For those of you that have been at the electric thing for a while just curious what you would estimate your average cost per plane for the whole setup from bench to flight have been.

I thought starting out in this that the costs wouldn't be that much but with the brushless motor setups and Li-Pos all over the place I can see this hobby getting expensive.

Basic requirments per plane:

1. Aircraft Kit
2. Motor
3. ESC
4. RX
5. Servos

Any guesses?

For me, ~$350. Some higher some lower. This will go up when I get into the 'bigger' planes I'd guess.... I don't move stuff from plane to plane (very often) so...... New outfit for most every new plane (servos I never move). Yep, slows you down a bit on buying 'new' planes . And the only ARF I now fly is the 'funky' chicken. All others from balsa kits.

I've gone through several planes this week, so I decided to try one of the really cheap wattage oddysey models out. Let's just say you get what you pay for.

ON average, to get a plane up and running, I figure 200 as a very low min. 300 more like the average.

jim

I'd agree with RClark.. I don't do musical electronics.. I buy a new setup for each plane, unless something has died and it's an organ donor.

Seems my planes usually go like this:

~$80 kit
~$60 servos
~$150 motor/esc
~$100 batteries (2 packs)
~$20 covering

then you have the misc stuff.. I'd say $350 sounds like a good average..

1. Aircraft Kit - $35+ (this is very broad range as some kits can be 100+)
2. Motor - some kits have them included but for a brushed motor maybe $20-$35+ (gws ips or 300 geared)

3. ESC
4. RX
5. Servos - you can usually find the gws flight packs for around $80 with esc/rx/and servos


dont forget battery packs - ~$20 each for nimh
charger - ~$40

I've always simply ripped the electronics out of my old planes and kept the airframe in storage. It makes the hobby very, very affordable and it only takes about 15 minutes to put the stuff back in if I so desire.

Originally posted by Awakened
I've always simply ripped the electronics out of my old planes and kept the airframe in storage. It makes the hobby very, very affordable and it only takes about 15 minutes to put the stuff back in if I so desire.

But don't you like flying multiple aircraft when you go out to fly?

-Dujara-

I suppose that would be nice, but it's not within my financial abilities.

I agree with Tram except for the Batteries, I use a prop and gear that will work with the batteries I have. If I buy a new battery it's usually because it's something I want to try not necessarily something specific to a certain plane.

I don't like musical electronics (hey you coinded a phrase) either, but I'm to the point now where I have to choose. I can only take so many planes to the field/slope anyway.

Yeh, I was just throwing the batteries in there.. I usually try and get planes that will work with what I have, but being a newb to electrics I still need more packs.

I'm getting to the point where I just have too many planes to keep track of. It was over 20 at last count. I've finally started removing the gear from planes I don't fly anymore and selling the airframes cheap, then moving the gear to a new project. Once you get to that point the hobby is pretty inexpensive, you're basically just out the cost of a kit, covering and building supplies when you build a new project.

Brushless definitely has a higher up-front cost, but they last forever if you don't crash and bend a shaft. I've worn out some planes, but have yet to wear out a BL motor

So how about passing some of those cheap airframes to a guy with a last name like mine?

I've bounced all over so many different types of planes that none of my packs really go with any of the others.

Well the other night I promised my wife that I would only ever have 4 planes at any one time. Of course I didn't specify that what I really meant was 4 complete setups that would all fly at any given time. I kinda like the idea of getting sets of gear and then building airframes around the gear sets so that each new model isn't 200 to 300 bucks out of pocket. Just basically the cost of the kit and maybe covering. That should keep each new kit plane after that to around 70 dollars or so.

I kind of have this in mind for the four aircraft.

1. A three channel slowflyer
2. A 3D/Pattern ship
3. A scale warbird
4. A EDF Jet

I'm half way there with a MiniFlash and BLT. X-Mas is only a little more than 2 months away.

With all of the recent developements, I try to stay under 100$ per month - Brian