Hey guys! I’m brand new to this and I’m excited to get started. I used to fly those cheap air hogs planes from the toy store when I was younger and recently have found my passion for flying again. I’ve never flown a “real” rc plane before so I’m not really sure where to start. Building my own or getting a cheap trainer to learn on? And reading about all the different electronics and transmitters and batteries and so on is a lot to take in! Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated
Boy oh boy, those questions are some seriously loaded questions, and I'm going to apologize for the forthcoming novel.
Let's start with planes. There are a TON of different planes to learn to fly with. A lot of people here will recommend a Tiny Trainer, which will allow you to learn to build a plane. And that is a GREAT suggestion. Me personally, I would suggest the Simple Cub, only because it's a bigger plane. Bigger planes tend to do a little better in wind, and when you get them 50-100 feet up in the air, the bigger size makes it easier to see. That said, they ARE bigger and harder to fit into a car, and require more area to fly so you don't hit things like trees, cars, and humans. I would say it kind of depends on what areas you have to fly in (and fly in LEGALLY; some parks have signs posted that it's illegal to fly there as a violation of city ordinances/laws), and size your plane accordingly - if you can fly a Simple Cub sized plane, do it.
With this also comes down to build vs. ready to fly.
Building allows you to learn how to put a plane together, which means that if something breaks, you have an idea of how to put it together if things go awry and you have a crash or break something. A ready to fly aircraft, on the other hand, is ready to go, straight out of the box, much like your Air Hogs planes that you used to fly. But, if you break something there, you will have to buy parts or worse, buy a new plane if you crash. In addition to building your own planes, you can pick what motor you want to go with, which ESC, connector styles for batteries, receivers, etc. With that, though, it can be somewhat confusing too, because if you get too big of a motor for a particular plane, it may fly out of control, or might be too heavy; it might also pull too much power
However, a ready to fly plane will steer you into certain territory on other equipment. Many "Ready To Fly" (or RTF) planes come with transmitters, receivers, electronics, etc., all in the box, ready for you to pull out, charge the battery, and throw it in the air almost immediately. Some of those planes have a transmitter that can ONLY be used with that plane, so you are stuck with using that transmitter versus having one transmitter that can be used for multiple planes.
Now, transmitters can be a very ugly topic. This is a lot like comparing numerous products - Android vs. Apple, Ford vs. Chevy, BMW vs Mercedes, etc. Each brand has its own "flavor", if you will, and may or may not be compatible with another. For example, Spektrum radios are not compatible with FrSky radios, but FrSky radios MIGHT be compatible with Spektrum - if you can find a module that's compatible to attach to the radio (and depending on the radio, it might require some electronics "surgery"). In addition, look at what features are available with the different radios, even within that compatibility. I use Spektrum as an example on this because they've got several different bells and whistles depending on the model, and the model numbering is pretty easy to figure out. In the Spektrums, you have things like the Dx8, the Dx6, the ix12, the Dx6e, etc. Spektrum kept it simple enough to determine how many channels each radio supports with those numbers; DX6 supports 6 channels, 8 supports 8, etc. But, with the differences between the Dx8 and the Dx8e is features. The "e" is more of a simplified version, leaving out certain features like voice announcements for timers, and diversity antennas, which offer better, more reliable signal. More features means more expense; it's up to you to decide if they're worth it. In this respect, you get what you pay for; my best suggestion before you buy it is to do some research and ask questions, because there's a lot of consideration in buying your transmitter that will shape what you can and can't fly.
Hopefully this info