Originally Posted by firedawg1998

Woww, what a long read...
Sooo uch info here, 3 days to read. Still have a few questions

This is my first plane, 64mm t45. Getting it this week. Don't want to fly with stock esc which for some reason lists as a 30amp. I thought the new ones were 50A. It's an epo version.
1. Do I purchase an esc with a bec or not, if its easy to install and better I will, just a noob and I'd rather not stare at the wires for a week and not know where to put them. I figure a 60a version, plush or turnigy would be okay??
2. Try the stock 1500 mah 3s battery or not chance an underpowered noobi stall, I considered 2200 3s or should I jump into the 4s series. For now I will run the stock 4000kv motor. It say it's an inrunner motor, does that sound right? Thanks for reading and I'll take any thoughts as golden...
Can't wait to take her out...waiting sucks...

You say it's your first plane, would that be first plane ever? If it is I would be tempted to try something else first especially if you've never flown before. Although the T45 is a very stable platform it still doesn't "self stabilize" as a trainer plane would. In other words it goes where you point it until you tell it to go somewhere else. This could get you into trouble when you get disorientated, and you will if you have very limited RC experience.

Definitely ditch the stock esc from the get go. It WILL fail, mine was bad out of the box. I installed a Hobbywing Pentium 60 Amp unit from my stock box which works very well. A good all round pack is a 2200 3 cell pack should you wish to attempt to fly it after the advice given. They are reasonably inexpensive but make sure you go for a high discharge rate pack. Most of mine are 25C discharge and they barely cut it. 4 cells doesn't nescessarilly mean more speed, this is a draggy airframe.

The motor as stock is an outrunner, not an inrunner and will be equally at home on 4 cells as well as 3 cells.

Bear in mind what I have written, but most of all fly safe and enjoy you model. If you kill it they're cheap enough to replace.

Originally Posted by NitroCharged

...as long as we can all freeload a place to sleep at your house!...

As for speed - the Hawk will never be a speedie model - it's just not shaped for it. The faster you want to go, the multiples of power you have to add to get it there. Fly it for what it is - a Navy trainer.

True nitro they are a navy trainer,crasha and myself are pretty happy with the speed they will be capable of,it would be great though having all of us guys do a big formation fly over,how good would that look,priceless i would think.Keep posting more vids of you guys flying they are awesome..........oh yea you guys would be very welcome if you came and flew over here in the west.
Regards,
Rob..........

Originally Posted by firedawg1998

Woww, what a long read...
Sooo much info here, 3 days to read. Still have a few questions

This is my first plane, 64mm t45. Getting it this week. Don't want to fly with stock esc which for some reason lists as a 30amp. I thought the new ones were 50A. It's an epo version.
1. Do I purchase an esc with a bec or not, if its easy to install and better I will, just a noob and I'd rather not stare at the wires for a week and not know where to put them. I figure a 60a version, plush or turnigy would be okay??
2. Try the stock 1500 mah 3s battery or not chance an underpowered noobi stall, I considered 2200 3s or should I jump into the 4s series. For now I will run the stock 4000kv motor. It say it's an inrunner motor, does that sound right? Thanks for reading and I'll take any thoughts as golden...
Can't wait to take her out...waiting sucks...
3. One last ? Can I just use the rtf radio or is that also gonna crash me, I'm not cheap or anything, but this rtf plane is going to add up before I even figure out if I can get this thing in the air, haha. Would a 100$ radio be a major upgrade??

Don't want to be a kill joy but the T-45 is a great 1st edf not a great 1st plane.

If it is your very first plane you have 2 options.

1. Listen to the advice of the guys here on groups or..
2. Destroy it on the first flight

I chose option 3 when I learnt and that was keep crashing until I eventually learnt without asking advice from anyone Just read my blog to see how much it adds up.)

Jet-A1 chose option 1 a little over a year ago and guys at our field now trust him to fly their 300 klm/h gas turbine jets!!!

The choice is yours, but the easiest way to learn is to invest in a good sim such as real flight etc.. It is a bit expensive but much cheaper than crashing. Once you have mastered flying AND landing it's time to move onto something like a bixler or floater jet for your first flights. After you master that the T-45 should be fine. (You will probably still crap your pants on the first flight though)

I would definately use a 2200 in the T-45 because you will get extra flight time (not extra power) Also time your flights so you don't have the motor cut out on you. It is worth having a battery meter to check that you land with about 3.7v on each cell. Start with 3 minute flights and then move the time up until you are landing with 3.7v per cell

A turnigy plush 60a will work fine, just plug it into the throttle port on the rx, it's built in bec will do all the work of powering the servo's for you.

The RTF radio will probably be ok. You could even use it in a bixler etc if you choose to learn on one first. When you need more features you could invest in something like a spektrum DX6I down the track.

Good luck and keep safe. Let us know how you go.

Originally Posted by firedawg1998

Woww, what a long read...
Sooo much info here, 3 days to read. Still have a few questions
1. Do I purchase an esc with a bec or not, if its easy to install and better I will, just a noob and I'd rather not stare at the wires for a week and not know where to put them. I figure a 60a version, plush or turnigy would be okay??

It's not a good idea to fly without a BEC. If your battery runs low, you want to be able to keep control of the plane when the motor spins down or cuts off. Without a BEC, you lose everything.

2. Try the stock 1500 mah 3s battery or not chance an underpowered noobi stall, I considered 2200 3s or should I jump into the 4s series. For now I will run the stock 4000kv motor. It say it's an inrunner motor, does that sound right? Thanks for reading and I'll take any thoughts as golden...

