Scale Foam PNP Planes
 

I flew nitro for many years, and also had a few larger gas planes, but got tired of paying for and wiping nitro fuel off my planes, and my back couldn't take moving the larger gas planes in and out of the house anymore, so now im all electric, and 5 out of 8 of my planes are scale, foam, PNP's. 2 are little BNF's and one is an old Carl Goldberg Pitts electric. My latest purchase was an FMS PT-17 Stearman that I have about 1/2 way to test flight time.
I have the larger Icon A5 that I've only flown off land so far, a Durafly Monocoupe, a Skyartec Cessna 182 with flaps, a Flyzone Select Scale Super Cub, the balsa Carl Goldberg Pitts, and now the FMS PT-17 Stearman. Im lovin the scale foam PNP's. They look amazing and they fly great.

I'd like to hear from some other Scale, foam, PNP flyers, and see what you have to say about these little scale wonders. Dennis

I'm not touching this one with a ten foot pole.

Then why did you post your message ? Just trolling ?
Too good to fly electric foam planes ? I know I sure used to be.
If you want to wipe oil off your planes after every flight, or lug huge gas planes around, that's fine.
I did all of that for years, but now I just slam battery packs and fly. I enjoy flying a lot more now. Dennis

Definitely not trolling!!!
Definitely not to good, flew electric and foamies for years!!!
I am exclusively gas now so no oil to wipe down and been that way for six years!!!
Happy to hear you are slamming batteries and enjoying the sport of model aviation!!!

My post was in regards to "foamies"(in the context of the post) and the word "scale" being presented together.

In my club there's an older guy who only flies little foamies. I admit that I kind of looked down my nose at him until we had a conversation one day and his love for flying and airplanes really came through and he told me how he used to have a fleet of a dozen scale turbine jets. I've often thought that if my circumstances change in the future (which seems very likely) I might enjoy doing small scale free-flight (of course of WWI aircraft).

BTW, the trick to not worrying about the oil mess, is not caring that the model is oily! :cool:

Well, these days the foamies look as good as the balsa/monocoat planes do. They have come a long way.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2109889

I know some guys love building kits, and some do it from scratch, but I didn't even like putting ARF's together, never did. I also got tired of working on the planes. My Saito's were dependable, and the gassers flew for penneys, but I was just burned out I guess. I sold everything and bailed on the hobby for about 5 years. Then a friend gave me an Eflite Beast and a Parkzone Sukhoi SU-26m, so I bought a DX6i to fly them with. Then I wanted something larger, so I bought a Flyzone Select Scale Super Cub, and kept filling up the model memories with new planes after that. I never dreamed I would ever get back into RC planes, but I found the electrics to be almost maintainance free, so I was hooked again.
The smaller planes are a little harder to fly, and lets face it, a 10 lb gasser laughs at 10 mph winds, where flying a foamie is more like work, but I think overall, it's the same thing only with a lot less work, effort, and expense. In the air, I don't see any difference really. It feels the same to me anyway, and the PNP's are cheap. I just bought a beautiful FMS P-17 Stearman for $199.00 and free shipping, and the scale detail is amazing. I don't miss nitro and gas one bit, and im having more fun than ever.
Well, it looks like im the only one willing to admit I love foam PNP planes. lol Come on guys ! Show us your foam ! Dennis
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2109910

Here's an interesting plane I bought a while back. The Icon A5 is a cross between a jet ski, a sports car, and an airplane, and real one's start at around $140.000.00.
This is a foam, licensed scale model of the real deal, and their discontinued now. I think you can still buy the micro version though. It flys really well, and has lots of power for easy water take offs. it only takes a few minutes to remove the wheels and have it water ready.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2109911

You might find more kindred spirits on another one of the RCU forums. In general ARFs are already a dirty word around here and foamie ARFs doubly so. :p But you're right that the better ones look as good in the air as most kit-built models. But most foamies have a way of flying that just don't look right to my eyes. Maybe they need to heavier.

DISCLAIMER: I have a cheap ARF that I love to fly around on the weekends. No foam however.

There are definitely some nice foamies available these days. But I just don't care much for them, just don't appear to fly right in my eyes either. Like I said I had some and some day as I age I may have to go back to them. But for now I will enjoy my side of this hobby which is scratch and kit building scale airframes such as my latest model shown in the pic.

Carl Goldberg was the innovator behind the foamies. His company mass produced a copy of a MIG used as an aerial target for the military.

