RCU Forums - arf or rtf cub.. that looks like a cub actually

It's pretty common for a newbie to want a cool-looking scale plane for their first. Believe me, it's not a good idea. If the scale plane looks anything like its full-scale counterpart, it's going to fly like its full-scale counterpart, with all the difficulties and little nuances that require flying skills a newbie does not yet have. WWII Air Corps recruits didn't start out in P-51 Mustangs... They started out in... Piper Cubs. Okay, I just shot myself in the foot...

In R/C flying, even the Cub is a little more than the typical newbie can handle. Cubs, even semi-scale ones, require coordinated use of aileron and rudder. They're the darndest planes I've ever flown. Roll the plane into a bank, yank back on the elevator to turn, and the plane continues on its original course, except it's banked and flying at a weird angle. Try to make the turn on rudder only, and the plane simply continues on its original course, skidding sideways! If you don't use both controls in a coordinated fashion, the plane won't turn. Most students have trouble jockeying one transmitter stick, let alone two. Full-scale students had instructors right in the plane with them to help them get a feel for how the plane flew. The instructor could grab the stick and have the student follow along on his own set of controls.

Get yourself a nice GWS Tiger Moth or Slow Stick for your first plane. Learn to fly and then go after the Cub.

Frankly, I don't know of any ARF Cubs that aren't glow-powered, a few don't even look like Cubs at all, and the RTF ones I know of don't really look like Cubs either.