I have just got looking into this stuff. I was wondering if the Thunder Tiger Trainer 40 is any good for my first.

As good as any other trainer.

what do you mean

Most trainer are designed to be gentle flyers and pretty forgiving of mistakes that beginners tend to make. When selecting a trainer it pretty much comes down to wich one you like the look of best. I had a Tiger Trainer 60 that I loved, I gave it to a buddy of mine as his first plane and he likes it too. But really, you can't go wrong when selecting a trainer. Just make sure that it is a high wing, Flat, or semi symetrical air foil, and you should be fine.

It's a good one, and I've taught a few to fly with it.

My friend has this trainer. I have flow it and consider it to be a pretty good choice. But then again as flyerdarren has said pretty much all the modern trainers are a good plane.

Hey

Another great beginner plane is the Avistar. Good for trainers i have one and it taught me how to fly and now i getting something bigger and faster.


ED

I was surprised to see a different thread, today, about a TT trainer 40 wing breaking. The pilot had used it for his training period, and was still using it for aerobatics. After many many sessions of aerobatics, the wing broke on a pull-out (at idle.)

The thing that surprised me was that it seems there is no wing joiner - a spar joiner that sticks into both wings to the depth of the second or third rib. I am accustomed to seeing a joiner in the ARF plane wings, and (from the description) this plane doesn't use one.

Two people in the thread described bolting the wing halves together, adding glue or epoxy, and still having the wing come apart (after considerable time.)

If you use this plane for your training period, you might want to remember whether there's a spar joiner or not. If those posts are accurate, I would not do a lot of loops with the plane. Apparently, it is fine for ordinary training purposes.

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

I've never had one of these things, but it seems surprising that it would not be fit for looping. Just for grins I did a search and found the assembly manual. Good thing it's not a Lanier, I would not have paid to look at it.

http://www.acehobby.com/manuals/plane/markii.pdf

A quick look through the book shows that there is indeed a plywood wing joiner. Wonder what kind of abuse the planes had been put through before they failed?

The one I purchased in 1998 had a joiner

Hm. Perhaps the guys in the other thread neglected to install the joiner, they said it bolted together, and broke around the bolt.

(or, perhaps I read something wrong, that's been happening lately....)

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

It's a great plane but has a few issues.....

The store had one as a trainer for a while. We did have a couple of issues with them after some heavy use. The plastic turtle deck came unglued and would crack and discolor. Also the motor is mounted high on the firewall. The fuse sides (plywood) stay low and the upper part of the firewall is not supported. This probably causes a little extra vibration and quite a few firewalls did come lose. The main landing gear was weak, usually broke when the student had a hard landing, was hard to find replacements, and we ended up recommending aluminum replacement. We stopped stocking them.

The cowling is pretty cool though.....

I would recommend:

Sig LT-40
Hobbico Superstar
Hobbico Avistar