Dom_P

Hi all,

I've been trolling the forums for a while, but this is my first post.

As I live in NJ, I've decided that I'm going to do a build or two over the fall/winter and learn how to fly in the spring.

To that end, I've ordered a Sig Kadet LT-40 kit, and plan to follow RC Ken's Pay It forward thread. (BTW, RC Ken, if you read this, that's some outstanding attention to detail. Reading your thread a couple of times convinced me I needed to build vs. buy an ARF - not that you can find a LT-40 ARF ).

So here's the dilemma, while I'm anxiously waiting for the kit to show up I've been doing a lot of thinking about transmitters. Part of me thinks I should just buy a basic 4-channel radio to get started on, and part of me thinks I should buy something more intermediate that I can grow into. I'm not adverse to spending money on something like a Futaba 8FG, a Hitec Aurora 9, or a Spektrum DX8 (when available). But I'm concerned about a couple things. First, will all the bells and whistles of these radios just make it more difficult for a beginner? and Second, will it be easy for these radios to be set-up as slaves for training?

The other thing I've been wondering about is simulators. Should I get a simulator and try to learn some basic techniques over the winter, or wait until the spring and learn with an instructor at a local club?

Would love to get some opinion from you veterans.

Thanks
Dom

jeffie8696

Many schools of thought there.
Joining the club will get you a lot of advantages.
Get the trainer program now, it will teach you a LOT and its just darn fun to play with. If you want you can get the cheaper one without all the combat and stuff but the expensive one is very impressive.
Radios? Its up to you. personally I like to keep things simple. Walking out to the field with a brand new plane first time out I would want the most basic high quality 4 channel system I could find(more things to go wrong will go wrong). Joining the club will probably find you somebody with a radio system you could borrow or buy cheap(there is nothing wrong with 72MHz).
From there the sky is the limit. Some good friends of mine in the business are heaping praise on the Hitec Aurora 9 radio system.

GaryHarris

x2

richg99

Most, if not all, major manufacturer's radios can be linked to FMS (free) and/or other simulators. Whichever TX choice you make...I'd be certain to immediately hook it up to a Sim. Then, spend some snowy evenings "flying" with the very TX/radio that you are going to be using in the Spring. All of the buttons and gadgets will then be easier to find after some hours doing this. I didn't and I was sorry.

regards, Rich

p.s. ( I'd vote for a DX6 or similar...but...heck, I'm a newbie , too.)

Augie11

Dom-

You've made a great choice on a plane (really glad it's a kit ) and the advice to get a sim to experiment with over the winter is a good one. As far as a radio system, this is where you want to get input from the local club you're thinking of joining. You really can't go wrong on a simple 2.4 system from one of the major manufacturers but you need to be compatible with your instructor. So it's best to ask what they prefer and are equiped to hook up to with the buddy system. Most clubs can handle any radio system but some cannot.

Personally, if expenses are not a big issue, I'd recommend at least a 6 channel system to start. No, not because you think you'll need flaps and retracts. But rather for dual aileron servos on seperate channels so you can program in aileron differential if needed and maybe even flaperons. Make sure the system has Expo and either a decent amount of model memory ot that it is expandable for that purpose. Most 4 channel systems are very limited and you'll outgrow one in a hurry. Keep in mind that the brand of radio you first chose will often lock you into future purchases so choose carefully!

Good luck and welcome aboard!

mike109

G'day

I started out learning to fly RC models about 1989 when I was about 40. I wish I had had the choices available to you today. I bought a simple radio and ended up owning about 5 radios as every new model needed a new radio. Much better to buy a slightly up market model. You do not need 8 or 9 channels as even today when I have about 30 planes ready to fly, I still use 6 and 7 channel radios. My favourite radio (value for money and easy to use) is the Hitec Optic 6. It has been around for ages and now in 2.4 gig form it is really great value and easy to use. I also use a Spektrum DX7 which I love too but its receivers are far more expensive then the Hitec ones. I am still using older FM radios (JR 2610) and I use them with the Spektrum on buddy cords. Before you buy, check to see what radio your teacher will be using. All the major brands are good and all the newer radios can be used with buddy systems.

