My first plane was the Superstar, then I bought a Great Planes Piper J-3 Cub. I know that the cubs is not hard to fly but the money we put into it, I would rather get a little better first. What would be a good step up from the trainer Superstar? I was thinking of the Twinstar but I want something that isnt a trainer, I think. Any suggestions? Thnx alot!

you may want to try a thundertiger Decathlon ... good highwing intermediate type aerobatic plane with a good size wing

Convert your Superstar to be a tail dragger and take all the dihedral out of the wings. Fly the p*ss outta that and you should be more than ready for your cub.

Would converting my superstar be more expensive then just buying a new one?

I always like to recommend the Goldberg Tiger II as a second plane. It's easy to build, it flys great, and it's very stable. But because it has a fully symetrical airfoil, it will do any trick in the book! I LOVE this plane. I like it so much in fact, that I just built one for my wife to learn on. (although hers is the 60 size, because I had an old 90 FS kicking around)

Shouldn't be. The landing gear will cost you less than $15 for the wheels, dural landing gear, axle shafts, and either some light ply or basswood to reinforce the mounting location. Cut the ribs off the middle of the wing where they're joined. Make new center ribs outta balsa ($2) and glue them in perpendicular. Join the wings together with no dihedral by epoxying them together on a flat surface. Remove a 2 inch slice outta the bottom covering in the center of the wing and reinforce with glass and epoxy. Use some self adhesive trim on the top of the wing. Run a $.50 pushrod for tailwheel control (Dubro tail wheel bracket is $3, 1 inch tailwheel is $2).

Total cost should be under $25 for all the parts needed for the conversion. Will make the plane much more interesting to fly (no dihedral means significantly less self correcting characteristics, yet the flat bottom wing should still give lots of lift so you can still float it in on landings), and give you taildragger experience. You can also make the plane even more interesting by making the wings shorter (taking it in 1/2 -1 rib on each half), installing 2 aileron servos, installing flaps (using either 1 servo for standard flaps or 2 for quad flaps) and fabricating larger control surfaces. As I've learned Kit/ARFbashing is only limited by your imagination.

F2racer gives you an interesting and cheap alternative ... I just hate flat-bottom wings and the reason I mentioned the high wing decathlon ... (Planes should look like something you see at the airport ... IMHO)

plus, I am a bit partial to the 8KCAP TYPE planes ... Mine does it all exept hover and 3D ... and maybe with more engine in the nose ...

http://communities.msn.com/DDawgPoun...nw?albumlist=2

I do fly other planes as well

good choices would include, but aren't limited to: Goldberg Tiger 2, Sig Four *, World Models T-34 or Super Sports 40, Great Planes Easy Sport.......my first choice would be the Tiger 2....it's a proven great flying design and has no bad habits.

Mike

My suggestion would be for the WM Super Sports 40. Performs very well with a 46 size engine. Could hover mine with either a OS46FX or a TT46Pro. Well built and good flight manners. Can be as gentle as a trainer or perform most acrobatic manuvers. My knock around plane for one and a half years flying an average of 6 flights a week and it is holding up very well except for the nose gear that I had to replace. It is with me everytime I go to the flying field to either warm up the fingers or fly when conditions makes it hairy to fly my other planes. This plane is a blast to fly in wind and it is cheap too!

thanx for all the info guys

The Tiger is an awesome plane. Does everything and the flight characteristics are great. A plus is that it is a very tough plane and has great ground handling to boot.

Hope you didn't really mean Twinstar. First of all you would not want a twin engine plane. Thats very advanced stuff. Second, Tower hobbies shows the TwinStar as discontinued.

Stick with the advise given above.

My advise on second planes is a lowwing plane with a tri-cycle gear. The Cub however is a tail dragger, so you might want to take that under consideration when buying your next plane

Go for Sig's 4* 40 or 60.

Easy to build and easy to fly, very forgiving -

Tiger II
Not only does it fly good but you Can put a 60 in it or a 46 and have all the fun you want. It makes a real good second plane that you will want to keep for a long time. Had mine for over 10 years. till the battery went bad in the air. But I am going to build me another one real soon now that my H9- P 51 is just about done.......

I agree with the Tiger @ but it will not be available for a few months since the buyout of goldberg by Lanier. A good alternative is the Cermark Bobcat ( low wing tricycle gear) or the Kaos

Terry

Go with the 4*40 or the Sig Somethin Extra. Both awesome planes. Also any of the "stick" planes (GP Big Stick, H9 Ultra Stick).

Go with the WM Super Spoorts 40 or an Ultra Stik 40. Both very easy to fly.