Getting started in the hobby! First planes, first impressions

[tudordewolf]

I've been active mostly in the nitro sub-forum for the past couple years, but have recently gotten into planes, thanks largely in part to moving out of a no-fly zone.

To continue to a conversation that has turned from nitros to planes:

I don't know where to start, I have quite a few planes so far, on some I am working simultaneously, as the parts come in.
Same as nitro cars, I try not to miss out on any good deals out there and just keep buying.
Initially I wanted 90% of my planes to be electric, but its the other way around, most are nitro's.
I too am on the hunt all he time for small scale nitro planes, basically park flyers but there are not easy to find, I believe they call them 1/2A planes, which still to this day I don't know why?

I own one 4 stroke at the moment, its an ASP 90 installed on a Japanese dive bomber plane. Yet to fire it up.
Fallen in love with older small (.10 - .25) 70's and onward OS plain bushing engines, they are so easy to tune and run great.
I have quite a few in my collection now, in different sizes.

I am not sure about the VX18, I don't think that engine would cope well if kept at top RPM for longer than 5-10 seconds.

Its better I make a thread for us in the planes section, so we can do some idea exchanges.

BTW, AX series engines are very nice, prob top of the range stuff, it will serve you well.

I am currently training at the club on a hobby zone glass air sportsman while I get my fleet of WW2 birds ready.

What are you training on and how often? How far are you into the training.

I picked up an Aeroscout 2 to be my "serious" trainer. The local club recommended it, they run a couple Carbon Cubs but will buddy-box anything with a Spektrum radio. I'm very impressed with the quality, the integral tail assembly and magnetic battery compartment all feel very thought-out and polished, and a substantially nicer than average radio.

I got some aliexpress specials, (of course...), just to see what was out there - This $15 plane with 2 channels that flies without control surfaces using only differential thrust, actually pretty fun, and a $100 1.1-meter trainer that has generally left me underwhelmed with its overall value and construction, especially next to the Aeroscout.

There's a vendor with some pretty neat balsa models, several of which are more or less nitro-ready. I've already ordered this one is for a .10-.15 engine, might eventually get an OS .15 LA for it. They also have a mini-stick for cheap, which I'm going to use just to practice my building skills before butchering a nicer kit. That vendor, "Real Hawk store", might be my new, "jz9193"... There's this Cessna, or this Extra-330, both of which are the right size for a .15

I had to look up the 1/2A thing because it was bugging me too, this thread talks about it. Apparently it goes back all the way to the pre-RC days of free flight competition and refers to the displacement. I guess it's confusing because the rest of the scale has fallen out of use, it's not like we refer to a .46-powered plane as being D-class.

I've only gotten my first day of practice in at the club on their loaner plane; there's snow on the ground right now and when the forecast isn't for snow it's wind... I'll bide my time building and practicing on a sim, and making airplane noises with my mouth as I admire the AX engine.

The warbird collection sounds awesome, I'd love to build a P-38 with a pair of engines sometime.

 

[9x19]

Congrats on the acquisitions, have fun and don't crash!

 

[Doom!]

A whole different world of rc, but once you get the basics down it's a blast. Enjoy your new adventure!

 

[Tunedfrog]

Have fun is the most important thing.
I highly recommend a RealFlight simulator.

 

[gandalfnz]

RC planes are a blast, nitro especially if you are into it, my RC car collection has take the back seat, and I really need to trim it down to a few favorites.
As some have said, a whole different world, there is so much to it, so much learn, so many challenges. Its great!

I am often blown away of how much me and @tudordewolf think alike!

I too have Phoenix sim installed on my PC as a trainer SW but haven't touched it in a long time, since the little usb dongle adapter died on us. A new dongle just arrived, but not sure if I will go back to it.
So far me and the boys have probably done about 15 flights, have been given full control of the plane and have the circuits and take offs nailed. We are now doing landings, which are proving challenging, especially when flying a foamie in the wind.
We have been paired up with a great bunch of lads at the local club, which as super helpful and supportive.
The club we belong to is huge, with RC, Control Line, Heli and Drone in separate areas of the massive land.
One of my boys is especially interested in flying control line, and has been flying it a few times now on his own, crashing a few birds in the process.
These planes are really hard to find nowadays, as it seems its mostly older folks that still fly them, and I was surprised to see that they were all nitro's, not a single electric.
RC is similar, lots of nitro and petrol planes, although electric in this section are a lot more common.
The club provides all the gear for trainees free of charge, but I have purchased all the gear for us, including the two Spektrum radios (dx8e and dx6) so we are completely independent and don't have to wait in que and think about whether the batteries are charged up. We have it all set up, and are in the air 5 min after arriving.
Our trainer plane is a hobby zone sportsman, flies real well. I had to pull out the SAFE receiver and the guys at the club reckoned it just interfered with our learning, and could not figure out how to fully disable it. Purchased a few lemon receivers and they have proven to be cheap and reliable.

