Well, took the Champ out for the first flight and things went fairly well. There was a bit of a breeze, I have a hard time judging how strong, but I would say probably 3 to 4 MPH. Sent it up in the air with a release from my hand and it took flight pretty easily. I kept it up wind from me and was trying to do most of the flying into the wind. I probably had about 4 or 5 times that it hit the ground but I wouldn't really call them crashes, it was more of a controlled non-good landing. The champ is very forgiving, when I was in trouble, I just gut the power to the motor and it just kind of glides back down to the ground. My oldest daughter (14yr) was with me and I let her give it a try. Her flights did not go as well. She had the controller for just under a minute and was able to find the only obstacle on the entire field we were at............ she ran the champ into a chain link batting cage. The champ is tough though and only took minimal damage. Overall, my first experience was great with the Champ. I got disoriented a few times and the wind was a bit tough but I manged to make some nice turns and even did a few loops. This plane is very cool and I can't wait to get back out there and fly it again.

Welcome to the world of the Champ! I, too, love this bird - it's very forgiving, easy to fly, and very durable. One thing I noticed is that one you get it trimmed properly, it pretty much will fly by itself. The motor is more than powerful enough but some folks upgrade to the same one found in the micro Mustang. You can fly the stock one at 2/3 throttle and that may even be too much lol.

Wind is definitely not the Champ's friend. As it only weighs about an ounce, its best left for either indoor or very very light breezes. I sometimes enjoy the challenge when I get a gust here and there, but respect the elements or get a bigger bird.

Enjoy your Champ!

Lol just got back from flying myself. 1 of our local Police officers came in and was currious about RC so we took him out and I put the champ in the air and let him take over. He went threw 3 batteries while I worked out some trim/kink issues with my UM Mustang.. We had a blast.
So glad that you are liking your plane they are so much fun to fly and if you conserve battery will last what appears to be forever in the sky. I usually climb fairly high then barely get it any throttle and just soar around...

Yesterday the wind was dead calm. Decided to take the Champ out again. What a difference the wind (or lack of wind) makes. I went thru 2 batteries worth of flying time, probably about 25+ mins and didn't have one crash. This thing handles unbelievably. I was twisting, turning, climbing, diving, loops, etc...... I was flying it over a grass field, but took advantage of the parking lot nearby to practice some take offs and landings. Maybe its just beginners luck, but I did at least half a dozen of them and they were almost flawless. This plane is just so forgiving. I just lined up the runway approach and leveled it out and cut the throttle and this plane pretty much lands itself. I even took my dad (73 years old) up with me to the field and after I got it in the air he was messing around with it and had no problems at all keeping it in the air. What a great decision to go with this plane for my first RC plane. Anybody that is thinking about getting into this hobby, I would highly recommend this model to them. probably the best and most fun sub $100 I have spent in a long time. I am already doing some research on getting a 2nd plane

Anybody have any recommendations for a 2nd plane? I think I still want to stick with a 3 channel model for now. I really want to get very proficient with a 3 channel before switching to a 4 channel. Plus, I can always do some mods to my 3 channel planes to make them 4 channel. I'm looking for a nice 2nd plane. Something with a little more weight and power than the champ so I can fly in the wind a little more and something that maybe has a bit tighter response for turns and loops. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

HZ Super cub lp. 47" wing span, more weight to handle the wind better and more power. Also very forgiving and it glides great. The cowls are a bit fragile but you can put some tape on the inside to help it and get an extra set of wing struts. I get about 10 min of flight with about 1/2 to 2/3 throttle. Start out with the control rods in the outer holes then you can move them in for more response. I think the bnf will run about $160.00.

What transmitter are you using. I would recommend a DX6i, you will be amazed on how much better they will fly plus you a can add in dual rates and expos


Good flying
Howard

Second on the HZ Super Cub. You will find it flies almost like a giant Champ, but will handle the wind a lot better. You may also want to check out the Hobbyzone Firebird Stratos. That is also a nice beginner plane, but, the transmitter is proprietary so you can't use it with a nice radio like the DX6i Bladezilla recommended. BTW - I never crashed my Champ and after graduating to flying 5-6 channel warbirds, I finally passed her down to my brother who is just beginning to learn to fly. I still fly my Super Cub though.

Thanks guys. I have only had a few flights with the Champ. Still need to log some more time on it, but yesterday flying it with no wind really boosted my confidence level. I have heard a ton of good things about the super cub, it was definitely on my list of planes to check next. I can already tell that I am eventually going to get a 4 channel model as well. I read a ton of good things about the micro T-28. Sounds like I might have my next 2 purchases lined up.

Originally Posted by Bladezilla

What transmitter are you using. I would recommend a DX6i, you will be amazed on how much better they will fly plus you a can add in dual rates and expos

Howard

I am just using the TX that came with the champ. I am VERY new to this hobby. Honestly, I don't even know what "dual rates and expos" are. I am still trying to figure out the very basics. I don't even know right now if I have the trim set right on my champ. I hear people talking about the trim and how it has to be set right, but I "think" my champ is set up ok. I never touched anything since its been out of the box. I just sent it up and it seems to fly pretty awesome. I guess I will learn with time.

