Which plane?!
 

Hey guys I had a Super Cub and Super Cub Micro in the past and got pretty good at flying them at the park (I know longer have these planes). I did not like the Micro because the wind blew it everywhere. I am thinking about getting another RC plane in the coming months and wanted your guys suggestions. I am interested in both nitro and electric, but realize that electric may be more appropriate for park flying. I know several years ago a lot of people were recommending the Parkzone T28. I don't want to get something over my head, but I would like something that I can continue to learn and improve my skills on. Open budget at this point, but cheaper the better I suppose.

Still have the 3 channel Hobbyzone controller from my SuperCub, DC Car charger.

Thanks.

No suggestions?

Go with the t-28, if you could land the super cub consistently. If you are in a park situation you want to keep your planes to electric, in most places glow planes are illegal because of a noise ordinance.

The T-28 is more neutral handling than the park flyer Cubs are, but as long as you pay attention and fly the plane yourself instead of waiting for it to fly itself you'll be fine. The Eflite mini ultra stick is a great choice for a second plane too. It's excellent in the wind and can be as mild or as wild as you want it to be.
Forget about using that RTF controller with either though. If you plan to stay in the hobby, a Spektrum DX6i controller is a good investment. It gives you some customizing features that the free controllers don't, and will store the trim and travel settings for multiple airplanes. It is compatible with any of the "BNF" planes as well as allowing you to use Spektrum receivers when you need to.

Yea I figured itd be best to just get a controller. Just don't want to get too deep and spend tons of cash in this stuff. There are a ton of planes on Horizon Hobby...just not sure what to get.

Here is a list of planes that look interesting to me:

E-flite Apprentice
Carbon Z Yak 54
T28
Super Cub (even though I had one before)

There are tons on there...Still consider myself a beginner-novice flyer. I think I could handle the T-28 though. It looks like the T-28 is a really fast plane and I am more interested in something that can just "cruise" as well too.

Once you get used to a mid or low wing plane you will fly that more than a high wing, I bring out my high wing planes occasionally just to putz around the field, most of the time it's my aerobatic or warbirds for most days. Oh and I fly electrics, glow and gas...

And a 6i is a good idea, it's a full range computer radio that you can use on any type of plane and helicopters.

I have the T28 and can verify it is a great flyer. And also to back that up, it is a very common plane in our club. We live in a semi rural development, and I fly mine off of the street in front of our house. Don't anyone take that as a recommendation. We have the room right now, but a few more houses in the right place will end it. And finally remember, if the plane seems to fast for you, it can be throttled back without any adverse affects.

The Mini Ultra Stick is on Horizon as well. It will be perfect for what you are wanting in a plane. Of the ones you mentioned, the Apprentice is a trainer, so if you want something you can let go of the sticks and have it self-correct that will work. The Yak is a serious aerobatic plane which you're probably not ready for. The T28 is nice as we've said, and you probably can answer for yourself if you want another Cub. But the stick is one of the easiest flying sport plane designs ever made, and has been the step up plane for no telling how many RC pilots who were ready to work on learning aerobatic maneuvers and improving their flying precision.

I am afraid the Mini Ultra Stick would be affected by any wind since it is small. I am leaning more towards the T-28.

It is really hard to recommend a plane to somebody that you don't know .I would find somebody at my club to help me and if you don't have a club I would find one . You haven't said what you have for radio equipment , maybe you should be looking at something that is compatible . The little electric park flyers are great planes , many are easy to fly fairly cheap . One that comes to mind is the Flyzone Beaver RTF . You get a lot of plane for the money and its fairly easy to fly .. You get everything .You even get a set of floats. I don't know if you need everything ? One nice thing about electrics is that they are quiet .

This is an extremely popular choice in our area for those who choose to start flying with electric rather than glow. It is an excellent training airplane and a smooth flyer. I have had numerous new folks with this one in the last couple of years. It handles wind quite well it has to at our field!

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LWC208&P=ML

John

The Sensi is a great trainer, it was my second trainer, but it is way too big for a park flyer.

If the Sensei is too big for the OP's park of choice then the T-28 is as well.

John

The Mini Ultra Stick is better than the T28 at handling wind. I've flown one and was very impressed with it. The T28 is easy flying too though if a scale warbird is what you want.

