I am new to flying and was thinking about buying a 3D plane to learn with. Is the 3D a good plain for a beginner? I was thinking that the foam plane would be durable and low cost. I have limited flying time with a slope combat glider. Any advice or recommendation will be greatly appreciated.

Everyone says get a Slow Stick, but I think a lot of learning could be done with a 3D foamy.
With low throws and throttle control and balanced for stability they fly very well.
They fly slowly. I fly mine with a 2s lipo pack and that keeps it tamed.
The only thing different from a trainer is that
there is no built in stability, no dihedral in the wing.
This means if you give right aileron, you have to give left to bring it back level, otherwise it just stays in the bank you put it in.
If you keep holding the ailerion stick it will just keep rolling.
Put it in a bank then put the stick in the center, then move it in the opposite direction to level the plane.
With practice it gets easy.
They are pretty tough too. Usually repairs can easily be made to foam.
I love the Foamy Factory planes. The 3DX and Ultimate Bipe plans are even free. Start with the 3DX.
If things don't work out with a 3D, then you can move your equipment to a more forgiving trainer.
So I'd say give it a try.
Let me know how it works out. If I can help let me know.

Thanks for the information Foamaholic. I think I might go with a Mimi GeeBee looks like it could be a good first foamy. It will be a little while before I get one I am on my way home from Iraq should be home next weekend and may be have a 3D by the next week.
I had 6 months to think about things I wanted to buy with my extra money sure wish I had known about 3D before I came over here would have had plenty of time to learn to fly. Will keep you informed of my progress with 3D.

Thanks
Thomas Luttrell

When you say new to flying, do you mean you have never flown before? Or have really limited experience?

If this is a case I wouldnt start out with a foamy. You are going to have a really hard time learning to fly with these planes.
Even with low rates they still fly just like foamaholic said, they go where you point them, as a new flyer that is often not where you intended to point them. And they are pretty durable for hard landings and stuff, but if you dork one in nose 1st or on a wingtip its going to shatter or at least break apart, they do not bounce.

Foamies are unforgiving in flight as are all symmetrical winged planes. I teach new pilots at our club and there is NO WAY I would traumatize a new guy by handing them any symmetrical wing plane of any kind to actually learn to fly with.

Start out with a plane that is made to train, whether electric or some other form of power supply. Once you learn to fly it and the controls become somewhat second nature, which may only take a week, then move on to something else like a foamie. But please dont try to learn to fly with a foamie, especially not by yourself, you will only end up frustrated and disappointed unless you are an RC prodigy.

Now if you can already takeoff, fly and land a trainer, sure. A foamy on low rates would be a blast. Just be sure it is built right, if the CG is off even a little off you may end up losing it as soon as it leaves the ground. They are highly aerobatic and move REALLY quickly even with small throw rates.

I'm with big ned. Start with a trainer. I'd go with a slowstick. It's the best electric trainer by far. I started with one in March and I'm only flying foamies now. The 3DX is an awesome plane, but I still stick them into the ground periodically. That's what faomies are all about - learing hard manouvers without the expense of crashing a "real" plane.

Gotta agree with the guys above... with the exception that if you can fly on the slope easily with a Zagi or similar, then you can handle a foamy on low rates and lower power settings.

What the heck is a slope!?
The closest thing we have to a slope in Texas is the slope of the bowl in the end zone of a college football stadium!![8D]

if you have never flew a plane before start off with a trainer or an ultrastick 40 with a 40 fx or for more perfomance use a 50 sx
with the 50 on the nose it will be aggressive but take it slow and get you a trainer like a superstar or an avistar here in tennessee the local hs sales the trainer rtf out of the box and comes with os 40 la futaba 4 chanel and all raido equiment on ly takes 30 min to build
[8D]

later
young flyer

If you want to just fly the park flyers then go for it and buy one of the 3D foamies. If you want to fly glow or gas, then ask yourself these questions: Can you take off, land, recover from a stall, flat spin, maintain a constant altitude throughout the pattern, land dead stick? Do all the above inverted and keep the plane in one piece? If yes to all the above, then get your 3D plane. If no to any, then get a all wood trainer and maybe an advance aerobatics trainer to start with. You will be saving youself tons of money and frustartion.

Some of the reading comprehension around here sucks, he said he already flies slope combat so he has experiance flying. A 3D plane set up with low rates can be very forgiving and a decent second plane to learn to use your left hand. The Geebee wouldn't be my first choice, maybe something more like an Extra but many of the foamies are similar. If you really want to learn the traditional way get a 40 sized trainer and an instructor since it is the most cost effective way to get a good flying, reliable learning platform.

just go with the basic trainer and learn to fly first