ReadytoFlyFun.com

[Xyrec]

I've always wanted to have an RC plane to fly since I was a kid. I even had daydreams of building a scale model fighter jet that could break the sound barrier. However when my interest was peaked I never seemed to have the money, and when I had money I had other things I wanted to spend money on. However now that I'm older I really wanna get into flying RC planes and while I've been dilluding myself by looking at $12,000 RC jets, I know I need to start somewhere and I've browsed around for some learner planes and found a few things that looked like they're price appropriately for something I'm likely going to utterly destroy in nothing flat.

So far the most promising thing I've seen is the T-hawk at ReadytoFlyFun.com. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this plane, other planes offered by this company, or the company itself. They certainly have a long list of positive testimonials but that doesn't really mean anything. The kit seems to be a good bargain but looks can be deceiving. I noticed comments in some other threads about the frequency used by most package deal RTFs being a commonly used frequency and thus interference is common. The frequency used by the T-hawk is indeed 27mhz. However the crystal in the trasmitter and receiver can easily be replaced and I browsed around briefly on some sites for other larger name transmitters and replacement pairs can be bought for at the most 30 dollars in frequencies ranging from 30's to 90 I believe. However I don't know if this is possible. Will those crystals work in a transmitter that isn't specifically made to work with them? The connectors for them appear to be the same.

Also the transmitter is only 3 channel. Honestly I don't even fully understand the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of 2, 3, 4 and up channel systems.

The main reason that I like the T-hawk is that the package includes a lot of extras, and replacement parts are so cheap. For less than $250(adding on extra parts and options) including shipping I would get all the electronics installed, transmitter, battery charger with both ac and dc adapters, (3) 8.4v 900mAh batteries which would give me a ton of flying time if I go out to fly somewhere with all batteries fully charged, 3 wings, 3 tail wings, an extra motor, 3 propellers, 2 main housings, and an extra sturdy landing gear. With all those spare parts I could all but obliterate the thing and even when all the parts are totally wrecked I would still have the transmitter and receiver, and 3 fairly expensive battery packs.


So any advice that you could give me, and/or links to websites with good info for beginners would be much appreciated. Also review of the T-hawk and links to other good beginner "park flyer" class planes would be helpful.

[Leo L]

Welcome! By most accounts, the T-hawk is a good beginner plane, but like most pusher planes, it needs quite a bit of room.

A 2-channel plane means that you have control over two variables. Usually, these are speed and turning. The planes are designed to fly level at 50% throttle. As you increase the speed of the plane above 50%, the plane will rise. As you decrease the speed below 50%, the plane will descend. Turning on most planes is accomplished with a rudder. Other planes have two motors and use differential thrust, by speeding up one motor and slowing down the other, to turn the plane. Since you can only control ascent with speed, these planes tend to need a lot of room. There are many cheap planes that use this technology, but don't fly very well. A very good plane of this type is the HobbyZone Firebird Commander 2. A very small, inexpensive plane in this catagory is the AirHogs AeroAce (more on this plane later). These are the easiest planes to fly for a beginner, because there are only two controls to think about.

3-channel planes allow you control over three variables. These are usually speed, turning and angle of attack. You can use angle of attack for descent, and if you have enough speed, for ascent. Turning is usually accomplished with a rudder, but some planes use ailerons. Good beginner planes in this catagory are T-hawk, Firebird Freedom, Aerobird Challenger, Easystar, Slow-V, Slow-stick. These planes are a little harder for a beginner to start with because there are three controls that you need to operate at the same time. However, most of these beginner planes can be flown similar to a 2-channel, by using the throttle to control ascent and descent for the most part. There are a number of 3-channel planes that are advertised to be good for beginners, but are actually intermediate planes. Be careful not to select a plane that will be too difficult to fly as a beginner.

4-channel planes give throttle, elevator, rudder and aileron. The fourth control gives that plane the ability to do various stunts that the 3-channel cannot do. The only beginner plane that I know of in this catagory is the BeginAir.

5 and more channels are used to add special features and controls, such as variable pitch props, retractable landing gear, etc.

My suggestion is that you first get the AirHogs AeroAce. It costs about $30 and is available at Toys-R-us, Target, etc. Its a very easy plane to fly, is virtually indestructable, can be flown almost anywhere, including gymnasiums, basketball courts, playgrounds, etc. You will learn some very important lessons: Fly when there is no wind; stay far away from trees; control reversal (when the plane is flying toward you, you must move the control stick to your right to make the plane turn to your left). Once you get the hang of flying, I would recommend the Slow-V. Once you are good at flying the Slow-V, you will be able to move up to any number of beginner or intermediate planes.

