What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Hey guys. Need some opinions. I have been flying electric planes for 2 years now and i want to try nitro planes. I want to start building one with my dad that is not to expensive and isnt very hard to fly. the electric planes i have been flying were 3 ch. but i think i could handle 4 ch. pretty easy. I am looking for some kind of cheap kit or something to get me started in nitro planes. i have built rubberband bulsa planes, but i really want to build one that i can fly and not break first time!!!! lol. So if u guys have any suggestions, they would be well appreaciated. Thanks-Jordan

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Hi Jordon: I don't know how much you are willing to spend but I started out with the Goldberg Eagle. Now it is the Eagle ll. It is a nice easy plane to fly and is a 4 channel. It comes as a kit and has ailerons. Dave.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

looks like a nice plane, but they all look the same to me so idk what to look for. Its all balsa, right????? Also, if i bought something similar to that, would it be a bunch of monry to buy the engine, radio, ect????

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Yes, It is all balsa. When you get into nitro powered Airplane it will cost you more for getting setup. You need to buy a radio. Some planes come with the fuel tank and wheels and hardware. You need to buy the glue, paint, covering, heat gun, and other things that you will find out along the way. It depends on what you already have from flying electric. Follow the recommendations for buying a engine and radio or you could buy a radio that you could grow in to like a 7 channel or so. I don't remember what it cost me when I first started out. I think the Eagle ll wiuld cost you about $800.00 or more or less to get flying. It depends on what you need. Dave.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

thanks for the suggestions man. I was just thinking about it and i forgot that a long time ago, my grandpa and my older brother started building a p-51 balsa plane. Its pretty big and he has the fuselage all done..... Maybe i could save money and use that instead of buying a new one....

O, i also wanted to tell u guys that i got a pt-19 c/l plane a year ago for my birthday and i am making it into an rc because i have two servos that i mounted on it and a reciever. I will just handlaunch it and fly it until it runs out of gas in the air and then land. Its going to be two channel. Its really fun building stuff like that for me. Hopefully it will work in the end though. lol.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Do you Grandpa and brother a favor and start with a trainer. You can build one as suggested, and it would give you great experience you will need to finish the P51, or you can buy an inexpensive RTF such as the H9 Arrow or Alpha. There are lots of other good trainers out there these are just the ones I know are decent. RCKen put a list somewhere in here on them..

However, war birds generally don't fly like trainers and make pretty bad choices for a first plane. They have some flight characteristics that a beginning pilot wont be ready for. This will cause a crash and possibly a total loss of a beautiful plane.

If its money your worried about, go with either an RTF plane, or get the radio engine and gear and build a SPAD. Built right they fly well, built wrong and you will swear those of us who fly them are idiots. You can find information and advice on them in the SPAD forum here: [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_178/tt.htm]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_178/tt.htm[/link]

[X(][X(] I've become a nay sayer!!! [:@]:( Drat, the experienced guys I cursed were right after all when they told me to start out right...:(:(

DOH! Just reread the OP, sorry I didnt see the fact you flew electrics for two years, you might be able to go with the P51, but I still suggest a good trainer or advanced trainer for starters. I thought abotu just deleting the rest of this, but theres some good tips up there so I left it. (or so i think anyhow LOL)

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

If money is tight, this is about as cheap as you can get into this hobby.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXCXF4**&P=0

And to help keep you safe.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXL419&P=0

Before you order, Join the Super Saver club. Then in a day or two Tower will send you an e-mail with coupon codes that can drop up to $60 off of your order as well as freeshipping.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

It might be cheap, but it's a fine aircraft to learn on. I had one with an OS 46 (not the LA) and it was fine. Unfortunately, I was in training for about a month, going out to the field on weekends, either Sat or Sun, but work got me away from it for about 6 months. When I started back, I found that I had a bit of hanger rash and I wasn't sure how to fix it so I bought a Hobbico NexSTAR RTF Select. That too was a nice plane. One of my fellow club members bought the Tower trainer from me and had time to fix it up and it still flys. Nice plane.

But, at the beginning of the Beginners Forum, you can find a sticky that RCKen put together that details quite a few aircraft with links. You might want to take a look there and see if anything fits your needs, altough the Tower 40 is a fine aircraft to learn on.

I might add that one advantage of the RTF's is that you get everything. And with that, a disadvantage is you get everything, and that includes a radio that you cannot expand with. It is not a computer radio meaning it does not have a model memory so you can use it on that plane only.. or remove the electronics and use it elsewhere, but your original aircraft now is without a radio system.

I swapped out the Futaba that came with the NexSTAR and put in an Airtronincs RD6000 which has model memory. I also removed that AFS. I sold the whole thing to someone as a package (the old Futaba radio system) and used the Airtronics on several aircraft, separate receivers and servo sets for each one. It comes down to cost and what you can swing - cost wise.

Good luck with your choice.


CGr.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

The best thing anyone ever told me about RC (and life in general for that matter)- Don't try to save money.
Get what you need, buy from a reputable source, and take care of it. If you can't swing the price today, wait until you can. Sometimes a deal will come up at the local club where you can buy a beginner's setup from a guy who is graduating to higher end equipment, but even then you have to be careful because some guys just don't care what they sell to you. A way to get started while you save your pennies is to contact your local club and see if they have a training day every week. Many clubs own a trainer for new pilots so you can start going to those sessions and learn while letting people know you are in the market. At the very least, it will give you a couple of months to make your purchases and you can learn about what works well from the instructors there.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

One exception is the Tower 40 trainer. It's a fine aircraft and easy to assemble and fly. Plus, it's a great trainer.