Your choice of the Kadet LT 40 is a good one and building it rather than buying (if you could) the ARF is good too. You will build a better model than the ARF even if it is a first effort. The Sig instructions are great. Take your time, enjoy the build and have fun.

Simulators are great for giving you "stick time" but they do not really emulate the real flying feel. It is generally easier to fly a simulator than a real model. The Phoenix and cheaper Real Flite would be my choice. The Phoenix actually gives you a usable Spectrum 6 channel radio. Just buy a receiver and you can fly. I have the older Realflight 4.5 and I wish I had bought one of the cheaper ones.

When you come to buy an engine for your model you will find there is a vast array of engines out there from $50 to forever. The cheap ones are OK so long as you can get some help but lately I have taken to buying mostly Saito four strokes for their ease of use, great sound and extreme long lasting qualities. They are not cheap but they keep giving long after the $50 Chinese engines are dead and buried. They will run happily on 5 to 10% nitro, are light on fuel and just keep delighting me. A Saito 56 would be perfect in your LT. My LT-40 originally had a Saito 56 but is currently powered by a very old Saito 45 which has had a "cam transplant" from a 56. The cam upgrade has given it significantly more power.

Cheers

Mike in Oz

jester_s1

I have trouble understanding why anyone would recommend a 4 channel analog radio for beginners. The exponential and endpoint adjustments alone make a computer radio a worthwhile investment. The Aurora 9 is a good value and the basic recievers aren't expensive. Two lower cost radios that will still meet your needs perfectly as a beginner are the Spektrum DX6i and the Airtronics RDS8000. I have the latter and am impressed with what you get for $150. The only issue with brand will be whether the club has a buddy box for it. If they don't have one for the radio you're interested in, it's not much of an investment to have your own box and cord to use with your radio.

As for training, it's probably not too late in the year to start learning. Lots of clubs have trainer planes to get beginners started, and a few lessons with the real thing will show you what to work on in the simulator. I did it the opposite way and had some bad habits to work out. I've trained a few pilots too and much prefer to teach someone who hasn't been playing on the sim before starting.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

If you are a club member some of the clubs have a trainer to teach with plus the radio and buddy box. Until you give flying a try and know if it's something you plan on sticking with no one can say what type of radio you should buy. I make sure my students have soloed before they go buy a radio. If they really plan on staying in RC then I tell them to buy the best they can afford, it's one thing in the hobby that will be with you for years. If flying is just a passing thought or something you may do once in a while then maybe a good basic four channel will be best for you. It's a loaded question. Flight Sims are the same thing. Just borrow one from a club member or instructor, I loan mine out to all of my new students. Why buy something people will loan you. If a student is going to stick with it then I try to get them into at least a nice 7 ch. TX. Make is up to them but I like the Futabas but only because I know how to program them better then radios like the DX. There are some very good systems out there today, I'm very taken with the new Hitec 9 for the price. They don't have very many RX options yet but the future will perhaps bring us more? Look at what others have at the field you will fly at, it helps to have others using the same radio if you require help. I would try flying first then make up my mind before I spent any money.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

I would never in this age reccomend a simple four channel radio. That is a certain guarantee that you will be looking for radios once agine before you even get to your second airplane. Thats for sure.

Also if you are starting from scratch in this time of change it is most foolhardy to go 72, agine you will soon be in the market for much more radio. There are many thousands of experianced modelers who would be delighted to be in your shoes and not feel the need to change over older airplanes, beleve me I know having just completed changing over 30 airplanes from 72 over the course of two years.

Do not miss out on telemetry give Hitec a consideration great stuff no one else has on the selves at the moment.

