You are right we fly pretty much year round I would love get in more ski time but alas it has only happened once in my fifteen years flying at this field. So that beautiful day with six inchs of powder out come the the float planes and it was wonderful.
Included in the admittedly eclectic variety of aircraft in my hanger are three Senior Cadets. The first is the latest Sig arf version and this is the most flown as I use it for flight training the fellows. I choose to power it with an under the recommendation .35 OS AX. This has been shown to be a perfect engine for this working airplane and indeed it is no dog and do remember it is a full size eighty inch Cadet as big as any sixty size trainer.
OK the next Cadet in my hanger I chose to increase the wingspan by seven inchs and power it with four OS .25FX. This airplane has been a wonderful experience and has been flying now about 15 years. It flys on wheels or floats and flys at night with many euphoric night flights under its belt.
The third Senior Cadet in my hanger is my latest and I have groomed this ship for long cross country flights. It carries 115 ounces of fuel and is powered with an OS .65 AX. Originally I started with the .95AX but after early flights downsized displacement in the interest of fuel economy when it was realized that the extra power was not needed. This airplane has done a static flight (no traveling) at our field of 6 hours and 12 minutes. The trip that this dream was started was the route from Long Beach Ca to Avelon bay Santa Catalina island. I just got in the first flight on floats last week and it appears my single float with balance floats is going to work out.
There is another Cadet in my hanger but alas its not a Senior but instead a Seniorita. This was a smaller Cadet about the size of most forty sized ships but power was intended to be a .25. I choose to make this ship a twin with two removable underwing nacelles for a pair of .25FX . What makes this unique is not that its a twin but the fact it is also a glider and becomes so in under four minutes The nacelles are dropped the flight pack battery is shifted from under the stabilizer to the very tip of the nose and replugged in a Y harness. This to maintain proper CG as a glider and it is equipped with a tow realease next to the nose wheel. It is aerotowed aloft with and eighty foot towline by my Stearman.
So if it appears by now that I am somewhat of a Cadet fan I will concede that. They are arguably the most successful 'full house' (four control) trainer in the history of RC aircraft. But they are so much more than that as you can gather by my descriptions above.
John