Who knows what trainers have the wing with metal rod to help them from breaking in half in extreme pressures? I need a new trainer, looking for an ARF somewhere around $100, any recommendations? I want one that wont take too long to put together and one that will be durable in flight.

The metal rod is not always the best answer. I've seen trainers that have them... and the rod ripped through the wing when the wing snapped. (the rod was fine[&:])

The most durrable and cheapest trainer is probably the SPAD Debonair. www.spadtothebone.com Costs about $5 to $15 to build (depending on where you get the stuff) the airframe. If you buy the stuf... you end up buying enough to make 2 or 3 in order to get enough to make one... so plan on spending $45 and having material to make 2 replacement airplanes.

No metal in the wing structure... unless you decide to replace the spar with aluminum stock. (I've seen that done... its heavier but not really stronger in any way that matters...)

I was recently in Central Hobbies (South St. Paul, MN) and they had two sailplane-like .15 trainers, one with engine. The owner said he learned on them after crashing everything else. They fly slow, are easy to control and as a bonus, you can even catch a thermal with it!

Other than that, try spadtothebone.com for great planes you can quickly build from corrugated plastic. I bought some 4'x4' sheets at your local AxMan Surplus in Fridley (Hwy 65 just north of 694) for $3.95, a scandalously low price. You could build two planes with one sheet! I had a SPAD (Simple Plastic Airplane Design) as they're called, and nothing is more indestructible. spadtothebone.com has FREE easy to follow plans on their web site, with dozens of planes listed. Mine was a SPAD Dart, with an improbable looking wing which had bends on the top of the wing instead of a curve for the airfoil. With a cheap but great Evolution .46 it would fly at 5 mph or 100, and was wildly aerobatic. I crashed it into a line of trees at about 35 mph and the only damage was that the hinge line was torn three inches. (You make hinges from the corrugated plastic by cutting one of the two plastic layers away). I crashed it once in a loop that was too low to the ground, resulting in the plane slamming hard against the bottom of the fuselage, and the only damage was a broken prop and a break in the metal(!) engine mount. The plane was fine. Unfortunately, my flying field has a swamp behind it, and I lost the plane in the swamp when the elevator servo linkage broke or came loose.

One word about the engine: You can get an Evolution .40 new for under $70 locally, and they're as good as an O.S. in my opinion. Just as powerful, smooth starting and running, ball bearings, plus they're already broken in! I have literally just taken them out of the box and ran them hard with no bad effects. They also make .46 and .61 engines.

I have to say that the ripmax 40 trainer is the easiest to fly.
I don't know how much it cost, but it would definitely be my chose!

I have had excellent luck with the Hobbico SuperStar and Avistar.

The superstar EP is about $180 RTF or the new ventura hobbico came out with is $130. Both durable I have both of them.

Tower Hobbies has the tower trainer for $69.95. I bought one and you can't beat it.

have to agree the trainer was my first and then the kaos(both good planes)!

How would you guys rate a Great Planes TR 40? I got it used as a gift and I have yet to fly it. I'm still at the simulator stage.

I think i am going to go with the Avistar... thanks guys...

The Avistar is a great choice. Not necessarily as a durable plane (it's balsa, after all) but because of its flying qualities. A friend of mine has one which he let me fly, and I was very impressed with its excellent handling. It is the most 'balanced' trainer I've ever flown. It has relatively low dihedral so it doesn't get blown around in a crosswind like my first RC plane, the Alpha Trainer did, and due to its semi-symmetrical wing it makes a great 'second' plane by virtue of its smooth aerobatics. It glides well, too, as my friend found out when he dead-sticked from across our large flying field. He was going to put it down from a distance, but I talked him into extending the glide so he could better see the landing and not have to walk so far to retrieve his plane. It flew across the field like a 2-meter glider.

Most crashes are due to overcontrolling, as I'm sure you've heard. Since you're in the early stages of learning and may still be crashing with regularity, I'd urge you to set up your servo throws so that your transmitter sticks are not at all sensitive. Better yet, buy a cheap used computer transmitter on your favorite auction site. This would allow you to use your radio's programming with adjustable travel volume, dual rates and exponential, which will make your plane much easier to fly and land by allowing you to move the sticks more around their center without the plane responding too sensitively. A good, cheap programmable transmitter would be one like the Futaba 7U series (UAF, UAP, UAH). Add an 's' on the model name (for Super) and you'll have multiple model memory, for remembering the setups of several planes. These transmitters can be bought for $50 to $70 dollars, or less if you look often. This is an example; you might find something in a Hitec, JR or Airtronics, depending on what your previous model had. Don't be intimidated by the apparent complexity of a computer radio; to start, only a handful of functions are needed to learn, and you can learn much quicker by seeing how your plane's control surfaces move while it is safely on the ground.

