I've been wanting to fly RC craft since I was about 6 years old. Now I'm in my late 30's and I've finally got the chance

Here's my "dilema": My father-in-law is a major aviation buff - he's in the process of building his own EAA, 2 seater plane. He had a couple of things hanging around the garage that he decided were just collecting dust and I'd have much more fun with them: The 1st toy is a Hirobo Shuttle Heli (older style; ~10 years old) complete with all servos, gyro, .30-.40 glow plug engine (not sure which size; the plate is hidden behind structure) with a Futaba FG series 7 channel radio with receiver, flight battery, chargers, starters, - basically EVERYTHING I need. The Heli is in good shape and I've plugged up the servos and tested them; the servos are Futaba FS128s (4 of them + 1 spare). The craft is even in pretty good cosmetic condition (a few scuffs and dings, but nothing serious).

The 2nd "gift" is a Sr. Falcon 69" WS, .61 glow engine. It's on it's 3rd wing (this one is a foam core wing), but the control rods move smoothly and everything is in order. It's got the standard throttle, aileron, rudder, and elevator control (4 servos req'd). I'm not in a position to buy more servos at this point and I found out that when he wanted to fly the plane, he would just strip the servos and electronics from the Heli and bolt them in so the Futaba servos apparently will do the trick on this plane. The Tx/Rx can (obviously) be reused for the plane. The engine, prop, etc... look to be in good shape too, but I havent' spun it up yet.

I have absolutely NO RC flight experience and experienced fliers willing to take the time to train you here in my area of South Georgia are about as close to zero as you can get. I've got some "real" flight experience (I spend 2 years building FAA level C and level D simulators for Gulfstream, Citations, MD-80's, and various other aircraft) so I know a fair amount about basic flight information, controls, etc... I've even spent a little while behind the stick in a Cessna. So lately, I've been voraciously reading the FAA Basic Flight Instruction Manual, downloading old instruction manuals, reading magazines, everything I can find on the web related to "basic tips", and studying a whole lot about how the Tx controls' input reacts to the craft. The Sr. Falcon has a symetrical wing, so it should be a little familar to me in terms of controlling the aileron/elevator when initiating a course change.

I love the way Heli's fly, but I'm not so naive to even dream that these are CLOSE to easy to fly. I don't want to wind up with a pair of snapped blades on the 1st time I crank the engine...

Should I just pull all the electronics from the Heli, mount them into the big Sr.Falcon and start my flying adventures the "smart" way > ie: flying something easy > I've heard that the old Falcons like this one are so easy to fly that you almost have to work at it to crash it (like holding down the aileron and wondering why it's spiraling into the earth instead of turning!)

What do you guys think? I'll upload a pair of pics of my "toys" to see what you think. If you recognize the model of Heli or know anything about it, please let me know.

Also any "extra" equipment that I'll need to keep the nose from turning into a roto-rooter is advice well given.

Forget the Helicopter for now. The Senior Falcon is an ideal aircraft to learn how to fly RC.

Please remember that knowing how to fly full scale does not mean that you are ready to fly the RC aircraft. Yes, the plane does the same thing.. ailerons, elevator, rudder, throttle all do the same thing. But, you are on the ground controlling an aircraft that is out there in the sky, hopefully in front of you.

The toughtest thing you are going to do is coordinate your hand and finger movements to that of the aircraft and making the aircraft do what you want it to do without thinking about it.

This is very tough for someone without an instructor nearby. The best advice anyone can and will give you is to fly with someone that has the knowledge and ability to teach you how to fly. And of course the best situation is an instructor with a buddy box. That will give you a much better chance of surviving the first flight without incident.

If you can, get to a field with an instructor and have them go over the plane with you, from the prop to the tip of the rudder and make sure it is airworthy. Then work with him to get the stick movement down right, then finally fly the plane with him. (or her as applicable.. ).

But, you have a good start. You know the basics of flight, which apply, and what happens when you do something to the control surfaces.

An alternative would be to buy something that is light and pracically indestructable, (electric is the only thing I can imagine that fits the bill here) and learn the basics yourself. One such aircraft, (don't scoff now, guys..) is The Bug. It may not look like much, but it flys great, is very forgiving, and can be made both trainer like or as radical as most 3D'ers can ge. Best of all, it is practically indestructable. It has all four inputs and will give you some real straight forward control to learn with.

http://www.lightflite.com


CGr.

I agree with the above. As an instructor at our field I see people from time to time that come down to the field that figure that since they have "some" background in flying that they can easily transfer the knowledge to flying RC. Few have, most don't. Well, at least not without some stick time. Knowing "how" to fly the plane doesn't translate into actually flying it. It takes time on the sticks to train your thumbs to do the right inputs and how to get the plane back into the correct attitude if it gets out of shape. You'll save your plane and yourself if you get hooked up with an instructor and get on the buddy box.

