Noob on a Budget! Ultimete goal is a FPV plane!!!

[wspaldingstowevt]

Hey guys and gals!

Have ALWAYS been interested in RC planes and well I think now is the best time to start! Ultimately I'd love to fly this plane to have FPV capabilities but with budget might need to spread need gear across a clp pay checks/months.....so I would love to have a plane that is suitable for both FPV and regular flight! I do wish to build most of any plane(s) and I am starting at square one equipment-wise with little to no knowledge!

Any guidance or direction youall could give me ie what kit/plane I should use and any equipment I will need and MAYBE SOMEWHERE WHERE I CAN GET SECOND HAND/USED EQUIPTMENT AS THIS COLLEGE GRAD HAS STUDENT LOANS TO PAY OFF!??!!!


Thank you!!!!!

W

 

[abieex]

My favorite all time trainer was the Smash Drone (do a search). I put it in trees, the cross arm of a power pole, hit the same barn 3 times and lost it in the woods for three days! It continued to fly til I got tired of it and gave it away. Im sure it will take small FPV gear if you want. Good luck and welcome to the FT forums.

 

[CaptBill]

Welcome
Have you considered building a foam plane?
The odds are you will crash a plane or two in learning, this is especially true if your going to learn solo.
TRY planes will normally cost, New, way over $100 many times much much more. A suitable sped build will cost you about 30-40 additional tools another 20 -30 Motor 15 esc 15 servos 10 & you can reuse all those parts if and hen'you crash plus you will learn a lot just in building
Your also.going to need a radio/ receiver package. Depending on you're budget and how much your willing to spent you can start here for under $0 or a couple hundred. is very cool however your first priority is learning to fly.

 

[rockyboy]

I would definitely recommend starting with the idea of building foam FT planes - as you're starting from scratch knowledge wise, be prepared for some 'rough landings, some vertical' in the beginning. Doing this with foam planes that only cost a dollar or two with foam board from the Dollar Tree is the most economical - and in my opinion the most fun - way of getting started.

Also, all of the electronics you get for your first plane will transfer right into your second plane. Which is good when the first plane gets smashed into the ground so many times it no longer flies straight It's also really good when you outgrow your second plane and want to start experimenting with FPV - all your electronics from plane number one move into plane number three and your investment keeps giving you more fun!

With that strategy in mind, and looking at budget limitations, I recommend starting with the FT Tiny Trainer as your first plane. It uses the 'mini power pack' sized electronics, which are very cheap. It's a great plane for learning to fly - it got me into the air two years ago. It's also really easy to rebuild sections of the plane when something gets beat up too much - like when I needed a new nose after a lawn dart imitation, or when I needed a new tail when I tried to fly early in the morning and got dew all over my elevator and warped it into a taco curve. The Tiny Trainer starts out as a 3 channel control setup which is easiest to learn to fly, and then you can build the 4 channel wing when you're ready for some aerobatics and more advanced control.

There are multiple people who have added FPV gear to the Tiny Trainer too, but you can also use the electronics from the Tiny Trainer in the FT Arrow - and that's an excellent purpose designed FPV wing racer

If you're interested, I can point you to a couple lists (or write one up) of recommendations on first set of electronics and equipment to get too.

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

 

[makattack]

Hey W! Welcome to the FT Community! This is a great place to flind out more about the hobby you have an interest in!

Err, your handle has Stowe VT embedded in it. A friend and I visited for a long weekend over the past Summer and had a blast flying at the High School fields.

Some great recommendations here. I would also recommend getting any number of free or inexpensive RC flight simulators and trying them out. If you have access to gamepads, they can be used to simulate/approximate the RC transmitters (RC TX) that we use.

This might be the best, least expensive way to see if you like the hobby!

There are a number of great options depending on what interests you. If you want to try out some of the FliteTest scratch built planes, you can try this free simulator and download the FT planes here:

http://rcdeskpilot.com/
http://www.flitetest.com/articles/36-add-on-planes-for-rc-desk-pilot

 

[rockyboy]

+1 makattack

Don't know why I keep forgetting to point people to the simulators too when they are just learning. My bad!