Dumb Newb Questions

[HeliDan]

Hi All
I have only been into helis for about 6 months. I keep seeing this forum. I am guess that (by the pictures) that a foamie is a Styrofoam airplane. I am also guessing that they a re electrically propelled. What us the average cost of these things? I have never messed with planes, and am not sure if I am interested, but am at least curious.

I appreciate any newb info you can supply......

Thanx

[Whirly-Girl]

HeliDan,

Foamies are EXTREME fun! You need to get one!! I bought my husband 2 for Christmas/Birthday because we love them so much. On average, you can expect to shell out anywhere from $300-$400 for one fully setup with a couple of batteries (assuming you have a multi-model TX already).

My favorite place to shop for foamies or (just any electric plane) is Hobby-Lobby. To date, I have the "F3A Shock Flyer", "Animal 3D Flyer", "Yak-54 Micro", and the "YAK Shock Flyer".

If you want to fly nice precision aerobitcs...get the F3A.
If you want 3D, get the Animal or YAK Shock Flyer.

I haven't flown the Yak-54 Micro...I'm waiting on a new Purple Peril motor from Little Screamers.

Based on what kind of flying we want to do, or where we're flying, we typical use 2- or 3-cell lipos. We use the 2-cells mostly indoors to save weight and still have plenty of power. Three-cell batteries are handier outdoors where we may encounter some wind.

I'll try and get some video taped soon and posted on here. Let me know if you any more questions.

FOAM ROCKS!!!

Jeanette

[Pinecone]

Heck why pay that much, go to Home Depot, buy a bundle of the blue sheet insulation, cut out pieces to lok like an airplane, hot glue together and go fly. :)

I have seen foamie kits as low as $20, with nice printed graphics. A motor will run $20 or so for a cheap outrunner. ESC will run some $25 or so for a nice Castle Thunderbird 9. Less for some cheap knock off, which will work.

Or if you want to go real DIY, you can wind your own CD-ROM based motor.

RC Groups has several forums on Foamies, and on DIY motors.

Basic flat foamies are like micro helis, mainly indoors or very calm days. They have lots of molded foam planes now that fly very nicely. Scale, you want a P-51, Sitfire, P-38, etc, etc, there are a bunch to choose from, pre-painted, some even RTF (www.horizonhobby.com).

Also molded foam pattern or 3D ships also.

Actually foamies are what got me back into RC, then I found out about helis, and now have no extra money. :)

[HeliDan]

If you want to fly nice precision aerobitcs...get the F3A.
If you want 3D, get the Animal or YAK Shock Flyer.
Jeanette

What is th best model for me to auger into the ground? :mrgreen:

Would my 9303-heli radio work on those things?

I might think about it later. as $300 or $400 is a bit much after all the heli-bucks I have spent.

Pinecone, I am not very artistic, so I may fail designing my own. As and engineer, I lack the art gene..... :dontknow

I await your vid jeanette.

Thanx.

[Pinecone]

Since you have the Tx, you need some micro servos (HS55s are great), a cheap motor and ESC, plane and maybe an Rx (I like the Berg 4L)

So maybe $100 or so. Hobby People has HS55s on sale righ tnow for $10.99 each.

This is a nice one: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/superzoom.htm A bit more money but EPP foam is much more durable. And you don't need an Axi to fly it.

LOTS of foamies out there.

Another site with plans and kits: http://www.foamyfactory.com/

[Whirly-Girl]

Remember, that that amount I mentioned was getting multiple batteries as well...

Okay, say you go with a "pretty" plane from Hobby-Lobby like the YAK Shock Flyer...my favorite so far BTW...

