newtoplanes

As you can see from my user name I am new to airplanes.
I have been flying RC helis for 4 years and decided to try a plank.

I have a few questions.
I got an Avistar ARF kit, OS .40FX and a Futaba 7CAP radio with 3151 servos.
Will the 3151 servos work OK ? I did notice in the instruction booklet they had 3003 servos installed.[X(]
Will the Avistar work OK as a trainer?
I got this airplane as a Christmas present from the wife but Tower Hobbies says the plane is an advanced trainer.

I have been reading old posts and seen that most experienced builders end up modifying their ARF kits.
This is my first airplane build, so is there any building tips for the Avistar?
I will be getting an Instructor.


Thanks,
Rick

rusirius

First, the avistar is a great kit, you'll be happy with it for a while. To answer your questions....

Yes, the 3151's will work, but honestly they are overkill.... The 3151's are BB and digital.. neither of which will do you any good whatsoever on a trainer like the avistar... If they are what you have, then use them now, and when you "upgrade" to something more precise like a pattern plane or something like that, move the 3151's to it and replace the trainer servos with some standard $10 servos...

The avistar will work great as a trainer. It's a really great flying plane... Tower says it's "advanced" because it has a semi-semmetrical airfoil... It still has plenty of lift and dihedral... It'll train just fine, but you won't get bored with it NEARLY as fast as you would a standard flat bottom.

I've never really looked at a trainer as being "worth" modifying, unless it's already disassembled and needs to go back together anyway.. Seriously though, follow the instructions (they are pretty good) and you'll be fine... The only thing you might consider is replacing the stock push-rods with some nice sullivans or something.... I like "gold-n-rods" myself... The wire ones are not only a pain to work with, but they'll also never be as smooth as plastic.... The throttle servo is fine though.. you want to keep the wire pushrod for it.

newtoplanes

Thanks for the info.
The 3151s came with the radio.
I think I'll buy some 3004s use in the Avistar and save the 3151 for later use.

Rick

Fastsky

Is the field where you are going to be flying at a grass field?? If it is, the wheels that come with the Avistar need to be replaced with larger wheels. The plane will be hard to steer and roll over the grass on the smallish wheels as suppllied. If all 3 wheels are the same size then get 3" light weight wheels for all 3. If the nose wheel is 1/4" smaller than the 2 main wheels then get 3" for the mains and 2 3/4" for the nose wheel. For training I suggest you use an 10-5 Master Airscrew prop with that engine. Other than that the combo you have should work well. One thing, don't be setting the dual rates up. Set both the high and the low rate for the correct amount of throw that is listed in the manual. Reason: buddy boxes don't know any thing about dual rates! They simply use only the high rate setting!! Have fun, Fast!

newtoplanes

The field has a paved runway.
I never used dual rates for the helis just use expo.
So I was looking foward to using the dual rate switches on the 7CAP.
I guess I can setup my dual rates after I learn to fly.
I've been thinking about the difference between flying helis and planes.
I think my main problem will be the left stick - I am used to thinking about left stick for collective and tail rotor control and now the left stick will be throttle and rudder.

Rick

Fastsky

Its good to see that you are least asking the right questions without just assuming that helis and planes are the same. I think you will really enjoy the Avistar.

rusirius

That was a good point about the wheels.. I missed that one.. You'll be fine with the stock on a paved tarmac though.. Yeah, the problem fastsky is refering to is a consideration, but not really a big one.... See, normally if you set the plane up for dual rates, you'll set the mechanical throws up for a lot more travel than if you were setting it up for a trainer without dual rates... If you use a "buddy box" radio or a cheapy radio with NO dual rates on it for the buddy box (when you fly with a trainer cord, the INSTRUCTOR will be using your 7CAP, you will have to have his radio or another radio for the "buddy box"... If that "buddy box" doesn't have dual rates on it too, or isn't set up for them, then even if your 7CAP is set for low rates, and the instructor pulls the trigger, you'll have the plane with full high rate throws on... If your "buddy box" has dual rate switches too though, then you'll be able to flip between rates just as your instructor will be able to flip. Your right though. you can always focus more on those once you learn to fly better... You'll have enough to worry about in the beginning...

As far as having a "problem" with the left stick... I kinda doubt it... I learned to fly planes originally, and then moved onto heli's... What you find is a lot of "plank" guys actually use the left stick very little... Hell, it's amazing how many think the throttle is just that thing you push forward to fly and pull back to land... When I started getting into aerobatics I thought my "mastery" of the left stick was pretty good... Once I jumped to heli's I realized how little I had actually been using it all along...

