Thanks for the input, wjs... but I am seriously so not ready for something so advanced.

I'm still getting my "wings back" with the Stratos.

The AXN is indeed a great flier in the wind, in fact it is almost like the plane was made to fly in the wind. I fly mine with a 2200 mah 50c battery and the plane is quite fast. It will float around lazily at altitude too just riding the thermals. Quietguy, this is a great second plane when you think you are ready to advance from the FB Stratos. My third would be a Parkzone T-28 Trojan. In the meantime, enjoy the FB Stratos!

For my son's first 'big' 4 channel plane I'm planning on a Parkzone T-28 or maybe the Flyzone Sensei. I've had 2 bad flyzone plane experiences which is why I'm not sure I want to try for a third one. In contrast the Parkzone products I have just work and are fun.

Really? I own 4 Flyzone planes and the only one I didn't care for is their micro Albatross, too flimsy and fragile for my taste. The other full sized planes have been great. I have 2 FZ Focke-Wulf FW 190 Select Scale planes, Cessna 182 Skylane Select Scale, and the aforementioned Albatross. Which ones caused you problems? However, the Parkzone T-28 is a great first 4 channel plane as well as a first warbird. It flies nice and docile or can get pretty fast and agressive. It is the easiest landing warbird that I fly.

Skyfly 2, which was our first step into electric planes, it was not a very good flying plane and extremely difficult to keep in the air. I have good skills and that plane was just too heavy and under powered for someone new to try and fly.

The second was the micro Folker DR1, which was very out of balance, it is extremely tail heavy and fragile. I expected it to be fragile based on the design, but I think Flyzone could have spent a bit more time in the CG area and simply pushed the wings back a bit to make it more likely to be nose heavy. I am flying it now, and have it tuned up to the point it is pretty fun to fly low and slow with little to no wind.

Both Flyzone planes were bought with zero research on the RCGroups, which I now do for all our planes and new planes I would like to consider.

I like the Sensei because it has a large wingspan and will run on the batteries we have for our other planes (Radian Pro, Parkzone Albatros). But I worry about the quality and hate the idea of having to tweak a new plane to make it right given every Parkzone / Hobbyzone plane we have has just flown right out of the box.

Anyway sorry for the off topic, The Stratos is a great plane that my son is doing wonderful with and best of all the time we spend together at the field. We count down the days to the weekend to fly since it gets dark sooner here making after work flying not possible.

Originally Posted by jrtubb

For my son's first 'big' 4 channel plane I'm planning on a Parkzone T-28 or maybe the Flyzone Sensei. I've had 2 bad flyzone plane experiences which is why I'm not sure I want to try for a third one. In contrast the Parkzone products I have just work and are fun.

TZ T-28 would be my vote. Sweet handling at least from flight sim and videos and reviews. On my vNext list is either T-28 or Radian. Not sure which first so maybe both. Just one of those planes you need in your fleet anyway.

Honestly the more I think about it the more I plan to go for a PNP T-28. I was trying to get him interested in the Radian too, but at 8 years old he wants speed and tricks! He already hot dogs the Stratos more then I think he should be doing

Originally Posted by wjs

TZ T-28 would be my vote. Sweet handling at least from flight sim and videos and reviews. On my vNext list is either T-28 or Radian. Not sure which first so maybe both. Just one of those planes you need in your fleet anyway.

That's funny, I wanted both of those planes also, but didn't have the money. So I bought a Radian, which I am extremely pleased with, and asked for the UM T-28 for Christmas. I still want the bigger T-28, I've been flying it in the simulator to prepare for the arrival of the UM T-28 and it's well behaved and fun.

After a 30 year plus break I bought the Stratos to re-learn. The Stratos taught me well and I bought the PZ T-28. I love it. It is certainly more of a challenge to land than the Stratos but in the air is a great plane and I couldn't recommend it enough. I personally would start by flying it without the under carriage and belly landing in long grass. Long grass is a lot more forgiving.

Oh and it floats a lot further on landing than you would expect.

