Hi
I want to buy more servos to have in my box. I have two planes (trainers) - one has S3003 and the other S3004 both futaba -
which one is better and what is the difference?

The 3004 is better since it has ball bearings rather than bushings. otherwise they are comparable. Both are more than good enough for a typical trainer or 40 size sport plane.

what do you recomend for a 60 size airplane like the Alpha 60 by hangar 9?

Hangar 9 only recommends standard servos for the alpha 60. The S3003's will work just fine in that plane. I have Hitec HS-311 servos in my Hangar 9 Twist, those servos are equivalent to S3003's and work just fine and also a dollar cheaper.

Another to consider http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/474103.asp

Yes the Airtronics 94102 is a good servo. I have 8 of them in my (2) 30 sized nitro helicopters. I have them in everything from a 20 sized trainer to 60 sized aerobats. I flew many seasons with them in my Goldberg Super Chipmunk. They have given many years of service. If you want a servo with a little more power, the Cirrus CS-601's are pretty good. I have 5 of them in two different planes. One is a Giles 202 50 sized, the other is a 60 sized low wing trainer. I throw the Giles around pretty hard and these $10.00 servos work well.

http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/440601.asp

If you want even more power, there is the Cirrus 702's. I have (4) waiting to replace the OLD 94012's in one of my helicopters. $17.00 for dula ball bearing and metal gears.

http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/440703.asp



Dru.

the servos you metioned are good up to 60 size bird IMHO. The 3003s can be converted to bearing servos by the way. Just an FYI I guess.

Futaba S3001 are fine. S3151 digitals if you have the scratch. I generally throw a higher torque servo on a .60 size airframe like a Hitec HS-635 or a Futaba S3152 if you're doing digitals. The coreless Futaba S9001 would be a good choice, too. You're not going to be pushing the envelope much with an Alpha 60 so I wouldn't break the bank with performance servos just yet.

I always use 3152s in my planes, but bought JR ST47 ball bearing for my Escapade and will be just fine, I was going to use my 3003s but the JR are like 13$ or so and are BB as the 3003s are not.

Servos don't fail that often. 1 servo in your flight box is more than enough spares...you will eventually need a beefer or faster servo, but that depends on the airplane and the application...like you a few years ago when I strated out I couldn't imagine having all the stuff I do now....I bet I have a hundred servos counting what is in my airplanes....and that isn't all that many

I have a box that I made up, has "servo tray" type of mounting so I can see each and every servo. In that box, I have most Airtronics (of various types from the basic 94102Z up to a couple of coreless/ball bearing high torque), several Futaba's of various types, and, now quite a few, JR/Spektrum servos, all digital ball bearing. Then there are quite a few of the micro servos, mostly Hitec, but some Airtronics and a couple of Futaba's thrown in the mix.

My point is that once you start, you most likely will start to accumulate servos, as well as other components.

But, to your original question, you don't need a high performance servo for your trainer. I've used my Airtronics 94102Z basic servos on several aircraft when I started out, including on my Tiger 60, which was my second plane. It did just fine, and is the equal to the Futaba S3003, and probably pretty much the same cost. I started out with Airtronics because the Airtronics RD6000 was my first radio and those servos were included (four of them) in the radio package.

CGr.