John

GaryHarris

I would still recommend a simple 4 channel system like the Futaba 4EXA.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXKJD8**&P=0

I have one and will eventually upgrade but for now it works just fine. Receivers are cheap and I have 3. When I do upgrade, this will be a perfect radio for small electrics, park flyers etc.

cutaway

90% of the time I see people using radio adjustments such as those, its as a crutch because they never learned how to set an airplane up mechanically the proper way and try to fix mechanical issues with some fancy radio hacks.

Which of course works fine...until they get multiple models and each one has radically different radio hacks applied, and they take off with the wrong model selected someday (which is inevitable), and splatter all over the ground.

wazzbat

Jester - Your comments about the sim are what kind of worries me at the moment.  I bought a sim which I am having fun playing about with and would probably feel confident enough now to send a trainer up for my first time flying and be able to land it as well?  But I am worried I am teaching myself bad habits and like Mike said - I am also a bit worried that the sim is giving me a false sense of security and when I do get down to a club and give it a go, I am going to be severely dissapointed.

So - Like the previous posts have mentioned and just from what I've learnt on this forum over the last few weeks, I think the best way to get into this hobby is to do it in this order:

1.  Join a club!  (Which I am yet to do myself I might add)
2.  After talking to members at that club, work out what is the best plane/engine to start with (I think you have a made a good choice there) and the best/most compatible/appropriate radio to get depending on buddybox availability.
3.  Try and get up in the air a few times (if your club or someone has a trainer you can use) so you know what to practice on a sim.
4.  Buy or, better still, borrow a sim and practice/have fun flying and crashing.  Is best to get all your crashes out of the way on the sim!
5.  Find someone there that is willing to help you out where needed during your kit build.
6.  Learn and enjoy the hobby.

I'm sure there are a few more steps I left out there but I think number 1 is probably the most important because that way, you can get one on one hands-on help and advice.  This forum is extremely helpful but it is limited by words and pictures where as someone in person can explain and show you what's going on at the same time.

It looks like we are heading down the same path Dom.  I have an LT-40 kit waiting for me to get started on and I just bought myself RealFlight 4.5 a couple of weeks back.  But I'm yet to achieve step one due to lack of spare time at the moment.  I really should join a club before I start my build though.  You never know, there might even be a guy from the club who lives on your street who builds his own planes that would love to help out???

Good luck with it all anyway!

PS - Remember all that ramble has come from a begginer so it could be pretty useless advice but it's just what I have come to the conclusion of so far!

wazzbat

I am getting more and more tempted to get a Saito for my LT-40 every time I here about them - Cheers Mike!

I like the idea/sound of a four stroke.  MMmmm?  Might have to save some extra pennies.

GaryHarris

wazzbat, don't even think about using a 2 stroke. WAAAAA, WAAAA, pfft. I hate the sound of those things. I had a Magnum .52 in my LT-40 and later transferred it over to a 4*40 and it ran awsome at a decent price.

http://www.hobbypeople.net/index.php...ke-engine.html

Put a 12x5 MAS prop on it with 15% nitro and you wont regret it.

oliveDrab

Dom -

Get a simulator and practice, practice, and practice some more with it. You will be amazed at how well prepared you will be when you actually fly your first R/C aircraft. I trained with RealFlight's G2 Lite simulator for several months before I flew my first high wing trainer which was a Hobbico 60-sized ARF. Training with the simulator helped train for left-right-up-down, cross-wind problems, rudder application, etc. and is an excellent investment in my humble opinion. Now that I have a new computer with Windows 7 I need to purchase RealFlight G5 which I intend to do.

Can you squeeze an O.S. 91 four stroke into your LT40? The OS 91 is the motor I installed in my second plane which was a SIG 4-star 60. I highly recommend the 4*60 / OS 91 combo.

