Great story High Plains and Mike109 your triple Saito on the Senior is stunning. I'll bet it is a great joy to fly. I to consider the Senior as the all time greatest if not the most kit bashed trainer in history.

Since The supply of the arfs and now even the kits seems to be in doubt our club has a project producing a number of them for our local use. I think we have six of them under way now with different fellows doing different portions of the airplanes just for ourselves. I think I will do one and get it with just the wing and fuse but uncovered and no tail. I'd like to do another tail dropper which is a stock appearing trainer in which the horizontal falls off in flight. Thats a great fun gag

John

G'day and Thank-you. Yes, it is slight overkill. At the present time I have 5 Kadet Seniors. The white one in the photo above has the Saito 90R3 in it for two reasons.

1. I wanted to make sure it would fly a plane. The radials do not produce as much power as a single cylinder engine the same size especially when they are new. There is so much mechanical friction in them. They can also be a bit difficult to get along with when they are new and so I decided that a Kadet Senior would be a nice safe place for it to get some air time. It turned out to be a good idea. It has had only two flights so far. First flight it was over propped and did not fly very well but the Senior was still able to get around and back on the ground safely. Second flight was better but it dropped a cylinder part way through the flight but I was not aware that it had until I landed and found one cylinder stone cold. So the Senior has proven to be a good place to test a new engine.

2. I just like Kadet Seniors. And weird engines.

My other KSs have a Saito 56, a Laser 70 an Enya 53 and I am putting the final touches to one with a Saito 72. One is an ARF (the one with the Enya) and all the rest were built from kits. Of the kits, only the most recent with the Saito 72 has ailerons.

I guess you could say I like them.

The first one I owned was the first plane I was totally happy flying. I knew I could fly it in any weather and I knew I could always get it back onto the ground in one piece. It was a very confidence inspiring plane.

Next trick is to build a wing for two engines.

Mike in Oz

I don't have my original trainer anymore unfortunately it was lost during Hurricane Andrew.

As one of our club instructors I have 3 trainers that I keep in my hanger to use training students. I have a Tower 60, an Apha 40, and a La Senorita powered by a .20 which I use to really slow things down if a student is having problems with orientation.


Like most here I enjoy doing relaxed flying, touch & go's with a trainer.

I destroyed a trainer that I absolutely loved... the Goldberg Protege' ... I sure wish they would bring it back. I also wish they would bring back the Alpha 60... both great trainers.

I ran that plane through the wringer and she kept coming back for more. I have a trainer that I built a long time ago, a midwest aerostar... but it never flew as good as the protege.

I instruct now and enjoy flying a trainer to help people out. The 50cc planes are where I enjoy spending my time.

Still have the Avistar with a 46 FX that I trained and soloed on back in 2003. I`ve kept it as much for sentimental reasons as anything else, although I still fly it from time to time. Reminds me of some great times with a great bunch of guys in my first RC flying club ( Northshore RC, Slidell, LA ).

sold my NexStar with OS engine to a young kid and his dad for basically nothing. Didn't mind helping them out, especially since the young kid paid for it with his own money.

For me, the price of glow fuel is too expensive to spend on trainers once I was ready for the next step up.

There was no option for me. I handed mine to my 9 year old and taught him how to fly, then he out grew it. He's 11 now and starting to 3D and fly aerobatics so we converted the old tower trainer to a float plane with dual bomb bays underneath

Thanks John.

My Mambo is not the oldest RC airplane I have. I have a Berkeley Super Buccaneer that was built in the late 40's that was set-up for escapement rudder. A lot of the early RC airplanes were just large free flight designs with big cabin areas. It would have had a tube radio, and seems to have had an ignition engine as well.

It was given to my dad while he was in high school (Manhattan Ks), but he no longer remembers who built it. A few years ago I met Carl Schwab who was the designer of the Dee Bee Quadruplex radio back in the early 60's at a trade show. Carl graduated from Kansas State University (BS in Electrical Engineering) in Manhattan at about the same time my dad was in HS. Carl thought that the Buccaneer was built by a guy that owned a local gas station at the time, but also didn't remember the guys name.

