I'm thinking of getting a Sky Soldier RC plane, but when looking at the specs i cant figure out how it rolls. It has two electric engines and two servos, for the rudder and the elevator. I know that regular airplanes use ailerons on the wings to make a roll (correct me if this is the wrong terminology) and that if you only use the rudder for steering you probably have too large a turning circle. My question is if this model can roll and how. Perhaps the elevator is divided in two parts and you use the horizontal stabilizer to roll, or you can roll by varying the throttle in the engines, although i guess that has the same effect as a rudder, but i'm new to the scene, so can someone help me out here?

http://www.rcuniverse.com/product_gu...fm?kit_id=3642

It shows having a trike gear, 3 wheels, but due to the size of the plane, you will need a parking lot or similar to take off from if you want to launch that way. You could probably just hand launch it, but you will need something smooth to set it down on when you land. Good luck.

It's won't roll...

You will be able to drop a wing a little but without ailerons you will not be able to roll...

I, and most others, would highly recommend you go for a 4 channel Airplane for your first...

Throttle, Elevator, Rudder, and Ailerons

If you decide to go for an Airplane which only has rudder stearing put the rudder control on the stick which would normally be you Ailerons... on the remote.

Matt

Most rudder and elevator only airplanes most certainly can be rolled and even rudder only airplanes can be rolled if properly designed and trimed. In the past aerobatic pattern competition classes were based upon the the number of control surfaces you had.

As far as that toy variety RC plane goes its a crap shoot, some are so poorly designed that just the ability to float around in the air a bit is questionable much less doing any aerobatics.

John

quite correct. with rudder a plane can be "rolled " but it takes coordination & timing. rudder or engine differential thrust yaws the craft into a skidding turn gentler than ailerons would. in the past many learned on 3 channel REM trainers as most of the aileron machines were in fact fast sport planes.

In the 60s I learned to fly on a Debolt Trainer with rudder and throttle only, no elevator. It would loop and roll with the best of them. Put it in a spiral dive, with rudder, to build up good speed. with enough speed and inertia, When you let go of the rudder, it would go around in a loop. To do a roll, one would put in the same spiral dive. when it pulled out to do a loop, when the nose was pointed up just a bit, give it full rudder and it would do a roll. Had to get the timing just right

i'd be careful with this plane. most of these planes that have two props don't actually have any servos. they turn on differential throttle, climb on full throttle and descend on partial throttle. i highly doubt that this plane will do any aerobatics. this is a toy.

Exactly i bought this thing, i always wanted a RC airplane but don't have enough money. This thing was only 30$ but it's pretty hard to fly with. It only weighs 70 grams so one little breeze and it goes down.

Itt - i hear you, i've flown some less expensive planes and they really get whipped around in the wind. and the minimal controls and stable flight characteristics allow a beginner to get a taste of flying without spending too much. the problem is that without control surfaces, this plane really isn't going to prepare you for flying anything else other than a similar plane.

Yeah it aint that great. I'm gonna start saving some money to buy a better one, but how do i learn flting with one of thoose cause if i crash it immediatly breaks or doesnt it? And do you guys know any good/cheap models for beginners?

Thanks

Itt, it's hard to say what is a good plane to begin with. if there is a rc club around your place, the best thing would be to visit it and find out more about the hobby. it will not only get you more acquainted with the potential costs of the planes but it will also allow you to get to know people that will eventually help you learn to fly.

i don't know much about where you are, but i do believe that you can find nice people everywhere especially at the field. just be sincere and show genuine interest and i'm sure you'll get all the help you need to get started. although many setups cost $300 or more for all new equipment, i'm sure some people will be more than happy to part with their trainers for very little money as long as they know they are contributing to someone learning the hobby.

i urge you to try it out... go find a club or a LHS and see how they can help you learn. you are absolutely right about the planes crashing IF you don't get someone to help you. i've taught many people to fly and i've yet to have a crash on my watch.

There are various combos of controls and designs features that the plane can use to effect a turn. A plane turns by banking the wings, that is by rolling left or right. This shifts the lift from up into the direction of the turn, in simple terms.

