WHAT MAKES A GOOD TRAINER? If you've never flown an RC model airplane before, you might be tempted to buy one that has a lot of visual appeal, such as a scale model or an advanced sport flyer. Though many of those types of kits are fairly easy to assemble, the models can be very difficult to fly if you have no previous experience. Your first plane should be a good trainer—something to cut your teeth on before moving up the performance ladder. A lot of excellent trainers are available. Here are some basic things to consider when deciding which one is right for you. Repairability The simple truth is that your first—and maybe your second—airplane will be damaged in the course of your learning how to fly. Knowing this, you should look for a trainer that has relatively few parts that can be easily repaired if they are broken. Wood and foam are high on the easy-to-fix list; molded plastic is more difficult to repair. Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, e.g., Superglue and epoxy (Araldite) are the most common adhesives used for gluing wood and lastic parts together, white glue, (PVA) is excellent for gluing foam pieces back together. Most of our ready to fly kits are designed to be easy to repair - some use plastic fuselage’s and most use a foam wing Parts availability Sometimes it will be easier to replace damaged parts than to fix them. Try to select a model that has replacement parts readily available from the manufacturer. Some model kits come with extra wings just in case you damage one beyond repair. Parts such as motors, batteries and speed controls get damaged or worn out, so be aware that you can simply replace these parts instead of having to buy a new model. Every single part for our ready to fly kits is available we maintain a stock of the most common parts which will be delivered to you within 14 days. We have sold many thousands of radio controlled aircraft and we have flown repeateadly (and crashed) the Radio controlled trainer you purchase from us Stability Some trainers are easier to fly than others. Talk to people who have different kinds of models and find out how stable their models are. A good indicator of how stable and, thus, how easy a model will be to fly is how much wing dihedral it has and how long the tail moment is. If the model has a fair amount of dihedral angle (5 or more degrees) and the tail is fairly long, it will fly more stably and smoothly, and this will make it easier to learn how to control it. The models we recomend for your first flights are stable, slow and safe flyers. We have selected models from around the world and from a vast range of manufactures, before we sell a model we test it, we fly it, we crash it. Our staff are all experienced Radio controlled modellers (even the girls!!) because we train them to fly on the models you buy. How else could a Customer service advisor help you? Control setup Before you buy a model, check its control setup. Some trainers have controls that offer only a little control-surface deflection. Others have a more standard primary-control setup that gives you complete rudder, throttle and elevator control. More advanced designs also have aileron control. For your first couple of models, however,rudimentary or primary control is all you'll need. Our starter models use thrust steering, simply they have two motors and propellors pushing the control stick to the left turns on the right hand motor and steers the nose of the aircraft to the left. Pulling back on the stick initiates both motors witch makes the aircraft climb and pushing forward on the stick shuts off the motors and the model decends.This method makes the model very stable and easy to fly as the control method minimises banking Our 2nd step models which are still suitable for beginners use movement on the flying surface. They have a single motor which is turned on and the model climbs when the stick is pulled back right and left turns are controlled by the small tabs on the rear wing of the model as you push the stick to the right the left hand tab will raise and the plane will bank to the right Still easy to control but this method allows more bank and thus more risk of loosing control early in the learning curxe Our step 3 ready to fly models use the more traditional method of control where as the motor rudder and elevator is moved by stick inputs. Theese models have the radio control equipment pre installed and it can be removed and reused in other models Accessory equipment Finally, check to see whether the model you like comes with all the equipment you'll need to fly it. Your kit should include all the materials needed to completely assemble the model: a motor, a propeller, an ESC, a battery pack and a battery charger. Some of the more complete kits also come with a radio system that includes the transmitter, a receiver, servos and a switch harness that will turn the radio on and off. Starting out with all the equipment you'll need to assemble your model plane is the best way to get airborne. All our ready to fly kits come with everything you need except bateries for the transmitter (usually 8 AA) You will need a selection of tools for assembley (Screwdrivers Knife etc) although most of our first step kits come with tools included |