Dus:

The SPAD is an excellent, inexpensive way to learn. They are not hard to build, and take a tremendous amount of abuse. I have several balsa planes and some SPADs ... I can tell you that if I had to do all over again I would have learned to fly on a SPAD trainer. I decided to build one because I am learning 3D and felt it owuld be a good trainer. I couldn't be happier with my SPAD3DT. As a builder one can get emotionally attached to a balsa plane that has taken a long time and lots of $$$ to build. the SPAD removes those barriers and helps allow the pilot to fly more and worry less.

How about showing your trainer SPAD plane.

What would be the best design for a SPAD? I printed the Debonaire one, but I notice the planes on FXHobbies website look like the bodies are inverted which looks better. I contacted Frank and he was nice enough to give me a price on the whole setup with everything I would need. It comes out to almost $80 though. Tower Hobbies trainer is cheaper, but I am sure there are a few things to buy in order to complete their ARF also. I think I will just build one if I can find all the supplies.

Let lose your imation
you might want a nice large control sufaces,
be creative.

Are there any other spad websites out there to get plans other than spadtothebone?

I think Think that's it......
or you try SPAD plans in serach.

Let me put in my 2 cents. I was able to fly a couple of the first prototype AirCore .40 Trainers. Heavy, yes. Put a .45 or .46 on it, and its great. Able to take LOTS of punishment, YES. We intentionally would crash them from 10' to 20' (nose down). Broken props by the bucket load, but the plane held up. If you have ever seen the advertisments that show the plane on cartwheeling down the runway, we did the same thing (Thos pics might even be the ones that we did - too many years have gone by). We even had it on vidotape trying to trash itself. Five minutes later, it was flying again. Basically it is a SPAD. It does like to eat up a lot of runway - larger wheels will help, and it likes to land a little fast, but who cares. The Airmadello is also a good plane, but the aluminum channel can break if you try to straighten it after a bad crash. If you want a plane that can take massive punishment, go with the AirCore. Personally, I'm still a balsa person, but am getting into SPADs a little more.

Success Guarantee: You will learn to fly with this trainer or
US Aircore will replace it with another US Aircore trainer.
All this is assuming that the modeler learns to fly under the
supervision of a club designated instructor at an AMA-sanctioned
field. This is also assuming that the airplane is assembled as per
the instruction manual. This guarantee is effective for 60 days
after kit is received.
This is from the Tower website - you can't go wrong with this!!

Thanks.

I just ordered the AirCore trainer .40 that Bassfisher talked about above. I'll let you know how it turns out!


Darin

Please do, let me know if you like it and what extra supplies you needed to complete it.

I went through a lot of SPADs, including the Debonair, while learning to fly. I have NEVER seen ANY balsa plane cartwheel down the runway as many times as those SPADs and fly again. If you insist on not going to a club, you can build 10 SPADs for the cost of one balsa trainer. Very, very few people are able to teach themselves to fly successfully. Even at a club and with instructors, most people take at least 2 or 3 planes to be able to solo on a regular basis without crashing. If you spend all your money on one plane, and crash on the first flight, what next? Experienced flyers have seen it too many times, that's why the warnings are given. I taught one guy how to build a Debonair, and did 2 or 3 flights on the buddy box with him. He then took it out to fly by himself, and would fly it into the bushes to land because he couldn't land it on the regular runway. He would gas it up and go again.

The AirCore and Armadillo are similar to some SPAD designs.

[link=http://spadworld.net/forum/]SpadWorld[/link]

dus10lee,

I learned to fly, on a balsa trainer. Once I soloed, I built my first spad (Debonair) in a long afternoon. Spads are so easy to build and go together so quick. I guess the reason I like them so much is the instant gradification you get when building them, not to mention they are tuff as nails.

I have built and flown several Spad's from plans as well as ones I have designed myself. Once you go plastic (coroplast), it's hard to go back to balsa. I have found that the more spads I build the more creative I get with the next one on the building table. I'm currently designing and building a Spad pattern plane ("ML Spattern" in the spad forum). [link=http://home.earthlink.net/~omaha_rc_flyer/id1.html]Here are some of my Spads [/link]


Later,
Omaha

http://www.boogerboyhobbies.com/
Site is currently down but they sell SPAD ARFs.
Sometimes they list them on 'a popular online auction site' under the seller name cheapgraphics

Just another recommendation for the US AirCore Trainer 40.

It's like a Spad, but all the pieces are already cut out and most of the hardware is included. Put a .46 in it and it will have plenty of power. It's very stable, even in some wind.

Check my website for building tips.

I sure like the look of those Spad Extras. Is that from a common plan, or your own design?

Tesla1856,

The first one, that is yellow white and black is exactly the way Acam designed it. According to Acam, I was one of the first guys to build it, other than the ones he built during the design phase, before the plans made it to www.spadtothebone.com. If you go to the original Spad extra thread, you can see where I posted my build progress in it, as the thread grew. The second Spad Extra incorparated my plug-in-wing modification design. One of these days I'm going to build a fiberglass cowl for the second one.

[link=http://www.spadtothebone.com/SPAD/spadextra/index.htm]Spad Extra plans[/link]

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_1980020/mpage_1/key_Spad%2CExtra/tm.htm]Original Spad Extra Thread[/link]

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2458922/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm]Wing Modification Thread[/link]



Later,
Omaha

Not bad for a Glow powered modelplane made from coraplas or election signs....

Has anyone considered that maybe a trainer isnt the best thing to learn on, personally I consider fun-fly types to be more forgiving and the much lower stall speeds means theyre easy to land AND when talking about spads, I learnt on a spad QHOR type of thing, took me about a fivers worth of materials and the worst crash so far took 30 minutes to repair. Not bad eh?
chris

Why reply to a thread that was dead for 6 months?

The Carl Goldberg Egalett is a great trainer, but not an art. With the kit however, you can make cardboard templates allowing you to simply purchase wood for new plane and part. I have never brought the same kit twice, as I make templates of all parts and copy plans prior to construction.