I'm a nebie, if you will. I want to know is a Fighterbird a good starter electric combat plane. Is it worth the 150$ it costs or not. What else would be good



Joel Cox
Boeing Fan

I have a couple of fighterbirds. They were fun, but don't fly that great, and are not very durable. I would save the $150. I fly combat at smithville, where do you fly in kansas city?

There are two widely-practiced forms of RC combat. First is "streamer combat" where everyone ties streamers to the tails of their planes and chase each other around. The object is to get as many "cuts" as possible and lose as little of your own tail as possible. Second is "slope combat" where people flying very durable slope planes made from EPP foam try to knock each other out of the sky.

In this sense, the fighterbird is not really a "combat plane." It's just a fun toy for chasing your friends' planes around, "shooting them down" with the sonic combat module. As far as for serious competition, the Fighterbird is not a contender. It is, however, quite challenging to shoot the other guy down because of the limited controls on the Fighterbird.

The sonic combat module is proprietary to the *bird series of planes, so you can only shoot down other *birds (Fighterbirds, Firebird Commanders with the module installed, and the latest in the Aerobird series, with the module installed).

Yeah, but the Sonic Combat Module is pretty cool with the new 3-channel Aerobird Challenger in Pro-Mode! That thing can mix it up pretty good.

ABII

sheepy,
havn't started flying yet. I live in Stilwell, KS.
What kind of plane should i get.

I am partial to RCCA open 'b' rules, so I prefer the .25/.30 size ships. It really depends on what the other people you are flying with are using. If you use a state of the art 'b' ship, and fly against gremlins and spads, you will probably destroy the gremlins and spads, which could cause your competition to dry up. The typical 'b' combat ship has a foam wing made with 40 psi foam, reinforced with 1/8 fiberglass rods top bottom and front, then covered with ripstop nylon. wingspan is usually at least 64", and may be over 72". (a big wing is like adding bigger guns). fuselages vary a lot, some with gutter pipe, aluminum channel or angle, HDPE (cutting board material), circuit board material. Tail feathers are almost all made from 4mm coroplast. check out http://www.rccombat.com for more info than you ever wanted on RC Combat. Some of the guys at SMRCC flew combat a few years ago. They flew .15 size profile models. I think it has been a while since anyone over there has flown combat. There is also a great group out at longview lake, and some interest in KCRC. In smithville, we have 5 members who fly combat, me and one other guy are interested in national competition.

The lawrence club at clinton reservoir is having a fly-in oct 4, with some combat as well. I cannot make it because I am the CD for a float fly my club is hosting this weekend at smithville lake. The 'events' at lawrence supposedly start at noon. This could give you a look at what people near you are doing. I went to a meeting in lawrence a few years ago, and the club had a building night with spads for combat. I never heard anything else about them since. Maybe they are flying club combat like crazy over there. The site in lawrence would be fantastic for combat, with few trees, and a lot of manicured space around it.