David Bathe

Depends what you're ultimately after.
A good knock around plane or a good plane that'll really advance you're flying skills.
If the former... a Stick (ugly) built with a flat wing is hard to beat.
If the latter tickles your fancy, then a Tiger II is the way to go.
Kyosho, now make an AFT clone, cant remember the name but it's a Tiger without question.
If you have the funds, that's the one to get. Great quality and finish.

I'm a great believer that sports planes should be kept simple. Open type cowl, no fiddly stuff, everthing where it should be and easy to fix on the spot.
Both these planes fit that category.
Resist the temptation to get complex... it's it's the worse thing you can get for a relaxing Sunday with lots of flying.
Believe me, I fly F3A... and spend just as much time servicing engines, pipes, nose rings and a million other little things than I do flying. Possible more.
It would be good to get back to the simple days.

I've owned both of the above mention aircraft and their simplicity and ease of function is sadly missed.
Mind you, once youve flown a modern pattern plane, it's impossible to ever go back to flying anything else.
They fly so perfect, handle so well you could almost use them as a trainer.

TomCrump

My two favorite are the GP Sportster series and the Ace 4 series.

I had am Ace 4-40 and two 4-60s. They were hard to beat for pure flying enjoyment.

I'm currently building my third Sportster. Another fun to fly model, and great looks, too !!!

Ken Park

My Feedback: (1)

Maybe not the best ever sport plane but a dang good one is my newest design the "Gold-Finch 40" A nice cross between a Florio Flyer and a Ugly Stik! Design is all modern laser cut interlocking 3D Check it out!

http://www.vimeo.com/2001516

I hope to fight it out good this summer 09 in Kingston Ontario for the Fathers Day fun/fly comp! 19/20 June 09.

OzMo

My Feedback: (3)

The STICK is a classic for very good reasons! ...now I must go repair mine

JRO

I have the Ultra Sport 60 and the 4 star 60. I like both of them but I think I prefer the 4 star 60. I also have a GP Dazzler which I would have a hard time not including also. I also have an Easy Sport 60 in a kit, has anybody flown or had one these?

matt13

Still have a KAOS and will always keep one handy, all scratch built from the plans that came with the kit I built in the early 80's. But recently I have been mucking around with a Pulse 60, lots of fun, and the best/easiest ARF to put together. Planning to build a couple of other old favorites that I have not had for a while, a HOTS and of corse a Ugly Stick.

skyraider71

My favorite plane is my Somthin' Extra. I like my sport flying with less speed, more aerobatics.
It does everything well, and lands on a dime. The kit is so good that you don't need the arf.
Mine is two years old and has over 150 flights on it. I also have a SuperSportster 40 that I
finished this spring, faster and smoother than the Extra, best of both worlds![sm=shades_smile.gif]

heliraptorcbm

sig kuogar all the way mine has an mvvs 61 with a tuned full wave pipe and she will screem got to love it

heliraptorcbm

i am in the prosse of fix ing her up after a minor alteration with the run way my fault not hers

jab2of3

My Feedback: (6)

Great Planes Super Sportster by far. This included the old 40 size bipe:

twn

Sig Somethin' Extra...

She always comes to the field with me. Even when I fly my GP Ultimate 160/DL50.

However I was not happy with the stock tail feathers. I scratch built some modified stick funtana tail feathers with cf re-inforced stab & fin. (no flying wires, strooong and light!) moved the rudder/fin back 1 5/8" I also threw out the boat ancor ailerons and built some light stick jobs. All with a pumped saito 82 & 12oz tank. 625mg pull-pull rudder, rear mounted 5245 on elevator & 225mg on ailerons. aaa baby pack. under 5lbs. And a whole lot a fun!

tIANci

My vote is the GP Super Sportster 40 ... she is so smooth and sweet to fly.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

I've flown 90% of the airplanes mentioned in this thread. None of them are even a close second to an Andrews Trainermaster.

SoCalSal

My Feedback: (16)

And the Trainermaster was the first step to the GREATEST OF ALl.........AEROMASTER of any size!! or style.

