Whats the best beginners seaplane?

[JDM_Custom]

I have never flown a seaplane and the plane I currently own is not able to have floats. So what type do you guys (or girls) think would be the best seaplane to get.

Thanks Jake

[JDM_Custom]

I am leaning towards a twinkle. Does anyone own or have expeirience with one of these planes?

Thanks Jake

[Don Sims]

Jake I was hoping one of the regular guys would answer. If they don't in a day or so, I'll move your thread to the general forum for some more exposure. Sorry for the lack of replies!!

[Water Bug]

Jake - my first was a gws E-starter-was first rc. period. Live on lake and didn't have good field to fly out of so stuck floats on and went flying!! Worked great!!
Good flying plane .
Harv.

[jimsp]

I'm probably a little biased on this but I think my Slow Stick configuration as a flying boat is one of the easiest to fly. On the water it’s fast and stable and in the air it’s the very easy to fly Slow Stick. At minimum you can just remove the SS landing gear and rubber band on the hull. The building thread is here.

[Don Sims]

That is a cool loking critter Jim. One of these days, you need to do a build thread here or talk someone who bought the gear into doing one!!

[JDM_Custom]

Thanks for the information Harv and Jim.I will have to look a litle closer at both of those planes and decide which one would work best at my lake.

Jake

[Water Bug]

I have the slow stick too. One from Jims config. does great-one on gws floats - fun flyer -all the time - but sometimes like playing with ailerons. Both very fun -ez a better wind flyer.
Have fun

[r_kopka]

Aventura TWIN/3 !!! The Aileron, double motor type.

It is the plane I use most often on water because it handles easily, and can take some waves. Never had any water entering. Can fly slowly and also do basic aerobatic. Small enough so that transport is no problem, big enough to be flown at waves and wind. Cheap components. Speed400 and 3KONION (or other Lipo) in my case. 8-9 Nixx will also work.

RK

[re3626]

Easyest simple starter I've ever seen is GWS Slow Stick on GWS floats , lot of guys start on them and still fly em . They are a low cost easy build , get a 400 from www.gwsexpert.com and a float kit , you can upgrade as you go

[Greg Lewis]

take a look at the two seaplanes sold by

www.espritmodel.com

[HermitRiver]

Originally Posted by JDM_Custom

I am leaning towards a twinkle. Does anyone own or have expeirience with one of these planes?

Thanks Jake

Jake. I never had/flew a seaplane either but soon as a saw a Twinkle I fell in love. I have searched and followed many threads on them but can't seem to find plans except "talk of", so I have on order the past 05 issue from "Fly RC" that has the pull out plan. It will have to be enlarged, hopefully Staples, Office Depot can do it but I'll be happy to share with you if you like. Hermit

[TheGiftedOne]

can't seem to find plans except "talk of"

Hermit, the Twinkle has its own website. http://keyboardmonkey.com/twinkle/index.html

[HermitRiver]

Originally Posted by TheGiftedOne

Hermit, the Twinkle has its own website. http://keyboardmonkey.com/twinkle/index.html

Wow! Thank you This plane really has a hold on me. Hermit

[kenhumphries]

Hi Jake,
Strongly suggest that you have a look at the Britfight HTWO-O
(britflight.co.uk). This 1060mm British made foamie uses a simple little bell type motor of around 120 - 140 watts on a 3s li-po. The wing floats are designed to be permanently attached, but can be made to be quickly detatchable, giving you the option of hand launch grass field operation.
Despite having a flat bottomed wing with ailerons, it is both stable AND responsive. Last night (Thursday 20th August 2009), myself and other Club members had three of these flying off water here in the Midlands. With a wind speed of 11-13 m.p.h., and gusting to 16.8 m.p.h., the chop on the water gave a "scale" height of over 10 foot to the waves!! They coped admirably. The HTWO-O will not break your bank, your heart, or your confidence, as complete newbies to water based flying found out, despite adverse conditions.
Want to know more? Feel free to contact me, kenhumphries@freeola.com

Ken

[nascarwings]

Look at the multiplex mentor...it's easy to fly and flys off water great...

