Dennis, my name is Evan Doughty and I'm the president elect of the Flying Aces Pilots Association. We fly out of the Waymer R/C field just south of Huntersville and I think you might have been to our field. The gent at the hobby shop that you refer to is a self proffesed instructor. I suggest you take your time and find an instructor at one of the local clubs, ours of the Charlotte Aeromodelers. Take the time to ask people about their recommendations and as said treat each opinion as just that. There are many good trainers out there and getting one through a mail order house such as Tower Hobbies is an excellent way to go as long as you know what you want. Visiting a local hobby shop is good in that you can see what you are about to get and most hobby shops stand behind what they sell and will help you along. I use both mail order and the local shop. I want the best deal on the major purchase but am smart enough to realise that if I need a prop or a gollon of fuel I need the local shop to be there for me and if I don't patronize them they won't be there. I assume you went to the Hobby Town on Harris. My opinion is that is one of the poorest shops we have in the area. The best one reasonably close is Hobby Stop in Rock Hill, exit I-77 at exit 77 and go west about a half mile, it's on the right. They are almost entirely R/C and have a lot of very informative people. The best hobby shop in my opinion is NC is way up 85 and hour and a half away. Please talk to a bunch of people and when you find someone that you like and trust listen to him. Please join the AMA as all local flying areas and clubs will require it, plus it's great insurance and a good magazine. Good luck and I hope yo enjoy your new hobby

Bud, just get an Avistar and get it done.......I've had each of the planes that you've considered so far and, apart from landing a bit faster and flying inverted a whole lot better, there's no difference between the Avistar and the rest. A flat bottom wing gets really boring, really quickly. A semi-symetrical wing like the one on the Avistar performs much better all the way around. But that's just my opinion.

I trained on an LT40. I tried different things and learned how to hang on the prop with an OS FX40 with a MAS 10-5 prop at just over 1/2 throttle. [8D]You should easily be able to do the same with an 46AX engine. [8D]

Dennis, you might want to get a club instructor before going any further. Not to knock the guy you met at the store, but there are lots of guys willing to "help" with useless/wrong info/suggestions. A really nice guy I met at the local hobby shop helped me decide to by a JR radio. Nice radio. Unfortunately, my instructor used Futuba. I then got to buy another JR to use as a buddy box unless I wanted to beg a radio from guys I didn't know yet. I also met a great guy at the field who wanted to teach me to fly for free. Two guys started with me. One crashed his plane (Extra Easy just like mine) on the second lesson- destroyed it. The other guy cut his fingers so bad on the prop he lost feeling in several permanently. I got a club instructor that day. Get a CLUB instructor. Wait to buy stuff until you talk to him. By the way, props are dangerous. Let your instructor show you how to be safe before starting an engine.
Heck, the safety habits I learned were much more important than the flying lessons (I still have ten un-scarred, attached, fully operative fingers).

dennis good advice all around . the Kit idea is actually a good one since you'll have confidence to progress to other planes that might not be ARF's(getting scarcer each day) Id recommend the club's & do be careful of self professed experts until you have seen them safely fly their own stuff. also -not every expert flyer is a good instructor . Id also recommend Harry Higley's yellow books- GETTING AIRBORNE-- good for answering lots of questions as well as being forearmed when you show up at the field.Tower or Model Airplane news Mag sells them.

Hello.
If anyone has a second, I am going to purcase a .40 glow plane.
This is my third plane(all lighter electric) and currently I have a great brushless parkflyer (4-channel control).

The question is should i start with a trainer for glow and can it be semi-symetrical such as the hanger 9- arrow.

If no comments I may get the arrow and put a 2-blade prop and much better 6-channel radio.


Thanks, Blue Skies!