I've personally have never owned a LA. I do have 3 of the 46AX's and love them to death. If it'[s cold, I just prime it by holding my finger over the carb at fuel throttle (without the glow plug ignitor on) until I see fuel going into the carb. After that I flip it about 2 more times and connect the ignitor. One or two flips and she fires right up.

And that's if I forget to charge my starter and only if it is cold.

If I use the starter cold I just crank it until I see fuel going to the carb and about 2-3 seconds later she starts right up.

I have seen LA's take off on the first or second flip after priming and I have seen LA's take forever to start.

Based on power, would recommend replacing the LA with the AX. That way when you are done with the trainer, the AX can go into just about any 40 size plane you want and fly it well

Just my $.02 worth