I was planning on buying the Nexstar from hobbico on Towerhobbies. I already had my complete list of things to order, when I suddenly noticed that they couldn't ship the nexstar to Europe because it's to big. (I live in Belgium)

So, now I need to find an other dealer who sells the nexstar and does ship to Europe.
Do any of you guys know where I can find such a dealer.
(so, a dealer who sells the Nexstar from hobbico AND ships to europe.)

thx in advance,
Prophex

I don't have an aswer to your question, but I wanted to let you know that it is very possible that you are propably going to have to pay taxes if you buy something from the US over $50. That is what happens here in Greece and I think it is the same way for all EU countries. I' not really sure though, so you might have to check it.

If that is the deal, then it is propably better for you to order from the UK or something, because it could cost you more to buy from the US, with the taxes and the shipping. If you want, I can let you know of a couple of US stores that we order from that are in the UK. I already checked though and neither has the nexstar.

Don't talk to me about taxes, I've had some really bad experience with that. Once, I had to pay over $ 120 just for taxes. this was more then the shipping costs !!!

Well, I thought about a store in the UK, but I didn't find one eiter that sells the Nexstar.


PS: hopefully there won't be any sales tax, caus I'm already ordering other stuff from towerhobbies ...

You might give Great Hobbies (www.greathobbies.com) a try.

I don't think that will work,
because for starters, they ask $ 460 for the plane and towerhobbies only charges $ 400, so I might as well ask towerhobbies to send me the plane and tell them that I would pay for the extra shipping charges. (I don't think those would be much more then $ 50)
Secondly, even if I wanted to order from them, they don't ship to Europe either. (Only to North-america ad Canada)

but, thx for the input


anyone else who could suggest a company to me ?,
Prophex

Bear in mind that the $460 they are charging is $460CDN not $US. Also, while their online shipping form defaults to a US Canada address, if you call them they will probably ship to Europe.

Hmmm, then I think I'll give them a call

But, what's the current currency for the CDN ? Everyting is in Euro's here. I don't got a problem changing USD into EUR, but I don't know about CDN. Unless the correct abreviation for the canadien dollar is: CAD So, are you sure CDN is the correct abreviation ?


thx,
Prophex

Yes, it is CAD and is: 1 euro= 1,6363 CAD

I mailed Greathobbies, and they don't ship to europe anymore since the beginning of this year.

However, I e-mailed Towerhobbies to and they said, they could still ship me the airplane, but it would just cost me extra. (And I don't mind paying a bit more for this great hobby)

why would you go through all this expensive shipping deal?
a trainer is a trainer is a trainer, period.
any trainer you'll get in belgium is probable as good as the nexstar.
the nex is just a typical american product marketed with "all included".
Graupner and Robbe are some good manufacturers of rc planes located in
germany and have trainers, too. they may not have a product like the nex but
i'm sure you could get close.
I also think, the box from germany to belgium would suffer less than from the usa,
and if you have to return something, it's going to take a long time.

But, in my opinion, the Nexstar is the best trainer you can get at this moment. Not only is all included, you also get a simulator and the plane is equiped with a AFS system !!!

Plus, Everything here in Belgium is much more expensive.


However, I will go to some hobbieshops this afternoon and ask arround.

Take a read in the forums on the Nextstar, pretty much every thread i have read says they disconnect (or not even bother connecting) the AFS system along with all the other "gadgets". Many instructors also feel it teaches bad habits while learning i.e. let go of sticks and everything will be OK. Bear in mind the simulator is a special version of the realflight software which will only sim the nexstar and no other planes and is not upgradable to either the full or lite versions. There was a recent poll in this forum and the SIG LT-40 took almost 50% of the vote. Sorry this all sounds like a little rant but i just want to reinforce the point miami flyer makes and that while the Nexstar looks on the face of it a good package there are many good alternatives which will cost you less by sourcing it within europe. I just took up this hobby myself earlier this year and did a lot of research here on RCU and other sites. I was initially swaying towards the Nexstar and had it recommended by one of my LHS. But after lots of reading and searching stores i found i was able to put together the LT-40 with a Futaba 6EXA computer radio and OS .46AX engine for a dew dollars less than the Nexstar package. If you really want a sim to help you out learning check out this link: [link=http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html]FMS Simulator[/link] it's free and while nowhere near as sophisticated as realflight or aerofly for beginner learning i have found it great. In the end the decision is yours i know but there are alternatives which will save your cash and bring that rappy 50 v2 closer sooner.

hmmmm, well, I just looked at the LT-40 and it doesn't seem to be different from any other trainers ... What's so special about it ?