In the last year, I have made quite a progress in the plane department, with restoring old planes, crashing/rebuild, new builds, cover film application, power system calculations....etc.

I have about 15 planes at the moment, ranging from trainers to warbirds, I will post pics of them here. Its a disease, just can't stop buying them!

Aeroscout 2, that's a foamie with a propeller on the back of the wing? Interesting recommendation by the club, is it easy to fly?

So far, I have not purchased planes from Ali except for parts, as I find the older good branded stuff at very good prices, such great deals to be had if you hunt for them.
Haha, I was just waiting for your feedback regarding another planes JZ guy, would be good as combined shipping saves a lot in this case.

I still don't know what 1/2A stands for, the way I understood it, is that wingspan is smaller and they usually do not exceed 1m.
I find these planes are difficult to find, mostly old stock, which is a shame as they would make they best park flyers due to them beeing smaller in size.
Most planes nowadays that I see for sale are 60 inch wingspan or bigger.
Luckily I picked up a few last week, one of them being the Eflite mini ultra stick (have a guess which nitro engine I put on it?). What an awesome basic plane! Or shall we just call it the ugly stick!

The AX engine is top stuff, I swapped one that didn't have the carb needle on it for about 10 Spektrum receivers.
Although as I said, I am in love with the 70s-80s plain bushing OS engines, as they are super easy to tune and run great, and last a very long time.
Plenty of them for sale locally and in great condition.

Pics coming soon!

 

[Doom!]

At one point I had about 15 planes, had to scale back, they eat up a lot of realestate. I am at about 6 now. But my surface vehicles filled that space up again.

 

[gandalfnz]

At one point I had about 15 planes, had to scale back, they eat up a lot of realestate. I am at about 6 now. But my surface vehicles filled that space up again.

I make nice pvc pipe hangers, and hang my planes off the ceiling in the garage, so they dont take any floor or wall space.

 

[Doom!]

I make nice pvc pipe hangers, and hang my planes off the ceiling in the garage, so they dont take any floor or wall space.

I don't put my planes in the garage because in the summer it can get to 130°F in there, So I'm limited to in house storage. I did make a rack out of PVC for my planes In the spare bedroom.

 

[gandalfnz]

Eflite Mini Ultra Stick. Just finished cleaning it up and installing LA 15 on it.

This LA 15 has a front mounted carb.

Great plane, should fly well.

 

[tudordewolf]

Aeroscout 2, that's a foamie with a propeller on the back of the wing? Interesting recommendation by the club, is it easy to fly?

I haven't gotten the chance to fly it yet, hopefully the weather becomes a bit more favorable soon. All the more chance to practice and build.

I also put together a cheap "E0717", once it's all together it's not a bad plane for $100:

I'm using a Radiolink T8FB with it, $45 total with a receiver, and it even has a port that works with an $8 USB dongle from Ali for Phoenix Sim. It's mind-blowing how cheap some of the electronics have gotten, considering how that used to be the single most expensive part of the hobby.

 

[gandalfnz]

I haven't gotten the chance to fly it yet, hopefully the weather becomes a bit more favorable soon. All the more chance to practice and build.

I also put together a cheap "E0717", once it's all together it's not a bad plane for $100:

I'm using a Radiolink T8FB with it, $45 total with a receiver, and it even has a port that works with an $8 USB dongle from Ali for Phoenix Sim. It's mind-blowing how cheap some of the electronics have gotten, considering how that used to be the single most expensive part of the hobby.

I guess you'd be okay with that radio, I did read that its prone to dropping signal all of a sudden.
Not an expensive plane to loose, but just be aware. I think Spektrum radio gear is good, albeit expensive.
A DX6 is affordable and an excellent learning radio.

I am using FlySky GT5 on my nitro cars, and I had a few crashes into the curb, which really annoyed me, till I realized that the receivers had no low batt cut off. That should be mandatory with any RX if you ask me. Yet with this one, I had to make sure that my RX batteries are never low, otherwise it just goes WOT and bam. That's kind of what you have to put up with when getting cheap Chinese radio gear.

Good to see you got the covering film hot iron, its a must!

Another one of my favorites, recently acquired this NITRO Pitts S1S, powered by an ASP .15 engine. 900mm wingspan.

 

[tudordewolf]

I guess you'd be okay with that radio, I did read that its prone to dropping signal all of a sudden.
Not an expensive plane to loose, but just be aware. I think Spektrum radio gear is good, albeit expensive.
A DX6 is affordable and an excellent learning radio.

