Beginner 3D plane

[Pauly]

mjse, I too hope Shirty is OK, but the question to your answer is I would recommend the QQ300 by Flex Innovations. It has the Aurora 8 flight stabilizer in it and flies and handles so easy. It is one of the easiest flying airplanes I have ever flown. I had one.

[rifleman_btx]

I do like the QQextra as well very smooth and will grow with your experience

[Nike_Belli]

Shirty has a good collection of Rc.

[Wild Man]

You may want to look into Twisted Hobbies they have some very nice foam 3D planes and are a blast to fly no matter where you are at in your flying from beginners to expert here is a short video of their new Edge 540 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh2tHeK1EXs&t=5s Godd luck with your search for a great 3D plane

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hey man thanks for all the good info, I really do appreciate your time. I'll look into these planes, like you said I didn't think balsa was a good place to start but wasn't sure to start with foam planes. Again thanks for the info

I know I'm late to the party, but have to agree whole heartedly with Shirty what great advice! For my money, the Extreme Flight candidates are by far the best flying and best quality 3D planes you can get. Unfortunately at the moment, the majority of their 48" to 62" are out of stock (think only 2 of say 20 in stock - goes to their quality and bang for the buck). I started trying 3D flying (after years of flying high wing and tail dragging warbirds) with a 48" foam Yak and Edge and believe it or not a 60" wood/monokote Hangar 9 Beast Bi-Plane that I still love and often fly for 3D work, but maybe the only difference I have with Shirty is that I wish I would have started with one of the Extreme Flight planes first. Yes, they are costlier and not as easily repairable, but they actually make virtually every 3D maneuver twice (if not more) easier to do and get proficient at than any foamy. My wife has an Apprentice trainer and I let her fly one of my Extreme Flight planes and she gave me all wholly hell, saying "why did I get stuck with a crappy foamy when this thing flies better and is actually easier to fly/land than that stupid trainer Apprentice"!!! Of course she is not doing any 3D maneuvers, but they fly trainer style better than anything else.

Since you've already got several years of flying in, it's time to take it to the next level! You're smart enough and minimally experienced enough to know that a little altitude in trying new maneuvers is your friend. You don't have to start out 1 foot off the deck trying a hover/rolling harrier/knife edge/etc. or any number of other wild gyrations. You can do just about anything and everything with enough altitude that if you make a mistake or screw up (which you certainly will do many times before you perfect it), these things are so light and well balanced for their wing loading that you should be able to recover well before you auger into the ground. For even some of the simplest maneuvers like a really good flat spin/inverted flat spin/figure 8 knife edge/etc. with my foamies, I was always coming up slightly less than what I wanted. The first Extreme Flight plane I flew, it did it perfect with no problem and it seems these planes can perform those even if you're half asleep (which my brain usually is)! A pilot at our field who has flown virtually every model for some 50 years (plus flown virtually every commercial jet for 737 to the Concord) just bought an E-Flight Edge and has been working on just knife edge for weeks now with it (even though he can do it with his large turbines 2 feet off the runway) and spends more time trying to get aileron/elevator mixes in on a right rudder knife edge and then has to get different mixes in for a left rudder knife edge, and still can't quite get it, but with the EF planes, a 2 year old can do it with not compensating or complex mixes.

The 48" are nice to start with, but I'd have to say go the biggest your wallet or can can handle! For a few bucks more you can go to a 62" which you can see the orientation even better and it turns out the bigger the plane, the easier it seems to fly (especially in varying wind conditions). So that's my 2 cents, which in today's economy ain't worth the paper it's written on!

My 62" fleet, which in all of them I finished out the cockpit with the IFlyTally gauges and the EF pilots, gotta finish it instead of leaving the wood truss interior show through as it comes! :

[Mizer67]

Figured I'd take a break from my jets and just bought an EF 48" Edge 540 v2 to try to improve my skills. Thought I'd try something different for power though and plan on running it on a small 6S setup.

I haven't had a balsa plane since I started in RC, back when that's what there was, so I'm kind of excited. When I came back after a few decades, it was all electric and foam. Balsa wasn't too painful on the wallet, even with new batteries.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Figured I'd take a break from my jets and just bought an EF 48" Edge 540 v2 to try to improve my skills. Thought I'd try something different for power though and plan on running it on a small 6S setup.

I haven't had a balsa plane since I started in RC, back when that's what there was, so I'm kind of excited. When I came back after a few decades, it was all electric and foam. Balsa wasn't too painful on the wallet, even with new batteries.

Welcome to the club, you will not be disappointed. The Extreme Flight planes are, IMO, the gold standard of 3D planes. Good for anyone from a beginner (flies better than my wife's 60" trainer Apprentice) to an expert (and that ain't me, but getting better each time out). A bunch of guys at our field have the E-Flight foam Edge, not a bad plane, but it just can't hold a candle to the Extreme Flight planes. I keep telling them not to waste their money on anything else, then let them fly one of my 60" ones, and unfortunately they went home thinking "Oh , I could'a had something really nice!

