Getting started in the hobby! First planes, first impressions

[gandalfnz]

Sorry to hear about the hand, glad it's still all there! I wound up scoring a handful of those little engines for no more than $50 for any of them, figure I can get them running one way or another. Particularly exciting is a TD .020, rotary valve sophistication!

Shown with a VX-18 for scale - one pee wee .020, one TD .020, and a classic .049

I built / have been flying two super-cheap planes, under $100 kits, both of which have had their props, motors, and landing gear repaired or replaced by now, through no crashes, just extra-firm landings.

The second one I built is an odd bird with a laser-cut ply fuselage, no balsa (presumably to save $), and a foam-panel "skin" - only $60 for the kit without electronics, and it handles well in the air, loops and rolls easily and didn't need any trimming out as-built, though I had to improvise a few times and improved on the overall builds with some extra spacers and skinning the coarse styrofoam wing with packing tape. I programmed "flaperons" into the controller too, so I can droop the ailerons 30% in lieu of dedicated flaps.

I have fired up the Jap bomber the other day, man, that 91 is quite intimidating once it swings that prop. Did not run right, not sure if its the old fuel I put in it ( I hate wasting glow fuel that comes from plane bundles I buy),or its the glow plug, will go back to it eventually.

Purchased a massive amount of gear/parts from a retiring RC pilot, my garage is a mess now. He was a scratch builder, lots of tools and plans there too.
Amongst it was Pee Wee 020, couldn't believe how small it is. I now think how much smaller than Pee Wee is the .010 variant?

I managed to repair our Sportsman plane landing gear with some JB weld epoxy, not sure if it will survive any hard landings though, as I am still to discover a good bonding solution for plastic. Do you know any glues out there that sort of fuse with plastic once applied? Usually, glue just flakes clean off from plastic, if you know what I mean. Lets see how it flies/lands this coming Sat.
Yesterday, I purchased us a Horizon Hobby Carbon Cub S2 trainer, just in case Sportsman is toast again.

I swear I had a plane like yours in the photo before, but it was made from balsa, not foam. I sold it not long after acquiring it.
That kit is from Aliexpres, correct?
I stayed away from flaperons and such, as I like to still have full control of my ailerons on landing.
To be honest, I have been landing amazingly well, on the SIM and real life, without flaps, that I kind of forgot about them completely.
On some planes I found it easier to land without them, as the plane just slows down too much and ends up hovering and overshooting the runway, basically making it harder to land. I like when the plane starts do descent gradually once throttle is removed almost completely.

Have not flown for almost 2 months now, either rainy or windy every weekend.

I'd love to do a scratch build, I am in the process of obtaining the power and hand tools for this.
Still kind of lost on how to start, I guess watching YouTube videos would be a good start, but meeting someone who is experienced with it would be even better.

 

[tudordewolf]

I have fired up the Jap bomber the other day, man, that 91 is quite intimidating once it swings that prop. Did not run right, not sure if its the old fuel I put in it ( I hate wasting glow fuel that comes from plane bundles I buy),or its the glow plug, will go back to it eventually.

Purchased a massive amount of gear/parts from a retiring RC pilot, my garage is a mess now. He was a scratch builder, lots of tools and plans there too.
Amongst it was Pee Wee 020, couldn't believe how small it is. I now think how much smaller than Pee Wee is the .010 variant?

I managed to repair our Sportsman plane landing gear with some JB weld epoxy, not sure if it will survive any hard landings though, as I am still to discover a good bonding solution for plastic. Do you know any glues out there that sort of fuse with plastic once applied? Usually, glue just flakes clean off from plastic, if you know what I mean. Lets see how it flies/lands this coming Sat.
Yesterday, I purchased us a Horizon Hobby Carbon Cub S2 trainer, just in case Sportsman is toast again.

