I'm just getting back into R/C after a ten year hiatus with very little experience at the begginging. I started with and still have a .049 ACE Grasshopper. It's way too heavy and underpowered to make a descent trainer but it is very resilient... Anyways, I'd like to get into something a little more stable and fun to fly. I'm thinking about the Avistar because of the ability to explore aerobatics once I have all the basics mastered but I don't want to get a plane that's too advanced in the beginning.

I have about 10 flights on my .049 the first 4 of which ended in crashes and the last 6 controlled and semi-controlled landings, all dead stick because of the .049. I've been spending quite a bit of time on FMS sim just to get control reversal on landing approaches to be second nature. Do you think the Avistar would be an OK first full size plane or should I go with something like the LT-40?

Avistar would be fine. It is very stable and will slow down nicely, and in my opinion handles wind better than a flat bottom wing trainer. Get the RTF version, don't pay attention to the bad things you hear about the .40 LA. It's a great engine for this plane... plenty of power. Later you can switch to a more powerfull engine and really explore the plane's handling potential.

My five cents...


Andy

I like the avistar as a trainer but if it were me I'd buy the ARF. That way you can get a 6 channel radio and .46 engine... I am not going into my speech on super tigre but I love their engines to death! I have a 51 in my trainer but the 45 would be good also. Have fun!

Great model... There is a tremendous amount of info on RCU about it. Do an RCU search and you'll get a good idea of what others think...

Agree about the ARF - If you're going to be moving up after the Avistar, choosing your own radio and engine will give you more options for a somewhat more powerful engine and a more capable radio... HTH

Cheers!

Jim

Hey, I can't speak for the ARF version but the RTR that I have is very nice and flies well. I put three flights on it last Saturday and my instructor was even impressed. Good plane.

I learned on the Avistar and I have been instructing a couple of new pilots on their Nexstars, the Avistar is a much better flying airplane

Ok, first things first. Dump the 049 and get yourself a Norvel .061 with r/c carb. Runs about $44 and it will fly that ACE with authority and no more deadsticks unless you just forget to track your time.

The Avistar is a good plane and I have one set up with no dihedral that I like to fly. If you can fly that Grasshopper, you'll take to the Avistar fine. Unlike the LT-40, the Avistar has a semi-symmetric wing, making able to fly inverted fairly well and do some other things a flat bottomed wing won't do.

Duke

Avistar is a great trainer, in my opinion one of the all time RC classics ( along with the LT-40, PT-40 and Superstar ). You might consider buddy boxing for a flight or two, especially if you ARF it with a 46 or replace the 40LA on the RTF version with a 46 for that matter ( that`s what I did ). With a 46 the Avistar will flat move!

NO the Avistar is not ok trainer, its a GREAT trainer. I learned on one with an OS 46AX. It flys awsome, and is really fun. I was at a LHS and one of the workers there had learned on a Nexstar, and was selling it just after a month or two. I asked him why, and he said because he could not hover it. I dont know about the the Nexstar, but with that 46 on my Avistar, it can, its not the prettiest thing, but it will torq roll with it. I like the ARF version better than the RTF because of the wood brace that epoxy's in. I have seen several that just used the screws without epoxying the wing and seen several come loose. But with either version, make sure you use plenty of expoxy.

I learned on the Avistar ARF. It was my first plane and I got a lot of satisfication in putting it together even if it was just the ARF. I used the OS46fx as the engine and would do the same thing all over again.

I started with the Avistar/LA 46 ARF.. In my building stage I did
reglue the firewall and other joints(just me, plane looked in great
shape) And I also add some fiberglass to the wing joint..knowing
I wanted to "fly mine hard".. It's been and is a great trainer!! And
seems very strong!! It does need a little more speed for landings
then the flat winged trainers but not much more.. And it will give
you a bigger window to "fly" in.
I never flew RC before this plane, But thought I'd do well, So I
wanted to start with a 4*40 or 60 as my first plane, But my trainer
had problems with that.. And I can understand.. But after flying the
4*60 This plane would have been a great starting point for me..

On "control reversal" have you tried facing in the direction the
plane is flying and sort of looking back at the plane.. That way
when you make a stick movement the transmitter is oriented with
the plane... It helped me when I started..

THE Avistar is a great trainer and a great beginning aerobat

My dad got an Avistar a couple years ago. It was the RTF version. Flew great, and the engine was a snap to get going. However, in this version of the kit, they have you bolt on the horizontal stabilizer. Unless they've changed it since then, you definitely do NOT want to do this, the setup seemed very flimsy. Epoxy it on instead. As I recall we epoxied the wings together too. I don't remember if this was called for in the instructions or not, but again, it's definitely a good idea.

This machine does fly easily, and should be good for intro aerobatics.

-Matt Bailey

Thanks for all the replies. In think I'm going to end up with one of these as the money will allow. I'll get the ARF and take my time putting it together, then get the motor and radio. I'm leaning tword the GMS .47 because the power and the price is right. I know that it might take some tweaking but that's one thing I don't mind, I've work on small engines since I was in jr high. I'm also planning on getting a 6ch. computer radio so that I can setup a channel for flapperons. I do realize that this will make it easier to stall but I think if I mess around with it enough at elevation then I'll be OK and the ability to have spoilers later on could be fun. Thanks Again.

Watch the prop on that GMS 47. I fly mine with a Magnum 46 and I broke the 11x5 I had on it after the carb barrel jammed so I had to run it off into the tall grass to kill it. So I switched to an 11x7 and while the takeoff and flight were great, even at medium idle I had set, I couldn't get the damned thing to slow down enough to land comfortably. It just floated along right over the runway. Ended up killing motor and deadsticking in. On the 11x5 it has a nice comfortable sink rate and good performance.

You'll like the Avistar, but like I said, don't give up on the grasshopper, the new 1/2a stuff is great and the light weight radio gear makes it better than ever.

Duke

Unless I am way off here, and don't know how to set it up, you won't be able to get flaperons on the Avistar. It has a central 1 servo aeleron set up making the flaperon feature unworkable. However, if I am wrong, I apologize. I just don't know the process of using flaperons on a single servo set up.

Actually I wouldn't use the one servo, I'd replace it with two micros that fit in the same hole (one for each side) and use a 6ch computer radio to controll the use of the flaperons.

The Avistar is a really good trainer.

The only comments I have on it are:

1. If you are flying off a grass field, get a ball bearing 46 for it - the LA power is marginal for grass.

2. Due to it's semi-symetrical airfoil, the plane will slow down AND land a little faster than a flat bottom airfoil.

Thanks for the clarification. I feel better now. Good Luck with it, it is a great plane.