R/C Airplane - Complete Setup for first time electric - GWS Slow Stick

[RaymondY]

Had been thinking about getting started with a Slow Stick also. Just e-mailed All E R/C with some questions.

THanks for the advice/help

 

[BoleyWV]

Ended up spending right around $200. I was able to save a few dollars because I already had a transmitter from my days flying RC gliders, but I ended up spending that savings on 2 extra battery packs.

The planes themselves are fairly cheap, SlowStick is around $30, but the radio gear and batteries really run up the price.

You can find loads of into at RCgroups.com. I posted my setup there to make sure I was not doing anything foolish. And apparently trying to use my full sized servos would have been a mistake, glad I asked around

 

[BoleyWV]

Originally posted by: RaymondY
Had been thinking about getting started with a Slow Stick also. Just e-mailed All E R/C with some questions.

THanks for the advice/help

AlleRC is great, I spoke with them on the phone and exchanged a few emails, and things always ended up well. Was so happy I posted to RCgroups.com Vendor Forum (kinda their version of vendor ratings)

 

[AllABoutTheDeals]

Nice setup! I saw this plane the other day and it flew really well. I've been flying RCs for a long time and I'd recommend this plane to any beginner. I actually would like it for myself, but I am broke right now.

 

[Walay]

Hi all, I have been looking at RC planes for awhile,

And had my eye on this one from ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2563&item=3123099063&rd=1

The guy who is selling it offerd me $105 shipped so i dun have to go through ebay and bid with everyone else......

Can someone tell me if this is a better deal or not??? cause its sounds reallly nice to be able to fly it as a glider, and a mortor plane.....said in the descritpint that i can turn of the motor while flying and fly it as a glider... I'm a total newbie to rc plane....wanted to do it when I was a kid...and now I finally have some money to play it......

So can someone give me sueestions....cause I'm not sure which is a better choice.....

 

[BoleyWV]

Originally posted by: Walay
Hi all, I have been looking at RC planes for awhile,

And had my eye on this one from ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2563&item=3123099063&rd=1

The guy who is selling it offerd me $105 shipped so i dun have to go through ebay and bid with everyone else......

Can someone tell me if this is a better deal or not??? cause its sounds reallly nice to be able to fly it as a glider, and a mortor plane.....said in the descritpint that i can turn of the motor while flying and fly it as a glider... I'm a total newbie to rc plane....wanted to do it when I was a kid...and now I finally have some money to play it......

So can someone give me sueestions....cause I'm not sure which is a better choice.....

Keep in mind that I am still a noob to RC flying, but I can already spot a few problems with that kit. First and foremost is that the radio is 27 Mhz. This is not the standard radio frequency for RC aircraft, it is however the frequency used for RC cars and toy planes (like you find at Radio Shack and WalMart). Since this is a non standard radio (and a rather cheap looking one) it will only be compatable with the radio gear in the plane. In other words once you master this plane you probably cannot take the radio gear and put it in a better plane, you will instead have to buy a whole new setup. I have a feeling that this theme would repeat with many of the components in the kit.

So you have to decide if its better to drop just over $100 on this plane and not really be able to upgrade any of it, or spend just under $200 and have radio gear you can grow with.

B

 

[pm]

If you want my advice, you guys want the Slow Stick. As a flyer who's been at this for a little while, the Slow Stick is the best to learn on for the money out there. If you want to read more on R/C flying, I highly recommend MrVW's recommendation of the Parkflyers forum at www.rcgroups.com (where I post as "pfm" BTW). Looking around there, the Slow Stick is the plane of choice due to price, ease of construction, easy flying characteristics, and durability. For now anyway.

www.allerc.com are a nice company to deal with.

For batteries, I highly recommend the excellent deals at http://www.bydusa.com. You can pick up two 8.4V 1000mAh NIMH packs for $26 from them... that's the usual price for one pack everywhere else. And these packs work wonderfully with a Slow Stick.

Personally, I think you can go cheaper on the charger than a Triton. I'd rather have 4 packs that I charged at home on a cheap slow charger to take with me to fly than have a great charger and one pack and have to wait while it charges. Beyond a bunch of battery packs, in my opinion, if there's anywhere that I'd recommend spending extra money, it's the transmitter.

For some more fun, pick up an Aiptek Pencam 1.3MP digital camera from Wallmart for $60-70 and attach it to your Slow Stick, trigger it from the plane, and take aerial photos. See my website for aerial photos from a Slow Stick.

Also, for those who are worried about destroying their planes... well that happens. Nearly always you can fix the plane with a little tape and epoxy. If not, then you are out $35 for a new Slow Stick (although I have crashed mine a dozen times and it's ok). Occassionally the gears in the servos strip and you have to buy replacements (about $4). Sometimes the motor shaft gets bent and you have to rebend it. About the biggest danger is losing the plane... but that's easy as long as you don't fly at sunset or on a really windy day.

No matter what, I would recommend practicing using the Slow Flyer model on FMS (the Free Model Simulator) which can be downloaded here.