k guys, im brand new to this hobby, im only 15 too. i have no idea what all the parts are or what they're for. my uncle, is very into this sport. he told me that the hobbyzone (i think) Aerobird Challenger is the plane to start with. Any tips on the plane or in general, please tell me thanks

I think it would be a fine place to start the hobby. It will give you a chance to see if it's what you want to persue. The good thing is that it includes everything you need to start flying and has replaceable parts. When you buy a larger balsa kit sometimes the accessories needed are a beat down for the beginner and costs a lot more.
It's a park flyer which means you aren't as limited in where you fly it.
If I had a nephew who wanted to get into this sport I would probably start him out with it or something similar.
Once I saw if he really liked it as a hobby he wanted to stay in then the investment could be made in other flight gear.
I started kind of like this with a glider, then build a kit, got some free-bee hand me downs, and took it slow and I think this is what he wants you to do.
I think to get into gas is around $500 for flight gear, plane, radio, fuel, and building materials (although it seems like I spent more than that).
When you're ready to move up, maybe next year, then get an ARF with the radio as a package.
Just have fun![8D]

Hi beach, it sort of depends on what type of plane you plan to fly later. The challenger is more of a park flyer and will fly fine and is a great way to get into the hobby. However, if you plan to get a balsa (wood) constructed plane later, the challenger does not fly like a balsa plane and can teach you some habbits that aren't needed. The challenger is a 3-channel system and a balsa plane is normally 4 channels. A balsa trainer for instance as I would imagine you would start with if you go to nitro powered planes needs to have a flat bottom wing with some dehedral (Upward "V" shape) in the wings, but some trainers have semi-symetrical wings with less dehedral which places them into a sport trainer category which will teach you to fly a 4-channel system, but is not as forgiving as a flat bottom wing trainer. Any fat bottom wing trainer with some dehedral will do fine. I am one of 4 AMA certified club instructors at my field and I advise to get a flat bottom wing when you plan to get a balsa trainer. A Hobbico SuperStar 40 or Hobbico NextStar will work fine for this. The Avistar is a sport trainer and flys great, but isn't as forgiving as the above two trainers due to the wing shape design. I have taught many people that started with a Challenger and went to a balsa constructed planes. They had to reteach themselves to fly and to stop doing certain things with the 4-ch systems that they did on the 3-ch. Some even stop flying the challenger until they got the 4-ch system mastered as it was a conflict of interest to their brain inputs.

This hobby can be very expensive to get into, so fly your challenger and have fun with it, but you will eventually want more out of the plane, so start saving for the next plane which should be a 40 or 60 size trainer of some sort with a flat bottom wing design. Get a qualified instructor and be patient in the learning experience. It will pay off in the end. Once you stay on your trainer for a while where you can fly inverted, get out of trouble, do touch and goes placing the plane down where you want it on the runway and fly really without thinking too much about it, then you can now start and only then start considering getting your 2nd plane, but keep your trainer as they are very good flying planes and will relax you from flying the more responsive planes. It is a learning experience because all planes fly a little different.

I converted my 40 size trainer (SuperStar 40) to a taildragger and placed a Saito 40 upfront spinning a APC 13x8 prop. You probably don't know what any of this means, but in time you will learn the language. In simple terms, my trainer is very fun to fly still now years later.

Just wondering, your uncle isn't interested in taking you to the RC field so that you can try flying one of his planes??

beachyboy,

Can't really comment on the Aerobird Challenger, but [link=http://home.clara.net/wbruce.ogilvy/]Dundee Model Aircraft Club[/link] has a good web site for learning what all the parts are and what they are for. Select 'Training' from the menu.
here's the url - http://home.clara.net/wbruce.ogilvy/

<edited to correct bad link>

I started off with an Aerobird Challenger last year.

While it is advertised as a trainer it flies with some authority and will buck winds that would ground other park fliers. I'd say a 12 mph wind is tops without losing it when the batteries are starting to get depleted. I crashed it several times and had to replace 2 wings ($14)and one tail ($9) and was in the air in less than 1/2 hour (including plucking it out of a crabapple tree) each time.

I liked to take it high and deadstick it as a glider until it almost landed then take it up again. I got about 20 minutes out of each flight doing that. You'll need another battery and I'd recommend the 7 or 8 cell niCad rather than another 6 pack like it came with. It's a fun plane and very forgiving.

Park fliers are what I used to teach myself. They are cheap, not to dangerous, and you can fly them almost any where. I had the Freedom Flyer , and it was the plane that set me forth into history. The best tip I can give you is to practice more than you think you have to and let flight become second nature. GL.


RCF esq.