For those who may no know what a Super Buccaneer was, it was a free flight design from 1939 with a 8 1/2 foot wing span that used up to a .99 sized engine. As such, it could also carry several pounds of batteries required for crude radios and ignition systems for low rpm engines from the era.

I donated my RTF Alpha 60 and transmitter to my club. I do still get to fly it. Of course now it is buddy boxed with new students until they get their own plane and equipment.

I added floats and a bigger engine to my trainer. Flys like crap now...shoulda left well-enough alone.

Like a lot of guy's on here I still fly a trainer ARC/Thunder Tigerr Ready my own first trainer died an inglorious death at my hands but thats life. I use the ready for trining beginners but I also use it to show them that they don't have to get rid of it too soon after they have solo's as it it will do all the aerobatics a newbie can do and some. It is a very underrated plane by most people who se it just as a trainer, it is easily an excellent second plane I even know a guy who has an OS 90 shoehorned in for a glider tug.
Jim

Is a trainer still a trainer after you have graduated, or can your trainer be considered a sport plane flown by a graduated pilot after that point?[sm=confused.gif][sm=confused.gif][sm=confused.gif]

I have four Telemasters, a Precedent T240, and a vintage three-channel Super Scorpian. However, I do inport the Telemaster range into the UK so need a few demonstrators!

It's still a "Trainer" if you let new guys fly it once in a while...

I keep the XE-2 ready to go...it has a relatively simple radio / buddy box set-up, so I keep the control surface deflections fairly mild, in case someone wants to give it a try. (I'm also an AMA Intro pilot )


You can "convert" your trainer into a much more manuverable and responsive airplane by maxxing-out the control surface throws, and maybe moving the C.G. back, etc.
Some guys have Hot Rod trainers with much more powerful engines, etc. etc...and they race them...

My trainer was smashed in a brilliant puff of monokote. It was a Pilot PT-40 I think. A high wing trainer with a bolt-on wing. I initiated a roll, it nosed down while inverted and I pulled instead of pushed on the elevator. Whopps!!!

It was a tough bird though. I taught myself how to fly on it, repaired the wing several times and it still flew fine. Just not very aerobatic.

I started out with a Hobbico Superstar 40, with an old Irvine 40 engine (split case). After soloing, I crashed it and retired it. I already had a low-wing trainer/sport plane, so I took the gear out of the trainer and put it in a Sig Rascal 40. You could consider the Rascal as a sport trainer. I fly it almost every other time I go flying. I use it for warming up to the faster planes. I also use it if one of my sons wants to fly. I just did that 2 days ago with my 9 year old, great family time!!

Last year I switched engines and put in a Magnum 52 4-stroke to give it a nostalgic effect. It now flies and sounds like an old-timer. I hope to keep it and fly it for a long time. If I crash it, I might get something similar, like a Toledo Special or similar.

I still have the trainer that I soloerd on. Now my grandaughter is learning to fly with it.

I moved engine/electronics to my next plane and gave my frame away. Mostly due to money and space restraints. I only have limited room for planes right now, and didn't have room to keep my trainer.

After I get my PhD next year and buy a house (aka expanded hangar!!! ), I fully plan on getting another trainer just for fun.

Well I learned to fly 30 years ago so NO I do not have my trainer anymore!

+1

Tried to sell the trainer once because I had acquired three newer, much more advanced planes. Bad karma, or maybe getting too big for britches or the plane should be named Christine. Crashed all three newer planes in the same week and was right back to flying the trainer while the others were in the shop. I won't try to get rid of it again even though I have continued to add planes to the hangar. Probably going to start using it for buddy-box training.

just got a senior telemaster this weekend cant wait to get it in the air !

I use mine for teaching and a lazy day flyer!

The guys at the field got to where they hated to see mine. I would get it up going slow, set the tx down, lite a smoke, or get a bite of that sandwhich I was working on, put it down, turn the plane, then put the tx back down while I got cumfy in my chair. Drove them nuts!!! lmao think they got mad cause I could silly stuff like that, without a crash, and theirs were falling outta the sky!! still lmao.

My first trainer is still with me and gets flown occasionally. Bud Nosen Rookie with a Fox 45bbrc. I took it out last christmas eve for some ski flying.

The airplane is now 31 years old.

Here's a link for the flight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1T2jbLOHsU