Hi, i am new to the rc world even though as a kid i raced rc cars (its been a while).


i am extremely interested in getting into building and flying rc airplanes. i have spent lots of time on the REAL FLIGHT G4 FLIGHT SIMULATOR and find it quite easy to fly all the airplanes there.

questions:

1. what are the servo functions on a plane that runs off 4 channels and 5-6 servos? i have seen 4 channel-4 servo setups before, but some i see have 5 or 6 servo setups. are these planes harder to fly (in other words, are there more variables in keeping the planes up in the air?)

2. i am looking at buying a plane...what should i buy electrick, nitro or gas? which is better?

i have seen this plane that has recently come out called the ST MX2 which is electric, comes with a brushless motor and is madeof EPO foam. i was thinking about that one...any one have any ideas?

A 4 channel radio is for throttle, rudder, elevator and ailerons. If you use a 5th and 6th channel they are for flaps, bomb drop, retracts and such. You can have a 4 channel radio that has 5 and 6 servos. Some planes have one servo for each aileron and a Y Harness to tie them together. Some of the 3D and larger planes use 2 servos for the elevators and they are mixed together with a radio that has the programming feature to mix 2 channels together. If you are just starting out, check out the beginners forum as it has a list of great starter planes. It is hard to learn RC without starting off woth the right plane. Good Luck, Dave

When you have a 4 channel airplane with 5 servos, you almost always have two servos on ailerons, one driving each aileron. If you have 6 servos, you probably have one servo driving each elevator rather than a joiner between the elevators (or one strip elevator).

You can link the two servos with a y-harness, or you can use mixing features in a computer radio and have the servos plugged in to different channels. It''s most common to have channel 6 as the second aileron (which is the flap channel, this creates "flaperons", even if you don''t use the flap function).

Electric vs. Glow is now more a matter of prefernce and money than anything. Small electrics are cheaper, but don''t handle wind as well, but are more crash resistant. A larger glow trainer will fly better in the wind and if you want to go towards larger models and you''ll have help from a local club, is what I would recommend. Gas is not a great choice for starting out.

Dave,

thanks so much for your help. i can see there is a lot to this hobby.

Ian

[link]http://www.gettingairborne.com/radios.html[/link]

Ken

A huge advantage to glow planes is the ability to land, refuel, and take off. Batteries take a long time to charge, unless you have an expensive charger that can quick charge at the field. People who fly electrics often have an arsenal of back-up batteries to bring to the field. Otherwise you''re done after 9 minutes in the air.