Nice 1/3 scale Pitts,
I hate building anything except VW Trikes, and im burned out on that now too, so I only ride these days.
SCALE means it's a scale model of a real plane. I only fly scale planes. I have no interest in non scale planes.
I learned to fly with an Avistar, which was not a scale model of a real plane.
This forum is RC Scale Aircraft, so im in the right place.
I've flown 10 to 15 lb scale planes, and now im flying smaller scale foam planes, and to me it feels the same, except the smaller one's are harder to fly and land smoothly.
My 1/5th scale Curtis P6E Hawk by Great Planes was a wonderful plane, but it was kinda boring to fly, and a real pain to get thru doors with my back.
Now I go to our flying site, and I can have 5 or 6 flights in before one of the guys has his 33%? Yak together and his Moki radial running.
I don't have to fill a gas tank, or install any wings, I just pop in a battery pack and fly, and I have enough battery packs to keep me entertained for hours without breaking out the field chargers which I have 3 of. I can fly all day and never need a screwdriver, and as a retired mechanic, that's the way I like it.
With yard work, house maintainance, and taking care of an elderly friend, I simply do not have the time to fly RC any other way these days.

In addition to giant scale gas, glow and jets, I have a number of foam planes, including a Freewing foam ME262 that is reasonably scale and looks great in the air. Electric is hassle free and some of these foam planes are a kick to fly. I also think that the 1700 mm FMS warbirds are more accurate to scale than the traditional glow warbirds (e.g. Hangar 9 P51 and Spitfire).

The negative I have found with foam is appearance durability. Over time the soft surface of the foam planes get little scratches and dings much more quickly than a traditional Ultracoat finish, and it's harder to repair them. These dings are often hangar rash, from transporting and handling but they still result in a quicker degrade of appearance than with the traditional construction.

Greg

All I do at the field is unload, fuel, and fly. Everything is charged the night before. I do agree with the Moki's, never seen one that started and ran easily, my Valach starts with one flip and has never even had a hiccup. With five planes ready to go, no assembly, I can go all day without even refueling.

Hi Greg, I have to agree with you on the fadding appearance. My Durafly Monocoupe has maybe 200 flights on it and it's starting to look old already, but it still flys great.
The cool thing is, when they get wore out in appearance, you can get a new one for 200 of less, unless it's discontinued like my Monocoupe.
The new FMS PT-17 Stearman is going to be a blast. With the flying wires it's going to be a sweet looking plane. It's amazingly accurate to scale, and it was only $199 and free shipping.
My favorite thing about flying the smaller planes, especially foam, is the fact that my investment is only a couple of hundred, not a couple of thousand.
If I lose an elevator servo and crash (hasn't happened yet), i'll simply whip out another plane and keep flying, no big deal. That in itself is pretty cool.
Im also so busy these days, I tend to get to the flying site an hour before dark, but I can still get 8 to 10 flights in easily with the little electric wonders.
Granted, I probably looked a lot cooler cruising thru town with a giant bipe on the flatbed, but at 62 years old, I don't need to look cool anymore. :cool:

After what I saw one of our guys go thru, my opinion of the Moki 215 is not good. $3800 for an engine that never runs correctly ? The crankcase is packed with grease, and his first problem was the fuel pump sucking grease into the carb, plugging up the screen. Then he had a terrible bout with gas or oil fouling the bottom cylinders.
If I paid 4 grand for an RC engine, it better run like a new pickup, and do my laundry too.
I dunno, im having too much fun now to look back. Im having more RC fun than ever before, on less money than ever before, and I think that's pretty cool.

I am a dyed-in-the-wool RC scale scratch builder but I have to confess that I have an FMS 1400mm Zero foamie hanging in the garage and a 1700mm P-40N waiting in the box for a bashing session. The Zero has a downright decent scale outline, has the coolest little set of electric retracts in it (with all the gear doors to boot) and flies for 7-8 minutes on a very near scale three-bladed prop. And it cost me $230 with everything except a RX and battery. What's not to like?

Here's a video I shot of a friend's foamie FMS Bf-109 (with sound module). It is indeed a nifty looking little model. But it wasn't cheap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsAy1Q1NPqc BTW, one of the reasons I don't have any electric models is that cost of switching over is almost as high as starting RC all over again.

If I were going to get a scale foamie, this one would certainly be appealing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR-JGs2CxdY

Also nice at $150.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al4Ypy-Zsa8

I have to admit, I don't like warbirds, but that was pretty cool.
I just finished putting my FMS PT-17 Stearman together. I wish it didn't have army decals on it. I'd prefer it as a cropduster, but im a sucker for bipes.
Im disappointed at the plastic wing struts, poor quality e clips they use to hold the wheels on, and the 2 identical pilots that look like nuns.
The wing struts will have to do, I found good quality e clips for the wheels in my stash, and I guess I have the flying nuns for now. :mad:
This Stearman looks amazing, but the quality of the plane ? I think FMS could use better components. I think this plane should have been $139, not $199.

Im so mad at Durafly right now I could spit ! I love my Monocoupe so much, I wanted to buy another one to put away for when this one is totally wore out, but they discontinued it.
I guess I like alot of planes that nobody else does, so they don't sell enough of them, and then stop making them. Good thing I love Piper Cubs, they will never go away :cool:

I forgot to post a pic of the finished PT-17 Stearman. I'll wait for cooler temps before the test flight though. Come on winter !
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2110029

Actually the Foam Mig's were invented by a company called RS Systems, Goldberg was a secondary contractor on the Mig's