OK a little history first...

a couple of years ago I bought a futaba 4 Chanel radio and a DuraPlane Trainer 20 ARF, .25 motor, the gas, wing film, iron, etc. everything i needed to get in the air.

the plane was not a trainer for sure, way to fast, hard to launch by hand especially alone, raido in one hand plane in the other, the one good thing is that the plane was pretty tough, took quite a beating, guess thats why its a trainer...

I managed to fly and make a beautiful landing on my first try

that was the only time....beginners luck

i was on approach to a nice landing the second time but one of those fast growing pine trees sprung up and grabbed my plane.
Broke the prop...its ok, i bought several...several motor mounts and a cracked fuselage later, as well as almost loosing the plane and smacking a neighbors house, I gave up, and sold the works to the friend who got me into the hobby. That was 7 years ago.

I recently bought a skylark heli and am having fun with it, was thinking of getting a slow stick/pico stick/or GWS zero.

my question is this....

The skylark came with a GWS 4 Chanel radio, 72 MHz/ Crystal says 11...

Can I buy just the receiver, matched for frequency of course, a plane kit and some servos and use the same transmitter so I can save some cash?

any suggestions on the best of the three above mentioned planes?

best hobbits web site to buy from????

I'm not familiar with the frequency laws in the USA so i'll leave most of the Q's to some one else but for a durable 25 size trainer have a look at the BUHOR on www.spadtothebone.com

oops sorry missed the bit where you sold all the gear, for electric i've flown the pico stick and it's nice and slow, you should be able to get a package from your hobby shop that includes the stick, servos, reciever, esc and battery but be warned if it's like Australia electrics ar NOT cheap and it may be cheaper to go the glow engine way.

any way have a look at the SPAD site as some of the guys build electrics and can probably point you in the right direction

I suggest you contact one of the radio manufacturers with your questions. Futaba, JR, Hitec, etc.

Go for it! Transmitters are designed today for multiple model settings so you can do just that. All you need is a flight pack. Like you said, match the frequency and manufacturer, but that's about it. From the sounds of it though, you only have a basic TX. The only issue this would raise would be that you can't save trim settings from model to model.
Not sure about the planes in question, but like woodsy said, check out the spads. For everything else you may need, I have always used www.towerhobbies.com. Many people have found other sites with free shipping what what not. I can't really help you there. Welcome back though. It's a great hobby!

Ty

GWS TX, You might want to check out horizons web site. I believe I read somewhere that the GWS gear was designed for park flyers and had a limited range I know the rx are rated at 1000 ft I THINK the TX was also limited but not 100% sure

The transmitters/receivers that come with the park flyers for sure have a much shorter range than normal RC equipment. Also the park flyers in general are made to be light, not strong. The flimsy foam that most are made of turns to confetti if it strikes something and as such is the opposite of a sturdy easy to repair trainer that is made of balsa and plywood. Best I can suggest is to join an RC club and talk to the instructors. They will probably suggest getting a good standard trainer such as a Sig Lt40 and a Futaba radio.

This is not allways correct.

There light weight and slow speed allow them to survive crashes with minimal or no damage that would destroy a glow powered trainer. Repairs are easy and quick requiring only epoxy and or white glue and toothpicks.

I second your thoughts, Crashem. A lot of people still haven't figured out that lighter construction = less mass = less destruction. Even though I know it to be true and have proven it with a few of my models, I still sometimes build "durable" airplanes and I'm sorry every time. They are more likely to explode on impact and don't fly as well as they could.

On Saturday I was flying Great Gonzo at our field. It was a bad day to fly because the wind was blowing straight from the pits which meant take-off and landing were 90 degrees crosswind. That's not a big deal in itself, but directly behing the pits is a large stand of trees.

These trees create all kinds of vortexes that make planes flip over or fall out of the sky on landing. That's exactly what happened to Great Gonzo. She fell directly on a wingtip from about 15 feet or so straight down. Then she slammed down on the tail and flipped over on her back.

Damage? The tail mount has a slight crack in it (3/32" balsa sanded pretty thin). On slight crack in the leading edge where it impacted the ground. Had it been a standard sport model, there's a good possibility the wing would have been broken off and possibly taking some of the fuselage with it if the bolts failed to shear. The tail would definitely have been ripped off.

As it stands, I have a repair job that will take 30 minutes or less and most of that time will be cutting the patch of covering and ironing it on.

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Also the park flyers in general are made to be light, not strong. The flimsy foam that most are made of turns to confetti if it strikes something and as such is the opposite of a sturdy easy to repair trainer that is made of balsa and plywood.
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This is not allways correct.

There light weight and slow speed allow them to survive crashes with minimal or no damage that would destroy a glow powered trainer. Repairs are easy and quick requiring only epoxy and or white glue and toothpicks.

Much like my 1967 VW bug

thanks for all the input guys, very informative