RussianFlyer

Hello,

I have been flying my Sig Kadet LT-40 for almost a year now and my little brother got extremely interested in getting a plane of his own. He got his mind set on the LT-25. I already have several questions regarding this kit.

1. The maximum recommended engine size is .32. Will a Thunder Tiger GP 40 be alright for this model or is it pushing the limits. Would this engine also have enough power to haul this plane around. (Since it is a bushing equipped engine)

2. Since it is a tail-dragger design, can a beginner handle the plane well?

These are about all the questions I ran into for now.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

RF

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I think a 40 would be a bit much for a 25 size airplane, and since bigger planes are easier to see, why not get him an LT-40?

DSJBEAN

My Feedback: (1)

Give him your plane and get yourself a different one more advanced if you're ready for it.

RussianFlyer

I already have a Sig Somethin' Extra nearing completion, but he is firmly set on getting either the LT-40 or 25. I guess he doesn't want to fly my planes for some reason. And since I am getting a computer radio for the SE, I am planning on giving him my current six channel radio system. But I think I can persuade him to go with the LT-40 instead of a 25. Thanks for all the help.

P.S.: Thank god for LARGE SUVs, I think we might run out of room soon.:greedy:

RF

Fastsky

Hi RussianFlyer, First off I think the LT25 is a great choice! The GP 40 will work just fine with a 10-6 prop. I followed another builders suggestion of using 1" less dihedral than the plans call for with happy results. The plane is forgiving, fun, frisky, penetrates the wind really well and makes a great taildragger trainer. It can land fast or float down with the nose high and land at 2 mph. I trained on an LT40 and my son won an LT25 in one of our clubs meetings. I was training him on the LT40. Once he tried the LT25 he didn't want to fly the LT40 anymore because it was boring and didn't penetrate the wind as well. The plane is fairly long which makes the ground steering easy to handle for a beginner beacuse its not touchy. I think this is the way to go because you don't have a nose gear to get banged out of whack and you can go to tail dragger sport planes after you get your wings. We have sold the LT40 but I am keeping the LT25! We went with 3" Lite Weight wheels for the mains and a 1" tail wheel which works well on our rough grass field. Any more info you want, feel free to send me an email! Have fun, Fast!

RussianFlyer

Thanks Fastsky!

I couldn't persuade him to a LT-40, so I guess off we go to get hime a LT-25 instead. I guess it would be a simpler and faster building experience for him considering he has the never assembled anything of these proportions. He is already making strange moves around my Somethin' Extra . I also think I can get some taildragger experience with the LT-25 before I jump into my SE for the first time.:idea:

Thanks for all the replies!

RF

Fastsky

Your friend won't be sorry. The plane goes together much quicker than an LT40 and is as large as other 40 size trainers with a 63" wing. I used the tail dragger experience gained from the LT25 to fly my Hawker Sea Fury and my Japanese Zero with no problems. I still use the 25 as a warm up plane if I haven't flown in a while because its such a nice flyer.

SigFan

I'm with Fast - once your brother gets that LT25 up and running, you won't want to fly the LT40 anymore!

I built mine with an OS40LA and it is a perfect match. Since then it's been crashed a couple of times and it's now powered with a Magnum .46 XLS. It's just too much fun! And it's a nice build.

Since you are going with a .40, I might suggest you go with an 8 oz tank instead of the recommended 6oz. I run mine 10 minutes with this setup and still have plenty of time for a few passes over the runway and come in with a little fuel - even with the .46.

Enjoy!

Fastsky

SigFan is right about the 8 oz. tank. The tank is easy to fit in the plane and allows the standard 10 minute flight time.

RussianFlyer

Thanks!

He is getting the LT-25 now, and we are going to go down to the LHS this weekend to see what they can offer. Will the 40 fit in the nose without any major mods? It seems quiet a bit larger than what is recommended initially. This hobby is too addictive. Only the women in my family aren't involved with cars or planes yet. (Gotta work on that too ) And I was the one who started the whole epidemic. Well, thanks again.

RF

Jax RC-RCU

My Feedback: (7)

I used to have a LT 25 and a LT 40. The 25 went together much easier than the 40 and in my opinion, flew better. I had an OS 32FX in it. It would jump off the runway in 10 feet. It was such a great looking and flying plane, that a guy at my field bought it outright from me with a deal I couldnt refuse. The LT 40 lost its vertical stab and went straight in.

wingnutt-RCU

I had a LT25 with a 40 fx ,it flew great, so well that I am currently building a second one {The first one is currently fertilizing the grass at the field} . You will have to put every thing as far back as possible, and then still have to add weight to the tail to get the cg right Some other things you might want to do1.Move the elevator servo to the rear left side of the fuse 2.Let the tail wheel move freely {that pull pull system is a real pain in the a**, and based on my experience does nothing for you} 3. Make your wing a bolt on. 4. Go with 2 aileron servos 5 I was able to get a 10oz tank in my first 25 but it was a tight fit.

SigFan

My LT25 met it's end this past weekend............

I was training my brother (on the box) and had the thing up pretty high. After a couple of saves, he was starting to get the hang of it, made a couple of circuits and I started to relax.

My mistake.

He got into trouble and flew right threw a tree about 300 yards out. When the plane came out the other side it was sans wings. It's a total loss.

After I re-assured him it was NOT his fault, I gathered the pieces and took up my 4* 60. Anyway, it was ALMOST worth it, before his introductory lesson, he had hopes of training himself. Now he will come join us and learn on the LT40 he's currently building.

Sniff.........At least I recovered the engine and radio gear.

Denjones

One of our instructors has a LT-25 with an electric engine in it! It will get off the ground within a few feet so whatever engine you put in the LT-25 will work well. It's a sweet little plane, floats nice and lands even nicer.

TerrellFlyer

At our club we have both lt 40's and lt 25's. most of us like the lt 25 the best. We're using both 40 and 46 OS la's and fx's, they build great and the flying can't be beat ,very forgiven trainers are just fun knock around planes also.
Have fun, JOHN
PS,we fly out of Rockwall, Texas

RussianFlyer

Thanks you for all the replies!

We visited the LHS and it turned out that they didn't have any LT-25s in stock so this weekend we are going to check out another LHS to see if they have it. The other LHS also had prices 15-20 $ higher than what Tower Hobbies offered so I held my brother back from ordering with them.(tight budget again :greedy: )Thanks again for all the great replies.

RF

uciflylow

Well here goes! I'm gonna throw my 2 cents in.

This is THE plane I would and do recomend to anyone who wants to build it themselves!!!! It goes to gather sooooo easy. It is such a good flyer and looks good to boot. The GP-40 with an APC 10x5 is my recomendation, that's what I ran in my first one, for the engine. I have built 3 of these and one scratch built low winger lt-25, the low wing flyes better still, in the past. I get sorta bored and sell them just to find out how much I miss them and I build another. My current LT-25 has a TT Pro-36 and 10X5 APC and it will hover with this combo. I know it's sorta weard to see a trainer hover but this plane is such a great flyer.
Now the down side! The LT-25 is an almost all balsa plane. It's not very crash resistant, not nearly so much as the LT-40, and can be cracked in the fuse and the landing gear knocked off easily in rough landings.
I think overall it is one of the best flying if not the best flying trainer on the market.

Fastsky

I have to disagree with uciflylow about how tough the plane is. I have never had the landing gear come out of the plane in 3 years of flying. I have had the fuse break in 2 when a sudden huge gust flipped the plane over backwards when I was coming in very slow. I had the plane repaired and back flying again by the next weekend. I would add a 3d bolt in the landing gear to keep the bolts from loosening out though.