Practice planes

[Clint Ormosen]

How many guys here actually use a “practice “ model? Has it helped you? I never have, but I’m considering building one.

[Shorts,David]

I've used my old ringmaster when experimenting with eye positioning and also when it was very windy and I feared for my other plane's safety.
David

[Larry Fernandez]

How many guys here actually use a practice “ model? Has it helped you? I never have, but I'm considering building one.

Practice with the plane you are going to compete with.
All planes have different tendency's and habits. You can practice all you want with your practice plane, and your muscle memory will be tuned to that plane.
Then when you take your "A" plane to the next contest, its gonna take a few flights to get your muscle memory re-tuned.
I'm sure some will disagree.

Larry, Buttafucco Stunt Team
 

[Fred Quedenfeld jr]

If the Practice plane is and old version of the "A" plane it should work
other wise Larry has it right
My Favorite event is OTS
they usually have it the same day as  profile
when I have to fly them back to back the 2nd one suffers Big time
Fred Q

[Randy Cuberly]

I have on two different occasions used practice planes to maintain some flying skills.  Certainly there are differences from one plane to the next and it does take a few flights to get used to another airplane but if both airplanes are good fliers and well trimmed the effort required is minimal.

I have used Randy Smith SV11 ARFS on both occasions to keep flying when mishaps left me plane-less!  A carefully put together SV11 ARF with a good strong power plant will fly just about as good as most anything.  It does require tuning the airplane to your liking with adjustable controls and using a good competitive engine.

They build (put together) very quickly, and work very well.  They can be used with conventional side exhaust or piped engines!

Randy Cuberly

[Ken Culbertson]

Depends on why you are using the practice plane and whether you are a timing type or guiding type flier.  I used the winter flying to work on footwork, intersections and stuff like that.  Doesn't much matter what I am flying to do that.  I use an FTwister for practice then use it for profile in season.  If you are going to fly multiple events you should fly all of them in practice.   

[Brett Buck]

How many guys here actually use a “practice “ model? Has it helped you? I never have, but I’m considering building one.

  I think you are beyond the need for a practice plane, in the usual sense. It's not like you are at significant risk of crashing, and are expert enough to know when things are going sideways.

  Having said that, Lew McFarland told me he would fly a practice plane that was not as good as his prime airplane until about a week before the NATs, then switch, because that made it seem easier in comparison. Mostly, the practice plane was the Akromaster, and the prime a Shark. It also had the effect of removing any reflex actions/"yips" he may have otherwise built up. I have to say that some of my best performances were kind of like that, usually, picking up a very good airplane after not having flown at all for a few weeks or more. Fly enough, and particularly, fly past the point of concentration, just to say you went out to fly, I pick up twitchy/"yips" sort of mistakes, and as soon as you realize you are doing it, it becomes ever harder to fix.    This idea is worth experimenting with, it doesn't work for everyone the same way.

    Brett

[M Spencer]

You dont BUILD practise planes , they just get to be that way . 

just keep nailing it back together .

At least , if your flying ' any weather ' and ' learning ' how to get through the gales .
My second phantom ended up a every other day ship . FSR 25 & 55 ft. eye to eye .018 steel seven strand . Usually .
It'd had ST 21 / 35 , 21/40 & OS 35 then ST 35 C before the nose fell off . 

( https://stunthanger.com/smf/nostalgia-30/phantom-f4ef-ish/msg428603/#msg428603 . the camo. shark mouth one )

A new nose & trick set up FSR clone , ( a totaL fluke ) . Worst wind was 30 Kt .Full Pattern on a 25 , Reqd a bit of leaping about & leading  .
Hit the deck 2 Doz times . Winter the bog was soft .
Lines Tight & it'd go in square . A lot less disasterous than in a yaw .Through Trees , into a concrette cricket pitch inverted .
Hosed out . Threee days in the car in the sun to dry it out , after that .
a ten minute wipe with a rag and petrol took 3/4 hour to get the worst of the castor & lawn clippings off .

Anything straight with good controls is worth giving a hard time .

Pieces on 2 x 4 and rippings , blocks etc etc for the inevitable repairs .
Set it on the bench with straight edges , or clamp them on T E , Spars , or LE as the case may be - So it SETS STRAIGHT .
Using PVA avg. 2 days clammped . longer when its a monsoon , shorter in high summer .

