I didn't waste anytime. I finished this kit last night about 10pm and had it in the air my 9:30 the following morning. This is my first airplane/first kit. I was a bit concerned about whether it would fly right or whether it would even fly at all.

I joined my club this morning and buddied up with the president of the club (a friend of my fiancee's family). He helped me break in the engine and took it up for its first flight. I was grinning from ear to ear as I found out that it was flying really well. He flew it for about 5 minutes or so and landed it. I increased the aileron throws and he took it up again and trimmed it out. It flies straight as an arrow completely hands off.

The third and final flight was on the buddy box. I was able to take the controls for about 8 or so minutes. I flew figure eights over the field for a bit. We then landed and, my lord, was there a lot of oil on the side. I cleaned it up well enough to transport back to the house, but I have more cleanup yet to do.

One of the guys out there was so impressed with my work, that he offered to give me a kit that he has had for a while. It is still in the box and unbuilt (obviously). Its a Goldberg Chipmunk?????, I need to do some research on that particular plane. But, you can't beat free, thats for sure. So, I'll have another kit going here in the not too distant future.

My goal was to finish this thing before the Christmas break ended. Well, tomorrow, school starts again. Its maiden flight was the last day of the break........WOW!!

I am just thrilled. I am gonna go out there next weekend and get back on the buddy box and do some more flying.

Congrats on the maiden Bryris, that memory will stay with you for a long time.

The Chipmunk is a pretty aewrobatic plane, so I'd suggest not flying it until you have a couple of other low wings under your belt. You should be golden if you wait and fly it as your fourth plane.

I've been thinking about getting one for some time now. I've flown another club member's Chipmunk and they're pretty sweet.
Dennis-

Nice one bryris, told you you'd have a blast The chipmunk is a really nice looking kit.

Congrats Bryris!!! Sounds like you are off to a great start in this hobby! For some reason no one has given me a Chipmunk to build, but I can still wait and see! Can't complain too much however as the wife bought me a Great Planes Stuka ARf which is much more fun to fly than I expected!

Congrats Bryris.. Isn't it soooo much fun!!! .. and believe me it's a VERY
addicting hobby... Glad you enjoyed yourself and all came out well..
Keep practicing before you attemp to fly your Chipmunk!! That's an
added plus on Club's and club members... You can find very helpful
people there!! Enjoy!!

Right now i read all your posts, and must say, im gonna follow your steps, except im gonna get the lt25. How did you cover it? It looks really nice, and by the way your reaction is towards this plane, i must say, i can wait to get my plane. I have a foam cessna 180 and hate it. Dad is mad because he thinks im imature on the fact that now its just sitting in a bag. Its broken! All i can do is take off the two micro servos and install it all on a glider. Its a gonner. Confidence is low, but steady due to the fact that i know im flying with an instructor this time and i have a radio with a buddy box.

The covering isn't really that tough, but its not too much fun. It was the least enjoyable part of the build. I used Ultracote on mine, because based on my research, it seemed to be the most forgiving. And it was.

Also, you definately need an instructor. During my building of this LT-40, I bought a GWS slow stick to goof around with. I tried to fly it and I believe that my longest flight was about 7 seconds. I ended up busting the tail and had to order another. After the new tail arrived, I decided to park the slow stick for a while and fly the LT-40 first. I am just now getting going on the learning to fly part, but with my instructor's help, we did three completely successful flights and I learned a lot.

Take a breather, relax a bit, then reapproach the hobby and do it by the book. Build slowly, join an AMA club and get an instructor.

As my training progresses, I am bound to scuff up this airplane a tad. Hopefully, it won't be anything that isn't fixable. But with another one on the workbench taking shape, it will mitigate the pain if something does happen.