Help me out guys!

[jordanxt]

Hi... I'm new to electric flight, and need to get started pretty quick. Ive got about $300 to spend, give or take a little, and need a plane w/accessories before my wife spends the money. I've got experience with gas and sailplanes, so I'm not too worried about the flying- and I have a new Futaba 6ch tx and rx. Does anyone have time to recomend a list of components and a plane? I looked at the miss bohemia, and it LOOKED nice, but does it perform well? Im very confused by all of the technical specs, and Im afraid of buying incompatible equipment. Heres what I need:

-reciever (do I need a micro, or can I use my standard? Does futaba make micro rx's.)

-servos (any recomendations)

-batteries

-esc

-charger

-plane(is the miss bohemia a quality model, or am I on the wrong track?)

-everything else

I would love a straight-forward, concrete list, but I know its not that easy. If anyone would like to list their setup, that would be great! Thanks for any info you can offer a newcomer!

Andrew

[Jason Nowell]

Andrew,

Welcome aboard! I'll give you my opinions, and then everyone else can chime in :)

Obviously, lighter is better, but you can give up performance by saving weight. I like the GWS R4-P reciever because it is the lightest and most reliable SINGLE CONVERSION reciever that I have found. If you will be flying indoors, or around large groups of flyers, you might want to consider a DUAL CONVERSION reciever to eliminate interference. HiTech's 555 is a nice light choice, as are the FMA dual conversion recievers.

For servo's, any micro or sub-micro will do, I prefer the GWS PICO servos for their durability, I've stripped out gears on way to many other sub-micro servos. The Cirrus CS 10 and 20 are also a nice choice and I know Futaba makes a few sub-micro's.

ESC's are too numerous to list, my own favorites are the Great Planes C-5 or the GWS 2 amp.

Make sure you tell your hobby dealer that you have a Futaba Transmitter, most companies make recievers for both Futaba and JR, if you get the wrong one, it will not work. GWS makes a nice flight pack kit with RX, 2 servos, ESC, and battery pack for around $85.

As for the Miss Bohemia, I've never flown one. Give us a little more detail about where you will be flying, what your normal wind conditions are, etc. and we could make a better recommendation.

Cheers,

[jimwalker]

Andrew,

That is a tough one because you've asked a very broad question. Maybe this will help.....

Probably the best deal in slowflyers these days is The GWS pico pack. This pack includes:

A GWS micro reciever that you'll have to spend a lot more money to beat and it weighs only 6 grams.

2 pico servos that weigh about 6 grams each and will control a speed 280 plane or smaller just fine (I think the Miss Bohemia uses a speed 280 motor which makes it a speed 280 plane).

GWS ICS speed controller that handles up to 2amp draw (unfortunately this is not enough for a speed 280 plane).

Finally it includes a 280mah nickel metal hydride battery which is a great size for models weighing between 4 and 8 ounces. All this for $95. (again not enough for a speed 280).

I have a North East Sailplanes Virus which I think is very similar to a Miss Bohemia. If so the Miss Bohemia is a fine airplane as my Virus gets rave reviews at the field due to it's maneuverability and stability.

As you can see though, the size of planes ou're interested in flying has a great deal to do with what gear you buy. To simplify there are probably 4 catagories:

Indoor) lighter than 4 ounces - flight gear can get really expensive.

Slowflyer) 4 to 8 ounces - gear is incredibly cheap.

Parkflyer) 9 to 20 ounces - usually powered by a speed 280 or 400 either geared or direct drive. Flight gear is a little more expensive but still very reasonable.

21 ounces and up) The skies the limit, how much do you want to spend???

Once you pick a size range your interested in and the type of performance you want, it's very easy to tell you which gear is best.

In my opinion, the best charger for the least money is Dymond charger. It sells for $34.95 and you'd have to spend $100 to do better. It has 3 peak detecting fast charge settings, 300mah - 500mah - 1amp, and 3 trickle settings that are non-peak detecting, 50mah - 65mah - 85mah.

The vendor list for this magazine is a good place to start learning what works with what and what it costs. Here are the links for the two I mentioned....

Balsa Products (http://www.balsapr.com/balsapr/Catalog1/)

Dymond Modelsport (http://www.rc-dymond.com/)

[jordanxt]

Thanks alot for the info! I've obviously got a lot of reading to do. The GWS Tigermoth looks like a good choice. It has character and it isn't very expensive. I found it at Horizon Hobbies. I dont know anything about them, but they recommend the GWS Pico Sub-Micro Flight Pack. Would this be ok? GWS seems to be the most popular gear by far on this forum, as well as one other I visited. Looks like a decent deal to me, but does anyone else fly this plane? If so, what setup are you using? One last question- When I see people talking about battery packs, it sounds like they are using one pack for the motor AND the radio gear. Or is this a seperate battery, as well as the Rx battery? I know its a dumb question...but I really don't have a clue when it comes to electrics! Thanks again for the advice.

