JonMatula

I have never built a kit before I only have an ARF and I was wondering if any of you would be able to suggest a kit for a first timer. Including a website to purchase from would also be of great help the "local" hobby shop isnt the greatest and its almost an hour away. Nothing to hard but not to easy either. Maybe one that would be a good fly for a beginner pilot aswell. Thank you for all of your help.

4*

A Sig 4 *40 is a great kit for someone new in the hobby. It can be purchased online at http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFG06&P=0
They also sell EVERYTHING you will need for the build.
Good luck!

abufletcher

You'll find a lot of people seconding the recommendation for the Sig 4*40 (read "four star forty"). Good price. Can be built in as short as 5 days (3 seems to be the record). And it's apparantly an ideal second plane after a trainer.

I've certainly considered getting one myself.

abufletcher

BTW, can someone tell be approximately how big the box is that the Sig 4*40 comes in? Is it considerably smaller than the box for most 40-sized ARF's? I would need to be thinking about either bring one with me back to Japan or paying to have it shipped over.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

any kit box is MUCH smaller than an average ARF box

rjm1982

If you can afford the little extra cost of a bigger motor and an extra servo....go for the 4*60 ---OR--- the BTE Venture 60 (much better looking, and designed by the man that designed the 4* 40 and 120) , the bte seems to have better instructions for build, and supposedly flys better (ill find out soon, im gonna order me a venture kit next week)

abufletcher

Trouble is, you almost never see KITS anymore in the local hobby shop. [&o] Space is going to be tight on the flight back since I'm already returning with a Flair Puppeteer kit and several month's worth of building supplies.

Would the 4*40 box be smaller or larger than the box for, say, the BUSA Eindecker?

JonMatula

If I were to get this kit what other building supplies would I need? Not like engine radio and covering I mean like to acctually construct the frame what kind of glue? Anything else?

Dragonjohn

My Feedback: (5)

JonMatula,

Tower Hobbies Trainer 40 Kit, is a very good build with detailed instructions. I had a gentleman with no R/C or building experience build one of these and he did a pretty good job.

If this link works it will tell you what you need and give the specs of the plane.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJA29&P=0

here' a pic of the one we finnished.

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

Yeah, that sucks, doesn't it?

4*40 box is (roughly-going from not so good memory) 6" high, 12" wide, and about 40-45" long. Security/customs is going to love checking your stuff! (based on experience)

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

For beginner kits, I'll second the 4*40, 4*60.... both very nice. If not ready for low wing quite yet, try Great Planes Pt-40 or Pt-60(very good also - I learned on a pt-40), Also in the high wing dept., There's the Sig Kadet Senior(lots of wood [>:] ), LT-40, LT-25. Plus many, many others... these are my favorites - and there's build threads that can help here on RCU for all of these.

I would stay away from warbirds until you build up your kit building and flying skills somewhat, they tend to be a little more complicated, and more of a handfull to get flying right after the build.

Another thought, try a few 1/2A models... They are smaller and cheaper, they build faster(due to size), but all the building techniques are mostly the same. Check in the 1/2A forum for ideas.... I think someone has a trainer in there, not sure if it's a kit or not. There's others out there too.(I'm looking, I'll be back when I find some)

nickj

The Great Planes PT-40 is an extremely easy build, for a kit. It's also a great first plane, but may be a little slow if you've been flying awhile. If you're past the trainer stage, build the 4*40, or maybe the Goldberg Tiger.

4*

Jon,
You will need lots of things if this is your first kit. First of all, adhesives. You will need thin, med & thick CA (crazy glue) 6 & 30 minute epoxy. Some kind of cup & sticks for mixing epoxy. A Great Planes building board is very handy to have. An X-acto knife & 100 blade pack. An Xacto mitre saw is also handy. T-shaped push pins with an installation/removal tool. Great Planes sanding bars of different lengths with different grits of sandpaper. Also, don't forget wax paper to cover plans while building. Try to find the widest you can. Straight edges & squares.
This is all i can come up with sitting here, there are probably some small things I forgot.
This may seem like alot of stuff to get all at once, but it will all still be there for your next build!
Remember to take your time, read, read & reread the instructions. Build straight and strong & you will have a fine flying airplane.
Mark

mcarleno

One thing to remember is, many adhesives you may not be able to transport. Check with TSA or customs before you have to throw away $30 worth of stuff. Most glues and adhesives can be purchased from a LHS.

Some people like CA, other wood glue (alphatic resin). If this is your first kit, definately use alphatic resin glue or wood glue. Until you are a little experienced with building, CA is very fast. You'll probably glue yourself to the structure several times.

abufletcher

Yeah, that sounds about the size of the Puppeteer or Eindecker kits. I suppose it makes more sense to order something in Japan. I've already got a ugly stik type for Sunday flying until I can get my Flair Legionaire and Puppeteer (kit bashed to a 1 1/2 Strutter) flying.

