RCU Forums - Trainers

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Im picking out a RTF Trainer to hopefully learn to fly this summer. I was recommended the Pegasus ( http://www.ehobbies.com/ttr4556-f12.html ) here and the price is good, but I am not a fan of the very vague description. ANd I cant find a better one anywhere. The next plane is the SuperStar ( http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXEKF4**&P=7 ). Its a little bit smaller, but i dont think that that big of a difference. The price is a bit higher though. The final plane is the NexSTAR 46 ( http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=LXEXK2**&P=ML ), and its alot more expensive. A bit too much, but ill consider it, if all the extra stuff it has is worth the price. Thanks

I'll admit to not knowing anything about the Pegasus but I do know the Super Star is a good plane. I also agree that the Nexstar is a nice plane but overpriced. The extra stuff is just that, EXTRA. Most instructors don't like them to be used anyway.

AHEM, Speech 37B coming up:D

Speaking of instructors. Please be sure to get one and the easiest/best way is by joining a club. Instruction is free in virtually all clubs once joined.

Don't forget the Horizon Hobby Alpha Trainer 40 RTF. Looks like a good plane too.

yes, i am getting an instructor. I emailed the club not to long ago about coming to take a look and getting in touch with an instructor, but I havent gotten anything back.

Quote:

ORIGINAL: Shortymet55

yes, i am getting an instructor. I emailed the club not to long ago about coming to take a look and getting in touch with an instructor, but I havent gotten anything back.

Your phone broke?:D

Thats a good point. I could call, but i have a month for them to return my e-mail before the time i want to buy the plane. If they dont respond, then ill call.

Where's the tower trainer 40 at?its a really decent plane to train on.

None of the above.

NexStar pricey? Compared to what, a Revo? I bet you will have at least twice as much in the Revo compared to your first few planes.

If your any good with that Revo, you can go to the Avistar without a problem You could also do a Stick. No need for you to do the typical flat bottom wing trainer.

I base this on all the r/c car racers I have taught to fly. Not much teaching needed. Solo in 3-5 flights.

Do you really think being able to drive trucks really well, will help with a plane? I thought that wouldnt help. If anything, my skills wiht my heli would help me fly a plane. Ill consider Avistar thanks!

And I want to keep the price as low as possible because I dont need any of the unnecessary stuff, plus if I do crash, I dont want to have lost to much. And I hope to get the plane for my birthday, which means i have a limit.

The Pegasus .40 Super Combo is the only one of the three with a semi-symmetrical wing. It will fly inverted and fly other aerobatic manuevers more easily than the flat-bottomed wing trainers. The Hobbico Avistar and Hangar 9 Arrow trainers are often recommended for that same reason.

It's unfortunate that the item description for the Pegasus .40 Super Combo isn't as richly detailed as the Hobbico item descriptions for the Superstar or Nexstar. It's a great package with a very nice airframe, terrific engine, and a great radio system.

I trained on the Nexstar two years ago. Overall it was a terrific airplane once you took all the doodads off of it. The bundled flight sim was a first at the time, now other companies are bundling simulator software with their RTF trainers. Hopefully that will become industry wide within a couple of years. The outstanding O.S. Max .46 FXi engine that comes with the Nexstar was another high point.

My only complaint about the Nexstar, once the ALS is deactivated and the wingtip pods and speed brakes are removed, is that it just isn't a very good plane to fly in windy conditions. It has a huge wing, which makes it a joy with which to learn to land. That same wing surface area makes it difficult to turn into the wind and the plane tends to "balloon" into the corners. We had one training night that I remember in particular where I had to ground my Nexstar but all of the guys with Avistars were able to fly. The smaller semi-symmetrical wing of the Avistar was less affected by the gusty wind conditions.

The problem with the Nexstar is you end up paying for some nifty little gadgets that you just don't end up ever using. Overall it's a nice package, though, and you can't really call it a waste of money. I used my O.S. Max .46 FXi from my Nexstar to power my first pattern plane last year, a Phoenix SeaBee ARF. There aren't too many trainers that come with an engine good enough to use for pattern or 3D flying down the road.

The Pegasus .40 Super Combo is such an incredible deal, though, that you can buy your whole airplane package and (compared to the price of the Nexstar) have almost enough money left over to buy a full-blown flight simulator package like Real Flight G3.5 or Reflex XTR. Heck, the Pegasus .40 Super Combo and a copy of EasyFly2 combined would still be cheaper than the Nexstar Select RTF.

The Pegusus .40 Super Combo isn't as well known as the Hobbico or Hangar 9 RTF trainer packages. That's a shame, because Thunder Tiger ARFs and engines are both top shelf in quality and maybe the best compromise of the three. In my opinion, the Thunder Tiger ARFs are nicer than the Hobbico airframes and the Thunder Tiger engines are better quality and easier to tune than the Evolution engines that Hangar 9 bundles with their planes. When you compare radio systems, the Hitec and Airtronics radio systems that Thunder Tiger bundles with their super combos are equal in quality to the JR systems that Hangar 9 supplies and the Futaba radios offered by Hobbico.

Take a leap of faith and buy the Pegasus. The money you save will be your own.

ok, keep you opinions coming. Please tell me why also. Just like bigedmustafa. Thanks

Also added Avistar as an option.