My thoughts the Oriental / Nobler size , 48" T E  & Tips , will fit in the car boot / trunk .
Any old engines a start , FP 35 / 40 FP 25 , FSR 25 etc etc . Mount holes oversize , 5/32 drill ( 4 mm )
gets a degree off interchangeability . Bolts in sans motor , stretch to pattern , so the nuts aligned to the angled bolts. 
BEFORE fitting ' another ' engine . The SIDE MOUNTED engine is less prone to tearing the head off ,
Tho OS 703 etc mufflers will break . A good trick on later mufflers is cut 1/2 thru bolts , maybe at stack face ,
so something more expensive dosnt get trashed , in ' the odd glancing blow .

Thatll learn you SMOOTH on the Controls , And Leap to get the lines tighht , & never say die . 

[Jim Hoffman]

I fly quite a number of different planes throughout the year.  As long as I am flying regularly,  I find that I can switch to the front line competition airplane a week before a contest and quickly get reacquainted with it.  This assumes that the front line airplane is flip and fly with no trim or power train issues.

I will never win the Nationals doing that, but it works for me at my level.

[Clint Ormosen]

Thanks for all of replies, guys. Let me explain why was asking the question in the first place.
 
Practice flights for me are a rarity. Maybe a couple times a year do I get to a practice session. If I'm lucky I'll get to a contest and put up one flight before official flights begin. I also tend to go long spans of time without flying at all. Right now, it's been at least two years since my last official.
So I was thinking, (uh oh!) maybe I'll whip together a decent profile stunter that I can stooge launch somewhere local just "keep in shape" so to speak. I'm not comfortable taking any of my "good" models out by myself, but finding the time to travel to the nearest club field is difficult. During the Spring and Summer months (flying season) I usually only get Sunday's off work and there's plenty of other things to do on that one day that take priority.
But if I had practice ship maybe I could slip out and get a couple quickie patterns in without worrying about hurting anything.

As a bonus, maybe I wouldn't be so horrible come contest day.

[Ken Culbertson]

Thanks for all of replies, guys. Let me explain why was asking the question in the first place.
 
Practice flights for me are a rarity. Maybe a couple times a year do I get to a practice session. If I'm lucky I'll get to a contest and put up one flight before official flights begin. I also tend to go long spans of time without flying at all. Right now, it's been at least two years since my last official.
So I was thinking, (uh oh!) maybe I'll whip together a decent profile stunter that I can stooge launch somewhere local just "keep in shape" so to speak. I'm not comfortable taking any of my "good" models out by myself, but finding the time to travel to the nearest club field is difficult. During the Spring and Summer months (flying season) I usually only get Sunday's off work and there's plenty of other things to do on that one day that take priority.
But if I had practice ship maybe I could slip out and get a couple quickie patterns in with worrying about hurting anything.

As a bonus, maybe I wouldn't be so horrible come contest day.

I had the same conflicts for nearly 30+ years of my career and regrettably I did not build a practice plane and keep my toes in the water so to speak.  I was a 580 flier when I stopped and now that I don't have the conflicts and I can compete again I am struggling to get 530 out of my 72 year old reflexes.
I like your plan.

Ken

[Shorts,David]

Hi Clint. Don't bother with a practice plane...maybe I'll catch up to you! What I did just this winter was take my old barnstormer that I never liked anyway. I put three inch tires on it and swapped the o.s. .25 out for an electric motor. I was able to take it to almost any park in town and one parking lot behind a school and for the first time...really start practicing. I could leave home for forty-five minutes and just about get three packs through the thing. Unfortunately the barnstormer still sucked, but I think the effort was not without reward...er, we'll see.

[john e. holliday]

I too don't get out like I used to.   I almost got what was a horrible pattern in last weekend.   Need to put a new canopy on the plane.   But I am not a serious stunt flyer as most will tell you when they see my patterns. I have built 4 Ringmasters as close as I could get them.  Each one flies different even with making trim changes.   But as stated take one plane and fly it.   I have found out that after about 3 practice flights with a plane, grab another plane and just have fun doing loops and 8's plus inverted.

[Matt Colan]

I don’t have a practice airplane per say. I now have three very good airplanes that fly almost identical to each other with some being slightly better than others. In probably another two or three flying sessions, I’ll put the new airplane away because it’s the best plane I currently have and fly my Staris. The Staris will fly a damn good pattern and still wins contests on the local contest circuit. Dracula will be saved and get used when practice time arrives for a big contest like the NATS. I’ll fly it for a couple months of practice leading up to the contest.

Basically I use my less good airplanes to prevent premature wear and tear on the best airplane, and since the three planes I have fly  so similar to each other, I’m not really losing anything in ability or developing bad habits.