Ideas for a newbie

[Appointmentwithground]

I have been long interested in RC aircraft and flying. However I am sad to say that I have very little experience or knowledge in the ways of Radio Control electronics and have actually flown very little.
However, I was given a Helicopter kit, A LiteMachines Corona from my uncle a few years ago with some other things to finish it off. I jumped into the kit with little to no knowledge (I was probably 14 at the time) and promptly lost some parts of the kit. The reason I am posting this in the Foamy section is because I would eventually like to build an RC foam entry level plane utilizing as many of these parts as I can. Once I get a feel for flying RC and gain more wisdom on the subject I would like to build a large powerful plane that I could mount a hd video camera and make a UAV type deal with one of those ArduPilot controllers.

Here is what I have
Radio Control- Hitec Focus 4
Charger- Super Brain 959
Motor- Brushless MEGA 16 15 3
Speed Control- Castle Creations Phoenix 35
Gyro- GWS PG-03
Battery- BattlePack GP3300 7-Cell Sealed
I also have Servos and other things in the helicopter kit.

What would be a good entry level Foam RC plane to build using these?
OR
Would I be better off buying different parts and save more powerful parts (like the motor) for a larger plane?

I am good at working with my hands and have a fully equipped wood and metal shop so building a 3d plane should be no problem. Thank you for your time and I look forward to your ideas!

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Appointmentwithground

I have been long interested in RC aircraft and flying. However I am sad to say that I have very little experience or knowledge in the ways of Radio Control electronics and have actually flown very little.
However, I was given a Helicopter kit, A LiteMachines Corona from my uncle a few years ago with some other things to finish it off. I jumped into the kit with little to no knowledge (I was probably 14 at the time) and promptly lost some parts of the kit. The reason I am posting this in the Foamy section is because I would eventually like to build an RC foam entry level plane utilizing as many of these parts as I can. Once I get a feel for flying RC and gain more wisdom on the subject I would like to build a large powerful plane that I could mount a hd video camera and make a UAV type deal with one of those ArduPilot controllers.

Here is what I have
Radio Control- Hitec Focus 4
Charger- Super Brain 959
Motor- Brushless MEGA 16 15 3
Speed Control- Castle Creations Phoenix 35
Gyro- GWS PG-03
Battery- BattlePack GP3300 7-Cell Sealed
I also have Servos and other things in the helicopter kit.

What would be a good entry level Foam RC plane to build using these?
OR
Would I be better off buying different parts and save more powerful parts (like the motor) for a larger plane?

I am good at working with my hands and have a fully equipped wood and metal shop so building a 3d plane should be no problem. Thank you for your time and I look forward to your ideas!

Hi the best thing to do is to get a power glider like a Easystar, and learn all of the Basics with that, when your able to toss it, fly it, and catch it out of the air with out moving from where your standing at, then your ready to move on the hitec radio is a very good one for starting out, its not a heli radio, but it does have mixing for Elevons, put the mega motor away for a little while, thats a race motor the castle control esc is a very good one, you wont need the gyro, you will need to get a 3 cell lipo of about 1800 to 2200mah 25C for the Easystar, remove the brush motor that it comes with and replace with a brushless motor, you can use your 35 amp esc ESC, also get a SIM and train with that for a little while, Hope that helps, Chellie


http://www.hobbywarehouse.com/M214192-Easy-Star-Kit

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...ushless/Detail

[Appointmentwithground]

Thank you Chellie for your response
I probably should have mentioned in my first post that I have a firebird freedom from a long time ago that a hobby shop stole the battery to when they repaired it so I ordered a battery for it last night and will be using it to get back into RC. Would this be a good substitute for the Easy Star?

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Appointmentwithground

Thank you Chellie for your response
I probably should have mentioned in my first post that I have a firebird freedom from a long time ago that a hobby shop stole the battery to when they repaired it so I ordered a battery for it last night and will be using it to get back into RC. Would this be a good substitute for the Easy Star?

sure that will work to get some air / stick time in with that hardest part is Eye Hand cordination, depth perception and speed perception, any thing that will fly half way decent is a good training aid for that.

[Appointmentwithground]

Originally Posted by CHELLIE

sure that will work to get some air / stick time in with that hardest part is Eye Hand cordination, depth perception and speed perception, any thing that will fly half way decent is a good training aid for that.

