I used a good old used clothes iron from 77-86 on all my planes. Because of it's size, I learned the very valuable stratagy of covering sub parts before assembly, and the result was cleaner covering jobs than most at the field. In 86 I went to basic training, and one of the items I got there was a very small travel iron for less than $5 at the BX. After basic, that's all I ever used. The handle was right next to the work and very steady, not only that, it unlocked and folded into the iron...a very slick feature for getting into tight spaces. Finally on my feet and making ends meet in the early 90's I could put more money into my hobby and I got the "real thing"...a Monocote covering iron. I hated it, awkward, long handled, heavy, and fat. After a couple airplanes I gave it away in favor of the small travel iron...light, flat, and steady. I've seen them at Wal-Mart.

I don't know where your interests lie, but you may be interested in checking out the SPAD topic here at RCU (or the link in my sig). Those guys (me included) are building airplanes out of sign board and gutterpipe for very cheap and having a blast. The funfly guys have really picked up on this. These planes are finding their nitche in the hobby for turning fresh thumbs into second nature thumbs for very little time, money, and emotional debt involved. Then you can move on to a sweet airplane you have a lot of time and TLC into, and have the reactions and confidance to fly it!

Tattoo,

That's a great idea. Where do you normally get the sign boards. Are they a specific material or just whatever you can get?

It's called Coroplast here in the states, and goes by a lot of different names overseas like Correx and Coroflute. It looks like cardboard, only it's plastic...and you see it everywhere and don't even know it. Here's some examples:
http://members.cox.net/deantuinstra/Signs/Signs.html

It can also be purchased from a sign shop or on-line distributer in 4' x 8' sheets for @ $10/sheet

There is a LOT more info here:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/TipsTr.../tip_index.htm

Some guys fly these exclusively, some guys use these for beaters to get losened up for their beautiful Balsa planes, some guys beat them to a pulp learning funfly moves so they wont trash a beautiful FunFly bird, and some guys are really getting good at making Coroplanes look good! Some guys love em, some guys hate em...but the bottom line...is this is an awesome hobby and we're having one heck of a lot of fun!

I jumped right from a trainer to the 4*60.This is truly an awesome flying plane, that is extremely user friendly, and also very aerobatic that will make any begginer look like an expert.

Here is a picture of my Four Star with the canopy trimmed, the turtledeck sheated new wheel pants and a Saito 100 in the nose.

When completed, it was two ounces tail heavy , so I put a two ounce flywheel in back of the prop nut, so now not only is it balanced just right, I also get a awesome idle,the engine can go down to almost 1600 rpm without it loading or quitting, truly sounds like a well tuned Harley.

Pami,

That's a nice one. That was a kit?

No Charlie, this is a ARF

Hi i am new as well and got my second plane bout 2-3 months back .It was after my trainer as well. The first thing everyone advises is not to get a scale model for a second plane.A sport low wing or mid wing would be the best.Scale planes have different characteristics and a new timer would not be too familiar with their stall rates etc.....
BUT THAT IS UNLESS YOU ARE 98% sure(well no one is 100% sure of anything!!) of wanting to get that 'particular dream plane' you have been itching to get your hands on.I staraight went for a CAP 232 size 40 by Kyosho.Well you see i had never flown a low wing or even a dragger for a matter of fact ever before!! Other flyers thought it was going to be a 'KAMIKAZE' on the first flight.Well i didint do the maiden flight and gave it to a senior flyer. Then i took over and to my surprise it wasnt too bad. Well it always needed speed and thats about it.The only prob was landing.I could never get to do a perfect landing for a few flights.A few times the landing gear made of aluminium i think had gone 'flat' 180'degrees because of hard landings.Well i can fly it well now Touch Wood and it is true that everything needs experience.So always ask for help to your seniors because for sure(this is 100%!!) they would know something more than you.
So go get the plane you have always had your eyes on if you are sure you can handle it or if you are not too sure then go get a sports plane or even something like U CAN DO 3D or FLIP 3D. These type of planes are quit easy to fly and can be flown at very low speeds.Take care man and make the best choice.

those 3d planes can fly like a trainer. they are light, plank wings and feathers. the only reason they are 3d is because of the size of thier control surfaces. if your trainer were light and had huge control surfaces, it would fly like that too.