Anyways, I went down to the 2 nearest hobby shops today and both of them didn't even knew Hobbico. so, I can't buy anything here. So, I asked for an other good trainer they sold. They showed me some trainers from Protech and Robbe ... But I didn't like anyone of them ...
Well, maby I wouldn't have minded buying one, but then I asked how much it would cost me to get a full setup and they said it would cost me arround € 600 (That's about $ 750 or something) just for an airplane. But I was planning on buying an airplane AND a boot from towerhobbies for about $ 850, now count $ 100 for shipping to Europe and that ads up to $ 950, this is about € 690 !!!
So, as I said before, Belgium is really expensive !!!
you're all talking about saving a few bucks by buying everything here in a shop, well that would just cost me MORE

now, I hope you understand why I want to order in America. there is just one more thing stopping me and that's sales tax. So, tomorrow I'll call the the local Fedex company and ask if they could make an estimate of how much sales tax I would have to pay to oder al the stuff in America.

*EDIT*: Plus, a good trainer (not as good as the nexstar though) costs arround € 100 (= $ 130) in Belgium. So, if I would crash the nexstar, which I won't and it's to expensive to repair, then I can still buy a kit here and put the electronics and engine in that one.

That's too bad about Great Hobbies...I didn't realize they don't ship outside of Canada/US amymore. I've got just one question for you, what frequency are European RC on? I'm not sure, but I seem to recall a thread about Europe being on a different band than the 72MHz used in North America. You might want to double check before you order anything. Also, in North America some radios "shift" in a positive direction and some "shift" in a negative direction....again, I thought I read somewhere that Europe doesn't...again, something you might want to check on.

CP140 has a good point here,
when i was flying in germany some 15 years ago, you where required to register your
radio with the local radio regulation administration. The only available frequency band for airplanes was
35 MHz, cars & boats ran on 27 MHz and i can't remember what the 72 MHz was reserved to.
But i remember there where three MHz band catagories.
The us radio will transmit on the 72 MHz band, make sure you check with your club.

Also I think it is too much money you are willing to spend on a trainer with software.
Trust me, you'll get bored fast and want to move on to a more aerobatic plane within
a few weeks if you have some talent. than you are looking for a more expensive plane
and probably a new engine.
why don't you go to the local club, talk to the instructor and the other pilots.
There are always people who sell used equipment very cheap and will help you
get flying soon.
I was eyeing the nexstar, too when getting back into the hobby. watching the online videos was exciting
and the all included sounded nice ( didn't know you still need alot more stuff) I was almost ready to buy one.
instead, i emailed the local club president and he showed me around, introduced me to other pilots
and the next week i purchased a used pt-40 trainer ready to fly with engine and radio for $ 160.
The seller/instructor taught me how to fly and everything about safety rules, I flew it for 4 weeks and got bored with it.
I was glad i didn't pay much for it and had enough money left towards a second plane.
I still have that plane and currently use it to break in my larger engine that'll go in my contender.
Trainers just teach you how to fly and that's it. No need for sophisticated hard and software that
you will drop soon. the nexstar engine could be used in another plane but you are limited to the
40 size. a 60 size plane is much more fun and more visible.
My ultra stick 60 needed a saito 100.
good luck, pat

Good point CP140 and Miamiflyer, Europe R/C radio equipment for aircraft is on the 35MHz band and not 72MHz as in North America.

Just to keep you guys updated,

I went to the Fedex website today to check how much it would cost me to get all my stuff to Belgium ... Turns out that the shipping would be over $ 250 !!! But, I thought this was a mistake, so with the little hope I had left I phoned them and asked if I would have to pay sales tax to. They said, ... YES, and not even a little, the sales tax would have been even more then the shipping. So, I'd have to pay over $ 500 just to get te stuff over here !!! Damn ....


