well said Big that kinda sums it up for me, there is a club relatively close but the extra fees kinda put a damper on my ability to join right now. I started with Helli's because I can fly out of my back yard but the experience to takes to successfully fly one was taxing my income pretty hard with trips to the hobby shop after most flights. so I decided to try a plane. the SC was recommended to me by my LHS it was in my price range and it worked. naturally I wanted a plane that was a little more able so I got the T-28 after getting really comfortable with the SC. I still fly the SC every time I go out but I have my 2nd plane already that I'm looking forward to getting good with. I looked at the club rules out here to see what is needed to qualify to fly at there Field, when I'm out flying I practice the required maneuvers so when I do try out the club thing I hopefully will be able to fly with the guys without too much training to qualify. I'm not 100% sure how the club thing works but so far everyone I've talked to in this hobby seems really friendly so I think it could be fun to join. on the other hand I've read way too many posts from people saying the clubs have limits on the type of plane or member caps if thats the case out here I won't be joining a club but I still will have learned to fly and I'll just stick to the parkflyers and where I have been flying.

Thank you! I fall into this category! Pay to get the privelege to pay again to get into a club?! Then go to a field 45 minutes away and spend more than an hour there only to fly my plane twice? OK I made that up...what's the typical meet like? I've never been, but you know what? I don't feel like waiting around to fly. Sure, I bet there are some really really cool planes there. I want to get in my car, drive to a park 10 minutes away, throw the thing in the air, fly around, hopefully land, throw the 2nd battery in, repeat, go home. All in 1 hours time. No clubs, no extra $$. All for $200. Scoff all you want! Yeah, I see the value in a club and all that, but I don't have the time for it. Hobbyzone was smart and realized not all 20 something quarter life crisis folk like me want to pay a bunch of dues to hang out with a bunch of old guys to fly their plane an hour away from their house. No offense to the older gents here!

A month or so ago I posted in the Super Cub thread that I can see myself getting bored with it, and wanting to step up to the Parkzone FW190 I bought too. I seem to remember TONS of members gushing about the cub. It's a little disheartening to see a lot of people calling it a piece of crap.

Hobbyzone saw a huge untapped market. I just want to drive 10 minutes to my local park, spend about an hour there, and drive 10 minutes to go home. And I don't want to pay to have to do it. And I don't want to spend more than $200.

I found the perfect match, thanks to these forums too! I love it here, but I'll have to disagree with what most are saying in this thread...I'm sure there are many out there just like me.

Yup for the most part I agree with BigMustafa.

I do see a lot of people here recommending the 3CH cub as a good beginner's plane for the do it yourselfer.

I'm not convinced that it may be a great choice for a first timer however.... maybe someone with a bit of sim experience would do better handling it's idiosyncracies. BigM raised many valid points.

A lot of newbies come here looking for guidance on their new interest. They would be best served directed to a club. The next step down should be trying to get them to fly with someone who is experienced even if they are only park flying.

In lieu of that, the cub? Maybe... but why not an alternative?

Another excellent foamy that is better than the Cub, full four channel with high/low rates etc. is the Megatech Ambassador.

Yes it's more expensive, but it includes everything you need.... and is far better suited to be a beginners plane.

I'll suited to be a trainer, yes.

Crap, well that's debatable.

It has postives and negatives. Some of those negatives are not good for a beginner, a more experienced backyard flyer may have more luck with it, although they'll tire of it quickly.


Yup and that's the problem. They are targetting people who don't know better.

While that may be, it is somewhat irrelevant to the applicability of the Cub, other than the price point... and there are alternatives.

A few of us are looking at this plane from the standpoint of whether or not to recommend it to a newbie.

In particular I don't have any set "favorite", but I do have experience with novices using this and other planes, which I believe at least gives me a bit of a perspective of what happens with each of the ones I've seen. I don't have an ownership bias on any of these.

Given the experiences with newbies bringing these planes out and trying to fly them as "trainers", questioning it's knee-jerk recommendation as a trainer is not unfounded....

I'm glad it worked out for you though.

I just found this forum. This is GREAT! I am new to the R/C thing and the SC is my first try. I have crashed and burned a few times to say the least. Starting today, the motor consistantly cuts out if I go above 1/2 throttle, as if the battery is losing power but both of my batteris are good the best I can tell? This is happening even after a fresh full charge on the batteries? Also, could the transmitter be to blame?

In my opinion ACT is alright to have on while in flight if you are a true beginner, but definetly turn it off before landing. It will prevent you from pulling up as much as you may need during landings. It thinks you're going to stall the plane by holding the control stick in one direction.

