forestroke

actually, my second plane was a world models cap232. i went from china trainer to cap232 but i was very mindful that it was too much plane for me. it lasted a whole season and finally lost it when i plugged in my ailerons wrongly and took off into a tree. all in all, the cap wasn't too much for me. but i really attribute the ability to fly to the inability for the trainer to fly.

the china trainer i had had such warped wings that when i maidened it, i didn't have enough trim to correct the roll. it took me two flights to get enough trim in to keep it level. flying different speeds changed the way the plane behaved, trimming it for half throttle flight, the plane would roll as i bled off speed for landing. for all that trouble, i gained a great deal of experience. basically i needed to fly my plane 100% of the time.

i retired my trainer and later bashed it into a canard. the cap was my foray into real ARFs. my first plane was so bad, when it dove into the ground on its maiden as a bashed canard pusher, i was happy to see it go. i dubbed it "the hammer" because i needed a hammer head glued and strapped to the nose to balance it. of course, that was still not enough... fun though...