Starting out

 
General information  As with starting anything for the first time it can be a little hit and miss but this page is designed to give you the basics. The best advice we can offer is: Join your local club. Speak to as many people as possible ~ you can be sure that every club member has been in the same position as you and that a quick chat at the field can save you both time and money in the long run. If you don't want to crash a plane don't take up model flying! That said model flying is great fun. There is always something to learn or master, whether it be a faster or more responsive plane or some difficult manoeuvre, not to mention the friendships forged down at the field. So what do you need ? The plane [airframe]  As you probably know already if you have been researching, there is an endless choice of planes to choose from but, for your first plane, it has to be a high wing trainer. The main reason for this is that they are very stable flyers because of the wing dihedral [angle]. This gives you the maximum time to response if and when you make a bad decision or movement on the sticks. The cost of these trainers does vary but in general they come in at around £60.00 for the airframe. On top of this you need to factor in transmitter, servos, fuel, receiver and battery pack ~ more on these below. The engine  You have four choices here: 2 stroke glow, 4 stroke glow, petrol or electric. The 2 stroke is general perceived as the standard engine for beginners as they tend to be more reliable. 4 strokes also tend to be slightly more expensive. A standard 2 stroke OS.46 engine is around £40.00 and is a great engine to start with, its 4 stroke equivalent being the OS.52 coming in at around £150.00. Petrol engines are becoming increasingly popular but tend to come in bigger sizes designed for larger models that may not suit the experience and/or budget of a beginner. Electric is also becoming very popular with beginners. Airframe hardware  Barring the aerodynamics this is the main guts of the plane. These are the devices that move the flying surfaces via the transmitter, which is why as above they can be purchased together for the novice flyer. With a trainer you will inevitably have 4 servos [one each for the ailerons, rudder, elevator and throttle]. As ever there are different qualities but a non-digital will be around £10.00 each. Also included in the hardware is the need for a receiver with crystal [£30.00] that gives you the frequency, battery [£10.00] that powers it and switch [£5.00] that turns it on and off. One last thought though not technically hardware for the airframe is the need for a timer of some description. More about this in the next section. The transmitter  As ever there are many types available with manufacturers offering different advantages. The main thing to consider here is whether you want to go digital. If you do then, in time it will save you money as it is pretty much guaranteed that you will go digital second time around. The three main features for digital are: No chance of knocking the trim settings out once the unit has been turned off. You can program more than one plane trim settings into the unit. The fail safe option whereby you pre-progam the plane/transmitter to default to a set of trims in case of loss of frequency during flying. The cost of these really do vary but most of the big manufacturers will combine transmitter, receiver with crystal, servos, battery & switch for around £130.00 [non digital] and £180.00 [digital]. Most digital transmitters incorporate a built in timer so you shouldn’t run out of fuel! Field kit  You will in time collect a host of tools and gadgets but the essential items at this time are: Flight Box [£30.00 upwards] ~ to hold everything from fuel to spare parts and tools. Glow Starter [£10.00 approx] ~ used to heat the glow plug during starting. Fuel [5%] [£12.00 approx] ~ many types available on the market though synthetic is slightly easier to clean from the plane. Manual Fuel Pump [£10.00] ~ to fill plane’s fuel tank Start Stick or length of dowel ~ to crank the propeller Model restraint ~ to stop plane from running off once engine is running [couple of sticks to hold the tail plane in place] Nappy wipes and tissue ~ though not essential you will be glad you invested in these once you start flying as the plane will tend to collect fuel residue when flying. Optional bits of kit to think about: 12v battery, electric fuel pump, electric starter, battery checker. After thought [flight simulator]  Though not essential a flight simulator is a great bit of kit to practise on. There are many good quality ones available now for around £100.00.
It has to be said though that they only offer a limited flying experience but it is a great way of getting your head around the orientation of seeing your plane and moving your sticks. They also come with tutorials as standard.