You should be able to adjust the sensitivity of the controls with the newer radio's...Yes??

yes, it's call exponential or something close to that, but not all radios have expo on all the conttrol surfaces

CGCINC Your complete refusal to get qualified help that is even close by will result in your failure to realize the dream and great potential monetary loss.

This is actually quite common and it keeps fellows like me who enjoy rebuilding wreaks going. The Right Stuff is a complete farce and a joke no one, even you are born with the knowledge or skills that you will need to know to succeed without mentorship. Seek out that mentor or face failing, I hope your credit card limit is high enough to cover all the losses.

Just another opinion

John

Do yourself and those at the field a favor and learn with a trainer! You won't have good success trying to learn on an aerobatic plane such as the cap. Part of this hobby is safe flying, grabbing a tiger by the tail isn't safe for others or yourself! GET A TRAINER, LEARN TO FLY IT WELL AND THEN MOVE ON TO SOMETHING MORE ADVANCED!

I have been an instructor for many years (over 20) and I have taught many people without charging a dime.

A guy brought a "NON TRAINER" type plane out to learn how to fly. I inspected it determined it was safe to fly and took it up and trimmed it out. I landed it and taxied it up.

The guy was determined to learn on THAT airplane. I told him "I tell you what if you can fly 1 circuit without me taking it back I will train you on it. If not we will pull out the trainer" I had one with me. He agreed.

I took it off got it up a safe distance going upwind, flat and level. I gave him control he went about one hundred feet rolled it on its back and headed straight down and froze. I took it, saved it and brought it around and landed it without saying a word to him.

He was shaken and rattled. I walked over and pulled the trainer out of my car and starting setting it up.

When he recovered. He walked over to me and said. "I should have listened to you. There is no way I could have learned on that airplane." He cleaned it up and put it away. I worked with on the trainer for three flights after that then he left. The next time he came out he had a trainer. He is now flying that other airplane for over two years now. So sure you can learn on any airplane IF you have quick reflexes and huge wallet. But 99% of students will freeze if something goes wrong on their first flight. I know I have watched it happen more times than I can count.

You came on here asking for advice. Quit trying to reinvent the wheel. If you want to go big then start with a big trainer. Get a sixty sized like the hobbico 60 it is an excellent trainer and can also be used to learn basic aerobatics just by increasing the throws.

The PTS in the name stands for "prefect trainer system" , in this model it is a complete joke. I have trained a good number of people on this plane. Most of them get a "real trainer" befor they soloed because of the drawbacks of this model. Some guys did manage to solo on this plane but I would say it is about one in five. This plane has poor visiblity so the enemy can not shoot it down. Not the best idea for a trainer. It is a short fuse, low wing and a tail dragger, again not the best for an easy to learn on trainer.

My "perfect trainer" would be the one rcer88 mentioned. The Hobbico Hobbistar 60 you had a link to it in a reply from rgm762.

Some points I would add are:
stay away from three channel stuff or you will pick up bad habits that you will have to break.
Take good care of your stuff and you can sell it once you have learned.
Get a computer simulator after you have the basics and ground school down.
Do not fly with your thumbs, learn thumb and forefinger.

Hope to see you at the field.

Be careful when you say NOONE. Ifly scale warbirds and never had 1 second of instruction from a person. The simulator taught me enough to fly (I don't know if this is considered mentorship).........and no, I haven't lostawarbirdyet because of a mistake on the sticks. The only one lost was one that I was doing a maiden on for someone else who sacrificed reinforcement for weight in key areas of the plane without telling me. Will I loose one????YESIT'SINEVETIBALE. Did I start by flying warbirds???NO.I started with a Hobbytown 40 trainer and a Futaba Skysport 4 and worked my way up literally by myself..........Istill have my original trainer and it's in perfect flying condition......never been totaled......has had some repair from some rough landings. If you don't have an instructor, you can learn how to fly on a good simulator. I do now fly with a few guys and we share advice with each other all the time. As per thinking you HAVE to have a buddy box intructor................that's up to you. Get some good time in on a good simulator. And buy a well known trainer once you are comfortable with all scenarios on the simulator. Find a safe place to fly,be careful and have fun.

