Easy Star RTF from Amazon.com

Easy Star RC Plane is easy to fly, very durable and perfect RC aeroplane for beginners.

What makes the Multiplex Easy Star one of the most popular RC Planes?

Why even the most experienced RC hobbyists love this “beginner plane”?

Read on to find out…

Easy Star RC Plane Is Easy to Fly

When an experienced RC hobbyist is asked what is the best RC plane for a beginner, there’s a great chance that Easy Star will be mentioned — and for a good reason.

Easy Star is a great park flyer. It is designed with beginners in mind, so it’s very easy to build and and even easier to fly. It’s considered as one of the top beginner planes and many RC hobbyists have started with this plane.

Easy Star is flown with elevator/rudder and throttle control. It is specifically designed for beginner learning to fly RC aeroplanes. It can handle little more wind than most beginner planes and it also has good gliding ability.

With the gliding abilities, in the right conditions you can find yourself thermal or slope soaring with this one. This in addition to the flying times with a 6-7 cell battery pack gives Easy Star 2-3 hours of flight time.

And what makes Easy Star even more special, is that it’s a plane that many keep on flying for years — so it’s definitely not just a plane for beginners.

Unlike many other beginner, or RTF planes in general, Easy Star is modifiable and more experienced flyers like the fact you can for example put a brushless motor on it and change the other parts too.

Easy Star Is Available as Both RTF and ARF Kit Versions

Easy Star RC Plane can be bought as an RTF version, which is perfect for beginners. The plane is ready to fly in couple of hours (just charge the batteries, attach the wings and you’re ready to go).

The RC transmitter on the RTF version is a lot better than on many other RTF planes as are the parts that come with the plane. The radio in the RTF package can be used to fly other planes too (rare in the cheap RTF packages).

If one is looking to modify the plane from the start or add your own radio gear, it’s great to have the ARF option available. This way you can this great flyer just the way you like it. No painting is required on either the RTF or the ARF version, so the prefabricated and colorful parts is the only thing you need.

The standard motor can’t take 3 cell LiPo, but switching to a 2 cell LiPo battery can be done, which is what many do when putting a brushless motor in (then even a 3-celler might work, depending on the motor, but 2-cell LiPo if often enough).

Common Easy Star modification is to place a brushless motor on it, change the propeller (for example thin 6×4 fits without cutting, larger requires a bit of modification and cutting the frame, but that can be done too).

There has even been Easy Star brushless versions available from some sellers, so there’s a chance you might find an Easy Star with Brushless motor in a RTF package too.

Easy Star Is Built to Last

Easy Star’s motor is placed above the wings! This is perfect for safety and makes the plane a lot more durable than many other beginner planes.

If you hit the ground nose down (which is more likely to happen for a beginner than not), on a standard design there’s a great chance that the motor or the propeller will break on the crash.

With Easy Star, built from long-lasting and durable ELAPOR foam, the motor is safe from such incidents. The clever motor placement and durable design make Easy Star one of the hardest planes to break.

It’s by no means indestructible, but breaking it beyond repair or causing damage that requires purchasing spare parts is a lot harder than with most other planes. ELAPOR foam as a material is easy to repair and get back in the air if something does happen.

Easy Star can be dismantled easily for transportation as the wings come off without special tools (and the box it comes with can be used to keep it with you, if you don’t have a special travel box around).

As the wings are not permanently attached, this also increases the durability as the wings are not hard-mounted, but can give in a bit on impact which reduced the risk of damaging the plane even further.

Easy Star Has a Large Community of Fans

Check out these amazing resources to find out more about the Easy Star RC plane, learn to fly it, see how others have modified it and much more!

• Easy Star Fan Page — Amazing Easy Star resource (German and English)
• LARGE List of Easy Star Building Tips — RCGroups.com thread

Join The FUN and Get Your Own Easy Star RC Plane!

Multiplex, the manufacturer, is based on the US, but being such a popular plane, Easy Star is being sold all around the world.

Easy Star RC plane is one of the most popular beginner planes, together with the Super Cub RTF, and as said – many advanced pilots like it too, so you should be able to find Easy Star from your local shop. Also, Easy Star is available from many online sellers, so you can order the plane quickly and get it delivered to your doorsteps…

To buy your Easy Star RC Plane online, check out these trusted vendors…

• Get Easy Star Electric RTF from Amazon.com
• Look for bargain Easy Star planes and parts the eBay close to you

In case you’re not that familiar with RC glider planes, note that (most) these RC sailplanes don’t have motors in them and they are thrown to the air by hand. The planes are then flown by utilizing the lifting air currents caused by the heat of the earth (thermal soaring) or the wind blowing into a slope (slope soaring).

Very cost effective fun I’d say :)

Before going for the videos, if you’re new to slope soaring, you might want to read our introduction on slope soaring glider planes.

Slope Soaring RC Sailplane

RC slope soaring in Dorset. Video by willpalmer13 on Youtube.

