I saw someone on youtube and they were flying a Magpie AP and had a camera on the front. I became very interested in RC planes and I am considering purchasing one. Can anyone help me find some good begginer planes that are in the 100-200 dollar range? I also want to have a camera on it for some aerial photography but I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of a good quality but not to expensive wireless camera so I can fly based on the picture on my computer or TV but also fly just by seeing the plane. I was considering the Magpie AP but I couldn't find it any ware online and it seemed like a good plane based on the videos I saw and it seemed like a good plane for the dropping mechanism he had so he could drop little parachute men etc just to play around with. Here is a link to his video about the dropping mechanism if you are interested....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bipBtwizXQ


Thanks,
Phil

first you would need to learn how to fly, you should find a flying field and someone to help you learn. The Tower Hobby 40 combo is a good started, but by the time you get everthing to learn to fly you will have about $300 into it and learning to fly ,will be about one to three months of learning.

good luck.

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

Are most planes gas powered or what ever fuel they use? Which is more efficient electric or gas? It seems like a lot of the planes on that list are gas powered because they have a "fuel" tank. Also,

Are gas powered planes generally louder than electric? Will you be able to hear it once it gets to a high enough?

Hello Steelyphil,


Most of the engines used in this hobby are glow engines, although most of the large scale airplanes use gasoline engines.


Glow engines use glow fuel and have glow plugs to ignite the fuel air mixture. A true gasoline engine is just like the engine in your car and uses a spark plug and requires a source of ignition.


You can find a [link=http://www.hooked-on-rc-airplanes.com/rc-gas-engines.html] more in depth comparison of gas engines vs glow here here.[/link]


But ya, you can hear both gas or glow engines no matter how high they are.


Sometimes its hard to hear a four stroke engine at idle at high altitude.

Engines are by far louder than electric motors.

Electric motors with gearboxes are noisier than electric motors directly coupled to the propeller such as a brushless outrunner motor. Brushless outrunners are very quiet.


As far as efficiency? Gas motors are more fuel efficient than Nitro engines.

And electic motors are far more efficient in general than IC engines.

As far as money goes, you won't need to spend any money on fuel with eletrric. But you do have to fork out the doe for the batteries, charger, etc.


Unless you're in love with the whole concept of an IC engines powering your airplane, electric is probably the way to go. Since brushless motors and Li-Po batteries came out over the past few years, electric airplanes have become just as powerful as glow planes.


I happen to be one of those people in love with the concept of an REAL IC engine so I would rather have a glow engine. But if I were to choose between electric and glow purely based on convenience electric is much easier to take care of. No engine to tune, no glow plugs to go bad, no oily mess, no buying fuel...


So I guess its a matter of taste more or less. I think both glow and electric planes have pretty much equal pros and cons. That is just my opinion.

Hope this helps,


Matt

I hope this helps...

Are they any high quality electric planes that are ready to fly or almost ready to fly? In the post that lists good trainer planes they all seem to be gas.

see what you think
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXJKU3**&P=0

Well, for my $0.02 worth www.parkflyer.com has a plane called a Firefly Command that has ALOT of "safety" measure included in it (like ACT - Anti Crash Technology - basically it scans the sky and the ground and when it sees too much "ground" it self corrects to keep you from smashing nose first into the dirt). It's about $85 and comes with electric engine, battery, controller, receiver, etc... It's not the greatest plane in the world, it's a very, very beginner plane (think about a plane a 12 year old can fly) <to other board members: please don't bash my stones on this, the Firefly IS a great "learner" plane and it can at least get you in the air for under $100.... sure it's almost a "toy plane" but it sounds like steelyphil has ZERO experience with ANYTHING that flies so this might be the right one, for a little while>

If you're REALLY into it, you MAY want to check out the parkflyer T-28 Trojan. It's an electric RTF (ready to fly). It's just about the BEST plane I've seen in a long time for the money ($250-$275). Several people on this board have one and last time I was at my local club, there were FOUR in the air chasing eachother around at the same time -and some of the pilots had only been flying for about a month!) It flies like a "foamie" dream and if you have a "catastrophic crash" replacement parts won't kill your wallet (ex: new wing? $35)

As for the "camera" idea, you may want to consider a powered glider. They've got ALOT of lift. I've got a friend with one, mounted with a small, cheap digital camera (no SD card; it requires a USB connector to see the pics and a "channel" to activate the trigger on the camera; plus a little clever ingenuity [&:] ) It works pretty well, even for a jerry-rig.

