I am interested in flying combat and am wondering what would be some suggestions on a good combat plane I have been flying about 3 yrs and have flown quite a few planes however I just wantede some input about a good combat plane
thanks

I have been flying combat only 2 yrs but have tried several types of planes. I think a 4' wing spad is the place to start. You can build 2 of them for $20 (planes only) and get used to rebuilding them every week after midairs. After that there are many others available now. I just finished 2 Tufflight models and think they are going to be awesome this year. They seem to be as midair proof as possible and fly very good. Combat is the most fun flying I've tried yet.

1st place to start is here - www.spadtothebone.com

I would recommend the Friday Night Special (FNS), its an excellent first combat plane. Its a rudder only, no aileron plane that is extremely quick building and cheap. These the 2 most important qualities when your first getting into combat. combat can get pretty disorienting and the hi-dihedral of the FNS makes it very stable. Your first combat planes, build them quick and dont worry about making everything look "just right", these aren't pattern or aerobatic planes, there combat planes so don't spend alot of time making them look pretty, slap them together and go fly!

If I may beg to differ on the rudder only plane with dihedral. I think someone with 3yrs. experiance can easily handle an aileron plane with a flat wing. It is just as easy to build and alot more responsive. I agree totally on the thought of not spending too much time making it perfect, after all, it'll be mid-aired soon enough. If someone going to fly combat isn't ready for for a snappy plane it may be too soon to try it.

Don't think the FNS isn't snappy I'm still flying the original FNS in combat every month...that sucker is going on 2 years old this summer and still going. At full throttle, it's possibly the snappiest, most radical and hardest to catch combat plane I've ever flown ...precise? Not even...Fun? Ohhhhhhhh yeah!!!

OK. I stand corrected. I won't argue with the Spad king. This time. : ~ )

http://www.screamingeaglerc.com/default.asp?inc= Check out this Combat Plane it's what realy works the frist time and you wont have to go through alot of trial and error steps in finding the best.
Also check RCCA Homepage

We've got a Bandit to...it Bad to the bone!

even though spads are really cheep and all....THEY ARE AS HARD AS HELL TO TRY AND MAKE
it took me all summer to put one together the spad stang manly because there was no angles on the tail and the instructions were poor,the wing takes a heck of a lot of practice to make and with all the coroplast i bought it wasn't soooooo cheep any more.

over all i would just pay an extra bit for a kit.....it would save you the time and you won't end up mad as heck trying to get that wing just right.



spad to the crap.com

Would you like some cheese with your whine?

At 8 bucks for a 4'x8' sheet you can make a lot of mistakes and they are still cheap. I just came in from flying SPADs all afternoon and having a blast. Tried my new corostang for the first time. It flew beautifully right from launch. Took me about a week of evenings to build this all coro gem. I also had my SNM and HOR out today. Great flyers and an even quicker build.

If you don't understand the instructions, just ask the question. There are plenty of people willing to help out.

rrh

I apologize I can't please everyone. It's not for lack of trying. Some people just need to buy a kit and be happy, and some love to build Spads. That's what's cool about this hobby, freedom of choice and plenty of options. The prototype Corostang took me about 6 hours to design and build, and is a very sweet flyer. The plans on the website took several evenings of my free time to do. They represent how I built mine, and were put on the internet with the intent that anyone could view them for free and do with them as they please. As for the tail not having any angles, sorry about that. I cut it out without anything to measure anything. I just made it look about right. I took measurements later. Spads do take a little free thinking at times, and I have no education at making plans or writing instructions. I just do the best I can. I'm sure there are plenty of people that would be glad to take any coroplast off your hands that you have left over Ace Bogie, and good luck in whatever you choose as your next project.

Combat is just a different experience than flying when your the only plane in the sky. In combat you have to learn to take your eyes off your plane to search for targets, be able to reaquire your plane and go get the streamer. Starting out, the FNS was the best combat trainer because if you lost it, got disoriented, whatever, you take you hands off the sticks, and the FNS would just fly out straight and level and give yourself a chance to regroup and get back in the action.


You've never chased a rudder plane in combat have you? Rudder planes fly different that aileron planes, so they can be very hard to catch with an aileron plane!

It not juts eight bucks bucko its more like 20 bucks and when you buy like and when you end up buying three more of them the price adds up.....

Ace Bogie,
The cost is only $20 each if you make numerous errors and waste materials. $4 to $7 each airframe is about average.

The mistakes you made could have easily been avoided by simply posting your questions/problems on any of the various FREE forums, or by e-mailing Kraut or Tattoo directly.

The plans are FREE. The information that you needed to avoid the problems you had is/was FREE and readily available.

The people that put SPAD plans together do so on their OWN TIME and posted it at their OWN EXPENSE for the benefit of others.

You had problems because you didn't consult with the designers or take advantage of the readily available information on the various forums.

Please, stop bashing the good people that put the SPAD information out just because you failed at it your first time out with one of the more complicated SPAD designs.

Still have some Coro left over from your previous attempt? Give it another shot and be sure to share any problems on the SPAD forum so they can be solved.