I am using FlySky GT5 on my nitro cars, and I had a few crashes into the curb, which really annoyed me, till I realized that the receivers had no low batt cut off. That should be mandatory with any RX if you ask me. Yet with this one, I had to make sure that my RX batteries are never low, otherwise it just goes WOT and bam. That's kind of what you have to put up with when getting cheap Chinese radio gear.

Good to see you got the covering film hot iron, its a must!

Another one of my favorites, recently acquired this NITRO Pitts S1S, powered by an ASP .15 engine. 900mm wingspan.

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That is gorgeous! I definitely want a biplane in the collection, probably a Pitts. Have to figure out how I'll house them all, I can fit a dozen nitro 1/10th's on a single rack, but planes need a bit more room...

I'm willing to experiment with radios and work my way up. The Aeroscout comes with a DXS radio by default, and I can definitely appreciate the overall nicer build and robustness.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Beautiful planes guys.

 

[gandalfnz]

Thanks. Yes its a great looking small plane. Being Nitro is what makes it even more special.
I loaded the Mini Ultra Stick and Pitts and tried flying them in Phoenix Simulator and my good are they super sensitive and acrobatic.
I found it easier to fly warbirds than them. Not sure how accurate physics for these models in the SIM would be, but I guess they should be close at least.

Ok, onto the next...

Last plane from this purchase bundle is this P51 Mustang, 1m wingspan.
Powered by a feat of engineering, a small 4 Stroke ASP FS30AR nitro engine.
This one was belly landed, but has no marks on its belly. I plan to install fixed landing gear on it.

 

[tudordewolf]

Thanks. Yes its a great looking small plane. Being Nitro is what makes it even more special.
I loaded the Mini Ultra Stick and Pitts and tried flying them in Phoenix Simulator and my good are they super sensitive and acrobatic.
I found it easier to fly warbirds than them. Not sure how accurate physics for these models in the SIM would be, but I guess they should be close at least.

Ok, onto the next...

Last plane from this purchase bundle is this P51 Mustang, 1m wingspan.
Powered by a feat of engineering, a small 4 Stroke ASP FS30AR nitro engine.
This one was belly landed, but has no marks on its belly. I plan to install fixed landing gear on it.

View attachment 180425

Wow, that's like my dream plane. I figure 4 stroke + warbird is just one of the best sights / sounds, even just flying level.

 

[gandalfnz]

Wow, that's like my dream plane. I figure 4 stroke + warbird is just one of the best sights / sounds, even just flying level.

Its a nice combination yes, two stroke sounds good enough for me now too. I am fascinated by small engines, hopefully I can find an out of production OS FS20, which I believe its the smallest 4 stroke engine OS ever made. They are pricey today though.
Once I strip down the engine from the P51 for a clean I will post a few pics, as that one is the next size up from FS20.

Atm I am working on this project with my boys, it was a donation plane from an older gentleman at the club, retiring from flying.
Was an airframe only, and had a fixed cowling, which we had to cut in order to accommodate the LA46.
Firewall was also extended, but CG still don't feel right, and I might have to add some weight to the nose.

Its nearly there, and ready for maiden.

 

[tudordewolf]

Its a nice combination yes, two stroke sounds good enough for me now too. I am fascinated by small engines, hopefully I can find an out of production OS FS20, which I believe its the smallest 4 stroke engine OS ever made. They are pricey today though.
Once I strip down the engine from the P51 for a clean I will post a few pics, as that one is the next size up from FS20.

Atm I am working on this project with my boys, it was a donation plane from an older gentleman at the club, retiring from flying.
Was an airframe only, and had a fixed cowling, which we had to cut in order to accommodate the LA46.
Firewall was also extended, but CG still don't feel right, and I might have to add some weight to the nose.

Its nearly there, and ready for maiden.

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You spoke so highly of them that decided to grab a .25 LA, was already a fan of their sleek lines. It's shocking the prices NIB engines will go for, not a bad time at all to start a collection...

It is interesting how available the vintage, out-of-production aero engines are, especially compared to the rarer car engines. There's new FS-20's on eBay right now, not for cheap, but that's still "abundant" in collector terms.

The tiny gassers are interesting too, they seem to have caught on a bit more, as we touched on in that thread about the Dynamite .31 gas engine. There's even tiny-gas-4 strokes, which might be some of the most "scale" power I can think of. A multi-cylinder would be awesome, but I don't think I have the space for a >1.20-engine sized plane, neither at home nor at my field... Might need to keep that one at the family farm.

 

[gandalfnz]

You spoke so highly of them that decided to grab a .25 LA, was already a fan of their sleek lines. It's shocking the prices NIB engines will go for, not a bad time at all to start a collection...

