First post on Flite Test Forums!

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
well, I decided to cruise on over and check out the flitetest forums, and I like what I see, so I signed up.

after lurking for a few hours I decided I should post my first post over in this section... lessons learned.

the tale of my first rc airplane

My father in law has flown for several years, and has gotten me into flying rc helicopters, he trained me on a blade cx2, and I made the standard progression threw the ages,from coax, to fixed pitch, then on to collective pitch, but that's not the focus here...

he had his micro corsair out one afternoon and I was observing him, enjoying myself quite a bit, I started asking questions, before I knew it, I had the transmitter... what a joyus thing, watching that tiny scale warbird zip around my front yard!

Of course as you can imagine, it didn't take long at all for me to decide I needed my own! a few days passed and a trip to my LHS and I came home with a UM P-51d with as3x from parkzone. I took it out, bound it up, charged her, preflight checklist and I was out the door. the little airplane flew wonderfully, almost effortlessly. considering all the horror stories I had heard about warbirds, and low wing aircraft in general, how terrible they are to learn on, and all there bad tendancies I was just amazed. Low and behold I got a HUGE HEAD...

diretly after my first successful flight and landing (first battery) I was feeling pretty good about myself and my capabilities, and called upon my brother in law to join me while I flew my second flight on the tiny mustang. I sat it so gently on the runway (my driveway) nose to the wind, slowly poured on the throttle and took her off nice and scale, slow glideslope up and a nice wide banking turn back over the runway, then my big head made a big bad decision. (bearing in mind that this is my second flight of a fixed wing aircraft) I jerked the elevator to full up, hammer head stall. recovered smiling from ear to ear, aileron roll, recovered even bigger cheesey smile... then finally it dawned on me, INVERT!!! in one smooth motion I rolled it over onto its back and marveled at how easy this was... im flying inverted, with a warbird, on my second flight... What are people talking about??? this is too EASY!

then, the unthinkable happened... dumb thumbs... I jammed my elevator the wrong way and drove her right into the ground, full throttle. Let me tell you, nothing is worse than the sinking feeling you get, when you destroy something while trying to show off.

when I got to the scene of the crash, the motor had removed itself from the airframe, the battery had ejected, and I think I found most of the wing. several dollars later in parts and a few hours of labor, I was back in the air tho!

so I guess my hard knock style of lesson in this case... is ultimately take the proper steps to learn to fly, orientation is really something that you should learn early on, and aerobatics aren't something you should go trying on your second flight, no matter what kind of rotary wing experience you have.

well if your still reading, thanks for sticking with me, and im looking forward to contributing my knowledge and experience (not to forget learning some myself) to the wonderful community that flitetest has started over here...

also let me say that having used most RC forums on the net, it saddens me to compare the enviroments of this place and some others. not bashing any one or any place in particular.. just saying ive had less than ideal experiances on several other forums. some big ones to boot.

glad to see that this place is an exception to the rule, and has so many willing, and knowledgeable members

good luck and blue skies
Andy
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Inverted: Where down is up and up is expensive.

Welcome to the forum Andy! I agree this is more the small friendly town, vs. the rough neighborhoods you'll find elsewhere. make yourself at home and jump in to the discussions -- we're all just a bunch of buddies back at the flying shed, swapping stories, ribbing pals, sharing problems, and lending a hand.

It's good you've gotten past your first "take-it-home-in-a-garbage-bag" experience without leaving in disgust. It'll always hurts, but it does get a little better every time you fix one, because you learn you can.
 

RoyBro

Senior Member
Mentor
Welcome Andy,

I too love this forum. The whole point of the hobby for most of us is to have fun. We check our egos at the door, we joke, we tease, we help (if we can). It's a good group here. I think you'll enjoy being a part of it.

Roy
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
Welcome, Andy.

I'm not sure that I can add anything to what Roy and Dan have already said, not to mention what you yourself have found here. I would like to congratulate you on at least the one successful flight before modding the little airframe. That AS3X is pretty cool stuff and I think you'd be really surprised if you tried flying those micros without it. They become a very different animal and not nearly so easygoing or forgiving. But since you are still flying after starting with heli's, I imagine part of the appeal for you is getting better and mastering a difficult hobby. Most people don't understand just how much difference it makes controlling these "toys" from the ground as opposed to flying inside them! Of course, not being onboard sure makes it easier to go out and experiment without worrying about bodily harm...unless you lose it as it's coming right at you, that is!

One thing you might want to try is a few of the Flitetest planes. Since you are here in the states, foamboard is as close as the local dollar store, and very cheap. It's not as pretty as the Parkzone stuff, but the sense of accomplishment is higher flying a plane you built, and if you do happen to high-five the ground again, it's so easy to replace the airframe since you built it in the first place. Plans are free to download if you don't want to get a speed build kit. I usually end up getting the kit and use it as a template to cut planes from my own foamboard.
 

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
thanks for all the kind words guys.

I will say that the corsair my father in law has isn't equipped with the as3x, and it is quite a bit... uhm it feels less locked in? I guess.. it bouces around more in the air in the slightest breeze. where as ive been flying the mustang in 6-8 mph winds lately.

ive already started building with the DTF :) just put the finished touches on a photon motor glider from Ed over at experimental airlines... and ive been patiently waiting a swappable p-51, I heard in one of the flitetest videos that chad had one in the works. also the potential for a swappable motor glider, I think Josh and David said in a video (could've been a pod cast) that they both had a design in the works also.... aside from that, the spitfire is on my list to build, aswell as a few others.

I have an affliction for the p51(like so many others do) In fact my grandfather left me a Midwest fun scale p51 kit, its 40 sized and about half built... I haven't done anything with it just yet, as I don't feel like im up to the challenge of completeing the build. and for now the thought of smashing it to bits still makes me a bit sick... one day I may get over that and put her up tho.

