Out of the box, this should be renamed the "Hard Star". However, this plane has a LOT of potential, and set up right, it is a fabulous flyer, in my opinion.

What makes it hard the way it's sold is that for one thing, it's heavy. For another, it only gets a Speed 400 brushed motor and a tiny prop. That motor is set at an incorrect thrust angle, so that when power is on, the airplane only wants to climb. The other bad thing about this airplane is the tiny and inadequate rudder surface area. And without ailerons, it MUST be flown on strictly a calm day. Too bad this airplane is better at surviving crashes than it is at preventing them and just flying well.

HOWEVER, once modified appropriately, this becomes a truly great airplane. What I did was to replace the Speed 400 with a much more powerful brushless outrunner and I'm using a larger 3-bladed pusher prop. The thrust angle was lowered to where it's almost horizontal. That helped tremendously. I rebuilt the entire tail out of wood and silkspan because the old tail warped in our Southwest heat, and in doing so, I greatly increased the tail area. It's about double what it originally came with, but 1.5 X should do it. Finally, I cut ailerons into the wings, but did not trim the upturned wingtips. The wings are thick enough to hide servos, and that modification alone gave this airplane very sweet flying qualities.

What started out as an airplane I almost gave up on, I had rebuilt into what is still one of my very favorite airplanes. I would recommend the EasyStar if you're willing to make the necessary modifications. But if not, then I would agree with others to start out with a different plane.

This is a very good beginner plane and I used it to teach myself to fly RC planes. However, if you can get some help for your first flights you will save yourself a lot of aggravation. Alternatively, a flight simulator would help too I think, especially developing the instinct to reverse right and left as the plane flies towards you. I crashed and repaired mine more times than I can count and was on my third Easy Star before I felt comfortable flying it. (I had a series spectacular crashes that built one upon the other until my first plane plane was more than 30% glue). My biggest problem was overcorrection. This is great example of less is more...slow down your control inputs--this plane can fly itself if you give it half a chance. In the end I taught myself to fly with it, with no outside help, but getting help from another pilot has got to be 100 times easier. Do yourself a favor starting out, fly only in the morning or evening when there is no wind. Many years later, I still have an Easy Star that I "hopped up" with a brushless motor and LiPo battery that will fly for 30 minutes without lift. Its a great relaxing plane to fly and thermals nicely. With a little luck, you will outgrow the stock motor and battery quickly.

My first thought when flying this plane is that it may be a little underpowered. While it does do loops and can climb alright, when it hit much wind resistance, it slowed to a crawl. It isn't the most stable airplane in a lot of wind, but it is great for learning. Its slow and the flight characteristics of it make it easy to figure out how this whole r/c thing works. Make sure you don't try any crazy turns or such when you are low to the ground or you will pay. It is too slow and underpowered to recover in time. Needs bigger control surfaces in my opinion. It doesn't seem to do what you want when it is battling wind. Overall, great learner plane, easily repaired, really self explanatory. Get it.

good good good

It is really a very pleasant plane. Can fly it anywhere, school yard or football playground.

Here you have a kit with skimpy instructions. Many key steps were not adequately explained for a beginner. Several of the steps, like the wiring of the motor to ensure proper rotational direction, and prop direction, were not clear. My grandson, who is an experienced ARF builder, needed help with this one.
Let's look at design: A wing like the Easy Star, with a small amount of the surface area represented by the upswept tips, and no dihedral for the main foil sections, will not self level when a beginner lets go of the controls. This is exacerbated by the shoulder wing, as opposed to high wing, design. This is why you read the plane is so durable. Beginners get to test the durability because they are crashing so frequently. It will spin right in if you are not careful when landing.
Now the rudder. Check any of the threads on the internet sites. The rudder is woefully inadequate and lacks the authority to turn the plane when beginners get it heading downwind in a moderate breeze. You can just cut it off and toss it. make a new one, same shape, twice the size, out of 3/16 balsa. Cut the vertical stab all the way to the tip. Then hinge with CA hinges. This will fix a lot of issues.
Two other really annoying habits this plane has that are bad for beginners. One, it pulls right under power. that is not easily fixed, as the motor is not in the front, so you cannot just change the thrust line. Same issue for the plane climbing excessively under power. This also cannot be fixed with thrust line changes due to motor location.

As for construction, the motor mounting is flimsy and needs internal balsa reinforcement or vibration will quickly develop. The stock prop and the little plastic hub are junk. Even with good epoxy, not five minute, like the plan calls for, you will have an issue keeping the hub fixed to the prop. If you have this plane, get a good 2.3mm collet adapter and a good APC 5.5x4.5 prop. Not a pusher, either. then put the prop on facing forward, not backward. Motor direction should be clockwise when the plane is facing away from you and you are looking directly at the motor. With a 2S TP 2100 Lipo, we you will get a sustained 90 watts with this setup. That will fly the plane. The stock setup, with the NIMH batteries, and the stock hub and prop, is inadequate to power this size aircraft.
I could go on.
Beginners! Do yourselves a big favor. Get a high wing trainer of decent size, say 40-62", with lots of dihedral. Made out of balsa and ply. From a reputable firm. Get some help setting it up and flying it. Get a brushless motor and LIPO batteries. Then, you will not be crashing it all the time. There is no reason for someone to have to crash all the time to learn to fly. And get a good simulator and use it. Nuff said.

