How is this trainer?
Tower has it for under $400 ready to go with the place, OS motor, prop, radio and servos, and flight simulation software

Also, apparently it has a self levelling thing?

Anyway, I am starting to get really interested in planes and considering getting into it

It's not a bad plane but overpriced and loaded with "gimmicks" that are not needed or that do NOT work. The "wing leveler" actually makes it harder to fly the plane.
I'd recommend http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=LXCXF4**&P=ML and an instructor on a buddy box. This plane flies better IMO, is cheaper, easier to fix if needed.

I agree with Bruce 100%. It's my opinion that the Nexstar is way overpriced. you'll save a ton of money getting the tower trainer and the plane flies at least as well as the Nexstar.

The "auto leveling" feature is just a gimmick that does more harm than good. If you try to learn to fly with it you become dependant it to recover the plane and you will never learn those skills, which you will need to move up to your next plane. Plus, the auto level doesn't always do it's job, and then you'll be sunk with a crashed plane.

Ken

The auto-levelling feature (ALS) was a nice idea, but a flawed design. It works by sensing ground/sky with a light sensor and assumes that the brightest spot is straight up. This works fine if you only fly at noon. Unfortunately, if you fly in the morning or evening, it makes the plane always pull to the east or west respectively.

The Nexstar is a nice trainer that is easy to land. It's not as easy to fly in windy conditions as other trainer airframes such as the Avistar or Tower Trainer .40 Mk II. The steep dihedral and long wing chord make it tend to "balloon" into upwind turns.

The Nexstar is a nice looking plane, and the bolt on wing is more convenient than using rubber bands. The bundled flight simulator is a good training tool. The Futaba radio and O.S. Max engine included with the Select RTF are both top quality.

If you disconnect the ALS system before flying it, the Nexstar is a very nice trainer that is easy to land. You could spend less money, but other than the ALS system and the Nexstar's less-than-ideal windy handling characteristics, it's a good package.

It is a wonderful trainer. I've been training on it, 18 flights so far. It flys very good, handles nice. I'll tell ya, that plane is very sturdy and can take the beating a student will put on it ; Lets just say theirs this one loner tree out to the east by the road, my instructor was explaining to me a landing, and went right into the tree, it hit a branch and dropped. I ran out to the tree expecting to see my Nexi (Thats what me and my dad nicknamed it) into a million pieces - I finally got to the plane, I picked it up - IN ONE PIECE ! After carefully looking over it, I later saw a small hole in the upper left of the windshield, nothing big. (Balsa and Black trim sheet from the LHS did the trick) Man that tree sap is hard to clean off !

Now, the "self leveling thingy", which is simple terms for AFS does not teach you anything, it forms bad habits and you learn nothing. Every move you make, the AFS basically fights it. I do not recommend you get it with the AFS ; Now I will recommend, a Simulator, it is a very helpful tool, I spent 9+ months at 1-2 hours a day on the sim and I'm very close to soloing, basically it cuts down your training time (Where it took my dad 2-3 months to solo, it may take me 1 month, considering he didn't use a sim like I did). I believe the Nexstar comes with its own simulator specifically with 1 plane on it, the Nexstar, where other sims have 20+ planes you could experiment with and use in the future after you've moved past the trainer. IMO any simulator will do the same thing, and that is teach you corrdination - I used RealFlight G3.5 . RealFlight, FS One, etc. would all be good ones to use.


TakingFlight96

I learned on the NexStar and loved it. I still fly it occasionally just to get some air under the wings. It's a nice trainer but as others have mentioned it is over priced.

I bought it because it had everything in one package and since I was new I didn't feel comfortable buying something here, something there, and putting them together. So, what I suggest you do is contact a local club and get an instructor. You may find they have a club trainer you can learn on or you may be able to find a great deal on a trainer. Before you spend any $$$, ask around.

Good luck!

