Newbie Introduction & Question

[mfeauto]

Hey there! Quick introduction, my name is Mark. I’m 31, married for 8 years, two kids (two boys, one is 2, the other is 3 months), I live in Iowa, I’m an associate pastor/administrator at my church, and I need a hobby! Haha. I’ve known about the Flitetest YouTube channel for about a year or so (my first exposure to the channel was the flying cozy coupe! Still one of my favorites! LOL), but I’ve been watching pretty intently for the past several month. I’ve always been vaguely interested in RC planes, but watching the fun the Flitetest crew has really put me over the edge and made me decide to start pursuing this hobby. Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and thank you all at Flitetest and in the community for creating this wonderful resource for newbs like myself to plug in to!

As far as my question... what are the inexpensive items (<$40) I need to get started that I can put on my sibling gift exchange Christmas list? I plan on going the DIY route. All I’ve got on the list is a hot glue gun and servo tester (is that even necessary right now?) so far. Haha.

I plan on doing the Tiny Trainer with power pack A for my first plane. So what about batteries? Charger? I don’t even really know what to ask for at this point. Thanks in advance!

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Welcome to the forum family, you have definitely come to the right place. We will help you along the whole process as much as we can on a forum from your first build all the way through to piloting your planes. Great choice on the Tiny Trainer for your first plane, has worked really well for many on here so you will get lots of tips and feedback here as long as you are posting your progress.

There are a couple routes you could go to get yourself started with the Tiny Trainer as you first plane, and since you have been keeping up with Flitetest for a year or so I am guessing it's a safe bet it won't be your last plane either. The great thing about these planes is the electronics will transfer from plane to plane to help you grow your skills and vary your experiences. As far as the TT goes it does have a recommendation of using the A pack electronics system to fly it, But with all the FT designs the recommendations on the plans are the minimum requirements, not mandatory. That being said the F pack will give you more options for different airframes later on when you plan to build other planes. The A pack is fine but will be short on power with a good handful of Mini sized airframes you may want to explore in the future. Result- you will end up buying the F pack anyway in the long run, might as well just get it to begin with to cover all the Mini models to choose from.

You could go with 2 cell LiPo batteries to start with, keeps your builds nice and docile to fly and saves on some weight in the plane so you can fly slower for the initial learning stages. You will want to get at least two of the same battery, recommend 3-4 actually, makes your outings worthwhile, they only last 5-10 minutes per battery depending on the plane being used and how aggressive you fly. Later as you get used to handling a plane and want to upgrade the power all you need to do is move up to 3 cell batteries for more speed and power, no need for a whole new motor set up.

The charger you are looking for will be something that will grow with you, it should be adjustable for cell counts, charging amps, battery types, and battery connectors. These you can find online at reasonable prices, the FT store sells them or you can look at Amazon, Ebay, or Banggood for any of these items. If you have a local hobby store you have the advantage of discussing your hobby goals with someone face to face to help make choices for anything you may need or want.

For the DIY aspect you will need the usual stuff, if you have seen the build video they kind of take you through the tools, the hot glue gun you have, hobby knife, steel ruler, and a square to help keep things straight. Other then that it is pretty simple to print off tiled plans and start going to town. Keep us posted and we will be there every step of the way. Good Luck

 

[Hai-Lee]

You will first need to consider what transmitter and Receiver you are going to buy or use. There are a couple of good entry level transmitter receiver combos but they are a little higher than the price range you have stipulated. A good transmitter helps you learn a poor transmitter could make your learning a very difficult task.

With the plane selected you will a motor and an ESC to suit and a battery that can drive it all.

You will 2 to 4 servos depending on what your plane requires. With a Tiny Trainer the trainer wing has no servos and so 2 servos would suffice but the sports wing needs 2 additional servos to operate the ailerons.

With the sports wing you will also need a "Y" harness to allow the servos for the ailerons to connect into a single channel in the Rx.

Make sure that you have the control horns, pushrods, and the linkage stoppers to put it all together.

That is basically all you need to get started.

Have fun!

 

[Merv]

Welcome to the forums, good to have another Flite Tester in the neighborhood. The tiny trainer kit or the accompanying power pack would be a great option.