It is interesting how available the vintage, out-of-production aero engines are, especially compared to the rarer car engines. There's new FS-20's on eBay right now, not for cheap, but that's still "abundant" in collector terms.

The tiny gassers are interesting too, they seem to have caught on a bit more, as we touched on in that thread about the Dynamite .31 gas engine. There's even tiny-gas-4 strokes, which might be some of the most "scale" power I can think of. A multi-cylinder would be awesome, but I don't think I have the space for a >1.20-engine sized plane, neither at home nor at my field... Might need to keep that one at the family farm.

Great! How much was the .25 LA?
They are great, simple in design engines, with zero maintenance, unlike 4 strokes, which will require periodical checking and valve clearance adjustments. Less complex, less parts, less wear and tear, less headaches. That's how I see it.
The LA series even though classified as "budget" run and perform great.
Make yourself a small test bench and break it in, see how it runs, just run it a tad rich (slight 4 stroking).

I got a small box full of engines, most are second hand, but with great compression, ranging from .10 to .46. Among them is a brand new in box LA40.

I have heard and read a lot of good feedback about ASP/Magnum engines, if you see them for cheap and in good condition, make sure to buy them.

Eventually I will buy a gas engine as well, purely out of curiosity, but I have been reading about it, and apparently the smaller they are the more issues like 10cc and such. Most of these engines look like nitro converted to gas. I thin we discussed this before, where making a good small gas engine hasn't been great so far. Its like Savage Octane, which I am selling btw, too many RC cars.

 

[tudordewolf]

Great! How much was the .25 LA?
They are great, simple in design engines, with zero maintenance, unlike 4 strokes, which will require periodical checking and valve clearance adjustments. Less complex, less parts, less wear and tear, less headaches. That's how I see it.
The LA series even though classified as "budget" run and perform great.
Make yourself a small test bench and break it in, see how it runs, just run it a tad rich (slight 4 stroking).

I got a small box full of engines, most are second hand, but with great compression, ranging from .10 to .46. Among them is a brand new in box LA40.

I have heard and read a lot of good feedback about ASP/Magnum engines, if you see them for cheap and in good condition, make sure to buy them.

Eventually I will buy a gas engine as well, purely out of curiosity, but I have been reading about it, and apparently the smaller they are the more issues like 10cc and such. Most of these engines look like nitro converted to gas. I thin we discussed this before, where making a good small gas engine hasn't been great so far. Its like Savage Octane, which I am selling btw, too many RC cars.

$67 USD was the winning bid, new in box. I've seen LA's from .10 to .46 sell in that range in the past month alone. There's a lot of estate sales with unused engines being sold for cents on the dollar, a bit melancholy when you think about it.

Funny you mention ASP, I saw a new .46 for similarly cheap, had to grab it. Has an unusual swept head that doesn't match the pictures of other S46A's out there:

I think the Saito FG-11C is the smallest 4-stroke gasser out there. As the name hints it's 11cc, just north of that 10cc pain point, but it still fits a .46-size plane. Pricey, though. If I wanted to make an FPV plane with an hour+ endurance to just cruise around, that would be the choice.

 

[gandalfnz]

$67 USD was the winning bid, new in box. I've seen LA's from .10 to .46 sell in that range in the past month alone. There's a lot of estate sales with unused engines being sold for cents on the dollar, a bit melancholy when you think about it.

Funny you mention ASP, I saw a new .46 for similarly cheap, had to grab it. Has an unusual swept head that doesn't match the pictures of other S46A's out there:

I think the Saito FG-11C is the smallest 4-stroke gasser out there. As the name hints it's 11cc, just north of that 10cc pain point, but it still fits a .46-size plane. Pricey, though. If I wanted to make an FPV plane with an hour+ endurance to just cruise around, that would be the choice.

That is an odd looking cooling head on that ASP, but then again there is so many variants out there, you never know.
I see, your are prob right, I thought I saw a Chinese 10cc rc plane engine, most likely it was 15cc then.

Was at the club yesterday and a guy with a AX was having issues tuning it, actually his first AX piston tore the liner for some reason, and this brand new one he installed wasn't running right. In the end he said he has a LA 46 which he will put on it. Found that funny. LA again takes the win.

Also, have you tried flying or see someone fly a control line plane at your club?
Another guy I spoke to, purchased a $4 foam plane from a store, added a bell crank and elevator made to work.
Thin plywood firewall and strapped a cox 049 on it. It flew great.
I want to try this, as I have a few 049 cox engines, just need to buy one of those glow plug converters so it can take a standard glow plug.

Managed to land perfect a few times yesterday, was told I can soon take the test and fly solo.