Hi !! I have started with a SIG Kadet LT 40 . But due to the investment of time and money ,I put it away till I learned to fly hahaha dont seem to make much sence does it !! when here the story ! I was on a trainer cord for about 2 flights and I work construction so I hardly ever had a chance to fly . normal stick time was during not very good weather ! and nobody was willing to go teach in the rain hahaha !
so I got a Zagi 400x and a duraplane 40 with a tower 46 LOL... that engine really sucked !! ran only when it wanted too ! ya had lotsa guys look at it ! anyway as I gained some flight ability with the Zagi I headed to the duraplane ! and yep you gessed it I learned to dead stick land everytime and some flights were not more than 30 sec long lol.. But on the ocassional 5min flight I did learn to fly ! it took all summer LOL !! and a few new drain pipes and so on .. and replaced the tower 46 with a OS 40 FX .. Bottom line is this I agree totaly on trainer cords and instructors .. But with that said and with since flying many brands of trainers I have this to say ! the balsa trainers are all many times better flying than the Duraplane is !! My Kadet LT 40 is so sweet a flyer compared to the duraplane hahaha not even in the same class at all !! but that kadet would have been replaced only a time or 2 befor I would have thrown in the towel Im very sure of that !! but due to nearly no cost but time to repaire the duraplane I stayed with the sport !! Im so glad I did I love this hobbie or mmmmm no its a way of life now LOL.. anyway I Know first hand that the dura isnt a great flying trainer but it just may keep a new flyer in the hobby if some self teaching is the only option !