Monkey71, I did a search and found two clubs within 25 miles of you, one is in Cordelle ( Flint Flyer RC Club ) and one in Eastman ( Middle Georgia Fly Boys ). Strongly suggest you makke contact with one or both. If there are hobby shops in Cordelle and Eastman I`m sure they can give you contact info. From experience I`d be stunned if you couldn`t find an instructor in either or both clubs. Good Luck!!

Even southern Georgia has RC clubs, and most clubs have instructors!

http://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx

This is the AMA website's club search facility. I found 4 clubs within 50 miles of zip code 31079, which I believe is for rochelle. Have a look!

It's really the best way, and the money you save in planes will pay for the gas a hundred times over (for now.).

J

Lets be frank here. If you try to fly that by yourself, you WILL be repairing it in the near future. I've been flying these for almost 20 years and the only way I've seen someone learn to fly without an instructor is with lots of crashes, lots of planes and lots of wasted money

BTW, a computer trainer (like Realflight 4.0) is a GREAT learning tool that you can use at home without an instructor and crash to your hearts content! There is a free simulator as well called FMS.

Yup, with a buncha sim time, your instruction time might just drop to a few days, but still that instructor will be valuable!

With a good plane, and a competant instructor this is an affordable hobby. Without that instructor it can get expensive, frustrating and depressing in a hurry.

Good luck, have fun!

J

I totally agree. Simulators help you learn how to move the plane, but reality is a bit different than the sim. The Instructor will be the buffer

Also, the instructor will be extremly helpful in checking over your plane to help you tune the engine / check the radio equipment..etc.

I agree with everyone here as well, get thy self to a club that offers flight instruction...if you're any where near jacksonville come on down I'll teach you

Best advise I can give you is to get yourself a large 40 size high wing trainer that will give you time to think and react. Tower Hobbies has many packages that will make it easy to get started. DO NOT do this alone, unless you like spending money on replacement motors and planes. Forget the simulators and the computer stuf. Join a club and have someone teach you the basics, then take it from there. Before taking off and landing, you have to have some stick time flying level so you can get the routine down.

Some years back, one of my neighbors bought a Tower Hobbies Trainer Combo because he saw me working on my planes in my garage. He said he was gonna go out and fly it. I told him that since he had no airtime, I would teach him. His reply was "How hard can flying be?" The next day he showed up on my front door with the plane in a bag in pieces. He sold me the plane in the bag (stripped all the clevices, wheels etc) the Futaba 4Cn. Radio and components, OS 35 and electric starter for $20!

Thanks for all the great advice. I guess flying sims is a little like playing Need For Speed and then thinking you can drive 160mph

I didn't realize that there was an active club in Cordele; I'm new into the aerial RC game and finding ANYONE in this area who flies is mostly blind luck. I definitely agree that an instructor would be the way to go; there are a million subtle little taps and bumps on the ailerons, rudders, and elevatos that make the difference between "air-borne" and "ground-pound". For example, I know from observation and second hand stories how difficult landings CAN be, even in the best of conditions and even with a wide wheel base tri-wheel trainer like the Falcon it can still get away from you fast, so I'm definitely nervous about that! I'll have to hit Cordele and see what the atmosphere is there. I'm on a really tight budget right now (hopefully to change soon, but we'll see) so making impact craters and snapping wings is NOT a good thing!

I wish I could afford a good RC simulator with the control, but that's just not in the cards for a while..... so I'll just have to practice when I can on flight sim games (like IL2: Sturmovik).

I'm a little relieved to hear everyone speak out against idea of a total novice flying a Heli unsupervised. I wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of "attempting" unsupervised flight with that thing! The thought of a pair of highspeed spinning wooden blades going completely out of control, and somehow ALWAYS manageing to track on YOU, just didn't sounded like speed dial for 911.. (that and I know of someone who has had a T-Rex for over 6 months and he's FINALLY gotten to the point where he can "hover" about 6' above the ground, but nothing else! At 6 months, I'd rather be at LEAST doing some preliminary and very basic aerobatics )

I've been thinking about picking up an Airhog Jetscream or a Jaxx MiniMPV just to get my brain thinking in 3 dimensions (I just have to smuggle $40 out from under my wife's nose somehow....).The YouTube videos of these little foamies are a real hoot

My "end goal" is to own and fly a P40 (not a GIANT Scale; maybe a .20-.40 size), then a P38 and a Mosquito. If I set these up right, I should be able to minimize the cost by using alot of the same ellectronics. These were my 3 favorite model planes as a kid and I've grown up with a real passion for these remarkable aircraft. Well, that's only part of my "end goal".... I live on a very quiet street in town with ZERO traffic and, God help me, I have an uncontrollable desire to buzz the stray dogs in the neighborhood [>:] I have no idea why...

