In the beginning.... well ok a
couple of years ago my mate Matt , decided he was going to build an RC Glider
to fly around the hills on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. See the photo of his
newly constructed 2M Angel to the right.The first flights were a bit of an experiment
in understanding how these things flew, but after a few weeks of legging it up and down
the hills on search and rescue missions and all night repair sessions we started having
some success.
I should mention right now that we did not have access to instructors. If we had been
able to take advantage of a few lessons the learning process would have been a whole lot
more pleasant. So if you do know someone who is capable of helping out or can get down to
the local club make sure you do. There is nothing more frustrating than trashing your
plane first time out !!
Generally though learning to fly is fun so just relax and enjoy it ....after all it's
just a model plane and it won't be the end of the world WHEN you meet the ground a little
harder than anticipated.
Now a quick word about ' foamies'. These are planes made of EPP foam, are very durable
and are something I highly recommend to any beginner. They are just magic for those less
than perfect landings you 'WILL' make when starting out. I have spent hours flying
an excellent little plane called a DAW HLG 1-26 and Matt
flew a pretty mean 2M 1-26 version of the same plane.
Check out the DAW 1-26 if you have not already done so. I have also heard
the DAW TG3 trainer is pretty darn good. So there you go a totally unprompted plug for the
DAW stable of 'foamie' gliders ....(just send a blank cheque later Mr Sanders)
Ok, other suggestions for us 'newbies', well start surfing and check out
those RC sites on our links page. There really are some good
sites that go into much more detail than I have.
Oh yeah, radio gear and set up. I would recommend buying a mid-range 4 channel TX
(transmitter) so you can set up your Rudder-Elevator on the right hand stick .....please
no ailerons to start with. I use a 4 Channel Futaba Sky Sports which is reasonably
cheap and has a good name, but there are a lot of other perfectly adequate sets around,
just make sure it is 4 Channels not two. I find it much more intuitive having the
primary controls on one stick and if you go to a club you will find everyone flies that
way.
We would also recommend buying 'ARF'. So what's that you say ? The acronym stands for
'Almost Ready To Fly' and means the kit normally just needs some covering and a bit of
epoxy in the important places. Most foamies are almost 'ARF' but may need a few hours of
sanding and covering but that's still ok. ARF makes sense because starting out you just
'wanna go fly' and not see hundreds of hours of bench work trashed on the first flight.