Check out the various discussions for beginner flyers at rcuniverse.com, rcgroups.com and rchangout.com.

[Xyrec]

Hmmm...thanks for the advice, I'm still browsing around and looking at various things. I note that the begin air is on a pretty good sale right now but as you've said 4 channel planes have a lot more variables to worry about and arn't the best for beginnings but I'm thinking of trying to muster up the money to buy the version that doesn't include the receiver and transmitter so that later on I'll have a good plane to move up to. Right now it's only 109.99 I believe.

I still have a lot to consider but right now this is what I have floating around my head.

There is a mini rc plane on sale at hobbytron.com for 20 bucks(from 40) that has 2 channel control. I could use it to practice a tad before getting the T-hawk.

I can then get the T-hawk to work my way up on, with 3 batteries(lots of time to practice when i go out), a 12v charger with ac adapter and car adapter, heavy duty landing gear, the spare parts that come with it, plus another spare tail, spare wing, main housing, and a motor incase the first one burns out, all for under 250 including shipping. It seems like even if the T-hawk is hard to learn on, with all those spare parts it outta be nearly impossible to totally destroy the thing before I've mastered it.

Then I'd like to get a high quality transmitter with a lot of features and options so that as time goes by and I work my way up to bigger and more complicated planes I'll have everthing I need. Ones such as the Eclipse 7 come with a receiver and servos so I'd be set for most situations. And with the transmitter I could buy the begin air package without receiver and transmitter. Then to improve the performance of the begin air, I was looking at some LiPo batteries(on hobbytron's site one of the upgrades for the begin air is a LiPoly battery but it's only a 1000 or 1100 mAH LiPoly, and it also says it's speed controller can handle up to 50 amp) and I found a charger and a battery that's 7.4v 1500 mAH where I could get the charger and 2 batteries for right at 100 bucks and would give me nearly unlimited flying time(when one battery goes dead, I can have it charging while I use the next one) with it when I go out.

(The mini rc is on a good sale, as well as the begin air and the Li Poly charger I was looking as so I may actually buy them out of order just to catch them while they're still on sale.)


So what do you think of my plan? Sound realistic? Any Improvements you'd suggest? Also I've noticed when I look at various batteries, chargers, and connectors inthe planes they all seem to look vastly different. Is this a problem or can cheap simple adapters be bought to solve this issue?

[Leo L]

Overall your plan seems very practical. A few comments:
1) The HobbyTron plane looks to be the same plane as the Wattage Microflyer. I have never flown this plane, but from some comments on various threads, it seems like a nice plane for the money, but not as good a deal as the AeroAce. I believe that the Microflyer does not have proportional throttle, does not use a "standard configuration" transmitter, and flies for about 6 minutes per charge. It also has a conventional layout, with the prop up front. The AeroAce has proportional throttle, uses a standard configuration transmitter (i.e.: two sticks: left for throttle and right for steering), gets more than 10 minutes of flight per charge (due to its lithium battery) and has a pusher design which makes it almost indestructable. It's hard to beat the $20 cost of the Hobbytron plane, but the Aeroace isn't that much more at $30.
2) Although the BeginAir is 4-channel, its basic flight characteristics will be similar to the T-hawk. Once you gat fully familiar with flying the T-hawk, you will probably want to go for an intermediate plane, rather than the BeginAir.

[klausr]

Have you considered the Hobbyzone Firebird Freedom - it has an infared sensor which rights the plane when you let go of the sticks. This will help you get out of trouble and could save you from crashing. Also the Hobbico Red Hawk and Swift Flyer fly well and are inexpensive. The Readytoflyfun.com Skyseeker GT is also a bargain and comes with 2 batteries & extra wing etc.. We reviewed it in Backyard Flyer and it's a good beginner plane. The BeginAir, despite its name, is more of an intermediate plane and is best if flown with the help of an instructor or as a 2nd plane. It is quite fast and responsive and not as stable as some of the beginer planes. All these come with standard Mode II transmitters (elevator and aileron on the right stick); I would stay away form planes that aren't in this configuration or you'll have to learn all over again when you switch transmitter types. Also, do not change the transmitter crystal, even if it's easy to do. It's against FCC rules and the transmitter is tuned to a specific frequency. It's ok to change the receiver crystal.

[Xyrec]

The plane I was talking about is the Aircraft Micro http://www.hobbytron.com/AircraftMicroRCMiniPlane.html and it has a pusher prop, not a puller so that should be all good. I dunno about the proportional throttle but the picture of the controller shows 2 sticks. It only get 6 minutes flights though like the Wattage micro but it does have a Li Poly battery included so I really don't know. However it's too late because I already ordered the thing. I'll find out whether or not it was a mistake in 3-5 business days.

