Beginner needing advice

[Dji-maineiac]

Good Day All!
Have been flying drones a while now and looking to get into the RC flight game. Which set up would be better, tail dragger or tricycle landing gear? Don't want to have too many rough lands. I figured I would ask the forum for their advice. Thank you!

 

[Bricks]

It is about 6 of one or half dozen of the other, most trainers in balsa do have tricycle gear. I believe this is because less chance of breaking props on landing and a bit easier to land. Less to deal with when taxing and keeping the tail down with up elevator, and rough runways tri gear is easier to handle..

 

[JasonK]

Where are you going to be flying?

If you have nice soft grass to land on, belly landers (hand launched) land really easy.

The only gear landing I have done is tricycle (and only 1 flight with that), so I don't have much to make an opinion on for that.

 

[quorneng]

It rather depends what you want to risk on a 'less then perfect' landing, the prop or the nose leg.
It also depends on the definition of a 'less than perfect' landing and the speeds involved, both vertical and horizontal.
The kinetic energy that has to be 'lost' before the plane is safely (stationary?) on the ground = mass x velocity squared.
As slow as possible (both vertical and horizontal) at actual touch down is good but too slow anytime on the approach to landing is not!

 

[The Fopster]

Belly Landers rule when you're learning to fly! Gear is surprisingly easy to break until you've got the hang of a slow controlled landing. Unless there's a special reason to want it I'd be tempted to start simple - and skip the gear for plane number one (because there will be a number two, three and so on...).

 

[Dji-maineiac]

Where are you going to be flying?

If you have nice soft grass to land on, belly landers (hand launched) land really easy.

The only gear landing I have done is tricycle (and only 1 flight with that), so I don't have much to make an opinion on for that.

The club I want to join has a nice grass field. Mown and kept up. Any idea?

 

[JasonK]

I would just do a belly lander to start with then

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Avoid planes with retractable landing gear.

High wing tail dragger would be good. Warbirds are tricky because the landing gear are often very close to the CG and makes them prone to nosing over, both on takeoff and landing.

Just say no to wheel-pants.

Remember the plane has to fly the wing. You can't just stop flying and hover when you want to pause.

But the flip side is you don't have to worry about the plane going in any direction other than where the nose is pointing.

 

[Merv]

+1 on no retracts & no wheal pants.
Retracts are far more fragile than fixed gear. Wheal pants cause tremendous drag in the grass.

Trike gear is more robust and has better ground control than a tail dragger.
The length of grass is critical, tall grass (above 2 inches) can make takeoff difficult for trikes and landing difficult for tail draggers.

In grass, adjusting trike gear so the nose is slightly high improve take off.

On tail draggers, morning the main gear forward will decrease the chance of flipping over on landing. Add toe in to the main gear to improve ground handling. Point the wheals at an point 5-10 feet in front of the plane. I put steerable tail on all my draggers, well worth the effort.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Trike gear is more robust and has better ground control than a tail dragger.
The length of grass is critical, tall grass (above 2 inches) can make takeoff difficult for trikes and landing difficult for tail draggers.

So... you're saying he needs the eFlite Trojan 1.1 meter.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/produc...basic-with-as3x-and-safe-select/EFL08250.html

 

[mikeehuber]

Good Day All!
Have been flying drones a while now and looking to get into the RC flight game. Which set up would be better, tail dragger or tricycle landing gear? Don't want to have too many rough lands. I figured I would ask the forum for their advice. Thank you!

I am a new flyer since July. After building and destroying foam board planes, and not learning to fly, buying and destroying ready to fly planes, and not learning the fly, I finally bought an EPP Foam trainer to build, the Crashtesthobby Albatross. I have crashed it many times, but never damaged it, I built it poorly, and figured out how to make it better, the main thing is that survived all of my iterative learning and iterative building. It can fly slow! And in the wind. So I can learn. I'm hoping that after the winter, I'll be good enough to fly some of the foam board kits from FliteTest that I have bought and built but never dared to fly.

None of my problems are anybody my own fault. However, I think every flying club should have one of these EPP foam with lamination trainers. They're unbelievable.

