Remote Controlled Airplane

[Rocker]

Anybody on here ever mess with a remote controlled plane? I can see the witty responses now (because I've got about five quick ones I could fire off), but really, what's a decent plane for a semi-beginner? I can learn quickly and have a little experience with these things.

I was thinking of this airplane ( https://h1069956.hobbyshopnow.com/products/...sp?prod=PKZ1500 - or the Focke-Wulf 190). I don't feel like I need to get into a whole project of building one from the ground up just yet - just something I can get a little instant gratification from that performs well for around $200 or so.

I do know one "senior leader" on this board who is a fairly avid R/C plane buff. Any advice?

[HerkDerka]

Anybody on here ever mess with a remote controlled plane?

I've almost hit a Predator before. Does that count?

HD

[ClearedHot]

I recommend thisairplane for starters. Please avoid this one....ouch.. Maybe someday you can move up to this

I actually have this plane and it flies very well.

[Scooter14]

That B-52 crash looks eerily like the Fairchild incident.

[M2]

Been thinking about getting one of those little cheap mini-helicopters to fly around the house...looks like fun; but I am not interested in spot painting all the marks I am gonna make when I crash into the walls...

Cheers! M2

[ACCBoomer]

I have been flying R/C airplanes for over 20 years, and can tell you that if you have never flown than yes it is to much airplane. I had that particular P-51 and it is very scale like. That being said Horizon Hobby has a gas powered trainer P-51 for $119 that I taught someone to fly and he was on his own in less that 5 flights... It looks easy, but I can tell you that I love nothing more than handing my transmitter to one of our pilots that says "if I can fly the real thing than this "toy" is easy", just to watch them get it inverted and I have to save it. Granted I would never hand him my $$$ Tubine powered F-16, but anthing else is a riot. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Just my .02

Link to the P-51 https://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Defau...?ProdID=HAN2845

Some of my current airforce:

[FallingOsh]

Been thinking about getting one of those little cheap mini-helicopters to fly around the house...looks like fun; but I am not interested in spot painting all the marks I am gonna make when I crash into the walls...

Cheers! M2

We bought a couple of those for beer drinkin entertainment. $30 at Wal-Mart and damn near indestructable. You get 5-10 minutes of flight time for 15-20 minutes of charging. Perfect for flying around during commercials and charging during the show or movie. It took a few minutes to get the hang of but it's really easy and never left a mark on the walls. I knocked some kind of porcelain statue over that broke, but nothing too serious. Highly recommended.

[BlackKnight]

Anybody on here ever mess with a remote controlled plane? I can see the witty responses now (because I've got about five quick ones I could fire off), but really, what's a decent plane for a semi-beginner? I can learn quickly and have a little experience with these things.

I was thinking of this airplane ( https://h1069956.hobbyshopnow.com/products/...sp?prod=PKZ1500 - or the Focke-Wulf 190). I don't feel like I need to get into a whole project of building one from the ground up just yet - just something I can get a little instant gratification from that performs well for around $200 or so.

I do know one "senior leader" on this board who is a fairly avid R/C plane buff. Any advice?

Haven't been into the hobby in 10 years or so, but I've flown/crashed plenty of 'em. Anyway, my recommendations would be to buy at least a .40 size airplane, be it electric or not (bigger= more stable for beginner). The scale replica aircraft are typically pretty squirrly to fly, unless you buy a larger one (.60 or larger) STS. Electric ARF's are great and pretty plentiful nowadays. If it's your first airplane I would suggest something from Great Planes or Goldberg (no, not the wrestler)- bigger companies have more support, higher quality products, better instructions, etc. Tricycle gear to start is also good. Great planes offers a super sportster electric arf (taildragger unfortunately) that would be good for semi-beginner.

It's up to you on where you want to start in the hobby (beginner/intermediate/advanced airplane wise)- just be advised I've also handed the controls of my airplane to an ex-navy A-4 vietnam vet/eastern airlines retiree years ago and had him plow it into the ground quicker than i could grab the controls back.

I've also almost hit a predator... I think it would only count if I brought it back hanging from station 11. F'in predators...

[flynhigh]

I've got a Great Planes PT-40 that was my first trainer. It's not an ARF (Almost Ready-to-Fly) so it requires a bit of work to get it in the air. I'd recommend getting hooked up with one of the R/C computer simulators (Great Planes Real Flight G3 or Hangar 9 FS One). It's a great way to learn, IMHO. No worries if you crash, you're not out $150 or whatever you spent. Obviously getting hooked up with someone who knows what they're doing would be ideal, but the simulators are definitely a way you can learn on your own. I flew on Real Flight for a year or so before I actually flew my PT-40, the sim and the real thing were amazingly similar. Now I've got a Hangar-9 Tribute .36. It'll hover at half throttle. Not bad for $175 with an engine and servos (already installed).

Good luck.

[Rocker]

Thanks for all the answers. I may press my luck a little with the model I linked to above, but it sounds like it might be a little beyond my current abilities. We'll see, but I promise to 'fess up if I do buy it and plow it right into the terrain. If I go to Nellis soon, we'll see how the blackjack tables treat me and go from there. The only thing I'm not sure about is if I want gas right off the bat here. I just want a little cheap entertainment for the most part right now, but something well beyond the capabilities of a $50 Toys R Us plane. That and the Cox EZ Bee (that was gas) that I had as a kid make up my experience level.

[ACCBoomer]

If you decide to buy one at Nellis, I suggest you pay a visit to twice nice hobbies on Tropicana Rd. The owner (Denny) is an ex KC-135 dude and if you tell him you are military he will give you 40-50% off on the spot. He has a crap load of airplanes as well. I just bought an A-7 Cosair jet that has been out of production for 20 years and he had it...

[Rocker]

Good shit, thanks for the info.

[JeepGuyC17]

"2" on the suggestion of a .40 size ARF trainer for your first plane. I started out on a .40 high wing ARF trainer from towerhobbies.com and it was a great and easy plane to learn on, plus you could still get it to do loops and aileron rolls and the like. From personal experience I would reccomend a couple things if you plan on continuing the hobby, namely investing a little more into your first engine and radio to get something that will serve you well on bigger/more advanced planes. My first engine and radio were the most basic type, a simple 4 channel radio and a decent .40 engine which were fine for my first plane but I ended up replacing them within 6 months of my first flight because I wanted to upgrade and build another plane. I ended up getting a 6 channel radio with extra channels for retractable gear and flaps, as well as programmable settings for several presets- that way you can use it for several different planes without having to adjust trim settings every time you fly. For my new engine I got a more powerful .46 engine with more than enough grunt to get a .40 off the ground in a short distance from an unprepared surface. You're probably looking at $300-$400 initial investment including the plane, but that's mostly on the engine, radio setup, and field equipment which you can use on subsequent planes, and the hobby is well worth the money in my opinion

R/C flying is great fun, and really easy to learn if you have somebody to teach you.

Edited August 4, 2007 by JeepGuyC17