One thing I have noticed about aviation in general or other aspects of life. You need to learn it "their way!" I remember guys back in flight school who had prior flight time. Maybe a private license at most. Thes guys made their own lives miserable and were the last ones to solo.

They go around bragging how great they already are. Next thing you know, one of the instructors has him off to the side nailing his ***** to a wall loud enough to overhear "you do it my way or your gone." My own son is graduatng from college this year and has shown some interest in the Air Force. Mechanical Engineering and very bright but he wouldn't make it. Has no flying experience but has this problem about doing things his way and everyone else is an idiot.

I was an IP for a few years. My "thing" was the basics. You'd be suprised how many people can't get back to the basics.

I taught him to fly rc a bit when he was younger. Whenever he shows up-which is rare, he wants to fly my nice planes. Not even.

Just imagine if you were only 13 and bought a .15 size pylon racer kit for your first R/C! I did back in 1974. I ended up with a nice H-Ray kit and built that.

Speaking of getting bummed out, you should buy a kit and all the stuff to build it right. Building table, several types of glue, pins, clamps, hollow core door and sheet rock for building table, heat gun, covering, silk, dope, epoxy, spray gun, air compressor, hobby knifes, plane, sanding bars, locks and paper, dremel, engine, servos, radio, charge jack, wheels, misc hardware, all the field accesseries, etc, etc.

You can get into the hobby and fly for less than $250.00 for a Great Planes Spectra electric glider complete with charger or you can spend 10's of thousands and have more stuff than you know what to do with. It's all about asking questions and hopefully getting good answers along with knowing your wants and ability. The problem this hobby can be more addictive than illict drugs and getting the magazines is like hanging out with pushers. How many times have you gone to the hobby shop to buy a $2.00 part and walked out with a shiney new engine, plane, radio, kit?

One thing about buying "Stuff" for this addiction, uh, I mean hobby - there is alway going to be more "Stuff" to buy to make things easier or will do this or do that - it's a never ending cycle and soon you'll have a basement overflowing with "Stuff", some of which you hardly ever use. As soon as the latest new gadget comes out you want to rush right out and get it - happens to everybody at some point. What has to be done is to sit back and think about where your at skill level wise, what you really need, what your goals are and what you can afford. There are some things that are a necessity if you just assemble and fly ARF's and occasionally repair them, and others if are going to build kits or scratch build. I like to build kits and scratch, so I finally broke down and ordered the Microlux Tilt-Arbor Table Saw while it was on sale. Is it a necessity for kit or scratch building? No, not by any stretch of the imagination. Its a very expensive, but useful tool for the type of modeling I like to do and has taken me a long time to justify the expense (like we really need a real justification of expenses in this hobby). But it will serve multiple applications - not only model aircraft but also scale model dioramas and miniatures (ie - doll house) where I need the precision very few other tools will provide.

So before you jump out there and just start getting what ever looks good and gets you in over your head, step back and think about where your at and the steps required to get to your end goal. This hobby is one, when taken in the proper steps, is one of the most rewarding you'll ever find.

Hogflyer

Hey MBUTLER1967,

Hope your meeting with your local r/c members helps. Im sure they will be able to sit down with you and help figure out the radio gear issues, and troubles that seem to be taking place. Even if the drive is a good hour away, id highly recommend it. I know when i first started flying r/c planes i didnt even really understand what a servo did/reciever did, and i surely did not know how to tune the dang engine lol maybe thats why i like electrics so much

I know many other members would agree with me here and say that once you have that first flight with your instructor, and your flying it (hands shaking, knees shaking, and huge smile from eye to eye[8D] on your face), your view on all of the hard work/"pain in the ass stuff" you had to do will be behind you.

keep us updated on your progress, and good luck!

-David

Going to the field tomorrow with one of the guys from the club I call an expert at RC Planes and Helicopters. He has offered to help me with my radio, servos etc . . . Thanks guys for all your support and great help I appreciate every single one of you.

Martin

good luck have fun,learn

Did you notice nobody said," this has never happened tp me"?
Follow your helpers instructions and I"ll bet the day to fly your Sundowner will come sooner and sweeter!
Its a good hobby but take the time to have some fun... I like my fancier planes but the cheap SPADs are as much fun and a lot less stress.

Don't give up. This is a wonderful hobby, but unfortunately it carries a steep learning curve. I taught myself and ended up very frustrated, but I kept repairing and flying. I am so glad I kept with it. I am now a flight instructor at a club and fly some pretty nice airplanes. I've never received more joy from this hobby than this year's flying. It will just keep getting better.

STICK WITH IT!