RC Slope Soaring at Mill Hill

RC slope soaring at Mill Hill in Sussex near Shoreham Airport. Video by microsomma. Various models flown by various people, including an ASW 24 scale sailplane by FVK Modell.

Easy Glider Electric Slope Soaring in San Jose

Video by ssgtakeo flying Easy Glider Electric on the slopes of Communications Hill in San Jose, CA.

The Easy Glider Electric flown on the last video is a good RC sailplane for beginners and doesn’t cost that much. There’s usually some Easy Glider Pro kits on eBay for a good price and you can always check the other RC sailplanes on sale there if you feel like starting RC slope soaring yourself.

Check the videos below to see the RC glider plane action yourself. I added some info from the video descriptions, so you’ll know what the sailplane is and all that.

RC Slope Soaring in Southern Ireland (part 1)

Slope soaring over Knockmealdown Mountains, Co. Waterford, Ireland. The RC glider plane, nicknamed “Flying Frog”, is a crossbreed of a HKM Space Pro (3.35 m wing with RG15 airfoil) and a NAN Shadow (fuselage and V-tail).

RC Slope Soaring in Southern Ireland (part 2)

Another nice day of slope soaring over Knockmealdown Mountains, Co. Waterford, Ireland. Wind was gusty at force 3-5, coming from SW to W, which allowed for higher speeds but made landing tricky…

The RC sailplane, “Flying Frog”, is a crossbreed of a NAN Shadow fuselage + V-tail bearing an HKM Space Pro wing (3.35 m, RG15). Flown with no added weight, thus the plane is slower than theoretically possible.

If you’re interested in slope soaring and RC glider planes in general, read this: Introduction to RC Sailplanes: Radio Controlled Glider Plane

The last post, What Everybody Ought to Know About RTF RC Planes, covered what one should know when buying a RTF RC plane and now it’s time to look into the RC plane kits, in their almost-ready-to-fly or ARF form. ARF planes offer a chance to get a better plane, with the kind of parts one wants, in a relatively easy-to-build form. Because of this many who have started with a RTF plane moved on to buy an ARF plane as their next plane…

What Is an Almost-Ready-To-Fly, ARF Plane?

When buying and building an ARF plane, it takes more time and knowledge to get into flying the plane, but you’ll get higher quality plane and parts and exactly the kind of plane you want. You’ll be investing more money into an ARF plane than you would for a RTF RC plane, but you get re-usable parts that you can use for your next plane or re-sell the parts if you need them anymore.

Building a ARF plane is usually relatively easy even for a beginner and the good kits come with great instructions and manuals about how to manage that and the biggest challenge, if you will, is most of the time getting the right parts and making sure everything works together as you want. With almost-ready-to-fly ARF kit, you’ll be getting either

• the ARF plane and all the parts needed (in relatively easy to build form and parts), or
• just the plane and you’ll be buying some or all the parts separately (e.g. battery, receiver, transmitter, servos, etc)

The best part about ARF kit is that you know exactly what you’re getting as you’ll be getting the motor and other parts you want and you can re-use the parts from your old plane if you want. Getting the right kind of receiver ensures you can use the radio RC transmitter you already have and there’s no need to buy another one (one of the reasons I wrote about getting a good RC transmitter right from the start instead of settling for the 2-3 channel one coming in your first RTF package).

Of course, all this requires a bit of knowledge from you or trusting the seller to know what you need in addition to the kit. Luckily, many good ARF kits come with recommendations about the parts and you can always get help from experts in your RC club (yet another reason to find and join one) or look for information from the RCGroups forums for example. But first, take a look at the pros and cons of the almost-ready-to fly kits you should know before getting one…

The Downsides of Getting a ARF Kit (-)

• the total cost for all the parts for the ARF plane is usually bigger than a RTF one (-)
• there’s a chance of buying incompatible parts (-)
• the self-built ARF RC plane and the individual parts might not work together perfectly (-)
• you might be forced to buy from different shops and locations (not a big problem online) (-)
• if you don’t know exactly what you need, you have to trust a seller who wants to make profit (e.g. sell you parts you don’t absolutely need or sell you more advanced parts than your project requires) (-)
• even that ARF kits are meant to be easy to build, building your own plane still requires model building skills and knowledge of RC model building (-)

The Good Things About the ARF Planes (+)

• huge selection of planes to choose from (and even larger selection of parts to put into your plane) (-/+)
• you get a lot better, re-usable and more versatile gear (+)
• you’ll probably pay more at the beginning, but save even more in the long run as you can re-use the same gear and they last longer because of the higher quality (+)
• you’ll know exactly what the plane is made of (+)
• you’ll have easier time getting spare parts as you know what to look for (+)
• you’ll be flying a radio controlled plane you built yourself, a RC plane like no other (in good and bad, depending on your skills and the end result) (+)

Why an ARF Plane Might Be a Great Choice For You? Getting yourself a ARF kit instead of RTF plane will be more involving, but more rewarding at the same time. The most, if not all, the parts you get can be re-used and you can replace them later if you want.

