Hello from St Louis

[bgm1961]

Well, Saint Charles, MO, actually...

Hi all,

Retired US Air Force, recently moved to St Charles, MO, temporarily, with intent to start a new career/buy new home and settle somewhere west/northwest of the St Louis metro area.

I've been out of the hobby for the past 12-13 years and am now getting back into it. My last involvement was as the President of the Tampa Radio-control Aircraft Club sometime around 1999-2001.  The primary reason my wife and I moved to the St Louis area was to be closer to her family. So I've gotten back into the hobby (now) mostly to get my step grandsons active in something other than video games.

Being in a temporary status, all of my RC gear is in long-term storage. So to get into the RC groove for now, I've turned to park flyers - some for me - and I decided on the Super Cub as a trainer for the boys. So here I am.

As its my intent to train them using a buddy-box, I'm going straight into the aileron mod. I want them to train with ailerons from the start. (Again, that's with me on a trainer box - the same way I learned).

After reading the posts here, other than adding ailerons, I also have a list of additional mods that are apparently necessary:

Now:

- Disconnect ACT

- Wing strut easy attachments

- Battery box reinforcement

- Battery box reconfiguration

- Wing rear saddle reinforcement

- Leading edge protective tape

Later (as warranted):

- Electronics upgrade

- Different props

- Higher capacity battery (2200mAh ?)

Thanks!

[hghost]

It may just be me, but i do not understand why anyone buys a Cub that is 3 ch and than desires to change it immediately to 4 ch+ and not just buy a 4 ch plane to start with ?

I mean to each there own and that's Ok to do....I just do not get it when there are so many great 4 ch trainers already out there to do that with.

The Newer SAFE technology is a virtual instructor . The Apprentice and even the Delta Ray for example are excellent 4 ch planes and have the SAFE Technology that helps teaches . And if your experienced in flying and can teach, why not just a ordinary 4 ch plane you can instruct them with ?

Just trying to understand the reasoning, unless your desire is to show them how to modify a plane and what it intel's and then show them the results in flight ?

But whatever way and what ever makes you have fun and enjoy, i am all for it, whether i get it or not .

And welcome to the SC Club

[flydiver]

The functional upper limit to spend getting into this sport seems to be ~ $100-200. Now, in retrospect those that make it (we don't hear from those that don't) figure they should have spent more like $500 so they would have gotten a decent TX, and a plane that had some growing room.
But, you don't know if the sport will take, and it's traumatic enough to crash, let alone crash $300 planes.

[hghost]

I wish $500 was all I spent and called it a day...Not the case at all, the addiction kept calling my name...and I kept answering...over and over and over again.....lol

[Knackered Sailor]

May 16, 2014 6:06:37 GMT 1 hghost said:

I wish $500 was all I spent and called it a day...Not the case at all, the addiction kept calling my name...and I kept answering...over and over and over again.....lol

rofl 

[Knackered Sailor]

Welcome from the Uk bgm1961

[flydiver]

$500....to start, just to start.
As you experienced folks now know you can easily pay the price of the original SC just for a decent TX. Then you need to get a decent charger, power supply, RX's, more ESC, servos, motors, more batteries, and all the little fiddly bits you end up needing.
This catches folks unprepared. They think they get a plane, TX, battery, and go flying. Simple, easy. That's what I thought.
They don't have a clue.

[sham]

So far the hobby stands me for...

£89 - DX6i and Phoenix Sim
£119 - Supercub BnF
£45 - Spare batteries and bigger wheels.

So far I've not had to do any repairs or anything - but I am seriously considering a 4 or 5 channel high wing plane in a larger size as a next step.

I think that's great value for what you get from the hobby, to be honest.

And welcome from another UK based RC plane addict.

[hghost]

I will not give an exact amount of what I have spent in a little over a year, I will just say it was and is ALLOT......................

But few understand as Fly said, what really awaits them, if they are serious about this hobby. And it's addiction can be staggering .

There are folks out there who can spend very little and still have fun, but once the bug bites them and it will....those frugal dollars will grow really fast to a much greater sum.


One can spend great days with their SC for example and at some point there will become a need to do more, grow more, want more and fly more.

And the strange phenomenon is that will happen rather quickly ...why that is I have yet to know.( but it happens almost immediately as you constantly read )

I opted a different route, I bought Allot, spent allot and now have allot and did so all at once.
These Planes will always be here, even if technology changes and or gets even more advanced, I have the Air Frames to install that in, that many would have sold and no longer own and that will never be manufactured again.

I will grow at some point to the ability to fly these more advanced planes and I know they are here and I know I will....BUT in the meantime, I will enjoy the more simple planes and experiment with them to make my flying less stressful and more enjoyable and when that time comes to fly these more advanced planes, I know I will be able to with that same stress free ability, by simple trial and error with the ones I am flying now. Because I am learning and growing in the hobby to better my experience with it

BUT by that time, most of these Air Frames that are available now will be gone by the time that may occur.

I am not just buying and flying, I am learning and growing. Why I ask so many questions and why I seek the information and why I experiment with simplicity to learn the advanced better. There is a method to my madness. ( my issue again is retaining that knowledge) So that is why I bought, I have, I make notes and I store articles and advice, and those far more experienced than I have been my teacher, even tho we have never meet nor fly together, it is like an instructor and their student.

Many do not have that luxury to do that, I chose to do things backwards with that intent.Thus it has cost me allot now, but later on, I will be saving dollars with this hobby in the long run.And I will have that knowledge and ability to change electronics, and maybe even create those electronics to do what I want them to do, in the planes I desire it to be in.

[bgm1961]

May 15, 2014 22:55:24 GMT 1 hghost said:

It may just be me, but i do not understand why anyone buys a Cub that is 3 ch and than desires to change it immediately to 4 ch+ and not just buy a 4 ch plane to start with ?
Just trying to understand the reasoning,...

OP here...

hghost,

There were four reasons:

1) The cub has a wingspan more suitable for park flying. As I mentioned in my intro, all my stuff is in long-term storage and I'm living in a small apartment, so I have no designs to join a club (yet), nor do I have room for any wingspan larger than mid-forties (inches). So school yards and parks will be my flying area for the near future. The other airplanes you mentioned are too big for parks, IMHO.

2) The price was right... the LHS was selling it for $130... $70 less than anything else worth considering. My next choice would've been the Hobbyzone Glasair Sportsman if the price had been better. Plus I already had the extra servos and hardware (well, I did keep the small stuff with me... just in case!).

3) I wanted to do the work and put myself to the challenge (as small as it is) just for kicks. Simple as that. When I was last in the hobby, I built kits and ARFs (back in the day when an ARF wasn't really). I had just as much fun assembling and modifying the airplanes as I did flying them... well, almost as much fun - ! While I really appreciate the savings in time that today's RTF packages offer... well, let's just say that I have just enough time to do the mods I listed, but not any more available to get back to the old ARF days.

4) The real cub has ailerons.