newbie which Plane do I buy?

[only8ight]

Hey Guys, I am planning to get into plane, I've been flying Helis about over a year now and I just started doing planes on my sim just now , and it seems pretty fun, als I heard its little bit cheaper if crashed over heli? is that true

what would you guys reccomend for me to buy , it will be just for fun and something different, and the place I fly, its big but it is not big enough for a fast plane, so I am not looking for a really fast plane, i would say for beggginers to intermidiate.thanks

[ronj]

I think I've seen this question before. In fact I posted pretty much the same question a few months ago. You may want to have a look at this thread.

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=488317

I ended up buying the Parkzone T-28 Trojan Parkflyer. I am quite happy with it. And your right, a whole lot less expensive to fix. Foam safe CA/Gorrila GLue and epoxy are your friends.

[rojack]

I started with the Night Vapor. Super lightweight, so must be calm air or a large indoor area is fun too. It is a very slow flyer, and no ailerons, just rudder and elevator, so really easy to control and very stable. It's actually really fun, and the lights make it flyable at night, just like they say. You're not going to do any aileron rolls or knife edge with it, but you could do a loop out of a long dive. Goes so slow it's hard to damage it, but thin film wing covering can be fragile so no rough handling or crash onto sharp objects.

I've heard great things about the T-28 too, but it will be a faster plane and require more space to fly in. I also got a nice 2-meter powered glider which was really easy to fly, but it really needs a lot of space.

[Corvette & Copter Guy]

I started out on "home-made" foam planes. Check out "Armin wing" on youtube. For two bucks you have a plane made from dollar store foam. An arrow shaft for a spar, packing tape, hot glue, and a few electronics and your set. Crash costs are next to nothing. It was the best choice when I started flying planks.

[CrashDavis]

I started off flying fixed wing when I first got into the hobby. Afraid it's still my real love, but I have mad respect for the copters, their pilots, and what they can do - /end disclaimer

I picked up a Parkzone T-28, based on what I've read and experience in the simulator, and talking it over with my old friend who got me started. Got it put together, range checked, and totally chickened out.

So I did a bit more looking and picked up a Hobbyzone Firebird Stratos mainly just to get some stick time and confidence back. What a great flying little plane. It's only 3 channel, so you're not going to be doing much in the way of aerobatics, but it is very well behaved and flies very well. It has some built-in mixing that you can turn off (automatically feeding in a bit of up elevator on a turn, automatically feeding in up when you throttle back, differential thrust to help on turns (that one can't be turned off)). Hand launch and belly land, or use the landing gear if you've got short grass or something resembling a runway.

Thing is designed to survive rough treatment too - I was trying to come around to set up a landing, was a bit too low, and a down gust drove me right into a backstop. Wing popped off as it was intended, a little rash on the nose that gives it some character, and nothing more.

Really good for learning/relearning/reinforcing your orientation and the gentle glide slope lets you get good practice in on landings.

I'm just about ready to take the T-28 out for a maiden... Really!

[only8ight]

i am thinking of buying a Super Cub LP, I heard it is a really good begginer plane...

[rojack]

Super Cub LP is big enough to handle a breeze ok, super stable flight characteristics, great reviews. With your heli background and a little sim time, I think this would be a nice, easy fun plane for your first, but you might get bored of it after a few months. You're probably going to want to go inverted and knife edge eventually, which is not going to happen with a 3-channel plane. No crime in starting out easy and upgrading later though. I have 5 planes (so far) and my first two were 3 channel (only throt, elev, and rudder).

[only8ight]

Originally Posted by rojack

Super Cub LP is big enough to handle a breeze ok, super stable flight characteristics, great reviews. With your heli background and a little sim time, I think this would be a nice, easy fun plane for your first, but you might get bored of it after a few months. You're probably going to want to go inverted and knife edge eventually, which is not going to happen with a 3-channel plane. No crime in starting out easy and upgrading later though. I have 5 planes (so far) and my first two were 3 channel (only throt, elev, and rudder).

I went and pick it up had my first flight and hour ago, this plane is very stable and easy to fly..its fun flying something different!! I made the right choice!!!

[stevec]

Price to fix is all relative. do you have lots of time and no money? or do you have money but no time?

if the former is you then planes are a lot cheaper, but if you are the latter then after the first hard landing you will be throwing the whole thing in the bin and buying another RTF plane.

planes require more time to fix, obviously a foamie can be glued back together until it is equal mass in foam and glue, but to get a balsa plane flying again and flying right often requires making lots of parts from scratch with balsa and ply.

Repairing is something I enjoy, but rebuilding a heli is quicker. but I am in group one above, I have time but not so much money. Helicopters cost a lot to crash.

I also have a lot of planes from before I flew helicopters so I have plenty in reserve fo when I do crash...

if you can already fly circuits with a helicopter and you have a Sim I'd say skip the basic trainers, go for a 4 channel minimum plane, the acro wot flys nicely, I'd probably go for a parkzone aerobatic plane as a first model. extra 300 visionaire T 28 etc... or a multiplex plane like the toucan would be good fun. foamies are far easier to repair while you are learning the fine points of landing...

The PA and3DHS planes are lovely but are built very light and don't bounce...

hope this helps
Steve

[Easy-Ed]

I just bought an E-Flite Apprentice with the new SAFE technology. Easy to fly (my first plane) and the bail out feature is really pretty cool. It also has 3 flight envelope options that start with beginner and go to experienced. Each bump up gives you more range on the control surfaces. Took 2 battery packs to experiment with the experienced rates, and not looking back except to land. Put that puppy in beginner and it is easy to bring it in.

Just put floats on it and can't wait to put it in the lake (not literally) this weekend!

[Bubbasanjohn]

+1 on apprentice. Get an instructor on buddy box. Repairs are relative to the model. I just lost a 2500 plane. So depending it can be cheaper to fix if you are flying foamies or it can be quite expensive if you lawn dart a giant scale warbird like I did recently.

Bubba

[motorhead540]

To the OP I saw a video this morning where a hobbyzone supercub had been modded to have ailerons and flaps the person had put a hot motor in it and it would do any maneuver asked of it look on you tube fun cub vs supercub goog video comparison flight

[planeboy95]

GWS Slow stick. Super tough, super fun, and super easy to fly. Can easily be modded to have ailerons as you progress. Can be set up brushed or brushless and you can use 450 size batteries (2200mah). Even as a intermediate-advance flyer, I want one just because of the cheap simple fun.