i was wondering if it was hard to learn how to dog fight and to race. and if a plane could be made to fill both mediums.

I guess it depends on what pylon racing and combat are like where you are.
At the clubs in my area they are two distinctly different types of airplanes.
Examples: pylon racers take off from the ground when the flag is waved (a holder holds the plane which is running at full throttle)
Combat planes have no landing gear and are hand launched.
Pylon racers are built for speed, combat planes are built for manuverability.
I suppose you could come up with something that can do both but it will not be the best for either.

Entry level classes are available in both combat and pylon. Someone flying combat needs to be comfortable flying tight loops and turns one after the other and be able to figure out how to go "up" no matter what orientation the plane is in. I've seen more than one plane go in when the pilot pulled up while the plane was inverted.

The challenge of pylons is the speed and flying near other planes. While I've never officially done it, I have done some informal racing with some other club members. It takes quite a bit of focus. I also race boats so I'm familiar with running close to someone at high speeds.

My club has some members who do combat with members of another club. They appear to be very supportive of newcomers.

It is a load of fun..... Our club just started both at our field, They have been trying
to get enough interest in pylon, but it always fell through when they wanted to use
the normal(smaller) racers... So it never got off the ground... But then a fellow
member got into spads.... He bought a bunch of the material and just gave it to
the club members that wanted to get into combat/pylon and we got a few involved..
It started as combat first with the .40 spad with a .25-.30 engine... On one of our
last combats, we had nine up... Talk about a ball, and do not take your eyes off of
your plane.. You may never find it till it's too late... The racing has not really started
but we have run about 4-5 planes just getting the feel for it... They are still working
out the course etc... The last time 5 of us "sort of" raced... We tried a figure 8 type
course where as all the turns was away from the pits.... It worked out good with just
5 up, not sure about more being up... but I guess we still need to work out a few more
details some still donot feel comfortable with it.... For me it wasn't to hard, as long
as you can control your plane normally.... that's for combat... Pylon can get hairy
because of the speed, number of planes and where/how the course is... But it's FUN!!
but you have to set some rules for safety....... Even our little SPAD's can get out of
hand pretty quick....

What is "hard"? To me 3D is NOT worth the difficulty in learning how to do it. To some 3D is like a duck learning to swim. To me Pylon Racing was the same thing. All you have to do is fly straight, or in a mild arc and bank, and make hard left turns. For me, the triangle course is easier than the 2 pylon course, and definitely more fun, if there is more fun than any racing event.

For me combat is more difficult because I tend to watch the plane I'm chasing and that ain't good. (Guess it stems from days gone by when hassling in 1:1 scale the guy in front is what you watch and try to get lead on.) One has to divide his attention and be more alert to the overall situation during a combat flight. I really don't do it much anymore.

Whether it be racing or combat, you can do it if you don't mind losing a few planes in the early stages. The current Combat rules call for some ratty looking machines, so don't be a beauty builder. Racers are, according to the class, from beautiful to generally sport finishes.

The most fun racing event ever flown for some 10 years, before it was allowed to generally die, out was the Scale War Bird "Mini-Reno" Racing Event. Models were judged for sport-scale and then raced. Nothing like 4-5 War Birds or Reno Racer types up there going around the pylons after a start from behind a chase plane.

Good luck and go for it!

Reno Racers and a Warbird. Hurricane was actually a sport model, though raced in a lesser class race event. Built from an Easybuilt rubber-kit it wasn't structurally strong enough for the hard turns but it did very well. The yellow reinditions of the Thompson Trophy days were a bit more rugged with Nelson .40 and Rossi .45.

A friend took the combat picture just as one had an aileron for lunch!

thank you very much for the info.

thanks very much for the info. now all i have to do is get the planes and get my club to start back up with these events.

On avoiding the ground.com they say that the derelict would be a good combat/pylon racer... Ive had a few myself and those things can scream!

For combat, what exactly are you doing? I mean if you are chasing someone and you hit them, wont you crash too?

You dont chase behind them the derelict is fast and manueverable enough to catch there steamers and you turn... wel atleast thats my style and it works great for me!

In combat both planes are pulling a ribbon from the tail and the idea is to cut the other guys ribbon while protecting yours. The idea is not generally to mid air the other guy but it happens.

Haha, ok that makes much more sense. Thanks

Please note that RCU has a forum for both Pylon Racing and Combat

You can find a lot of answers to your questions there.