I am looking to start R/C plane flying. I want to get an electric trainer, i do not want to go to a club as i live in the middle of now where!!! Do you have any planes that would suit me! I would quite like a all in one combo that does not collapse if it is crashed! Thanks for helping

Because you live near nothing and no one will tech you to fly and you want somthing that will take a few crashes, Take a look at this its a fun place to start and 1 cool bird
http://horizon.hobbyshopnow.com/prod...p?prod=HBZ6000

The Soarstar/Wingo might fit your needs. They also have a pusher.

The GWS Slow Stick is also a good one, though it can take almost no wind.

GB,

Have you flown any of these planes?

I would suggest starting with a plane like the aerobird or Firebird XL - the main warning is to fly on very still days (no wind at all). Another one to consider is the SkyScooter.

I would not suggest a Wingo or Soarstar as a first plane if you have no one to help with the first few flights (they can break easily and are a little quick for a learner). These would make a great second plane once you have found your feet (wings?).

Good luck.

Peter

I like the look of the aerobird, do you all think this would be suitable?? Will i enjoy it after i have had it for a bit. What is the extra chennel do in 3 chennel planes?? As i live in england i can't get the aerobird is there a british equivalent?? The firebird XL also looks good but more basic that the aerobird is this correct. Thanks aain for you help and in reading this message.

Back again!! what about the T Hawk??
Will

How about the super power Z??
Thanks for you help.

Crashem,

There are about six Slow Sticks at our club. I only have one flight on them, but it flew exactly like my Megatech Merlin (everyone seems to dislike it but me).

Haven't flown the Soarstar, but the LHS highly recommended it, mostly for durability. So Peter's comment is a bit surprising, though I don't doubt it.

Willtrevt,

You're going to find yourself in a Catch-22. If you get a plane (like the Slow Stick) that you can reasonably expect to teach yourself to fly, it will probably soon become boring. If you get one that's not going to be boring fairly soon, your probably not going to be able to teach yourself.

If you really insist on no club/no instructor, your best bet is to progress through several different airplanes.

Good luck (if it were me I'd find a club)

I am in the same boat or plane. I have never flown RC before though I will have access to help/instructor friends.

I was reading another thread that is full of great advice.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...165#post575157

The wingo looks like it has a lot of merrit. Her is a great link that also has several videos, review and the like.

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/hlwingo.htm

My friend has a firebirdXL and a fighterbird. He and his son fly these together. He added a combat module to the FirebirdXL and can now fly combat wtih the fighterbird.

He likes them however he is now looking for a three channel plane. The local gliderclub that also runs electrics doesn't consider the "bird" series as real planes. More like great toys until you decide you want to fly.

I like the low cost and ready to fly nature of the "birds" but think I may want to start out on a three channel easy to fly with a pusher prop and landing gear. This wingo looks like a good choice, but costs about twice as much as a FirebirdXL.

So this is the blind leading the blind, but thought I would share the link. :

go with the fighterbird

it is great fun and indestructible.

if you do prang it, parts are readily available.

i bought my 2 boys one each and they have a ball.

we get no joy from labourously building complex models, we just want to fly. The FB was ideal for us.

at least it will give you a taste of flying and help you decide that flying models is for you.

Better still, con one of your mates to get one as well and start dog fighting!

Hello all you first time flyers. I too am a first timer. However I am also one of these guys that goes into intense research when I get interested in something. After several months of research, talking to people, flyers and non, I bought an Aerobird. It is a super value but there are other good starters. Here are the plusses and minuses in my mind of the Aerobird.

PLUS

Very inexpensive and rugged for a three channel starter at $160-$180
The plane comes complete and fully assembled. Charge the flight battery, put on the wing, put the batteries in the transmitter and up you go! Even the batteries for the transmitter are included. You will want to buy at least one extra flight battery for about $25 so you can fly while you charge.

New flyers are going to crash, so you don't want something costly to start with. The HobbyZone Firebird series are all great starters. The Aerobird is the top of the line. All are pusher designs so they can take a nose crash without damaging the motor. There is a full line of parts available at reasonable cost. You can replace the whole main fuselage for $49 including the motor and all the flight electronics. A wing is $15 and the tail is $7. So, if you crash badly you can get everything for under $75 and you are back in the air with a three channel plane.

Batteries and charger:
The battery will run for a full 6-7 minutes at full throttle and 15 minutes+ at half throttle which is very long. Many planes in this class run 4-6 minutes. Also it comes with a peak charger that you can use in your car. A peak charger won't over charge and you can charge at the field. Timer type wall chargers mean you must charge at home and you can over charge and damage the batteries. If you pick up two spare batteries you can stay in the air all day. One in the plane, one cooling down and one on the charger. A full charge takes about 40 minutes.

