This doesn't negate my example of the Thunder Tiger Easy Trainer .40 Super Combo - $265.99 delivered and all you need is a bottle of glow fuel to go fly it.

pdm52956 - You're a great example of someone who got started with a nice electric model and who learned on his own initially. There are a lot, lot more pilots out there like Paul, as well.

I'm going to answer the OPs question regarding an opinion of the plane.

IMHO, you get what you pay for. If you examine the plane closely, you will see that it is only two channels - Throttle and Rudder. What that means is that you don't have elevator control. Turns rely on the rudder and the throttle. Attitude relies on the throttle. To increase elevation, you have to add throttle. The plane will only come down as fast as it will glide down. The result is very poor control characteristics. Basically, you only prevent the plane from crashing. It will not be capable of doing any aerobatics, which I'm sure you'll want to do.

Secondly, its probably a 27mhz radio, which is a common toy car/truck frequency. Don't fly it anywhere near a park where people are playing with RC Cars/Trucks/Boats. You're likely to get hit and lose the plane.

We've had club members try these types of cheap foam toys at our field, and while they will fly, they're boring. You'll quickly tire of flying it and want to move into a 3 or 4 channel plane anyway. Extend your budget a little and look at the supercubs or the (Hobbico?) Ventura.

Make your first flight attempts without power. Just throw the plane and look at its glide path. Make adjustments to get it to glide. When you have the plane set up to glide for 75-100 feet without any input from the transmitter, you're ready to try powered flight. Go full throttle and toss the plane just like you were when you were gliding. When you're ready to land, kill the throttle, and hopefully you've got the trims set to let the plane glide safely to the ground. Keep the plane up wind as much as possible to reduce the possibility of getting blown away or not making it back to your starting point. These small park flyers are notably underpowered, and will not be able to move upwind in anything more than a gentle breeze.

If you're going it alone, PLEASE stay away from people, cars, buildings, etc. You will crash. If you hit someone or something, you make a bad name for the rest of us.

Good luck,
Brad

should i get the http://www.xheli.com/wadr4rarecor.html falcon 40 from xheli because it has only one rotor and that makes it look cool =D. I'm not sure if it can handle wind though can someone tell me a good description of this plane? I'm willing to spend around 100 on a helicopter that can fly well and it'll be a bonus if someone can help me find one for around 100 that is fashionable and that will actually fly.

I bought my Exceed RC Falcon 40 RTF helicopter from http://www.raidentech.com because I found they had lower shipping costs at the time.

It's a really good value and a solid flyer.

ONLY if you've flown helis before are are fairly good with them.

The Falcon, like most MicroHelis are fairly twitchy and hard to control.

Even for an experienced pilot they can be a hand full.

They are not for beginners... Beginners have a way to go before they get to these.

If you are just starting out get a duel rotor heli ( CX type ), and though you'll also crash that, you'll get SOME flight time out if it.

Reading this thread echoes many conversations I have when new perspective pilots show up at the field. The topic of “how much” is a double edged sword, but played properly is a win-win. The proliferation of cheap electrics allows many to get their feet wet inexpensively. We should embrace these pilots, but show them the “other side” of the hobby. Our club makes an effort with the help of the LHSs to get the pilots that purchased the small inexpensive electrics out to our field. They arrive, generally on a designated evening (Tuesdays for us) and we help them as best we can with setup, tips, etc. We explain that they are welcome to join and fly their plane with proper AMA, club membership, etc. Now here is the twist… we make sure there are turbines or some other “crowd impressive” planes sitting around upon which a few demo flights are flown so the new pilots can see that class of plane fly. We then offer them a buddy box flight on the clubs 40 sized glow trainer so they can experience first hand flying a larger more powerful model. The question always comes up, “how much”, and we make no bones about it, a new 40 sided trainer with a proper and safe ground support gear setup, including AMA and our club membership will run about $500, but we don’t push the issue. Some leave and never come back, but many stick around and join the club. Those that stick around are welcome to learn on their small electric plane, but because of the exposure we provided to the larger and better performing planes, they almost always move quickly toward what most of us would consider a “first” trainer, i.e. a 40 sized electric or glow powered trainer of some sort. We have added many new pilots that way, including what I would call the “regulars” that fly all the time.

go to "real" hobbyshop for your first RC stuff, Avoid the cheap internet junk like, Exceed, redcat, Esky or other brands that you can't get parts or support for them at your LHS. Just my opinion after working at a LHS for years and see these "good Deals" from the internet. They never are and the products are inferior products.

Well, around my area every "decent" club has a few trainers on hand with buddy boxes to get you started. You can use them with an instructor and find out if this is something for you before shelling out your or your parents hard earned money specially in today's economic conditions. So here goes my two cents, find a decent club, let them take you on a test drive with their trainers, if you like it join the club along with the AMA and have the club train you on their planes by the time you learn you should have saved several times your $50 and you can go buy your self a decent RC plane that will stay with you for a while (or at least the electronics will )