On the downside, you’ll be spending more money on ARF RC planes than you would when buying a ready package, but on the hand, you’ll get exactly what you want and get better quality plane that will last for a long time. All this takes some knowledge about what you’re doing, but the end result will be worth it.

Click Here To Find ARF Planes from eBay

This was the part 2 in the “RTF vs. ARF series”. The first part, What Everybody Ought to Know About RTF RC Planes, covered ready-to-fly RTF planes, what’s good in them and what caveats one should look for when getting one.

Now it’s your turn to comment and share your thoughts! Have you built an ARF plane yourself? Why did you go for an ARF kit instead of RTF plane and what were the biggest challenges you faced getting and building your ARF plane?

Getting a RTF RC plane is a great way to get flying the plane faster and cheaper. However, there are some factors that you should know when buying a RTF plane, as the different packages might be build-up differently.

Some packages come with quality parts and good RC transmitter for example, but other packages (namely the cheapest ones) might now, so make sure you know what you’re getting when buying one and consider these pros and cons of RTF planes too…

Why RTF RC Plane Might Not Be So Great? (-)

RTF planes are created to make it easy for anyone to get a plane and start flying, but of course, the sellers wan’t the packages to be affordable, so they can’t and don’t want to use the top-notch parts in these plains.

Because of this, unless the RTF plane is spesifically designed to include prime parts, there are some things you should know, so you won’t be unpleasantly surprised later. Note that these “warnings” do not ably to every RTF plane out there, but it’s common that some corners are cut, especially with the cheaper RTF planes…

• RC Transmitter included with the RTF plane has 2 or 3 channels, which is not suitable for more advanced plane in the future (requires at least 4 channels) (-)
• RC Transmitter might be configured differently in different countries, which might make learning the controls hard (-)
• The included transmitter might have more limited range than usual (-)
• The transmitter comes / uses normal batteries, not rechargeable ones (So you’ll be buying and using your own rechargeable batteries) (-)
• The receiver batteries might have low capacity, they might be heavy and only good for couple minutes of flight time (-)
• It can take 12-16 hours to charge the batteries with the standard charger coming in the RTF box (-)
• The parts on the RTF RC plane cannot be re-used in different kind, e.g. bigger plane (although some plane models are more modifiable than others) (-)
• The spare parts must be bought from third party vendors as the manufacturer might not offer or sell them (-)

Many RC manufacturer’s have started to improve their RTF planes and services during the last years, but like said, know what you’re buying.

With the above, the default transmitter will be fine for flying the plane it comes with, but it’s very likely not suitable for any other plane. In addition to the rechargeable batteries for the transmitter, you’ll probably want to get a faster charger and spare batteries for the plane at some point.

What Is Great About RTF Planes? (+)

As a general guideline, look for models that are sold both as RTF and ARF (Almost-Ready-To-Fly). With some plane models like this, the RTF plane is a readily built ARF, built from parts you can re-use or replace easily. Great for a beginner and good out of the box, but if you like, you’ll always have the chance to modify or upgrade the plane = Perfect.

• RTF Planes are quick and easy way to get flying (+)
• The price is right (RTF planes are the most cost efficient way to get into RC aeroplanes hobby) (+)
• No time goes to building the plane (+)
• The package includes everything needed to fly, no shopping around needed making sure you have everything (+)
• For an advanced hobbyist, RTF plane can be a good for start for a customised, more powerful RC plane for a very good price (+)
• Good RTF plane will serve you long time and enable you to do modifications you want to it (+)

RTF RC plane can always be improved by getting higher quality or more powerful parts, for example adding a brushless motor and higher capacity batteries to replace the factory parts is coming popular among the RC hobbyists.

With all the pros and cons, RTF RC planes are a great choice for a beginner who is not interested in model building and all things related to that or just wants to get into flying as soon as possible.

Click Here To Find a RTF Plane from eBay

This was the part 1 in our “RTF vs. ARF series”. The second part, Are You Ready To Build an ARF Plane and Buy an ARF Kit, covers the pros and cons of almost-ready-to-fly, ARF plane kits.

Ready-To-Fly, RTF Plane Experiences

Do you have a RTF plane? What you like / don’t like about it?

If you’d get a plane now, would you choose otherwise?

Share your experiences by leaving a comment!

Offline, the best option is your local RC hobby store, specialized in what you’re looking for. You might find these planes from the “toy-stores” too, but those are not the places for a true RC hobbyists, are they?

Online, you should look to make your purchase at

• the websites of the RC plane manufacturers
  • can cost you a bit more, but you get
  • direct contact and support from the people who designed and built the plane
• other trusted sellers
  • Amazon, which many manufacturers use as a “web-store” and
  • Well-ranked eBay sellers, who often sell the new planes with the most competitive prices

Buying Used or New Radio Controlled Plane (as Your First Aeroplane)?

As a beginner, do not buy an used RC plane. An used radio controlled plane might be perfectly fine, but to ensure you an enjoyable experience with your first radio controlled plane, we recommend that you look for a new model as your first radio controlled plane.