So, I decided to go for a trainer you can buy in Belgium ... So, after nagging the ears of my parents head to drive me to the hobby shop, I ended up taking the bus Had to run fast, caus I only had 5 min to get there once I got out of the bus. Not that it would make a difference, caus the guy from te shop ended up helping me out for an other hour. So, anyway, I bought my first trainer today ...
specs:
- Protech Skystar (you guys probably don't know this brand, but it's similair to Graupners Trainer 60)
- OS 46 FX engine
- Futaba Skysport 4 with 4 3002 servo's

Now, I'm spending a weekend with my grand mother in the country, ... there are lots of fields there and I can enjoy building the plane and figuring out how everything works. Doesn't seem to be so hard, since the transmitter has NO extra functions.


I'd like to thank you guys for helping me out with my first plane, even though I was totally against it, I ended up buying a plane here anyway ... [8D],
Prophex


PS: I'll be expecting my Solo-flight certificat soon ...

if it's this
http://www.rcsuperstore.co.uk/store/...0&cat=1&page=4

than you should be alright.
just a trainer like all the other ones. it also seems to have no dehydral build in the wing which
makes it a bit more agile.
I hope you are not attempting to bring this plane up all by yourself and go to a local airfield
to get some help.
So for how much did you buy all that stuff over there?
I hope you didn't forget all the other important stuff like:
glow plug igniter
extra glow plugs
glow plug wrench
chicken stick
fuel
fuel cap kit
fuel pump
voltmeter
extra props
rubber bands
fuel tubing
band aids ( in case the prop bites you)
good luck for the first flight and "happy landings"
let us know how it went.

I haven't read all the posts, and may be repeating advice, but I've had a couple of good experiences with Hobby Barn in the US. Good prices and good servioce = a happy me. They'll ship kits/ARFs by post, surafce or air mail, rather than UPS/FEDEX, and that makes receiving the goods a lot cheaper.

Good luck.

Prophex

The Protech Skystar is a solid trainer if tending a little on the heavy side. It flies true.

It does however have a symmetrical wing and little dihedral, so make sure you get an instructor to assist you with your initial flights if you don't want it involuntarily 'repackaged'.

You might find it helpful to stick some dark striped trim (black or navy) in a zebra pattern to the underside of the wing to distinguish it from the top. As you'll discover, all over white covering against a white cloud dotted sky doesn't assist orientation, and you won't see the top surface trim once it's in the air and more than a single mistake high.

The 46FX is a reliable engine, but really way to much grunt for this trainer for ab initio flying. Make sure you DO get someone to help you learn to fly, for if you push that FX throttle to the wall it'll all be over before you can say "What happened?". [X(]

Your Skysport will do the job, but doesn't have EPA/ATV, sub-trim or rates. Servo reversing is it, and it's manually switched. Again, get someone experienced to assist you with setting it all up before you attempt fly it if you don't want to be ploughing grandma's fields.

hmmm, all good advice, ...

BUT, in meanwhile, the plane is already built and everything works. I started it up today and ran it for 20 min. (had to stop, caus it was getting to cold outside and to dark) I didn't fly it yet, but my dealer told me to run in the engine for an hour on the ground with factory settings.

The building was a bit tricky and I had to take apart some stuff again to put some other stuff on and the manual was not correct. (Like: first you have to install the throttle pushrod and then the engine, not the other way arround like the manual said, caus otherwise you'll end up taking the motor of again like me)


I do have some questions: (didn't want to start a new thread)
- How long can you fly with a full tank ? And how can you tell when it's nearly empty ?
- How long does a fully charged 4-cell 600 mah battery last ?
- this is a long one: I think somethings wrong with the airelons. When I move the servo in one direction they move just fine, but when in the other, the airelons don't go as far as the other side. The servo seems to be installed correctly and the rods are also in place. (if necessairy, I'll post some pics)


thx for all the input,
Prophex

How long can you fly with a full tank....that depends on how big the tank is, how rich the mixture is set and how much throttle you're using. Figure on 8-10 minutes...(at a guess!) with a little reserve left to land with. I don't know of any easy way to tell if the tank is almost empty...most people use a timer of some sort. Set it for a number of minutes and when it runs out, it's time to land!