As fr as getting stuff through customs, well, after 20+ years of expat life I've become something of an expert on packing and transporting all manner of stuff. For example, bringing 20 2-kilo bags of "white powder" wrapped in white garbage bags through customs in the Arabian Gulf -- my Mexican wife's corn masa! I have bought a mess of CA since it's about three time more expensive in Japan and we'll just see if it gets through.

abufletcher

Mejor pedir perdon que permiso! "Better to ask for forgiveness than permission."

bruce88123

Not recommending a kit but there are several great build threads in the beginner forum also. Many great ideas there.

JonMatula

Thankyou for the tips I have just a couple questions. Why would you need both 6 and 30 minute epoxy? I thought it would be basicly the same just different speeds of drying. Also I have wax paper but why would you need to cover the plans while building? Thank you so much.

mcarleno

If you want to ditch one of the epoxies, then go with 30 minute epoxy. The answer to your question on epoxies being the same, the answer is no. 6 minute epoxy should be used for things that need a little more strength than what CA would give you, but you don't want to wait an 40-60 or so for 30 minute to harden enough to handle. 6 minute epoxy with micro-balloons (little tiny glass balls that you can mix in to strengthen and thicken) makes a pretty good filler for small gaps.

Epoxy works two ways. You have the strength of the glue itself, and the strength of the glue joint. 6 minute epoxy is a little more rubbery after full cure (about 8 hours) and is only about 1/5th as strong (sheer of glue itself) as 30 minute (about 24 full cure). This makes 6 minute epoxy unsuitable for glueing such items as the firewall, wing plates, tail feathers. Additionally, if you have read many posts here you will find that the quality and strength of the glue joint is dependent of the fit of the items being glued together. This means that the better and tighter items fit, the better and stronger the glue joint is. 30 minute epoxy allows for much more time for the epoxy to "soak-in" to the items being joined. This provides a much deaper bond with the wood.

It should be noted that there are many epoxies and each has a function. If you where to joint metal to metal and needed a strong joint, then you would use an epoxy like JB Weld. If your glassing or hardening balsa, you would use a finishing resin (45 minutes work time and much thinner).

The other thin when glueing is fit of the items. You will need T-pins and a good board for building. You will also need clamps, a lot of them; but they don't need to be expensive or purpose built. Paper clamps work great for many items and can be purchased at any office supply for a few dollars a box. Items like firewalls, wing joiners... you will want to clamp, items such as tail feathers or rib based landing gear blocks you will want to pin.

As far as wax paper. Any time your going to have somethin pinned to a board for glueing you will want wax paper under it. This is because unless you want to cut your parts off your building board you will need to have something to keep the glue from seaping in. Glue is non-discriminatory to most everything. Additionally, many of the assemblies that you will build will be over the plans. This means that the plans go on your board and you build on top of them.

If you end up using CA glue, have debonder on hand or as a minimum Acetone. I glued a broken figuring last week. I was holding it in my hand to apply a couple of drops to the porcellin (sp???) and the glue squirted. Before I could get my hand off, I had three fingers glued together my thumb glued in the bent position and a figuring semi permanently attached to my left hand. It better to have debonder on hand then to try to find a hobby shop or home depot at 10:00 pm driving around with a darn rabbit glued to one hand! (LOL)

The best thing to remember as a beginner who has already found this forum, if you have a question just post it. You'll get 10 different recommendations on how to do something, some will be good, some bad, but better to ask then to not!

Mike001

Hi Jon,
I've been building the SIG Kadet Senior. It's my first kit and will be my first plane. I've read many posts recommending it as a beginner's trainer: it flies slow, has a huge wing with lot's of diehedral (that makes it very stable in flight), and has been around forever so there are a lot of guys that could advise you on it. It is a kit with a lot of wood and you'll spend plenty of time cutting balsa sticks! It comes with full-size plans and you glue the parts together right on top of them (on top of wax paper, actually!); the clear plans and instructions also make it a good beginner's kit.

My senior is still in the construction stage and I'm new to the R/C thing so I have no experience with flying it. I have read criticisms of it, such as that it's light-weight and doesn't handle rough landings well. You'll find a lot of opinions on this plane since it's so common.

I ordered mine through the local hobby shop. Tower Hobbies sells it too:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXFF89&P=ML

Good luck!
Mike

kiswa

My Feedback: (4)

Just thought I'd chime in here. I'm building my first kit (well, I built it and am in the covering stage) and I have a build thread in the Beginner Forum. It's my second plane, first kit, and is a Sig Somethin' Extra. If you're interested, I have all kinds of posts about all the things I bought to get ready for building. I'd list them all, but it's probably just easier if you read the first couple pages of my thread. It's here: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3274319/tm.htm

CTDave

My Feedback: (1)

If you are looking for that first kit I would recomend the LT-40 It build easy has the best assc. package,very strong and forgiving and will darn near fly itself.I have built 3 with varies mods and will probably build another soon. The instructions and manual are some of the greatest I have seen and very easy to follow.

Dave trimmer

I have been deciding weather to buy a rc Plane or not and i finaly made my decison, until my brother in law asked me how i was going to land it on the snow now that winters here. So i was wondering if i can land it on snow or ice. Lastly is it posible to mount skies on it.

4*

You betcha you can put skis on it! I learned how to fly on skis. Here is a link.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXWH30&P=ML