The T-28 is 44" Ws and the sensi is 58"ws. True that the t-28 is a little large for parks but not as bad as a Sensi.

I never said the Sensei was smaller but it is in fact a better trainer and easier for most new flyers to handle and yes I have trained folks on both airplanes. I stand by what I posted above. If the Sensei is too large for any given park then so is the T-28.

John

Kind of new to flying but i would recomend the t28 ultra micro it fights the wind the best of the UM's and is a cheap plane to learn 4 channel. Ive nose dived one at full speed learning and it still flys great. And correct me if im wrong but doesnt 3 channel have right stick rudder? Then going to right stick ailerons could be fatal. thats just one guys opinion but if my first four channel was a t28 brushless id need alot of parts. good luck whatever your choice

I have the T28 micro; great fun and it does survive beginner landings well. However, the OP started out saying he had a Super Cub and a Super Micro Cub, but didn't like the micro as the wind blew it around a bit. So, I'll assume that while the T-28 Micro might be better than the Super Micro Cub, there's still some need to handle a bit more wind.


The original premise of the larger T-28 sounds reasonable. If it's flight characteristics are similar to the smaller one, it may be faster but still very controllable. The reviews of the Archer also sound like the right direction. I have an Ares 370, and it handles moderate wind pretty well, docile but not too docile, and the flight times are surprisingly long.

A step up in size from an Ares would be the Sensei or Apprentice; the Apprentice is starting to get a bit big for a park. I've seen that one fly and it's an impressive model.

The problem for this requirements is not that there are no/not many choices; there are actually too many. I am working on solving that by buying as many as I can fit in my house!

[QUOTE=torelentless; correct me if im wrong but doesnt 3 channel have right stick rudder? Then going to right stick ailerons could be fatal. thats just one guys opinion but if my first four channel was a t28 brushless id need alot of parts. good luck whatever your choice[/QUOTE]

Actually you are wrong. The rudder will function in which ever receiver port you choose to plug the rudder servo into. About the only radio systems that may not allow this is the toy grade stuff.

For many years it has been SOP with airplanes that do not have ailerons when used with four or more channel radios to plug the rudder servo to the aileron channel. Now some also for many years even choose to when flying an airplane without rudder with a modern computer radio (almost all are these days) will plug the rudder servo to the rudder channel but also program a rudder/aileron mix and therefore use either or both sticks.

John

All true but i think they said they had a 3 channel hobbyzone controler and i dont think they even have a left stick

So what is your point? you are still wrong and your implication that the simple act of going from a single stick radio to a two stick radio is is going to be 'fatal is simply absurd and furthermore you do many new folks a great disfavor who would listen to someone who is arguing just for the sake of arguing.

John

Not trying to argue just saying learning airlerons on a ultra micro wouldn't be as "fatal" a cost to crash. I only have 20 hrs in the air but im glad i started micro. havent had to buy one part with many crashes.

I am really interested in this plane:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...nology-EFL3100

What do you guys think of this plane? It has everything I need to fly included as well. I am a little worried the T-28 may be a bit much for me to handle? Also I like how big this plane is (it is very similar to my old Super Cub). I feel like this plane would handle the wind well.

cc268 that is an excellent choice and far better than the T-28 for someone new however that would in my opinion be the second choice . The first choice would be this one:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCKWL&P=ML

It is slightly less expensive, the additional batteries are slightly less expensive, Most of our folks get along a little better with this airplane. I have trained folks with both but much prefer the Sensei.

John

Interesting...I can get the Apprentice at a hobby shop here in town for $290...I will have to call about the Sensei.

I know based on these videos it looks like the Apprentice or Sensei are the way to go for someone like me.

Indeed CC either airplane will do the job and the two rivals are very good choices for many folks. Heck you did not note what part of Arizona you are in but Yall ever get up north here in Kingman I could make sure you get some stick time in both and we use only cordless buddy systems. Actually would be glad to get you some stick time on Senior Cadet 80 inch with small glow power .35AX.

The Sensei for electric and the Senior Cadet for glow remains our most popular and successful trainers especially in use with cordless buddy systems. Actually I just let two loose last weedend on floats one using a Senior Cadet and the other a LT-40 Cadet, both with .55AX.

