I was looking into the Great planes PT-19 or STA-M. When I was looking at the STA-M instructions it mentioned soldering. Is this required of both models?

I've never built either, but I would say there's a very good chance that soldering may be required.

But don't let that scare you away, soldering is very easy once you know the basics.

You can read about the basics here:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=172

yes the elevator is split with both pushrods going to one servo so one elevator pushrod is cut shorter and you bend it to match the rod going to the servo then use two wheel collars with set screws to hold the pushrods together, then solder between the two collars, its not alot of solder plus i feel better with the solder then just the wheel collars hope this helps. the pt-19 is a great plane tp put together and fly i use a .91 fx by o.s. and it flys like a dream take care mike lansford