Just not hard wired for R/C?

Micro Tiger Moth from Hobby People



Easy easy peasy a can do plane for anyone wanting to do RC

A n update.... Hard to get stick time due to the incessant winds!.. But we did finally get a calm day! Went through 3 battery's without a crash and actually landed somewhat near where I waned to! I believe I finally got the hang of this stuff!....if I fly about half throttle most of the time! Next up... 4 channel! .... Hope you all are having a nicer spring weather wise than we've had up here so far! Steve

Well done you have earned a greenie!

....another thought (sorry if it was already mentioned) is to make the plane do something, like fly perfectly level across the field in a straight direction, then maybe a totally level figure '8' , etc., etc. Keep you head out in front of plane, not chasing it. Once you can make it do about anything, add a bunch of throw, you'd be surprised how aerobatic the Champ can be.

Yep been flying figure 8's....went to high rates last night and flew two battery's without incident! Practicing coordinating rudder / elevator and some throttle in turns. Not into anything fancy at his point!

Anyhoo... What this is leading up to is building something to put my old pristine .049 Babe Bee in. Something is just lacking with these electric recycled styrofoam cups! Not sure what size plane I need to build seeing as I'll have no throttle control ...don't want it TOO fast!

I learned to fly on an ARF from Hobby People about 10 years ago. It was a NiCad powered, can motor equipped 55 inch power glider. 2 channel, Ace RC 2 stick style, 72 mhz. It was so under powered it required that you toss it and then search for the perfect attitude when it flew away from you, which being so underpowered it did give you a good bit of time to do so.

I mastered that part after a few flights at a large R/C field and started taking it to the school yard often, flying well over 100 flights with it as a I planned my flight to toss it into the wind and fly it straight out at that one, perfect attitude to slowly climb until it was safely high enough to turn. Then since it was a polyhedral winged model with free flight like stability, I gently nudged it into a bank and kept track in my head the stick movement that got it there and remembered which way to move it to return to wings level. After a while I noticed I was actually turning the right way without correcting . WOW! Mild acro like loops and rolls were actually able to be done. Then it went to my son which was it's undoing although I think he learned a bit from it.

My second model was an RCM Trainer by Joe Bridi, 4 channel and quite a good flyer even though I kind of overpowered it with an OS 46 SF. It died by my not charging the rx battery the night before! Another non-C/L habit to form!

Good luck on the Champ, sounds like you're getting the hang of it.

Chris...

Ohbee you can pop a throttle sleeve on the engine to control the pace and run time too.


http://www.exmodelengines.com/product.php?productid=17629&cat=267&page=1


Features:
RPM Ranges 7000 to Full Throttle
Connects via Control Clip
New Current Production Items

Designed For:
Cox .049 & .051 Engines
Babe Bee, Black Widow
Golden Bee, Tee Dee
Killer Bee, Venom
Texaco, QRC

stuntflyr wrote:I learned to fly on an ARF from Hobby People about 10 years ago. It was a NiCad powered, can motor equipped 55 inch power glider. 2 channel, Ace RC 2 stick style, 72 mhz. It was so under powered it required that you toss it and then search for the perfect attitude when it flew away from you, which being so underpowered it did give you a good bit of time to do so.

I mastered that part after a few flights at a large R/C field and started taking it to the school yard often, flying well over 100 flights with it as a I planned my flight to toss it into the wind and fly it straight out at that one, perfect attitude to slowly climb until it was safely high enough to turn. Then since it was a polyhedral winged model with free flight like stability, I gently nudged it into a bank and kept track in my head the stick movement that got it there and remembered which way to move it to return to wings level. After a while I noticed I was actually turning the right way without correcting . WOW! Mild acro like loops and rolls were actually able to be done. Then it went to my son which was it's undoing although I think he learned a bit from it.

My second model was an RCM Trainer by Joe Bridi, 4 channel and quite a good flyer even though I kind of overpowered it with an OS 46 SF. It died by my not charging the rx battery the night before! Another non-C/L habit to form!

Good luck on the Champ, sounds like you're getting the hang of it.

Chris...

Beautiful plane Chris.

Well....things WERE going well! I have to hand launch and just ditch in the weeds when the battery gets low. No runway! Well I ain't learning nothing that way... so I bush hogged out a strip so I at least have something to line up with on approach,though it still ain't pretty because it always flips over on touch grass! Well my landing approaches are my undoing. Too many trees and bushes to dodge on approach leading to more panic mode crashes! At least they are at low altitude and slow airspeed!

Just a little fyi for those seeking calm skies with small park flyers and such. Become well aware of your television forecast or newspaper weather map and its symbols.

Do not attempt to fly until that big ol "H" on the weather map is a close to or over your location as possible. That H means high pressure, which corresponds to sinking atmospheric motion (no winds) and generally fairer skies and calm conditions. To go a step further, fly only in the early morning..-think "dawn patrol"

I would avoid late day/ afternoons after the ground has had a chance to heat up, this can set up "thermal" wind currents which can be great for slope soarers, but hell on small park flying models as told by original poster.

