RC Planes

Parts arrived today and all fitted within 5 mins. Feels kinda strange but works perfectly. Center bleep - vibration
Low battery bleep -vibration
On / off bleep - vibration

etc etc
 
I finally got time to take my Bixler up for it's maiden and my first ever real flight this weekend :D

It was far easier than expected, I guess flying my quads and time on the simulator helped a great deal. By the 3rd/4th battery I'd done my first loops and barrell rolls (though the roll was messy). It also feels and looks so good when you nail a nice coordinated turn :)

It's so much more relaxing flying planes than quads, though I wouldn't say one is better than the other, they compliment each other well!

Needless to say I'm now hooked and want to get my wing finished :D
 
I am complete RC place beginner and have a Bixler 2 which I am trying to finally get put together and up in the air. A few months ago I connected all the electronics and successfully spun up the motor and turned the servos. However I have tried again today and when I plug my fully charged LIPO into the ESC nothing happens. There is no LED and no beeps, something I am sure occurred last time? Any tips on what may be missing? The ESC is connected to the receiver and motor.
 
I am complete RC place beginner and have a Bixler 2 which I am trying to finally get put together and up in the air. A few months ago I connected all the electronics and successfully spun up the motor and turned the servos. However I have tried again today and when I plug my fully charged LIPO into the ESC nothing happens. There is no LED and no beeps, something I am sure occurred last time? Any tips on what may be missing? The ESC is connected to the receiver and motor.
Sorted it, problem with the receiver.
 
I have a table at my new place so have finally been able to cover and assemble my wing.

TtdMi8v.jpg

Just need some servos, linkage stoppers, Rx and a motor which are in the post. Also got some German Air Force roundels as I thought it looks like something the Red Baron would fly.
 
Cool thread. Brings back memories. Long time ago used to be in a flying club. We hired a farmers field on a Sunday. It was full of sheep. Right smack back in the middle we prepared a square piece of grass, rolled it, cut it, just like a bowling green in the middle of this field. It was a strange site. The sheep kept the grass low. It was in Rotherham near the M1. We had to get permission to fly there.

One year it snowed really bad but not perturbed we went out there. It had stopped snowing and we had blue sky. My Dad and brother (we were quite inexperienced), another member and the club founder. He had just spent over £1000 building a stunt biplane he was a very experienced flyer. We cleared the snow level, flat and packed and fitted our snow ski's to our planes. We had a go first and after a bumply take off flew around. Next it was the biplanes turn. He was really glowing with pride at this beauty. Off it took up and banked round for the first fly by overheard when suddenly the top wing flew off and the then the bottom wing ripped off. It then turned into a ground missile with sheep scattering everwhere it hit the ground with a "WHUMPF" and snow shot up in the air. When we found the impact site it was burrowed in snow. We dug down and all you could see above ground was part of the fuselage and tail section. We all stood there like something had died. The guy reached down and gave the tail section a tug it broke off and he fell back. While we were all stood their stunned a sheep wandered over and licked his face. We all rolled about laughing. Happy days.

(Oh I forgot to add through this we got to visit the guy who made the RC planes for Empire of the Sun and see them in his workshop!)
 
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Afternoon :)


My wife bought me an RC plane for xmas and the last time I spent any decent amount of time reading or researching this topic, a transmitter was close to the average monthly wage (so about 15 years ago :p)!

Needless to say, seeing a complete set available for £20 was quite a shock.

The plane she got me is a Multiplex Funman which seems to be a 3 channel plane, upgradeable to more channels later on.

My first question is how many channels is a more advanced plane? I'm trying to gauge what transmitter to buy, the last thing I want is to potentially buy a more advanced RC plane later on and have to buy a new transmitter specifically for it. What's a decent quality transmitter set for a beginner? I don't mind spending a bit as I'd like to turn this into a proper hobby.

It also needs a battery. What sort of batteries am I looking at? Are these interchangeable with most RC planes? Ideally I'd like to buy a few for obvious reasons, but don't really know where to start.

I'm also looking for something sim-orientated so I can fly around on my home PC before taking to the skies and faceplanting my brand new plane seconds after take off. Any ideas?

I'd like to join a club but have no idea where to start.

TL;DR: Wife bought me an RC plane, what now? :p
 
For transmitter go for this - http://www.giantshark.co.uk/product/170570/flysky-fsth9x-b-24g-9-channel-transmitter-module-receiver

You will not grow out of that one and is silly value for money really! For the batteries it calls for 3 cell lipo between 1500mah and 2500mah. Looking around just go for something like I have linked below, buy 3 though to make sure you have plenty of flight time. Of course you need a charger but I must admit I am a little out of it for what is recommended.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=26718
 
For transmitter go for this - http://www.giantshark.co.uk/product/170570/flysky-fsth9x-b-24g-9-channel-transmitter-module-receiver

You will not grow out of that one and is silly value for money really! For the batteries it calls for 3 cell lipo between 1500mah and 2500mah. Looking around just go for something like I have linked below, buy 3 though to make sure you have plenty of flight time. Of course you need a charger but I must admit I am a little out of it for what is recommended.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=26718

Will second that system, I use the turnigy branded version of it. It's excellent and around £7 for a receiver compared to about £50 for a Futaba. I swore by Futaba, until the 2.4ghz stuff came out. I now have a Spektrum DX7 and one of these, and can't tell the difference between either.
 
The Red Baron is ready to fly, a year after I got it :D
pmC6Sly.jpg

I probably need to get a new spinner, it's not quite big enough for the motor shaft and will only go on ~4mm, as a result is a bit wonky, pennies to fix that though :)
 
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OK, I've got the wing bug now!
Just got a FlyingWings Venturi EVO FPV and used the HK UK warehouse sale to get some batteries and a ESC. :cool:
 
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