Ok, so after a nearly two year highetus(however it's spelled) from flying, I have returned!

This time I'm a tad broke though, so joining two clubs(only way I could fly during the summer and winter going back and forth to school) and AMA is out fo the question(well.....AMA is coming in the summer, I will join to support it and so I can go visit the clubs....). So I went down to our LHS and talked to the gentleman who runs it about a nice park flyer for 1-2 acres of land. His recomendation was this little EP-42 kit. Although it was a tad out of my price range, I splurged because I've built a seniorita, and know the quality gear SIG puts out.


For anyone considering one-there a very well thought out little plane. The only problem I have is with the servo-wire routing, and I hate all planes with out servo tubes in the wing(cause I always pull the Blankety blanking string out by accident.....), and the control horn design(glue in pegs versus through screws......). Plane assembles easily, and the hardware supplied is typical sig- top-notch, not cheap plated crap screws that strip.

Set it up with 9g tower servos(equivilant to the HS-55 I beleive) and my li-po pack(1900Mah 3S). Got it all setup and ready to go sans the battery connector(I use deans and the ESC supplied is a molex......had to get one the next day) in about 4 hours or so.


Took it out to fly earlier today.....

First flight: Didn't go to hot! Rusty pilot combined with an untrimmed, untested plane, PLUS a nasty little wind gust on launch ended it in about 60 feet with a abrupt landing in the grass......

Second flight: ok, let's do this again..... This time it went much better , plane was flying relativly well, but didn't have enough throw in the ailerons to maintain control in the light breeze blowing. It stalled(and ended up over a road) trying to turn base to my little mown strip in the field, but I recovered easily(I can still move fast enough apparently) and landed nicely. Yeah for landing a tail dragger(for the second time ever......).

Third flight: went into E-point on the radio and gave it a little more throw there, and played with the linkages a bit, everything looked good. Launched again and huzzah, it flies! In fact it flies really well......... then Houston we have a problem.....


The winds around here are....well variable would mean +-5 mile an hour differences, we get like +- 20 or better out of NOWHERE...... I hit a gust that literally THREW the plane about 30 feet. That in and of itself wasn't an issue, but I was trying to land and not moving very fast. I immediately hit the throttle to try to avoid the stall when we had another gust...... I lost it completely, all I could do was try to keep it out of the tree..... well that didn't work. It ended up about 35ft above a creek wedged in a tree. Three hours worth of work and help from the guys doing construction next door later, we finally got a rope around it's tail and yanked it out of the blooming tree......to have it land on the mians IN the creek.


I thought for sure the thing was toast.....no nitro plane would have survived a high speed encounter with a tree, plus a 35ft. strait drop AND being yanked by its tail with a rope right? Well this this thing did. When we pulled it down, It did pull the tail assembly loose(for those that know the kadets, it did no damage to the fuse, it literally just separated the epoxy connection on the flat of the stab and at the connection between the vert and fuse), dislodged the wing mounting plate and the front of the cabin, but they both separated at glue joints with no parts breakage, and did some firewall damage, though I think it will be repairable with some .25" stock and a bit of epoxy. It also bent the shaft on the motor, wich is the only part I will be out money(it's a brushed motor anyway, and I might take this opportunity to go to a brushless if I can locate one that will work well on one of the esc's I have(a 25 and a 15 amp I believe))


I guess I had to tell my funny story(sans the cursing that was going on...), and give this little plane it's VERY much deserved due. If a beginner is looking for a sturdy electric they could fly somewhere AFTER instruction(please note, I had problems getting back into it and spent several months with an instructor.....you will crash this thing if your not able to fly a bigger more stable trainer. It's forgiving for an aprox. ~36in wingspan plane, but it's harder to handle than a .40 size trainer....), look into the little kadet.