How long the battery lasts will again depend on how much you move the servos, the battery's "health", temperature etc....if you're moving the sticks back and forth like crazy, you'll use more power than if you let the airplane fly itself and just make gentle corrections. Best bet here is to get an expanded scale voltmeter that will let you check your battery under load. Check your battery after a couple of lights and see how much it's dropped. Most of the meters out there will display "OK, Recharge" etc as a visual warning that its time to recharge. There are also a number of devices that plug into a receiver channel and "beep" or light up to indicate battery condition.

As for the ailerons, with the aileron trim centred, are the ailerons both even with the wings? If not, adjust the control horn and/or the linkages to get them centred. Once you've done that, try your ailerons again. This is one of those problems that is easy to demonstrate than to describe. If this doesn't work, you might want to post some pictures or get an experienced pilot to look at your setup.

Lastly, I'd really suggest getting an experienced pilot or instructor to look everything over and to (at least) stand beside you for your first flights. It's really quite amazing how quickly you can get into trouble!

Good Luck!

Ummm......yes, it is. The quintessential discrimination being that we actually know that it is good advice.

You've flown it have you? Here's some more "good advice". Don't assume that because that in your inexperienced opinion you consider "everything works", that everything is aligned, trimmed or working as it should. Get someone experienced to look it over for you is salient advice.

How long is a piece of string? The supplied fuel tank is an 260mm tank (8½oz) tank. Assuming you've plumbed it so that you're getting the advantage of its maximum usable volume to fill and empty, you should become a glider sometime around the 10 to 11 minute mark operating your FX near or at full throttle depending upon prop.

More importantly you really want a fuel tank with at least a 15 minute endurance for effective instruction to allow you plenty of time to fumble around taxi-ing to and from the pits, carry out checks and sort yourself lining up, assimilating traffic and W/V prior to take-off. This allows 10 minutes of dedicated air time for the instructor to teach you with any sort of meaningfully worthwhile lesson plan.

You can tell it was nearly empty just after the engine stops.

Longer than your attention span will whilst under instruction. Just charge it overnight before you go flying with your supplied Futaba wall charger. As a "How long will my battery last for Dummies" rule of thumb, think 600mAH = 6 safe consecutive flights, which will be more than you can cope with or will need to do in a session for some time to come. Under typical 4 servo and receiver load in your Skystar, assuming you have set up your model so that you don't have any excessively binding surfaces (typ. eg: Aileron) or overdriven servo stalling (typ. eg: throttle) linkages/surfaces, then around 2 hours effective at 4.8v before you're under 30% capacity.

I suspect you're referring to the Skystar's differential aileron movement, but the way you've explained it I'm not sure. If each downgoing aileron respectively moves downwards in equal deflection, then upwards in equal but lesser deflection respectively, then you're observing aileron differential in action.

no, when the airelon stick on my radio is moved to the left, the downgoing airelon doesn't go down as far as the other one when the stick is moved to the right.


and an other question:
is it normal that a lot off fuel is comming out of the muffler ? My whole right wing is covered in fuel ... [&:] I putted a muffler deflector on, but that didn't really help, lol.


Flying it, ... first the wether shoul become a bit better and,
an other question: how big should a flying field be ? (like: 100m. x 100m. or better 300m. x 300m., ... )


thx,
Prophex

Aileron not "airelon: (sic).

You need to find out why and fix it. Knowing the hinges supplied with the Skystar and suggested method of fixing, if you followed the instructions I'd suspect your aileron is either binding against an excess of epoxy at the hinge joint obstructing movement, or simply resistant because of the same reason. Other than that it's an uncentered servo or linkage adjustment and/or alignment problem inducing apparent unequal deflection.

You should have oil coming out of the muffler. Quite a lot if you're excessively rich runnng that engine.

The field should be - get an instructor - big. Flying your Skystar will not be as easy as RC flying seems on your simulator.

If you don't, it'll all end in tears.