Capt. Bill

I just started work on an Andrews Trainermaster. punching out the die cut parts anyway. I had one back in 1980 and snagged one off Ebay for nostalgia. Had a an OS 40 FX on the one in 1980, this one will probably have an OS 46 AX. Even though most of the parts, ribs, formers are die cut the quality of the cutting is very good and typical of the old Andrews kits.

Capt. Bill

The plane I would put up there with the Trainermaster for a 40 size airplane is the Southern R/C Bobcat, a 40 size version of the Tiger Tail.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

My last Trainermaster weighed 4lbs. 8 oz. dry, giving a wing loading of 18 oz/ft^2. Flew very well with an Irvine .36 with a 10x5 prop.

rmoss94

My Feedback: (3)

I also would have to vote for the stik. I have had many of the planes or flown the ones listed in this thread. Right now I am flying a stik that I scratched built the fuse from my old plans ,the wing believe it or not has been in my hangar for 15 years plus. Best designed wing ever!!! I did make a few changes to the fuse like elevator size and shortened the moment by 2 or 3 inches. Flies great with a ys .45 and tuned pipe. As far as the wing goes I built it with no dihedrial way back when but I decided to increase the aileron size by 1/2 an inch and also put a servo on each one. I also have a supersportster 40 on the work bench right now, found an original great planes kit on ebay over the winter. Can't wait to finish her. One plane I would have to mention that is a close second to the stik is an old q500 plane called the Scat Cat. Me and several others back in the day bought these and put .40 s on them, great low wing trainers, durable and fast if you wanted them to be but slowed way down for landing. By the way we all did add rudder control to them. I still have a wing left but can't find plans or the kit since the fire at Lonestar balsa. If anyone knows of plans or has an old kit in their hangar PLEASE let me know

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Best FLYING sport plane?

The Goldberg Ultimate Bipe deserves a mention. Any plane unable to KE loop and do torque rolls on demand shouldn't even get honorable mention here.

Building the kit taught me alot about building light for this size range. Until the plane gets covered, it doesn't look strong enough to be flown by a .40.

These planes end up weighing under 10 pounds with a 1.20 for power.

They are rugged by virtue of the fact that they are so light, they don't do much harm to themselves at typical takeoff and landing speeds.

bgw45

My Feedback: (1)

+1, the original 60 size Bridi kit built with the top of the wing on a flat board. My personal favorite.

matt13

I have never had such a kick out of flying a new model for a long time, a few posts before this one I said the Pluse60 was a contender to a modern classic, but now I have a new one.
To be fair, it is more of a pattern style, and it may be that I am only just discovering how good "e-power" can be. But all I can do is think about flying it at the moment, great handling, fantasticly easy to knife edge, no noise problem so I can fly first thing in the morning, and no oil to clean up!
I give you the Angle 50!

tIANci

matt ... don't call the Angel 50 a sport plane! Hehehehehe ... its sacrilegious!

matt13

Hey tIANci,
sorry, I didn't mean to be sacrilegious! As you can probaily tell from to posts that I have been spreading over various posts, I'm having a ball with this model:-)
My KAOS might have to take a back seat for a while. I'm also like a kid in a candy store with "e-power". It is my first go at it, and it will certinally not be my last. Hows the Miss Wind coming along?

cd_webb

My Feedback: (6)

I don't know guy's. Mabey it's my slow southern nature, but just for all around enjoyment my vote's gotta be for an Astrohog. It's not an Ultrasport or an Ultimate, but man, what a relaxing time flying one. There's a lot of things that can be done with one regardless of the slow and gentle way it handles. I've just finished an Ace 4-20, and I built it because it looked as though it might have those same slow, forgiving characteristics that my Hog has. I don't know, we'll see!

JWQ500RC

My Feedback: (2)

I've flown almost all the planes that are listed. The Stick's are great flyers, the Kaos is also a great flyer, but if your talking sport flyers my vote has to be the Sig Kougar. I have had 6 in the 32 years I've been in this hobby and I will always have one.