Looking into RC Flight..

[Adz]

Hey fellas,

Been reading these forums day in/out for a while now and thought id finally speak up and ask for some advice. Always tinkered with on-road nitro cars, however the faster they get.. the less places i have to "muck" around with it. Opposite to where i live is a LARGE oval and would be perfect to get into some RC flight stuff.

Always been in admiration over the gliders/planes/helis, but wouldnt have a clue as to where to begin. I do like the idea of a decent sized glider, do have alot of patience.. so speed isnt an issue. Would like to keep it to a decent budget.. being a beginner and all.. not expecting too much outta the product.

Any suggestions?

[remotebandit]

hey adz , welcome abroad mate .

Where are you based in Aus and also whats your budget

[Adz]

In Perth, WA

Ideally around the 200 mark - if its more or less i'll budget accordingly

[SuperRoo]

If your wanting to learn on your own I would suggest one of the many RTF kits out there, I think one of the popular ones is the Electrafun XP RTF which sells for around $159 with a spare wing or one of the hobbyzone RTF planes which also sell for around the same price.
http://www.perthrc.com.au/Aeroplanes/Aerobird/Swift.htm
http://www.perthrc.com.au/Aeroplanes/Park_flyers.htm

If you want to come check us out when we go out for a fly your welcome to come and have a muck around with one of our gliders. Keep checking this area for a date when we go out, which lately has been almost every weekend. We usually end up at a huge park in Harper St, Woodbridge.

[stone]

G'day,Nuts is on the money with the electrafun.

The best advice I can give other than that is TRY NOT to get one of the ones that has a throttel only for climbing,what I mean is you have steering on one stick,then on the other stick you have thottel.Tis means you push the stick forward to climb/gain hieght.
Now this is all good and well,and is VERY EASY to fly,what it does is teach you to push the stick forward when you panic or get close to the ground.

Then after youve smashed it into everything in the local park,it's buggered and you go and get a better one!!

NOW this is when you learn that every other type of plane that you will want to fly has an elevator,and now you have to get the first thing you learned ( PUSH THE GAS ) out of your head and learn to pull back on that stick to climb.
This is about the time alot of people give up trying to fly.

Best of luck mate

[Adz]

Thanx for the advice so far fellas..

I'd definitely be keen on heading out to see what it's all about. Uni exams over the next 2 weeks.. then a huge amount of time free for hobbies :)

Any particular models you guys have had good success with in the past?

Im all for not getting something 2 brainless.. i'd rather learn on a plane.. thats going to give me a better indication of what to expect from better planes

[stone]

As far as easy to fly and very forgiving,you cant go past the aerobirds,there have been quite a few diffrent models of areobirds and the one i have flowen have all flowen well.

I know they look a little poofy but you will get you value for money and they will teach you alot.

If you realy must get a plane,Id recomend electric park flyers as the way to go.
They are normaly very light,and fly very slow which gives you more time to think when you get into trouble,and they are normaly fairly forgiving to fly.

go to the second link Nuts put up,scroll down till you get to the Piper J-3 Cub. I havent flown one before,but I'd bet me left nut that would fly great.

[Adz]

I'm not fussed about what it looks at to be honest.. i'll be making plenty of trips over to my local park.. getting in as much learning experience as possible.. and hey.. if any one makes fun ill pull out the nitro car :)

I do like the look of the Piper Cub - going to check out the local shops and see whats available..

I'm now set on the electric park flyers.. now its just a case of deciding which one!

Choices are endless.. much harder to pick a style than what cars were

[remotebandit]

Hey Adz , ditto on the above plus i cant reccomend enough a flight sim .

For the sake of only $35 or so it will save you allot more than that in smashes :

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Esky-RC-Helicopter-Flight-Training-Simulator-w-USB_W0QQitemZ180127174644QQihZ008QQcategoryZ110026 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Personally i reckon their pretty accurate and i think the latest update on models ( free off the net ) has the models nuts listed

[Adz]

Hey thats pretty kewl..

Tho ill have to see wats available locally as i dont use credit cards. Did see a plane last nite whilst browsing some stores where one came with the simulation software/controller as a bonus, ill have to try dig them up.

Ive looked into the Piper J-3 cub after the above post.. its certainly looks the goods.. nothing but great feedback from others that have used it, and well within the price.

Might be a goer.. now to just finish exams!

[SuperRoo]

Have a look on Ebay for a cheap flight sim with 4 channel controller. Theres a few in Aus from $35-$50.

Here's a little helping info that I've recently found out about a few of the updated versions of the Aerobirds from Hobby Zone. According to their website the radios can now be reused in other models and servo's can be changed. They still use a receiver and esc all in one unit but being able to take the radio out and install it into another model is a huge benefit for when you plan to upgrade.

[remotebandit]

ohh 1 more important bit of advice would be to make sure you get a transmitter with the mode 1 stick configuration with the throttle on the right .

This is how we fly in Australia so seeing your learning you might as well do it right .

Just thought id mention it as allot of imports are mode 2 ( and sometimes not even that with the stupid looking cheap ass transmitters they include and i say this with the experience of a throttle control on a slider on the back of the remote ... yes on the back )

[Adz]

Ok ive done a bit of research into the piper cub.. still looking @ the aerobirds

The controller the piper cub comes with looks like so:

http://site.nitrorcx.com/3388f.jpg

Would that be what i should be looking at.. Do realise its not a "DUAL" stick operation..

