I have noticed that whenever a guy asks where to get a plane to start with, everybody always advises the newbie to buy some airplane or another from some retailer or another. But I have never heard or read any advice for the newbie to shop around for used equipment. I have seen several people here in Kansas City learn to fly with recycled trainers that somebody else was finished with. A few of the trainers came from me, as a matter of fact. It seems to me that if you could get a used radio for $50, a plane for $25 or $30, and an engine for a few bucks, you could get started for well under a hundred. Don't we all know a few folks with extra junk they need to get rid of? And if it crashes, it was just somebody's old junk anyway. Not only that, but any competent modeler can check any plane for defects before it is flown.
Before everybody jumps on me and says that it is dangerous to fly a used airplane, aren't they all used airplanes after they have been flown once? And isn't there enough of a network in place to help a new guy steer clear from anybody who might sell him a dangerous piece of crap?
I got a guy started with a ten year old SuperStar 40 ARF trainer with equally old engine. It looked as though the original owner had put a few dents in it and lost interest. I sold him one of my old radios, and he flew it quite a lot. Two years later I got him in touch with another new guy, and he passed it along. Now the plane has a lot of tape over the big holes in the ARF-o-kote, and the tail has been replaced. But it still flies great. On another occasion I bought a Caprice 15 trainer with big holes in the covering for $15 at a swap meet, and it flies great. I'll pass it along to anybody who needs a plane to start on, as soon as somebody asks me.
Does anybody else do this, or do all of you always buy things brand new? If somebody gets online and asks how to get started for cheap, doesn't it seem like a good idea to go looking for somebody else's leftovers?