[kenhumphries]

Hi Nascarwings,
Yup, I agree, your nomination does indeed fly well, both on and off water, but to my mind it is a conventioan aircraft which is glad to accept floats being fitted, and performs as one might expect. The little HTWO-O however is a dedicated competent SEAPLANE which will accept hand launches without quibble. It also has the advantage of being inexpensive to buy, kit out and run, and is so light that an inexpert "arrival" does not cause expensive damage. Whilst it may not be the first choice for the dedicated nitro burning enthusiast, it is certainly an inexpensive introduction to SEAPLANES For the aquatic novice. Having said that, even a dedicated balsa bashing 64 year old d.o.f. like me finds this little foamie quite enchanting for those moments when the wind settles down a bit, and the call of the water is difficult to resist. For me britflight.co.uk has THE answer.
Ken

[bfaulguy]

I guess it depends on your flying ability. I've always heard that flying boats are the easiest to setup and fly, so if you're a competent 4 channel pilot, you may want to consider the Seawind EP RX-R. I really love mine, it flys great. If you're just starting out, that Hobbyzone Cub on floats looks like a really good way to go. What plane do you currently have? You can put a set of foam floats on almost anything.

[kenhumphries]

Hi bfaulguy,
Yes, I agree, you can indeed put a set of floats on almost anything, and have fun on the water. Sometimes you need to up the power a bit to help it unstick, and sometimes a sub fin needs to be added to assist with directional stability with all that extra weight of floats underneath. Water rudder, or two, is a must, as the normal rudder is often not powerful enough to prevent weathercocking into the wind. This latter tendancy makes take-offs easy in one sense, but a nightmare getting it back after landing if there is a stiff breeze, and you have no water rudder. But to get back to a point that I have made before, there is a difference between an all out seaplane that sits on its hull/fuz. in the water, and a float plane that is more often than not a bog standard aircraft fitted with floats. As the question first asked relates to a SEAPLANE, I will stick to my current belief that the Britflight HTWO-O represents the best low budget value for money seaplane available bar none. It is capable of handling water take offs in 14 m.p.h.winds, and hand launch flying up to 18m.p.h. Not bad for a lightweight little foamy. Just out of interest, I recently bought a different brand set of floats designed by to fit the same manufactures 67 inch scale aircraft, to find that they weighed in at 2lbs 2 ounces. That's some ADDITIONAL weight to have to haul around! I have had a few float planes, but my current seaplane is the HTWO-O. There are 3 other HTWO-O's in my club that are being used as Sunday hack models down at the flying field once their wing floats have been removed. Have a look at britflight.co.uk . Before you ask, "No" I do not have any connection or financial incentive to advocate this model. It does not need my help.
Ken

[Jim Casey]

I'm going back to the original question:"What's the best beginner's seaplane".
If you are a beginner to RCflying the answer is to learn to fly where you can walk to the plane until you can place your landings. That means wheels and landing on terra firma.

I you are able to solo and reasonably comfortable flying, then my suggestion is to add floats to the plane with which you are most comfortable. My logic is that you would be a fairly inexperienced flyer at this point and you really only need to learn one additional set of parameters at the time. You are accustomed to the plane. Floats change trim a little but the plane still flies a lot like it did without them. Learning to taxi and maneuver on water is a big enough step.

If you are an accomplished flyer with several models under your belt, then a dedicated water model such as the HTWO-O would be a treat. You will be able to hang on to a new plane, and not suffer mental overload from adding the new experience of water maneuvering.

Even at that, don't be the first in your group to have the new fishface2000. Ask around in your circle, see what works. More important: See what didn't work. There is one frequently electrified flying boat that will not ROW without modifications. I remember it was originally designed for the Norvel 1/2A motor. It has been sold for 10 years or more. An addendum was added to the instructions but the design has never been corrected. So you'd be learning a new plane, in a new envireonment, and having to conduct a development plan that hopefully would be concluded before you gave up in frustation.

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Jim Casey

I'm going back to the original question:"What's the best beginner's seaplane".
If you are a beginner to RCflying the answer is to learn to fly where you can walk to the plane until you can place your landings. That means wheels and landing on terra firma.