Also looking at the aerobirds and noticed they also use a similar controller

http://secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/HZ/ab3/ab3_parts/HBZ7271.html

Im a little sceptical of this product by hobbyzone.. it certainly sounds the goods... and has a (anti crash feature) which can be turned off. (always sceptical of such claims)

http://www.hobbyzone.com/rc_planes_hobbyzone_firebird_freedom.htm

With that in mind, i'd still rather stick to local RC shops for purchase, purely for the peace of mind, and knowing i can readily get parts if need be.

[remotebandit]

this is such a catch 22 on these planes cause personally , those transmitters are rubbish .

You would think that seeing their making easy to fly planes for begginers that they would make them to Australian standards on the trasmitter .

Personally adz those parkzones are great to learn on in terms of flying stability but ... and take this from someone who sees it all the time at our club ... the students get hooked up to that way of flying then when they take it up seriously and go for bigger and better , their mind is stuck in old habbits of those stupid transmitters and your virtually learning again with the only problem of instinct taking over and ditching due to the wrong command .

Id like others opinions on this as there is no right or wrong but im telling you from how many guys come through the club .

[Adz]

Thats exactly what went through my mind when i saw the controller. It appeared as though it was made ONLY for that product, considering the 4/5/6 channel stuff ive seen already, definitely seemed too basic. Although im all for getting the 'ideals' of flying.. i dont wanna be spoon fed into it in such a way that when i try to take my next step forward, i fall flat on my face so to speak.

Ideally id still love to get an 'all in one' type package, as i have no real knowledge of putting these things together/setting them up.

Thanx for the opinions thus far.. unfortunally i find most places are all too eager to throw a product at you to send you out the door.

[SuperRoo]

This is one good reason to consider a glider as your first plane because it uses a standard 2 channel stick radio or you can buy a 4 channel radio so when you upgrade to a powered model it will make the transition a little easier.

[stone]

Yeh,what a barstard.They are all 3 chanell mode 2!!!
And as nuts said, glider!!
It's a bugger they dont do mode 1 on thes basic models.
But with a glider you can always mount a power pod on the wing when you get more confordent.

My fav park flyer is my GWS Pico CUB FD , it has a polystyrene body with skined depron wing and tail.
This is suprisingly strong compaired to the Pico Stick,and when it does hit the ground it isnt going that fast so the damage is minimal. The best thing is they only fly between fast walking pace and a jog!! So you get plenty of time to work out what your doin with the sticks.
BUT you need a 4 chanel transmiter,a micro reciver,micro servos,5amp (from memory,its been3 years since i used it) speedy and then your flight pack (battery).but the inderviduel cost of the plane is about $60 and it comes with the motor.
Hence most people learn on a RTF park flyer that comes with everything including the charger.

[Adz]

Wow.. now it starts to get interesting!!

Took a look at the electrafun XP.. it has a 4 channel controller in Mode 1.. HOWEVER it only has an on/off switch for the motor on the top right corner of the controller.. not variable. I've seen some mods to replace this with a variable knob.. but that defeats the purpose.

So gliders.. whole new ball game?

[Adz]

Looked around a bit more.. and came across this one

http://www.perthrc.com.au/Aeroplanes/Aerobird/Swift.htm

What you guys think.. it doesnt go into detail about the control layout.. and claims itself to be fairly straight forward.

!dodge

[remotebandit]

mate , if thats the transmitter it comes with , its spot on even down to ailerons as ussually these planes are only rudder and elevator plus its got a 1.2 meter wingspan ... total bonus .

It dont have rudder control but not needed at all for this type of model so : NA

Spot on

[Adz]

Awesome! So i was on the right track..

Sooo tempted to head out and just nab one.. BUT ill hold back till after uni exams.. besides.. the weather is rather poo at the moment anyways

[Adz]

Actually - the more i read on that one.. they class it as a "intermediate" plane. I do consider myself a quicker learner and all.. but i do have PLENTY of time to learn and enjoy this hobby..

Probably a better question.. how did you guys first start out? What would you get/have done differently?

[remotebandit]

when i started out ( 25 years ago ) ready to fly wasnt heard of so i had to build every plane i had .

The way i learnt was to spend 2 weeks building , 1 minute to smash it and that went for about 2 years till i actually got a few laps of the park and built up my confidence but yes , just smashintought me .

From there i joined a club ( my current club still ) only to find out i was flying wrongly on the sticks as i thought up on the transmitter stick was supposed to push the plane up and doen was supposed to dive it so it took me over another year to fix that ( hence why i say if your new to flying , learn the proper way b4 developin habbits ) .

[SuperRoo]

The Swift is one of the Aerobird models I was refering in a previous post that has the RX that can be reused in another kit when you chose to upgrade, which makes it a pretty good buy consider the cost of a 4 channel radio on its own.

From what I've read on a few forums it can also be changed between modes with a little internal modding of the TX.

I would steer clear of the Aerobirds with the Anti-Crash technology, specially if your learning as they end up hindering your learning ability. One freind destroyed his plane 3 times before he decided to turn the ACT off and hasnt broken a thing since.

I'm sure what ever you choose you wont be disappointed.