Dan B

The question of what to buy is a good one. Initial thoughts are Spektrum or Futaba, although some bad reviews of Spektrum reliability have left me a little concerned in that area. However first step is to find a club that will accept me and see what is predominant there, as the ability to get "technical support" and use buddy box etc.. will be an important factor.

Current radios are both Futaba skysports I think, but different versions of it. I know I bought a skysport 6 for the puppeteer, and I don't know what version came with the super 60, but it's older. For the engine, is it worth trying some after run oil from a nitro rc car in it? In terms of budget, I'm not super tight, just trying to stick under £500 in the immediate term. GIven that the super 60 is built, and realistically onIy needs a radio update and engine at most, and the puppeteer kit already has all the accessories including engine bought, and will take me a while to build, so I would be ready to spend again by that point, although not sure what I would need. I think this is very doable. I definitely would like to get a 2.4GHz radio, because of the better reliability and functionality over the older 35MHz options. The plan is definitely to get the super 60 going and learn on this, with the puppeteer being a minimum of 6 months but realistically a year away. Godalming is definitely the closest club, hopefully they are happy to accept new members, if not will have to come up with a plan B.

Thanks for the responses, will need to look at 9 channel, was hoping to keep Tx/Rx budget under or not much over £200 if possible, as with an engine(if can't free up old one) and a few other bits and bobs, I will be pushing £500 already, and just had a baby girl, which seems like it is an even more expensive hobby than flying! Wasn't planning on keeping batteries, as new battery tech is much better. I asked about servos as have some brand new unused Futaba servos that I bought for pup. They are still boxed, so seems a shame if I can't use them, providing they still work. As for club, looking around local area, would be nice if someone from around can recommend, thinking Godalming & DIstrict or Borders as they are closest to my current location (Guildford). Open to other suggestions. Definitely planning on BMFA membership, was a member before and worth it for the insurance alone.

Hi All, I'm a newbie to RC flying myself, but I'm kind of in a fortunate situation to get started. First let me introduce myself, I'm Dan from Guildford, and in my 30's. I've always been interested in aircraft and flying since I was a kid, which meant when I discovered there was a flying club nearby (Croydon Airport) I made my Dad take me down there as often as I could. This led to him getting a plane, and doing a bit of flying himself, with me being fascinated just watching. As I became a teenager, I wanted to fly myself, I even bought a Flair Puppeteer to build, but never got round to it for various reasons. So fast forward to now, and finally I am thinking I will fly myself. I have the super 60 that my dad flew, so step 1 will be to get that in flying condition. The airframe itself is in good condition, but the engine is seized and the radio gear is late 80's early 90's vintage. So my plan is to get a new engine and radio gear for this plane and learn on it. Not sure about what is good in either department, so this will probably be my first question! I'm thinkink an OS .40-0.50 FS for the engine and for radio I want 6 channel so I have room to upgrade, and I know these days it's 2.4GHz, but the rest I have no clue. Any tips or advice appreciated. Parallel with step 1, I plan to start building that flair puppeteer I got as I kid! I have everything I need for it, in terms of accessories like wheels, pilot, prop etc.. and also I have engine and radio gear. Now as I mentioned before, I know I need to get a modern 2.4GHz transmitter and receiver, but will my old (only late 90's early 2000's vintage) servos be fine with new equipment? Step 3 I would like to get into something more scale, ultimately I would love to build a hurricane or something like that, but I would probably get something like a Tiger Moth to start with as it will be closer to the Puppeteer in flying performance, but will allow me to work on more scale details. I feel like I've written my life story there, but I hope it gives everyone an idea as to what direction I am going in, and helps to get answers to my questions. I look forward to meeting everyone and posting in the other forum sections as I get more involved in the hobby.