Tower Hobbies also sells/makes "sky cams" of all types, but you can spend ALOT of cash on these. They even make one that puts you in the "cockpit" in live video ( the FMV camera). I think it's the cat's whiskers personally and I'd LOVE to have one but it's $500.... also, it only works on a 72mhz band Tx/Rx; 2.4Ghz jams the camera up and won't work with it.

If this is REALLY your goal, the FIRST thing you should do is learn to fly. Get some air time, whether it be with a cheap Firefly or a T28. Then move to another plane like a big high-wing trainer (there's a sticky at the top of the post listing some really good ones). A slow trainer would be IDEAL for shooting pics from (you don't need fast shutter times).

I'd DEFINITELY go with nitro planes LiPo batteries are expensive as heck and your flight time is pretty limited (under 15 minutes tops; charging time is also 1-2 hrs... I'm not knocking electrics, I think they're cool as heck; the T28 is an electric and it's an AWESOME plane! but I'd still buy an extra battery for it - they're about $50-$60 ea....). Nitro planes are pretty much the "norm" for trainers for beginners; they're fairly easy to operate, cheap to operate (fuel is about $16/gallon and a gallon of fuel should last you 1-2 months of "reasonable" flying - a small tank can keep a plane in the air for a WHILE!) , and, the best part, they're cheap to fix when you crash them and you WILL crash, just get used to that fact (old saying: "There are 2 types of pilots: those who have crashed and those who haven't crashed YET ) Trust me, on my virgin flight I made a PERFECT 3 point landing in the top of a 60' pine tree [:@]. The Tower 40 mentioned above is a dang good plane that's easy(well, EASIER) to fly.... (incidentally, the "tree top" plane was a Tower 60 [8D] )

Take some time with a simulator also. Download FMS RC simulator, it's free and if you have a joystick with thumb 2 sticks (like a PS2 stick; for the PC get one like the Thrustmaster Firestorm Dual Analog) you can get used to your thumbs doing what your brain wants the plane to do. In FMS, try out the "litefokker" or the "ghpv"(?) for a "reasonable" simulation of "trainer" planes that are simple to fly. Trust me, it's EASY to get completely back-***wards when your plane is at a weird angle to you. Digitally, this is fine. In the REAL world, this is going to cost you some money..... If you pull a total vertical dive into the earth it's called a "Lawn Dart" and you can pretty much set fire to it where it sticks.....)

If you REALLY want to learn to fly, go to the AMA (american model association) website and find a club near you. These people will help you out BIG TIME. And, chances are, they'll also be the NICEST and MOST GENEROUS people you will ever meet in your life. There's some odd "code" among RC pilots where everybody is friendly and "Practice Random Acts of Kindness" isn't just a bumper sticker. In fact, if you show up without a plane, 9 times out of 10 SOMEONE will let you fly their trainer just to show you what it's like. If you're REALLY lucky (like me) you can pick up a "crashed" plane for free, fix it (trust me, it's not that hard usually....), and voila' you have a plane! (you may have to buy an engine, servos, and a 4 channel transmitter/reciever, but if you pick up the Tx/Rx used, you can get them for ~$125 tops; same with engine and servos. SO FIND A CLUB!!!!!!! it's the BEST way to learn not only how to fly, but how to fly WELL and also fix what you WILL screw up ) You'll get better pix if you can fly nice, straight, and LEVEL

Let me just give you one last word on beginning to fly: the FIRST time you get your thumbs on the sticks and YOU are controlling the plane, you will get the BIGGEST RUSH in the world! It's more addictive than an IV Starbucks I TREASURE that memory!

You are about to embark on a heck of an adventure that is more complex (and more FUN) than you can POSSIBLY imagine at this point! Good luck and Good Flying ! Welcome to the World of RC Flying! You WON'T regret it! (your wallet might....)

(((( Parkzone also makes ALOT of electric RTF (ready to fly, just fyi: ARF = Almost Ready to Fly - means you got to put some of it together before flying) Parkzone USUALLY includes everything from the engine to the battery to the transmitter and reciever for a VERY reasonable price; and they make some pretty darned good planes!)

