RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Hi Guys,

I would like to have your experienced opinion. As P51 Mustang PTS Trainer can be changed into a sport plane for doing different maneuvers by removing NACA Droops, air-brakes and adding additional servo to make flaps working. After successful training on this Mustang, and instructor thinks that I can fly solo and Im ok, there is no risk of plane crash, even with dead stick I can land the plane easily. The question is What should be the second choice after P51 Mustang? it should be 27% Extra 260 ARF of Hangar 9 or any pattern plane, what size, which size engine? Kindly comment

Mody.

BaldEagel, Thanks for your tips again, as soon as I complete my training over my high winger, Im gonna fly my Mustang back again. People liked its flying, and I hope they would love it again to be back at the field.

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

It all accords what you whant to do next, pattern aerobatics, 3D or scale flight, they are different disciplines that to a certain extent need different flight carrateristics, hence different aircraft, I think you could learn the most from a good 3D machine as long as you do not fall into the trap of thinking you can land everything as slow as a 3D, I have a Weston Hype fitted with the West 50 as supplied and I love it, this aircraft comes out when all others are grounded due to wind, it is so manouvreable and fun to fly, in the wind backwards as well, even landing backwards, knocking off the rudder and tailwheel assembly, 5min job to re=attach. I have also knocked off the elevator as the ballance tabs on the front touch the ground on the extream movements I use, I just love this aeoplane, it is just silly and so much fun.

I do use the Hype with reduced throws on a buddy box for some of our chaps just to give them a feel of a highly manouvreable airframe and all have favourable comments.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Hi Mike,

Weston hype seems to be a good plane, it has thick airfoil and wide wings. This plane looks quite stable to me, what plane I want would be more aerobatic sport flying machine like Hangar 9's 330s. Well its for future, infact I just wanted the opinion, and I got reply from you only, I wanted to have views of all people infact which plane to be the second choice, but according to the senior flyers, when u ask them which radio do they prefer? JR or Futaba, answer is choice is yours or preference is yours its upto you, as I think your first radio becomes your permanent choice for future like mine is JR, as Im planning to go for JR XF631 6 channels, with 4 servos, receiver, batteries etc. It seems to be a good radio after JR XF421EX. Anyway once again, after training and after being a good flyer, I would think about my second plane. Thanks again Mike,


Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

Ask 100 people an opinion and you will no doubt get 100 differing answers thats what makes us unique in the animal world and top of the food chain. I'm just off to eat an orange thats been anoying me.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Mike,

You are right, so many people different answers, well Im gonna practise my plane solo second time, and Im sure this time I would do best than before. I would further like to ask, after coming back to flight I m still using the simulator, and once I set all the trims of my radio, the plane on simulator doesnt fly correct, then all over i have to make the changes to fly it once again. Then again at the field I have to change the settings back from sim to real plane. I wanna ask, that should I stop flying the plane on simulator? and start flying and practicing on my own, as I have been doing good, cos, flying solo would gimme more confidence which I need. Anyway I need your suggestions and advices, Im 34 years old, and Im pretty young in RC World :D, I hope u must have had enjoyed your orange :D

Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

Keep practicing with both, has your sim got a centering stick configeration in the setup, if so you need to do this when you come back from flying so that in future it senses the same positions as your real plane. Don't fly solo until your instructor tells you, It's not worth crashing and then having nothing to fly. Unless you rearly are that confident you can? Keep practicing with the simulator.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Mike,

Well, at the field, I need to trim aileron, elevator, rudder cos, in simulator, i change the setting of radio in order to fly it right. I have JR XF421EX 5 channel computerized radio. I wanna ask does it have timer to tell me when the fuel ends? other thing is that I wanna know what is Sub Trim and what is Travel Adjustment in the radio?
Travel adjustment should be + value or -minus value? and similarly about Sub trim. I have its manual but it doesnt describe it better or may be Im unable to understand it, Kindly help me with that. But one thing for sure real plane's and simulator's setting never match.

Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

I am a Futaba man so I do not know the specifics of your radio, timer I'm afraid I do not know.

travel adjustment is a way of reducing the servo travel to enable fine adustment to the aircraft control surfaces total travel.

Sub trim is a way of moving the neutral postion of the servo without affecting the main trims on the transmitter.

Does your radio have model memory? if so just use one for the simulator and another for the plane you fly.

Hope this helps

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

I am new to the scene. I have heard some things about plastic airplanes, i.e. pvc with coroplast covering. Does anyone know anything about them and is their increased sturdiness a good enough reason to buy/build one?

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

asterno

The sturdier the carft can be the better, it needs to be able to take some knocks, you will land it heavily and it needs to bounce back so that you can continue flying.