Also in a unique turn of events, I was talking to a friend of mine last night and mentioned I was interested in getting into RC planes. As it turns out, he has one he'd like to sell. I'd have to look at it and see what he has but apparently it has minimal crash damage and he only wants 50 for it. It's either a 3 channel or a 4 channel, not some 2 channel toy. I suppose it depends on what it is and how bad the damage is. Only time will tell.

[klausr]

Keep us posted on how the Aircraft Micro flies. If it flies for $20, it's a good deal!

[aeajr]

ReadytoFlyFun has great planes and their customer service reputation is excellent.

The T-Hawk is an excellent first plane and the complete package they offer is a good value. It includes two wings, two tails, two batteries and the charger is AC/DC.

You can buy it with their 27 mhz 3 channel radio, just to get started quickly, then replace the receiver with one from your own radio and change over to 72 MHz or 2.4 GHz.

The T-Hawk glides well too. It can be thermaled and it can be slope soared.

I started on an Aerobird and still fly it often. However, by many accounts, the T-Hawk is a better plane in a better package.

This is one of the 4 RTF planes I recommend often. You can't go wrong with the T-Hawk.

[Doug Sipprell]

I have two T-Hawks, the first one was flown stock, then modified slightly for improved performance, The second one is a much more modified T-Hawk, and really is performance tuned. I have seen many of the V-tailed starter planes come to the field. Only two of us flew T-Hawks ( I still do, the second flyer is now 16 and is into cars, girls, motorcycles, girls, girls), and I can say without reservation, the easiest plane to get up and flying right has been the T-Hawk. The standard tail plane (vertical stabilizer with rudder, and horizontal stabilizer) is much more stable and with less trimming problems. Many of the Firebird series of planes, with V-Tails, are difficult to get dialed in for good stable flight. The rubber band linkage arrange has always been problematic, from what I have seen. The T-Hawk is set up more along the the lines of a conventional plane. Thus, it makes a good stepping stone to other planes. I have no connection witht the people who market the T-Hawk, just speaking from personal experience. Major pros for this plane are the complete package being available at a very reasonable price. The components supplied are very good. The plane can take a heck of a hit and still keep going. You need to purchase only a better battery charger for NiCads/NiMH's to complete the package. Cons: The plane is NOT something you would fly on a 1/4 acre lot. It floats, glides well, but needs some space. There is some tip stall sensitivity, so make turns gradual at first, and maintain some altitude. The T-Hawk is NOT a plane you fly around and thru the Daffodils. Be sure to make use of the optional 900 mAh NiMH packs. You can buy them elsewhere, better price, even more powerful packs such as 1100 and up mAh. The transmitter supplied with the plane is good, but is on 27 Mhz FM. I did experience some glitching with this radio, but it never prevented me from flying the plane. 154 flights on T-Hawk #1, and it will soon re-enter service. T-Hawk #2 is highly modified, and blows away any trainer. It is definitely an intermediate plane. Interesting to see intermediate and advanced flyers having fun with T-Hawks. This is the sign of a plane that has great appeal and application. Strickly beginner planes usually end up just that, rarely to be used again by more advanced pilots.
There are many good starter planes out there, but for easy of assembly and a wide flight performance envelope, to say nothing of the value, the T-Hawk is hard to beat. As with any beginner flyer, look for help in learning how to fly. Check the hobby shops for locations of flying clubs. Put up a notice on Park Flyer or Electric Plane forums asking if anyone is flying in your area.

Best of luck.

RD

[Xyrec]

Well my Aircraft Micro is supposed to arrive tomorrow. In the meantime though I browsed around at Wal-mart to look at the airhogs aeroace and now I'm actually sorry I didn't just go ahead and get one of those. I'd have already had it for days now and at 30 dollars(actually it was 40 at Wal-mart but right next door at Target they had it for 30) it would've only been 4 dollars more than what I paid for that Aircraft Micro after shipping cost. But more importantly, I found out after looking at the package(sorry if you guys already mentioned these features and I just didn't pay attention) that the aeroace has two motors, flies longer on a charge and is 3 channel instead of 2.

I may end up buying an aeroace anyway to move up from the one I'm already getting. Do any of you all know how long the charge time is for the aeroace?

[Leo L]

The AeroAce is only 2-channel. The charge time is about 20-25 minutes and you get about 12-15 minutes of flying time.

Let us know how you like the Micro once you receive it.