I was carying my LT 40 after landing. I had ahold of it with one had on the wing right by the fuse. I heard a crunch. It appears there is a thin layer of balsa on the outside of the first couple of ribs from the center right under the covering. I can feel that it is crunched a little. If I didn't know I did it I wouldn't even notice. Could this cause a problem?




Wings,

I would not worry that is the cap strip put on to cover leading edge. As long as you did not damage main spars will fly OK. You can repair when you need repairs to covering later. Mine has been down 6 time this summer and have had to repair covering several time.

I busted the wing once already. I broke two spars. I over shot the runway in my uncles yard. Rolled right into a pine tree. I just repaired the and covered the hole with a patch of monokote. You can barely tell. I figure maybe this winter when its too cold to think about flying I may rip it apart and re-do it. For now, time is running out rapidly here for nice flying weather (I think the nice is over, now is the tolerable weather).

To be completely honest I don't care too much what it looks like. I keep it wiped down, but hey, its a trainer. I'm "learning" with it. lol. When I build my first kit I will probably cry when it gets a scratch.

Well, thanks for the info. It is reassuring to know that it shouldn't matter. Happy flying.

By the way, what do you fly?

Wings,

Hey wings, we've all "crunched" some balsa wing sheeting, so welcome to the club. I got tired of picking up greasy models so I made a "Come Along." I removed the antenna from an old transmitter, formed a hook from a length of music wire that would fit inside the small antenna tube up at the tip. Removed the tip button, of course. I found a wooden knob in a junk box (hardware store might have some) and drilled it to fit the bottom end of the antenna and epoxied it on. So now if I have to go get a greasy plane I take my "Come Along." When I get to the plane I extend it and hook onto the prop shaft behind the prop and "lead" it back to the pits. If its a tail dragger I hook onto the tail wheel. If you experience some flame outs while out on the runway, leave it hooked to a belt loop on your pants, as collapsed its only a few inches long. I never leave home without my "Come Along!" A final note, not to be used in case of a landing gear wipe out...

Also useful on small children

You ask what I fly, I fly scale and pattern, I have Royal P51, F4U, Sterling P63 King Cobra.GP Extra 300-40 with Mag 60, Sig SE ,1/5 Cub, and a bunch more. I give instruction on the Lt40 at the club site, that's why it been down so many times, I do all the rebuilding and the newbie's do the flying!! Have a Good One.

Do you have seperate engines, rx, batteries , servos for each plane? I guess my question is, can you fly each one any time you want without switching parts over.



This hobby truly is addictive and expensive. I just bought my LT 40 a month ago. I still plan to fly it a bunch more through the winter as much as I can and spring. But when I bought it I bought a nice engine so I could use it on the next plane. Now I like the engine on the LT 40 and want to keep it there.

So I was under the impression when I was ready for a new plane all it would cost me was the money for the kit and necesseties to build it. Now I want to keep the LT 40 in flying condition so I want all new internals for the new plane and a new engine. My wife is not liking this.

Do most people buy new planes complete, or do they just upgrade to new plane with the same engine if possible? I guess this is a dumb question and is a matter of preference. But I was just wondering what the norm was.


Wings,

Boy did you get your self in to a WELL!!!!!!!!! . I have motors running out my ears, radios from when shep was a pup!!! It depends on the individual what he wants , Some have one tras. and multipual RX. some have have TX with selective Channels, can change to channel you want to use. Back to the Q. I have a radio for all my planes. No computer yet.

Wings, this is just a hobby, so do it the way you want. I know a guy that flys two of his planes with the same transmitter (same channel). He says he likes thing simple. As time goes by you will find you will have accumulated a few things here and there, and your main worry then will be where in the hell am I going to keep them all? Or, where did I put that OS .60? Have fun!

I have eight flyable right now. Each with it's own engine, flight pack etc. (Two are park flyers.) I have another three that should be ready by spring, and they'll have their own gear as well.

I have used one transmitter up until thie last plane. It was given to me with a transmitter and receiver and stuff, so now I have two frequencies to keep track of.
Dennis-

I use one transmitter for all my planes (Eclipse 7). Currently I have 4 flying, one that needs an rx and another that needs an rx and two servos. I hope to some day soon have all of them flying. Yes, this is expensive, thank God the wife gets paid more than I do.