I have decided that this year I am going to do what ever it takes to get back into flying. Jenn bought me a new digital JR radio and the camo plane two christmas’ ago and I have yet to get out and fly it due to other shit coming up. I used to fly back in 98-2000 but stopped due to general life issues and not having time.
I tired to get back into it when jenn got me that new stuff but we bought the house and it ate up too much time when we first moved in. After thinking about it and talking to the guy who taught me how to fly (owner of JC hobbies) I decided to buy a second plane but its an electric motor as opposed to my camo glow engine one which is a .40 motor (glow uses nitro fuel and glow plugs).
The second plane will get my bearings strait as a slower speed and more stable platform before I start screwing with the nitro one again. Plus after talking to chuck, I’m going to get her into flying as well with chuck’s help.
The one thing thats nice about the yellow electric one is its not as messy as the glow one, the motor can be totally shut down and if you find a thermal you can use it as a glider then push full throttle again and go about your buisness. The yellow one is also a V-tail which is slightly different then my other one so its stable for training, yet if you witch the radio into “pro” mode it will give full throw to the control surfaces and even though it lacks true alerions it can still do barrel rolls.
Cool. i always wanted an RC plane, i already got a boat, 3 trucks and a car. To the hobbiest its not that much to get into it. for those who don’t know much about RC it may seem like a lot of money. I’d say a few hundred to start out. go to www.towerhobbies.com they are the largest retailer in the US for RC stuff.
that electric one came as a RTF kit (ready to fly) all you have to do is screw the tail on, and charge the battery and you are good to go. For the yellow one and a extra battery that was 2800 milliamp compared to the stock one of 1700, it cost a total of 229.00. That yellow one is also a more advance one. You can get an electric one that is smaller for about 100 bucks.
Now when you get into nitro plans that is more. To start off with somthing like the camo one which is a trainer you are looking at about 300-500 depending on what you get. A .40 size plane is a good plane to start with due to the high wingloading and surface. It is more forgiving. Also your first and even second plane should be of the high wing sort. Lower wings are for more advance fliers.
people always want to jump rightinto the world war two planes and such and they don;t understand if you havn;t flown before it handles like a brickespecially when the motor runs out of gas and you have to glide it back in. The high mouths are very easy to glide in when you run out of gas.
As for flying I use to fly at Boyce, but that field sucks monkey balls. I lost two planes there. Chuck is going to take me and jenn up to fly this yellow one at a local industrial park where they have no buildings for several hundred feet. Then once spring hits he started flying with a club up 28 towards kitanning.
You can fly them anywhere really unless there is an ordinacne against it, or you don;t have enough room. Technically if you have a big enough back yard have fun. Typically with somthing like this yellow electric one you want like a 300 x 300 ft area to fly in.
Also when you start flying to fly at every local strip and clubs you must be a AMA member and have AMA insurance which is 58 bucks a year. it covers liability incase you fuck something or someone up.
Fuck tower hobbies they suck ass. Go to a local store and the biggest in the area is JC hobbies. Not only that but chuck and betty know ALL there stuff. They have been doing this for YEARS. Plus if you buy a plane off them chuck will either take you out the first time or direct you to some one who can teach you.
If you have to buy stuff online (which JC Hobbies can order you anything and they have a stock of over 97,000 products) I would suggest Horizon Hobbies. They deal with ALL the big names. Tower doesn’t.
Now as for training…
Chuck taught me for free using a “buddy box” box. A Buddy box is a system used when flying which the trainer has the master remote and there is a wire that hooks to the back and it goes to a “slave” box which you use. He hold a switch and you have controll of the plane through your controller. if you get into trouble he releases the switch gains control of the aricraft and gets you “set buck up” level again so you can continue.
JC is ok when you need a servo or a battery pack really quick but for car shit they aren’t up to par, well for my taste anyway. Tower got the best prices as far as i’m concerned.
JC has cheeper prices than tower, plus you get to talk to a human being. chirst my bill was higher than what I paid today but since I have been dealing with them for years now they cut me more breaks on certian things.
As for up to par when was the last time you have been in their shop. They have moved and now there place is huge. A lot bigger than the old place off of universal…
Did they have 1 or 2 slot car tracks in there? if so that has all be removed and they have whole rooms dedicated to stuff. One for aircraft and rocketry, One for Trains, one for cars, and then a work shop in the back for repairs.
Their website isn;t finished because the “kids” who were hired to do it are basically in shock due to their current “in stock” inventory.
my dad and our neighbor have planes… they used to take me up to that club off of 28. my dad has a trainer (nitro) and another trainer (unbuilt). my neighbor has the lower wing types. i’ve flown my dad’s… its a lot of fun, but takes a lot of practice…its usually pretty windy at that field which makes it tough.