I'm a first time hobbyist and wanted to know what would be a good started plane? should i start off with an electric one just to get use to and learn how to fly ? I found a p-51d rtf from hobby lobby for a $150 and it comes with the remote control? so any ideas would be greatly appreciated....Thanks for your time..Terry

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4537845/tm.htm

Click the above link and start reading.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7316610/tm.htm

Then read here. Maybe not All the answers, but it will fill in a lot of blanks for you.

good luck!

Welcome to RCUniverse Read all you can on here.

My grand son-in-law used a flight simulator as well as the cheaper electrics. Then I had him on the buddy box with me on my planes. He now flies what ever he wants

Warm welcomes from the midwest!

The links provided by bingo field are excellent. I usually advise against having students learn with electrics, unless they plan to stick with only electrics.

Most students (and me) can't afford vast quantities of Li-Po batteries. Teaching a student that has only one or two batteries is challenging because of the large down-time between flights. Electric students just can't get as many flights in with me before sunset. The shaft on electric motors also isn't as strong as a crankshaft on a glow engine. Occasionally, a student will have a nose-over or "firm" landing in a slightly nose-down attitude and the shaft bends and needs to be replaced. I've never had a student bend a crankshaft on a glow engine.

I learned to fly with an electric. As Nathan says, it did take me a few additional sessions with my instructor because of battery charging time, but I don't think it took an extreme amount of extra time. I'm kind of glad I did start with electric. I have a better understanding of battery packs and the best way to maintain them.

When I moved to glow, I found I had a whole new set of challanges to cope with. My least favorite is cleaning everything up at the end of the day. Man, glow fuel makes a mess! It was nice to take my electric from the runway to the truck without having to spend all the time cleaning up. I could get an extra few flights in before packing up with my electric versus glow.

I fly both now. I admit, I fly the glow more than the electric, but only because I like the smell and sound. You'll find it can be rather addicting. What you fly can also depend on where you fly. Either way, hook up with a club and have an instructor available before you choose. You don't want to make a decision to purchase a plane and find that it really isn't what you need to begin with. The wealth of knowledge that an instructor will provide will do nothing more than increase the return of your investment, as well as increase the fun.

Oh, by the way, either way you go it isn't cheap! Don't expect it to be. You would be misleading yourself if you intended on doing it correctly, and for any length of time.

Welcome to this hobby and most of all..........have fun with it.

Paul

You cannot go wrong with and Easy Star RTF or a Super Cub RTF. Both come with radio batteries motor and everything you need to go fly. Both are easy to set up with the Cub being a little more ready to go. Both of them are very easy to fly and very easy to repair. Easy Star tends to need a lot fewer repairs when you have a hard landing. the Cub tends to break props, bent landing gear, and broken spars. With the Easy Star the prop and motor are in the rear where they are protected from crashes. If you break something beyond repair, replacement parts are widely available for both these models. Both models can be easily upgraded for more performance and/or flight time

Easy Star
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFXV0&P=0

Super Cub
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=HBZ7100

A. You cant start off with a Mustang
B. HobbyLobby will nickel and dime you to death
C. You have a whole lot of reading to do....Rog

thank you everyone for the warm welcome. I hope to keep looking around and finding out more about rc airplanes and i hope to one day build my own plane. Years ago in my younger days I bought a p51 mustang and started to build it and my cat broke the wing and i just gave up on it, but for some reason i started looking back into rc airplanes and it rekindle a love to fly i don't know what it was but i feel i'm back older and ready to get back into this hobby...thank you everyone for the replies....Terry

If you have Mustang fever, this is the only one you can start out with

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=HAN4425

And a couple years down the road you will wish you didn't have it.

w8ye The PTS Mustang is a great sport plane (I don't recommend it has a primary trainer). Not scale, but at 50 feet away- looks pretty good. I love the ones that I have (currently I have three (one being rebuild to a B model) one with retracts and the third still pretty much stock), especially with a 61 2S up front.

With all the drag devices they send with the plane it is the most docile trainer plane you've ever flown. I wouldn't own one myself but . . . .

I've seen new guys bring them out to the field and the ones I've flown - fly about like a Hobbistar. I also seen them with all the training devices removed and they still appeared to be rather gentle though I never flew a stripped one.

