Advice for newbie?

At least show a little initiative . . enter "beginner" in Search This Group.

Easy Star

| I posted earlier about my adventures with my new Yellow Bee ($30 @ | HarborFreight). I bought the thing yesterday on an impulse and today I | see many of you saying this is a terrible plane for a newbie. I would | like to spend the absolute least amount possible for a decent plane | that is easy to fly because it will get demolished. | | Anyone care to share any advice/recommendations?

Absolute minimum of 3 channels for any powered plane. (Two channels is OK for a glider though.)

Aileron/elevator/throttle or rudder/elevator/throttle doesn't really matter as long as you have all three channels. Anything that gives you throttle/rudder or two throttles (like the Yellow Bee) is NOT going to work well.

Ideally, the prop will be in back, and the plane made mostly of foam so it can survive crashes.

You're probably looking at $150-$200 for something decent that includes everything you need, but they'll fly so much better than the Yellow Bee it's not even funny.

And while help is not essential, even an hour of help from a more experienced R/C guy will help your plane last much longer and help you be much less frustrated.

The "don't fall in love with your first airplane" rule of thumb is aging. Buddy boxes and a decent instructor (both are musts) will prevent you from driving your plane into the ground and making toothpicks. What's left is the average rash, dented leading edges, broken stabilizers, snapped landing gear, mechanical failure, etc. Nothing you can do about that. It happens and it's part of the hobby. It's not necessarily related to flying experience.

If you're thinking you're never going to look back to your trainer, here are a couple of thoughts. Plenty of people want to share rc with friends or their kids. You'll need a trainer to do that. I experimented with my trainer for aerial photography. It was a nice slow stable aircraft without much vibration.

Why not buy something decent and learn to repair? My aerostar 40 lasted years through a dozen or more crashes. At one point I stripped the monokote and recovered it. It looked brand new. My dad took it after that. He put in some massive barn door aelirons and constantly tried to impress the uninitiated at the flying field.

Thanks for all the help. That was very productive.

Sorry about that, I posted before I was through writing. I was going to say that I appreciate the advice that was given. I looked through this newsgroup before I left work today and thought I could get some advice on what route to take.

Thanks again.

If you spend $70 to $85 and purchase either a Hobbyzone Firebird IIST or a Hobbico Flyzone Mini Ventura, you will get a good flyer that will last you a lot longer than you might think it will. With either plane, you shouldn't fly in wind any stronger than a gentle breeze until you get very comfortable with controlling the plane.