Zeplin_429

ok, this is my first post on this site, but anyways, im 16 and kinda new to the whole RC plane thing. My parents got me a Hobbico superstar 60(I may be wrong on the name) but its an ARF, and I got it built. About the time I got it built, my uncle came to town who has been flying since he was like 12, so needless to say he helped me out, and I flew it around a bit, but he didn't have a lot of time, so we basically got about an hour of fly time, and he tought me about tuning the motor, and the trims and stuff, but I didn't get a whole lot of fly time. I can take off, fly level and turn and stuff pretty good, landing is the tough part... So I flew it 1 time with the buddy box, and about 2 months ago I flew it on my own. The take off went good, and I circled around a few times and decided to practice landings. It wasn't a great line up, but it was landable, and I think I had it little to much speed going, but to make a long story short it hit, bounced, and nose-dived, all it amounted to was a broken prop, bent landing gear, and broke part of the wing. So I got the whole thing fixed, looks pretty good if I don't say so myself, but im kinda worried about landing it. Its kinda hard to get anywere that has a club, I think its at least 40 miles to the nearest feild and club, so I don't know how easily I can get to one for instruction. so how important do you guys think an instructor is? or any alternatives? I don't mind doing some minor repairs, its kinda fun, but I dont' want to loose my whole plane, I can't afford that, and you guys know more than me so any help would be great...

CHassan

My Feedback: (13)

Well if you cant get to a club then you are pretty much on your own. I would not advise that,but you do what you gotta do. Sounds like you have a good feal already for such a short amount of time, but you have yet to get caught in the sun, or lose orientation of your plane, or a number of other things that can plague the learning cycle.
Not trying to scare you but Chances are your trainer will end up worse for the wear.
You could get one of the rc simulators, they help quite a bit. Well worth the cost when you figure the amount of money they can save in crash repairs and such.

So good luck and I recomend an instructor.

Zeplin_429

hmmm, I may have made myself sound a little "advanced" in my first post, I really strugle to keep it anywere near level, and all that, but I have read alot of other posts similar and it seems everyone says to go with an instructor or a simulator, so I guess I will look into both. any recomendations on a sim? the only one I have ever head anything about costs like $200, but I guess if you start tearing through planes its worth it...

im_a_rcav8r

Try Real Flight! It's a real good one.... Also just to check where the R/C clubs are located you can go to www.modelaircraft.org then click on About AMA and look for chartered clubs. Find your state and you will get a list of all the clubs in the state... Look for some close to you... You may find one you didn't know was out there. I know I did!

Good luck. If you want to build a new trainer for only a few $$$ check out www.spadtothebone.com

Live Wire

Pikes Peak RC COLORADO SPRINGS will help you or tell who will.

VFRmartin

Hi, I'm flying solo with the aid of computer simulator practice. I learned "stick reflexes" on FREE FMS 2.0 beta 7 simm shareware.
Spent some time watching library videos on pilot training. I found "Sporty's", "what you should know" series to be very helpful in Slow flight, Stall recovery, and general flying knowledge. I am a student pilot in a Cessna 150. And wanted to practice and observe wind effects on the rc. Man, I am hooked. The trill is there for me! Adrenaline rush big time...
I landed the rc with a 15mph cross wind and was thinking of real flying. I also put a Aptek digital camera on board. Center of gravity and camera angle is still being fine tuned. Then I'll extend elevator controls for more stall potential to slow the rc on landing"flair". The grass is tall in my neighborhood field. So the landing gear flexes and bends out, plane stops in five feet.
I strenghted the wire struts with 10 gage solid wire. Making a V-brace in front of the gear. heres' a pic. Camera has not hit the dirt with brace.
Practice on the simm and you will save the plane. I fly durring the week and clubs are usally on weekends. Join your local hobbyshop flyers club if you can? good-luck!

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

FMS is an RC flight simulator software package.

It's not as realistic as Real Flight, but it's available for FREE.

There's a guy named Matt who's putting himself through college (or was) by making and selling PC interface cables so you can use your own transmitter with the software. (Otherwise you have to use a joystick or your keyboard.)

This is a link to Matt's site. He used to sell the interface, with FMS on a CD, for $24 shipped. Or around there.

Not sure about the price now, but....

http://www.mattclement.freeservers.com/fms/fms.html

Good Luck!
Dennis-