cflchurch

I want a micro to fly at work, we have a community center that has a full size gym. I dont fly 3d just scale parkflyers and a few foam jets. I wanted a micro for the winter and was thinking about the hobbico albatros or the champ or the 4 channel mini 4 site. The funny thing is though I want a 4 channel , because thats what I learned on. I have never flown a 3 channel and thought the champ or albatros would be nice to try. I do like the mini 4 site but not for 3d just to float around. thanks for any input. Brian

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

I wouldn't step back to 3CH if you can fly 4CH.
A great choice for indoor would be the PZ UM T-28. She can float really nice and is beautiful scale plane.

Aircraftfreak15

id have to agree with wheel nut the um 51 or t28 would be a great option.

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Thanks AF15,
I need to add that the UM P-51 is alot more twitchy than the T-28. Of course that's ok if you have a radio that you can dial in expo with or if you are very good with your thumbs
Even a full size gym can make a tough flight for the P-51

cflchurch

thanks guys, my lhs has the t28 bnf, so ill be picking it up tomorrow. I will need a few more batts, what kind and size do you like? I have 3 eflite 150's. thanks . Brian

Real Gambler

I second the motion, the P51 need a very large gym to be fun with, otherwise, you'll just make circles until you're bored out of your mind. No matter what you choose, 3 batteries is not enough, so try to deal at least one when you'll buy a plane (they have low margin on airplane so they cannot reduce the price too much, but when you ask for a battery or two, they usually don't mind adding them in the box as a discount. For you it's like $20, for them, it's likely like $4 to $6.

Personally, I would have went with the 4-Site in your case. Currently, it's on sale. The E-Flite 150mah may be bordeline for it, particularly if you want to try to hover it, but in normal flight, they will be good enough. It's really floaty, fly very slow if you want too, and can be fast too. Sure enough though, the P51 is the best looking UM there is, and I would say the Trojan is not far behind, so look wise, the 4-Site is not the greatest! But overall, it's a nice indoor plane that you can keep close to you instead of using the whole gym and being hit by others...

Saburo Sakai

Good advice all around. On batts., I like the Thunder Power 160mah, available at horizonhobby.com. It's also significantly lighter than the E-flite 150. Wheel and AC15 have knowledge of other batts, too. They be wise men .

Tsavah

I have a growing hanger of ultra micro lite planes. Each have their own characteristics and are useful if flying in a gym environment. My first was the Ember 2, which is another stick flyer and is a great little 3 channel trainer. Now there are two others very much like it I want to buy and fly. The Ember 2 has been through a lot with me since on the calmest of afternoons I take it outside to fly. Tall, dry weeds are like flying it into a big old tree, which is hard on the foam wings. A bit of tape or glue and she is ready to go again. Of course the slightest breeze will be a challenge to manage, but it can also add to the fun.

My next micro flyer was the Albatros by Flyzone, which turned out to be a hand full to fly and needs near constant repairs. The first time I flew it the rudder stopped working just long enough to cause it to hit the second level balcony hand rails. That ended it's maiden voyagefor the night until a number of repairs were made. The foam is brittle like foam plates are and may be the same stuff. The main wing (top) broke in half and one of theouter wing brackets came loose. Later I opened the fuselage to find the rudder control wire had come out of the servo wheel hole. Cannot explain why it wouldn't stay, but I put a drop of glue on the end of the wire after putting it back in to prevent the problem. I finally got it going again last night at our indoor we do once a month at a univerity gym and in 3 hours I managed to fly it for a total of 20 minutes between repairs. Part of the problem was a failure to turn on que, but the control wire for the rudder was in place. Ihave to assume there is a transmitter or receiver problem from time to time that effects the rudder servo and other club members have told me more than once this is a common problem for the flyer. The problem has been part of the reason they don't fly their plane and others have kept sending the one they had back to the maker.

I did learn it is often best to nose up hard and wing over if possible to avoid hitting an obsticle at half throttle, or a tad faster. All night I was putting wheels back on, looking for the tiny retainers (clear, silicon like rubber), re-gluing wing struts, or wing halfs, and making adjustments for balanced flight. Finally did run down two batteries, lol. The Piper cub was an ebay purchase and likes to turn left no matter what I do. Getting it to fly straight and level is a chore and a challenge in a limited space like a gym. It does fly, but like the Albatross, it can be a hand full to manage, especially at take off or landing. Most of the other indoor flyers like the Champ and it appears it isn't as much of a challenge to control. Last night four individuals had a Champ and were flying them well with no complaints. A few months back there was one person with a P-51, but it was already battle damaged and collecting more before they went home. Not sure if the model had been beaten up too much by someone who is challenged a bit too much by it, or they didn't have necessary skills to balance it to fly gentle and mild. All I saw was them zooming from one side of the gym to the other as fast as it would go and another crash. I think they did manage to fly it for a total of 15 minutes before enough damage prevented another attempt.

In the mean time another vaporis floating about, some with lights, some without, and the skills of the pilots show. Those who could float about without problems were obviously better skilled and the others we needed to duck from their model off and on. Even so, the vapor models fly so slow, and are so light it was rare for one to need a repair. One Champ did loose a wing last night when a less experienced micro pilot hit me with it. I didn't feel any pain since the model is so light and it sounded like he cut the throttle as soon as he realized he wasn't going to avoid the disaster. A few others with more RC pilot experience had a micro T-38 and it looked like it was ajoy for them to fly.One person that flew the most flew as if trying to appear in scale and I never did see him crash. A few landings were a little ruff, but normally not. Needless to say on my "I want" list is a night vapor (has lights), a Champ, and a T-38. If other micro flyers become available and prove to be relaxing to fly I will probably add them to the "I want" list. Other wise my micro hanger will remain small and mostly empty unless I can scratch build a few once I find out how to get the Rx boards sourced and bindable to one ofthe TX I already have.

Been trying to buy flyable micro flyers on e-bay, but I normally don't win the bids since they quickly go too high for a used model with damage or problems I think I can fix. The key for me is they are a joy to fly outsideif the wind goes away, or we have another indoor event at the university gym. In this tiny city I live in there are some new school buildings and one of them is a large dome for the gym. Maybe one day they will agree to allow us to rent the space for our tiny air fleets for a reasonable cost. That would be a blast and I won't have to drive almost 14 miles for an indoor event!

Aircraftfreak15

id say the thunder powers are the best right now that i know of my turnigys only lasted 3 mounths so the tunders are the best. And id also have to say the um-p-51 needs more room.