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Superluminal

Rc planes - anyone else fly and transmitter advice

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Hello, about three years ago I bought an Aeroscout RTF rc plane and have been teaching myself to fly. Its a really nice plane and the receiver has a safe mode with a built in gyro which automatically levels it out but can be switched off from the transmitter when you feel a bit more confident. Its a perfect trainer with a high mounted pusher prop too so when inevitably the landings at first are not ideal you dont end up destroying the prop and motor mount. Im now on my second one following a middair collision with my colleagues plane who i fly with which cut off my tailplane and left me with a bin bag of polystyrene. But its all good fun. It can be repaired easily within reason with a hot glue gun and some red devil filler  which is amazing stuff and some halfords car body mesh comes in handy as the polystyrene is a bit soft and can get dented or cut by the ground particularly the wing leading edges.

Anyone else here fly planes, if so what are you flying?

Secondly im after some advice or recmendations on a new transmitter. The aeroscout came with a Spektrum DXE/S 6 channel with safe mode switch but it can only be bound to one model at a time. Ive bought another kit too and would like a similar transmitter but the DXE now looks to be discontinued and its replacement is more than twice as expensive. I dont need anything with millions of functions or programmable (i dont have a computer and am not techy) but 6 channels with safe switch would be good. Any ideas?

 

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They come with a similar transmitter to what i would like but im not sure if you can get an aerial for it. Lot less traumatic after crashing though!!!

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I fly a little bit here and there: I live about 1.5 hours from where Joe Nall week is held which if you didn't know is one of the largest R/C airplane events in the world. Here's a link to the site if you want to check it out, it's definitely a worthwhile experience for any R/C enthusiast. I primarily fly in smaller fields around my house so I'm pretty much limited to Ultra-micros. I've had an E-flite UMX Cessna for about 3 years and it's been a nice scale-looking plane that can fly a bit sporty if I want it to. I really enjoy my UMX Radian though, as it will just glide around with minimal throttle and is a lot less stressful than the Cessna. I just use a DXe like you, but I bought the bluetooth dongle for it which will connect to your phone and allow you to save multiple model setups. 

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I build, modify and fly a variety of micro and nano helicopters.

I use a Spektrum DX6 transmitter.

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Noooo, @Superluminal!  I just got XV-01 and MF-01X, I can't afford airplanes.  You are not going to be popular with my wife!  (but not me, if I end up getting something I'll be blaming it all on you.)  I'd keep the downed plane. If parts are alive, you can build a plane out of foam boards.  

 

I did fly hundreds of hours of Realfight 6 and 6.5, about 10 years ago.  I see that there is 9.5 out now.  I even uploaded a German color scheme for OV10 bronco on the Knife edge forum. (3D model was made by some other member, I just made the new skin.)  

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There was a cheap $100 Styrofoam RC I flew in real life; Firebirc XL.  It was a pusher, possibly one of the early RTF foam planes that started the whole foam plane thing about 15 years ago?  

Unlike yours, my ancient plane controlled tail surfaces only.  Without ailerons, I couldn't bank.  The dihedral would self correct too much.  While it was fun to fly, I couldn't push it at all.  I'd much prefer using ailerons (like yours).  Even on 6CH planes on Real Flight, I hardly ever used rudder. 

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Also these small 1meter wings are hard to see.  From about 100-150m away, I couldn't tell if it was coming or going.  I'd turn the plane to see if it's going right or left. But it could be heading 2, 4, 8 and 10 O'Clock, they'd look all about the same.  Things with LED lights would help a lot; red for port, green for starboard.  Realflight got me comfortable controlling it even when it's coming at my face.  

If I get a real RC plane again, I'll get a 4ch plane at least.  Something bigger like 1.5m wingspan and/or red and green LED light. 

DXe looks good enough for foam planes.  But if you are going to stay with RC planes for a while, I think something twice as expensive would be a good investment?  DX6 is like the go-to transmitter?  Channel mixing can be useful.  Some planes would go nose up when you lower the flaps. You can mix the elevator to nose down. When flaps go down, elevator would be automatically down to compensate, etc.  

 

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25 minutes ago, Juggular said:

Noooo, @Superluminal!  I just got XV-01 and MF-01X, I can't afford airplanes.  You are not going to be popular with my wife!  (but not me, if I end up getting something I'll be blaming it all on you.)

Ha!! Id better keep my head down.

I think the technology in the receivers now is what is a complete game changer. I remember about 30 years ago my dad building an rc trainer of the day which was a balsa and film covered Cessna. He spent hours and hours on it and then promptly destroyed it banking it on its first turn after taking off. The learning curve back then was hideous. Ive also had a couple if powered gliders many years ago but as you say they had a bit too much dihedral and balsa wings which i broke on landing and couldnt be repaired.

Now with this safe technology thing in beginner mode the gyro automatically rolls the ailerons back to level flight and mixes in a bit of elevator to always keep the nose up. If you point it into the wind with a bit of throttle it will basically fly its self. Ive been mostly practising with the second mode which turns off the gyro but limits the throw on the control surfaces to prevent it rolling inverted. As you say there are times its difficult to see its orientation so you end up doing a couple of long banked turns while rolling the wings to be clear on is it going away or coming towards you.

Sounds like the DX6 is the one to get then.

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Hi Superluminal,

I fly regularly and I have built up a nice little squadron now!

I am a member of Delyn Model Flying Club in North Wales......a great place to fly as the field we have is perfect.

I fly with all Futaba gear so I can't really go off-piste and recommend others.

My latest creation is below.....

Simon

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8 hours ago, HornetRacer 1971 said:

My latest creation is below.....

Simon

That's a really nice looking plane - love the colour scheme. It even looks far too fast just sitting on the ground!

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On 8/1/2021 at 10:28 PM, Superluminal said:

Sounds like the DX6 is the one to get then.

Keep in mind that the Spektrum radios use a semi-proprietary binding protocol (DSM2/DSMX), so make sure your receiver is a DSM2/DSMX model.

Also, you can repair a balsa wood airframe, but it will never be as good or as pretty as new. That's one thing I love about helicopters - they are modular, so even a helicopter that looks like it was owned by someone who really doesn't like helicopters all that much can be made as good as it was from the factory.

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