Control line trainer
 

Im looking to get into control line, what would be a good plane to get me started

RE: Control line trainer
 

look up Brodak he mostly does .049 stuff,,there are a couple of CL planes at tower hobbies though, but they are for .35 I think..Rog

RE: Control line trainer
 

I was looking at the flite streak, and i was going to use a fox 35

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RE: Control line trainer
 

Go to this forum http://stunthanger.com/ They can tell you more than you ever wanted to know about C/L. It also has good links to several topics and vendors that will help you. I don't recomend the Flight Streak trainer for your first plane. It's a good acro trainer, not a beginner trainer. Have fun!

Paul

RE: Control line trainer
 

Look up the "Balsa Beavers". They have plans for a very tough .049 trainer made out of coroplast sign material.

RE: Control line trainer
 

You may have missed seeing it but up near the top of the forum listings there's a CL forum.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_231/tt.htm

RE: Control line trainer
 

The FS and Fox .35 will be fine. Maybe put a 10x4 prop on the engine to slow the plane down a bit, and balance it nose heavy and it can work. Use .60' .015 lines.

RE: Control line trainer
 

How to start:

http://www.aeromaniacs.com/Starting.html

Models:

http://www.pennvalleyhobbycenter.com...ine/brodak.htm

RE: Control line trainer
 

The Fox .35 is kind of a "White Elephant". All it's good for is C/L, it needs fuel with all castor oil, it needs a lengthy break in and possibly an experienced hand. For less money, get an OS .25 RC engine, swap in a C/L venturi that you can buy seperately and you will have an engine that runs better than the Fox on ordinary fuel and also be ready to go in an RC plane if the need arises.
I would look at any C/L plane above .049-.061 powered as being a secondary trainer. The ground comes up mighty quick.

RE: Control line trainer
 

You can also go to RCUniverse's Control Line FORUM. It's listed just up the index.

RE: Control line trainer
 

thanks for the good advice

RE: Control line trainer
 

Tower actually has 3 ARFs for sale. Pretty amazing.
Their FliteStreak with a .25 on it actually makes a stable, good flying trainer. Limit the throws to begin with and it's really decent.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...SM&C=AGC&V=TOP

They've also got a couple of decent C/L engines that'll work. The OS.25LA is an excellent modern engine that'll run on the fuel being sold today.

RE: Control line trainer
 

what about the new pt-19 ARF

RE: Control line trainer
 

Most people suggest starting C/L by building a kit. Good advice, but if you're like all the RC guys, the Tower ARFs work for C/L as good as RC ARFs work for RC.

Their two stunter ARFs make good stable airplanes for learning to fly, but produce many, many pieces when you stick 'em, and you will. The reason most people started out with a Ringmaster years ago was they were so bloody simple and not so hard to part with when they were turned into parts.

If you do go with a kit, make patterns of all the parts. You can build a 2nd Ringmaster or such for about 1/4 the cost of a kit.

RE: Control line trainer
 

http://www.balsabeavers.ca/begginers_page.htm

.......for anyone wanting to get started in control line, Dick Sarpolus and Dick Mathis wrote great little handbooks about it that I'm pretty sure could be found with 90 seconds' worth of research.

RE: Control line trainer
 

I think im going to go with a flite streak

RE: Control line trainer
 

HI the flight streak was my very favorite control line plane and best handlingbuilt and flew manyin my teensam 65 now and flying RCbest tip i can give you is to launch the plane with the elevator in neutral position-so the plan can get up some air speed from the launch -then go to some up elevatorwatch the plane-not the surounding scenery-to prevent dizzy-i put a 4 oz tank in the outboard wingon the CG- to increase my flying time the wing to the inside of the circle was one wing bay longer than the wing on the outside of the circle due to the fuel tank placement- PLANE FLEW BETTER THAT WAYthe fuse was made into an airfoilthe outside of the fuse was contoured and the inside was flat-to make it an airfoil -to keep the plane out on the end of the control linesdid these things 50 years ago-then read of others doing the same A FEW YEARS AGO -never could get a fox 35 to run to my liking back thenhad a johnson 35 that was my best control line enginethe OS 25 sounds like a good choise use the larger control horn in the wingmake the mount strong -so it will not pull outi liked to use the soft cable lines in the wing of the streakuse the smaller red hand held handle -you will learn to fly on the side of the circle that keeps the control lines tight when you have some wind to deal with you will learn to count your loops as you are crossing your lines with each one you do and need to do loops in the other direction to keep the lines free ENJOY GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN TONY

RE: Control line trainer
 

If you are near a club, see if they have a basic trainer to learn on. Basic Trainers are great but soon you want something better.

In addition to the great planes recommended above, SIG makes some good basic flyers. For .049 they have the Skyray, for .10-.15 they have the Akromaster, and for .20-.35 they have the Skyray 35.

Set up the controls for normal operation on the plane but get a fully adjustable control handle so you can minimize control movement by setting the spacing on the handle closer than normal. This way you can add more control as you gain experience.