Hi,
This is my first hobby-shop-grade R/C model. I've flown nothing but AirHogs toy R/C planes before. Yet without the assistance of any experienced R/C pilot, I was able to fly this model the first time out!
Just make sure to: double-check all your settings, (CG, control throws, etc.), point it into the wind, bring the throttle up to at least 75%, and give it a level or VERY slightly nose-high toss, and your good to go.
Tips: Let it climb in a straight line till your above the trees, then make your first turns very gently and at not too steep a bank angle (especially when close to the ground) and you should be all set. Just remember, be gentle on the stick, and that your controls are reversed when the model turns toward you. After a few recharges/flights you'll be pretty comfortable.

Happy Landings, Rob

Great plane. Float around and relax or tear up the sky. This plane does it all. Very tough plane. I've seen these planes fly combat and seen them strung with LED's and flown around at night! Simple to put together.

Excellent starter plane. My first RC plane and I've crashed it many times hard, but with a little duct tape its back in the air. Just wish the motor was slightly more powerful and that the battery lasted a little longer but with the help of a few decent thermals, a solid 10 minute flight is easy.

excellent plane

I got my EasyStar for Christmas,so it is fairly new.It glides very well.It has a few problems: you can't fly it in the wind,when you bring it for a landing if you don't land it right u'll end up w/ a bend nose.It is a great beginner!!! If you do get one u'll like it.

Very Durable beginner aircraft with a great deal of modification potential and possibilities. It flies great in nearly all conditions and is light enough it can thermal a little. One of my favorites.

Easiest plane to learn on- crash and tape and fly again. Just get it, have no fear, it will help you learn. You will destroy your fist plane. This is the one. you will tape and glue entire plane before you retire this. It will teach you very very well and provide confidence.

Throw and go!!

I bought the EasyStar after I learned some hard lessons with the Bellanca Decathlon plane which is supposedly a beginner plane as well but it wasn't so easy for me. Anyway, the EasyStar was exactly what I was looking for. Its a durable, well constructed plane that is tailor made for beginning flyers. Its a slow flyer that really helped me to get the basic controls down without having to react so quickly to wrong movements with the stick. When the battery dies, as long as you have enough altitude, the plane will glide perfectly back to earth. I highly recommend this plane to novice flyers just getting into the hobby.

This is the absolute best beginner airplane that i have ever seen! I built the the kit in under 2 hours with foam safe CA. The directions were straight forward and easy to follow and there were even pictures to aid you with the assembly!

The description of this flyer is right on target.

Almost totally crash-proof, easy to fly, this is what I wish I had started with before all the other planes which caused a lot of beginner frustration in "getting it right".

My first flight with EasyStar was a totally pleasing experience. I flew it on a cool autum day in a grass field park with no wind. After switching it on and advancing the transmitter to full power, and holding little up elevator, I gave it a strait forward hand launch expecting it to dive into the ground like previous "beginner" planes. Instead, it climbed smoothly, tracking upward with little correction on my part.

Before I knew it the EasyStar was getting quite a distance from me so I gave it some left turn and It made a wide downward turn towards me. I straightened it and gave it some up elevator to make up for the loss of altitude. Then after flying it straight I eased back on the power and it slowed to a modest decent heading right towards me. As it flew over my head (nose pointing slightly down) I gave it a slight up elevator and it slid on the grass field

The Easy Star was my second RC plane. The first didn't work out too well and ended it's life in the top of a very tall tree. In contrast, I found the Easy Star to be a very good entry into the world of RC flying.
Assembly took about the advertised time and was very straight forward. When bonding the fuselage together it is pretty easy to get a twist locked in; but I caught that potential oops just in time (before the glue dried) and it ultimately cured with good alignment.
My first launch was without incident although I've since learned that a little up elevator is really not needed as it launches best with a neutral elevator position. It flies away smoothly with no need to rush to the controls. To me, it's still a little twitch in pitch plus throttle changes produce a big effect on pitch trim, probably due to the high thrust line. Roll seems a little wobbly but that may be the case with any high dihedral, two control beginner plane.
I've been able to loop it and still take it home in one piece. I don't have enough down elevator to maintain inverted flight and don't want to increase elevator deflection ranges as it would get way too twitchy for me, so I'll stick to dirty side down flights.
All in all, I would recommend the Easy Star as a good first RC plane. I gave it a 4 rating since no plane is perfect! I'm now getting ready to fly my next plane; the Super Miss - film at eleven.
Lance

Without a doubt the greatest beginners plane ever! Easy to assemble and easy to fly. With the rear-mounted motor you don't have to worry about those embarrassing prop strikes. I've flown this into the side of a real airplane hanger...twice... with minimal damage. Very stable in flight. And there's all sorts of cool mods you can make to it.