I've been a fan of FlightTest on YouTube for a couple of years now, occasionally commenting on the videos. However, I've never actually flown an RC plane. It's something I've been wanting to do since I was a kid, but have never been able to afford. However, I did get myself the cheapo WLToys F949 for Christmas, I've just been waiting on a good enough day to try it out. Here in Oklahoma, windy days are more common than days where you can fly these kinds of planes. Soon enough I'll get out there, it's warming up, just waiting for the right day so that if I kill my plane, at least it'll be a nice day out lol.
So anyway, I've been wanting to build one of the DIY planes with some dollar tree foam board. But I started looking into the cost. For a decent spektrum Tx and Rx, it's about $150. Batteries are about $15-$20 each. Servos are about $15-ish depending on if you want to go cheap. Motors can vary pretty drastically in price, plus the ESC. I did find a cheapo Asian motor with no-brand ESC for like $14. But the power packs from the store here are $60-ish, which would be motor kit and servos, which isn't too bad. Then chargers, and this apparently is where it can get super expensive. Anything from $60 to $300. Then a glue gun, connectors, soldering kit, etc which I can get on the cheap from harbor freight. So while I do like the "free" diy, it seems like it would still cost over $250 - $300, even doing it relatively "cheap". It seems if you want to get relatively decent stuff, it's going to be $500 or more, just to get started in DIY. Maybe I'm looking at things wrong though, I dunno.
So, I guess I'll try out my F949 for awhile and see if this is something I would even be interested in, which was my whole purpose to begin with. I haven't even really started browsing the forums yet, as I've just been a video watcher thus far. So I'm sure I can find some tips and tricks to save money here and there. I'll be reading, and possibly commenting from time to time. Feel free to give me any advice or point me towards some helpful threads
So anyway, I've been wanting to build one of the DIY planes with some dollar tree foam board. But I started looking into the cost. For a decent spektrum Tx and Rx, it's about $150. Batteries are about $15-$20 each. Servos are about $15-ish depending on if you want to go cheap. Motors can vary pretty drastically in price, plus the ESC. I did find a cheapo Asian motor with no-brand ESC for like $14. But the power packs from the store here are $60-ish, which would be motor kit and servos, which isn't too bad. Then chargers, and this apparently is where it can get super expensive. Anything from $60 to $300. Then a glue gun, connectors, soldering kit, etc which I can get on the cheap from harbor freight. So while I do like the "free" diy, it seems like it would still cost over $250 - $300, even doing it relatively "cheap". It seems if you want to get relatively decent stuff, it's going to be $500 or more, just to get started in DIY. Maybe I'm looking at things wrong though, I dunno.
So, I guess I'll try out my F949 for awhile and see if this is something I would even be interested in, which was my whole purpose to begin with. I haven't even really started browsing the forums yet, as I've just been a video watcher thus far. So I'm sure I can find some tips and tricks to save money here and there. I'll be reading, and possibly commenting from time to time. Feel free to give me any advice or point me towards some helpful threads