Andrew

[pfg]

to help you a bit lets start by saying the difference between slow and park flyers is (drum roll please) the SPEED they fly at. i have a 15 oz plane that no one would mistake for a park flyer and a 9 oz one that no one mistakes for a slow flyer. so whats the big deal with the speed - the space it needs to fly in. if you have a nice size (like 2 football fields with no polls or other problems) then you can choose whatever you like. if you only have 1 football field then stick with slow flyers.

either way the gws pico flight pack is a very good start because the receiver and servos will work in anything up too 400 size planes other than ones that fly fast (like 45+ mph.) yes the speed control is really only good for the litestick type power plant (in other words any of the GWS IPS units) or indoor stuff but thats hardly a big problem. there are lots of planes to choose from.

there is nothing wrong with the battery that one more 270 mah cell wont cure either. this is highly recommended. on 7 cells any of the gws planes are simply alot easier to fly. do this right off the bat.

for planes, honestly, start with a litestick. they are so simple and cheap you will get hours and hours worth of fun out of it and build experience with smallish slowflying airplanes. were you go from there is up to you.

chargers, chargers, chargers. there is a subject that should be included with the other two taboo subjects. iv seen it happen so many times i just have to cry. if you think you will stay in electrics buy a good charger. it is without a dought the single most important piece of electric flight equipment. imho the best first charger is the Supernova 250S. its sold under a number of brands but they are all exactly the same as far as everyone at our club can tell. does 1 to 25 cells, 100ma to 5 amp charge and 100 ma to 3 amp discharge, and does NiMH, nicad and lead acid batteries. in order to get better you have to spend major dollars.

most Electronic Speed Controls (ESC) contain a Battery Eliminator Circuit (BEC). thus you only carry one battery.

for servos either the GWS Pico BB or GWS Naro HP servos are the best available at really good prices. you can get lighter than pico but the price is tripple.

for a list of things to buy:

1 GWS Futaba shift Pico flight pack.
1 crystal to match your transmitter.
1 Litestick / Picostick (they are the same plane)
1 cell 270 mah nicad (fix gws battery)
1 7 cell 270 mah nicad pack or 8 cell 600 / 720 mah NiMH pack. the 720's will fly the litestick for about 30 minutes in calm conditions if you are carefull.
1 pair JST connectors.
1 charger - recommend the 250S so plus 1 pair banna connectors (get at radio shack)

that is all you need to get flying. between the flight pack the the plane everything is included, even glue. the female jst connector is for the extra battery, the male goes on the charger.

after all that you will have a few dollars left over (about 50) so you could get the tiger moth as well.

i hope this helped. feel free to post here or email me if you have more questions.

[jimwalker]

To answer your question Andrew,

Yes! Get a Tiger Moth!!!

The Pico Pack works perfectly in this plane. I learned to fly again after 15 years with a Lite Stik, but if you already have your flying skills developed, get a Tiger Moth. It flys wonderfully and it looks good to boot!

Electronic Speed Controls (ESC) come with Battery Eliminator Circuitry (BEC). This lets the flight pack run off the motor battery. When the motor starts throttling back suddenly, you know you're low on power and it's time to land.

Let us know what you end up with....

Jim

[Jason Nowell]

Andrew,

I'll put my vote in for the GWS Tiger Moth also. It is easy to fly, loads of fun, and very durable! It fly's well indoors and out and is made for the GWS Pico flight pack.

Mine weighs about 7 ounces with paint and all gear, it is VERY comfortable in a standard basketball gym, so don't let Jim's 4oz. and under for indoor flying comment fool you :) Indoor RC uses the same equipment as Slow / Park flyers and the cost is identical. Take your 7 ounce Tiger Moth to a Gym and I bet you'll love indoor flying just like everyone I know who has tried it!

Have Fun,

[jimwalker]

Sorry Jason,

I stand corrected. I was just trying to give a general idea of what works where. Of course wing loading is the primary determining factor (within reason) of what will fly slow enough to take indoors. I agree that the Tiger Moth easily flys slow enough for indoors with all that wing area.

Happy Flying!

[jordanxt]

Ok, I'm starting to get the hang of this...sort of. I ordered a Tigermoth today-I couldn't resist the though of it drifting over my head at 5mph. If I trash it, I will most likely get a lite stick and practice up.

My biggest problem is resisting the temptation to fly in less than perfect wind conditions, although I do have access to a large gymnasium. Neither of the above cost a whole lot, and I've got a fair amount of flying experience. I havent crashed a plane for quite some time, aside from a firebird that decided to fly itself into the ground. Might have been the duracels in the Transmitter(forgot about those!) :rolleyes:

I also got a gws pico pack along with some other goodies from Balsa Products- for some reason it seems like a trustworthy place to shop, unlike my local dealer.

As far as the charger, the Supernova looks awesome, but is four times the price of some others. I'm sure it is better, but looks quite complicated to a know-nothing like myself. The batteries/charger are the most intimidating part of this situation. The Dymond micro charger looks pretty simple, and they are about 1 1/2 hrs. from me, so I may take a trip this weekend and talk to them in person.

Ive still got a load of questions, but I'll spare you guys this time, and do some homework on my own...Thanks alot for the help and wish me luck!

Andrew

[ 09-07-2001: Message edited by: Andrew ]