Good luck,
D

Personally, i like the dogfighter, for an aileron plane. Here's the good part about spads, though. The fns fuse, and the dogfighter are basicly identical. Build both sets of wings, and tailfeathers, and you can change from one to the other, by changing out the vert stab, and moving the rudder servo to the ailerons.

The corostang is a little harder than most spads to build, but, if you follow the instructions, it builds perfectly. There aren't any mistakes, or omissions in them that i could find. It does help however, to know how to work with coroplast in the first place. Its always suggested to start with one of the pvc fused models to start with, to get a good feel for how to work with coro, as its a totally different kind of build.

Mariner, look what you've started now. Mabye if you went to a local combat event and saw what they were flying then you could decide for yourself what would work best for you. The most important thing to remember is : it doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you look on the field that's matters!

The best advice is to go to a combat meet not just your local flying field guys but where there are a whole gaggle of these crazies and you will see real fast what works and don't end up chasing Designs around and never settling on one and becoming comfortable with how it flies. Once you find what melts your butter or in your case floats your boat Mariner you will make a informed wise choice there Grasshopper.
ASK ME HOW I KNOW

I'll bite, how do you know? Also, Mariner, are you out there soaking this in?

I flew my first round of combat yesturday with this plane. Low Winger I was way faster in the begining till my engine leaned out from all the tight G's. Then it was like I was running at half throttle so I brought her in. I was so fast in fact that I lost my streamer on the 3rd turn. That plane is by no means competitive for combat but it is a super plane to just fly around with. And it only cost me about $6 for the wing, tail & fuse. There was a bandit out there earlier in the day. I got a good look at it & I must say I'm impressed. If I were to buy a kit (not very likely at this point) I would go with the bandint or something like it.

However, if my building skills were average or better ( unlike Ace Boogie ) I'd start out with spad combat planes. That way if you don't want to spend the money to stay in combat, you wont be out all that much for the planes.

And we really need to give Ace Boogie some slack. It's obvious he is just a little boy with too much of daddy's money to spend. So let him buy the kits & keep the manufacturers in business. (Lord knows I can't) If everybody flew Spads, they'd go out of business.

Please take any reply from me with a grain of salt. It's only MY opinion and not everyone elses.

I started with the Lil Bull from DownHome R/C and it worked real good for me but this combat thing is evolving so fast with new designs I was very soon out run buy Bandits so if you can't beat em you have to join them.
Hey Mariner be careful once you have flown in a combat meet it will start to eat away at you until you can't think of anything else but how you can get a performance edge on the others but this year I'll concentrate of practice and I'm lazy so it looks like another year of getting dirt kicked in my face but I'll still be there sometimes even a blind hog will find an acorn.

When I first got into spads I built an SNS (That's Saturday Night Special) in about three days...then several weeks later I built two planes in one day. A CoroStang and a Dave West Mig7 - The plans were well put together, free, I had free support for any questions I had (I don't recall having any for the CoroStang-and the Mig 7 was alot more difficult in terms of building. Geesh, the coro stang is almost a cut and paste airplane if you ask me. Just like building anything..a little pre-planning goes a long way.

Any way there are LOTS of spads build for combat..here's two of them from one of our top Hawaiian Guys-

http://spadworld.net/combat/shreddy.html

If you go to the rccombat associations home page, you'll see a plethora of information on whats hot and whats not. Don't be afraid to ask any questions you may need to.

This is a stupid sport. Only this morning I was appalled at the thought of the Friday Night Special being a combat plane. But it ate at me all day and now I"M BUILDING ONE! Please pray for me as I have it bad.

It will take some getting used to...they certianly fly different...but you will frustrate the hell out of anyone trying to catch you

Sorry, there is no cure

If it weren't for SPADs I wouldn't be flying RC at all. If they're not your cup of tea then by all means find out what is and pursue it. I've only flown combat once. It was SSC combat with a HOR. I got 4 cuts and had 4 mid-airs. My plane was flying when the day was done. I suggest you weight the advantages/dissadvantes of all options and go with whatever you feel suits you best. I personally suggest SPADs. The main reason is the low financial and emotional investment in the plane itself. I had 4 mid-airs in about 4, or so, hours of flying combat (I got cuts on 3 out of 4 mid-airs. If you hit 'em their streamer is closer ) and was VERY happy that my plane didn't take much time or money to build. I was alot more worried about that other chaps Battle Floyd (another good ship) that I mid-aired twice. Take a look around and pic your poison. It will be destroyed eventually, especially if you fly against me so make sure you're willing to lose the investment eventually. It's worth the price of admission no matter which airframe you go for.

PS. Bambam. That is one UGLY plane. Good work

Mariner,
Lots of good advice here.

The one thing I would add is go find your local combat guys first. Find out what class(es) the local guys fly, and build for that.

No sense in building a B class ship if everyone is flying SSC or A class or 2610, or some local rules variation. Once you know what the rules are for the contests near you, you can look at airframe options. SPADs are great options. I personally fly foamies and foam-plastic hybrids.