First order of buisness is to join a club, see if they have a trainer for members and use that, most serious clubs have a dedicated training aircraft for begineer use.

Second order of buisness listen to your instructor on what to buy, make sure they are up to date on what is on offer, old farts like me sometimes do not keep up with modern equipment.

I have personnal experience with the Magister belonging to one of our members (can't remember the manufacturer) this is a foam high wing trainer which bounces and if it does not can be easily repared, I own a Hanger 9 P51 PTS which I use for training and I love it, and so do my pupils, but take the advise of your club instructor first.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Mike,

Well, my radio has 2 model memory, I would try to set one model on my simulator and other on my trainer. Last sunday I did fly my trainer with instructors, I did 3 to 4 flights with the instructor, they made me land the plane but I was little rough, as they went off the field, I did my second solo flight infact that day I did 4 to 5 solo flights, I was good in take off, and improved in landing too. This coming 24,25,26 february, the competition is going to be held, and on 24th its the novice competition and Im going to participate in that. I hope I would do something good, Im confident but infront of many spectators I dont think Im gonna get nervous anyway, Thanks for your tips about travel adjustment and sub trim it did help.

Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

well done on your flights and landings, any landing you can walk away from is a good one, and any landing that has the plane in same amount of pieces that it went up in is a good one also.

Glad I helped on the radio.

Good luck in the competition, let me know how you get on.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Mike,

Thank you very much for your best wishes, well you have been very helpful and encouraging to me. Im going to keep you updated about my first ever competition in Novice category this coming friday, I hope I would do good, as my plane is in one piece so far. Nose gear gave me hard time somehow with support and help of my wife she fixed it, and she took off the plane for the first time, and then she couldnt control and handed me the radio, well, I then controlled it. The field where we fly is close to sea shore thatswhy it has a lot of sand and it gets on engine and all around the plane not much but enough to annoy, I took off the engine and cleaned it with rag, now push rod for throttle giving me hard time to connect back, the guy I purchased the plane with is also participating in the competition, and he is gonna hook up the pushrod of throttle rest my plane is ready for the competition. I would let you know,

Thanks again

Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

Two things to make sure, do not have a metal to metal conection from the throttle arm to the pushrod, it could cause interference and loss of signal make sure you use a plastic connector with a plastic pin.

If your engine is digesting sand it will not last long may be an idea to put a filter on the carberetor, the car boys use these a lot so they are normally available from your Local Hobby Store (LHS).

Let me know the results?

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Thanks Mike,

Im gonna ask the guy who I purchased the plane, infact he makes the planes. As I told that he is gonna participate in the competition and he lives in other city, so, Im gonna get help of him. Yes the long rod which I think called push rod is connected to engine's throttle arm which is also metallic and pushrod at it's end doesnt have any plastic, but it was working fine and I just took out and unable to put it back, anyway, Im sure Im gonna get it fixed or find any other alternate. Im also gonna ask about the filter for the carburetor, as, Im sure it aint gonna get into the engine, if it gets I can't really see it. There is one question I would like to ask, that as my engine is .46 evolution 2C, all the engines have the same glow plugs, i mean the sizes are the same or do they vary from engine to engine?


Thanks

Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

Plug sizes are the same, but you get different tempratures ie Cold, Medium and Hot and according to what compession ratio your engine has and how much Nitro you are using you can vary the Temp to suit, Personnally I use an Enya No3 in all my two strokes, if it will not start and run on an Enya No3 you have big problems, they are supper reliable.

The filter is only a suggestion because of the sand you say is all over the airframe after you land. You would not normally need this.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

They're called SPADs (Simple Plastic Airplane Design), they're easy to build, rugged as heck, and fun to fly. Checkout [link=http://spadtothebone.com]Spad to the Bone[/link], [link=http://spadworld.net]Spad World[/link] and the Spad forum here on RCU.

There are endless varieties (PVC fuselage, coro fuse, symmetrical and flatbottom wings, delta wings, trainers, 3D)

The only rule is Build it according to the directions first, then experiment on your second plane, and tell everyone how it worked.

Brad

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

KEEP AWAY FROM SPAD they are not for beginners, they are terrible things, I gave mine away very boring aircraft. my opinion only.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

SPADs are an interesting conundrum.

Advantages: Cheap, tough, simple, disposible, fun

Disadvantages: heavy(ish), flexible, imprecise geometry, generally poorer fliers than balsa birds


They are like a bad habit -- I know that they often fly like pigs, & I agree that they aren't good primary trainers, but damn they are fun. You dare to do things that you wouldn't attempt with anything else.

I hate seeing a beginner start out on one -- they usually progress much more slowly than students flying standard trainers. BUT -- they can make excellent advanced trainers. The arial warts, lumps, & bad habits are great teaching tools for those folks that can actually fly. Some SPADs are very good trainers for warbirds -- the Peter Miller-designed Blue Movie is a great example, especially when cleaned up a bit & grossly overpowered.