Buying Radio Controlled Plane Online

The links on the Radio Controlled Aeroplanes blog link to trusted sources, like Amazon.com (or your local Amazon) and eBay (UK, or a server closest to you) and other places where you can make shop for RC gear safely.

Big RC companies like HobbyZone, RCToys and Horizon Hobby sell their RC planes through Amazon and many re-sellers, both RC shops and individuals, offer wide variety of RC aeroplanes through eBay. This offers a great opportunity to find the best prices and the best service when shopping for RC aeroplanes, accessories and gear.

The most important factor with all online sellers, is the customer feedback and trust, so look for testimonials, ranking and feedback before deciding where to do your RC shopping.

By making your purchase through a big website, you are secured by their policies and security measures in addition to the insurance you get from your credit card company — which is why you should always make all your online purchases with a credit card, whether directly or through trusted services like PayPal.

With the credit card, you gain double insurance, one from the online shop itself and the other from the credit card company, as many credit cards have their own “insurances” for online shopping (of course, the different credit cards have different policies, but for example both AMEX and VISA have such online shopping safety included in their services).

Buying RC Aeroplanes and Accessories from eBay

eBay is a great place to buy, not only used planes and parts, but new radio controlled aeroplanes as well — and you don’t necessarily have to bid anything, but can “buy now”, getting the plane sent to you right away, as many re-sellers and individuals have their own eBay stores, offering RC planes on very competitive prices.

When buying radio controlled aeroplanes, or anything else, from eBay, here are couple of factors you should know:

• Make sure you know what you’re buying
  • Read the details of the item listing carefully (whether it’s an auction or “buy now” listing)
  • Check the delivery options and costs, make sure the seller ships to your location
  • Complete the transaction at eBay site (bid, Buy it Now, or Best Offer)
• Research the seller for feedback and rating to make sure you feel positive and secure
  • Check the feedback rating
  • Check the percentage of positive responses
  • What have the buyers said in their feedback (both negative and positive)
  • Does the seller have a return policy? Check the terms and conditions.
  • Do they offer money-back guarantee?
• Know that you are protected, if the unlikely happens and problems in the transactions occur
  • Both eBay and PayPal (and possibly your credit card company) have you covered
  • PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,000
  • Visit the eBay Security & Resolution Center to learn how to protect your account and use eBay’s quick and efficient resolution tools.

eBay has local stores in many countries, including UK, US, Canada, Australia and many others — this makes it easy to buy a RC plane from eBay anywhere in the world. By checking the item and seller out, you can feel secure and make a good choice when buying your first radio controlled plane from eBay.

Buying RC Planes from Your Local RC Hobby Store

The offline option is to find a RC hobby store near you and go get advice on buying your first radio controlled plane there. Your local RC store can also help you get connected with the local RC flying clubs, and getting into one will help you a great deal when getting started and sharing your new hobby with others will triple the fun too!

For a complete beginner, buying your first radio controlled aeroplanes, or any other RC vehicles, accessories and gear from your local RC hobby shop is a great option. In case you need help, you can always go back to the shop and get help there. Thus, the possible increase in the money spent is well compensated by the face-to-face service you get from your local shop.

Personally I like to do my shopping online because of the convenience and ease of finding whatever I need at any point, in addition to getting the items delivered to my door step.

What’s your take on this? Are you shopping your RC aeroplanes and accessories online or do you feel it’s important to keep supporting the local RC hobby shops?

• Park Flyers
• Indoor RC Planes
• Micro RC Planes
• RC Glider Planes
• (Bigger) Electric RC Planes

Park Flyers

Park flyers are smaller RC planes that were created to enable flying when there’s not too much space to fly around – like a park.

However, even a park flyer still requires a space equal to a football field for enjoyable flying, so keep that in mind when choosing your plane.

Park flyers are made of various materials, like balsa wood, depron and higher quality materials like EPP or elapor foam. One of the most common models is the Cessna, common plane turned into RC version: Cessna 182 electric RC plane (Cessna models exist in all electric RC plane “classes”, including the smaller park and micro flyers).

Typical park flyer weights less than 1 pound (of slightly more) and has a wing span of 2-3 feet. With the light-weight, the park flyers can’t stand any wind and thus, require calm weather.

Indoor RC Planes

Indoor RC plane is an electric RC plane that is spesifically designed to be flown inside. But not inside your standard house, but bigger halls and buildings like school gymnasiums and indoor sports arenas.

Indoor RC flying is great when the weather conditions would prevent flying outside – wind, rain and freezing weather won’t stop flying. An indoor RC plane weights-in at both sides of a pound and cannot be flown in any kind of wind.

With all indoor planes, it’s recommended to learn the flying basics outside, without the danger of hitting walls (it’s not uncommon for a beginner to fly to the walls or ceiling even in a bigger hall).

Most indoor RC planes are capable of flying outside as well, even the micro planes, as long as there is little to no wind around.