If you have your heart set on a Nexstar I'd say to go with the ARF version http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXJDH3&P=ML and install the radio and engine of your choice.
Plane = $110
46AX eng = $130 http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...VSEARCH=lxfmd5
Futaba 6 ch 2.4 radio $220 http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...VSEARCH=lxpzt8

What Bruce said. I am an instructor and so far I have seen too many of them hit the ground, not just the one with that AFS thing on it but the stock ARF too.
This is what I have found so far, you can have that plane set up with perfect CG and control throws but the way the stab bolts/screws on the incidence can be so far off from plane to plane that sometimes there isn't anywhere near enough trim in A radio to get the elevator working correctly, most of these planes I have seen crash are on there maiden flight with instructors doing the maiden or an instructor getting it to fly hands off and turning A new soloed student loose with one.
It's just not A very good trainer unless you find A good one that goes together correctly.
For under 70 bucks you can get A Tower Trainer and just buy some better equipment for it that will advance with you as time goes on. The other trainers may not look as good but they sure fly better.

I'm also an instructor who is training a father/son dual on their Nexstar. The airplane flies well enough, comparable to most trainers. I too disconnected the AFS and took off the drag flaps, but left the leading edge devices for now.

Initially spent about 2 hours getting the so called "ready to fly" trainer trimmed out, there were several problems. The main issue other than poor rigging was the OS 46FXI wouldn't not idle, the low speed needlevalve came bent from the factory wouldn't adjust. Couldn't lean the engine out enough on the low end to where it wouldn't quit. Making it almost impossible for the students to get some good stick time, too many dead sticks. We now have a replacement carburator the engine now idles down and runs properly. Hopefully I can now get more productive training accomplished and the new pilots on their way soon.

I learned and soloed on a NexStar, mine went together correctly and flew well for it's design. The motor after tuning was great and I fly it now on my second trainer. I would not get another to start on for the same reasons as mentioned above. My biggest problem was it would not handle any amout of wind and wind contributed greatly to my crashing, was landing and just ready to touch down when a gust of wind picked it up, with my inexperience, I over reacted and it stalled and it cart wheeled wing tip over wing tip to it's end.

I would start with one of the very basic 40 size trainers that are much less expensive. I would also go for an ARF and start off with a six channel computer radio so when you get ready for more advanced flying that you don't have to go buy another radio.

Gary

Thanks for the good points guys
I guess what appealed to me was the OS motor + it comes with flight simulation software

I checked out the Tower Hobbies plane (nice and cheap) but I was a bit iffy on the motor? Is it any good?
And I'd need a flight simulation thing as well. How much do these go for? And does any remote work with it?

Also 2 more questions, if the motor stalls, can the plane be recovered/landed properly?
And what sort of speeds do trainers reach?

Thanks again all the input is really appreciated

The motor on the Tower Trainer 40 RTF is OK but not great. Also the radio could be a little better (like the radio on the Nexstar RTF). Here again if you think you can handle the assembly work or get some help with it I'd recommend going the ARF route and pick your own radio/engine combo. Assembling an ARF really isn't very hard. Read and follow the manual carefully and ask questions from friends or here instead of GUESSING when in doubt.
Here's the manual for the Tower ARF so you can decide if you can handle it: http://www.towerhobbies.com/products...1110manual.pdf

I can build ARF's as I built my friends trainer for him
There was nothing particularly difficult. I don't know what trainer it was but it had "Boomerang" written over it

http://www.hobbywholesale.com/Produc...ctid=SEABOOM40

Yeah that's the one
I flew it too with an instructor but not for long and I stuffed up pretty hard (he had to save me a lot of times)

Is it any good?