Yak Shock Flyer - $45.90 ( http://www.hobby-lobby.com/shockflyer-yak.htm )
Little Screamers "Purple Peril" - $48.70; Extremely light cd-rom motor with the fastest spool up I've ever seen! ( http://www.hobby-lobby.com/littlescreamers.htm )
GWS 9x5HD prop - $1.25
Poly-Quest 'Twenty' 2-cell lipo - $16.50 x2 ( http://www.hobby-lobby.com/polyquest.htm )
Bluebird 306 servo - $14.49 x3 ( http://www.grandrc.com/inc/sdetail/23583 )
Berg MS 4L - On sale right now - $29.95 WITH crystal ( http://www.grandrc.com/inc/sdetail/27548 )
Berg Peel and Stick antenna - $11.99 ( http://www.3dxhobbies.com/Peel_Stick_antenna_base_loaded_for_72mhz_p/rcdstxy.htm )
Phoenix 10 ESC - $39.95 ( http://www.grandrc.com/inc/sdetail/127 )
Foam-safe CA - $8.20 ( http://www.hobby-lobby.com/adhesive.htm )
Kicker - $4.90 (same link as CA)

Total price with 2 battery packs worth of FUN: $267.31

I guess I over-estimated a little bit! :oops:

I must have been considering the fact that people completely new to the hobby need to also invest in a charger and balancer. Yeah, that's it. :roll:

So...for less than $300 you can get a foamie that will do every kind of wicked 3D you can imagine for an airplane...and yet, it is still stable enough to hover and walk right up and catch!

Jeanette

[Pinecone]

And the only disposable parts are the plane and prop.

And watch sales, a lot of the stuff goes on sale for next to nothing.

HL has been selling this one: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/yak55.htm For less than $20 on various sales. And the motor: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/brushless-skatty.htm is on sale right now for $17.90.

Caslte Thunderbird 9 can be bought for about $25.

[avatar71]

I am a big fan of the PNP series from hanger 9 at www.horizonhobby.com Pop in a receiver charge up and go. Not as disposable as a foamie but, bigger models will give more ability to manage some wind. Unlike Helis (in my opinion) planes are MUCH more suceptible to winds.

I have a tribute 36 and love it. the stryker is a foamie... that goes 80mph!

there is also the mini ultra stick which is also great fun !

i know you asked about foamies but, check them out

[Whirly-Girl]

I am a fan of buying performance and quality the first time around...not necessarily the cheapest although I do shop for the best prices. That being said, the F3A Shock Flyer that we have in our fleet of foamies has been flying since Fall 2004. The only thing wrong with the airframe is a semi circle of teeth marks on one elevator from our Lab...she likes to play "foamie fetch".

Be careful of some combos that come with a stock outrunner motor setup. They usually wear out quickly.

[Pinecone]

The only thing that bugs me about the Horizon PNP birds is they use some non-standard stuff. Like the motor and ESC in the Mini Ultra Stick PNP are NOT the same as the box versions of the 450 outrunner and 20 or 25 amp ESCs.

The motor has a different shaft size. And the ESCs seem to blow up.

[HeliDan]

Thanx guys (and girls)
I am considering a foamy now, but later. After I read the quote about the personality traits between the plank pilot and and heli pilot, I guess my niche is helis. But I may do it just for fun!

And although I would have to search for the quote, it has to do with plane pilots being optimists, and heli pilots being pessimists.... I always called myself a realist :dontknow

Thanx for the data.I have pdf'd it for future reference and will most likely try it. :D

Since most of the money is in the electronics, I can always spend $60 or so to replace the foam! :lol:

Thanx again freaks!!

:Band

[Pinecone]

Actually 3D fomay fliers are much more like heli pilots. :)

They know they will crash, and relish in a great crash. :)

[HeliDan]

:mrgreen:

[Whirly-Girl]

Actually 3D fomay fliers are much more like heli pilots. :)

They know they will crash, and relish in a great crash. :)

Ahhhhh...Yes, I agree on that one!

[I.C.O.N.]

I started on planks but hated dealing with nitro so I gots into electric helis.

I have been lately wanting a plane to kick around and one that would work with my 2100's from my Rex.

