I have purchased a hobbico nexstar 46 and have not yet received it....any tips or opinions out there?

My Dad used one for his re-training after being away from the sticks for 30 yrs, He loved it and it got him back in the saddle in no time. A pretty good trainer all around from what he's said.

Overall, it's an outstanding airplane - especially if used in conjunction with the flight simulator that comes with it. The simulator is actually a bit hotter than the airplane, so once you've gotten to the point that you're comfortable with the simulator you'll definitely be able to handle the actual plane. My son-in-law has had no problems with it whatever. It comes with the control surfaces at pretty much minimum deflection, so as you improve in flying the plane you can increase the deflection/effectiveness as you go.

One note: the Nexstar comes with a "stabilization" sensor that levels the plane every time you take your fingers off the sticks - that was the first thing we unhooked (a simple unplug of one wire). It may be just my bias but I didn't like the feature at all, made me distinctly uncomfortable. Of course, I'm the instructor (30 yrs RC, 53 yrs CL flying) in this particular instance. If you're going on your own (no instructor, help, whatever) I'd keep it hooked up for at least the first half-dozen flights.

One small tip here - if I might. When we took the airbrakes off (after about the 30th flight) we neglected to re-adjust the elevator, which almost lost us an airplane. The airbrakes act as flaps, in addition to keeping the plane slow and gentle. When you remove them you need to re-set the elevator several turns higher. If you don't, you'll be diving the plane right into the ground on take-off - assuming you get it off the ground at all on that first "brakeless" flight.

My son-in-law got his basic training experience with a 3-channel bird from the 70's, the Nexstar is his 2nd plane. He's got it set up now to the point that it'll stay in the air and do nearly everything my 34-year old Sr. Falcon will do - and there's still a lot of potential to make it even more maneuverable.

Definitely, a good plane. You'll enjoy it.

Dave

pics below: my Sr. Falcon (white & green), Dale's Nexstar (white overall)

woof...a neststar, those are a terible design, if you want a no nonsence easy flyer from the box just get the new Apprentice
from E-flight : a blind person could fly that one. A realy good 2nd or 3rd plane for beginers ( 3rd if you dont have a sym )
is the dolphin from Phoenix Modles toss a max 55 o.s. with low rates on take off and landings and you have an exelent - cheep platform for learning and beond

Apparently Nextars are not all manufactured at the same facility. Mine cost me most of one flying season,and a great deal of self confidence.
Some apparently fly well,mine didn't. However I did gain a great deal of knowledge from attempting to correct its deficiencies [through posts on RCU forems related to this model]. I do not regret having bought this model,the knowledge I gained more than compensated me for time spent trying to make it fly well.
fredsedno

Yeah Fred, understood. We lost a Nexstar a couple weeks ago - student tried to trim a big OLD Oak tree with it, didn't work so well. Pretty well shredded the plane. He just ordered a replacement fuselage and he's back in the air again now though.

The problem came on his approach - the plane simply didn't hold its glide like it usually does and came down too soon, too far out, and he didn't correct in time.

It was also partially my fault. I teach "old style" - no buddy-cord, student has box - I give instructions as needed and if something happens where the student DOES get into major trouble I just grab the box, correct, and hand it back to him/her. If there HAD been a buddy cord it probably wouldn't have happened. I need to look into that, I guess, but it's hard (for me) to have all the correct controllers on hand with all the different controllers (makes, models, etc) that are in use on any given flying day.

Live and learn, I guess.

BTW, did you know that "to a tree, balsa and monokote tastes just like chicken"!!!!

Dave

Best thing you can do is cancle your order..... what a piece of junk.... learned on one and haited it

I disagree in being junk, their are better performing planes as trainers but the nexstar is a very good looking plane with potential. After a 1/2 season of flying, i decided to pull the rest of the pealing, crappy covering and do some slight mods to the plane. Larger elevator, took out the dihedral, bolt down wing and made it a tail dragger and new covering. This plane flys fanastic and looks good for what i have in it. (the "Nextstar")I just recently put a 52 4 stroke in the plane to give it more scale sound and flight.
Send me your old junk ones-I like um!