I always have several at my disposal, yet I always get annoyed at how the trim changes with speed & how they shift dimensionally if parked in either the sun or shade -- blunt instruments -- but great fun.

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Hi Mike

Well, thanks again for the tips and advices. I hate spads, I dont like them, I would like to train my wife in future but probably I would buy electric model or little ducted fan plane for her, but thats the future thing. Well, about the fuel I used 80% methanol+20% Castor oil Mixture for my evolution .46 2C engine. Well Now a days in Karachi, we are having very high wind which normally we dont experience in the month of february. About sand I cover it with the rag while not flying, but somehow its flying ok. Unfortunately yesterday I couldn't participate in novice category[&o]due to my wife's sudden illness its due to change of climate from USA to Pakistan, backache and headaches, anyway, that competition meant to me a lot and I could have secured 2nd or 3rd position but that competition was not more than my wife, anyway next year I would see. Novice's competion was scheduled this friday but club members changed the day to saturday without prior notice which is a non-professionalism thing in here. I didnt like it, Well, this sunday I did my solo flight on high wing and plane was drifting on right side so much wind, engine was doing it's best and making it flying very well, Im still unable to set my aileron trims on my plane as well as on radio, but I flew it very well solo, it was my 6 solo flight and landing was superb I was admired by senior flyers as wind was much high and kept changing directions. Well I would keep updating you all and I won't fly SPAD at all, I would fly my P51 Mustang once again and hopefully next plane of mine would be with .90 engine either TT, OS or Magnum with a Pattern plane.Lets hope for the best, Im very happy and glad that under high winds I can control my plane as im very junior in this flying I didnt crash the plane, and despite of rough take off, I controlled it, it gave me much confidence and you guys here are very encouraging which makes my morales high and I feel more confident day by day, as I have only one day of flying which is sunday.

Thanks

Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

Congratulations on your continued success, sorry to hear about your wife, I'm sure it will not last long, my wife always sufferes from altitude sickness when we go skiing but it soon subsides.

Keep the faith and keep flying.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Hi Mike,

Thanks once again and best wishes for my wife, well she is getting better and I would rather say pretty better and my best plane engineer with advices :D. I wish your wife would never have this altitude sickness and she would get better at times coming ahead. Well, I would fly this sunday and i would try to fix my aileron physically as well as on my radio, cos, plane drifts on the right hand side a lot, I hope this coming sunday, we won't experience much wind, which get worse in the afternoon till the evening. Well, Im really doing well, and Im learning a lot of things, and hopefully I would be able to fix that aileron problem on my transmitter as well as on the plane. I have another question. I charge my radio and receiver overnite for nearly 16 hours, which are recommended in the instruction manual. It easily gives me 6 to 7 flights, after being flown on sunday, my plane stays at home and I dont touch it, but it still has charges and it moves rudder, throttle, aileron and elevator, the question is that should I leave my radio and receiver open to completely drain it/discharge it or just a day before flight, I should charge them without getting it completly discharged by turning them on. Please advice.

Thanks

Mody

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

I would just charge it. If u have a cycler u can cycle it sometimes. If u run a ni** pack all the way down to door stop dead u run the risk of having a cell reverse polarity.

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

armody

What batteries are you using, Ni-Cad or Nimih sorry Nicad or Nical metal hydryd and what size of cell normall AA or Sub-C, and what capacity, if you measure the size of the individual cell and let me know what is written on them I can advise you.

Good advice from striderjg never discharge a nicad or nimh cell below 1.2v per cell as they will reverse polarity, however nicad and nimh cells will decrease in capacity if just charged and discharged on a regular basis, they need periodic deep discharge (but not below 1.2/cell) to maintain max capacity.

Mike

RE: Suggestions for a trainer plane
 

Hi Mike & striderjg.

Well, the battery in my JR XF421EX radio is Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) 8N-600 9.6Volts. its covered with black color plastic and feels like it has 8 AA battery cells inside.,, receiver's battery has 4 AA size battery cells packed in same black plastic. Whenever I turn on my transmitter it shows 10.1 volts, it means that the charges don't go down quick cos it stays turned off whenever ofcourse Im not using it as this sunday Im gonna go flying, so on saturday nite Im gonna charge it, I dont have any instrument or cycler to properly discharge it, but I would ask once again, I should just do my flying at the field, normally I try to do 5 to 7 flights and after that I stop, and infact start packing back and go home. So Im just gonna charge it saturday nite, as I dont have any proper discharging gadget so, I won't discharge it but before every sunday I would charge it, fly my plane and put it back. Any suggestions?

Thanks to you both,

Mody