Micro RC Planes

One subcategory of the indoor RC planes are the micro RC planes. Micro RC planes are not as common as micro helicopters for example, but these tiny RC models have grown into a whole new hobby.

Micro RC planes range from cheaper and smaller versions of the bigger electric RC planes to tiny replicas of the WWII fighters and modern jet planes. Micro RC planes require some airspace to be flown around, so even these are not necessarily suitable for a small flat.

Electric RC Glider Planes

In general, RC glider planes have a wing-span over 4-5 feet and weight-in about 3-5 pounds – and because of the nature of the flight, more and less require wind to be flown properly.

Electric RC glider plane refers to a glider or sailplane that has an electric motor. Some refer to all radio controlled glider planes as electric planes as the planes have electric gear in them, even if they don’t come with an electric engine.

All RC glider planes are flown in the same way, utilizing wind and the rising air currents, both thermal and slope lifts. The difference between a pure RC glider and a motored RC glider is the way they are launched.

A pure RC glider is launched by throwing it by hand, towed manually or with another RC plane or with a bungee. The motored electric RC glider is launched and taken into the air with it’s own engine. When the plane has climbed high enough using the engine, the electric engine is cut off through the RC radio transmitter.

The motored electric glider planes have a folding propeller. The propeller works like a normal propeller when carrying the plane to heights and when the throttle is cut, the blades fold back to the fuselage sides. With the propeller folded back, the plane avoids wind drag for the flight.

When the plane has climbed up, engine is cut off and the propeller has folded back, the electric RC glider plane is just like any RC sailplane / glider, and is flown using and trying to find the thermal and slope lifts, just like the real, non-RC glider planes. A 2-3 channel radio controlled glider plane is often referred as the best and easiest option for a beginner to start flying radio controlled aeroplanes.

(Bigger) Electric RC Planes

These are the electric RC planes that are more and less the same as the RC planes with combustion engines. Bigger electric RC planes weight-in anything from couple of pounds up to 10 – with more weight, these heavier electric RC planes can handle a little wind too.

On the 3-10 pounds weight range and packing the modern brushless engines and Li-Po batteries, bigger electric RC planes are more and less equal to the nitro and gas planes (although nitro RC plane fans will of course disagree here).

The required flying area for these larger RC aeroplane models is equal to the combustion engine planes. As a ready-to-fly package, a bigger electric RC plane offers a whole lot of fun as long as there’s enough space to fly around.

The distinction between the park flyer and non-park-flyer varies based on who’s talking and the manufacturer – for example, the Easy Star -plane (the blue-winged one on the picture there) weights about 3 pounds and is sometimes referred as park flyer, which is probably the correct classification, although it does pack some characteristics of the bigger planes.

What Kind of Electric RC Plane Are You Using?

Many RC hobbyists have all kinds of planes, but still one plane or plane type is often the favorite…

Which is your favorite RC model plane type?

Are you into micro RC planes or indoor flyers? Or is flying outside the only true way to go?

When you get further in your radio controlled aeroplanes hobby, you’ll be looking for more advanced RC radio transmitter, so I’ll tell you why you should consider getting a better radio than you’d actually need right at the beginning. And we’ll go through the basics of RC radio controls and channels in the process.

For Radio Controlled Aeroplanes: Get a RC Radio Transmitter with At Least 4 Channels

The most basic radio control transmitters have 2-3 channels, rudder or aileron, throttle & steering or rudder & aileron in case of radio controlled aeroplanes. It takes 4 channels to gain complete acrobatic capability that will enable you to fly nearly every radio controlled plane.

Because of this, it might be worth it to by a bit more expensive and better radio with at least 4 channels, even for your first plane, because you can “re-use” the same radio for your next RC plane, heck, you can use the same radio for RC cars and boats as well, and possibly even radio controlled helicopters.

Like said, the 2-3 channel RC radio transmitter will do fine at the beginning, but you will probably have to buy a better one at some point, when you’ve built up your skill and want to move to the more advanced models and want to get full acrobatic control of your radio controlled plane.

Radio Control Channels for Radio Controlled Aeroplanes

With less than 4 channels, you can’t control everything. For a basic, beginner-friendly RC model planes this is not a problem, as many trainee planes don’t utilize more than 3 channels, using throttle, elevator and either rudder or aileron, depending on the plane. Leaving either rudder or aileron out, flying your radio controlled plane is, of course, simpler than with all 4.

Here’s what you get with different number of channels in your RC radio transmitter:

• 1 Control Channel
  • Rudder* (e.g. RC model plane flies with full throttle until out of fuel/power)
• 2 Control Channels
  • Throttle, steering (e.g. RC cars, RC boats). or Rudder & Elevator (e.g. Glider RC airplanes)
• 3 Channels
  • Rudder or aileron, elevator, throttle or rudder, aileron and elevator
• 4 Channels
  • Rudder, aileron, elevator, throttle.
• 5 Channels
  • Rudder, aileron, elevator, throttle, flaps or retracts.
• 6 Channels
  • Rudder, aileron, elevator, throttle, flaps or retracts.

