Where did everybody go?

[ggranch]

I know you are out there, but where. I am a begining RC flyer. Most of my flights have ended in one point landings but the angles are getting shallower. For others just starting, or someone looking for a little plane to play with, I found (through Fly RC magazine) a real treasure. It is the Estes Sky Ranger. It only costs $20 from Wal-Mart and really does fly well. Success is not guaranteed, but is very likely. I know because I now check the wind strength every time I'm outside to see if it is calm enough to fly. Let's hear from you out there.

[rickety]

Way to go The sky ranch is a cute little plane, and can be a lot of fun. The thing to do is to throttle back on final, about 2 feet off the ground, a little up elevator and try to maintain a slight nose up attitude and let her just float on down.
I'm still learning to fly the helicoter, and am still having fun. I only have an area about 20 square feet to fly in without having to go to a park about 4 miles away, so I am trying to be verfy carefulFUN!!!!!!!!!

[Okie Guy]

This sounds like a lot of fun. What do they operate on batteries?

[ggranch]

The Sky Ranger has a built in Lithium-polyester (Li-PO) rechargeable battery to operate the motors. The transmitter uses 6 AA batteries to transmit and to recharge the on board Li-Po. Susposed to get about 4 or 5 full charges off of a set of AAs. About 6 or 7 flights of 2 minutes (a long time for a beginner) per full charge. Another plus is that it is very small for a RC plane,very easy to take along. About 12" span and about 13" length. That also is it's major drawback. It is so light(.95 oz) that you need nearly dead calm to fly in. No more than 4 or 5 mph for good flyers(not me yet). This is the cheapest way to try out RC planes that I have found and the plane has a good pedigree. Designed by a well known free-flight designer. Keep me posted if you jump in.

[snowbunny]

I'm hoping to get a good electric plane once I retire. Right now I have an Electricub and an Electric Supersportster. Both are badly underpowered and I can't drop $400. getting a brushless motor, ESC and lipo batteries for one of them. All my other planes are gas and require too much space to carry. Any good compromises you know of? Small enough to carry and powerful enough to fly well without having to sell the Montana to pay for them?

[rickety]

Tower Hobbies.com has a great selection of electric planes, Hobby Lobby also has a great selection. All of these lectric planes and helis are a blast!!! I'm still learning the heli and still cna't hover it very well. Electric planes are easy to fly, and although many are some what underpowered you can upgrade without going the LI-PO route by putting in a slightly larger motor and making sure you are using micro servos, etc.
FUN FUN FUN

[ggranch]

If you would classify yourself as an intermediate or better flyer, you should check out the Stryker. Very fast and agile for a park flyer. Also Flying Stryo has a line of upscale war birds that are reported to fly very well (these are stand-off scale) in the under $200 range. Not cheap but reasonable for what you get. Pick up a copy of Fly RC magazine, they are predominately electric oriented. Everything from toys like the Sky Ranger to giant scale 3D and beyond. I also have a Hobby-Lobby Parkzone J3 Cub 3 channel. $160 ready to fly, Tx and all. Not snappy but scale-like. Like Rickety said, you can upgrade to more power. Brushless can be used with NiCads and NiMh batteries but do need a new ESC. The outrunners are the way to go. AXI has just introduced a line of motors called Atlas at about 1/2 price. Like Tom Hunt the engineer says,"Fly clean, fly quiet, fly safe".