Modern Fox .35's usually don't need as much break-in as the older ones but I would still consider a modern .20 or .25 instead.

The Flite Streak is an excellent plane.

George

RE: Control line trainer
 

I would not recommend the ARF FliteStreak as it is too fragile for a first CL airplane. Brodak has a Lightning Streak Trainer which is a 15 -19 size airplane and the sort of trainer I would recommend. Solid wing, external controls, strong motor mount. Brodak has a large number of CL airplanes, kits, ARF's and ARC's. The mostly 049 statement is not correct. RSM has a number of kits. Sig also has a few. The Sig Skyray would be a good second airplane.

Take a look at this. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9227394/tm.htm

RE: Control line trainer
 

My AUS 10c (+GST) worth: you want something larger than a 1/2A, with a dependable, easy handling engine. Back in "the day" my friends and I all learned to fly with profile .049 models and Cox reed valve engines. Some of us thrived on this combo and I still love playing with 1/2As, but in my opinion starting that way put off far more people than it ever enticed into the hobby.

Having seen an ARF flite streak there is no way I would recommend one as a basic trainer either. Firstly, its fragile. Second, the instructions with the ARF streak are way off the mark in their recommended CG, leading to a very challenging model. Third (and this is subjective opinion only), a .25 - .35 size model pulls far harder and may be more intimidating for a beginner.

So - my recommended entry to C/L would be a something in the .09 - .20 range. Something like a Brodak Flite Streak trainer with an Enya .15-V or comparable "traditional" .15 would be a good basic trainer. Other good choices of engine would be an Enya 09 or Enya 19, or one of the older cross-flow OS MAX 15s (which I think are a wonderful sports flying .15). If you're in the US, there's probably suitable engines from Fox, but other than a single un-run Fox .35 I have no experience with them and for the most part stick to Enyas, OSes, PAW diesels and the usual 1/2A suspects like Cox & Norvel.

That same .15 will then be a good engine for a more advanced second model, say a JR Flite Streak.

None of this is how I got started - profile 1/2A with Cox reed valves, then a PAW 19 diesel. However, I think it would be an easier entry than the way I did it. When I got back into C/L a couple of years ago after a nearly 20 year lay-off, my first decent new model was a JR Flite Streak with a 1970s cross flow OS MAX 15 - wonderful combination and a lot of fun.

cheers,
Colin

RE: Control line trainer
 

I would like to throw in that I DO NOT recommend an .049 for beginning. Not only are they a little trick yo get running well, they do not provide enough line tension. You want to spend your time learning how to fly, not fiddling with engines and fixing airplanes. I bet the PT 19 would be a very good airplane along with that Evolution .36.

RE: Control line trainer
 

I'm in the non-049 camp as well - my easiest-flying model is my biggest, a .35-powered Ares. Not an ideal trainer, though, for obvious reasons! While a 25-35 size model will tend to pull harder, I wouldn't discount it provided it's on decently long lines. The lap time is still likely to be nice and sedate, and you have plenty of room to manoeuvre and make mistakes. Not much good for little kids, though, as the line tension would definitely be too much.

When it came to finding something for my 7-year-old to try recently, I ended up making a sturdy little profile model for a muffled Enya 09. This turned out to be just right for him in terms of stability, speed and line tension. He managed about half-a-dozen laps on his own at his very first attempt, before ending up in an unrecoverable dive (which caused no damage at all).

That said, I think Jim's suggestion of a Lightning Streak Trainer is a very good one.

Steve

RE: Control line trainer
 

BustaHOR
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3.../BustaHOR0.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...stnBalloon.jpg
Ok, so it's my own design but it's 25 size, made out of Aluminum and Coroplast, kills balloons like a mutha AND is fairly indestructable. It's not as flitty as the Manwin trainer and 25 size motors are easier to operate, use cheaper fuel and last longer than 049's. Controls are all exposed so you can keep an eye on them and there is basically nothing on the plane that if you break it (and by break I mean back over it with the car) you can't replace in half an hour tops. The part that takes longest is the motor mount and that's because it's cut out of Walmart Poly cuttingboard.

Thread on the BustaHOR http://spadworld.net/forum/viewtopic...light=bustahor

RE: Control line trainer
 

Fortunately, when it comes to trainers, almost anything will fly. Since you are not stressing optimal performance, any...or no...airfoil will work.

A fuselage with reasonable moments, C/G, and a sufficient stab/elevator will make it go up and down.

Sturdy (but not too heavy) and easy to repair are pluses. TLAR really does work for a trainer.

