cheech27

I am going to be buying my first RC airplane, I chose this hobby for my son and I to do together. Here's my question, which is better to start with electric or gas? On some of the electric there doesn't seem to be too long of flight times before the battery is used up. Can somebody give me the pros and cons of each type of motor.

Crashem

There are two many to list so I'll give you my personal top few

Electric is cleaner and quieter then Glow

For a comparable power rating electric is more expensive then Glow

Electric motors require no tuning and start everytime (assuming battery is charged) with the flip of a switch glow engines require tuning and break in

To Achieve the same amount of flying time in any given outing electrics will be more expensive (based on one hour flying time about the time a standard Tx can run before needing recharge.. and yes I've heard run times up to two hours but I chose to err on the side of caution)

Finally nothing sounds better IMHO then a four stoke doing a low level high speed pass across the runway.

I fly both and like both. Bottom line is find out what the experience level is with both in your club and go with the one that the others have the most experience with (at least while you're starting out)

FHHuber

The standard 4 channel transmitter is able to operate over 2.5 hrs on a good 500 mah battery. The limiting factor of how long its safe to fly is almost always the receiver battery. My old (power hungry compared to the new computer radios) Futaba computer radio uses 360 mah/hr of operation. (so the computer radios will safely go beyond 1.5 hrs on the common 600 mah packs that come with them.)

*******

Noise is going to be the main reason that electric is eventually going to drive glow power out. Quiet flight will get rid of the noise complants that have closed a lot of model airfields over the years.

In the long run, (If you stick with flying, and you do a lot of flying) electric will end up cheaper, even if you get the expensive brushless gear drive systems. That $12 to $30 a gallon for glow fuel adds up.

I expect electric power costs to drop considerably in the next 3 to 5 years. There isn't enough manufacturing cost difference in the ESC's for brushless to justify them costing 3 times what a "standard"ESC costs... its just that they are the nwe super product and the manufacturers need to recover development costs still. Some of the planetary gear drives are already starting to come down... some of the brushless motors are already starting to come down. The more peoiple that buy this stuff, the cheaper its going to get.

*******

Right now... its gotten to where its not prohibitively expnsive to go electric on a .40 size trainer using brushless equipment. Appx 1 year's worth of flying would save the cost difference vs starting out glow powered if you carefully pick your equipment. (Polk's Hobbies has the lowest cost good quality planetary gear drives I have seen... 30% to 50% of the cost of some equivilent gear systems)

Crashem

WOW I must have gotten the only four (Aitronics) radios that after an 1hr 1.5hr my ESV puts the charge on a border line voltage setting then again maybe I got bad batteries.. or maybe my ESV is not accurate enough.

However I do like to err on the side of caution and simply invested in extra batteries and an AC/DC field charger

davidinmi

I like to have at least one of each around. I greatly enjoy the speed and power (and sound and smell) of glow models, but a little electric is great for a quick flight when there is not time to fly the glow models, or at the field when I'm procrastinating on cleaning up the glow planes before dark.

I guess my recommendation would be to get an instructor and learn to fly the glow planes then see if you want to add an electric to your hanger. My son and I will be flying electric this Saturday because we can not get to a flying field and glow on Sunday.

The GWS Slow Stik would be on the top of my list for an entry level electric. There are many good glow trainers.

Matt Gosline

Cheech,

The short answer (for your needs, IMHO) is glow.

We had a student at our field with a Superstar EP electric trainer (his Dad had a second hand radio and was only willing to spring for the EP.) He could only fly the Superstar for about 15 minutes a day, since he didn't have a field charger or extra batteries.

$500 should get you all the essentials for a glow trainer that both you and your son could fly on any given day. Chances are you might find a friendly, neighborhood instructor at your local field who wouldn't mind loaning you his/her field charger so that you and your son could fly pretty much all day long.

My 2 cents,

-Matt

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

I much prefer glow. A good .40 size trainer like the Eagle II or something close and a good instructor and you are on your way. Don't waste your money on most of those cheapie electric faom jobs. They are pretty worthless for the most part if you are serious about the hobby. Just my opinion though.

Jim Finn

My Feedback: (2)

I started with an Eagle II......electric about 7 years ago. I had been out of flying for 12 years . I had flown .40 sized glo. I much prefer electric for all the reasons listed here by Crashem. Fight time is not realy an issue at all. Most glo flyers fly for 7 min. Most electrics fly that long. If you want to fly for 30 min at a time ilke I do you have to only take three quick steps #1 land #2 switch batteries #3 take off. Works every time. Trying to fly electric with only one battery pack is a pain. Three battery packs works great. Two chargers helps too. I run my transmitter for over 4 hours at a time using nimh's.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

What you didnt mention was if you planned on joining a club or not....if you just want to fly at the local schoolyard and not pay AMA or club fees/dues than you could only go electric anyway...unless you live on a farm and have 15 acres to play in??..I started with parkflyers (GWS/Wattage) and got some stick time in that way ...now I am more into glow....as Huber said the electric brushless motors are ridiculously priced and will come down in a few years..as for flight times you can either get a field charger or get extra battery packs ..I used to walk up the street to the school with 3 battery paks and would fly for 30-40 minutes, but you also cant take any wind with electric well,parkflyers anyway....Rog