You're better off folding and tossing paper airplanes off the porch for practice than to hope you'll get any practical r/c training with a shoot-em-up flight simulator (though IL-2 Sturmovik is a GREAT game). Maybe if your game controler is similar to the R/C Transmitter box. Even your friend with the EAA Bipe can tell you full-scale pilots have trouble starting out with R/C. You NEVER have to fly a real plane at yourself to land it.

Well ... father-in-law should still be able to fly the Falcon ... and he must like you at least a little bit since he let you marry his daughter and still gave you RC stuff ... surely he will help you learn to fly ... ask him to help and if he agrees .... buy yourself a buddy box and trainer cord

I wish I could ask my paw-in-law ( I call him Doc; he's a surgeon) for more help, but he lives in Johnson City/Bristol, TN (about 8-9 hrs away....) and he hasn't flown RC for years and years (and from what I gathered, he wasn't that good at it... hence the 3rd new wing on the Falcon! But he ALWAYS buys top notch stuff, so I'm positive that the Futaba 7 channel FG series Tx, Rx, batteries, chargers, servos, and even the "old school" wooden "Tower Hobby" charger "carry box" aren't from the bargain bin!

I found out in the past couple of hours that my mother's cousin (James; I've known him since I was a LITTLE kid!) flies pretty regularly (again, it's a big county with a small population, but I had no idea!). I called him up to ask if I could tag along on his next outing and he seemed open to the idea. I think he flies a small electric (maybe a parkzone), but his flying buddy had a Senior Falcon for YEARS, so I think I may have located a great local resource. I may not be able to score a "buddy cable" -just because I can't afford it right now but the Tx has a hookup for one-, but I'm 100% sure, knowing him, he won't steer me wrong or hesitate to grab the control if I push it too far.

Just a quick question: Does anyone have any idea what the nitro mixture should be for the glow fuel to run a "Webra 10ccm" (.610ci) engine? I'm thinking it's probably 12%-15% since that seems to be standard for alot of similar planes (I know this is the wrong forum and I should post in "Engines", but I hate to start a new thread for 1 basic question... sorry if I "fouled"; I just need the smallest bottle of fuel they make)

Also, does anyone happen to have any old literature/manuals on the Sr. Falcon? (aileron/rudder/elevator deflection angles; throttle range, etc...) I've found some stuff on www.carlgoldbergproducts.com, but I think this is for a smaller .40 size plane (the aileron servo seems to be mounted on the outer surface of the wing and that just doesn't make sense to me). Granted, this is about the 3rd wing that has been strapped to this plane and it's an "after market" (i think the original was a balsa/plywood style; this one is a foam-core with the aileron control rods linked in a cavity in the middle of the wing when the wing is in place, it's hidden).

I really spent some time tonite going over the plane and really studying it. I love the way the ailerons move on this plane - they take up the ENTIRE 69" of the wing (except for the last 3")! and the rudder and elevators are HUGE. All move freely and without snags. Talking to James, he commented that he flew the Falcon one afternoon and got into a little control trouble; to get out of it, he simply let go of the controls (let them flick back to neutral) and the plane righted itself almost immediately! This definitely sounds like the right plane for me I guess with control surfaces THAT big (and being a symetrical wing) it just naturally wants to do the right thing.

I'm going to strip the servos from the Heli tomorrow and mount them on the Big Boy [8D] so when I FINALLY get some fuel, I can get it in the air. It's got a few paint cracks around the tail assembly, but I don't think there's any structural damage (no creaking or loose wiggling). It's probably just the result of Doc banging the rear end into a concrete runway a little rough one afternoon [:@]

Thanks again for all of the words of encouragement !!!!! I'm glad I finally found a place where people aren't afraid to "shepard" the newbies along! You have NO idea how many boards have "beginner" sections, but they just really don't give a hoot and would rather see someone make a dent in the ground so they could make fun of them.... [&o] When (and if!) I get some stick-time behind me, I'll be sure to return the favor to other newbies.

WOAH thata an OLD transmitter

from what ive been reading, dont waste money on that airhogs crap. go buy FS 1 or some other flight sim and practice on that. i've saved a couple grand with that Reset button lol. if you really want to buy a plane to practice on, look at the Aerobird series. The Aerobird 3 (http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=HBZ3600) is great to learn on if its not too windy where you live and ive yet to fly the Swift (http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=HBZ7200) but its a slightly advanced 3 and i hear its loads of fun to fly.

Good luck!

When swapping out the servos, be very careful on how you connect the linkage and how the aircraft responds with stick inputs. Make sure, for instance, that the right stick (most US transmitters use the right stick) is for the elevator and aileron and the left stick is for throttle and rudder. The throttle, up and down, rudder, right and left. Make sure that when going to full throttle, UP, the engine throttle goes open. Conversely, rudder.. right stick moves the rudder right and left moves it left.