CGr.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

if you want a kit
get the gp rapture
its easy to fly, a floater, can do some aerobatics (knife edge ect)
some concider it a advanced trainer.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Based upon your two years flying experience, I think Jimmyjames is on the right track. The Rapture or a Sig Four Star 40 would be a good choice.

Stan

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Any high wing .40 size trainer would be what you want. Everyone has a preference. The question is do you want to build or do you want an ARF? Also there is nothing wrong with used equipment. A 4-6 channel vanilla radio can be had for less than $140 new and less than $100 used in good shape. Engine wise good engines new or used can be had for $50-100. If you have to have everything at once it can be a big outlay at once, but if you build a plane, you only have to buy when you are at that step. A kit and some glue can go along way until you need the radio or engine. I started building and flying when I was 12-13; I did not get everything at once. it was the installment plan. I still do that even though I dont really have to.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

FWIW

You could assemble a 40 size Stik(Arf) and have a
great 2nd plane IMO,

Bob

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

i really appreaciate all the advice you guys have given me! I am 14 right now and just got a job cutting a couple of my neighbors grass(8 $ an hour!!! lol) , so i think i am going to just save all the money from that and either make or buy a trainer. What are the SPAD planes???? They look kind of interesting. Once again, i really appreaciate it. Thanks-Jordan

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

O, by the way guys, ill post some pictures tonight of the pt-19 i just built myself. Its the plastic model one and i cut some holes and put in a radio, reciever, and two servos. I hope it will fly after i balance it and everything!!!

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

SPAD = Simple Plastic Aircraft Design
The wings, and other parts are made of thin Coroplast http://www.coroplast.com which looks like corrugated cardboard box material, but it is plastic.
It is often used to make signs. A lot of political campaign signs are made using it. In Texas, May 9 is election day. On May 10 there will be a lot of slightly used coroplast headed for the landfill.
RCU has a SPAD forum http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_178/tt.htm where you can find all types of info and links to plans.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

thats sweet!! Were can i get my hands on that stuff???? I might try doing that!

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

I'm going to sound like a broken record here but it bears repeating: Don't try to save money.
Cobbling together a beater is not the way to learn RC flying. You will spend less in the long run by buying good stuff that works like it's supposed to. SPADs can be good if the guy building them knows about airplanes and knows how to set them up. They are often disasters when an inexperienced modeler tries to put one together. Besides, they don't save you that much money on your initial setup. Save your dough, get an ARF trainer or buy a used trainer from someone local, and get an instructor. It will take time but it will be worth it to get you set up right.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

coroplast can be obtained from your local democratic and republican parties. Their signs, you john Kerry for..." are typically owned by the parties but unless John Kerry is running for the same office in the same year as last time the signs sort of expire. Also beer and soft drink distributors many of their signs are made of this stuff.

And yes you can save money building this way. I bought a 4'X8' sheet from a sign maker here in town for 20.00 and a 4" pvc rain spout a few bucks forget how much but it was 6 ft long, some nice straight yard sticks for spars and doublers and scrap 1X4 for firewall and I had three 40 size coro-sticks. so unless a guy can get me three sticks for 30-35 bucks or 10.00 each well then savings occurred.

A part of the SPAD culture is to try to build the best plane for the least money

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

People either hate or love SPAD's. I really enjoy my modified SPAD Debonair. I think you can learn a lot from them and have a lot of fun. Don't rule them out RC Freak. They take a lot of abuse and rebuild easily. I will agree that my Debonair is kind of a "dog", but I've been flying the heck out of it. One guy at the field calls it the "gutter plane", but who cares, it's all in fun. Kidding at the RC field is normal. I'd like one that I could just hand launch. Would make it ever simpler.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

I'm not bashing SPADs at all. I flew a Debonair for awhile until a radio problem put it in the lake. It was serviceable, but then I flew a real balsa trainer and saw the difference. SPADs are handy for guys who want to own 20 different airplane or who are so careless that they are going to destroy everything they put in the air. SPADs are touted for their crash resistance, but OTOH balsa planes will avoid lots of crashes that SPADs won't. In short, a beginner needs to start out with the best flying plane he can, and SPADs aren't the way. $80-$100 is not much money for an ARF trainer when you look at the big picture of what the hobby costs. If $100 for a good airframe scares a guy away, this probably isn't the hobby for him.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Another thing I like about my Debonair is that I will fly it in winds that I wouldn't even consider with a balsa plane. In fact I was able to get out last March in pretty good winds (15 to 20 mph) and had a great time. I was the only one out there. I've had it for the last 5 years and only had one bad crash with it. It was an easy rebuild. I certainly don't consider myself careless that I destroy everything I put in the air and its my business if I have more than one plane. SPADS are Simple Plastic Airplane Designs.

RE: What type of nitro plane to start out with?????
 

Your best bet is to look at RCKen's great list of planes for beginners.

Even though you have 3ch experience, that does not equate ( but it helps ) to being able to deal with full aileron glow planes.

Any of the beginners planes will be great for you.