RC Planes

Had my first ever flight tonight, I found a farmers field close to home and just went for it!

First launch went for about 2 feet ha, nose dive from my hand straight to the ground :p I wasn't sure if it was a balance issue or just me, I decided to just go for it again and give it a bigger throw which to my shock worked!

I landed after about 10 minutes because I was struggling to keep concentration lol. I was surprised at how slow it can fly, certainly a welcome trait :D

One thing I noticed is that it seems to fly downwards rapidly but really slowly upwards, is that normal?
 
Lakeland said:
Had my first ever flight tonight, I found a farmers field close to home and just went for it!

First launch went for about 2 feet ha, nose dive from my hand straight to the ground :p I wasn't sure if it was a balance issue or just me, I decided to just go for it again and give it a bigger throw which to my shock worked!

I landed after about 10 minutes because I was struggling to keep concentration lol. I was surprised at how slow it can fly, certainly a welcome trait :D

One thing I noticed is that it seems to fly downwards rapidly but really slowly upwards, is that normal?
Click to expand...

Yes.
If you are using a 2200mah battery, it will be nose heavy. I put full throttle on and a bit of up trim and it's fine after that.
It's a bit of a design flaw that it won't let you move the battery far enough back so that you can fly on no up trim. But it's not really supposed to have battery this large in it.
I prefer flying the bixler with 30% flaps on, I can fly on a 1/4 throttle and it will still maintain height.
 
Guys, I have bought a cheap esky usb controller and it arrived yesterday. I tried both rc deskpilot/BMI and Cleaerview SE simulators, and with the basic first plane found (after a few crashes while i reversed a few controls and fiddled with the trims etc) that I could quite easily take off, maintain altitude, do circles around myself, rolls, loops like a half loop where i would pull up then do a 180 roll and carry on etc. Landing was okay once I got the orientation correct.

My point is, how realistic are the sims? if I can fly the sim, will I manage in real life? I did not want to spend any money on real kit until I knew icould actually fly, and actually enjoyed it, and after an hour or so last night it seems the answer is going to be yes to both.

Thoughts?

Thanks, Rob
 
Don't circle around yourself. it's the worst thing to do. fly away and then straight back towards yourself. turn and repeat. Do figure of 8s in front of yourself. Fly slowly in smaller areas it's sometimes easier to bash the sticks around rather than controlled slow flying.

Does the sim allow for wind? stick it as high as you can and as random as you can.

Sim flying is usually pretty realistic, the only problem is you get no depth perception in the sim.
 
Thanks for the reply. Depth is definitely an issue, the graphics on both sims are not that great and the plane gets quite pixelated hard to see when its in the distance.

I am guessing about your come straight back at you comment your mainly referring to reversed inputs when your coming back to me, roll left = right stick etc.

Luckily i used to race rc cars for a long time when I was younger so that part of it I have found quite easy so far :)

How many hours practice in the sim would you say is sufficient before trying it outside?
 
I raced rc cars before going to planes and yes, orientation is a big thing to practice, but you will have a good handle on it already. Roll the plane over and then fly towards yourself, it can get really tricky then!
Try a more unstable plane something for stunts but under powered. Also try taking it up high, banging the sticks around without looking at the screen and then try to recover.

As to hours, who knows? You might be a natural and be fine straight away, and of course people were flying rc planes before sims were invented.
 
Download the BMFA handbooks and use this to learn the "A" and "B" certificate routines. Should help you focus on certain maneuvers to practice
 
Hi, can someone recommend a good starter transmitter / receiver for a Bixler 2 and a charger for a Turnigy 2200mah 25-35c LIPO battery?

I am new to RC planes and currently just have the plane in a box and a few other parts and would like to finally get up in the air! For the moment I would rather not pay out for something as high end as Spektrum DX6i, any links would be appreciated as I am struggling to find stuff that would be appropriate for a beginner.

Cheers
 
How much do you have to spend? I can't comment on starter transmitters, but if you can stretch a little, the DX6i is a fantastic transmitter, they can be had at a pretty decent price if you look around. I had one and can comment on it being a decent 2.4ghz radio

one for £79 on the bay brand new.

Has plenty of features on them which will be useful

There are a few for around the £40-£50 mark on ebay (new) however A) I dont know the manufacturers B) I wouldnt know the quality, weather they are cheap, and when you are flying its good to know that your transmitter is not going to crap out/loose comm's with the model, C) Even though they are around £40-£50, thats excluding delivery, sometimes delivery on top is £10-£20, so you may aswel pay a little bit extra and pick up the DX6i, D) A lot of them are cheap Chinese models.
 
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Thanks for the tips, seems it probably is worth spending a bit more and getting something I know should perform and will be future proof. Currently watching a few DX6i's on eBay now and will hopefully get a good deal.

As for the charger, I bought one of these today from Hobbykings UK warehouse. Hopefully it should be ok.
 
Yep you can't beat the Dx6i as a starter transmitter, lasted me for a good few years :)

Also that charger is decent, one of my friends has one and it seems pretty good for the money.





Nearly finished building this currently: http://i.imgur.com/R8cbV3v.jpg

Just another servo required (downsizing one so I don't need to modify the fuselage), and good to go! :) :)
 
Just started the build of my first plank. A wing probably wouldn't have been my first choice to start with but I got it for Xmas so I'll just have to practice tons on Phoenix before I maiden it :)

qUwr40x.jpg
 
How are you getting on with the wing?

I decided by little one needed a balsa frame spit for his ceiling :)
balsaspit1.jpg


Now I am building it though I am thinking of sticking in a small lipo and adding to the RC fleet :p
 
Found them! Knew I had them somewhere.








I'm also building this Flanker (about half done) - which I really don't think will fly!

And this F-14 (which is a Mk2. Mk1 fell in the sea :D)
 
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