[Wild Man]

Extreme Flight Planes are Top notch 3D ships, but expensive, I still have a few but, I seldom fly them now. I just got burnt out on 3D. I started flying (practicing on the Sim first, then went to the Profile 3D Planes with the thick Airfoil wings with great slow flight characteristics, with very low wing loading. All my 3D planes had either glow or gas Engines With wing spans from 48" to 127" from many different manuf. Aero Works, Red Wing, Aero Beez, Pilot, Hangar Nine and a few more from Morris Hobbies of many types of Slabs from a box of Balsa and Ply to ARF's. I loved to do Tail touch landings once I learned all the tricks on how to fly 3D good luck great fun and it will hone your flying skills here is a video of One of my Pilot 30% with an EME 60 Gasser. playing in a 20 t0 25 mph wind a few years back. I also flew planes with better than 2 to 1 power ratio's Hanging the planes on the prop before it was dubbed Hovering and Torque rolls were called Vertical rolling LOL and when they started coming out with all the gas engines the planes i had just gat bigger and bigger. I learned a lot from a young man at the Rally of the Giants in Gillette Wyo. in 2001 ( Garrett Morrison ) the first plane I seen him doing 3D with was on the Cover of an RC Modeler mag. also met and learned a few things from Rocco Marianne, the owner of Aero-Works that is when I bought my first 100cc gas 3D plane Rocco made me a great deal on one. Here is the windy flight doing tail touch landings with a Pilot 30% Yak 54 with the EME 60 gasser Feb. 8 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFy2iEzU0Y

[Hugh Wiedman]

Extreme Flight Planes are Top notch 3D ships, but expensive, I still have a few but, I seldom fly them now. I just got burnt out on 3D. I started flying (practicing on the Sim first, then went to the Profile 3D Planes with the thick Airfoil wings with great slow flight characteristics, with very low wing loading. All my 3D planes had either glow or gas Engines With wing spans from 48" to 127" from many different manuf. Aero Works, Red Wing, Aero Beez, Pilot, Hangar Nine and a few more from Morris Hobbies of many types of Slabs from a box of Balsa and Ply to ARF's. I loved to do Tail touch landings once I learned all the tricks on how to fly 3D good luck great fun and it will hone your flying skills here is a video of One of my Pilot 30% with an EME 60 Gasser. playing in a 20 t0 25 mph wind a few years back. I also flew planes with better than 2 to 1 power ratio's Hanging the planes on the prop before it was dubbed Hovering and Torque rolls were called Vertical rolling LOL and when they started coming out with all the gas engines the planes i had just gat bigger and bigger. I learned a lot from a young man at the Rally of the Giants in Gillette Wyo. in 2001 ( Garrett Morrison ) the first plane I seen him doing 3D with was on the Cover of an RC Modeler mag. also met and learned a few things from Rocco Marianne, the owner of Aero-Works that is when I bought my first 100cc gas 3D plane Rocco made me a great deal on one. Here is the windy flight doing tail touch landings with a Pilot 30% Yak 54 with the EME 60 gasser Feb. 8 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFy2iEzU0Y

Nice "carrier" landing! Couldn't you find anyplace else to fly that didn't have so many trees blocking your airspace? Talk about "wide open spaces", I'd love to fly there and only have to worry about hitting the ground instead of light poles, electric lines, landscaping, or the occasional alligator.

[Wild Man]

There are many places here in SD like that field but it is ROUGH the ground is shale and hardly any grass (Buffalo grass) out in the middle of a Cattle pasture actually for large Planes only. Hugh the only thing you have to worry about hitting would be your car or Pick up. In the warmer weather we have to watch out for Diamond Back Rattle Snakes. When we first started flying out there I killed a 6 Ft. rattler with 12 rattles on its tail. I almost stepped on him Scared the cajibas out of me LOL!!!!

[Hugh Wiedman]

There are many places here in SD like that field but it is ROUGH the ground is shale and hardly any grass (Buffalo grass) out in the middle of a Cattle pasture actually for large Planes only. Hugh the only thing you have to worry about hitting would be your car or Pick up. In the warmer weather we have to watch out for Diamond Back Rattle Snakes. When we first started flying out there I killed a 6 Ft. rattler with 12 rattles on its tail. I almost stepped on him Scared the cajibas out of me LOL!!!!

We all have our varmints (we have plenty of the 2 legged kind as well). We occasionally get a gator or a python around, in addition to Everglades deer feeding off the runway (instant venison burgers for our weekly BBQ). Some guy also has some wild animals near the field and one of his lions once got loose and came to the field looking for a snack.