When setting up trim you first start with the plane one a table or the ground and you adjust the rudder and elevator so it is inline with the rest of the surfaces not high, low or left or right. Then once in flight you fine tune the trim using the switchs to the side and bottom of the sticks so it flies level and straight without any input from you.

Dual rate allow you to control how much the rudder and elevator move at full throw. Low rate will move them both less at there full movment than high rate. On your stock tx I believe you push in the throttle stick once and the red led will blink on and off for the low rate setting.

Expo controls how fast the rudder and elevator respond to your stick movment. Say you set 25% expo on the rudder, it will only move it 25% of the way of the first 75% of the stick movement then as you move the stick more it will move the rest. It help stop over correcting.

Thanks Bladezilla. I was actually already using the dual rate without knowing what it was called. I set it on low to begin and after my second flight I had already placed it on high after being able to fly it comfortably on low.

as for the expo, I will have to play around with that feature. I haven't done anything with that yet. This site has been great for the advice so far. thanks so much to everybody

You will have to wait with expo until you upgrade your tx as there are no adjustment on the stock tx.

I'd only flown my Champ a few times with the stock tx until tonight. After flying 4ch heli's for a year my thumbs were all crossed up for this li'l 3ch.

Anyway I finally got around to setting up my dx6i to mix in some "up" elevator with the rudder. What an improvement!

I only got in about a dozen takeoffs and landings before dark tonight but I was able to "dial in" the elevator so the Champ makes coordinated turns with just the rudder! Here are the settings I used for the dx6i:

ADJUST LIST > MIX1
AILE > ELEV ACT
RATE D + 35% U - 35%
SW GEAR TRIM ACT

Note: The Champ rudder uses the dx6i aileron channel!

Note: The plus and minus values are needed to make the elevators go "up" when the rudder is turned in either direction!

Note: I chose the GEAR switch but any switch will do. You could even leave the mix "ON" full time.

Note: BE SURE TO TEST THE CONTROLS THOROUGHLY ON THE GROUND! (But you knew that, right? Sorry... )

Feel free to experiment with the proportions. I started at 50% but the Champ would climb and stall out every time I tried to turn. Was down to 35% before it got too dark to fly; 35% may still be a little too high (never enough daylight, ain't that always the way )

Enjoy!

@spiderjunior, make sure that you have plenty of space for the super cub. While the plane is docile, it is a lot faster than the champ. I went the same route as you (champ to super cub), and I was a bit intimidated with the super cub at first. I've since upgraded my super cub to 4 channel (ailerons), and it flies like a different plane. Just make sure that, whatever you do, make sure you have plenty room for your approach and plenty of room to land. Nothing like the champ, which can be landed within a few feet. The top speed of the champ is probably 15-20 MPH (just guessing, probably lower), whereas the super cub can hit speeds of 40-45mph. No matter which way you look at it, the super cub is a lot of fun to fly and land.
Peace
---Lobe

Well, things change quickly. After taking the champ out again a few more times. i have found myself trying to turn it into a stunt plane. I love just letting it glide around and its calming to fly it that way, but I keep finding myself doing loops and trying to get it to bank hard and act more like a stunt plane. Its just too much fun to do that stuff. I actually made an impulse buy. I went to the classifieds section and found a Micro T-28 for sale for what I thought was a great price:

===============================================

Like new ParkZone UM T-28 RTF flown 3-4 times.

PLUS

6 - 3.7V 150 mAh batteries
2 - Chargers
2 - Transmitters
2 - Spare fuselages worth of parts, extra landing gear

$80 shipped

===============================================

I bought it. Looks like I am going to be learning 4 channels now. I still want something to fly around a bit leisurely though and I think the super cub is perfect for that. Damn you HZ Champ and rcgroups for being so good to me. This hobby is going to cost me a lot of money I'll let you guys know how the I make out with the new plane

When I first got started flying in June, I went from a Champ to a SC to just recently a UM T-28. The little T-28 is a blast after you get it trimmed out properly, but to me it was like flying a little rocket when compared to the Champ until I got used to it. Just make sure when you first fly it that you set the dual rate to low because the T-28 is a little twitchy until you get the feel for it and get familiar with the ailerons. I'm not familiar with how the T-28 will fly with the stock Tx, because I use a DX6i and am able to set the D/R and Expo rates to where it feels comfortable to me. What really helped me a lot was practicing on a sim before ever attempting to fly a 4 channel plane. Just be easy on the stick because if you jerk it with the T-28 it will get out of control in a hurry! I found that out by experience, lol. It won't correct itself the way the Champ does when you let off the sticks. I love to fly the little T-28 but I love my big ole Supercub too! Good luck and happy flying!
You are definitely right about one thing, it's easy to go through some $$$ on this highly addictive hobby!