Easy to fly;
I only have a couple of flights, but this plane is pretty easy as long as you stay away from the elevator for your first few flights. It is the top of the line in the HobbyZone firebird series which includes the Firebird II ($90) FirebirdXL ($120) and the Fighterbird ($140). I have friends with these planes and they love them. They are super, inexpensive two channel starter planes. www.hobbyzonesports.com

Good growth path - Two vs. three channels
Many intro planes have two channels - throttle and rudder. You control climb with the throttle; more and you climb, less and you level or you descend....in still air. This makes it very easy to learn. You basically drive around the sky. However you have no elevator. Elevator is needed for any kind of loops or other mild aerobatics. The Aerobird has 3 channels so it can do loops and other things the rest of the line can't do. There is one two channel plane I looked at, the Sky Scooter. It has elevator and ailerons, which makes it very maneuverable, but once you turn the motor on, you are committed to a 3-5 minute flight. You can't turn the motor off while it is in the air which means you can't extend flight time by going half throttle either. However there is a three channel Sky Scooter Pro that was my alternate choice. I like it a lot!

The Aerobird also has an X-Pak hop up kit available for $30. It includes a 7 cell battery (the basic is 6) and a larger tail. This makes the plane faster and more maneuverable. So, once you get good you can soup it up! I bought the X-Pak when I bought mine. I will use the 7 cell as my second battery and save the tail for later.

NEGATIVES

WIND
The Aerobird, like most starter electrics, doesn't handle wind very well, so you want to start your flying in calm air, with under 5 MPH gusts or the wind might take it away. Once you become accomplished you can probably handle a 10-12 MPH gust, but this is not a windy day plane. The plane is light which is why if flies so well and so long on a battery, but a very strong wind can steal it away from an inexperienced pilot. However this is true of most starter electrics.

27 MHZ vs 72 MHZ Radio

The FCC has set a range of the 72 MHZ band aside for RC airplanes only. The Aerobird uses a 27 MHZ radio which is assigned to general use for planes, cars and boats; mostly low end stuff. There are only 6 available channels. So, if you have a kid with a RC car in the same area where you are flying, and he is on the same channel you are on, and he is close enough, when he switches on his transmitter, you will lose control of the plane and probably crash. Even with 72 MHZ radio systems, this will happen if you get two flyers on the same channel, but 72 MHZ is dedicated to airplanes. High end RC cars are on 75 MHZ so they won't interfere. If you live in a very populated area, this is something to be aware of. Also if you buy two planes, 72 or 27 MHZ, make sure they are on different channels or you can't fly them together.

If you are going to join a club, check with them. Some clubs will not admit 27 MHZ based planes because they can't be flown with a buddy box. This is a training system, like a dual controlled car, that is used for pilot training. My club, www.lisf.org, will admit these planes. After long consideration I bought the Aerobird, but this is something I have to watch for. The Sky Scooter Pro, mentioned above, is on the 72 MHZ band.

Resources Aerobird, Sky Scooter Pro, Others

Here is an internet site that sells the Aerobird for $159. They also have a link for a video of the plane flying:
http://www.parkflyers.com/html/aerobird.html
Here is a link to a review of the Aerobird:
http://www1.wildhobbies.com/news/def...&articleid=853

As I said, my alternative plane was the Sky Scooter Pro. It had been about $260 RTF, but the price for a fully ready to fly version has come down recently to about $170 so you might want to give it serious consideration.
http://www.servocity.com/ServoCity/P..._airplane.html
Videos
http://www.hitecrcd.com/Funtec/videos.htm

Fighterbird - review and video - these are a blast in pairs!
http://www.rcuniverse.com/reviews.ph...ew&reviewid=33

And, for a real entry level plane that gets lots of great reviews, the Firebird II ($90 RTF). The best thing to do might be to get a Firebird II and save the extra $100 toward extra batteries and stuff, or toward your next plane.
http://www.hobbymerchandiser.com/pdfs/nov01_Flight.pdf

I hope this will been helpful. Post a reply with other questions and I will be happy to expand.

Also, if you fly near woods or a corn field or something you want to add some kind of locator for your plane. You can see my post on locators here:

locators for small electrics]

A good electric plane in my opinion is the Sig Rascal. You can convert it to glow if you want and the radio can be used with many planes unlike the Firebird series. The miss is that it is not an all in one deal. Check it out at http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXVY37&P=7 A quick estimate would bring the total to get the plane flying around $300.

I also have a aerobird i bought for 160 and after 5 flights i cacn do loops and perfect landings I taouhgt myself to fly it no instructor or anything after a few spiral dives and crashes i got used to it.

perjar


That is soo cooool!

Be aware, the 72 MHz band is not dedicated to RC aircraft. In fact, we are secondary users with licensed users, such as industry using remote control cranes, etc. Although the licensed bands are not exactly the same as ours they are "between" our 72 MHz channels. As far as the hobby industry goes, 72 MHz is for aircraft only.

Thanks! I didn't know that.