I say agine, and of course it is my opinion and remains so, No One is born with the knowledge and skill that will be neccessary to fly any RC airplane. The Right Stuff is a destructive myth. That skill and knowledge must be acquired somewhere and mentorship is the very best way to acquire that knowledge and skill. Notice I did not use the evil word instructor.

Absolutely that mentorship certainly can come in many forms and thats wonderful but this gentleman has a field and probable help only one mile away which he has stated he only has done drive bys seeing no one and using that as an excuse not to network and seek real hands on help.

His obvious outright avoidance of good advice is most likely to result in the the unfortunate ending that most are predicting.

Then it will be time for him to move on to something else.

John

Wow, you are really negative and also putting words in my mouth. I never said "I REFUSE to get help". And how am I avoiding good advice? Did you not read All my posts? I went from buying the biggest and coolest plane to now starting with a Trainer and taking it slow. I'm sure we all have seen some amazing thing that sparked our interest and we just had to have it...... For me that is Acrobatic Planes. They make it look so easy...

I just got hit with the bug about 3 days ago...... I Always research, ask questionsand learn before I do any of my hobbies. That is what I'm doing now.

Agreed. I guess he is in a circumstance to possibly get the best of both worlds. If he can get the advice (with a little effort) he probably should.

Thanks for this helpful info!

if your interest is within aerobatics, I would suggest you look into a Stik type model. It flies better than a trainer and with the rates turned low, I think you could easily learn on it with the help of an instructor. When you're ready, turn the rates to full and it's a completely different model, much more capable than any trainer.

Stiks are cheap, tough, easy to build and repair, and they'll glide forever if you have a dead stick situation. It's one of those planes that gets home sick if you don't fly her. Plus they handle wind great. I personally like the great planes version with the red covering and maltese crosses. Hangar 9 recently released an updated 40 size version too that can be built with trike or taildragger configs and quad flaps. You can outfit either with glow or electric power.

As to your situation of getting started, I went with a Nexstar to Stik. Then got a warbird foamy from Parkzone and a small electric heli to buzz around the house when I get the itch for RC without packing up for the club field. I just now ordered my first 3D aerobatic from ExtremeFlightrc. But there's no way I would have started with that to learn.

I bashed on a super cub lp for month with out instruction before getting my 1st trainer. I had help the first day on a buddy box. Glad I did, would have turned my trainer back into "kit" form if I hadn't. People fly EVERYWHERE, get help, you will get up and running much faster. There is another 2 1/2 cents worth, at this rate, I won't be able to buy lunch! Lol

2X on the hobbistar 60 RTF

Maybe... But I think this statement should read:

If you don't have an instructor, you should at the very least get a simulator. I learned to fly on a simulator, so you might be able to as well.

Never assume that because one person was successful doing something a certain way, that everyone will be successful doing the same thing.

In your case I wouldn't hesatate at all, I would at least get the CAP with a good DA 50. By driving cars you have already developed all the skills of control you really need, there isn't all that much difference between a car and a plane. It's just left and right, up and down. It will probably take you a couple of days to get good enough to start 3-D flying if you don't have an instructor but it will still be a lot of fun getting to that stage. I know if I had a pocket full of money that's what I would do. Who wants to fly one of those stupid looking training planes anyway when you can have a really nice plane. Go for it!!! While your looking at planes take a look at one of the Sukhoi 29s, that was a trainer that Sukhoi built so it would probably be even easier to fly then the CAP?

Thanks for the laugh GB!! LOL

Grey Beards plan sounds spot on.. just let us know when you maiden!!

But seriously... as mentioned by others, I would have to strongly recommend the Hobby Zone Super Cub. You'll get everything you need to fly without breaking the bank. Its a great beginner plane that repairs easy as well. If you stick it in the dirt or get frustrated with it because the planes aren't like you thought, you don't have your mortgage piled into it. Sink all that money into a Cap, the internals and radio gear.. you're likely going to be disappointed. Take it from someone like you... when I learned guitar I started with electric, photography started with a high end system.. on and on.. so I understand where you're coming from. I did NOT do that with RC planes thank goodness.. as I look back. It took me, personally, about 4 years to get comfortable enough with the hobby and flying before I moved to large scale gas. And I had plenty of HELP along the way. Last.. if you like the cub.. then spend on a good flight simulator. I prefer Phoenix. I don't like the 'game' aspect of the some of the others. Anyway.. it will be a HUGE help and greatly accelerate your learning... as most all posting here.. just sayin...