-oliveDrab

jeffie8696

Like Isaid , many schools of thought.
And Ididnt even touch on engine considerations.
Ido not recommend overpowering a trainer. Most think the extra power will get you out of trouble. Ithink the opposite, I think it can get you in trouble fast. Learn to fly the wing with just enough power.
If you can afford a Saito go for it. If not there are plenty of other options.

Dom_P

Thanks all

I've reached out a club already and will get some radio brand advise. But sounds like a basic four channel might not be the way to go. I guess if I decide the hobby isn't for me (doubt I), then there's always eBay

Engine wise I was thinking about the OS 46AX

Seem to be mixed advice on the sim. Maybe I'll pick something up cheap and see.


Dom

kzart

Everybody pushes trainers and simulaters to start. Thats fine, but nobody wants to hear it. Tthey are trying to save you money, but simulators are expensive and the only thing you learn is what the controls will do. It doesnt teach you the perception of how close your plane is to the ground or you for that matter. And, trainers are very basic and booringfor most people. There are other options: buy crash damaged goods......you plan on learning how to build; go to your local club, some of them have buddy boxes they will hook up to yor tx andsave your butt. The more do it yourself alternative is to buy the cheapest rtf you can find (like micro p-51) crash it fix (it bounces good) fly it again. that is what I did......ps its not winter yet find something to fly

mwhar760

My Feedback: (18)

as far as a radio get at least a 7 channel that way when you do progress you can utilize channel 6 for the other aileron and 7 for the other elevator half  that leaves you the option for the gear channel for smoke or engine kill ect. you never know if and when you will fall in love with a 50cc gasser i even have set up . 40 glow planes with that setup!!!

DenverJayhawk

dx6i will most likely be all you ever need unless you decide to get into giant scale, jets or serious helis and REQUIRE the extra channels. If you're just starting out, don't blow $400+ on a radio just yet. Spend the $150 on a DX6i and AR6200 RX. You can pick up a used one for less than a hundred bucks on craigslist and ebay. This radio will easily fly 99% of anything you'll ever see and is a full computer radio.

jeffie8696

Last radio Ibought was a like new Hitec Lazer 4 off ebay. Cost me $10 with a charger. It works great and will be my sons first radio.
If I was worried about it Iwould send it to Hitec for a channel change and they will check it out. Cost is minimal.
This way he has a simple radio with less to go wrong during his training and we saved a bunch of money to put towards his Hitec Aurora 2.4.

Receivers for the Lazer 4 can be had cheap and if he gets in a crash destroying the receiver we havent thrown away a $50(or more) receiver.
He will be using a Thunder Tiger GP42, easy to set up, reliable, inexpensive. If he crashes it into a tree we get another for cheap.
All this is designed to take the pressure off, if he is flying a bunch of money he will be more nervous .
The GP42 is powerful but will still teach him to fly the wing as I prefer.
Inexpensive high quality reliable components.

Iuse FMSflight simulator. I picked up a cable to attach my transmitter to the computer for $8 on ebay and downloaded the flight sim for free.
It works fine to teach you the basic stick controls. Realflight is way more cool(yes I have flown it too) but really expensive in comparison.

Your bank account is all that is holding you back.

radius1x1

Hi Dom and welcome to the RC World. Save the money and buy a Spectrum DX7 "HELIVERSION". I currently have about 13 planes on mine. Investing in the BASIC cheap stuff will cost you more in the long run. You will quickly find yourself progressing and want to take advantage of the "mixing" capabilities of the better radios. As far as those that claim expo and mixing is cheating.... I fly to have fun. Looking good while making a coordinated turn, snap rolls, emilmens, barrel roles, and tail slides are best accomplished with the appropriate mixes for a given plane. Also; Horizon Hobby tech support is great when you are just learning radio setup. Horizon makes some great micro planes and Helis that you will probably love to fly indoors during the winter and work only with the "Spectrum" stuff. The airplane and heli versions cost the same. However, the heli provides a few extra tricks that can also be used on planes. If later you get interested in helis, you will all ready be setup at no additional expense.
I own both Great planes and Phoenix simulators. Go with the Phoenix. The phoenix uses the DX7 with advantage of allowing you sim time with the exact setup you will be flying with in the field; e.g. expo, dualrates, and mixes.
Check out Ebay. I bought two DX7's dirt cheap.
Good luck and beware of the trees!

mike109

G'day Wazzbat

I was out today flying a couple of my trainers. First up was my LT-40. It is the ARF version though I wish it were the kit version (I think I will have to get one from Sig directly).

