My Dad is thinking of getting his second plane. He has currently been flying a superstar select with a tower 46 on it. We were thinking of getting either a Tower Kaos ARF or a Tower Uproar Kit. I think that the Kaos might be a little tamer. My dad wants something that can slow down good for landings, to make it easy. He doesn't want a speed demon type plane. What is youalls opinion?

Sig FourStar .40- Best 2nd plane in the world[8D]

Might be the best second plane in the world, I'm still not convinced.

I usually recommend a Great Planes Super Sportster as a second plane, and recently bought a 4 Star 40 so that I could make realistic comparisons. I like the 4* a lot, and in some ways it may be a better second plane, but the Sportster is better in other ways.

The Sportster is a bit quicker, tracks straighter in level flight as well as in most manuevers. Probably due to a slightly higher wing loading and a more efficient design (less drag). The Sportster needs a bit more attention when landing however.

The 4* flys a bit slower due to higher drag, and feels "lighter" in the air (which it is). It also does not penetrate wind as well as the Sportster (tends to get bounced around more), but is a bit more forgiving of mistakes in the air. The 4* floats forever when trying to land (even with the wing clipped shorter by the removal of one bay on each wing). Whether or not that's a good thing depends on your style of flying. (I can slow the Sportster down so that the landing speed is equal with either plane, but the 4* requires a longer, flatter approach to slow down.)

I guess generally, the 4* is a bit easier to land because you have a lot more time to set it up, but I prefer the landing characteristics of the Sportster.

As I said, the 4* MAY be a better second plane, but I'm still not convinced.

Of the two you mentioned, I'd suggest the Kaos. I had one years ago (before the rights were bought by Tower), and it flys where you point it. It was originally a Pattern design meant for clean, smooth aerobatic manuevers and has a relatively long tail moment, so it will track stright through most flight attitudes. The Uproar on the other hand is meant for "fun fly" type aerobatics so it will tend to be "twitchy" in the air. Very fast rolls, turns and loops, which is not ideal for a second plane. (It will bite you in a mistake much quicker than the other three.)

I'd suggest looking at the Sportster and the 4* in addition to the Kaos. I prefer the looks of the Sportster first, then the 4* and the Kaos the least, but that's just personal taste.

Good luck with whatever you choose!
Dennis-

(edited for spelling)

4*40 .

Take a look at this link for ideas on a second plane
http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/second_plane.htm

i went from an electric sail plane, to a GP 40 piper J3-cub great second plane, very mellow.

think about the modeltech dragonlady too. as my second plane i could not ask for more.

4* 40......

I flew an ultra stick as my second plane. I also have the super sportster. I fly both regularly. The super sportster is a much faster plane than the stick. The ultra stick will land easier than my trainer did. My super sportster doesn't land nearly as easily as the ultra stick. The thing I like about the stick is that it will do pretty much anything the sportster will do except knife edge. I think the stick is a better plane. The sportster has a lethargic roll rate because of the tiny little ailerons even when maxed out with the throws. The ultra stick can roll as fast as you want it too and comes with the option of using flaps. The stick can be set up as a regular aileron plane if you want. The ultra stick is cheaper than the SS also. The ultra stick is 129.00 and is more capable than anything I've seen mentioned so far when set up with the "crow mode". I'm surprised no one mentioned it.

Edited: Oh yeah, and the 4* is just plain ugly.

In general I would recomend any of the planes derived from the original Ugly Stick. If you are like me, the second plane is the one you first start to experiment with *wringing it out*.

You're going to make mistakes, and *sticks* are durable, and easy to repair.

My dad and I decided to get the Kaos for now. Any other imput?

My second plane is a 4*40 I just started flying this spring. I crashed it last weekend because I put my card in the wrong frequency slot [].

I am putting it back together. I love the plane. However, I bought a Seagull Space Walker II ARF for only $119! and it was 95% ready to fly. I just flew it this weekend. It flies just as easy and good if not better than the four star. I am very satisfied for the price.

Wings

The Spacewalker is a very decent flying plane, and yes it can be as easy to fly as a 4*. How's the rudder on it though? They tend to be VERY touchy.
Dennis-

Hi Guys,

My second plane was/is a Contender. Very easy to build and is easier to fly than my Trainer. With the flap option it lands very slowly yet goes where you point it and with a Saito 72 has good vertical performance and is able to fly the novice pattern.

I also have a Dynaflight PT 19 powerd by an OS 108 and a series of scratch built profile and SPADS. I am currently building a Carl Goldberg Super Chipmunk powered with a Super Tigre 75.

Why am i saying all this? When I just want a relaxing morning flying or the wind is strong I fly the Contender, despite the fact there is probably more glue than balsa it is lots of funnnnnnnnnn.

Cheers,

Colin

Well, I stick by my recomendation for a stick, but the Kaos is also an excelent choice. I don't know about the Tower Hobbies kit, but the last one I built came from Direct Connection. This was a fairly good kit, but the leading edge sheeting was way to heavy and I had to replace it.

A great engine would be the K&B *gold head* .61. It is what I have on my Kaos, and it works great on a 13x6 prop (break in on a 12x6)

It is still a challenge for me to take off with a tail dragger in general.

First time I flew the space walker it was a breeze, nice and straight slow take off. Only problem was I didn't have enough rudder to turn completely around on the landing strip. I increased the rudder and it is now a challenge to take off straight as the four star.

To be honest, I don't notice much difference. You can set the rudder throw anywhere you want, specially with a computer radio.

Too bad my radio don't have dual rates on the rudder [:@].

Wings

I got a piper cub 0.48. Very easy to fly and has a nice scale looking.

Nilo

My second plane was a spad. It flew, or well kind of. If you could fly that, then you can fly anything! My dad is also thinking of getting a Hanger 9 Super Stick.

Did you build that? Thats a nice looking little plane!

I watched a guy at our field flying a Kaos the other day and it looks like a fantastic plane. Slowed right down and looked like it was on rails landing.

Andy

The piper is an ARF clipped wing.
It has a RCV .58 four stoke. It sounds great.

Nilo

All of these planes sound like good second planes. Thanks guys.