I'm looking to get into r/c planes and I have no experience first hand. Which would be better for me gas or electric?? I'm looking to have a model that will fly for more than 10-15 min so I don't know if that is possible with an electric. I would also like to have some sort of throttle control, and I want a model that can take off and land on wheels.......not a hand lauched, belly lander.

So far I like the capitol flyer, but I would like some opinions of people with experiece. I would like to spend less than $300 for plane, radio and extras.

thank you!!

GAS OR ELECTRIC...

Well others may have a differnt opinion here and will probably roast me alive for saying this, but how seriouse are you about STAYING with the hobby??? taking into acount you could destroy your new plane within the first 2 mins of flight (even less if you try ) think you would stick with it or just walk away?...

if you PLAN on staying in RC (some people just dont liek RC models) then i would go gas, imo its the only way to go if your planning on staying with the hobby...

i have 3 electric planes and love them but gas is just cream of RM modeling...

personly i find gas more easy to fly than electric, for many reasons but a few would be..

your not having a heart attack when the wind blows over 15 MPH.

bigger plane easier to see and they penertrate the sky a lot better too...

gas is slightly the more expensive (only just though lol those lectrics aint cheap, not in the UK anyways)

all my electric take off on there weels in the grass not sure about that plane but i suspect you could get it up there just dont force it ..

cut a long story short i vote gas you will never turn back,

before i started RC i hade a nice home wife and kidds, after i got hooked i gave it all up just build and RC planes pavement... go for it and enjoy it

BTW verry good choice on the type of plane I.E trainer.. we have people come on here with more money than sence with posts like...

"very first flight in RC, how do i get my 91" spifire of the ground"

needless to say we get them back the day after in the crash discussion's forum

let us know how ya get on

I don't know exactly how serious I will be so I guess I want something that is good for begginers and allows a person to grow with it, without spending a fortune.

Go find and check out your local club. Talk to the instructors there, and get what they recommend.

The reason for that bit of advice is that if the instructors in your area are familiar with the plane, radio, engine, motor, batteries, etc etc it will be easier to get help.

Personally, I think a .40 or .60 size glow trainer is the easiest thing to learn on. Lots of good options in the .40 size range, and lots of solid .40 and .46 size engines that run great.

To save money, SPADs are a great way to go. Your first SPAD will be a little harder to assemble than a first ARF, mostly because the techniques are different than what you might be used to. But they can't be beat on low cost and durability. And once you are used to building them, they are really fast to put together. www.spadtothebone.com

Electrics are good in many cases, and there are electric setups that fly 10-15min and can handle the wind and so on, but they tend to get expenseive. The inexpensive electric park flyers are good for learning on your own with out an instructor, but they aren't as good in the wind and they may not fly that long on a charge.

Check out the local clubs in your area. Glow Powered (GAS) planes are not meant to be flown in parks. You will need to join a club and join AMA.

I recommend Glow Powered:

A great start would be the Hobbico Avistar Select. Comes complete almost ready to fly - radio, engine and plane. Tower Hobbies has them for $299.99 and they have a $15 off coupon on the front page.

Extras will run you anywhere from $50 to $150. If you don't like the hobby you could easily sell everything - as long as it is not smashed!!!!

Gizz said it all.

well personally i think your recommendations best suit glow engine if you ask me. Not a great deal of electric planes that i know of can take off from the ground very well. Also electric usually have a flight time of about 10 mins, it can be more but then the batteries get more expensive and heck, half the time i dont know what its on about! I have tried electric but i prefer glow engines.

With glow engines though you will have slight more expense with fuel, fuel pump, glowclip ect but that isnt a great deal

I think a lot of depends on the help that you can get. I am a self taught flyer. I couldn't find any help. So, I went with electric. I considered it the safest and most easy way. I wouldn't suggest it to everyone. I spent a lot of time/money crashing and building. But I like to build/fix as much as I like to fly, so it wasn't a huge deal to me. Ill probably take some flack on this too, but go with foam or EPP planes (gas or electric). Balsa is nice but one big crash and you are done. One of my favorite electrics the the GWS P51. It kicks butt, I finally had to by a new one. I cracked it in half at least 6 times and have done lots of other damage too. Up until the last flight, it would still do an outside loop. And just to displell some myths, this was on a $18 battery and I could do tricks for about 8 minutes. I guess I am a little defensive of electric since I started that way. But in my opinion, if you find a knowlegable person that is willing to help, then go glow, otherwise I would suggest electric.

To get a feel for it, I personally started with a fighter bird. Not a really accurate plane but it gets me flying. I know I'm going to keep in the hobby but I wanted something I could not feel bad wrecking and it gives a feel for flying. for a bit over 100.00 it's a fun toy.I am almost done with building a PT 40 Trainer and while I was at the airfield watching pthers, I went and picked up hangar 9 P-51 to drool at for a while while I get some skills with other planes. I'd suggest a Aero bird as a first plane if you aren't sure if you want to stay in this. They are quite manoverable if the wind isn't really bad. You can fly them in the wind too