JW0311

Have been flying a Nextstar for about a year now. Still consider myself a newbee as i have yet to master the landing phase of flight. After crashing this aircraft a few times and rebuilding it, somthing strange has happend. I have fallen in love with rebuilding or building this airplane. Working with the wood, covering, electronics and such is just really thrilling for me. So is it time to build one? If so, any suggestions on were to start? Is there a novice friendly kit out there? Kind of afraid that i'm going to enjoy building them more than I am flying. Anyone else find them self in this spot or is it just me?

Thanks guys.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Are you learning on your own? I mean, do you have an instructor helping you? If not, then I would really consider getting one to help. You will "solo" much sooner, which includes landing, of course. Your commens about the crashes hint that you may be trying this on your own. I would suggest that you wait until you are able to take off, fly, then land successfully every time you fly, not occasionally.

I would guess your next choice would be up to you, either kit or ARF.. depending on your building skills. It's never to late to learn to build vs. an ARF, but if you want to get up quickly, then an ARF is the way to go.

CGr

oldvet70

My Feedback: (10)

Kind of afraid that i'm going to enjoy building them more than I am flying. Anyone else find them self in this spot or is it just me?

Thanks guys.

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I have a friend who is 91 who still builds. He flies very little anymore and would tell you he has always enjoyed building more than flying. He has built in excess of 250 planes. If you want a good kit to build that is a good second plane get a SIG Mid Star. Very straight forward construction, great instructions and easy to fly.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I have a friend who is 91 who still builds. He flies very little anymore and would tell you he has always enjoyed building more than flying. He has built in excess of 250 planes. If you want a good kit to build that is a good second plane get a SIG Mid Star. Very straight forward construction, great instructions and easy to fly.
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Yep, only reason I learned to fly was so I could build. I'm in a building funk right now but trying to get myself out of it. Today I spent 7 hours teaching someone to build. I made a mistake but taught him to think around things and got it fixed. The plane we are building is the SIG 4* 60 and a very good learning tool. Another one ifs the Super Sportster. The SS is a little harder to build but a better stunt plane when finished.This 4* is going together with no mods at all, bone stock!!
I hope teaching someone will help get me out of my building funk!!! It just isn't like me at all, I always loved building. I have a Bridy Dirty Birdy on the bench of my own too and after that I will be cutting my own kit for the Goldberg Extra 300, I have the templates. Then I need to scratch build one more Sukhoi 29 from MAN plans. Don't mind my ramble, I'm trying to get myself back in the mood and out of this stupid funk!!

N241MZ

if you really like to build a model from a box of wood that is great. I am not a great fan of ARF's they do not teach you anything about building a plane and the skills to build an airplane,
there are not many kits out there anymore just ARF's, A good kit is the sig astrohog, or the goldberg supersporster, both are easy to build. the astrohog would be the better plane for you since it is a great flyer. then you can move up to the topflight kits you want scale, but those are 6 month projects

Insanemoondoggie

Since you really want to get into building and your ready for your second plane ,the4 Star is an easy build and a great second plane . The build is straight forward with out a lot of sheeting and carving to do and fairly easy to cover.. Once you get your first build and second plane mastered, you'll know what type of flying style you prefer and can build a 3rd plane tosuite your preference.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Oh I don't know, if you skip the part about the shear webs the 4* can be a pain in the hinderpoo. [:@] Kinda hard to stress on someone how important following the instructions are when you forget something like that!! I caught it and got it fixed but even after building a garage full of these planes you can still make a mistake!!

Herb Calvin

I my self don't care for ARF's. Last one from China. A piece of crap.[>:]

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

In answering the original question directly, yes, there are many folks in this hobby who enjoy building more than flying. There is no stigma attached to it.

JW0311

Thanks guys for all the help.

txaggie08

I'd say you have the build and go bug.


You asked for advice on a relativley nice building kit, how big are you looking for? There's always the four star series, the 120 ids a great builder.

I built a fun little plane once, I took a seniorita and built myself a low wing trainer.

I've been looking at the AMR Eclipse 50 heavily, and it's a very similar quality and design to the four star series building wise, and by all accounts is a brilliant flier for even a second or third aircraft.

raydar

Im new to flying as well and still not passed my bronze although I can fly (badly) and I have found that I also love to build as much as fly.
I have a lt40 and a somethin extra kit built and they are superior in build to most arfs. I also have a arf as a second plane as it allowed me to have a spare plane flight ready quickly and I will surely have more arfs as I am not anti arf.
Building is not the cheap option here in the uk but to watch a box of wood turn into a aircraft then go fly it adds alot more depth to this hobby for me and will in turn keep me entertained for longer.
A hobby is for wasting away spare hours doing something you enjoy, I enjoy flying but when the weathers crap its nice to have something on the building board.
I have a sig (my third sig kit) astro hog bipeon the build board just now and as per usual with a sig kit the balsa is amazing quality, I have a great planes skybolt and a goldberg ultimate waiting to be built and although look like good kits the wood is not sig quality, a sig kit would be a great first kit.
I almost cant finnish the hog fast enough so I can get started on my next plane, dont know what one to do first.

Sandmann_AU

I have two sorts of planes - ARFs that I buy just coz I want to fly them (like, tomorrow!), and kits that I buy because I want to build them. For the kits the actual flight is just proof of my building skills, though these planes rapidly become my favourites.

