I am very new to airplanes and my first plane is a groupner mini piper, I have flown this plane about 10 times and find my self wanting a more responsive aircarft.

I can do loops with it and fly it around with no prblems, my first and only crash was on the first flight out, I have landed it once but because it is made of styrofoam the landing ripped the back landing stub right off the plane and since then i have not been able to practice take-offs or landing in fear of more damage.

I was thinking of getting the Acro-Phat, I have done a search on this forum and have found conflicting opinions about this being a beginner's plane, can any one give me their 2 cents and/or any more suggestions on what would be a more responsive plane for a newB that is not made of foam?

sorry for the first long post and thank you for your help.

Mountain Models Dandy Sport!
boomer

I know you're looking for something not made of foam, but I learned on a Zagi and I'm glad I did. Because wings are fast and responsive, it really helped with my orientation and stick control. And while learning it survived many crashes only to fly again with little or no repair. I'd learn flying the same way if I did it all over again. Phat

Or, how 'bout foam of a different color ?

What I mean is, not all foam planes are as fragile like you've experienced.
Some are quite 'bounceable', in fact, those made from EPP are very, very bounceable. Great for beginners.

Check out the T-52 by JKA. http://www.jkaerotech.com/
Decent price, can be mild or wild, landing gear, steerable tail wheel and can tolerate quite a bit of abuse.

One thing I will add to the arguement for foam.... foam if broken repairs A LOT EASIER than balsa!
boomer

Thanks everyone for your reponses.

Skawrpion, Welcome to the Ezone!

Thank you, but I am still undecided if I should get the Acro-Phat or not.

The Dandy Sport by Mountain Model is a little more expensive then the Acro and also looks like there is allot more involved in building it which at this time would be a bit much for me to tackle.

William A,

How does the T52 fly? does it have allot of speed to it and if so can it be flown at slow speeds with good response?

Is there somewhere on the web a video of this aircraft in flight?

Thanks

First, congratulations on your relatively crash free flights. Since you have learned to fly so quickly, I don't doubt that you will master aerobatic flight just as quick.
However, in your choice of the next plane, I would certainly err on the side of caution. I suggest that you get a plane that's just a little bit faster, a little bit more demanding. That way you will spend your time flying, instead of repairing/replacing planes.
Foam planes build/assemble fast. Stick planes often fly better, but always require more effort to build/repair.

Hi Skawrpion,

How the T-52 flies will depend on how it's built and setup.

For $35, you get a box of pink foam, hot-wire cut into the shape of an airplane. (I just so happen to have a new T-52 in the box, I could get some pics later if you would like to see how it comes from JKA)
From there you could build and set it up lightly, stock dihedral, S400 DD or geared, small 8 cell and 3 channel will get you a very easy going, slow flying, beginners plane.

Or, like the one pictured, flattened wing, full length ailerons, geared MM can motor, 10 heavy cells and full landing gear. The works. Very responsive, didn't 'glide' worth a ....., but I didn't expect it to, take off was about an 8' roll out.

Or something a little in between the two.

Off hand, I don't know of any video, but I do have some great pics of other T-52 builds, and 1 or 2 links that contain pretty good pictures of the building process.

(Gotta split, back later.)

Great thanks William A, if you could be so kind to either post pics or send me the links you've mentoned I would greatly apreciate it.

I'll start with the eye candy.
(I don't know the owners of these 2, if anybody does, shout it out)

wow nice! These are foam planes?

Buzzmans T-52 build pages.
(check out all his pages there)
http://www.angelfire.com/al2/buzzman/t52.html

The rest of these are on JKA's web site.

T-52 instructions.
http://www.jkaerotech.com/t52instr.htm

Bernard Cawley's landing gear setup.
http://www.jkaerotech.com/T52Lgear.htm

This one dosen't just pertain to the T-52, but general RC plane setup. A lot of good stuff here.
http://www.jkaerotech.com/contruct.htm