Here is my story, I just bought a JR Sport SX600 and it includes everything, servos and charger and instruction,etc only thing I am missing is a plane and engine.
Can someone help me in the direction that I need to go. I go to the club for a meeting and I was told if I got a radio that they would let me train on an old combat plane until I get my own. I am hoping that when they see how I fly that they will tell me if I need a basic trainer or a higher level plane (2nd plane like), I heard that some people can go straight to there, but I will get off of that rabbit trail and ask " What is a good trainer maybe with an engine, if no engine, where to get one cheap?" I will let you know what they think of my flying, and if you are wondering why I am getting 6 channel tx,is because I was givin an old pattern plane, Taurus Plus, and it is hanging in our building wrapped in walmart bags waiting for an engine and radio.

I've put together a list of planes that make good trainers and second planes. All of them on the list are proven planes that are well suited for successfully letting students learn to fly, or advance to a second plane. Check out the list here
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4537845/tm.htm] Looking for a trainer- what's available. (Updated 2-20-2008) [/link]

Hope this helps

Ken

The natural pilot is a myth! No one is born with the intrinsic knowledge of why an airplane may respond in a certain way.

Climb the skills ladder one rung at a time. If you start skipping rungs then congratulations you have just succeded in becoming a crippled pilot with holes in your skills and knowledge that will come back to bite right in the financial hiney later on. You cannot escape that simple truism.

Start with a real trainer and The combat plane is a real bad idea too. Anything else and you only just deluding yourself.

John

I'm guessing you're flying at a JR field.
You have to makesure the TX they're using will allow you to hook up yours.

You can get an avistar becuase it's a trainer but not a flat bottom and will allow you to do more mild aerobatic.

Or just run down to your LHS. They might have $75 ARF trainers. It'll be cheaper ..if you add shipping.
Maybe ask around the club to see if anyone wants to sell you a trainer for $50 or less.
If you hang out around the club long enough you'll meet someone with fleets..which is around 90% of us
They have a combat for a trainer ? That's an indication the guys crash and build all de time.lol

Get a decent engine with surficent power for the taurus so that it won't be under power.
This way you can transfer it from your trainer.

A 6 channel is good start.

The cheapest way to go is not to crash.
The next cheapest thing is to learn how to build and make repairs.
You'll collect tools and know how as you go.

You can get FMS flight simulator for free...you can hook up your JR via the mic with smart pro.
It'll help you with the basics and oriantions and asist you , but no sim is going replace actual safty and landing proceedure.
Try to fly in an oval pattern and keep the model in front of you. It'll take a little while for your brain to catch up.
Turn the airleron stick in the direction the wing is dipping to level the model.

I second the avistar, you can do a lot with it, flies great inverted.

Stick with what RCKen has to say. Flying inverted is the least of your concerns.

I havent seen the combat plane but I assume its not a flying wing or a pizza box, They were gonna let get on a buddy box and see if I really like it, and I can tell you the answer to that YES, I do like the avistar, I don't have the time to look it up, right now I'm at school in auto class suppose to be trying to finish SP2, but I'll look it up when I get home, thanks, I need some more ideas, I'll keep ya posted.

Hmm.. I can attest to both the fun and the durability of the Hangar 9 Arrow. Good trainer I think, and VERY fun to fly once you are soloed!

You can get it ARF for $179 last time I checked. Then an engine can be had fairly cheap, someone in your club probably has a used one you could have for next to nothing.

Good luck, follow your instincts and get to the club. They will train you. Hopefully, they will teach you how NOT to crash.

I know most disagree about a scale plane being used as a trainer, the only thing I see wrong about the J-3 cub is that its a taildragger and bad ground handling, or is there something else that is bad, I bet with a lil taxi pratice I can get around that, I might ask one of the guys if I can taxi one of there old taildraggers up and down the runway just to get a feel for it, I have seen some ARFs like $60, that is just a thought, does anyone know of one being used as a trainer and worked? If I'm right ,the full scale J-3 cub was a trainer in the 40s and 50s

That would be a wonderful idea for you to try, no doubt it would be quite an eye opener for you. However it is very doubtful you would ever find one of the 'guys' with say a 20, 40 or 60 sized cub that would truly allow such an endeaver.

