Getting into fixed wings

Yesterday I posted about getting started in RC and here I'll continue with my fixed with hiatus.  It all started out when I joined a local RC club (Natchez Trace Bandits).  When I joined we had a mandatory fixed wing training program.  Once you passed your flying test you could fly whenever you want but until then you had to fly with another member.  This group consists of mostly fixed wing nitro flyers that have been doing things a certain way for 30+ years.  I say mostly because we have a few multirotor fanatics but no FPV (besides me).  The club offers the use of two nitro trainers in a buddy box setup.  Since I had been flying Flitetest planes for a few months I felt comfortable without the buddy box and wanted to get my own machine up and flying.

My initial trainer setup was a Flitetest Storch which is a wonderful flying machine.  However, this plane is almost too easy to fly.  When I compared this to the big balsa nitro plane there was a huge difference.  The nitro plane was faster which meant landing was more difficult and heavier which made flying in wind a bit easier but also much less nimble.

I decided it was time for me to build my own large balsa trainer, but electric!  I purchased an ARF trainer from HobbyKing, a 46 size suppo brushless motor, and 100amp Turnigy Dlux from RCGroups and got to building.  Here is before

This is after.

That balsa trainer flew beautifully.  It could come in nice and slow and never drop a wing.  It was the easiest large (63") trainer I could ask for.  I fell in love with flying fixed wings.  From there I immediately wanted to push the limits and start getting into 3D.  Time to build a FT3D!  I had pretty decent success with that but easily damaged it attempting to fly too low and slow too soon.  I needed something that could take a beating and keep flying.  After lots of reading I decided to go with the Crack Yak by Twisted Hobbies!  I was in heaven.

Today the Yak still flies amazing even though it's probably composed of more glue than foam!  They recommended using welders glue, which is awesome but expensive.  I found that Dollar Tree thick Super Glue (CA) is almost identical to Welders and have been using that since.  I went all out with the Yak and got the landing gear.  If you fly in grass don't get the landing gear!  Most of the damage I had to fix was because of the landing gear catching in the grass.  Actually, even if you have a nice runway I don't see the point of the landing gear.  It looks cool but it's so much easier to simply land in a patch of grass or catch it.  I still have this plane today but don't fly it nearly as much.  It will definitely be one I keep on my wall.

I've had some issues learning what motor/prop combos produced enough power without a watt meter and thrust meter.  Ooops!  It went up so smoothly then tip stalled and wouldn't pull up.  Maybe there was too much weight in the nose and too little power.  This will have to be a winter project.

After practicing a lot with the Yak I gave this Great Planes Sukhoi a go.  It's nothing like the Yak and feels really under powered.  I wasn't terribly impressed.  It's been a pretty fun sport flyer though and has helped me get better at faster 2 wheel landing.

As of today I don't touch most of these planes anymore.  If I get a chance to fly it's all FPV mini quad madness.  I love it.