George

Hi guys, ZOMBIETHREAD here. I had plans for this on the SPAD forum, they never made it to the spadtothebone.org page like many one offs don't BUT then I found out I didn't have the original plans on my computer anywhere either. Bummer. So as I've been asked about the BustaHOR lately I thought I'd add the plans here and hope that we last a bit longer.
The BustaHOR I have is built with an RNAF style wing of 4 mil on the bottom and 2 mil on the top though 3 would work fine as well, whatever you can get. To glue the top sheet to the bottom sheet you need to flash both piece of coro with a butane torch. You just run the flame of the torch over the coroplast and it will burn off the mold release againt. There is a 1 inch overlap here. With the maiting edges of both pieces flashed, drops of CA are applied every inch or so along the joint, the piece pressed and held together. I use a metal yard stick with weights on it and leave it for the night. Afterwards, take a #2 screwdriver, run along the front edge of the bottom 4 mil to crease the top sheeting just in front of the joint, this will leave a bending edge that won't hit the top of the bottom sheet when you fold the top cover over. SPAD builders no this process by heart but newbies, slowly work from end to end to bend the top sheeting over onto the bottom sheet. Don't try to get it flat, you haven't glued your spar down yet AND going flat may pop your seem. Go Three inches back from the leading edge and glue your spar down by the same method as the sheeting. Mark your spar location, Flash the line with a torch AND do the aluminum to get rid of oils on it. Put drops of ca on the line every inch or so, press the spar down and it will more then likely be done in an instant. But I weight it down and come back in a bit while I cut out tailfins. Come back and bend the top sheet over the spar and hold it down to where it meets up with the trailing edge. You should have a little extra that we will trim off after glueing. Flash the trailing edges and where you think the spar will be, but drops of ca on top of the spar and on the trailing edge as before and bring the top sheet over. and weight it down on the trailing edge. I use bricks and come back the next day. A cautious builder could bond to the spar in one step then do the trailing edge in two steps. Be cautious, If you get good glue joints this sucker is going to last a good long time.
The horizontal and vertical are 4 mil. The fuse rail is standard big box store 1 x .5 aluminum C channel. I used half inch poly board for the engine mount and any doublers for wing hold down bolts/ bellcrank mount and Horizontal bracket/tailskid. The engine mount is cut to go inside the rail and I used Lath screws for Stucco mesh to mount the engine AND the landing gear to the fuse. (which has held up fairly well with years of balloon busting). The back of the engine is at half an inch in front of the rail and there is 1.5 inches of poly board into the rail. The front edge of the wing (front wing hold down bolts) is at 4 inchs. Bellcrank is 3 inches behind that and trailing edge screws are at 14.25 from the front of the channel. Some of these measurements may need to change for you if you use heavier 3 or 4 mil plastic for the top. I think the shortest piece of channel you can buy is 2 foot and mine is cut at 21.5" so you have some wiggle room. I think I have about 1.5 to 2 ounces of lead on the outboard tip. I had a big chunk, I wire tied it on and it flew. Very adjustable, put enough weight to fly level.
On the Vertical, the coro is mounted to the rail on by drilling through the rail,vertical and then screwing through the rail, the vertical and into a piece of pvc BUT you can use a piece of poly board for that too. You can probably use Pallet wood instead of Poly board if you do not have access to the half inch poly cutting board. Just paint it with thinned epoxy to fuel proof that.
I use a pressurized
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...7a0b059aa7.jpg
Fuse top and bottom showing bellcrank location under the fuse. You can also see the 2 inch block of poly that the rear hold down screws are mounted through the fuse and into.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...90db33821a.jpg
Side view. There is offset built into the Vertical. I cut it free from the bottom as marked on the plans. Then I ran a piece of scrap pushrod in my drill through the back of the vertical through the area marked in two placed. Took the ground wire out of a piece of Romex electrical wiring and glued it into those holes. I removed one flute at the marked position and bent the rudder over a bit. It's kind of an old FF adjustable rudder trick. Been holding since 2008.
clunk tank on an OS 25 fp RC with the carb screw all the way down so the carb is open. Plenty of power for this on a 9x4 prop.
Rubber band the wings on, foam wheels to the size for your grass. Fairly tough trainer adn balloon bust plane. Flys inverted and does loops BUT have the engine leaned out for that, it is heavy though it flys really well for a trainer. It eats balloons with no care about sticks or ground strikes IT's SPAD tough.
Plans and photos time.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...fe8b513583.jpg
Front view
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...90db33821a.jpg
Side view I forgot to mention the white, 4 mil doubler over the center section of the wing for the rubber bands. Do cut and glue that on.

Side view
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9e4873830f.jpg
Leadouts, just some pushrod wire gooped into the flutes with some bamboo skewers to back it up
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...cc85c4628f.jpg
Looking through the wing at the screen window/door aluminum channel centered over the leadouts. This channel IS available at big box stores where you get your window screen repair pieces. You can cut down a yard stick it's 3/4 inch tall.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...7a0b059aa7.jpg
Fuse top and bottom showing bellcrank location under the fuse. You can also see the 2 inch block of poly that the rear hold down screws are mounted through the fuse and into.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...236ac67392.jpg
And a view of the motor mount you cut out of Poly and the Lathe screw locations to hold the mount and the landing gear on. There is a long screw just behind the landing gear. Normally there is a rubber band around that, over the tank and back down. Being held on now by the wing mount hold down.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...5564297fb7.jpg
And just a closeup of that engine mount/landing gear setup.