Anyway, The LT was originally flown with my Saito 56 as I said but today it flew with my very old Saito 45 Mk 2. I once tried to fly a quite light Kadet Senior with his engine but it just could not do it. So I have up graded it with the "high lift" cam from a Saito 56 and today was its first outing. I ran it yesterday and tuned it and today it had its first flight. It was great. Not overpowered but more than enough and quite able to take off quickly and climb easily. The LT-40 is a really nice model to fly and was quite happy to putter around very slowly with the engine just above idle.

I also flew my oldest Kadet Senior which is now wearing the Saito 56 and it was its usual reliable self. It was being flown today because it has not had an outing for a while and I just wanted to blow the cobwebs out.

Next up was a small old timer called a Heron Gas Buggy. This has a 1.5cc Silver Swallow diesel and is really a free flight model and flies best once the engine stops. I am using it to test a JR 2610 radio which I have upgraded to 2.4 Gig with a Fly Dream module. Everything worked well.

And finally I flew my Multiplex Easystar foam glider which I have upgraded with a brushless motor and one of Peter Burford's superb 6 x 4 props. These planes cost about $100 plus another $50 or so for the improved motor and battery and fly far better than any $100 model should. Their glide is particularly impressive.

A very sucessful day if a little overcast.

misterv

All the above messages have offered advice on radio, motors and aircraft etc., but none have touched on the problem of building the LT40 straight and accurate. For a first time builder it is easy to make a mistake, grain wrong direction, wrong glue and many other little places where a novice builder would be unaware of. The Sig LT40 is a fantastic trainer and also a good second model to "throw" around when you have mastered the controls. However a poorly built model can be a handfull for an inexperienced flyer. An experienced modeller could cope and sort out the problems.
When Sig originally kitted the LT40 it was a similar to others,die cut parts etc. However when they brought out the ARF version, I noted the kit now came with laser cut parts as used in the ARF. Agreed this would make it easier to assembly it accurately but with the kit you get no wheels,tank spinner, covering materials and from memory the kit was more expensive than the ARF version. The quality of the ARF WAS excellent but I have read that Sig's ARF quality is falling.
My reccomendation is put the kit aside until next winter, if available purchase a ARF Sig LT40 and use that as your basic trainer knowing that any flying mistakes are more likely to come from any source except from the accuracy of the model.
I enjoy scratch building models but it is difficult to build as light and accurate as today's quality ARF and a lot more expensive. I would estimate the cost to scratch build a model is 3 to 4 times the cost of an ARF.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I get a kick out of people who recommend anything MORE than a basic 4-channel radio to start out with. To people who say "You need to start out with at least 7 or 8 channels" all I can say is, I've been flying all my life (I'm 56) and I fly everything from trainers to warbirds, to giant scale areobats, to 3D planes to electrics and I have NEVER needed more than 6 channels.

Dom, get a simulator. The season in New Jersey will be over soon, and although a sim won't teach you everything, it WILL teach you the basics. What's important to realize is that even when the season is in full swing, you'll only get 1 or 2 hours of actual flying per week, so it could learn months to learn "the basics" that a sim can teach you in a week or two.

For more info on getting started, click the "GettingAirborne" link in my signature. Ken Isaac (RCKen) and I put together a nice site for people exactly in your position.

BTW, is the Totowa club where my buddy Joe Beshar flies? If so tell him I said, "Hi"