getting started
 

hello,
i am trying to get into the hobby. can someone give me a website or two where i can find info all about model airplane flying. from beginning to end. i want to know how to build what rx, tx, crystals, glow and all that stuff mean. i also want to know the basics of flying. is there an all inclusive site out there that will give me start to finish instructions and terminologyand installation. and how to fly. thanks in advance for all info. servos transmitters radios glows glow starters all that.
ej

RE: getting started
 

Well your right in the middle of it. No need to go any place else. Take the advice with a grain of salt and don't let it be the "bible". Go with the flow. When you bring up a subject, you'll get many different opinions. During this you will see that many say the same or similar response, so go with that.

All your questins can be answered, just make sure you go to the right forum. Most of the basics has already been covered a thousand times, so go to the appropriate forum and do a search and see what comes up.

RE: getting started
 

Welcome to the hobby. This site is most likely one of the best, if not the best for the information you are seeking. If you don't have a local hobby shop and club, with the usual Guru, then the web can be your friend. Tower hobbie has allot of basic information and some of the best prices for great planes, OS engines, futaba and so on. Horizon Hobby has the JR, Saito and competition for Tower. The best way to start is to find a local instructor, club, and hobby shop. Many newbies are welcomed at the local site, where they can soak up the climate and attitude of the club members. Not all clubs are for everybody. There are as many types of clubs, as there are styles and flying types. Most clubs tend to be of the sport flying type, but 3D is rapidly growing. Most of us that are into 3D are forming our own clubs and fields for that type of flying, often mixed with IMAC competitive aerobatics. You may want to stay away from that type of field, because competitive flyers are concentrating on maximizing flight time and practice to hone that competitive edge at the Imac specific field. But catch these guys out of season, at a sport field, and you will find them to be very informative and helpful, when they are kicked back, just trying to have fun. Most sport fields and clubs belong to AMA, for insurance reasons, and to provide a basis for membership rules and regulations to make the hobby as safe as possible. For that reason, you may have to join AMA to be allowed to start flight instruction at one of those fields. As far as getting the technical information, you may want to read through selective posts on this site. you could also look at tower. Tower allows web surfers to download instruction manuals on many of their great planes kits and other equipment. You can learn allot by reading the manuals for ARF's as well as kits. Hope this helps you get started. if you have any specific question either post them here, or shoot me an email at [email protected], but be patient, this old fart still works nearly 60 hours a week and tries to spend another 40 enjoying RC airplanes of all types.

RE: getting started
 

why not just ask it here? you will get all the stuff you need to know.
as for building, just get a trainer and follow the instructions. they are quite clear. a .40 size trainer is a common good start. the .40 in front reffers to the reccomended engine size. .40 is .4 cubic inches. usually people will put a .46 engine in a .40 trainer becuase they cost about the same, fuel draw is almost identical and they have a bit more power just in case. they are also usually the same size, jsut a different bore. the manual will cover radio setup, engine installation and center of gravity adjustments.

to start off with, you need a radio and a receiver. If budget is limited i would reccomend a futaba 6ex, (a computer radio) and a receiver. however, any 4-6 channel radio, either computer or not will work. i suggest computer becuase you wont grow out of it so quick and it will work for many planes. you can get what are called transmitter packages that come with a transmitter, a receiver, a battery and servos along with a charger. www.towerhobbies stocks a lot of them, in all different kinds of radios. when you buy a radio online, they will ask you what channel you want it on. a lower odd # channel is your best bet, becuase usually the even numbers and the #s around 30-60 are the busiest. there is no advantage that any one channel will have over another, just a different frequency. crystals are little thingers that go in your tx and rx that determine the channel you opperate on. the crystal in your tx can not be changed legally without sending it in to the company to do it properly. the receivers are devided into two groups. high band and low band. low band is channels 11-32, high band is channels 33-60. so a low band receiver will work for any channel between 11 and 32 without complaints. as in transmitters, the crystal determines the channel you opperate on, so the channel # of the receiver crystal must match the channel # in your transmitter in order to work. DO NOT GET THIS MIXED UP WITH THE # OF CHANNELS THE RX HAS. there is the channel #, (the channel the rx operates on) and there are the # of channels (which are the number of open slots for servos and things).

some radios will not work with certain other brands. on fm, hitec and futaba are interchangable between eachother in the sense that a hitec tx will work with a futaba rx and vice versa. JR and airtronics are the same way, except you can not use airtronics or jr equipment with futaba/hitec equipment. on pcm, you must use the same brand for the tx and rx. these are not rules, these are just different "shifts" in the signal so they are not compatible.

as far as engines go, for a first engine, save yourself the trouble and dont buy an abc engine, and stay away from the brand mds. get a good ball bearing two stroke. something along the lines of the OS .46 ax or fx, or the thunder tiger pro .46 will fit any .40 size trainer like a glove, and they are so smooth and easy to opperate. Because this post is already getting a bit lengthy, i would suggest posing questions about how to start/tune/opperate your engine in the engines forum, although i could answer that in a seperte post.

as far as learning to fly, go to the local club and find an instructor. before you buy a radio, check with the local club to see what brand is the most common and what brand the instructors use so you can make it easy on yourself when you learn to fly. they should explain all about the "buddy box" system and how to use it. assuming you get a good instructor, crashing it will not be a concern. in a buddy box system, the student uses their transmitter which is hooked up by a cord to the master tx, (the instructor's tx) and the master has control until he pushes a button, and then you have control, but when he lets go, he has control again so if you start getting into a bad situation, he can take over and save you from a would be crash.
as far as questions/terminology, jsut ask it here. this place is your best source IMHO.
hope this helps a bit,
cheers,
clam