Trying to keep my sons interest

Bound2crash

New member
Im worried about loosing my 9 year olds interest in the hobby due to unsuccessful builds and lack of parts ..or should i say correct parts .. i am un able to buy ready to fly due to the amout but have made an attempt to gather what i can to build ..its a learning process for sure. Any help would be appreciated. I do have stuff to trade .. and want to go simple 30mm edf or trainers to get in the air.. thank you so much for at least reading and any offered advice
 

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mayan

Legendary member
I say you and your son start off by build the ft Tiny Trainer as a chuck glider and go have fun. It’s an amazing time passer and great for bonding. Next you can make it a 2 channel chuck glider and get him to practice gliding it when on the controls, like I am doing here with my kids. The Tiny Trainer is also a plane that you can’t really go wrong with its build not much room for mistakes. It’s a really easy plane to build to and can be built with on sheet of foam board. I don’t think and EDF based plane will make a good trainer.
 

Bound2crash

New member
I say you and your son start off by build the ft Tiny Trainer as a chuck glider and go have fun. It’s an amazing time passer and great for bonding. Next you can make it a 2 channel chuck glider and get him to practice gliding it when on the controls, like I am doing here with my kids. The Tiny Trainer is also a plane that you can’t really go wrong with its build not much room for mistakes. It’s a really easy plane to build to and can be built with on sheet of foam board. I don’t think and EDF based plane will make a good trainer.
I will try that thank you
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
EDFs are a STEEP learning curve. It's not something I would push him to for a first plane, for sure. They require a long runway for takeoff, and they require a lot of room to bring down; it's nowhere near like flying a small plane.

There's one RTF plane that I can suggest you try that might pique his interest - the Inductrix Switch Air. It's a combination quadcopter and flying wing, and it is STUPIDLY easy to fly. :) It won't do barrel rolls or loops, but it is something that will allow you to get the basics down for learning, and it's cheap to pick up - $60 for the RTF version, which includes a transmitter. The other plus is that you can pop the quadcopter out of it and use it as a quadcopter on its own for a different style of flight, or even use the FT Hovercraft plans to build a little hovercraft and scoot that around indoors!

Here's a link on Horizon Hobby:

https://www.horizonhobby.com/inductrix-switch-air-rtf-blh8300
 

Bound2crash

New member
I say you and your son start off by build the ft Tiny Trainer as a chuck glider and go have fun. It’s an amazing time passer and great for bonding. Next you can make it a 2 channel chuck glider and get him to practice gliding it when on the controls, like I am doing here with my kids. The Tiny Trainer is also a plane that you can’t really go wrong with its build not much room for mistakes. It’s a really easy plane to build to and can be built with on sheet of foam board. I don’t think and EDF based plane will make a good trainer.
I like that idea I never considered the glider with controls as a way to learn I'm going to look into that
 

F106DeltaDart

Elite member
Lots of good suggestions here, but I’ll add in my $.02. You might consider getting your son a Hobbyzone Champ. Basic, 3 channel control, forgiving, super fun to fly, and easy to fix. It’s around $110 and includes everything (remote, charger, battery). This was one of the first models that got me into RC flight, and it’s still fun to fly!

 

CrazyFastFlying

Elite member
Lots of good suggestions here, but I’ll add in my $.02. You might consider getting your son a Hobbyzone Champ. Basic, 3 channel control, forgiving, super fun to fly, and easy to fix. It’s around $110 and includes everything (remote, charger, battery). This was one of the first models that got me into RC flight, and it’s still fun to fly!


I'd get the WLtoys F949 Cessna 182. It has most of the features that the Hobbyzone Champ has for a lot cheaper price. RTF, very forgiving, easy to fly and easy to fix. It also is a little bit larger the the champ so it will handle better in the wind.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PA5GN92/?tag=lstir-20

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USA-Wltoys...526744&hash=item2619c935d8:g:xFwAAOSwwFlcrG1w

Mine is still flying today.

Good luck! :)
 

mayan

Legendary member
Thanks guys , so glad i found this site i think figuring this hobby out will be much easier with the suggestions and experiences of others .. i really thought this would have been so much easier but looks like i just started off wrong
No worries, just don’t quit and build a Tiny Trainer I promise you things will start looking different for you.
 

makersam

Member
One thing I would suggest in line with the tiny trainer chuck glider idea. I built sparrows with my son and we used some large elastic bands I found at the local surplus store for a buck. You might not be able to go that cheap, but long pieces of small diameter surgical tubing costs less than $10. i did the same thing with the tiny trainer, but with a 2 channel setup and it worked out well enough.
Wasn't bad for a budget hi- start kind of system and was dirt cheap and a lot of fun.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hT3mMGLByWxxJHwy5
 

mayan

Legendary member
One thing I would suggest in line with the tiny trainer chuck glider idea. I built sparrows with my son and we used some large elastic bands I found at the local surplus store for a buck. You might not be able to go that cheap, but long pieces of small diameter surgical tubing costs less than $10. i did the same thing with the tiny trainer, but with a 2 channel setup and it worked out well enough.
Wasn't bad for a budget hi- start kind of system and was dirt cheap and a lot of fun.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hT3mMGLByWxxJHwy5
That’s a great idea I’ve seen it before on a different setup. A another forum member is building one too just now I kindly asked she open a thread for the build process might want to keep your eye open for it :).
 

Hoomi

Master member
What do you currently have on hand, to work with? If we have an idea of what you need, we can check our stash of spare stuff, and see what we can do.