After messing with glow engines for years (boats, control line), I'm thinking of learning to fly R/C planes with a large electric powered plane like the [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/srtele-arf.htm]Senior Telemaster[/link].

Is this a reasonable approach? I realize that going electric is more expensive than glow, but that's not a problem (my wife grants me a large hobby budget ). What I'm more concerned about is performance. Can a large electric trainer do well in a windy environment? My club's field typically has a 10-15 MPH wind blowing at all times. Calm days are rare.

Will an electric trainer like this one have enough flight time to learn on?

Any other gotchas related to electric that I should be aware of?

Planes that do the best in wind are over 5 pounds. In reality, the plane doesn't care what is pushing it and if the plane is over 5 pounds you should be okay. The only reason electrics are considered bad in wind is because most of them are between .5-2 pounds. When you try to fly a plane like that in wind it is like trying to control a kite without string .

What a gentle giant this is. you certianly will do well to learn on this. Personally I think you can find other trainers that won't set you back as much as this one.
One draw back is that once you have a few flights under your belt, I think you will get bored with the limitations on this plane.
If you are going to spend this much $ You might want to check out the following link. It is for a Mini Ultra stick. This will give you the stability of a nice trainer plus the abillity to do some more challenging manuevers
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=EFL2250
or
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=EFL4025
the ultra 25e offers the same size plane for roughly the same $ but will give you much better performance.

Hope this helps...the key is to get up and start enjoying!!

Mark

Go on wattflyer.com they'll tell you electric is cheaper then glow or gas not so sure on that but to each his own
and you can get some good info don't plan on a non biased opinion though their diehard sparkys

Big trainers are fine I am sure but in a crash its big money too and the set up costs a bit. Its your decision, just make sure you know what you want to do with the motor and batts later on. Plan so they can fit other planes. The Hobby Lobby set up on batteries is for the Telemaster, slow with a big prop. If you go lipoly and want to use the same amount of VOLTs then its not going to run well on an aerobatic plane. Just watch out for that.

Why don't you go for a nice 60 sized trainer and covert it to EP. Something like the World Model Super Frontier Senior (something like that), its big and will fly with a smaller set up. I seen them run on glow and its a lovely trainer. You can easily fly her with something like an AXI 4130/16 running on 6S lipoly, this leaves you with an option for any 60/90 sized aerobatic plane or a full fledged 40 sized 3D performance plane in the future.

If you are not going to be an EP freak but want to just enjoy easly flying then go with something like the AXI 4130/20 and you can throw a big prop and just get longer flying times.

With the AXI 5330 set up you are talking about 120 sized aerobatics later on. Covertions are easy ... only issue is battery access and location and how it will balance on the CG.

Glo trainers converted to electric are perfect for beginners, if you can get past the $ticker $hock. 4500 mAh 6-s lipos (for a .60 size plane) will set you back about $280 each.

Fwiw, Hobbico is bringing out the Electristar, it's a .40 size electric trainer. It should fly exactly like a glow trainer in the same size range. Wingspan is 63", weight in the 6-6.5lb range, exactly the same as a .40 size glow trainer. It comes with a brushless motor, radio, etc. everything except batteries for about $350, about the same cost as a glow trainer/engine/radio setup.

I expect to see a bunch of these at my field in the next few years.

As a beginner i was very pleased with my Electristar, it's very stable and a little wind is not even noticeable. If you practice landing on a sim, you will do well, it's been 3 weeks since i've started and it still intact. I'm already looking for my next 2 planes. th eprice tag wasn't too bad, the radio is nice and plenty of power in the brushless outrunner.

Yeah a third vote here for the Electristar if you are going electric ( not that there is anything wrong with this... ).

Read the review of it here.

It CAN handle a LiPo pack as is, so to "upgrade" all you need to do is add a better battery.

Not a bad setup at all.

Large electrics handle wind just as well as glow planes do. When the field know-it-all loudmouth says "electrics can't handle wind", he's talking about those el-cheapo ready to fly toys sold as park flyers. Thirty six inch wingspan planes powered by Cox .049 reed valve engines don't handle wind very well either.

A few days ago, I was at our local flying field and the wind was north around 15 mph. My electric was the only plane flying.