Yep, electric is the way to go these days with RC planes. With dirt cheap and high power/capacity very light lipo batteries, the advent of brushless motors with super high thrust and torque (dirt cheap too), just no going back to gas for many. I never flew gas/nitro. Got into the RC electric planes about 7 years ago or so.
I also don't mess with balsa. I built cheap/easy hot wire cutters and garbage pick contruction foam. Easy to make any design in my head from scratch, and with a wing jig (once again, easy to make), I can also hotwire those out a dime a dozen too real fast. I put a carbon spar in my wings for strength, or in the case of a ultra thing 6 foot long motorized glider wing, I glass the foam with fiberglass cloth and you could knock a bear out with the thing.
All in all I can build a design in my head in a few days for zero cost, and then throw in about well south of $40 worth of electronics and it's off to the races. Best part is if I wreck the plane, which is hard to do since I strength mod mine real well...Besides carbon tubes I'll sheet the bottom of the foam fuse with a single sheet of balsa glued on with Gorilla Glue- indestructable for the most part then...But if I do wreck it bad somehow a little Goriall Glue and she's back in the air within 20 minutes usually. Gorilla Glue foams up with water so it's very light weight and squeezes into the foam pores for a strong bond. Just have to tape tightly over and weigh down the build or repair so the foam doesn't push things apart or escape.
If I do wreck a plane so bad it's beyond repair, I just yoke out the electronics and off those go to another build. I sink all the electronics and wires by melting chambers and channels into the foam, and then cover the plane in Econocoat you just iron on. They end up looking as good as store bought usually.
I've got one plane that is a delta wing that will do close to 100mph. Custom brushless motor wind for max thrust speed while only drawing about 25 amps if I remember right. Maybe it's south of 20 amps. Been a while since I measured it. That plane makes me nervous though. I end up landing with my hands shaking. I prefer my homemade motorized glider most days. Get it up there, find a thermal, cut the motor, and ride the thermals all day. We watch for buzzards as they tell you where the best thermals are. So relaxing, and an all day flight if you keep finding thermals. That glider though has a heck of a motor on it. Even as big as it is it will go verticle and climb out of site with no stall. Tons of torque too.
My other favorite plane is a dual boom pusher. Being a pusher and with large control surfaces and dual rudders/big h-stab, it'll grab the air and get good traction for maneuvers even at a ultra slow speed. It almost seems like I can stop it in mid flight, and kick it around in a complete turn around in one spot. Of course that's not possible, but darn if it don't look and feel that way. It will spin around on a dime to head the other way. Saved me a few times from hitting a tree with it I hadn't noticed.
Yes, RC planes are great. Electric is so low hassle. Flight times of 7 to 20 minutes depending on throttle usage and battery size.
If anybody out there is considering getting your feet wet, look up a plane made by Parkzone called the Ember 2.
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Tiny little plane that fits in your hand. Not quite that small, but small enough to fly in your front yard/street. Great for getting a few lazy flights in when you don't want to leave the house. Very durable because it's so light. Parts are cheap and readily available as Parkzone does a good job with that. Get props/shafts as you'll need them on occasion if you nose into the cement. It comes with the portable charger and remote control and a battery if you get the right package for a pretty cheap price. Great way to cut your teeth on the hobby. Simple rudder/elevator controls, yet she'll stunt and do loops and such. Pick up a spare battery while your at it and get a higher capacity that is still small enough for it to carry. Fly one battery while the portable battery powered charger charges the other. It's a great setup. One tip though for anybody new to RC- Don't mob the controls! Easy small little "tick tick" type inputs or you'll mob it out of control while learning. Also, don't fly a plane this light/small on a day with any wind, even a slight breeze will give you major headaches until you learn to fly it in such stuff. Believe me, if you do fly in any wind you'll regret it big time. Good luck...