When you have more than 6 control channels, you’ll have the option to add cool extra features like parachute drops, bombs, dive brakes or other operating parts to your model.

The most common number of control channels used on a RC model planes is 4. Cars and boats usually use 2-3 channels. As mentioned, the four-channel control gives you the total acrobatic flight capability and is able to fly most radio controlled aeroplanes – thus making getting a radio with minimum of 4 channels a great choice, even when starting out.

But there’s nothing wrong in getting a RC radio transmitter with 6 or more channels right from the start. Good RC radio transmitter will serve you for many years, so think of it as an investment. As the radio is at no risk of breaking because of crashing to ground, the chances of the radio getting broken are minimal, compared to the risk with the actual plane, which is likely to crash more than once during the early stages of your radio controlled aeroplanes hobby.

Note that if you’re looking for a 2.4 transmitter, make sure that the transmitter works with the receiver you got, or purchase a receiver to go with the new transmitter. For example, the Spektrum 2.4 transmitters have worked only with Spektrum and JR receivers, but not necessarily with any other, as the 2.4 seems to be brand-specific — but like said, take a look at the transmitter (and receiver) specs and you’ll see if they work together or not.

RC Radio Transmitter for Radio Controlled Aeroplanes

To summarize, if you’re new to radio controlled aeroplanes, that 2 channel radio for your RC glider plane or the 3 channel basic radio coming with your RTF RC plane will do just fine. But if you’re seriously thinking about going into radio controlled aeroplanes hobby, consider getting yourself a radio with at least 4 channels.

You know how it goes, when the RC bug bites, you’ll be looking for the high-quality gear. And a metallic, chrome-style RC radio transmitter feels so much better than the usual plastic models, adding sense of quality and luxury to the hobby you love.

The Spektrum RC transmitters are widely recommended by the experts, so you might start looking for a quality RC transmitter from those (JR transmitters being other quality option)…

It’s common that one starting their radio controlled plane hobby with a RC glider plane, will not even “move on”, because RC glider planes are very cost-effective because there’s no need for fuel and unpredictability of the wind keeps every flight challenging and fresh.

Why a Radio Controlled Glider Plane?

One of the reasons why even experienced hobbyists enjoy radio controlled glider planes is the amount of flight time one can get without extra costs. With fuel or gas RC motor, the tank of a radio controlled plane might only last for 10-15 minutes. In an electric RC glider plane, without a motor, the flight time is only limited by the size and capacity of the batteries of the receiver, resulting in several hours of flight time with one charge.

At the same time you will avoid the fuel costs and don’t have to clean the fuel mess etc. Thus, a radio controlled glider plane is very convenient choice and an electric RC glider plane will let you enjoy the fun of flying radio controlled aeroplanes for a long time.

Different Kind of Radio Controlled Glider planes

Gliders are available with or without a built-in motor. They come in various designs and wingspans.

Motored Radio Controlled Gliders

In case the RC glider does have a motor, the motor is used to get the RC glider plane airborne, not for the actual flight. Thus motored gliders don’t need wind to raise up, but they have motored propellers instead, which allow climbing up from flat sites.

After the throttle is cut, the propeller shuts down and in most planes fold back to lie alongside the fuselage, eliminating wind drag from the flight. After the motored propeller has been used to climb the plane up and shut down, motored glider is flown just like a pure glider, via thermal & soaring descent flight.

Pure RC Glider Planes

RC glider plane doesn’t necessarily have a motor at all and this kind of radio controlled glider is more common and often referred as RC sailplane. Instead of using a motor, the pure RC gliders plane are launched in to the air by towing with winch/another plane, catapulting with a bungee, or launched by hand like this Minimoa Sailplane:

Minimoa Launch, original photo by hyper7pro

After the launch, pure RC glider plane are flown using the air currents produced by a wind blowing into a slope, creating a lift above, called a slope lift, or a thermal lift, generated by the heat of the earth, a sun warming up the ground for example.

Launching by hand from the top of the ridge is done by throwing the glider outwards into the slope lift. A glider can be thrown into a thermal lift as well, but launching from the top of the hill is the easier and usually the more efficient method. Towing the glider by hand or winch is pretty much how one would fly a kite. Bicycle makes the towing easy and fast.

Large radio controlled aeroplanes can be used to tug tow the glider aloft, pretty much like the real glider planes, releasing the glider by a RC servo operated mechanism. This kind of towing requires quite a bit of organizing, but it creates great collaboration for a RC flight club as the RC pilots with different planes can work together and everyone is having fun.

Click here to get your own RC glider plane from eBay

What Kind of Radio Controlled Plane is Your Favorite?

There’s something about radio controlled glider planes that I like a lot; flying in the wind like an eagle, hanging up there for ages. And no flight is never the same… What about you?

Is a RC glider plane a radio controlled plane you don’t feel like flying?