I still perfer the good ole highwing to train someone on. The couple PTS that I have trained folks on, we pulled off the gear doors (major drag producers), put on a two blade prop, but left the flaps as recommended. The take-off and landing speeds were a little higher and a new student learning the take-off was fun, but they did all right. THe PTS has its place, but I think it should be as a 2nd plane IMHO. Like I said, the cleaned up ones are a hoot to fly.

I feel better about the high wing planes too.

I keep an LT40 around with a couple of four channel transmitters for buddy box work

I just donated a Eagle II to my club, but it is only for 1st Flights for perspective students on a buddy box. I had to modify it to a taildragger, but once it's in the air, no difference in flying. It's funny that I just happened to be flying this plane one day when some spectators came out, and I put the son on a buddy box - then he was hooked. They bought a plane, 8 flights later the boy soloed and is now one the best pilots I've seen. I still like the Kadet, just don't see too many of them in this area.

There are a lot of flying fields within 20 miles of my house and they are as different as day and night as to what you might see in the way of planes used.

Terry, If you want a good cheap RTF trainer look at the Tower Hobbies 40 MKII (towerhobbies.com). A lot of guys here have learned on it, it's cheap, and a great flier/trainer. I think it's right around 280 for the package deal. If you want to pick and choose your own parts (and a better radio to start off with and maybe and get more use out of than the RTF radio) the trainer is only $79 all by itself. It's about as cheap as they come...and a good plane...it looks suspiciously like a Hobbico....hmmmmmm

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCAS2&P=0
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXCXF4**&P=0
Instruction manual http://www.towerhobbies.com/products/pdf/towa21mnl.pdf

Boy do i have alot to learn...lol. If i want to run electric or gas even.... so many decisions.. I have been on this site non-stop since I registered... my wife is getting lonely... she'll get over it

I agree with all who've posted so far in this thread. A Warbird is not a good plane to learn on, however I did own a PTS Mustang from Hanger 9 and it is a very good 2nd or 3rd plane. Please start out on a high wing trainer... it will teach you to fly without breaking your bank.

Get a computer flight simulator, it will teach you the basics of R/C flight and it will give you a idea what it's like making you more prepared by the time you get your trainer at the field. One nice thing about simulators is I can crash and it doesn't cost me a penny.

It's only a suggestion, but I would have someone who knows what they are doing to show up at the field with you and possibly hook up a trainer cord making your radio a slave, so if you loose control your friend can take over. I joined a club because I wanted to learn how to fly, and I didn't know anyone to help me get started.

Hope I helped.

My first trainer... taken 6 years ago. It was a 25 year old Golberg Eagle that was a kit (RIP). I bought it off my instructor for a $100.

The first electric 3 channel trainer that flew very well was a Art Tech Wing Dragon. ( In the pic with my Goldberg Eagle) As you see in the pic, I customized it by tearing out the stock equipment and replaced it with some good Hitec Servo's and a speed controller. I cut out the wind screen, made the plane look more like a Ultralight.

It gets worse. Wait until you start building them in the basement. ;-)

Trying to start with a P-51 is setting yourself up for failure. Though now-a-days there are "Pseudo 51" models that have nothing in common with a full-scale P-51 airframe except the lower oil cooler intake hump and the invasion bars. There is a good reason that trainers are usually "dirty" airframes with high , flat-bottommed wings and small control surfaces. Things happen slower and it gives you time to think and make a mistake or two.

You got that right Charlie, even though I fly Scale ( Mostly Warbirds ) I still like to take a glow trainer with me at times, just so I can fly more relaxed giving my nerves a break. [X(]

Not saying its the right way, but I live out in the middle of nowhere and no clubs or instructors to help me along, The two best tools starting out in my opinion (besides a club and an instructor) Was the hobbyzone super-cub and a flight sim, Fly that cub until you can do anything you want and not crash..............then fly it some more till you are bored to death with it, then go fly it in the wind until It nearly blows away, Then get yourself a glow trainer, all the while practiceing on your sim. I just started flying my glow trainer yesterday, so far It wont fit in a plastic bag, but I felt comfortable flying it from the start, felt like I have been flying it for along time, My fear is I will crash it because I feel too comfortable with it and it will reach up and bite me!!!! IF you have a club nearby, dont hesitate, give them a call and get flying!

Congratulations on flying glow on your own