Sorry for all the questions, but im bored and curious. Once ive built and fitted my Kadet MKII, it should, technically, fly level without any help right? Once its up and going, the true test of craftsmanship is straight, level flight yes? Just wondering.

There's more to level flight than a nice square build. CG and control surface trim would be two major ones. Also motor size (Put an oversized engine on a smaller plane and wide open the throttle and whatch her climb). You want to make sure the build is all square and both wings are level with each other and you will be good to go. First flight will almost always need a little trim clicks. My last plane was a Goldberg Tiger 60 ARF. When I finally maidened her, she didn't require a click of trim anywhere. I was so proud of Carl Goldberg and myself! :LOL: That doesn't happen often!

Don't be upset if you have to use the trim tabs on your transmitter. The items Twistr mentioned always seem to need attention, and even if there's a little imbalance or control surface offset, it's really not a big reflection of your building skills. We've all missed an alignment, at one time or another, and the plane still flew.

There is a larger issue, though, about flying straight and level. Mainly, you don't do much of it. Especially during the training period. The reason for that is, if you fly straight and level for any length of time, the plane gets too far away to see easily and control properly.

You will actually find that while flying, you are always either turning, or setting up your next turn. The time you spend flying straight will be minimal and may be a relief, but more than that it allows you time to think about setting up your approach, or your maneuver, or your simple turn. The turns are more important, in most cases.

Good to see you thinking ahead! Best wishes,
Dave Olson

Well, no, not exactly. Besides flying well, the plane should function well and be durable. Ex: servos should work freely, fuel flow should be reliable, fuel proofing and covering should insure years and years of portection.

Often good craftsmanship only becomes apparrent after years of maintainance free flights.

But don't be to hard on yourself either, it isn't unusual for a new plane to have at least some teething. I will often spend several weeks fine tuning a new plane and adjusting or correcting things. Ex: my new Chipmunk had a small but known mistake in the incedence in the wing, only after flying the plane did I decide to correct it. And the canopy blew off because I hadn't scuffed the Monokote before gluing. I have been flying for 25 years and building models for nearly 40. I rarely get everything exactly right on the first try. Now and then I hit one out of the park, but usually I need tol go back and "tweek" things.

I don't know if you follow NASCAR, but the driver and the crew chief must communicate to each other the behavior of the car. The driver speaks in driver talk, and the mechanics speak in thier lingo. Often it is difficult for a driver to express his needs And for the mechanic to understand what he wants.

Well, you are the driver and the mechanic. If you understand what makes a plane behaive this way or that way, AND you can tune your planes to fly as you like , you will always have great planes !!!!

In the meantime, don't let them rot !!

Well said!

Scott

You can measure and eyeball everything down to the millimeter, and it will look "just right", but the first time it breaks ground it may be all over the place. Some trim will inevitably be needed, and even though you might not DO much straight and level flight, the plane should be trimmed so that it will fly straight and level "hands off". For instance, with the Kadet in particular, the flat bottom wing will make it power sensitive, and at a given airspeed, it may fly level; bump up the throttle, though, and it will want to climb unless you re-trim the elevator (put a little "down" in) for level flight at the higher airspeed. My recommendation is to trim it for a slower airspeed, and get used to how it handles, and get used to how the sticks feel. You may be able to fly at higher power settings with that trim, but just "lean on" the elevator control to keep it level, just as you will have to "lean on" the ailerons to keep it level when you fly in a crosswind, even though it's trimmed for level flight. The Kadet MkII was my 1st plane, and it is a good trainer, fairly tough. It has a fairly short tail moment and turns quickly, so it may feel a bit "twitchy" at first

Isn't that what downthrust if for?

all these posts are correct. I would take that flysright off the board &self corrects with a grainof salt . too many variables. first flights are often intresting but with the trainer unless somethings bad out of wack, go ok.expecttodo some trimming esp if there is wind &later on again.