I swear I had a plane like yours in the photo before, but it was made from balsa, not foam. I sold it not long after acquiring it.
That kit is from Aliexpres, correct?
I stayed away from flaperons and such, as I like to still have full control of my ailerons on landing.
To be honest, I have been landing amazingly well, on the SIM and real life, without flaps, that I kind of forgot about them completely.
On some planes I found it easier to land without them, as the plane just slows down too much and ends up hovering and overshooting the runway, basically making it harder to land. I like when the plane starts do descent gradually once throttle is removed almost completely.

Have not flown for almost 2 months now, either rainy or windy every weekend.

I'd love to do a scratch build, I am in the process of obtaining the power and hand tools for this.
Still kind of lost on how to start, I guess watching YouTube videos would be a good start, but meeting someone who is experienced with it would be even better.

It's pretty shakey from a headband-worn gopro without stabilization, but, here's a landing:

That plane pulls through a loop easily, and has plenty of authority throughout a roll, but I didn't catch those on camera that day...

Still haven't started / flown a nitro plane, but it's getting nice out, I won't have much more excuse soon not to finish my build(s)...

 

[gandalfnz]

It's pretty shakey from a headband-worn gopro without stabilization, but, here's a landing:

That plane pulls through a loop easily, and has plenty of authority throughout a roll, but I didn't catch those on camera that day...

Still haven't started / flown a nitro plane, but it's getting nice out, I won't have much more excuse soon not to finish my build(s)...

That was a nice landing, considering how windy it was. I doubt I would even take it up in the air with that much wind. You can see the flag all the way out the wind. I usually got that if the wind sock is straight, its no good for a foamie.

Purchased a Carbon Cub the other day, as a back up plane since the boys crashed our Sportsman ( I managed to epoxy it back to together).
All happy to finally have telemetry, while changing the Spektrum ESC plug to an XT60, I didn't bother to check the polarity of the wires I soldered and BOOM, there goes the ESC, which is the telemetry one btw.....hahah, wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. I have only soldered these connectors a thousand times.

Luckily I had a hobbywing ESC, in the same size, plane is operational, telemetry will have to wait for the next model, when I am careful enough not to make stupid mistakes.

Carbon Cub is one nice plane though, looks solid. At least I get to test the AS3X stability control, which is like Traxxas TSM, it negates the wind impact on the plane, making it more stable to fly.

 

[tudordewolf]

That was a nice landing, considering how windy it was. I doubt I would even take it up in the air with that much wind. You can see the flag all the way out the wind. I usually got that if the wind sock is straight, its no good for a foamie.

Purchased a Carbon Cub the other day, as a back up plane since the boys crashed our Sportsman ( I managed to epoxy it back to together).
All happy to finally have telemetry, while changing the Spektrum ESC plug to an XT60, I didn't bother to check the polarity of the wires I soldered and BOOM, there goes the ESC, which is the telemetry one btw.....hahah, wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. I have only soldered these connectors a thousand times.

Luckily I had a hobbywing ESC, in the same size, plane is operational, telemetry will have to wait for the next model, when I am careful enough not to make stupid mistakes.

Carbon Cub is one nice plane though, looks solid. At least I get to test the AS3X stability control, which is like Traxxas TSM, it negates the wind impact on the plane, making it more stable to fly.

Thanks, it's pretty small & heavy for a trainer, only a .96m wingspan but still takes a 3S 2200mah, so it cuts through the wind pretty sharply. It's got carbon fiber strips glued into the wings & tail, so it's stiff in sharp turns, too.

I'm using Radiolink's telemetry-capable receivers, so I can read voltage from the ground.

I've got an Aeroscout S I've flown a few times, trying to save it for my check flights at the club field. Not entirely satisfied with its 5" propeller, it has enough room for a slightly bigger one, might wind up swapping its ESC and motor too anyway.

I found some single-piece spektrum to XT60 connectors, so no iffy soldering between them, benefit of keeping the spektrum gear stock.

I picked up the Habu 50mm, haven't flown it yet...