Or are you a slope soaring RC sailplane fan like me?

Three Kinds of Power Sources for Radio Controlled Aeroplanes

There are three kinds of power sources for radio controlled aeroplanes. The three kinds of RC engines available are nitro, gas and electric RC planes.

Firstly, the nitro RC engines run on nitro methane mixture, which makes the radio controlled aeroplane using a nitro RC engine fly faster and usually for longer time too. However, nitro RC engines require more maintenance, can break up more easily and the fuel is more costly than the other two options.

Secondly, RC aeroplanes running on gas motors use a mix of gasoline and oil. Gas motored radio controlled aeroplanes are relatively reliable and moderately priced, though still considerably more expensive and higher maintenance than the electric RC planes.

Finally, the electric RC motors. Electric RC planes are the cheapest, yet most reliable RC motor type. Electric RC planes are easy to afford, easy to “fuel” (just charge the batteries) and electric RC motors don’t require the extensive maintenance that the two counterparts do. Thus, electric RC motor is the best, the safest and the smartest choice for a beginning radio controlled aeroplanes hobbyist.

Electric RC Plane, Great Value Radio Controlled Aeroplanes

Electric RC plane is the best bet for a beginner because of the simpler structure and more reliable usage. Electric RC plane is also slow enough for a beginner to learn how to fly radio controlled aeroplanes before moving on to the more advanced models.

When you’re starting out, you should look for an easy flying RC model plane, instead of super-sonic speed RC jet plane. Why? Because faster RC plane is not necessarily more fun, especially for a beginner, because controlling a fast RC plane is a bit trickier and it takes some experience to control them properly.

One of the benefits for choosing an electric RC plane is that there is plenty of ready-to-fly, RTF RC planes available with electric RC motor, which is not the case with nitro- and gas-powered radio controlled aeroplanes. Choosing a RTF RC airplane as a first radio controlled plane, a new RC aviator doesn’t have to learn the secrets of model building, balancing the plane and other, more technical tasks of radio controlled aeroplanes hobby.

Yes, electric RC planes are slower than than the gas- or nitro-powered RC model planes, but that doesn’t mean they’re slow, just that they are more suitable for beginners. Slower speed means more stability and more safety, which again, saves you money..

The Right Kind of Radio Controlled Aeroplanes for Beginners

One thing is still certain, as a beginner, you will crash your radio controlled plane at some point. This means that you should look for a durable model that can take the beating. And in the case of breaking, the spare parts should be reasonably priced and repairing should be simple. The electric RC motor itself doesn’t break easily, which is another benefit of going with electric RC plane..

To summarize, a beginner should look for an electric RC plane that is:

• ready-to-fly, RTF RC airplane
• easy to fly
• durable
• not too costly

This kind of setup enables a beginner to start training and learning to fly radio controlled aeroplanes right away, offering safer start-up, while keeping the costs at moderation. A beginning RC aircraft hobbyist most likely wants to concentrate on the fun and entertainment and learn how to fly RC aeroplanes – and RTF, electric RC plane enables just that..

Because of this, a beginner should choose a radio controlled aeroplane that is easy to fly and relatively durable (because the accidents are more like to happen than not).

Why Electric RC Plane is Great For Beginners?

Before we go into the details of the Super Cub LP RTF, let’s take a short look on why electric RC plane is the optimal choice for a first RC plane: Electric RC plane is easier to fly and is not as costly as the more advanced RC aeroplanes with combustion engines. Thus, the best choice for first RC aeroplane is an electric RC plane.

A beginner should also look for RTF RC Airplane, as with the ready to fly package you can start flying right away, instead of going through the building and painting process of the RC airplane kits (even if you’re into building airplane models, it’s recommended to get RTF RC Airplane as your first RC plane, because the building and balancing can be a bit tricky and might affect how well your new plane will fly).

Back to the electric RC plane covered in this post, and to make the HobbyZone® Super Cub LP RTF Electric the perfect RC plane especially for beginners, it has one extra trick up the sleeve..

This electric RC plane in question comes with Anti-Crash Technology! Anti-Crash Technology (ACT) will make learning to fly this electric RC plane a whole lot easier. ACT makes flying easy and a lot safer, which makes this a perfect first radio controlled aeroplane.

How The Anti-Crash Technology Works on Super Cub RTF Electric RC plane

There are two sensors on the Super Cub LP RTF Electric RC plane, one on the top and another on the bottom. These two sensors monitor the position of this electric RC plane in relation to the ground.

When the Super Cub RTF Electric RC plane is flying level, the sensor on the top can see the sky and bottom sensor can see the ground. This tells the on-board computer that the RC plane is flying correctly.

If the plane would enter a dive, the sensors will detect that the orientation of the plane is incorrect and the ACT system will correct the inputs automatically, thus controlling the plane and preventing the plane from crashing, giving you the time to regain control and level the plane.

