this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2025
48 points (96.2% liked)

Casual Conversation

613 readers
322 users here now

Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.

RULES

  1. Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling.
  2. Encourage conversation in your OP. This means including heavily implicative subject matter when you can and also engaging in your thread when possible.
  3. Avoid controversial topics (e.g. politics or societal debates).
  4. Stay calm: Don’t post angry or to vent or complain. We are a place where everyone can forget about their everyday or not so everyday worries for a moment. Venting, complaining, or posting from a place of anger or resentment doesn't fit the atmosphere we try to foster at all. Feel free to post those on !goodoffmychest@lemmy.world
  5. Keep it clean and SFW
  6. No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc.

Casual conversation communities:

Related discussion-focused communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
BoozeOrWater@piefed.social
48
What's an expensive purchase you've made recently and was it worth it? (piefed.blahaj.zone)
submitted 2 days ago by LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone to c/casualconversation@piefed.social
53 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] walden@sub.wetshaving.social 3 points 2 days ago

I got a new RC airplane. A SIG Kadet LT-40 ARF (Almost Ready to Fly). It's a trainer with a 70" wingspan (~1.8 meters)

A lot of RC airplanes these days come ready to go... almost everything is pre-installed including the electric motor, ESC (electronic speed controller), servos, control surface hinges, you name it. The problem is they're all made out of styrofoam, and while they work and fly well enough, they don't appeal to me as much as a balsa and plywood model where you pick all of the components yourself.

To me it's like the difference between buying a prebuilt computer that comes with Windows on it vs building my own computer.

This one is an ARF, which means the major components are pre-built, but there is some final gluing and assembly to do.

The Kadet LT-40 is a trainer, and I only got it so I can teach other people how to fly should the need arise. All in, I've spent about $950 on it. I bought good quality stuff which increases the cost, plus I even bought a 2nd transmitter to use as a buddy box during training. The student will use one transmitter, and I'll have my transmitter in hand ready to take over before they crash.

With cheaper components I could have reduced the cost by $200 at least. To me it's worth the extra in order to have stuff that I know is good quality.

Was it worth it? I think it will be, yes. I've been flying RC planes on and off for 20 years, and even if I don't have any students, this will be fun for me to fly.