I was thinking that it would be better to get something on the cheaper side that is a electric and easier to handle just to get used to and play around with for a few months just so I can get good a flying and then get something more expensive. I wouldn't want to get a 300 dollar plane and crash it into the ground, a foam electric one could probably take more than a plastic gas one.

look at the Firefly Commander from parkzone. It's an $85 plane (with engine, battery, transmitter + receiver) and it's got the Anti-Crash Technology (ACT) that corrects the plane if it goes into an unexpected dive. Later on when you get some experience, you can disable this feature. It's also got a nose that's kinda like basketball rubber so if you DO whack it into something solid (trees, cars, ...people....) you won't bust it to peices. If you don't want to spend $85, they make a smaller model for $59, but for the extra $25 you get a MUCH bigger plane that's alot more stable and has a few more features.

It's a cheap way to get airtime and have a little fun at the same time. (heck, I'm not embarassed to say that I have ALOT of fun with my Mini XPV -$30 from WalMart! it's a twin engine foamie that has no elevators, no rudders, and no ailerons, just a pair of twisties that rotate faster to rise, slower to fall, and one rotates more than the other to turn; I have a BLAST with this thing in my front yard )

This is TRULY a "Beginner" plane!

I can't seem to find the plane you were talking about the firefly command (er) on the websites you provided. Are you sure that's what its called?

go to www.spadtothebone.com and you can build a trainer under $100 click on free plans and then click on trainers and you than have about 5 planes you can build SPAD Simple Plastic Airplane Design

Welcome to the hobby

DITTO

I go glow fule because whil in the long run electric is probably slightly cheaper, I cant afford the up front cost of a good Electric and battery set up.. (That and I already have the Glow plane LOL!)

Couple of things first,
There are two levels of RC Fliers now more than ever: 1.) the original variety of guys who use Glow, Gas or high powered electric and belog to the AMA and most likely a club. 2.) the new variety of folks who buy a foam-electric plane and self teach in the neighborhood parks.

Now, both can co-exist, but you might need to decide which variety you are in before you move forward in the hobby. The first generally will dedicate more than the $300 to the sport, because even though that will get you a great combo from tower hobbies and get you into the air, most likely, if you put together that ARF and fire up the engine, you will probably just put it into the ground on first takeoff. Also, if you live in an urban environment, and you try to fire this engine up at your local park, you will probably have a few cops helping you collect your plane debris and promptly issue you a ticket. That is why the cost for this hobby is more than the combo, because if you want to learn to fly a glow sized plane, it makes most sense to join the AMA ($19 for the first 3 months as a trial, then $58 per year), and also join a local club (where the cost varies - check out the AMA website).

The great thing about the cllubs is that they generally have great dedicated training people who would be more than happy to show you the ropes on a buddy-box. This will teach you orientation (A huge thing when first starting) and eye-hand coordination. Expect to pay about $100-200 to be part of the AMA and a club.

With option 2.) you might find a good time to go out and fly the foamie, but in general, they are far less powerful than a glow trainer, and don't handle wind very well (maybe good between 0-5 mph depending on the plane). You can find eplanes that have more power, but then you are up against cost and the cost of carrying multiple battery packs to keep flying. And, unless you have multiple field chanrgers or channels ont he charger, then once your packs are dead, you will have to wait until the first pack that went onto the chager to be done to start flying again. With glow you refuel and go (also, flights generally last longer with glow too). Also, with plane 1., you may buy 1 transmitter at the beginning, and the field gear to go with the plane, and next time, you can just buy the plane and some servos, and maybe an engine for the next plane and you are now set, whereas with the foamie Tx/Rx, you wouldn't want to put that into a glow plane.

The cost of glow is a big consideration, and I do like flying both, but i like the ability to fly almost any day of the week without worrying too much about wind conditions with the glow planes.

Good luck with the descision, let us know what you choose,
Curtis

Even though the glow engine ones are trainers I still think it would be a bad choice for me to have an expensive powerful plane when I have zero experience handling it. The thing I'm most scared of is when the plane turns around I wont be able to control it if its flying at me because the command swill be backwards and It will most likely crash. If I get a foam electric and can get the basic feel of it and then later when I can fly in circles and land and do all that I can get something I wont crash in the first 20 seconds of flying.

Precisely the reason that working in club evironment with a mentor instructor in general offers the least expensive and trouble free path to the airmanship you dream about. As so carefully outlined in beau's excellent and well thought out post above.

The majority of our new members these days seem to come from failed park flyers flying alone who have gone throught six, seven or more airplanes without ever having acquired any more skills or knowledge than when they started. Of these folks many convert to glow and never look back with a smaller number staying with electric and thats great to.