First up you should be aware that building a kit is ALWAYS going to cost significantly more than buying an ARF, in many cases it can be 2-3 times as much by the time you finish. This is partly due to "economies of scale"... ie: a factory buys glue by the gallon, while you buy it by the ounce... the same goes for wheels, control horns, etc. Also when you're building you tend to be much more "picky" about what you put in the planes... you'll end up wanting those really flashy scale wheels that look just right instead of some cheapie foam ones. Kits almost always have more wood in them and are built stronger, but usually at the cost of weight. Ultimately you'll have the satisfaction of having a plane that no-one else has and knowing it was built right (or that it wasn't and you've hidden your errors!). It also teaches you a lot more about how to repair damaged models than you'll ever want to know. Suddenly repairing that shattered wing isn't impossible, it's an interesting challenge... and fitting flaps to that plane that came without them but really wants them is within your reach. If you want to fly that plane soon though, buy an ARF. I've got a Corsair that's taken me about a year to get to the "almost ready to cover" stage.

As for beginner friendly kits, I started with the Great Planes Perfect Trainer 40 kit. It's really designed as a first build and the instructions give you lots of basic building advice that is missing from more advanced kits where it's assumed you've already got a few builds under your belt. With it's slab sides there's minimal carving & shaping required. The Piper J-3 cubs are also a good starter kit for the same reasons but will let you get into something a little more "scale". They also come in 3 sizes to suit .20, .40, and .60 size engines. If you're feeling a bit more ambitious you could go for a GP RV4, or one of the Goldberg Tigers. I believe the Tigers come with details on how to modify them to be tail-draggers which would make a nice "next step" from your trainer.

Augie11

Why would you worry about enjoying building more than flying? I think Sandman had a couple of great points and suggestions.
When I first started in R/C some 15 years ago, I 'took the plunge' with a GP PT-40 ARF. There was a lot to learn about engines, electronics etc. But when I took it out the first time with an instructor I was simply thrilled that it got off the ground. Anticipating that R/C planes have a limited (and uncertain) lifespan, I bought a PT-40 kit. That kit taught me an awful lot and, although I did solo on the ARF, when the inevitable pilot error struck, the kit was just about ready to go. Took all the components from the ARF, got them installed and took up the kit. It flew so much better I couldn't believe it. That led to a .40 size GP Cub and from there it's history. I've built several nice TopFlite warbirds, Sig Astro-hogs and bipes, some BUSA kits (just finished their D-VIII), several Flair kits and a few birds from plans. I'm a decent pilot but no 3-D. Doesn't interest me. But if you find you enjoy building you'll really enjoy bringing out a new, unique bird every few months because there aren't too many out there these days. Yes, I still slap together an ARF once in a while because I WANT to. The H-9 Hellcat is one of my favorites and I fly her with a little more abandon than say my Flair Puppeteer. But so what?

A fellow at the field once asked me how much time I spent building vs. flying. I think I told him about 80% of my time was building. In re-thinking that, it's more like 90+%. Six months of shop time for maybe 100 eight or 10 minute flites on an airframe? Just might be! The answer, at least for me, is to do both kits/plans built and an ARF now and then. Even though I get out to the field maybe 100 days per year there are a LOT of hours in those other 265 days . Sometimes, I might just put in 20 minutes in an evening. But there is a sense of accomplishment, progress- even if it's slow. I've passed the point in my life where life is a 'race'.

Whatever you decide, enjoy it! About 3 years ago, I took my old GP Cub which has been on floats for 8 years and spent about 2 months building a Midwest canoe kit for it. Building that canoe was a blast and strapping it onto the struts of the Cub really adds to the realism. In fact our club does a display once a year at a museum called Wings Over the Rockies and when I ask the guys if I should bring the Eindecker or the AT-6 (I'm proud of both) they all say 'Bring out the Cub with the canoe!'. Go figure. And as the folks pass by during the day I hear 'Hey Dad, look at that canoe'. Makes me smile.

Best of luck!

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

JW, if you go into the kit building forum you can pull up almost any kit build you could think of. Just do a search and I bet you will find what you are looking for. That way you can see if the builders have run into any problems or made some mods to make the kit better of just different. It's nice to know in advance what type of things you may run into.

OzMo

My Feedback: (3)

Real MODELERS are builders.
I like ARFs occasionally as well. You have gotten a good bit of good advise so far. You Might consider a mix. Get a cheap ^bay arf UGLY STICK and go through it well. (They do NEED to gone over well) Sticks are super simple and fly great. Free plans for the original Ugly Stick and many other versions are always around. It has to be one of THE EASIEST scratch builds anywhere IMHO.
using the trainer parts for your next plane is possible as well. Parts from a 40 size trainer (motor mounts, Landing gear, wheels even control rods and horns can be recycled to another 40ish sized plane. INPSECT things like control horns WELL first. Motor and radio too of course. You could cut all the wood for a scratch stick in one night then you basically have a kit.

JW0311

Thanks again guys. Still pondering what to do. Love the war birds. Giant scale i think would be fun. So many options and so little money. Whats a 42 year old kid to do? Weather was so so today and the only thing i could get in the air was my super cub. Love that little plane. Thank you again for all the help and thank you Gray. I will look into the building forum.