Well I finished building a Kadet Senior a LONG time ago, and I was fed up waiting for warmer weather, because no one would show up to the club to give me lessons. (you know where this is going)

So I loaded my plane up, went to the local high school, and started her up, and I took off. I pull up (a little to much I learn now!!!) and the plane went in a vertical. The little bit of wind took it and rolled it backwards sending it in another vertical. (Just the opposite direction. Towards the ground). And before I knew it, it nose planted in the ground.

So I have come to the conclusion, when you guys say NEVER to fly without lessons, your right.

Just had to prove that for myself.

Any rebuilding suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Ouch! Bummer, Flyin High.

On the up side, just about any damage to a Kadet can be fixed. A little CA and epoxy, and if you have all the broken bits, it's just another kit. Or, you can buy individual sheets from Sig, to replace missing stuff.

Hang in there. We're all rooting for ya.

Dave Olson

I know the feeling I was in the same boat. finished my senior this last winter. I built another trainer while waiting out winter but was dying to fly. This last weekend went out to the field and there were about 10 guys out. found a guy to take up my second plane and trim it out. The plane flew bueatifully. Didnt have a buddy box so we passed the tx unfortanatly I lost it and gave the tx back to the trainer to late to save the plane. After picking up the pieces,it was getting late and most of the guys were leaving including the trainer. But I still wanted to fly, so I got out my senior and decided I was just going to taxie it around unfortanatly a little too much throttle and the plane lifted off banked left over the pits hit the airsock pole and straight into the ground. Long story short it aint pretty but here are some pics.

Well... they are repairable...[&:] (not easilly on the second..)

Welcome tothe toothpick club. I'm THE charter member.

Sorry to see the damage guys, but hopefully other beginners will look at what you wrote, and the pictures you posted and listen to your advice. (Cuz they sure don't like listening to it from us! )
Dennis-

for rebuildng the first fuselage... start by carefully fitting the 3D jigsaw puzzle together. When its all together.. CA it. then glue some 1/4X1/8 strips of balsa over the places that were broken. (I'd use yellow glue and clamp it well... )

Then patch up the covering... can either patch with more covering or with clear packing tape.

That should just about do it. You actually have MINOR damage. (I have field repaired worse than that cabin in under 30 min.)

The second land esentially on wingtip and nose a little bit pulled up from vertical?

My senior is almost back together 2 nights fuse is ready to recover. Will fix the wing tomorrow night and covering will be in weds., should be complete weds. night or thurs. night. The other plane will be ready sat., I hope.

If you want to learn to fly very, very quick, safe and easy, come on down to Lockport, NY. We will provide excellent instruction within a couple of hours. You are about 2-1/2 hours away. Bring your trainer or fly ours.

Nascarjoe

http://ww.lighthousehobby.com (add w)

Get help flying. And now get help repairing.
Go find a local club. I'm sure you'll find someone who would be willing to show you what you will need to do to get it back in the air.

I'd like to add that flying a gas-powered plane at a school sounds like a big NO NO to me. But then here in sunny southern Cal, people actually come out to school fields to do sports!

I'm also concerned about your flying at the High School Do you know that people have been killed by being hit by .40 sized planes? Do you know about frequency control? Do you know whether there is a club located within 3 miles of the high school? If so, you could be endangering life and property at the club as well.

Lots of people tout the Kadet Sr as a great trainer, but that is the one thing I really don't like about it. That cabin is very frail, and won't take any abuse.

Charles, get that thing fixed and come on down to Willmar sometime.

Don't mean to be a jerk, but why do people go to the field and wait for someone to show up. When students here get ready, they pick up the phone and call one of us and ask us to meet them there and we do, test fly, teach them and charge them nothing. Is it that a lot of the people going to the field can't find a phone number of someone (most fields have them posted and ama has a few for members of the club) or is it that they feel the guys don't want to be bothered?

Trust me, the guys do want to be bothered. Most would like to help and most don't want to see you crash!

I always felt a bit sheepish calling the guy that taught me. I finnaly realized that he REALLY wanted to help. Helping was part of the hobby for him. He knows how to fly, he knows how to build... teaching is another part of the hobby.

IN FACT... he seamed almost a bit disapointed one of the first times I went by myself and did not call him...

I have a guy here, who I now consider a friend that used to feel the same way about calling me for help flying.

Hate to say it, but I didn't go to the field because I was tired of it. When he started calling me, it gave me a good reason to go to the field and I always took a plane and flew it once too. I enjoyed that summer more than I have in a long time. I flew more that summer than I had in the past 3 put together, and now I go fly with him on a more regular basis.