This can be done with ailerons, optionally adding elevator input, or a combination of rudder and wing dihedral, optionally with elevator input. It is this second approach that is so popular with the small electrics and with simple gliders.

Rather than have flat wings, they rise from root to tip. This is called dihedral. Dihedral will add a factor of stability to a plane's flying characteristics. The plane will tend to want to fly in a level manner. If you roll it slightly then release the input that caused the roll, the plane will tend to return to level flight. On some planes the angle from root to tip will change more than once. This is called a polyhedral wing, or a wing with multiple dihedral angles. Very popular in simple gliders that are designed to ride thermal lift.

While many aileron planes have some dihedral in the wings, planes that do not have ailerons will likely have more and will make use of the dihedral to bank the plane using the rudder. As the rudder yaws the plane, that is pushes the tail left or right, it will present the uplifted tip, bottom of the wing, to the oncoming air. This creates more lift on that wing. The other wing is likewise seeing a down force on the wing from the air flow pushing down on the top of the wing causing a drop in lift. This will cause the plane to roll, effecting a turn.

It is a simple but effective system. All of your 2 channel throttle/rudder planes and your three channel throttle/rudder/elevator planes use this principal to turn the plane. While it could be used with gas or glo power, it is very popular with small electrics. It also tends to make the plane more stable so it is very common on trainer planes regardless of the number of channels.

Even 4 channel aileron trainers typically have some dihedral in the wings. If you look at a commercial passenger jet, you will see dihedral in the wings. In this case it is for stability rather than to help with turning.

With this high dihedral wing design, once you remove the yaw, induced by the rudder, or the roll, induced by the ailerons, the plane will tend to return to level flight and stop the turn. Just release the sticks and the plane will tend to level itself. How quickly it returns to level will be determined by the amount of dihedral and whether the plane has a high wing or a low wing.

It is a very effective system, but it does not lend itself to advanced aerobatics where you want more precise control of the roll and may want to hold that roll and not have the plane return to level flight. So more aerobatic planes will have little or no dihedral in the wings. You will have a completely flat wing.

While a flat wing is great for aerobatics, it is not a good on plane you are using to learn to fly as it will hold a bad attitude in the air, right into the ground. If you want to put it back into level flight, you have to do it yourself. Lots of control but more responsibility for the pilot.

A plane with lifted/dihedral wings, will tend to level if you just let go of the sticks. Good for beginners and those not engaged in advanced aerobatics. It tends to make the plane easier, more relaxing to fly. As I said, most commercial passenger planes will tend to have dihedral wings.

So, it is not a matter for channel count, but what are on those channels.

You can have two channel aileron/elevator gliders that have flat wings and are wildly aerobatic. This is very common on slope gliders.

You can have 3 channel throttle/aileron/elevator planes that can be wildly aerobatic. Flying wings fall into this category. They use elevons or elevator/ailerons to fly the wing.

You can have 2 channel rudder/elevator gliders or 3 channel throttle/rudder/elevator power planes that will be fun to fly and more stable than flat wing planes. It all depends on what kind of flying you want to do. If you want to learn to fly on your own, without the aid of an instructor, this is a good configuration.

Some people fly 2 channel gliders or three channel power planes for years and have a wonderful time and never use ailerons. There are aerobatic stunts you can do, but there are also some you can not do.

Three channel T/R/E flight is fun, but a plane without ailerons will be limited in the area of aerobatics. Three channel T/R/E planes can also be a bit more difficult to control precisely in windy conditions. Side winds will hit that lifted tip and tend to push the plane into a turn. You counter with rudder to push it back to level flight.

All that said, three channel power, or two channel gliders are very popular. In this case, less precise = simpler and easier to fly under low to moderate wind conditions.

In the glider world, there is a whole class of competition centered around this kind of plane. They are very popular as thermal duration planes.

I hope that was not too complicated.

okay... that's not absolutely true. i did have an ezstar run into a tree and shear one of the wings clean off. repairable and still flying today. i let my friend have too much fun with it. but it was my plane. i would never let a student crash his/her plane.