I you are able to solo and reasonably comfortable flying, then my suggestion is to add floats to the plane with which you are most comfortable. My logic is that you would be a fairly inexperienced flyer at this point and you really only need to learn one additional set of parameters at the time. You are accustomed to the plane. Floats change trim a little but the plane still flies a lot like it did without them. Learning to taxi and maneuver on water is a big enough step.

If you are an accomplished flyer with several models under your belt, then a dedicated water model such as the HTWO-O would be a treat. You will be able to hang on to a new plane, and not suffer mental overload from adding the new experience of water maneuvering.

Even at that, don't be the first in your group to have the new fishface2000. Ask around in your circle, see what works. More important: See what didn't work. There is one frequently electrified flying boat that will not ROW without modifications. I remember it was originally designed for the Norvel 1/2A motor. It has been sold for 10 years or more. An addendum was added to the instructions but the design has never been corrected. So you'd be learning a new plane, in a new envireonment, and having to conduct a development plan that hopefully would be concluded before you gave up in frustation.

IMHO a Slow Stick fitted with floats would be the best beginners sea plane. WHY?
1. super lite
2. does not need a lot of power to unstick.
3. flies slow to land
4. Cheap

[idealhobbies]

Actually, I don't think that "Jake" (the original poster) has the question anymore. I'm at a loss as to why a Ken felt the need to strongly suggest a particular aircraft, from a particular shop, to a member who asked the question 3 years ago. He says that he has no connection to the model, but it sure sounds like a sales pitch to me. A slick plug of a product by reviving a post over 3 years old.

I'm sorry if I sound like I am "flaming" Kenhumphries, but as an active member of this community, I drives me nuts when sales reps join the board, acting like concerned members just to shamelessly plug a product. To those sales people, I would rather you be honest, straight forward, and make a post about your product. Most of us take this hobby as well as this site quite seriously, and your covert tactics are an insult and a slap in the face of the real membership here.

I'd feel much better about a sales rep that took the time to introduce themselves, tell me about their business, and introduce their products. No covert crap, and don't pretend to be a concerned member "just trying to help you out". If you're going to join this community, then BE A PART OF THIS COMMUNITY. Don't drop in, drop your propaganda bomb, and pull out. It's RUDE!

I apologize to the other readers, but I hate to see shameless plugs in order to "help a brother out". I'm off my soap box.

[idealhobbies]

And Chellie, I agree with you. I'd bet that the Slow Stick would make a great float plane. I have 4 lakes within 3 minutes drive from me, and I've thought about a float plane. I haven't done it because I'm worried about how I would get the plane back if I put it in the drink. I'm sure not going to swim in this Delaware water to get it. I'd likely grow an extra appendage and glow in the dark.

I may get a Kayak next spring...then, I could take the plane out on the lake and paddle to where ever I needed to go. Would make for some very nice AP.

[bfaulguy]

Well whatever you do, stick with a known model that the majority of people on these type of boards talk about, at least for your first one. They'll let you know if it's any good or not. When I first flew off water 10 years ago, one of the best seaplanes was a nitro ARF Seamaster. (Awesome plane BTW, new version is called the Neptune.) I knew nothing about flying seaplanes/floats- just bought the thing, put my gear in it, tossed it in the boat and headed out to the middle of the lake to start flying. To this day, I'm the only one I know who flys off water. You'll learn quickly how to properly handle it, even if you do a lot of skipping on takeoff and landing at first. Just waterproof your gear, wait for a calm day, and you'll be fine.

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by idealhobbies

And Chellie, I agree with you. I'd bet that the Slow Stick would make a great float plane. I have 4 lakes within 3 minutes drive from me, and I've thought about a float plane. I haven't done it because I'm worried about how I would get the plane back if I put it in the drink. I'm sure not going to swim in this Delaware water to get it. I'd likely grow an extra appendage and glow in the dark.

I may get a Kayak next spring...then, I could take the plane out on the lake and paddle to where ever I needed to go. Would make for some very nice AP.

LOL a spinning rod and reel with a tennis ball, makes a great retriver lucky you with all the lakes, i love to fish and BBQ fish Take care, Chellie

GWS Slow Stick on Floats