I am flying a LT40 now and I just have a couple of points to add. The dihedral of the wing makes the plane bank when the rudder is used, I have very little aleron and it is quite effective unless I am trying to coordinate a turn when I have to use full aleron to counter the bank induced by just half of my rudder control.. It yaws alot with the rudder input and the bank rolls back out due to the dihedral. I can fly into a turn and it will fly itself back straight if I neutralize the controls. It is big, a kite almost, I can coast around with less than 1/2 throttle for along time without loosing much altitude probably around 20-25 mph. It does take a good bit of runway to get up to speed before rotation and if you don't chop the throttle way back in the downwind leg of your approach it takes alot of runout on landings. I would suggest a prop in the 10-6 or 10-7 range for added power to escape from missed approaches and stalls low to the ground. I didn't feel my 45 OS had enough guts to get me out of trouble with a 10-7, but I am flying at over 6,000 ft and need extra power for the thinner air here. Even being able to fly under 1/2 throttle for an entire 15-20 minute flight it will use about 8 oz. of fuel per flight so a quart will get you 4 flights, not bad for a beginner over a weekend, but it is more expensive to buy that way. Don't short-cut just to get in the air for a day. Take all the time you need to get some good help, good equipment as everyone above has mentioned and build a pit that has the tools you need to start right. You will be able to keep your plane(and your hands) in one piece long enough to learn and then the fun starts. Shortcuts will just make you get discouraged before you have a chance to feel the joy this sport can give you.

rod