Shorty, I am one of those car guys that YNOT is talking about (he didn't train me). I raced cars for 20+ years and just decided to try flying hobby grade RC planes a few months ago. You have a distinct advantage over alot of people who have never tried RC, You already know thw basics of reversed controls and that a slight control movement on the TX translates into more than expected on the aircraft (or car). Also you have the basic engine tuning skills for planes. Getting that trx 2.5 to run cool and reliable is alot harder than getting a plane engine tuned. also you can almost totally tune the plane on the bench.

I soloed after 4 instructed flights, just be sure to listen to your instructor as he will not only teach you how to fly but also about safety.
Good luck and have fun, no matter what plane you choose. I started on a Kadet Senior ARF, I reccomend a high wing trainer but if
you will have an instructor theres no reason it can't have a semi symmetrical wing.

Keep us posted

3 way tie. I dont think we can stop now. Please back up your choice. THe only person who did, voted for the plane thats not even tied for most votes.

I also deleted the NexSTAR. I really dont want to pay that much extra for stuff i dont need. I prefer to save that money, considering from what i've read it doesnt do much anyways.

Shorty, I think it's time for you to decide on your own. Both of the planes with the most votes are going to be a goog buy. I voted for the avistar because if I had to do all the training over again i would go with a semi sym wing. all come with good equipment that can be used on another model in the near future.

You have to ask yourself do you want the slow predictable and high lift of a flat bottom wing, or some more speed amd manueverability
(this extra speed and manueverability could hold up the learning process a bit) of a semi symmetrical wing.

Did you speak to the club yet? what do they reccomend? What type of buddy boxes and cables do they have? What would the primary
instructor feel comfortable teaching you with?

I am very comfortable continuing to recommend the Pegasus super combo over the Avistar or Superstar Select RTFs.

http://www.rokemodell.de/produkte/tt/tt9041.jpg

The TT GP-42 is equal to the O.S. Max .40 LA with regard to reliability and ease of tuning, but it's regarded as more powerful.

http://www.rchobby.co.uk/PEGASUS-2-350.gif

The Pegasus .40 airframe boasts a full 10" longer wingspan than the Superstar, 11" longer than the Avistar. Like the Avistar, the Pegasus also sports a semi-symmetrical airfoil that flies well inverted and can perform certain aerobatics more easily than the flat-bottomed wing of the Superstar.

http://www.hobbyone.com.br/Hit156721.jpg

The Hitec Laser 4 radio system is high quality and equal in value to the Futaba 4YBF that comes with the Hobbico aircraft.

The fact that the Pegasus .40 super combo is $219 while the two Hobbico RTFs are $279 shouldn't be a major consideration, but it is icing on the cake.

Im going to the field this weekend, so Ill ask to see what those guys think. Ill talk to an instructor to see what he would rather me be using. Thanks

Im also going to ask around the field I plan on joining, when I go take a look next saturday. After that, Ill make my final decision.

My first plane was a TT Pegasus. They fly great and are big enough to be seen easily. It's hard to beat the reliability of a Thunder Tiger engine. The only change I made to mine was to replace the TT 42 with a TT Pro 46 after a hard crash broke the needle off the carb of the TT 42.

Did you buy an ARF version, noterman, or did you have the super combo? There hasn't been a lot of feedback here on the Pegasus so far, so any information you could give about your building experience would likely be welcome...

I soloed on an Avistar Select four years ago and still fly it regularly. I did, however, upgrade the engine after a while to an OS 46. Great flying airplane that can indeed serve as a second plane. I`ve really never become bored with it, even after flying higher performance models. It serves well as a model that you can just fly to relax.

Anyone have one of these trainers this is a hobbico Superstar 60 i put a saito .72 Golden Knight engine in it havent flown it yet taxied it around my front yard a couple of times, getting ready to take it out and maiden it. I'm wondering if anyone else has this plane and what there experience was with it as far as being stable and its flight Characteristics, Such as is it easy to loose control of it. I have flown alot of park flyers. My most recent flying skills are with a parkzone Spitfire. But i mostly fly helis trex's but i'm planning on flying this trainer. So maybe someone can give a little advice to a noob ha ha:eek:

The Hobbico Superstar .60 ARF is a great airframe, linkadrip, and you should enjoy flying it. You'll want to take some extra time to use clear fingernail polish or Midwest Aero Gloss around the stripes, windows, and trim pieces to protect the covering from fuel.

Using a 4-stroke engine will help, as they don't tend to deposit quite so much oil on the side of the airframe.

Thanks for the info on the stripes and such on the plane. The four stroke is a pretty clean running engine still gets alot of oil on the plane. i have angled the exahust so it mainly goes under the wing and fuselage now. So hopefully it wont be to bad. Tommarrow i plan to maiden this plane. and will have my camera man with me in case any unfortunate event takes place. i will have a documented video to see what went wrong. But i'm sure it will be a good flight. Very appy to here that it is a good airframe. Hopefully it will be a breeze to fly. My spitfire is a pretty tricky plane, but its a mono wing type plane. So the trainer should be very stable compared to it. I hopeing this will be my realxing type plane were i can just fly and have fun without stressing to much. thanks agin for the advice on the stripes.

I know a couple of people who were flying the pegasus while I was training..... to quote my instructor " it flies very well".

Personally I prefer Thunder tiger upon hobbico any day, just the quality and structure of the plane!