Hi Frenchie,
Please xplain your take off proceedures.
Most pilots I have watched use the "two man "take off. One man holds the aircraft while the pilot gives it w.o.t.& nearly full up elevator.
Not scale but it gets it off the ground. Not pretty,but it works.
fredsedno

I trained on a Nexstar and I liked mine while I had it. It's great for learning to land with, but it's not the best windy day flyer out there. The engine and radio equipment included with the Select RTF version is all very good quality and the included flight simulator was a nice plus.

Mole21401, guess you've seen it - like with any other plane out there, there are no shortage of opinions on the Nexstar - some good, some bad. Personally, and with more than 50 years of model flying under my belt, I find few faults with the plane at all. Yeah, it can crash and burn, so to speak, but any other plane can too - depends on circumstances I guess. Bigedmustafa is right, it's NOT a windy-day flier - wouldn't put one up with winds over 15 mph, but anything less and we've had no problems at all. Take-offs with ours have all been totally standard - taxi out to runway, line her up, hit the gas and GO! Just watch for something of a tendency to try to nose-up vertically when she clears the ground. One of ours wants to do that, another takes off straight as an arrow with a very gentle climb - just like they should.

They seem to mostly land like a glider (based on the 3 we've flown) - long and slow, they float like mad. GREAT for learning to land.

If you've got that simulator that comes with the RTF version, you'd do very well indeed to put as many hours as you can into it before you take your plane out. Like I said in the beginning (3rd post), the simulator is hotter than the actual plane. If you can fly the simulator easily, you're nearly guaranteed good flights with the plane.

It has a fairly good track record overall though and I, personally, think you'll enjoy it.


Dave

Skylark,
My Nexstar actually hovered on take off,poked full down elevator and continued flying,landed beautifully.
This plane would always roll to the right on rotation.
fredsedno

I have flown one a few times and I thought it was a very complicated way to redesign a basic trainer. That said, I thought it flew fine. Not much different from a regular box trainer.

My first plane was a Nexstar, which I sold cheaply due to car repairs. The next Spring, I purchased a used Superstar to get going again. I actually liked the Nexstar better, because it was a bit more sensitive and crisp. The Superstar felt a bit mushy, but was also slower and more stable, with steeper approaches on landing as opposed to the Nexstar's cleaner airframe. When you remove the training aids from the Nexstar, it becomes quite agile for a trainer.

NorfolkSouthern

Frenchie. You are a fortunate man to have such beautiful country side. If I lived there I would be flying in my back yard every day I imagine you could set glider endurance records there.

mr67stang, Thank-you, Southwest Wisconsin is a nice area for now anyway-Talk to me in another couple months. I generally only fly electrics out the back door, maybe a nitro funfly when i feel brave-not comfortable with houses close by. A glider may be a good idea!

I no this is old hoping maybe you'll see this I'm new and trying to learn everything I can so might be a silly question but looking at your pictures I'm wondering what the string coming from under the back center of the wing and going to the top of the tail does,is for if or is it just for looks?

That "string" is the antenna wire from the 72 MHz receiver. Most RC pilots are using 2.4 GHz technology, where the antenna is inside the plane. I teach using my revolutionary training technique where those I teach learn to fly very skillfully within a couple of hours total, (no buddy box). I hope it catches on where all instructors use this technique. Email me for more information if you're interested.

Wow, times change so fast now. I still fly many planes with 72 meg radios.
Sounds like when kids see old movies they are not going to know what those rotary phones where.

I am a firm believer in buddy boxes and instruction until the student can go home with an airplane in one piece most the time.
IMHO
On the Nexstar, The leading edge parts were ok. Those under wing flap/breaks were a terrible.
IMHO