Go for it

One thing that has bugged me about the Stratos since we got it is a lack of good ground handling control. I know that a steerable nose gear would probably get damaged by those that learn to fly, but I really dislike the fact that you have to steer on the ground with the right stick.

My son has learned to use the left stick on the ground from flying our micros and our large glow trainer. I decided to try and experiment with an old Eflight controller today to link the rudder stick to the aileron stick so that at lest he can steer with the rudder a bit easier on the ground since that is what he has learned by habit. I documented the process in this thread, and will to some test flights with the micro tomorrow before I modify the Stratos controller.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1784117

If test flights go well I plan to look at changing the nose wheel to a steerable configuration next. I know some durability might be lost, but my son is pretty good at landing now so he should have minimum issues.

Originally Posted by jrtubb

One thing that has bugged me about the Stratos since we got it is a lack of good ground handling control. I know that a steerable nose gear would probably get damaged by those that learn to fly, but I really dislike the fact that you have to steer on the ground with the right stick.

My son has learned to use the left stick on the ground from flying our micros and our large glow trainer. I decided to try and experiment with an old Eflight controller today to link the rudder stick to the aileron stick so that at lest he can steer with the rudder a bit easier on the ground since that is what he has learned by habit. I documented the process in this thread, and will to some test flights with the micro tomorrow before I modify the Stratos controller.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1784117

If test flights go well I plan to look at changing the nose wheel to a steerable configuration next. I know some durability might be lost, but my son is pretty good at landing now so he should have minimum issues.

Typically, rudder and nose gear are linked. On a 3 channel, rudder is right stick. It ~may be better to just get used to 3-channel vs 4-channel handling. Those skills will come in handy for the future. But I like mods too :-)

Originally Posted by jrtubb

One thing that has bugged me about the Stratos since we got it is a lack of good ground handling control. I know that a steerable nose gear would probably get damaged by those that learn to fly, but I really dislike the fact that you have to steer on the ground with the right stick.

My son has learned to use the left stick on the ground from flying our micros and our large glow trainer. I decided to try and experiment with an old Eflight controller today to link the rudder stick to the aileron stick so that at lest he can steer with the rudder a bit easier on the ground since that is what he has learned by habit. I documented the process in this thread, and will to some test flights with the micro tomorrow before I modify the Stratos controller.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1784117

If test flights go well I plan to look at changing the nose wheel to a steerable configuration next. I know some durability might be lost, but my son is pretty good at landing now so he should have minimum issues.

Why not just connect up the extra servo pinouts on the Stratos receiver? They're already there and connected to the chip and just need to have pins added. One of them probably runs the rudder channel.

I keep meaning to buy the connectors when I'm at the hobby shop, but forget each time, including 2 days ago. I even told the store clerk that that's what I wanted to do and we headed over to the correct parts shelf but got sidetracked... again. The clerk told me that he called and spoke with Horizon Hobby tech support and they basically refused to tell him what the pinouts were for.

Hook 'em up and tell us how they work!

Originally Posted by BigIron357

Why not just connect up the extra servo pinouts on the Stratos receiver? They're already there and connected to the chip and just need to have pins added. One of them probably runs the rudder channel.

If that the case then you could swap the current rudder channel and add ailerons. Interesting. This would mean you could keep the motor mix.

Well had some great flying today with my son, should have stopped at flight 3! I was doing a hammerhead stall turn when he flew under my and I dived right through his tail and sheared it off. I have glued it back just fine but just realized the pushrod holes got filled in with glue so I'm not sure where they are suppose to be. Can some one post some photos showing both pushrod exits and maybe even some measurements so I can redrill the openings?

Originally Posted by jrtubb

Well had some great flying today with my son, should have stopped at flight 3! I was doing a hammerhead stall turn when he flew under my and I dived right through his tail and sheared it off. I have glued it back just fine but just realized the pushrod holes got filled in with glue so I'm not sure where they are suppose to be. Can some one post some photos showing both pushrod exits and maybe even some measurements so I can redrill the openings?

Hope these help.