First RC aircraft

[john_p]

Saw someone flying a Multiplex Funjet(?) the other day and it was pretty damn awesome, so it got me interested in flying RC stuff. I guess the Funjet is a little advanced for a beginner though, considering how fast it was going!

I have a 4-channel controller already.

What's a good first cheap aircraft to buy? I guess something slow and stable which is made of something very bouncy?

[Emsman]

Flyingwings.co.uk is a great place to start- a mini v or v trainer- essentially the same in two sizes. Rear facing prop so unlikely to damage it, stable, easy to fly yet will roll loop etc.
Where are you in bucks??? I'm near mk- you are welcome to borrow one with batteries and the like until you get the hang of it. From there go back to flying wings- their stuff is superb to fly.
For jets, have a look at greenairdesigns.com £120 - from memory- for a ready to fly eurofighter- pusher motor not ducted fan.
Hth

[ceebmoj]

Emsman said:

Flyingwings.co.uk is a great place to start- a mini v or v trainer- essentially the same in two sizes. Rear facing prop so unlikely to damage it, stable, easy to fly yet will roll loop etc.
Where are you in bucks??? I'm near mk- you are welcome to borrow one with batteries and the like until you get the hang of it. From there go back to flying wings- their stuff is superb to fly.
For jets, have a look at greenairdesigns.com £120 - from memory- for a ready to fly eurofighter- pusher motor not ducted fan.
Hth

Looks far cheaper to get in to than I expected, also been looking round the bay how do you know what mixing modes transmitters support?

[Emsman]

ceebmoj said:

Emsman said:

Flyingwings.co.uk is a great place to start- a mini v or v trainer- essentially the same in two sizes. Rear facing prop so unlikely to damage it, stable, easy to fly yet will roll loop etc.
Where are you in bucks??? I'm near mk- you are welcome to borrow one with batteries and the like until you get the hang of it. From there go back to flying wings- their stuff is superb to fly.
For jets, have a look at greenairdesigns.com £120 - from memory- for a ready to fly eurofighter- pusher motor not ducted fan.
Hth

Looks far cheaper to get in to than I expected, also been looking round the bay how do you know what mixing modes transmitters support?

I'm opening myself up for ridicule here, but I don't understand the question?

[ceebmoj]

well the flying wings seem to have two elverons i,e. the same two control surfaces roll as well as pitch i'm guessing that the TX unit mixes the stick input for two channels so that the surfaces move as you would expect

[Emsman]

Got it, sorry to be so dense!

The flying wings, and the mini v can use a computer transmitter such as a spektrum dx 6 which has a function to mix as elevons.

Cheaper- if you have standard 4 channel gear is to buy a mixing unit- about a tenner from flyingwings, which you plug the 2 elevator servos into, and it automatically mixer the surfaces to make them act as elevator and ailerons.

I think that covers it?

I had a wing from them a while ago- bloody rapid and virtually indestructable

[john_p]

Looks cheaper than I expected too! Good idea about the flying wing and thanks for the offer, but i'm the other end of bucks (and I'd be worried about crashing it!)

I do have a 4-channel controller but it's 20 yrs old and 35MHz - I have two servos already (it was from a glider kit) - I assume I can continue to use this ?

[Emsman]

No reason why you shouldn't, but times have changed a great deal!!

For cheap radio gear, search for planet 2.4ghz- it's about 50 quid with a receiver.
These bind to the transmitter, so if anyone else is nearby you don't get a clash of frequencies.
Worth the cash- generally have a longer range too!!

[ceebmoj]

I guess that was what I was asking before how do you know if the £50 2.4ghz transmitters offer the functionality you need for the flying wings?

[Emsman]

Got it!

A traditional plane flies with-

motor- propulsion
elavator- up/down
rudder- left/right (flat turns, so wing remains parallel to ground)
ailerons- roll left/right

a flying wing has

motor- propulsion
elevator- up/down
ailerons- roll left/right

the only difference is where the trad. Plane tends to have ailerons on the wing, elevator on the tail (along with rudder if fitted) on a flying wing there are only the ailerons. These are then mixed with the elevator so the surfaces do both.
Planet radio won't allow you to do this 'mixing' so the mixer board is used (about a tenner). This has input for the two servo leads, and automatically converts the output so it does elevator and aileron.
Hope that makes sense!