Yes. Too sensitive and you crash because you over-controlled. Not sensitive enough and you crash because the model could not be righted or corrected in time. When you're starting out you need a model that is forgiving because if you give the wrong control input to an aerobatic and sensitive model - like a warbird or a CAP - it is a heap of smoldering balsa before you can counter-react. Most pilots realize you can stall a model at slow speed, but you can stall many at high speed as well. Lots of WWII pilots died because they only had 100 hours in a plane and tried to do something outside the operating envelope. Pull up sharp and the wing stalls and you follow your bomb in.

I would not recommend electric to anyone but it is simpler as the learning curve for engine break-in, tuning and fuel flow concerns are absent. Though, last two times I was at the field the same pilot could not fly because of problems with his electrics (vibration on one pulled the motor loose and an electric motor that would not "throttle up" without stopping on another). As far as flying - the dinky electrics get away with crashes because they have little mass. When you're six, weigh 50 pounds and fall and skin your knee it hurts. When you're 46 and 150 lbs overweight the same fall will break your leg, hip and wrist as you try and catch yourself.

Just called a local store... Pheonix is $179. I went online and it says $129 so would there be a difference between the two?
They also have RealFlight brand......

Thats just the local store making a profit, shouldnt be any difference beyond possibly a version number. One thing to watch for I forgot about. Phoenix(?) did not come with a transmitter, they assume you have your own as I recall. (Not had to upgrade in a few years so not sure whats in the box with current version). Realflight I recall does come with a transmitter for the simulator... so to backtrack, you may want to check out realflight until you get up to speed... its what I started with.. but for real.. whichever will go a long way to improving skills, such as landing and manuvering when the plane is flying toward you. Hope this help!

I asked about the transmitter with the Phoenix program and he said, yes, it comes with it. That might be the extra cost!?!

I'm leaning towards an Alpha 40 for a trainer.....

I wasn't joking, I see guys come out with planes way over there heads quite often and love watching the outcome. Then again some people that really want to learn read things like Mikes getting started then read the other sticky with Mike and Ken telling of the different types and makes of trainers. These people even go as far as finding an instructor with a buddy box then learn to fly basic then get into the next plane and learn a little stunt flying. Some of them sometimes even get a third plane that is something like a 40 or 60 size stunt plane like an Extra or Cap and discover the differences between planes. I have seen that happen too. What's the fun in that though?? Go get the big one and soar with the eagles!!! I will support you!!

I bought the hanger 9 p51d too for my first plane YIKES!!!! I got it off the ground then set her down and shes been hanging on my celling now for a year.. get a foamy YAK or something enxpensive you will crash PERIOD and get a flight simulator

So here will be my first plane.<a target="_blank" href="http://www.nitroplanes.com/93a182-skytrainer-rtf-24g-v3-blue.html">
Sky Trainer 182</a>

I bought this one because I will be able to fly it at my house being electric, its foam and I like the looks of it. Also sounds like, from the description, that it will be a good starter plane.
I am also going this weekend to buy the Phoenix simulator software.
I plan on buying my 27%CAP 232plane this winter, spending countless hours and money on itand then crashing it violently next spring!!

Learn to fly on what you want to fly with later...in other words you want a Cap so learn on a glow powered airplane with 4 channels and only 4 channels.....flaps and retracts will only distract you......If you choose the wrong airplane you might have to un learn what you just learned by adding ailerons......
I don't like the PTS's the sorta looks like a Mustang or the Raptor....I've taught with them but there are better trainers out there...If I were your instructor the first thing we'd do is change the 3 blade prop for a 2 blade, then learn with flaps up.
A high wing trainer is slow and forgiving, which is what you want.....
Remember learn to walk before you run