John

What is ya'll thought about the LT-40 and this trainer http://www.modelrectifier.com/search...ew.asp?ID=1359

found it at on the list of trainers at the top of the beginners forum

As a brand new pilot, I can attest to the Tower Trainer 60, 69.5", .60 engine as being a pretty remarkable plane. (although I DID manage to crash it the first time I got any stick time [:@] - but that was partially my fault and partially the instructor with the "buddy box", he did let me get it going a little too fast, a little too low, and WAY too close to the trees at the end of the field.... it all added up to a plane resting comfortably in the top of a 50' pine tree [:@] [:@] [:@] )

BUT before I choked, he was running it through it's paces and that plane was SO amazingly stable that after he trimmed it out (which only took a second or two) he was LITERALLY flying it perfectly level and straight WITH NO HANDS ON THE STICKS!!! That's pretty darned cool and when they advertise it as "stable" they aren't just whistling dixie! And when I DID crash it, the only thing that was really damaged was that it sheared the elevator off. Other than that it was in excellent condition! That says alot about durability to me (and while he was testing it, he pulled off some pretty impressive acrobatics with it as well - alot more than I would have thought possible with a "basic" trainer! so when I get some experience and become a better pilot, I know this plane will let me do some pretty nifty stunts)

And flyX is right, the FMS trainer program is a really neat program to learn with -> not to mention the fact that it's FREE ! I found a place that had a Tx to USB cable to allow me to use my Futaba Tx with the program for $8. I'm spending ALOT of time on FMS before I grab the sticks on the "real" plane again! It's already helped me out just in terms of how the planes react when the wing attitudes are at different pitches. No "simulator" is a perfect substitute for real experience, but why spend $100 on software that is basically the same as FREE software? Right now, I'm not even using my Futaba Tx - I'm using a $10 Thrustmaster Firestorm Analog 2 PC game controller pad with dual thumbsticks (at least until the Futaba USB cable arrives). It works great and I feel like I've already learned alot in just a few days.

It looks just like the avistar, probably flys nearly the same. Good trainer no doubt.

Don't be discouraged from the nay-sayers. It's absolutely conceivable that you can jump to a sport plane or even warbird, provided you have a deep understanding of flight theory and if you're like me, raised by nintendo, you'll likely have the hand eye coordination ready to go.

Get an RC flight sim for your computer, if anything, it will help you understand orientation and give you a vague idea of how a certain model might fly.

I'm gonna check out that sim, that FMS sim, does anyone know where I can get a cheap tx for it. Yeah I believe I got the hand eye coordination, I had the sega, nintindeo, one other one what I played mario bothers, and now me and my bro, sis have ps2, that i rarely play. I was messing with the JR SX600 last night, i had everything hooked up to each other servos and rx and bat, everything out in the floor, i was controling a pretenda plane that I bought, i was checking to see if everything worked and it did. so all I need is a plane a engine and fuel.

I think you can get a "bundle" with FMS + a transmitter controller (not a real Tx but it looks and acts like one)

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXSJR9&P=ML

you can also find similar devices in other places too. I have an old Futaba transmitter with the round buddy-cable port, so I was able to get lucky and find a place that made "buddy cable" plugs with USB ports on one end so I can use my ACTUAL transmitter to practice with. I think you can also find USB "transmitter / controllers" on ebay and a few other places. They tend to run between $20 and $25. The FMS website lists a bunch of links where you can find (or even make!) your own Tx to PC cables.

Here is the FMS homepage:
http://www.flying-model-simulator.com/

you can also do a google search on "FMS models" for more airplanes/heli's and for "FMS landscapes" for new scenery. Be forewarned though, for every 5 models you download, you might get 1 to actually function..... it's annoying, but the models that DO work, work really well. The closest "approximation" I've found to a trainer (in terms of speed, handling, maneuvering, etc...) has been the "lite fokker" plane (it looks kind of a Great Planes "Big Stick 60" and it flies alot like a basic high wing trainer). But until the Tx cable comes in, I'm just using a Thrustmaster Firestorm Dual Analog 2 PC game controller with it (it has 2 "thumb sticks" so it sort of resembles a 2 stick Tx; it looks kind of like a PS2 controller and it works pretty well). The program is really great for getting used to how planes react in the air when it comes to steering and angle-of-attack situations; there are MUCH better programs out there (like G4) with fantastic graphics, but then again, that's a $100 program and a few of the other "heavy hitter" sims can cost 2x to 3x that much. For FREE, FMS is a wonderful program. I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed it and I feel like I've really learned alot from it.

Good evening Ken. Quick question for you, Is there somewhere I can look up how to swap my trainer when I am done training LOL into a biplane? I read on here somewhere where somebody did that. Anyway it sounds cool and I would like to find info on it. I had to swap out engines the OS40LA just would not pull the plane up with outa good head wind. I ended up buying an Evo .46NX BB engine. It should be usable in my next project and after talking to horizon I dont have to worry about breaking it in. I am going to run the cool power fuel it runs cleaner and they guys there said that it was fine to run in this engine with no worries. I appreciate the help yourself and brett haven given me this has been just as much fun as the heli for me. Have a great day. Mike