Good luck!

I would recommend the hobbico avistar

More the question is.... are there any brands to stay away from...are there some planes that you have heard bad about, are cheaper ones crappier, or if you spend more do you get a better plane?

Here's a thought. Go to the field, ask around, see if anyone has a tried & true retired trainer they'll sell for a few bucks.

I know one SoloSport that's on its 3rd student owner. Stories like this are all over. Somebody buys a good trainer, builds a 60 size Tiger or 4-star, buys a computer radio, and sells the entire trainer setup, radio and all, for $300 with field box. Or less.

Hang out with RC people, they'll try to sell you their old planes. Not a bad notion.

Good luck,
Dave Olson

I saw one of these spad trainers go in real hard. I figured it was going to be a pile of broken plastic. It survived just fine. The engine stuck in the dirt and had sod hanging from a wing tip. I think the guy got the plans on the spadtothebone.com or some other website. It surprised me.

[link=http://www.spadtothebone.com/]SPAD[/link] are awsome! I am learning to fly using a plane I built from scratch based on the SRR. It's a bit heavy for it's wing size but it flies In my opinion there are three huge advantages a SPAD trainer has over a balso trainer:

1. Very resilient or almost indestructable
2. Very fast to build
3. Very inexpensive, as already mentioned, $45 gives you enough material for three planes.

In my opinion this is the way to learn! Just to give you an idea of the durability, my friends trainers aileron fluttered and locked up the servo. The plane literally screwed itself into the ground. The nose of the plane was buried a few inches in the field. Apart from a dirty engine and a small crack in the wing foil everything was well with the plane.

The avistar is a great flyer but get some glass cloth and wrap it around the wing center at the joint you glue together, There where 3 of them at my club that had the wings fold in half last year (There where about 7 avistars at my club last year) and one of them had his with the glass cloth and he flew it the hardest without a problem. Great flying planes.

Dauntae

The Trainer 40 is a good airplane.

Depending on which version kit... the one labeled "Trainer 40" (I think there was only one with that label[&:]) has a semisymetrical wing and turns out very similar in appearance to the Avistar. (this is an older version kit...) This is actually BETTER than the newer PT-40 kits which have the flat bottom airfoil and really are not as good an aircraft. (but they are good aircraft... just not as good as the old one.)

This is not one of the easiest to build models (one reason it got discontinued...) And there is no longer any support for building hints via Great Planes for the kit. (they'll remember they made it... but its been too long ago)

discontinuing it was a mistake...

Dauntae, on a properly assembled Avistar, at least the one that uses the wooden joiner and epoxy, there is no need to put fiberglass on the center section. If you break that joint, then the rest of the wing was trashed anyway.

Ed M.

If you enjoy building balsa kits and having a more realistic looking airplane...I would recommend building a SPAD first and beating the crap out of it. Then when your get good and want a plane that you could keep around for a while build one of the nice looking balsa planes. It sucks to bash a good looking plane when your learning!!!!

Duraplane trainer.40... Thats what I used to learn on and it was the best flying plane I owned. Tower sells them all day for $59.99

Aircore 40 is the toughest commercialy produced plane out there. It is basicaly a factory made SPAD. They are about $65 from Tower and take a couple evenings to put together. Real easy to build and very hard to break. Crashes are actually kind of funny instead of a being tramatic experience. Mine has survived a few real bad crashes, I mean REAL hard crashes and I think I have less than 2 hours of repair time in it. I would have totaled at least three balsa trainers by now.

I am on my second trainer and it's a tower 40. This plane cost 1/2 the price of my first plane and is very solid. All the old guys at the field were very impressed with it.

I've heard that coreflute ( coroplast ) that is used in spads tends to warp in the sun, and gives some problems, is this true?
That's one of the reasons (amongst others) I used a soft covered foamie for learning, it doesn't warp, and is just as hard to break.
I know both cost almost zero $$ to build.