Help! Beginner fliers want to dog fight

[Douglas]

My friends and I want to put some RC planes to the air and have some dog fights. None of us have any prior flight experience (although I have flown my Carbon Cub S+ a couple times) so we want planes we can crash and not care too much about it.

My thought is that that foam FliteTest easy build P40 is the best intersection of performance flying and low cost-of-crash. So I'm proposing that I build three P40s (something I have never done) with PowerPack Cs (if I can find a place that actually has powerpack Cs or their equivalent in stock), and take to the skies.

Can anyone poke a hole in this plan? Is there a better route? I think bigger planes are more fun than small planes so if you have a better plan, let it be a better plan with big planes.

 

[Merv]

You would be better off using trainer type planes.

The Storch, Bushwhacker or Explorer would be better choices for beginners.
When you can fly any of these planes inverted across the sky, you will have enough skill to move on to any plane you want.

 

[Michael9865]

The Bloody Baron is designed for combat.
Brown One
https://store.flitetest.com/flite-t...-electric-airplane-kit-737mm-flt-1025/p673689
New Maker Foam
https://store.flitetest.com/flite-t...-foam-electric-airplane-kit-flt-1113/p1218489

 

[sprzout]

I'd suggest the Tiny Trainer, Bloody Baron, or what we use at our field for exactly what you're describing, the Versa Wing.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you 1) do it where there aren't a bunch of people - a plane that takes a hit can go out of control VERY quickly, and if you are a beginner, it's very likely it could hit someone, and 2) WEAR A HELMET OR HARD HAT. I speak from experience on that - I was hit in the head last year by a Versa Wing that went awry, came around, and hit me at full throttle when the pilot lost control. Fortunately, it just bounced off of the helmet and I was able to keep flying, but it is a likely possibility of a plane coming back at you if something like an aileron gets taken out, or a prop gets broken - you may not have control.

 

[Douglas]

Which is the easier build: Storch, Bloody Baron, or Tiny Trainer?

Which is easier to fly: Storch, Bloody Baron or Tiny Trainer?

(I'd like to build the Storch, but I'd go with one of the others if they made more sense.)

 

[sprzout]

Which is the easier build: Bloody Baron or Tiny Trainer?

Which is easier to fly: Bloody Baron or Tiny Trainer?

Tiny Trainer is easier to fly and build, IMHO, for a beginner, but might not be quite so "snappy" for turning as the Bloody Baron, which can be important for combat and trying to roll a plane over into another. As Merv stated, though, you will want to be able to learn to fly inverted before you start trying to do combat, or at the very least, know how the plane is going to react when inverted, because you WILL end up getting inverted through either a barrel roll or a loop at some point during combat.

 

[mrjdstewart]

i would go cheap and easy... Bloody WWII Baby!

more planes to choose from than you could imagine and all easy and cheap to build. for a plane you are sending into combat you don't want to spend a ton of money or time on it since you are basically trying to kill it.

good luck and have fun,

me

 

[Piotrsko]

When you can fly any of these planes inverted across the sky, you will have enough skill to move on to any plane you want.

+1. My additional comment: combat planes are fast and terribly twitchy (which is kinda the point) Unless you really are into building, one short flight per plane is a wee bit wasteful .

 

[Mozella]

Which is the easier build: Storch, Bloody Baron, or Tiny Trainer?

Which is easier to fly: Storch, Bloody Baron or Tiny Trainer?

(I'd like to build the Storch, but I'd go with one of the others if they made more sense.)

I have a Storch and it's a great trainer but is entirely unsuited to combat flying; not maneuverable enough. I've built a number of Bloody Barons for combat flying and they're perfect. Easy to build, they perform well, and they're pretty robust. I can't speak about the Tiny Trainer from personal experience, but I suspect it would be a better trainer than a combat aircraft.
But first you gotta' learn how to fly. For that the Storch is good even if it is a bit time consuming to build. The Tiny Trainer might be a better choice. Then, when you can do a series of full speed loops and rolls one right after the other at moderate-to-low altitude without crashing, build a Bloody Baron and go for it. That's my 2 cents worth........... no charge this time.

 

[Brett_N]

We've progressed through a lot of different "chassis" for dogfights. I've built piles of Bloody Wonders (IMHO, the absolute best dogfighter) but they are twitchy.
our club has recently gone to the tiny trainer as the defacto standard. Cheap, easy to build, easy for anyone to fly, and less chance of them coming straight back at you out of control.

I would NOT recommend any of the bigger planes though.