Having a high pressure ridge over your region tends to be a persistent weather pattern, so can mean a few days of good conditions before the approach of the next frontal boundary brings an increase in surface winds. Cheers

Hi OhBee, I just came across your thread, one of my favorite deep thinking topics - "What is the straightest path to learning to fly RC?" First off, I am moving into fuel-powered RC after playing a lot with electric foamies which were GREAT at learning.

I would repeat any poster that mentioned a sailplane. With "0" RC flying experience, I built a simple 72" wingspan Wanderer back around 1990, outfitted it with a futaba radio. I basically hand launched that ship a ton of times, chucking it as hard as I could at as steep an angle as I could manage, then get my hands on the sticks FAST to level it out at around 35 - 40 feet. I just spent a few afternoons at a local community college doing that. I got a lot of experience belly landing flat. Each flight might have been about 20 or so seconds, that's it. After I got comfortable with that (and my arm got tired) I then moved up to a hi-start, which is just an elastic launcher made with some string and surgical tubing. The first time was a hoot. I stood there with sailplane gripped under hi-start tension in one hand, the radio in the other. It was like the brain lock I experienced when I was learning to drive a stick, starting uphill on a hill. Had ot force myself to just let go of the airplane and deal with the results. I had to get over "overthinking it." Anyway, I got to the point where I finally just released that sucker and learned REALLY FAST how to keep the sailplane pointed up while on the hi-start. Then learn the "dip" at the apex of the arc to release the hook to get off the hi-start. Anyway, a 72" sailplane might be a good start with putting your .049 on it, via a pod. I think it would be a good "next step."

Pod, you can easily fabricate, yourself: http://www.sigmfg.com/IndexText/SIGSH660.html

1. Watch craigslist, amazing what you can sometimes get on there for not too much money.

2. Are you able to build with balsa? It is economical to just get some balsa sheets and sticks and cut the pieces from a plan like this: http://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=4100

3. Not too expensive kit on eBay: http://tinyurl.com/gt8a4xx

Thanks for keeping us posted on progress - let us know how it goes

I'll second soaring. I started chucking, tried the high start bit and without a mentor I ripped up too much stuff. Moved over to slope soaring with a very similar kit to what Peter listed. I had access to a truly awesome hill - Edgewater park in Cleveland. Unlimited air time! well, realistically about 20 minutes for me, then a long walk to the beach.

I flew in the winter quite a bit. Fresh alkaline batteries last pretty good on a glider, even in the cold. Once I had a dead battery experience and ended up about 1/4 mile off shore walking on the ice to get my glider back. To be young, stupid, and lucky again...

Then I took 15 years off flying.

I have a cheap HK 950mm DLG (discus launch glider) that I have messed about with a bit. It just about flies itself safely. The version I have does not have ailerons, and I would recommend a version with ailerons, separate servos too. My battery went bad so I haven't used it in a while. Anyways it is much less effort to chuck than a larger glider. Sadly the transition to powered flight is not quite the same for me at least.

I picked up a Turbo Beaver from Twisted Hobbies and have been having a blast. I put a LemonRX flight stabilized radio on top of the wing, the only place oriented properly, and have had a delightful time with it. I have dozens of flights on it. Being a 3D foamy chopping throttle and full up elevator causes the plane to take a nose up stall attitude where it will "parachute" to the ground. I recommend ordering at least 4 batteries with the kit.

Phil

One thing, also, is that an RC plane is not an RC plane is not an RC plane, meaning that you want your skill level to increase with the higher demand for fast, confident reflexes. Faster planes eat up the sky faster, use up available room faster, which we have all experienced. We crash when we "get behind" the plane. I think real learning is staying ahead of the plane and anticipating what is needed and will happen when you respond. You only get this by getting out and flying, which you are doing a super job at.

I only joined one club, we used to fly at the Sandhill Boy Scout facility near Spring Hill in Florida. All other times I flew solo mostly at Naval bases where it was permitted. I never could get other club members interested in control line.

I was just happy to build a flyable plane that could do an occasional wing-over or loop. My hand eye coordination was never good enough to fly anything that wasn't inherently stable. Still had a lot of fun doing it though.

Bob

Figured I'd best get over here and update! 3 mos. of RC now... Champ got a bit boring, but is still nice for a relaxing flight now and then. Been flying a 4 channel Cub. It's giving me fits trying to get the CG and trim right so that it will fly proper in advanced mode. It's TOO easy in the assisted beginner mode, and also self levels in that mode... which basically teaches you nothing about 4 channel control! The Champ got a facelift now that I'm done augering it in, and the new Cub is up to 16 flights without a scratch... so there must be SOME improvement, or I'm just getting better at saving my stupid mistakes! Have now got TWO BABE BEE's up and running nicely but have yet to dig out the old PT-19 and see if I can still fly the old way! Got a bit sidetracked and didn't even get my new control lines installed yet. And can't seem to find anywhere on this property to make a nice level 100 ft circle! Anyhow.... Thought I'd bring you all up to date! Hope you have all had some good flying so far this summer! ....Steve

Good to Hear from you and that your getting quit a bit of fly time in , It's been super hot around here but I did manage to charge and clean my trainer I built years ago to try and getback in the RC mode . The safe models are nice to get some air time but the learning curb is yet to be desired . Eric