For the ailerons, stand behind the aircraft. Move the stick to the right. The right aileron should go UP, left aileron should go DOWN. Left aileron.. right goes DOWN and left goes UP.

Elevator.. pull back, elevator goes UP. push forward, elevator goes DOWN. MAKE SURE this is the way it is. If any are reversed, fix that BEFORE flying. You don't want to try to 'remember' how it is, you need it to be right before flying this aircraft (or any other for that matter). Don't rely on your friend/relative to check it out for you. Make sure you do it yourself and make sure it's right. Then, before flying verify with your friend/relative that it IS right and you are ready to fly. If you don't, well, it will be a very short flight.

Check out that BUG. It may look strange, but it is a great way to learn this stuff... very forgiving and very resilient.

CGr.

Also, you should check out some of the other threads on this board regarding additional equipment that you will need to fly. Some of the guys go a bit overboard with gear when they start out, so don't be intimidated, but there are some basic things that you absolutely need to get and keep your plane in the air. Stuff like a glow driver, glow plug wrench, hand-crank fuel pump, chicken stick (easily made at home), extra props (you tend to hit them on the ground when you first learn to land), etc.. You can fill a bucket with some basic tools from home (screwdrivers, allen wrenches, crescent wrench), so you don't necessarily need a fancy flight box. Electric starters are nice (I would say almost a necessity) but it is possible to start most engines with a chicken stick.

You may also need to buy new batteries for your radio. After several years of storage, they may not hold a charge.

There's plenty of other information on this board, so I won't go too crazy with the lists.

Good luck.

edit: Here's an example of what you would buy if money were no object:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7692929/tm.htm

Like I said, don't be intimidated. Many of these purchases can be put off until later. Also, once you join a club you will find a lot of guys who have double and triple of a lot of this stuff, and they might let you "borrow" things if you're nice to them.

I've charged and discharged the batteries in both the flier and the Tx and they both seem to be good and holding a charge. (Doc was VERY meticulous about little things like that). The "Tower Field Box" I receivied, is jam packed with allen wrenches, a handful of some tools I can't yet identify, and even includes a pair of brand spanking new props.

Beachyboy429, you hit the nail on the head when you said that was an OLD Tx! Yep, it's OLD, but it works like a clock and I'd wager it's twice as reliable as some of the "new" models on the market. And -like I said- Doc didn't half baked junk when he bought something. I'd trust that "old" transmitter more than I'd trust some of the new ones. Just from my experience, please take it with a grain of salt, "new high tech" does not equal "long-term high durability"....

I checked out "The Bug"! That is one STRANGE looking craft!!!! I have to admit that it looks like a real hoot to fly, but the pricetag on that thing puts it near the range of a low end ParkZone flier! Still, it looks like a real gas to put up in the air

I did break down and pick up an MiniXPV at the local Walmart (hey, it's $30!). The last time I had that much fun with $30, they were in $1 bills and the term "Gentlemen's Club" was involved [8D]

Please don't do this. Even with "ZERO" traffic it's more dangerous than you realize. And, if you crash the dog will eat your plane before you can run him off. My best friend bought a small control line plane about 20 years ago. He lives in a town of less than 100 people. The school has grades K-12 in one building. We took the plane to the school parking lot and, by the time he was ready to take off, it looked like the Indy 500 was being held in that little space. We packed up and the plane was never flown. Eventually it went in the trash.

Check in the tools you got, or ask Doc, to see if there is an expanded scale voltmeter so you can monitor the battery packs reliably. No matter how good the packs were when new, if they are 10 years old, you need to keep an eye on them. The rest of the radio equipment should be fine. Guys in our club have stuff that's well over 20 years old that still works the way it did when they bought it.

It may be strange looking but you ought to see that little 'bug' fly. The price includes all servos, ESC, motor, and battery. So, you get a lot for the money. The motor is a brushless "CD Rom" type motor, the battery is a 2 cell LiPo. Servos are Hitec I believe. It is easy to assemble, as long as you download pictures from their web site (unless they improved their documentation).

And it flys like nothing I've flown before. Easy and gentle as you wish, but toned up, it can be as radical as most all of the expensive 3D'ers. Absolutely ideal for a trainer type because, as I said, it is pretty much indestructable.

If you have a moment, go to their web site and look over the videos. You can see how impressive these little things can be. I bought two of them at the WRAM show in Westchester NY a couple of years ago and love them. Actually, three of us bought two apiece. Fun little planes!

At the WRAM show, during a demo flight, the pilot "landed" on the wall. Then he nosed the thing up to the ceiling and held it there by pushing on the nose cage. Then he just cut the throttle and let it 'float' to the ground where it bounced twice and ended up on it's wheels. He picked it up, held it by pinching the top of the fuselage, added throttle, and let go.. continued flying for another 5 minutes or so. Neat gadget, for sure.
CGr.