This post will be nothing more than some thoughts and observations by a newcomer to RC flying. You may totally ignore it and not miss anything of importance. I'm currently flying four different aircraft. One is a trainer (Apprentice 15e) but the other three are micros. I have a J-3 Cub, Aeronca Champ, and an Albatros bi-plane. I call the Apprentice my "serious" plane. It's the one I'm flying to gain precision in flight maneuvers and landings. After all, just bringing the bird down somewhere on the field isn't really good enough. The three micros are just fun flying. I can hand launch one and go buzzing around without many worries. Thanks to dime sized wheels and a grass strip where the grass is taller than the wheels, a good landing is one where the gear is still attached afterwards. Usually, I just float it in, the wheels touch, the plane noses over, and we are down. And if something does get broken it is usually a cheap fix. I have much more at stake when the bigger plane is in the air.

Then there's the subject of space. Not outer space, just the space in the hangar. We live in a 38'X40' steel building. They sometimes call them "barndominiums". Ours is now being referred to as "the hangar" because of the number of aircraft present. You see, while I said I'm flying four planes I didn't mention the other three that I'm not flying yet. When I got into this RC thing I sold some traditional archery equipment and went on a buying spree. So I have a Durafly Sea Vixen EDF, a Flyzone FW-190, and a Park Zone S.E. 5a waiting for me to get good enough to fly them. The first two have been checked out and test flown by a more experienced friend and the S.E. is waiting its turn. Anyway, while these warbirds look great spotted around on the hangar floor, they do take up a lot of space. A 20' tall ceiling makes rigging some sort of pulley system a job for acrobats. Then there are the micros all lined up on a deep shelf. By my estimate I have room for at least 5 more. I'll say this, if micros weren't limited to flying in winds no greater than 3-4 mph I'd be filling that shelf. Heck,I may fill it anyway.

Storm

Micros can be much tougher to fly well than the bigger models. I have a 15" Sabre that will fly in 15 mph winds but is a handful. But then it's a handful in calm air.

Nice collection! That FW-190 looks like it'll be a blast to fly.

Three more micro additions you may want to consider: Night Vapor, Mini-Vapor and Ember2.

I have a couple of videos my Night Vapor playing around in a gym.

I just got a couple Mini Vapor's and it's a hoot in a small living room. One will be losing it's radio for a scratch built micro glider this fall.

The Ember2 is an amazing plane. It's probaby the best indoor trainer around, glides very well and doesn't take much to get it to thermal. It flies at a much slower pace than the Champ and Cub, is quite relaxing and I can run a battery out shooting touch-n-go's or lazy figure 8's. I've flown all the Parkzone micro's and have to say my Ember2's are the most fun hands down!

Hogflyer

I haven't actually flown the FW-190 yet. A friend of mine flew it and was impressed with its handling characteristics. I'm a little worried about its land gear and the grass field I fly from.

Storm

I have the same Sea Vixen. The dark colour makes it easy to lose orientation so I painted it yellow as one of the Target towing Vixens. Flies great and very mild mannered. About a yr old and havn't touched anything on it yet.

The Vixen was flown by the same friend who tested the FW. He was impressed at how well it handled. Even with all the "armament" hung under the wings it doesn't slow down quickly, though. It ate up a surprising amount of runway in landing. I may choose it as my "graduation" flight once I'm completely confident of my landing skills with the Apprentice.

Storm