John

I would listen to John . He has many years of experience both flying and teaching new pilots . He knows what he is talking about .

I would suggest that you might want to try the Parkzone Visionaire. I have one and it is very easy to fly, has stabilization that helps with the wind, is ultra manuverable if you go to the high rates, but is very gently at the low rates. The plane has enough power to power you out of bad situations and lands at low speeds very well. It is not a beginner plane, but if you want to learn to fly ailerons and think that you might want to try a little 3d someday, the Visionaire is a great choice.

Well I put one of those Apprentice's on hold for me to pick up next weekend in Phoenix! If they have a Sensei when I go to pick up the Apprentice maybe I will change my mind! I go to college up at NAU in Flagstaff so I am not far from you! I actually go coyote hunting in Seligman quite often, not too far from Kingman.

Just watched like a 20 minute video on YouTube from FliteTest on the Apprentice and the SAFE technology looks awesome for someone like me getting back into the rc plane hobby.

The Apprentice is RTF so it comes with a transmitter, see if your Hobby shop will do a deal and upgrade the included DX5e to a DX6i or the new DX6 when it is released.

There is nothing wrong with the DX5e but it has no model memories and is very basic. It will limit you when you progress and buy more aircraft.

A DX6i (or DX6) has more precise sticks, enough features to grow with you. It will cost more initially but will save you money long term.

The better sticks alone will greatly improve your enjoyment flying anything over using a DX5e.

I read the apprentice manual here and page 23 shows you how to set up optional radios so no issue there.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/pdf/EFL3100-Manual_EN.pdf

I can ask...keep in mind I am a college student. To give some background on this...I am actually a Mechanical Engineering student and I am going to be doing the SAE AERO competition for my Senior Capstone Project. For this competition we actually build our own RC plane from the ground up (although we buy an off the shelf electric motor and battery) and compete against other Universities from all around the world. I think this plane will actually help me and my team out when it comes to general prototyping, design, and benchmarking. My mom agreed to buy me a plane to help with this, so how much I can spend is up to her not me!

I totally understand and realize that if I get more into the hobby itself that it will be a good idea to pick up the DX6i. At this point though I think that is stretching the budget.

Thanks for all the help!

if you have any building skills try the gws estarter.

[QUOTE=CC268;11742693Mechanical to be doing the SAE AERO competition for my Senior Capstone Project. [/QUOTE]


Hmm so ya wanna build a weight lifter eh, here is one of my past experiments this airplane empty weight 6.7 pounds engine OS 65AX Payload 8.0 pounds of deadweight sandbags taped above and below the center section.

I once flew a forty sized trainer from our club field the seventy five miles to Seligman. Here is a link to our club website and I meant what I said about having you check out the airplanes and flying them before you buy anything.

John

http://kingmanmodelers.net/

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970993 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970996

That's awesome! This is the first year they went to electric for the competition. Anyways, I have done a lot of research and hours of video watching and I think that Apprentice will be a good trainer plane for me.

I bought the Dx5E for use with a BNF plane; works great. If you are only going to have one plane; there's not a lot of reason to get the Dx6i. I thought I was only going to have the one plane in my fleet that plan didn't last too long!!! Re-binding each time can be done but it's annoying; so I have ordered a Dx6i.

This is what most of the other contributors are alluding; if you stay in it, you'll eventually want something that allows you to store multiple models, and the cost to have both is pretty high compared to the cost of just the higher end unit.

Having said that, I don't think I made a mistake as
1) I can use the DX5e for student box, the DX6i as master, to buddy box my son;
2) We can both fly at the same time when he has progressed
3) The Dx5e can be my back-up in the even the 6 is down for some reason (very unlikely...)


Regards

I would get a dx6 then figure out the plane. VERY few of the micro bnf planes fly well without a little exponential.. I could fly my micro t28 inverted 5" of the ground with a bit of expo. With the stock transmitter it was too docile on low rate and too spastic on high... Get a decent transmitter. Also a trick on the little pos transmitters. Glue on a 1-2 inch extension onto the stick. Longer stick equals more thumb movement for the same control deflection makes it a bit less spastic if you jack up the throws. A scrap of the right sized brass tubing works good....

Thanks for the help guys. Looks forward to trying out the Apprentice.