I have a busted up tiny trainer, I'd kind of like to build a fuselage out of the EPP foam, and try out the two mostly intact wings. I just got some foam packaging that just might let me do it.

I'm very interested, in what, FliteTest, will do with their nice and fancy CNC foam cutter.

Could they make an EPP foam fuselage for the Tutor Foam Board Wings?

A "Foamy Tutor"?

 

[Dji-maineiac]

Belly Landers rule when you're learning to fly! Gear is surprisingly easy to break until you've got the hang of a slow controlled landing. Unless there's a special reason to want it I'd be tempted to start simple - and skip the gear for plane number one (because there will be a number two, three and so on...).

I was looking at a Cub (with SAFE and all that) seemed a fairl

So... you're saying he needs the eFlite Trojan 1.1 meter.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/produc...basic-with-as3x-and-safe-select/EFL08250.html

I was looking at a Cub

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I was looking at a Cub (with SAFE and all that) seemed a fairl

I was looking at a Cub

Both are good planes.

The Trojan is awesome though.

 

[Dji-maineiac]

Both are good planes.

The Trojan is awesome though.

Is the Trojan good for a beginner?

 

[Merv]

Is the Trojan good for a beginner?

Anything with SAFE is suitable for beginners.

 

[PsyBorg]

I am a new flyer since July. After building and destroying foam board planes, and not learning to fly, buying and destroying ready to fly planes, and not learning the fly, I finally bought an EPP Foam trainer to build, the Crashtesthobby Albatross. I have crashed it many times, but never damaged it, I built it poorly, and figured out how to make it better, the main thing is that survived all of my iterative learning and iterative building. It can fly slow! And in the wind. So I can learn. I'm hoping that after the winter, I'll be good enough to fly some of the foam board kits from FliteTest that I have bought and built but never dared to fly.

None of my problems are anybody my own fault. However, I think every flying club should have one of these EPP foam with lamination trainers. They're unbelievable.

I have a busted up tiny trainer, I'd kind of like to build a fuselage out of the EPP foam, and try out the two mostly intact wings. I just got some foam packaging that just might let me do it.

I'm very interested, in what, FliteTest, will do with their nice and fancy CNC foam cutter.

Could they make an EPP foam fuselage for the Tutor Foam Board Wings?

A "Foamy Tutor"?

Go grab a 4x8 sheet of that blue insulation foam they use on houses. MANY people are using that to shape aircraft then Fiber glassing it to make it more durable and permanent. just as light and far stronger then EPP.

 

[Merv]

I agree with PsyBorg. Building your first plane has some distinct advantages over a store bought plane. Building your own plane teaches you the skills need to repair your plane. SAFE or not, everyone will crash, its not a matter of if you will crash, it’s when. After you have built a plane, you know you can repair it or rebuild it.

FT has several excellent trainers, the FT Explorer, Simple Cub, Tiny Trainer, Simple Scout are just a few worthy of consideration.

 

[FlyerInStyle]

I agree with PsyBorg. Building your first plane has some distinct advantages over a store bought plane. Building your own plane teaches you the skills need to repair your plane. SAFE or not, everyone will crash, its not a matter of if you will crash, it’s when. After you have built a plane, you know you can repair it or rebuild it.

FT has several excellent trainers, the FT Explorer, Simple Cub, Tiny Trainer, Simple Scout are just a few worthy of consideration.

add the ft legacy to that list

 

[mikeehuber]

Go grab a 4x8 sheet of that blue insulation foam they use on houses. MANY people are using that to shape aircraft then Fiber glassing it to make it more durable and permanent. just as light and far stronger then EPP.

Well the albatross is not fiberglassed just iron on plastic film laminated. What kind of foam is in that blue home insulation? The EPP is crazy crush resistant, And then you sticky film laminate it and it's even better. The FT guys were talking on the podcast about the same thing.

 

[Ducky84]

FT Explorer is one of the easiest to fly, and it's easy to land as the large wingspan helps it land very slow and stable.

Also since it's a pusher, its forgiving to small nose crashes as you wont break a prop everytime.