In other words, ACT will let concentrate on the fun and fly without worries. If you are a new radio controlled plane hobbyist, the Anti-Crash Technology will be priceless when you are learning the ropes. When you gain experience with this Super Cub RTF Electric RC plane, you can turn the ACT of the Super Cub off to gain complete control and start mastering the more advanced maneuvers.

Is Super Cub RTF Electric RC Plane Right For You?

The original Super Cub RTF Electric RC Plane - a classic beginner model

The manual and the CD could be better, so help of experienced in flying a radio controlled plane might be needed (or find the required information right here on this blog). Super Cub RTF Electric is not very fast (which is good beginner) and it doesn’t have a modern brushless RC motor and in the older Super Cub “Non-LP” model (older model still on sale and hasn’t lost it’s touch over the years) the default battery wasn’t that good (actually consider getting more powerful battery if you decide to get the older model of this electric RC plane for yourself).

On the other hand, with the new improved “LP” model, which comes with powerful Li-Po battery, in addition to other upgrades and improvements, Super Cub LP RTF electric RC plane has some treats that make it desirable electric RC plane, especially for beginners:

• Durable and sturdy structure
• True RTF RC Airplane: Completely Ready To Fly – nothing to do but charge and fly
• Super easy to fly
• Anti-Crash Technology helps to avoid crashes
• Super Cub is easy to repair, and
• The parts for the Super Cub are quite cheap

You can probably buy Super Cub from any RC shop in your area, where-ever you live, as it’s one of the more popular beginner planes, together with the Easy Star RTF. Online, you can get Super Cub LP RTF for example from Amazon.com (US), from UK Amazon.co.uk. Or you can look for bargains and/or Super Cub parts from eBay

Technical Specifications of the Super Cub LP RTF

• Wingspan: 47.7 in (1200mm)
• Overall Length: 32.5 in (825mm)
• Flying Weight: 25.2 oz (715 g)
• Motor Size: 480 brushed
• Radio: 27MHz 3-channel proportional
• Trim Scheme Colors: White, blue, and black
• Prop Size: 9 x 6
• Recommended Battery: 3S 11.1V 1300 Li-Po (included)
• Elevator: Proportional
• Rudder: Proportional
• Throttle: Proportional
• Transmitter Range: 2500 ft
• X-Port: Yes
• Anti-Crash Technology: Yes
• Charger: DC powered 3S Li-Po balancing charger
• Landing Gear: Fixed main with steerable tail wheel
• Minimum Age Recommendation: 14 years
• Experience Level: No Experience Necessary
• Recommended Environment: Outdoor
• Assembly Time: Less than 1 Hour

Super Cub RTF Electric RC plane

All things considered, Super Cub LP RTF electric RC plane is a perfect first electric RC plane, and even many experienced RC aviators enjoy flying the Super Cub more than the expensive models..

With that said, the Super Cub can be recommended to anyone interested in flying electric RC planes, whether you are a complete beginner or experienced RC pilot. Super Cub LP is the perfect RTF, electric RC plane for a beginner, as well as to a more experienced pilot looking for care-free flying.

Visit your local RC hobby shop and take a test flight (if they offer one), or buy it online from the trusted vendors:

• New Super Cub LP RTF on Amazon.com (US)
• New Super Cub RTF on Amazon.co.uk (UK)
• Used and new Super Cub on eBay (both planes and parts)

Flying radio controlled aeroplanes, or RC airplanes as they are called in US-English, is a popular hobby that has been growing very popular worldwide. During the last couple of years, more efficient motors, lighter batteries and improved radio control systems have been designed and brought to the market, at the same time making the start of a new RC hobby less expensive than it was, say three years ago.

So today, you can start a new hobby with RC aircrafts with a fraction of the cost, get a lot more value for your money and get started a lot faster, as very good value ready-to-fly RC kits are available everywhere.

It’s truly a hobby that keeps on giving, as no flight is the same, the weather and the wind are always changing, different flying spots offer different challenge, etc. The initial steps might be rough, but this blog will help you get started and find the right plane, whether you are a seasoned radio controlled aeroplanes hobbyist or a new enthusiast, ready to get started with new, and fun hobby.

When starting out, it’s good to find a local RC hobby club or spend some time in related forums, like RCGroups.com. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you’re new. You might also consider setting yourself up with a RC simulator, which will help you get used to the controls and aerodynamics before flying a plane for real. Ask from the local RC club if they have a simulator there, buy one from the local shop, or order one online.

There are free RC simulators (software, like flying simulator games, but more real, and specifically simulating RC aircrafts) out there, but to get the most out the experience, you need to plug in real RC controller or similar. If you have a gaming pad for your computer, it’ll close, but if you go and get a good RC transmitter, you might be able to use that with the simulator = perfect, as you’ll get used to your own controlled, but don’t risk flying your brand new RC plane to the ground.

But without further ado, whether you’re into non-RC model aircrafts, RC helicopters, or RC planes, welcome to the blog – yes, don’t let the planes fool you in the blog name, they are all great, as long as they fly or look like one :) And in case you love them wheels too, the RC forums covers those too.