During summer 2013, I have found myself with a high interest in flying an RC plane. I didn’t know what to expect from this but I wanted to get a new toy to play with. Like everyone, I thought that flying a plane was not that hard and that I could easily manage to fly any kind of plane. I was wrong. During my search for the best plane, I learned about the Hobby Zone Super Cub LP RTF which I think is a really good plane for a beginner.

I already knew that flying RC planes can be a hobby. Because of that, it can be easy to sink huge amount of cash in this before you realize that you went too far. As a hobby, you can also find good experienced people for advices and easily find a flight instructor that will assist you with the technical aspect to reduce your learning time. However, this process is time consuming and I didn’t wanted to spend too much in this new thing before I knew that I would like and enjoy flying an RC plane.

So I bought a Hobby Zone Super Cub LP RTF.

Here are the reasons why I think this plane is a great beginner’s RC plane:

Pros

Everything is included

The plane is available as a RTF model. RTF stands for “Ready To Fly” which means that everything is included and already assembled in the package to get outside and have fun immediately. Even the batteries are included in the package which technically means that you need to charge them before you can get out and fly.

Small factor

The plane is small enough for most usage. It can fit nicely into the trunk of a car for easy traveling. The plane is only 32.5” in length and the wings are 48” in length. The fuselage and the wings are detachable so you do not have to travel with the plane assembled and risking breaking something.

Cheap

This plane is relatively cheap. I got mine for around $200 CA.

Easy to repair

The Super Cub is a trainer for learning to fly. You will eventually crash and will need to repair your plane. This one is made of foam which is super easy to repair. When you get a dent because you crashed into a tree, you can sometimes just soak the foam in hot water and it will retake its original shape. If something breaks because of a crash (ie your wings!), you can easily repair them with wooden skewer sticks. Other basic repairs to the fuselage can be made with hot glue or epoxy while the electronics can be glued back with silicone.

In case you breaks something that is not made of foam, you can get many replacement part for a relatively low price so things such as the motor, gears, gear box, firewall, nose and spinner can be replaced at a local hobby shop of by ordering the pieces only.

Light

Landing is the hardest task to do for a beginner. Since this plane is made of foam, it is really light. The total weight of the flying plane is 26 oz (715 g) which is really low. Because of that, you don’t need to know how to land the plane. In my experience, the best way to land the plane (besides actually landing the plane on its wheels) is to look for a grass field. My first flight was in a grass field and some places had grass that was 1 foot high which is more than enough to gently slow down the plane when trying to land.

Expendable

This plane is really popular. Eventually, if you decide to go into this hobby, you will change for a more challenging plane for flying since this plane is not made for aerobatic flights. If you search the internet, you will find tons of documentation that explains how to modify the plane to get a second life you your plane. Some of the best mods are “Adding ailerons” to your wings or “Replacing the motor for a brushless motor”.

You can also order multiple add-ons for the plane to enjoy a little more of the Super Cub. You can order online (or from your local hobby shop) for a relatively cheap price the following add-ons:

• Snow skis to fly the plane during winter.
• Float set for takeoff and landing on a lake.
• Drop module.

Cons

No ailerons

This is the most annoying feature of the Super Cub. Since it does not have ailerons, it cannot do barrel rolls. Turning left or right is a combination of the rudder and the elevator which makes turning with this plane a little difficult.

At the same time, it might be preferable for a beginner. A bad move with ailerons could easily make the plane dive pretty quick. The transmitter has 4 channels and the receiver has 4 channels too but its the plane that simply does not have ailerons

Anti-crash technology (ATC) is a mess

I never trusted this technology. It is based on a light sensor on top and bottom of the plane which detect which side is the lightest and which is the darkest and assumes that dark side is the ground. If the system detect that light side is “under” your plane, it will try to recover by taking the ownership of the commands. This means that flying the plane on a cloudy day or over a light ground area can be disastrous.

The system can be turned off by flipping a switch on your controller but I would tend to forget to check these before a flight. Don’t even think to make a loop with this system turned on because that would be bad.

I don’t know about you, but if I crash my plane, I has to be my fault and not the one of a faulty system that made a wrong decision. Aside of that, you *may* (and this is the key word) find some examples on the net were this technology saved their plane from a potential crash.

Good news is this technology can be permanently disabled by unplugging both sensors.

Final decision

I bought this plane and had a great time with it. I do recommend this plane for learning the basics of flying an RC plane and leaning that repairing is also part of the hobby J I sincerely hope that this plane will help you make a final decision to jump into this hobby.

I have since move away from electric planes and I am now flying with an instructor. I still fly the Super Cub occasionally but I manage to extend its possibilities by adding ailerons to the kit.

See you in flight!

Note

If you feel confident that you will enjoy this hobby and can spend a little more to get a better plane, I do recommend to get the Apprentice 15e RTF with DX5e Radioby E-flite which is a bit more expensive but has ailerons and is equipped with a brushless motor. That would be my second recommendation!