You must Sign-in or Register to post messages in the Hobby Squawk community
Registration is FREE and only takes a few moments

Register now

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Choosing the right plane

Collapse
X
Collapse
First Prev Next Last
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Choosing the right plane

    Hello everyone. I am a little all over the place on planes that I like, so please bear with me. I have looked at getting a war bird or an aerobatic plane. I have a goal to ultimately get into 3D type of flying... Hovering, etc. With that in mind, I now fly in winds ranging from 5-10 MPH and on an off chance I get a calm day here to fly. What type of wing span, etc. would I be looking at in a war bird or aerobatic plane to fly reasonably comfortable in these wind conditions? My plane I have now has become boring... to much dihedral on the wing tips for any real stunting (playing around). Thanks.

    Cheers!
    Rich

  • #2
    Re: Choosing the right plane

    Hi Rich,

    You will get a lot of good answers but we need a little more information first. How long have you been flying planes and what model(s) do you currently own? Also, what brand/model radio do you have? Is your runway grass or pavement?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Choosing the right plane

      Hello Tom, and thanks for the fast response. I apologize for not providing enough information. Let me start from my beginning into this hobby. I first purchased a Dynam RC Flight Simulator, and self taught on this using ClearView SE. I got rather board with that then moved on to Phoenix 4 simulator, and fly on that all the time. I decided that after being able to hover, etc on the simulator it was time to purchase a plane. I choose a pusher plane, the AXN Clouds Fly and I started actually flying a few months ago. I fly almost daily with normally two outings each day I fly. I can do loops, fly inverted, and painfully slow rolls with this plane. I have a couple of friends that fly; they own lots of planes war birds, top wing planes, pushers, etc. They know a lot about their equipment but not so much about the other stuff out there in the field; which I can understand that. I have flown several of their planes from take off to landing. So from a season RC pilot I would be considered a beginner with a lot of stick time. Please understand that by no means is the equipment I have top of the line. I have a HK-T6A V2 Transmitter, and use their 6 Channel receiver's. I am fortunate to have lots of areas to fly in. Clover fields, bare fields, closed paved lane roads with fields on both sides. If I continue flying my current plane then I want to cut the wing tips off and see if that will take care of my boredom with it for a while. But as I stated, 3D or aerobatic is my goal. Sorry for the long winded response...

      Cheers!
      Rich

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Choosing the right plane

        One more question. Do you fly at a field with a grass runway or pavement?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Choosing the right plane

          I have fields with grass runways and I have fields with pavement runways. I can go to which ever is needed to fly.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Choosing the right plane

            I will give you a few options.

            The plane you are flying now is pretty slow and floats really well. I think you will want something high wing before you get into low wing.

            You best option may be the Freewing Pandora. You can start with it as a high wing plane. Once you are comfortable landing, taking off, etc, you can convert it to a low wing plane since all the necessary parts are included. It also has tricycle gear for pavement and large wheels for grass. I would recommend you start with the large wheels and use it as a tail dragger with the high wing.

            Some other alternatives.
            Freewing Flight design CTLS: Fun plane. not for grass - you will ruin the nose gear. Make sure your landings are good before buying this plane

            FMS Sky Trainer: Again, not really for grass. great plane. lights, fun to fly. Nose gear can be weak. If your landings are good, it is not a worry. If you land nose first, you will break the nose gear. In that case, use the Dubro 1/2A nose gear. It is around $5 and has a spring. You can find it on our site.

            FMS J3 Cub: similar to the other two above

            Fluzone Piper Cub: again, similar to the above

            Flyzone Cessna 182: again, similar to above.


            Once you are very comfortable with those planes, it will be time to graduate to a low wing plane. At that point your best bet may be the RocHobby Critical Mass. It is very aerobatic and yet easy to land. It has flaps and retracts.

            From there you will want to start getting into sport/3D planes but flying on low rates and gradually turning them up. FMS makes 4 nice planes in this category: Extra 300, Sbach, Edge 540, and Yak 54.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Choosing the right plane

              I strongly suggest the Freewing Panodra as I have that plane and it flies really great and is versatile. I fly off a grass field using the low wing tail dragger setup. I would buy this plane again! You should replace those crappy foam wheels with some good 2 1/2 to 3 " wheels. Also you might want to tape down the canopy. The battery compartment is a separate area up front so you will not need to open the canopy unless you need to make servo adjustments.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Choosing the right plane

                Tom, thank you for taking the time to respond. I appreciate the guidance and suggestions.

                Baron, thanks for your input and the tips.

                Cheers!
                Rich

                Comment

                Working...
                X