So what is a good all around plane? I'm not talking trainers here; I want a plane that is a good all around flyer. Stable, yet aerobatic, forgiving, yet nimble and agile. I want something that is just plain fun, nothing too extreme though. I'm not ready to go 3D yet. I was thinking maybe an Easysport, or a Stik. I like the German theme on the sticks. Whatta' ya'll think?

A Big Stik.

Everyone needs to own at least one Stik.

A bit ugly, but you'll never tire of it.

A fun-fly staple too.

Can't hardly beat a 4-star-40 for just yanking around. [8D]

A medium weight 3D profile plane. Like a Morris Hobbies SuDoKoi.

These planes fly circles around any of the conventional, mediocre stuff because they weigh less with the same amount of wing area. If you see a pilot putting on an impressive demo with a plane like this, don't give all the credit to the pilot, the plane itself is expanding the pilot's capabilities.

With the CG and control throws set conservatively these planes are super easy to fly and land. Stall speed's about 1/2 of what a typical "stick" with similar equipment is. Recovery from flame outs and pilot goofs are much quicker and use up less altitude. In fact, you might find yourself enjoying the flights so much that running the tank dry while in a hover becomes S.O.P. before loading the plane and heading home....

I vote for the Modeltech Magic.
You can fly it almost any where with or without a runway.
Tight loops, fast roll and fly it as slow as you want.

Tim

I have a Simitar Wiseguy that I fly and I love it. It is very easy to fly yet will fly all the aerobatics that you would ever want. It will even fly, completely stable, at a walking speed and never drops a wing or stalls. It can fly at speeds over 100kph and can fly in high winds.
It's easy to build from a plan and there are some kits available.

Wedge

Great Planes Big Stick for sure!

Sig Something Extra. These other guys are just crazy

Everyones got their favorites

The stick is the classic knock around plane. Flies easy, fixes easy, build easy too if you're so inclined.

You will Enjoy the Stik,


Bob

The GP Easy Sport, The GP Big Stik, the H9 Ultra Stik, the Sig Four Star, and the Goldberg Tiger are all great choices for this type of "Sunday flyer."

I would add to the list the GP Escapade and H9 Pulse XT. They are great planes and the Excapade costs only $99!

Bruce

Ding! Ding! We have a winner! The Somethin' Extra is the best all around plane I've ever ever built!

The Pulse was excellent when I had it. I really like my Hanger 9 Showtime 50. Very Aerobatic, and floats on landing with the right CG. Ive never flown any of the stik planes.

Love my Big Stik 60.

Big stick/ultra stick, Ultra Sport, Super Sportster, Pulse, etc are all good planes to have fun with. Check out the sport flying forum!

Landeck mentioned the Escapade. I checked that plane out and i really love how it's 90% pre-built. I'm someone that would rather spend my time flying that building. i watched the video that GP put together and thats the king of plane that I'm looking for. I've always liked to Four Star 40. A couple of guys at my field have them. Of course theres the Stik. That Sig Something Extra was a nice looking plane too. Now I'm confused again. You know I could just buy all of them.

Any of the models mentioned will probably do what you want. Most are available as ARF so they're mostly prebuilt. Some take longer to assemble than others but nothing like building a kit.

First, get the one that "looks best" to you. Then get the rest as your budget allows.

GP U-can-do .60...yeah, it's technically a 3d plane, but if you set up some low rates and limit the throws, it's a great flying plane. It was my second plane after a trainer! It lands itself, just cut throttle and guide it in. The best thing is after you get bored with that, you can increase the throws ( or if you're like me, you have a transmitter that will do low, high, and 3d rates on one switch) and it'll do anything you are capable of and then some.

The GP Giant Big Stick hands down. They are the most honest and forgiving plane I've flown. Have two, one with a Zonah G-38 and one with a CCRC_Pro 26. Love them both. but to honest the 26 powered one gets the most air time.

Stik. Another ARF I can recommend highly is the Kangke/Super Kraft SK-50 with a .46 or .50 size engine. A model without vices.

If you want to try your hand at building a TopFlite Contender 60 is a good, rugged daily-use type plane, too.

There is always the Tower Kaos. Inecpensive, easy to assemble, very aerobatic, lands easy, and a joy to fly.

The Hangar 9 Twist is a great sport/3D flyer. With low rate throws, it's a very easy and fun sport plane to fly. With high rate throws, you can try out some 3D flying. You can land it on a much smaller field than many other sport planes. I've had the Twist 60 and Twist 150, but they make a Twist 40 as well. My Twist 60 is setup with standard servos and a Tower .75 engine. On low rates, it's a blast to fly. Short take-offs with vertical climbout, short harrier-like landings. If you ever want to do serious 3D with it, you'll need high-torque metal gear servos, but for sport flying, standard servos work fine. The Tower .75 is an great, bargain priced engine, with plenty of power.

2 words....Ugly Stick

Super Sportster 40 is a reasonable choose, slightly more aerobatic than a 4 star or Stick, which tend to bore me before it's even 1/2 way out of fuel. The Sportster is limited by it's $150 price tag, so a runner up is airborne-models.com World Models Sky Raider Mach ll. Pre-hinged, mount attached, builds in 4 hours. Landing gear is a little on the weak side, covering sticks like a wet band aid, but it's $89.

The Hangar 9 Super Stick is only $99 compared to Towers price for a Big Stick in the wallet and the Hangar 9 has 5 servos instead of just 4.
http://www.hangar-9.com/Products/Def...ProdID=HAN1700