It may be small and slow, but the Micro Citabria and Cessna can make a good park/backyard flyer. They are very forgiving and highly entertaining with a little breeze. I practive carrier approaches and touch and goes off of a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood sitting on saw horses in my driveway, and then fly it in the warehouse at work on my breaks. It will loop and fly inverted for a few seconds. Not to mention 15 min flights and 8 bucks for extra battery packs. When i lose control, just let go of the sticks and it recovers on its own. It may be completly different from the other planes disscussed here but it is simple fun for little money. And great for first time pilots.

I'm a big fan of the Super Cub, have taught dozens of people to fly mine, and keep one in my trunk to fly whenever I have a few minutes and a good place. I converted one of mine over to a Futaba rx/tx to use a buddy box with. Hobbyzone could fix a lot of the complaints about the Super Cub if they woud offer an optional aileron equiped wing and 4 channel rx/tx that would accept a trainer box! Maybe someone at RC uinverse has better connections at Horizon than I do and could suggest this to them!

I see this opinion a lot when speaking of 2 and 3 channel airplanes, and I'd really hate to see someone get discouraged thinking that their new 3 channel foamy can't teach them the basics of flight. Learning takeoffs, landings, and managing airspeed to maintain lift so the plane doesn't drop like a rock is what I've always viewed as learning the "basics" of flight. On my radio, that 4th channel is ailerons. Handy for leveling the wings, but on trainer type planes with lots of dihedral they're hardly a necessity. And I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say that you won't learn the basics of flight without them.

Not trying to pick fights. I just wanted to point out that the "basics" of flight can be learned on any plane. When you look at the recommended alternatives to the super cub, you've got to double or even triple the cost just to get your feet wet. The super cub is a great way to get started and is a perfectly acceptable starter plane. I got started on one, learned a lot, and progressed to bigger and better planes. If it wasn't for the good folks at hobbyzone, I bet there would be a lot fewer new members showing up on these boards and at the local clubs. I know I wouldn't be here without the super cub.

Josh

I agree with Smoke on this, we used 3 channel basic trainer for years and then moved up to 4 channel. I won't say its the best way, its just how we used to do it.

But as for the super cub , its a nice plane and people can self teach with it BUT BUT they would do much better if someone helps them to get started , triming and the basic's before they go out to the park on thier own.

Seen it happen, my friend broke his in two and then asked me for help. After a afternoon with him, he was doing great with it.

sticks

Well said Josh.
It's also important to realize that all beginners are not created equal.
Since the closest club to me is an hour away, I teach a lot of people to fly through an RC ministry at my church, mostly kids 7-18yrs, but several adults as well. Some have absolutely no RC or flight experience at all, some have a little Rc car experience but no flying, some have a little video game or simulator experience, some have played with Air Hogs or something similar and have some basic understanding of flight, and some have actually flown real planes but never RC. Each one will progress a little differently, and each one will have different abilities and desires if/when they get ready to buy their own plane.

We have tried several different planes in our ministry, including just about every Parkzone and Hobbyzone plane made, as well as a couple different glow trainers and some other electrics. We still use most of them, but the electric plane we use the most and have bought several of is the Super Cub. The reason is, most people seem to be able to learn better on this plane than any of the others, and it is the easiest and cheapest to repair. The decision to buy several of them was based on other peoples' overall experience and success, not my own. If this had been true of the Apprentice, or any other plane we tried, we would have invested in them instead.

When one of my students is ready to buy their own plane, I base my reccomendation to them on their ability to fly, the type of flying they like, and the $ they can afford. Most of the time Super Cub is my reccomendation because it is so versital, sometimes not. I have a few students who bought a J-3 brushless after flying mine because they liked the size, the speed, power, and/or they weren't ready for ailerons. A couple have bought T-28's after flying mine because they had the skill and room to fly it. A couple have bought Slo-v's because they like to fly slow or they can't see well enough to keep track of faster planes. A couple flew everything I had before buying their own and went right to the Stryker. A couple have even bought their own glow/gas planes. FYI, the Avistar is the glow trainer I reccomend.
My point is, every plane and every person has qualities that may or may not work together, but from my experience, the Hobbyzone/Parkzone planes are some of the best electrics to learn with, and the Super Cub is always a safe bet for the money if you are trying to teach yourself!

Well I really love my SC. Piece of cake to fly and easy to repair. The only thing i would point out that has not been said is that the damage from crashes is not proportional to the severity of the crash.

I had lots of sim time on the PC and understood the basics of flight but to me the real hard part was the perspective of the plane in relationship to me. I'm sure this is the issue for lots of folks. The sims I used were from within the cockpit not from the ground with a controller.

The only drawback i can see w/ the Cub is the lack of optional ailerons and therefore the lack of a left stick for rudder/throttle.

BTW I have a foam P-51 that I am still yet to get above 4 ft off the ground. I've crashed it 4 times and repaired it. In contrast, the Cub is very easy in the right weather. I usually come home in one piece and the times I did'nt were because of flying in too much wind.

Regards,
Alan