Originally Posted by
Rapid13
After years of racing rc cars I decided that I want to get into planes. Since there probably isn't much outdoor flying here in Indiana for the next few months I thought I would try to build my first plane. A Great Planes PT40 kit will be on my doorstep tomorrow. After reading the manual for the past few days I am thinking what the hell did I get myself into? I have a strong mechanical ability but this is all new to me. Yesterday I bought some supplies from the LHS and tried gluing some balsa and making some hinges. So far they have turned out pretty good. I'm just hoping the rest of the build is a straight forward as the first few steps. Being brand new to planes I wanted to start a thread to document my progress and post questions as they come up. Hopefully my experiences helps out other people just getting started too. Thanks in advance and I am tentatively looking forward to getting started.
Congrats Rapid! You have most likely gotten into your next addiction!
Sounds like you are making great progress, if you are like me you will cut pieces too short, glue things backwards or in the wrong place, sand off too much balsa, etc... That is part of the process,especially just getting into building! I agree with Tom, fit your parts as tightly as you can before gluing, it'll make for a cleaner stronger build. And build as straight and square as you possibly can. Definitely build with ailerons, but learn to fly using both ailerons and rudder.
I am a simulator taught pilot, so I believe it is possible for you to take those sim skills to the field and have success. It is completely different flying the real deal compared to the simulator, sweaty palms, adreniline and gravity come into play! Just remember, let the plane do what it was made to do... Fly. Just like the cars you've been driving, the airplane will respond to small amounts of imput, you just have to add up and down (throttle as well as elevator) to the left and right you are used to.
Enjoy!