I had a good time learning with the Nextar it flew fine,with the airbrakes it was nice and slow,I was surprised how much faster it was when I removed the wing droops and the breaks.
I was prety close to being self taught having some club members take off for me, and hand over the box,after a few flights like that I was flying it myself, it was a good first plane for me.
the ARF is by far the best way to go if you use the tower discount program and break up your order into chunks you can save some cash for all the other stuff that doesn't come with the RTF plane.
you can get a better radio either a computer 4or6ch and a OS46AX engine as well for the $$,I went with the RTF version because I wanted a out of the box plane with little or no construction involved,considering all I do now is build kits its kind of funny,but at the time it made sense to me and I don't regret paying the few extra $$ for it.
I never did hook up the flight assist and ended up removing it and patching the hole because fuel was soaking the wood where it was mounted.
the sim is OK but you might as well save up for a realflight G-3.5 or 4 there much better quality

I recently ordered my first airplane and I decided against the Nextstar and instead purchased a Sig Kadet LT-40. Here are my reasons.

All the RTF's I looked at came with a radio, receiver, servos, engine, and some with software, including the Nextstar.

All of these 'tag alongs' are sacrifices in my opinion and you will likely end up buying a new radio if you like the hobby and progress, and a better sim if you like the simulator.

The engine is an O.S. Max 46FXi - almost everyone I know prefers the 46AX, so that's what I bought. FXi is fine. AX is better, just that simple.

The NexSTAR simulator disk included in this kit is NOT compatible with any version of the RealFlight Add Ons Volumes and doesn't include all the airplanes and fields of the full version.

The radio is a Futaba 4 channel FM radio. I got a 7 channel radio and instead of FM it's 2.4 GHz, a real advantage since you don't have to worry about interference with other peoples frequencies.

Last, the AFS (Active Flight Stabilization), SpinControl, Airfoil Extensions, SpeedBrakes and Training Flaps are things I'm told alot of people end up taking off as instructor's and owners sometimes don't want them on the plane.

For a little more you can get a better engine, better radio (by far) and better trainer.

I'm not knocking the Nexstar; I'm sure it's a good trainer and good value. I just see it as a SACRIFICE that you can avoid by spending a little more money. Just my two cents.

If you're set on the Nexstar take a look at getting the ARF version along with a better 6 channel 2.4 GHz radio and better OS Max engine, something like this:

109.99 Nexstar ARF http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXJDH3&P=ML
129.99 OS Max 46AX http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXFMD5&P=ML
259.98 Futaba 6 channel 2.4 GHz Radio w/4 servos http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXSFY3&P=ML

The Tower Hobby .46 engine bundled with the RTF version of the Tower Trainer .40 MkII is very powerful but also much more variable with regard to quality. Many folks own the Tower Hobbies .46 and love it, many others report various tuning and reliability problems with them. If you have a friend or instructor to help you who is good with engine tuning, it might be worth trying one.

As far as the Nexstar, or most other trainers, being able to land if the engine stops, virtually all trainer aircraft can be landed easily if the engine quits so long as they're at sufficient altitude and not in a weird aerobatic position when the engine shuts off.

When I flew my Nexstar, I joked that I knew it was time to come down and land when the engine stopped running. The Nexstar had a very gentle glide path and was easy to dead stick land. I used to fly my Nexstar out of gas all the time without any real worry of landing without power.

As for flight simulators, there are lots of good choices out there in the $60 to $200 price range. You can buy the ESky USB Flight Sim controller with FMS for $19.99 at http://www.raidentech.com for example, and then go to http://www.rcflightsim.com and download the Clear View flight sim demo and register it for only $39.99. The ESky USB controller is surprisingly good for the price, but the FMS flight sim is pretty rudimentary as a training tool. The ClearView flight sim is a really good simulator and works well with the ESky controller, so you'd have two flight sims and a dedicated sim controller all for $60 or so.

Another good flight sim on the lower end of the price scale is the Easy Fly 3 simulator from Ikarus:

http://www.easyfly3.com

Easy Fly 3 is built on the same physics and graphics engine as the more expensive Aerofly Professional Deluxe flight sim. It's more limited with regard to flying fields and model types, but it's a bargain at $99.99 including the USB Game Commander from the folks at Hobby Lobby:

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/flightsim.htm

As for full-blown, full-featured flight sims, you can select from AFD, RF G4, FS One, Reflex XTR, or Phoenix RC Flight Sim all in the $160 to $200 price range. By all reports each is very good. Most helicopter enthusiasts report a preference for Reflex XTR, so it might be worth seeking out if you plan on learning to fly helicopters in the future. All of the above sims model airplane and glider flight very well and are at least "good" with regard to helicopter flight modelling.