I also was given an old carl Goldberg eagle 2 (.25 sized trainer) and ive had a few successful flights on it, but it got some hanger rash in a move and I need to fix the vertical and horizontal stabs. easy enough, and ive got all the stuff, just still trying to get my hobby room set up from my move...


and finally, im ecstatic that I decided to join this forum, and again I look forward to helping where I can, (ive got quite a bit of time with nitro motors, some time building balsa planes and boats... fast electric boats, rock crawling, carpet car racing, 1/10th scale buggy racing. heli experience, and now fixed wing!).... and learning more.
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Welcome to the forums, Andy! Glad you find it a friendly place. I don't think anyone gets too full of themselves around here.

If you like the way the micro Mustang flies, I recommend the Durafly Corsair from Hobby King. Its much bigger, less twitchy and comes with a lot of bells and whistles for not a lot of money.
 

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
thanks dude, I LOVE warbirds. growing up my grandfather had a 100cc gasser corsair, it had the folding wings, 90 degree retracts, bomb drop, it inspired me quite a bit, I remember him building it, balsa frame, glassed over and painted... my dad airbrushed rivets onto it, looked like it was sheeted with aluminum.

but I digress. love the warbirds... what about parts availability???
 

Johan

Senior Member
Hi Andy, and welcome!

Having returned to RC recently and having found this oases of kindness (I mean it!), I think You'll like it here.
Funny, RC reminds me of my dad as well and coincidentally I also digress a lot... :)

I'm currently trying to build a 20" Hawker Tempest warbird (balsa kit), but this was meant for "rubber propulsion", so I'm trying to find parts to convert it to RC... Not easy, gotta go small.

When it comes to parts (generally speaking): HK is cheap, but shipping is slow / expensive, depending on where you are at the globe....
I bet the same goes for warbird parts. I'm in Europe and some parts are not in stock here and mixing orders (European warehouse / International warehouse) does not work, I guess it it the same for Kentucky, but maybe the USA warehouse is better stocked :)
 

Fledermaus

Member
Hi Andy! I'm brand new here as well, and you won't find anyone with much less experience. I started out with a couple of micro quads about a month ago.

I found Flite Test when a guy I was chatting with at the hobby shop mentioned I might enjoy it. I was immediately sucked in by FT's approach to flying and getting people involved in the hobby, and what I continue to hear from them about all this being about the people you meet. Signed up for the forum's yesterday and I am really pleased by how positive a place these forums are, especially when measured against some of the other online communities I've been involved with.

Hope to see you around and witness the fruits of your labors! Cheers!
 

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
Hi Andy! I'm brand new here as well, and you won't find anyone with much less experience. I started out with a couple of micro quads about a month ago.

I found Flite Test when a guy I was chatting with at the hobby shop mentioned I might enjoy it. I was immediately sucked in by FT's approach to flying and getting people involved in the hobby, and what I continue to hear from them about all this being about the people you meet. Signed up for the forum's yesterday and I am really pleased by how positive a place these forums are, especially when measured against some of the other online communities I've been involved with.

Hope to see you around and witness the fruits of your labors! Cheers!


The single best thing about this hobby is meeting people who genuinely care. And making memories, it warms my heart when I get positive responses and meaningful feedback.

Truely the one huge drawback is the hostility that can be felt in some situations. When I got my first cp heli I went into my lhs and the guys behind the counter were willing to help with the setup, untill I mentioned it was an esky beltcp and not a trex... I was offended by their reaction as they virtually acted like it would never fly... Two weeks later I was flying inverted and doing tic tocks in their parking lot. Similar results when I brought a cheep Chinese touring car to our track. I was basicly laughed out. I won that season in points and set and broke three track records with it.

Brand myopia makes me sick, and when the new guy makes a budget decision when he's first starting out, people look down on him for not spending a huge amount of money on virtually the same product.

Similar reactions happen on many forums... And I saddens me to see so many people pushed away from such a rewarding and enjoyable hobby. I won't speak to a specific forum, but I asked a question once about an rc hydroplane, six pages later, four members were banned.

We as a community need to work towards getting new people into the hobby and growing the interest. Not driving people away for asking questions, even obvious ones.

The guys at flitetest are models "no pun intended" for how the community to should act towards on another (maybe with less slapping LOL). They are good guys and i commend them for it.

Yet again, I digress. Welcome to flitetest yourself bud. And right back at ya. Can't wait to contribute to this awesome community and help this hobby grow in the direction it needs to go!

Y'all are too kind
Blue skies
Andy
 

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
Hi Andy, and welcome!

Having returned to RC recently and having found this oases of kindness (I mean it!), I think You'll like it here.
Funny, RC reminds me of my dad as well and coincidentally I also digress a lot... :)

I'm currently trying to build a 20" Hawker Tempest warbird (balsa kit), but this was meant for "rubber propulsion", so I'm trying to find parts to convert it to RC... Not easy, gotta go small.

When it comes to parts (generally speaking): HK is cheap, but shipping is slow / expensive, depending on where you are at the globe....
I bet the same goes for warbird parts. I'm in Europe and some parts are not in stock here and mixing orders (European warehouse / International warehouse) does not work, I guess it it the same for Kentucky, but maybe the USA warehouse is better stocked :)

Johan, seems like well get along famously, intend to be a bit long winded, but I like to think some value in these words! I grew up watching these beautiful gas and glow models flying, unfortunately we as a family didn't have much in the way if funds, my father worked a lot when I was young, and I'm lucky enough to enjoy the hobby with him now that he's retired. Great memories. And I'm making new ones every day...

Thanks for the welcoming message and I hope to see more of you around here.

Thanks again
Andy