Re: good trainer in .60 size rtf or arf

Well, shop carefully and you may be able to get better equipment (more versatile radio, more powerful engine) without too much extra expense.

Some of the all-up ARFs come with plain-bearing engines. They're great for trainers and small, light planes. Many people would rather have a ball-bearing .46 on the trainer that will later haul more exciting planes around with plenty of power. Thunder Tiger and GMS make good engines and they can be found at quite reasonable prices.

The ARFs generally come with 4-channel radios. I'd recommend that you skip them and try to get a 5 or 6 channel computer radio at least. If you're really serious about the B-17, you might want to sink some serious money into a 7 or 8 channel computer radio. I've had computer radios for about 8 years and I've never regretted the ease of setup that they provide.

Tower is the big kid on the block. You may get conflicting feedback. You can't serve a huge group and not have some unhappy customers.

I don't have a regular online supplier. I've bought engines from England (Just Engines), Pé Reivers (wherever he is--haven't seen him here for a while), Ed Cregger, RJL, and a couple of other folks. I've made some mistakes, but I don't blame the folks for my bad judgment. I got what they advertised at the price they posted.

You may be able to get a good trainer used from someone in a club near you for half the cost of a new plane. You should only need 50 or 100 flights with it to get all the good out of it, especially if you work with a flight simulator first.

Let us know how things turn out for you.

Marty

Global 60 H Hobby People

Another good trainer in the 60 range would be Hangar 9's Alpha 60. You can get it with or without the radio and the included Evo 60 is a good engine. If you go the included radio route, bear in mind that it is a 4 channel, no frills radio. Horizon Hobbies is the distributor and they compete directly with Tower. Both are good companies and I've not had a bad experience with either. Either way, welcome to the best hobby in the world!!

Jim W