-293-9155

PT ST LUCIE RC AEROMODELERS
Flying Site Details
9.06 miles 1903 21 BEVERLY JONES
Email Contact 1572 SE SANDIA DR
PORT SAINT LUCIE FL 34953
Phone: 772.344.0122

TREASURE COAST RC AERO MODELER
Flying Site Details
9.64 miles 990 84 JACQUE MITTENDORF 2445 MARQUIS TERR
STUART FL 34983
Phone: 561-248-6626
Visit Website

FLYING EAGLES RC CLUB
Flying Site Details
24.80 miles 4589 43 GEORGE WHITE
Email Contact 1457 SE 14TH ST
STUART FL 34951
Phone: 772-286-3166

Ok, maybe I didnt do enough research on clubs around me! I didnt think that they would be online. When I went down to my lhs they said they didnt know of anyone around me but my lhs is an hour away... thanks alot CGR

Six clubs within the same radius as my closest club? My closest, the one I belong to is a 10 spot in gas round trip, and my car or van gets around 25mpg.One more just a little further away and then thenext is a $20 ride. Beyond them Driveout and fill up the tank on the way home.

SeamusG is spot on though. Find a club,in your case try all of them, and find out whichhas the best instructor program. Then use the instructors. You may have to adjust your flying times to accommodate their availability, but as they are free, it is well worth the extra effort. Most instructors will work very hard trying to accommodate any time problems you might have. Most all are very helpful, but don't stand them up without a verygood reason.Given an eager to learnstudent who followsdirections reasonably well, most instructors enjoy it more than thestudents.

The instructorsdo more thanteach you to wiggle sticks. They teach you why it flies and why it won't.How to tune that troublesome engine, or which battery/esc/motor combo will work best. They are basically the back bone of this hobby.

Don

Well, since this recession hit, many of us have to drive an hour to our local hobby shop. We lost two in the same year and when you only have two, well, that's a problem. We consolidate our trips or use mail order houses like Horizon or Tower (or many others).

As far as your local club is concerned, well, contact them. The phone numbers are there. You are way better off getting direct help from a club than you are trying to do it on your own, believe me.

CGr.

Thanks alot for the help Ill try contacting them tonight

May I suggest a flight simulator? Great help!
It has a red button you won't fly in any RC plane.
I have the Realflight 5.5 and it's great.

I am new to this too, and I have 3 things to be thankful for:

- My flight simulator
- My instructor
- Guys at the field and in this forum

(not sure if it's in the order of importance)

Good suggestion. Simulators like RealFlight really help getting the fingers accustomed to the controls. Great for newbies so that the throttle/rudder (yaw control) and elevator (pitch control)/aileron (roll control) are very familiar. Practice flying right to left, left to right, towards you and away from you. When ya get bold do the same inverted. If you have those bits control down then you don't have to spend valuable instructor flight time trying to learn them.

Experienced fliers knock the rust off before they get to the field after a while away from flying too.

Unfortunatly, when it comes to simulators your probably get what you pay for. IEthe beter ones are more expensive. It does little good to learn how to fly a simulated plane that doesn't respond anything like a real model will. FMS is worth every penny you pay for it. It is free and worth nothing other than being a dificult game for the kids.

I tried it before starting with and instructor. Tried it after starting with the instructor but before getting my cettified pilot wings. Last year, I dug it out and updated all the software and tried it again. JUNK Idon't have a single plane in my hanger that handles anythign like any of the planes included with it.

There are a couple other Simulators though that are very good from reports from the field. Ikind of shut off the names as I was more interested in applying the three or four hundred to new planes. Iknow the Heli guys live by the simulator though, so you get what you pay for must apply to this type product.

Don

The GWS Slow Stick is one of the easiest airplanes out there to fly.
You can probably be flying for less than a hundred bucks including Lipo batteries, brushless motor, and radio with servos.

Look here... http://www.caliberhobby.com/index.html

They are the american distributor for GWS

Welcome to RC flying, I hope you have a ball.

BTW, no question is stupid if you honestly don't know the answer.

Happy flying, Oscar

The order should be:

Your instructor,
The guys at the field and in this forum,
and lastly, the flight simulator.

We keep saying it's an excellent tool, but not a crutch and should be used to practice what was taught and learned during practical real flight training.

CGr.

CG,

I agree with you, however, t<font face="Calibri" size="3">here’s one more thing that the sim does. It allows you to develop some automatic movements that become second nature. Take for instance how you have to do the opposite movements when the plane is flying toward you. Some new RC pilots have crashed or make hard landings for not having this as second nature. They get confused. I got confused on the sim and not on the field. By flying over and over with the sim, those movements became second nature. Of course, you could also learn this at the field, but the risks are higher.

Harry</font>

I agree, but the first thing a student should learn is good habits and that comes from an instructor, not a sim. I'm sure an instructor would tell you that it's not a good idea to fly over the pits. A sim will not. (only one example, but with a sim, you don't often know where the plane is with reference to the pits and developing habits that flying over the pits is ok is just not ok. The instructor shows that right off, right from the beginning. Then, the student can relate that to the sim rather than vice versa.

But, hold on a minute. They are not opposite movements when the plane is flying toward you. A right turn is a right turn. The pilot must get the knowledge an experience that says that what he is doing is flying the plane and movements from the transmitter are with reference to the plane, not to the pilot on the ground. A right turn is a right turn to the plane, not to the pilot or where the pilot is standing.

Moving toward you, to make a right turn, the same input is given when it's moving away from you. A right turn is a right turn.. for the plane. When coming toward you, the plane moves to the pilot's left but it goes to the plane's right. Same stick movements as if it was going away from the pilot. This can be learned with a sim as well as in the air... same as an RC car or boat.. A right turn is the plane's, car's, or boat's rightn whether or not the simulator is being used.

CGr.

Of course I know a right is a right turn no matter what. It's just that it feels different when flying a model. I did not have this problem when I learned to fly a real plane but I had to struggle at the beginning. The sim helped me for that.
As for getting your first 2 classes with an instructor before you start the sim, I agree 100% with you.

Another important thing to remember is that there are toy grade planes and there are serious hobby grade planes. The toy grade stuff is Air Hogs and the Harbor Freight Yellow Bees and such, while hobby grade (for starter planes) are traditionally the .40 size and up balsa trainers and sport models. The Slow Stick falls in the middle because it uses hobby grade components but is designed to be easy to fly and low performing like a toy. If you're wanting to get into the flying hobby, then a hobby grade trainer is the way to go, and you'll need a club for that so you can get some instruction. If you just want a toy to take out on calm days and fly in circles a bit, the Slow Stick is hard to beat. As long as there is some tall grass around to ditch it in you can have a good time with very few flying skills. Just don't expect it to get you ready for any serious flying and don't expect it to play nice in the wind.

Couple o thoughts,
Flight instructers teach you how to set up a plane so it will fly right. That likely is a major contributor to success. Trouble shooting a new plane for a new guy is near impossible or at the least agrivating.
Also there is a very large assortment of electric trainers these days. I have instructed on some recently and have been impressed.
others not so much. easy to fix is a factor for me as well.

The GWS slow stick is a nice enough plane to learn on IF THE WIND ALLOWS. I would look for something a bit bigger such as the Apprentice. But I usually tell new guys NOT TO BUY A PLANE until they have an instructer. Having a trainer the instructer is familiar with just makes sense. Our club often has a trainer around a serious student can have.