Haha I'm 19 and have played plenty of Xbox, not too worried bout the hand-eye coordination LOL

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Appointmentwithground

Haha I'm 19 and have played plenty of Xbox, not too worried bout the hand-eye coordination LOL

Gee, I wish I was 19 again LOL, Take care and Happy Holiday to you

[Davethebluessinger]

I wish I were 19 again too! Knowing what I know now I would have started flying RC back then instead of waiting til I was 50! Just think of all that stick time gone to waste.....
My young son (and amazingly my thirteen year old daughter) both took an interest in my phoenix flight sim recently. I thought this was too good an opportunity to let it pass so I just bought a second hand firebird commander XL and a scout for them to fly in the real world (gonna convert the Commander to brushless with some bits I have lying around). I'd really like them to get into RC flying as I think it teaches a lot about mechanics/electronics and of course there's the fun and social element too.
The only problem I can forsee is the real possibility that my planes are gonna go missing.....

[Felklaw]

Originally Posted by Appointmentwithground

Thank you Chellie for your response
I probably should have mentioned in my first post that I have a firebird freedom from a long time ago that a hobby shop stole the battery to when they repaired it so I ordered a battery for it last night and will be using it to get back into RC. Would this be a good substitute for the Easy Star?

I felt a little shudder when you mentioned you also have a Firebird Freedom (FBF)....
You should have a look both at the forums about problems with the FBF, and also at my post http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49644

I have got 2 FBF, one still in the box as a spare I thought I would need to savage to repair Fawkes, and the other is Fawkes. She flies like a bat out of hell now I have done the mods, but she needs lots of room, and you have to keep the speed up or she will burst into flames...

I generally fly in a large parking lot that is now abandoned because the local minor league baseball team closed down. About 600-800 cars worth as a minimum, makes a beautiful area for ROG take offs and landings, no more worries about hand launching!

[Appointmentwithground]

Ok so it seems like my Firebird Freedom is like many of the others that have been posted about. When I got it, (several years ago) it flew fine until i flew it into the sunset and couldnt tell what direction it was going and crash landed it so I could find it. I took it into the local HobbyZone store and they repaired it free of charge, or so I thought. It turns out I never got my original battery pack back.
...so my plane sat in my closet for a few years...
A few days ago I ordered a battery for it, one of the larger ones and received it today. I went out to the car, plugged it in to the charger and left it for an hour.
The wind died down so I grabbed my plane, battery and went to fly it. Did my preflight checks and everything was fine.
Gave the plane a hard throw and I was airborne.... for 15 seconds.... because the motor cut out and I lost all control.
The plane crashed but is still in perfectly flyable condition, except I can't get the stupid motor to stay on long enough to fly it.

Please, does anyone have any advice as to what I can do to make this plane fly? I don't want to spend any more money on it and will scratchbuild a plane before I buy another RTF with the Firebird name on it.

I should also add that ACT was off, I've flown with it before and it's a joke.

[Davethebluessinger]

Depends on whether you want to make any further investment or have suitable parts to do mods? With the Commander XL I intend to rip out the electronics and use an orange RX and an ESC I have lying around that's surplus to requirements, I'll replace the motor with a cheap HK brushless. When the kids have either mastered it or crashed it I can always remove the bits for the next project so in real terms it's not that costly. Rather than scratchbuild take a look here for a quick cheap project you could undertake that will give you hours of fun for very little money....

J Perkins Air Rider Chuck Glider RC Conversion

[Appointmentwithground]

Well I have good news
It turns out that my firebird freedom works fine. I drained the battery pack and charged it at a lower setting and changed the batteries in my receiver and it's flying again

I first tried it out in about 10mph wind with gusts at around lunch time and it was... interesting... I have pretty much no experience but I managed to keep it in the air and land it safely. I let it get downwind and had to bring it down a little fast but it was fine.

Overall, I'm VERY happy flying and hopefully I can keep my Freedom alive long enough to outgrow it and move on to something better

(MODS: I realize this thread is now drastically off topic, I'll try to take my posts elsewhere now that I have a plane in the air)

[Rockin Robbins]

OMG! Thread hijacked by the OP!