John

It's the Firefly Commander 2 (sorry for the confusion). This is JUST about the most "idiot proof" plane you can get. It's even got a hard rubbber nose so if you whack something it just bounces off instead of CRUNCH!

http://www.hobbyzone.com/rc_planes_h...ommander_2.htm

it's only $85 and RTF (ready to fly it has the engine, servos, props, receivers, batteries, and even the transmitter). For $85, you REALLY can't beat that. PLUS the ACT (anti-crash technology) that will pull you out of an accidental dive automatically and save your plane. (you can deactivate this when you get some airtime under your wings so you don't have to think of it as an "it's going to give me bad habits" device; think of it as an "automatic buddy-box with an invisible instructor [&:] ). They DO make a cheaper one for $59, but it's smaller, more susceptible to wind conditions, and it doesn't have as much flight time or "add ons". For $25 a bigger more stable plane is worth it.

Good LUCK !!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm going to go to a local club/field and just watch people fly their planes and ask a couple questions and maybe someone will show me the basics of the controls and help figure out what I want to do. I went on the AMA website and found two clubs that were about 30 minutes give or take away from me. I'll try it out this weekend and let you know how it goes...

Now your talking

that's a GREAT plan! Like I said, you'll meet some of the COOLEST, FRIENDLIEST, and MOST GENEROUS people you'll ever meet anywhere when you visit a club. I guarantee, if you make an effort an introduce yourself to a few people, you'll find out pretty quickly about the "brotherhood of pilots" that I was talking about. Listen to the "veterans" - the ones that have been flying for 10, 20, even 40 years! They know what they're talking about and their patience in questions from newcomers will re-enforce your faith in "'Random Acts of Kindness"!

Don't be suprised if someone gets a trainer up in the air and hands you the controller! People LOVE to help the new guys learn and the LOOK on somoene's face when they FIRST fly is absolutely priceless It's what makes me want to learn everything I can and practice every chance I get, so that, ONE DAY, I can be "that" person who "shepards" the new pilots along and instructs them into becoming a good pilot.

Just DON'T get ahead of yourself! You're going to see some WICKED COOL planes and you're gonna want one Remember, you have to crawl before you can walk (or fly ) so no matter what you decide on, make sure it's stable, a little slow, easy to handle, easy to fly, "self correcting", and easy to setup and fix. Listen to people's advice and use your head. You've got 2 ears and one mouth, use them "proportionally"

>>>>> i'm going to tell on myself and how naive' I was when I 1st started getting into this: I THOUGHT that the FIRST plane I was going to buy was a P40 Warhawk - I've had a thing for the P40 since I was a kid. Now I know that "warbirds" are NOT for beginners (even the Hanger 9 "PTS" planes -progressive trainer system- they're SUPPOSED to let beginners fly planes like P51's and F15's with the help of some "extra" hardware that makes them handle a little slower and gentler; but they're still not for "raw" beginners and I've even seen some "intermediate" pilots BURN IN with a SHATTERING BANG!). If I HAD gotten that P40 I wanted, I would have smashed the ground like a meteor inside 5 minutes and carried the plane home in a bag , been heartbroken, out of a couple of hundred bucks, and probably would have never wanted to fly again. Thankfully, someone with more experience and wisdom than I had told me the truth about them and explained their flight characteristics and how that was the WORST thing I could do! I'm glad I wasn't hard-headed enough to ignore them because now I've got 3 great trainers, a little airtime, and I love flying more and more EVERY DAY and I LEARN EVERYTHING I CAN at every opportunity so "I" can be the best pilot I can be. ONE DAY I'll have that P40 (and a Big Stik [8D] too) but it WILL NOT be before I'm ready and before I know enough to handle them properly. Think about it this way: You get your driver's license on a Monday and buy a Z06 Corvette on Tuesday > how long do you think you're gonna last without becoming a statistic? [:@]

Enjoy your visit to the local club! You're going to have a BALL !!!!! I really envy you because you're going to be amazed, baffled, confused, and LOVE IT! I wouldn't be suprised if you get cheek cramps from "perma-grin" while watching a really good pilot fly a beautiful plane into some mind-blowing maneuvers

some advice from a newbie, i just started learning to fly in june, first off listen to spacemonkey, there's alot of FREE and WISE expereince out there and if you listen and follow it you'll be fine, plus from myexperience try to find an instructor that uses a "buddy box" makes learning a lot easier