Good luck, and good shopping!

Thanks guys very much for all the input

To be honest as far as flight sumulation goes, I always thought that the radio gear for the plane doubles as the controller for the simulator? I guess this isn't the case?
Also, the simulator for me isn't for fun or anything but just to get used to the controls etc better and hopefully learn how to fly quicker

I wont be buying any time soon though, as it's summer here (40+ deg C) so it's way too hot to go out flying

At this stage though thanks to everyone here I am leaning more towards the Towers trainer, OS46 motor and undecided on the radio gear yet

Thanks again for all the help

You've got no corner on the heat market. 100F+ here last weekend and many parts of the country even more hot. And then there is the humidity.

It's the humidity, it's always over 100 here this time of year, Humidity is only about 6% though so it doesn't feel bad at all. Like fire, it's A dry heat!!!

Folks have differing opinions about using your transmitter to fly your flight simulator. Some folks like the idea of using your actual transmitter to fly the sim because it helps you get more comforatable with your radio system. Others prefer dedicated controllers so they don't wear down their transmitter batteries flying the simulator and then have to wait to fly while they recharge.

Aerofly Professional Deluxe, Reflex XTR, Phoenix RC Flight Sim, and FS One are all available with a transmitter interface cable instead of a USB controller box. You can use your radio on the sim if you want to. I personally like having a dedicated sim controller, but I fly Real Flight G3.5 and the controller box is made from a Futaba 6YF transmitter shell so it's like using a regular radio. Even the $19.99 ESky controller feels like a regular radio without a battery in it.

As for your shopping list, don't restrict your choices too much. You might find some alternative products readily available in Cyprus that haven't been discussed yet. Thunder Tiger glow engines are every bit as good as O.S. Max engines, especially in the .40-size options. Thunder Tiger also has a whole line of excellent trainer ARFs like the Tiger Trainer .40 MkIII, Pegasus .40, and Easy Trainer .40 that are widely distributed worldwide. You might be able to locally source Kyosho or Phoenix Models trainer ARFs that would also be every bit as good as the Hangar 9 or Hobbico ARFs that are popular here in North America.

Again, good luck with your shopping. I hope you keep reading and asking questions so you're completely confident with whatever you decide to purchase once the summer heat tapers off a bit.

i trained on the nexstar. i loved it until i flew another trainer and realized how much of a pig the nexstar really is to fly. too much dihedral, wings are too big, plane could be smaller and lighter like the avistar. i suggest the avistar for a more advanced trainer, or the tower trainer for a cheap but capable first plane.

bruce88123,
It gets to over 115 deg F here, and it's an island less than measures less than 600 miles in length, so humidity is also here!

bigedmustafa,
So I can in fact use my controller on a flight simulator? Do all remotes have this option

I guess I am open to what trainer to get, but I just want a reliable engine (ie, I don't want tuning issues and stalling issues in mid air) and having owned an OS (and heard many things about them) I can fly with confidence knowing the plane is powered by an OS. As far as the trainer goes, I am not over fussed as they are so cheap, and in reality it's a matter of time before I crash it beyong repair so I can always get something different then

There are many RC shops here in Cyprus but they are very overpriced. I do my shopping on the internet but unfortunately with Towerhobbies I get charged an additional 15% tax at customs. Does anyone know any good online hobby shops within the EU?

I agree with everyone here about the Nexstar, especially the wind effect with this plane and many trainers. These wings are designed to give beginners an easier flying plane with more float on landings batter stabilization with the bigger wing span so when theres a lot of wind it gets tossed around like a rag doll. I found it would be hard to pilot in 20km/h winds plus.