Bottom line? Becoming a heli pilot has actually made me a MUCH better airplane pilot because I focus much more on BOTH sticks... I would imagine your initial "struggle" may be the reverse of mine... I occasionally found myself wanting to pull back on the elevator to gain altitude, or push forward on the throttle/collective to pick up speed... I would imagine you'll find yourself occasionally doing the opposite and pusshing up on the throttle to gain altitude and pushing forward on the stick to pick up speed... Interestingly enough, those two actually work much better for a plane than the reverse does for a heli... I think you'll find it's much less of a problem that you might expect...

newtoplanes

You all have been alot of help.

You know I would never assume that if I can fly a Heli I can fly a Plane - two completely different aircraft.
Learning to fly the Helis was a very humbling experience.

Also if you don't mind me asking - were did the term 'Plank' come from.
Did the heli pilots come up with 'Plank' or do the Airplane guys use 'planks' and call other Airplane Pilots 'Plankers'?
I don't mean to insult anybody but I fly with 6 other Heli pilots and we have no planes at the field so I just don't know.


Thanks again,
Rick

Fastsky

I have only heard the term "plank flyers" from heli pilots. Any time I heard a heli pilot using the term myself, he was using it as a derogatory term as if flying airplanes was a sport that was beneath him. The only comments I will make to this is that hopefully not all heli pilots have that attitude. I can appreciate that flying helicopters is supposed to be about as easy as balancing a bowling ball on the sharpened end of a pencil and that the equipment is much more expensive than planes. My attitude: As long as an RC pilot is having fun, I don't care what he flies!! As far as my other club members, I just call them flying buddies!

newtoplanes

I would not say that flying a Heli is harder than a plane.
You just have a different set of procedures and skill sets you need to learn.

Now the cost of the two depends on what your flying, and needless to say, the wife was glad to see me buy a plane instead of another heli.
When I went to the local Airplane field, I seen two guys flying some kind of competition pattern planes with 2 cylinder gas motors.
I was very impressed with their flying skills.

My goal is to be able to one day build and fly a Sig Four Star 60.

Rick

Fastsky

You took the time and effort to learn how to fly helis so I am am sure that you will get there with no problems. Too bad you didn't get the Avistar kit instead of the ARF. You really learn how the planes are built if at least your first one is a kit. It also makes hobby bump damage less intimidating to repair. I only suggest ARFs to new flyers if Winter is over and there is no time to build.

TyBryner

My question is what are you going to do about your username in a year when you're more experienced?

newtoplanes

I was going to buy a kit but I had just finished my Tempest FAI machine and was looking for an easy relaxing build.
I do have a little experience building 30 sized control line airplanes from kits mainly a few super ringmasters and one Corsair.
Of course that was back in the early 70s.

As far as my username, I really don't post that much on the forums and if I come back in a year, I'll still be newtoplanes and asking questions about the 4*.


Rick

Fastsky

Re:"if I come back in a year, I'll still be newtoplanes and asking questions about the 4*." I hope you do come back and tell us what you think about flying airplanes. Once you get past the trainer, I think you may want to rethink the 4*. It flys well, and has a wide speed range but it floats forever trying to get it to land, worse than a trainer. I think a better choice would be a Goldberg Tiger 60. More aerobatic than the 4*s and they have a more positive decent rate which makes them more predictable and easier to land in windy conditions.

newtoplanes

Good advise about the 4*.
I'll be back and let you all know about my airplane experiences.
I hope to start flying in about March when the weather warms up.
In the mean time, I'll keep flying the helis and use Realflight to get some practice on flying planes.
In Realflight, I don't have that much problem flying around but I'm having trouble with the descent to the landing.
I just can't seem to judge the rate of descent correctly.
I had the same trouble learning autos on Realfight - just hard to tell were the ground is on the computer screen.
If you all haven't upgraded to G3, I would check it out.
The helis are much more realistic than G2 but I can't say about the planes.

I am really looking forward to flying the planes.
I meant to start with the planes 4 years ago but me and my flying buddy got sidetracked by the helis.
So now four years later, I finally have my trainer.


Rick

Fastsky

Ya, its hard to get the Wide open field view on a puter screen. On G2 there is a setting under "View" that says something like "see ground at all times". I assume that G3 has this setting as well. In the hobby store I could only change to this setting once the plane was picked out, on the screen and ready to go but there may be an other way to change it. With this set, you can always see the the plane and the ground so you at least have an idea how high you are. This should help you a bit. Problem I had, at least in the stores G2 was that when I picked a new plane, I had to go back to view and set it again. Maybe there is a way to set it as default.