I was looking at an ARF to build. But this is my first non-RTF. I was looking to get this J-3 cub from Nitro Models [link]http://www.nitroplanes.com/j3pipercubarf.html[/link] Is this a good plane to start with. I was looking to make it into a nitro plane and not electric. What equipment and where would I find that be? Thanks.

If this is your first ARF, I'd try to stick with one of the name brands such as Hangar 9, Great Planes or Sig. It's not that the no-name ARF's are bad; many are excellent airplanes. Their instructions can be lacking though. You'll want clear, accurate instructions for your first "build". The companies I've mentioned also have good customer support.

For Great Planes, take a look at www.towerhobbies.com

They will list all of the required accessories for each plane. You can even save money on some by buying as a combo.

For Hangar 9, go to www.horizonhobby.com

For Sig, go to Tower Hobbies or www.sigmfg.com

Again, I'm not knocking nitorplanes.com or their products, I'm thinking about a couple planes they offer myself. You'll just want that good documentation and support your first time or two. Just my opinion of course.

As far as picking what plane to buy, that depends on your flying skill. What have you comfortably flown in the past?

ChuckW makes several excellent points. Hangar 9 and Great Planes are usually mentioned as best in class with regard to quality and thoroughness of instructions. The ARFs from http://www.nitroplanes.com are frequently mentioned as having less-than-clear instructions.

Two other companies that you can add to your shopping list would be The World Models, distributed in the United States by Airborne Models and Thunder Tiger ARFs, distributed here in the U.S. by Ace Hobby.

http://www.airborne-models.com

http://www.acehobby.com

My first ARF I assembled was the Thunder Tiger Tiger Stick .40 ARF. It was probably the ideal first ARF as the build was straightforward, the instructions and pictures were very detailed and thorough, and the overall quality was wonderful.

World Models has a number of Cub and Clipped Wing Cub ARFs of various sizes. If you don't see an ARF from Hangar 9 or Great Planes that you like, I would recommend these as a good starting point instead of the Nitroplanes.com choices available.

Thanks for th input guys. I will take a look at the suggestions you gave me.

Hello Bryflyer. Take the advice of Chuck. I bought a Powerline trainer and the directions were absolutely horrible. I had to put this thread up just to figure out to put a ARF together. The directions were setup for someone who already had experience in building or putting together a plane. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5285420/tm.htm I would highly recommend that you figure out what type of trainer appeals to you and then look at the instructions they have online. There are a lot of planes out there that have the instructions online for you to look at. You will be a lot happier building or putting the plane together without all the frustrations of model with poor instructions. What would have taking about 8 hours took me about 24 hours to put together. Good luck and welccome to the addiction. Trust me it is an addiction

I would like to hear from someone that has bought a World Models trainer. I have one of their Super Sports 40 ARF and its a fine plane but the instructions to get it together consists of mostly just photos. If you have a few planes under your belt then they make perfect sense but they would probably not be enough info for a new comer to the hobby. [8D]

I have a Rambler 30. It is basically a 2nd plane. The quality is EXCELLENT and the instructions are reasonably good.

The only thing you need to be careful with, with this model, is not putting the landing gear in backwards.
There is a very slight "rake" in the gear and unless you look close you can easily miss it (don't ask me how I know about that - eyes going bad ?? )

Any one of these would be a better choice for your first ARF.

[link=http://www.nitroplanes.com/trainers.html]Click here to see some trainers[/link]