As a novice, your first flights should consist of steady, level, smooth, controlled simple maneuvers so you get a feel for controlling the plane. In this case, underpowered is not a bad thing. Resist the urge to do loops, high alphas, flat-topping high speed passes. Brief, short hops getting it up, around, and down is good practice.
Fast + inexperienced = excellent early repair skills.

Here's some more video from a different perspective...

Hobbyking RC T45 Hawk with Tail Boom Camera (8 min 6 sec)

Awesome perspective with the camera out the back.

Originally Posted by Strike3

Here's some more video from a different perspective...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiu96m3_L0

that's an outstanding flight time!
great angle too, just need to get some more 'end of runway takeoff overhead shots' and close fly-bys for your epic movie!

wish i had a camera that did video

Thanks m_ark... buy one, they're cheap... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ry%5Fcard.html

I really like the angle/view from this location, we need to get you in the picture too Jim

I was using my 3300mAh 4s for that flight... cruising around most of the time at about half throttle, nearly 8 minutes... amazing it goes so fast too!

Thanks alot folks for the knowledge, I have ordered a flight sim, not an expensive one but I'll put some winter hours on it and see how the crashing goes. I really don't want to crash on my first flight, even though crashing is probally just a part of rc jet flying... I may also buy a beginner/winter/spring plane before the grass greens over. Where does a guy look for these. Pete at banana hobbie made thrust vectoring f16 look easy, but I've read enough to know that he has skill and these are not good for beginners as it is advertised. For a trainer, what would be best for a good learning curve, one of those micro carbon fiber jobbies or a pusher glider type.
I agree that a crash is immenent, too beautiful of a plane to smash it into a parts plane.
Thanks again, I'll start looking for a trainer of sorts, alot of them are hard to get in Canada and some are outrageous when it comes to shipping, t45 was 52$ for shipping.

You could try a powered glider style plane like this... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...%5FARF%5F.html or get a high wing trainer as a first plane, they are a lot more stable to learn with... Hobbyking have a full section on beginner/trainer stuff and there is a warehouse in the US, don't know about the shipping costs but it should be reasonable.
Cheers, Dave

Or, you could build your own trainer with foam sheet. Get a motor, esc and some servos at Hobby King, use the radio you already have, and go at it! That's how I did it (with some sim time) and it worked out well. I still use the trainer as a Sunday flier and camera plane.

Check out the "Foamies - Scratchbuild" forum, there's tons of free plans. Will take less time to put together than ordering a foamie from HK.

Thanks alot, again for the good ideas. Now as a middle aged know it all, haha. I went and purchased yet another plane, before my first even arrives. Let me know what you all think. I went to Hobby King and found out that the shipping is for a plane is 42$ and hopefully with that I will avoid any extra border duties. So I shopped around, many trainers are on back order, like the bixler, so I order a cessna 182 with some nice led's to tear off... It's an epo that's almost a meter across, runs on 11.1v 1300mah, so my soon to be older t45 batts should fit and also gives me an additional charger. It doesn't seem like a true trainer/glider but hoping to learn some lessons that will prevent unwanted damage to my Goshawk. Also had extra grams available in the shipment so I added an 55a esc/bec for the T45, again all the 60a plush were on backorder. It must be obvious that I can't wait. Don't worry, I will record both maiden flights whenever they happen..

Originally Posted by firedawg1998

Thanks alot, again for the good ideas. Now as a middle aged know it all, haha. I went and purchased yet another plane, before my first even arrives. Let me know what you all think. I went to Hobby King and found out that the shipping is for a plane is 42$ and hopefully with that I will avoid any extra border duties. So I shopped around, many trainers are on back order, like the bixler, so I order a cessna 182 with some nice led's to tear off... It's an epo that's almost a meter across, runs on 11.1v 1300mah, so my soon to be older t45 batts should fit and also gives me an additional charger. It doesn't seem like a true trainer/glider but hoping to learn some lessons that will prevent unwanted damage to my Goshawk. Also had extra grams available in the shipment so I added an 55a esc/bec for the T45, again all the 60a plush were on backorder. It must be obvious that I can't wait. Don't worry, I will record both maiden flights whenever they happen..

Great choice on the cessna, I have successfully trained a few people with them, get some practice with your sim and you should be fine Remember to practice those landings because what goes up must come down and it is nice to have it come down in one piece. The T-45 should land much like the cessna only a little bit faster.

The 55a esc will work great in your T-45

Look forward to your maidens, best of luck.

Well the T45 stayed in the Hangar today. I actually got out my lil 300watt T45 and had some fun with that but I stripped a servo on landing so it only hsd one battery.

SuperCub - Dropping BOMBS! over Hammondville 20-11-2011mov (8 min 56 sec)

This was the fun order of the day. Highest drop point as about 500-600 feet (not on the video ) fell for a good 10 seconds and made a good thud.

1 HXT900, 1 Rubber band and 1 Mini Nerf football for a great fun bomb drop. Recommend it for all your trainers/high wingers!

Thanks Crasha for the positive feedback, was hoping someone would second my decision on the Cessna, seems to fly nice on youtube. My first goal is exactly that, get it off the ground, nice long sweeper and spend the rest of the battery coming in for landings or landing attempts. Then when I grow a "Flying Pair", I'll bring out the upgraded T45. For now she will sit in my Man Cave and I'll admire it without any additional glue and or parts missing, haha. I sure can see how addicting this rc hobby can become. I'm glad I have lots of time to surf the web at work. My daughter is looking forward to coming out and seeing a flight or two.