What Does it Take to Fly Balsa

[Nangier]

Hi, all
so I've been looking for a new plane for quite some time now and I can finally afford something a bit more advanced than a foamie. The problem is that I'm not sure what a reasonable level of experience is to invest in a large balsa plane. Something like the Taylorcraft 450 (or planes of similar size and power) is what I've been considering. Some are marketed with an "intermediate" pilot skill level, and I was hoping some of the more experienced members here could explain what that entails. I've gone through a couple 3s and 2s foam planes and primarily fly my Parkzone Archer, and have been flying for about 2 years now with a decent amount of time on a sim (realflight g5.5). Overall I'm confident with 4 channels sometimes in light wind, and would like to know when it's responsible to scale up.

 

[earthsciteach]

Balsa planes are no more difficult to fly than foamies. In fact, they are generally easier to fly and have better flight characteristics than foam planes if built well. The trade off is, when you crash a balsa plane, it may take a lot more work to repair it.

You can buy or build balsa planes that are in the same size range as most of the foam park flyers. I like Maxford USA (maxfordusa.com) for ARF balsa planes. The Durafly Storch from Hobbyking looks really nice too!

As far as intermediate goes, to me that means you can proficiently fly a high wing plane, do basic aerobatics, and land safely most of the time. You should be able to fly well behaved warbirds (Durafly Corsair, for example). Sounds like you qualify as an intermediate pilot.

 

[Nangier]

Sounds good, Thanks for the help

 

[PeterGregory]

Watch craigslist for an occasional superb deal. I was buying up some balsa kits over the last year and after I would buy one I would see one for almost the same price on Clist. Kinda like an ARF! The conversion to electric, if it is a slimer, is not that difficult but would incur some $$. At that, I see plenty of electric planes on CList. Around where I am, CList was really dead until a couple of weeks ago then things started popping with whole lots of planes at a time.

Like this one - go get it...
http://providence.craigslist.org/for/5081193920.html

Or this one
http://worcester.craigslist.org/tag/5093913602.html

Cheers - Poughkeepsie Pete