Call the guys and ask for help. They will tell you if they are busy. They enjoy helping most of the time as long as you are willing to listen and learn, and not throw a lot of the childish attitude you see in some of the forums around. I will help just about anyone, accept the kid that thinks he is better than anyone else, but still crashes every flight.

Why do you make a trainer out of expensive toothpicks, make them out of foam without a hard shell. ( parcel tape)
They will survive many crashes, and cost virtually nothing, and any repairs will be less than 1 hour.
Here are a couple of examples:-
The low wing Spacewalker was my only trainer, it has survived 6 crashes, the only damage being a bent undercarriage, and a damaged aileron! and it taught me to fly.

The other aircraft belongs to a friend ( an experienced flier ) who had the misfortune to have radio failure at the top of a loop, and it went straight in at full power from 60'.
Damage was resrticted to a broken prop, and a fuel tank which joined the engine.
Time to repair? half an hour. Flying happily next day.
PS the fuselage looks broken in the picture, but wasn't.

Let's see you do that with an ordinary trainer!

The Airhawk is back together and ready to fly

Many people (it would seem) want to buy, build, crash and repair expensive trainers, even though they ***** and moan about the cost and the time to repair.

I have tried (in quite a few threads now ) to point them in the direction of an extremely inexpensive alternative, however this method has hardly ever been acknowleged.
It worked very well for me ....... but then of course if they tried it, they would have nothing to moan about anymore!

Maybe they're trying to host a " mine cost more than yours competition" !!

Forget about expensive accessories, decals and great looks until you have learnt to fly, use a basic flying machine, not a flying showpiece!

BTW If you have a machine that you are not worried about crashing, then your nervousness is gone and you are less likely to crash.

I agree. I'm learning the hard way, launch, fly, crash, repair. I'm all I have, right now. The foam, slow flyers, have been my salvation. My, actual, flight time is increasing & the repair time is decreasing.

I've chosen the high wing design, slower flying electric models, with throttle control & high glide ratios. If it will not glide to a smooth landing when I launch it, by hand, without power, I don't fly until I correct the problem. Two trips to the field to learn this lesson & I'm sure it would have taken 3 minutes with a teacher.

It will take me much, much, longer this way. I am, indeed, missing the fellowship provided by flight clubs, but until I find one, I am learning & even the "slow way" is better than "no way".

Cheers

Bob,
I learnt the hard way too, but got a lot of satisfaction from the fact that a friend and I figured it out ourselves, and it cost little or nothing (as opposed to the guys who feel it is necessary to spend $$$ to get started.) - Many people are put off by the cost, (and the draconian rules).

Of course I do realise that some people may be a little intimidated by scratch building, but to scratch build a foamie such as mine, is probably at least as easy as assembling a built up balsa kit, and much much less expensive!

The foamies will also last well with glow engines if properly sealed at the right spots, and will not be any more expensive than electrics.

We found through experiment, that the secret to preventing powered foamies from breaking is to use a minimum of thin sheet wooden bracing laid in flush (glued), top and bottom on the wings, and on fuselage sides etc.( attached to the engine bearers) and covered with cheap coloured parcel tape, so everything can move - as opposed to a complete rigid wooden shell which will break.

Polystyrene, if not restrained by hard shells can be a very resilient material, but it has to be covered by something flexible, to prevent the little snowy beads in the event of a crash, and cheap parcel tape will do this job well. (we're talking inexpensive solutions for trainers here remember! not brilliant works of art).

I would be keen to see some of you more experienced guys just give it a try, even for a laugh, ( F HUBER??), then I won't feel like a lone voice in the wilderness!

It does work!

LOL... you haven't seen my posts suggesting the 4 1/2 foot foamies from Wally-World as intro trainers?

5 to 15 min... some packing tape (and a little bit more "stuff") and a 3 channel setup with ESC and motor and 2 microservos and I can put a foamie in the air.

Strip of tape on the bttm of the LE... another on the top of the LE...then one more around so half is above and half below the seam line.

Strip of tape on the belly and one on the top of the fuselage to stiffen it up

Tape to hinge on some control surfaces. (either cut from the wings for ailerons and same for the elevator from the stab... or tape on tapered balsa stock)

Tape the servos, battery, ESC and RX in place with some double-stick picture mounting stuff.

The hardest part is mounting the electric motor... Chop the nose to make a shelf and rubber band the motor on.

Add your control horns and pushrods... go fly.

***********

You'd think I built one or two.

Yes, I did see those, tried engines too? No wood bracing? Glad to see that you acknowledge the possibility

Just thought it might stop all the complaining about the cost of learning.

well guys the kadet senior is back up and ready to fly.

looks like you did a good job!