So I got a Parkzone Typhoon plug and play for $159. It comes with a: Motor, ESC, Servos(junk but functional), and goes together in about 30 mins.

All you need is a Batts, 4 channel RX and your TX. DONE!

I have it all tuned up and ready to fly but the wind is keeping me at bay for now. They can handle 10MPH winds but I want the maiden to be nice and calm.

This thing has MONSTER power for the size and swings a 13" prop. I bet it will hover at 3/4 stick or less.

The 2100's are supposed to give 15-20 of flight time too.

Check out these vids from a guy on RCgroups.com. There is a 168 page thread on this plank over there.

http://media.putfile.com/Typhoon3D-Need-More-Elevator-Throw

http://media.putfile.com/Typhoon-3D-Takes-A-Beating-1-6-2007
http://media.putfile.com/Typhoon-Bashing-Windy-Day-1-6-2007

Looks like a TON of FUN! I can't wait to get mine out.

Have Fun!
Andy

[Pinecone]

I have a Mini Ultra Stick that I have yet to maiden, too busy flying helis. :)

[Skiddz]

I love my foamies.. Cartwheeling crashes with foam flying everywhere just require 5 mins and some foam safe CA to get airborne again.

You can get free plans at 3Dfoamy.com. I built my Edge 540 with their plans. It flies awesome..

[Steel Butcher]

Since this is the dumb quesiton thread, I have one:

"Park Flyers" and foamies all seem to have wheels on their landing gear. Do these only work on hard surfaces or are they compatible with grass??

[mx400]

Go for it dan I got atleast 7 planes laying around and like 3-4 foamies.

[BigVanVader]

Ok..I just finally put my EFlight Ultimate foamy in the air....this is what i bought
EFlight Park400 920kv
EFlight 20a ESC
4xservos at 11 bucks each
Berg Microstamp 4channel receiver
servo Y harness
2xTP 1320mah batteries
TP205 balancer
2x10-4.7 APC slow flyer props
Foam Safe CA and accelerator
velcro
stick mount for motor

Total price was about 440 bucks

[mx400]

You can get cheaper than that if you try!

[BigVanVader]

Yeah but i bought it on a spur of the moment thing and wanted it right now....did not want to wait for shipping
:mrgreen:

[aaxiss]

Speaking of great crashes.... I got a U can do last week from tower and finished it yesterday. couldn't wait for the wind to calm down and had to " test " it right away. It flew really well with a 1000 kv rimfire motor I had laying around. It was very windy when I did my test flight, gusts of up to 20 mph, the little flexi foamy handled it well and made for some really fast speeds with the wind behind and the throttle opened up.

Well I brought it down out of the wind and was doing some trimming to get it ready for a bit of 3d and decided to run another couple of high speed passes to check the trim ..
Well... I have power lines running down my street and was directly under them whilst flying and decided to do a fly-by and totally forgot about the lines overhead. I came in Knife edge at about 30 mph or so and hit the power line with the leading edge of the high wing about 3 inches from the fuse. the impact cut through the wing like one of those wire cheese cutters and shot the plane on a straight up trajectory. I cut the throttle gave full left rudder and full elevator and it put the plane into a flat " whirly bird" spin and it landed almost perfectly flat .

even though the plane was a total loss as the integrity of the inner foam was damaged and would have required about a pound of hot glue to repair it , it was a flight I will remember for a long time.

I kinda even felt good about a crash like that :twisted:

[Steel Butcher]

I demand that someone answer this:

Since this is the dumb quesiton thread, I have one:

"Park Flyers" and foamies all seem to have wheels on their landing gear. Do these only work on hard surfaces or are they compatible with grass??

[aaxiss]

Mostly I hand launchand just use the wheels and landing gear to protect the prop when I set it down. Most of my landings have little to no roll out . Bring it in really slow and flare it at the last min , touch the tail and let it settle