estarter setup?

[jvizzle]

After flying a skyfly for a year, I have decided to upgrade to a plane with ailerons. By what I've read, the estarter is a great aileron trainer. However, I have never built an arf. With what I know I used tower hobbies to put together this setup:

GWS ICS400S/J Speed Control 15A 6-9.6V Switch JR
GWS 8-Cell 9.6V 1600mAh NiMH Battery Pack A2-1
Tower Hobbies 6XM 6-Channel Computer FM/No Servos 49
Hitec HS-55 Economy Sub Micro Servo

Please tell me what you think, and let me know if I left something out. Also, keep in mind that I'm a senior in high school, so the cheaper the better.

Thanks.

[Sky Sharkster]

Hello Jvizzle, Welcome to Wattflyer! I believe you're on the right track, the E-Starter is a great first plane. The package you've put together looks good, but I have one suggestion; Get a smaller battery. Not less cells, 8 cell packs (9.6v) are fine, but the 1600mAh means they'll be HEAVY. I checked the weight of that pack on Tower Hobbies, it's 8.30 ounces. That's more than 1/3rd the ready-to-fly weight of the aircraft.
The benefit of a high-mAH pack is longer flights, but I've seen many E-Starter flights with the "stock" 730mAh (9.6 volt, or 8 cells, which weigh about 4.5 ounces), and they all were 5 minutes+, plenty long enough when you're learning! Also, the 730mAh packs cost about $5.00 less, so it would be possible to buy two, have one charging while you're flying with the other one.
The performance of the plane will be noticably better with the lighter packs. If you later wanted to upgrade for longer flights, a 2s LiPoly with 1500 mAh (roughly) would be as light, or lighter.
Good Luck!
Ron

[Airhead]

Welcome to WF Jv,
You have picked a real good ARF to begin with. I have read many positive reports on that plane and quite a few good videos :)

Ron,
That is great information for a novice like me too. It falls into the catagory of "I didn't know that". Thanks for sharing that stuff, some of us still have a lot to learn..:)

[acam37]

I got one a few weeks back, started putting it together friday night and had it in the air saturday morning. (on floats of course). I went with a CD ROM brushless motor and a 1300 MAH 3 cell LI-PO which shaved a lot of weight, and even with the added weight of the floats it still goes vertical.

[jvizzle]

Thanks Sky Sharkster for the tips on the battery. I think I will go with the lighter packs and probably upgrade later when I have enough money.
I would go with brushless and lipos to begin with but like I said I've got a very limited budget.
Also, I would like to know if anyone has a suggestion on a good battery charger. Thanks again.

[money-pit]

This seams to be a highly recommended charger http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKSY1&P=7. If you think there is any chance that you will stay in this hobby then get a good charger to start with. If you do not want to spend that kind of money on a charger now, I am looking to sell this charger http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=DYN4049. The reason I am selling it is it will not charge over 7 cells or do lipos, this is not a problem with cars but is with planes. But if I were you I would purchase the ln-5014 or something similar, you won't regret it. Just remember most good chargers are dc powered so you will need a power supply or a 12 volt battery to run it off from.

[jvizzle]

The multiplex charger definitely looks like a good charger. Although, I am still not sure how much I am willing to spend on a charger.

And thanks for the offer, but the batteries I am buying are eight cells so your charger won't help me any.