GO GET EM TIGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gibbs

I have been flying the big boys for 27 years. Flown corporate, flown for the airlines. R/C is far more difficult. Hope to receive my new trainer tomorrow after losing mine 2 weeks ago. I hated losing my bird but I must go on Good luck and take it slow. Don't try to figure something out by yourself, get help until your start feeling confident about this great hobby.
Chopper man

Yep, RC is tougher. No seat of the pants, no instruments, no visual cues out the windshield, no wing buffet just before a stall. You'll find a lot of us that either still fly or used to fly full scale and I'd bet 98% will tell you RC is tougher. Oh yeah, no auto-pilot either although I never had that luxury. Not even a wing-leveler.

Darn! No bargains after all! :&gt

I know this isn't the topic of the thread, but I disagree. The power loading on a full-scale airplane is much different and the consequences of a stall are much more severe. You don't have gobs of extra power with full size airplanes. Full scale airplanes take much more specialized knowledge to operate. Flying a full-size airplane requires the pilot to think much further ahead and sloppiness is simply not permitted. Take a look at the current Private Pilot Syllabus. We don't teach a quarter of those relevant concepts at our R/C club. Those concepts that we do teach do not even approach the depth of information found in real-world training.

I find them different. Apples and oranges.

I think you are missing what Bruce is saying here. Trust me, I've watched dozens of full scale pilots trying to fly RC over the years, and I can tell you for a 100% fact that it's more difficult for them to fly RC. Why?? Simple. Perspective. Their perspective is different. They are no longer sitting IN the craft they are flying. They are standing outside looking at the plane from a different way than they have been trained to. Also, stick reversal is a major factor with them. They are used to having the plane go the direction that they move the stick, not opposite as an RC plane does when it's coming towards the pilot.

It's actually far more likely for a RC pilot to take the controls of a full scale craft and be successful immediately than it is for a full scale pilot to be successful in taking the controls of a RC plane. I'm not talking about piloting a plane from airport to airport, but I'm talking about taking the sticks and not crashing the plane within the first few minutes.

Bruce does have a unique perspective in this matter being the fact that he's a full scale pilot of many years experience as well as just at many years in RC planes.

Ken

I doubt that being a full scale pilot actually makes it more difficult to fly RC. It probably doesn't make it easier, but it seems unlikely a full scale pilot would actually have a *harder* time learning to fly RC. Most of us drive full scale cars --- does this make driving an RC car harder for those of us who have a driving licence?

I'm not talking about the ENTIRE world of flying a full scale pilot much learn, just the pattern environment which is where the RC pilot lives and the landing environment. No navigation or FARS to learn of course. Get a grip on the scope of this conversation please. I also don't think it's HARDER for a full scale to learn RC unless he comes in with an attitude of knowing it all already. In fact his prior training can be a large help as he will understand aerodynamics or what make a plane fly.

Holy moly. I didn't mean to start an argument in some guy's thread. I mean no disrespect and am sure you are an accomplished full-scale pilot with more hours than I.

I realize that and no offense was taken. Just wanted to make the point that we need to compare the same portions of the flight envelopes IMO.

LOL ,Some of these post crack me up.

Yeah, and my point was that when you look at all of model flight you still aren't coming close to the required knowledge of full-scale flight. Calling it easier would be a bit misleading. I would say orientation on a clear day is easier.

True, when looking only at grabbing the yoke under VFR with some altitude a person doing that would become less disoriented than a new modeler trying to fly at different angles from himself. Your statement would be correct.

This is just a darn hobby. I think sometimes we/I can become wound a bit tight. [:@]

I can picture InsaneMoondoggie sitting in his chair with a bowl of popcorn laughing so hard the popcorn is falling out of the bowl on the floor.

Dropped his beer I hope.

Many full scale pilots think they can fly a r/c mustang, F-16 ; ) or other scale plane right off. They come to the club fun fly and take the sticks on the buddy box of a trainer and can't make three 90 degree turns without going straight down. Give the box to a bright 8 to 14 year old boy scout and have an enjoyable training session.

The full scale plots that have mastered a r/c simulator do the best in transitioning to rc because they realize it's a different perspective when you can't feel your butt moving in the plane and it can fly away and toward them.

Spuewing out of his nose ....

$400.00 for servos...Jeez www.hobbypeople.net has great cirrus servos with high torque for $8.95 each. Over 100 in. oz at 6.0volts. Sounds like you just buy crap without comparing competing products. I never buy trie-turn spinners, Dave Brown or Vortec spinners work just great at 1/3 rd the price. Hell, a simple 6 channel radio from Tower or Futaba isn't that expensive. I cost compare everything I buy using the Internet. Good luck though, and perhaps get some help from an experienced modeler.

P..W.
I don't think this was a park flier You get what you pay for and learning to operate it take time and knowledge that come with practice.