We keep failing ... have not yet gotten a plane in air.

[Ketchup]

Ok, we are fully noobs! The control surfaces are seen here..

I agree with whackflyer. Normally the elevator is on the right stick moving up and down. There aren't any modes that I know of that have the elevator moving left and right. In mode 2, elevator is on the right stick moving up and down, throttle is on the left moving up and down, rudder is on the left going side to side, and aileron is on the right going side to side.
Basically this is mode 2:

 

[Ketchup]

Also like the others have said, your thrust angle is off. It is a bit up but if anything it should be down. Maybe your power pod is upside down? Just make sure that the motor has down and right thrust. Also it does look like you need to tighten down the prop nut more. I think that it is the cause of the odd noise and stuff. Tighten down the nut until you can't spin the prop separately from the motor anymore, the prop should be sandwiched between the motor bell and the prop nut.

 

[Tench745]

Like others have said, the noise is probably the prop slipping or one of the motor phases losing power. The prop nut is what's known as a ny-lock. It has a doughnut of nylon in the end which grips the threads on the prop shaft to keep it from backing off by itself. You'll need to tighten it down until the prop doesn't move. You'll feel resistance when you're screwing it on, this is normal.
Check the bullet connectors from the ESC to the motor; there should be no metal showing or else they can arc to one another and cause problems.
I'd get that sorted out first and then we can all walk you through the rest.
Where are you located? Maybe someone on the forums here lives close enough to give some one-on one tutoring?

 

[Flyingshark]

Like others have said, the noise is probably the prop slipping or one of the motor phases losing power. The prop nut is what's known as a ny-lock. It has a doughnut of nylon in the end which grips the threads on the prop shaft to keep it from backing off by itself. You'll need to tighten it down until the prop doesn't move. You'll feel resistance when you're screwing it on, this is normal.
Check the bullet connectors from the ESC to the motor; there should be no metal showing or else they can arc to one another and cause problems.
I'd get that sorted out first and then we can all walk you through the rest.
Where are you located? Maybe someone on the forums here lives close enough to give some one-on one tutoring?

@JLP I use a little strip of painters tape wrapped around each set of bullet connectors to help prevent short-circuits. There might be a better way, but this works for me.

 

[Tench745]

@JLP I use a little strip of painters tape wrapped around each set of bullet connectors to help prevent short-circuits. There might be a better way, but this works for me.

I like to use clear packing tape to hold bullet and servo connectors together. Or, if it's around I'll use heat-shrink tubing. Most tapes are quick, easy, and will do the job.

 

[flyingkelpie]

Also like the others have said, your thrust angle is off. It is a bit up but if anything it should be down.

Yup that's what I thought when I saw the video.

 

[flyingkelpie]

Also do test glides (just chuck it into long grass) and fiddle round with the CG till it glides nicely also check if it balances on in terms of bank angle. Attach string to the top center also where the CG is and test if it is weighted because of a imbalance of glue. On my first plane it had a huge amount of weight on one side.

 

[Flite Risk]

1st. go get some Sim time.
Simulators dont always represent real world conditions exactly, but they will get your basic muscle memory ingrained.

Now, take your prop off.
power on your plane and TX, center all control surfaces, maybe a little up elevator 3 or 4 bumps of your trim button

(get that over on the correct side, mode 2 (if you don't, no one will ever be able to fly your planes, you won't be able to fly anyone else's))

Now do like the FT guys do play catch with it. Start close together gradually spreading out. If you can get it to glide in a straight line while throwing it you are off to a good start and you know its built wright <----see what I did there? wright, wright brothers, air plane, built wright.......

Now that it glides wright, put yerr prop back on in the correct orientation, dont be afraid of your plane, respect it, but get to know it.
Get a good hold of it safely, by safely I mean hold it in such a way that it is held securely without the possibility of anyone including yourself being hit by the spinning prop, now that you have a good hold of it and a clear prop, run the throttle for a second or two, it should want to pull out of your hands.

Great your plane glides, has plenty of thrust now, (I always maiden mine with a little extra up elevator.)

Nutin left to do but give her a toss, with some strength at 30 to 45 degrees and into the wind.

 

[Flite Risk]

Also do test glides (just chuck it into long grass) and fiddle round with the CG till it glides nicely also check if it balances on in terms of bank angle. Attach string to the top center also where the CG is and test if it is weighted because of a imbalance of glue. On my first plane it had a huge amount of weight on one side.

I was writing while you were hitting post reply...

 

[flyingkelpie]

I was writing while you were hitting post reply...

Beat ya to it!

 

[Andrew]

ok, try this!

thank you

I also agree with others about the thrust angle, it was obvious straight away.

The motor pulsating sounds exactly like ESC low voltage protection kicking in, if it was a timing issue or lose/broken motor connection wire it would cause a different sound/symptoms.

 

[sprzout]

My thought when looking at it is that you might have your Elevator connected to the Rudder channel on the receiver, with how that left stick is working. Check your servo connections on the receiver; with the Spektrum radio, it should be what is known as TAER - Throttle on Channel 1, Aileron on Channel 2, Elevator on Channel 3, and Rudder on Channel 4. Not entirely certain which receiver you're using, but if it is one of the newer AR410 or AR620 Spektrum receivers that have the bind button, as you are looking at the front of the receiver where you plug the servo wires in, the first slot would be the Battery/BEC port, the second slot would be the Throttle, then Aileron, Elevator, and last, Rudder.

As Ketchup demonstrated with his diagram for Mode 2, your elevator should definitely not be moving with a side to side motion. The way I liken is to situate yourself behind the plane and pretend you're in the cockpit. If you're on Mode 2 (which is what 99.9% of the pilots in the United States fly with), moving the left stick to the left should have that rudder angling to the right, and moving the left stick to the right would have it angling to the right. Move the right stick to the left, and the aileron on the left wing should go up and the right aileron should go down. Move the right stick to the right, the left aileron should go down, and the right aileron should go up. Lastly, pulling back on the right stick should make the elevator angle up, and pushing forward should make the elevator angle down.

 

[flyingkelpie]

I also agree with others about the thrust angle, it was obvious straight away.

The motor pulsating sounds exactly like ESC low voltage protection kicking in, if it was a timing issue or lose/broken motor connection wire it would cause a different sound/symptoms.

Completely agree. Broken connection will simply not even spin instead move forwards and backwards super fast.

 

[whackflyer]

My thought when looking at it is that you might have your Elevator connected to the Rudder channel on the receiver, with how that left stick is working. Check your servo connections on the receiver; with the Spektrum radio, it should be what is known as TAER - Throttle on Channel 1, Aileron on Channel 2, Elevator on Channel 3, and Rudder on Channel 4. Not entirely certain which receiver you're using, but if it is one of the newer AR410 or AR620 Spektrum receivers that have the bind button, as you are looking at the front of the receiver where you plug the servo wires in, the first slot would be the Battery/BEC port, the second slot would be the Throttle, then Aileron, Elevator, and last, Rudder.

As Ketchup demonstrated with his diagram for Mode 2, your elevator should definitely not be moving with a side to side motion. The way I liken is to situate yourself behind the plane and pretend you're in the cockpit. If you're on Mode 2 (which is what 99.9% of the pilots in the United States fly with), moving the left stick to the left should have that rudder angling to the right, and moving the left stick to the right would have it angling to the right. Move the right stick to the left, and the aileron on the left wing should go up and the right aileron should go down. Move the right stick to the right, the left aileron should go down, and the right aileron should go up. Lastly, pulling back on the right stick should make the elevator angle up, and pushing forward should make the elevator angle down.

You said it!