Would any of these House of Balsa aircrafts be useful in helping me learn to fly before tackling my LT-40 trainer? I would like to try something a little bit smaller before trying to tackle the LT-40. Are these small electric planes appropriate to try to learn on before tackling a gas power? I know they won’t help me learn the take-offs or landings but will they teach me the basics of flying so that I know a little something before tackling the more-expensive gas-power?


http://www.houseofbalsa.com/e/env/00...=products:k-60

http://www.houseofbalsa.com/e/env/00...=products:k-59

http://www.houseofbalsa.com/e/env/00...=products:k-61

http://www.houseofbalsa.com/e/env/00...=products:k-70

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Scale Cubs aren't wonderfull trainers, but those Cubs aren't very scale, so they should be OK ---- however ---- the LT 40 will probably be easier than any of those.

If you will have an instructor I think you should go straight to the LT-40. If no instructor, something like a GWS slow stick would probably be easier on the pocketbook.

The HOB kits you listed are built like any other balsa kit and will crunch when they crash.

The Electric MicroAero Cub might be a good starter, as it is the only one of the four kits you mentioned that has ailerons (based on what I saw, anyway). The LT40 is really easy flying though, and will be much less influenced by moderate breezes while flying. Larger is usually easier, since larger models handle more consistently and are easier to see while flying than smaller models.

Still, if you'd prefer to start out small, the Electric MicroAero Cub should provide you with a very good small-scale version of your LT-40 to fly. You might also consider simply building a Kadet LT-25 kit and converting it to electric power or simply flying it with a glow .25 engine if you think smaller will be better. Just a thought.

Edit: Oops, had another thought. Hobbico makes a plane called the Superstar EP as an ARF or RTF plane. Either version with ailerons would also be a good electric starter if you want to fly your LT-40 later. If you buy a RTF Superstar EP, you could use the included 4-channel transmitter with your LT-40 down the road.

Tigerdude,
Ok, you got me baffled a bit here. The LT-40 is a trainer. It's primary purpose is to learn to fly on. Why would you want to spend good money to buy something else to learn on before you start flying your trainer? I can't remember what you said about getting instructions, but I assume that you are going to get an instructor to learn to fly. If that is the case then you will more than likely be using a buddy box (if you're not, find a new instructor), so the likelihood of you losing your plane is pretty slim. Is the plane going to get beat up while you learn? You bet it is. But that's why trainers are built tough, so they can take the beating they get while you learn.

Ok, this next statement is not meant as an insult at all but is rather an observation and a suggestion. I am not trying to insult you in any way. From the time I've seen you here on RCU I think you're a great guy who has developed a great love for this hobby, so I really do want to see you succeed. And that's why I am saying this. Ok, here goes---- You have admitted yourself in your build threads that you are a perfectionist (I know how it goes because I am one too). But then again most of us are in some form or fashion, we all want things to look good. And I think I have a pretty good idea about what is going through your mind. You don't want to "look" like a beginner out there when you bring your LT-40 out to the field. There is nothing wrong with thinking that. It's human nature. Especially when you are in front of a group of people that you respect or admire, you want them to accept you in their "group". So you feel like they won't respect your or accept you if you look bad. It's perfectly natural to think that. Heck I thought the same thing. And I would say it's a pretty safe bet that if we asked 100 RC pilots at least 99 of them would say it was the same way they felt too. So you are just like everybody else. But here comes the great part of it. All (well, at least most) of those pilots were in the SAME EXACT PLACE YOU ARE when they started. Nobody, and I mean nobody, looked perfect when they were learning. This includes those rare few that were able to teach themselves to fly. They may have taught themselves to fly, but I can assure you it wasn't pretty. Those pilots at the field expect you to have bumps, mistakes, close calls, etc.... That's all part of learning to fly. We have all been there. And next year at this time after you have learned to fly you'll be online here on RCU giving this same piece of information to some other "new guy" who doesn't want to look bad.

Now with that said, if this isn't what's on your mind I will apologize for having said that.

Hope this helps in some way

Ken

1]So starting with a small electric plane won't be any easier than starting right off with the LT-40?
2]Isn't the LT-25 a taildragger landing gear airplane? Even if I convert the LT-25 to electric wouldn't a taildragger be a bit harder to fly than a tricycle gear?
3] Is the LT-25 a 3-channel? I thought it may be better to start with a small 3-channel electric then try the ailerons after learning that.
4]I thought electric was slower than a gas-power.

RCKen, yes it is true as to me not wanting to go to a field and look like a beginner or go with a crappy looking airplane - even though I know it will get dinged up with learning I still want it to look great and not like a beginner builder.

But I was also thinking before I attempt a gas-powered airplane that electrics were easier and safer to fly and slower because of them being electric and perhaps not as dangerous as gas.

I also thought that I would be having trouble finding an instructor to help learn and meanwhile I could learn by myself on what I assumed would be a safer and easier electric.

If all this is wrong and an electric would not be any wiser to fly by myself or if any of my other assumptions are wrong then I am truly sorry and I will disregard my choice to do this TRIAL run with the electric and just go straight to the LT-40 and unfortunately not do any flying attempts til I found an instructor which may take quite a bit of time. You wouldn't even recommend taxiing by myself would you?

But I love building so much maybe I will still do an electric plane after completing the LT-40.

Ok, I'll try to answer all of your questions.s
1. Actually, the bigger the plane the smoother and less "twitchy" it's going to be. And you have to remember that the LT-40 was designed to be a trainer. It's designed to fly slow, smooth, and have self recovering tendencies built into it.

2. Yes the LT-25 is a taildragger. I may be a little bit of an odd duck, but I don't think that taildraggers are any harder or any easier than nose gear airplanes. They are just different, and you land them a little bit differently than each other. But not any harder. Now with that said, I like to teach students using a plane with nose gear. One thing that is harder on a taildragger is taxing on a windy day. The wind will hit the tail and the plane will want to weather vane into the wind, and this can be very frustrating to even an experience pilot. A plane with a nose gear is a bit easier to taxi on windy days. I also think it's a bit easier for a nose gear plane when a student is learning to land. The nose gear will help prevent prop damage from a rough landing, IMHO.

3. Cut and pasted from [link=http://www.sigmfg.com]Sig's website[/link]
4. I'm not an expert on electrics, but from what I've seen you can have an electric plane go just as fast as a glow powered plane. Hopefully those with more electric experience can step in here and help on this question.

Hope this helps

Ken

Thank you Ken, I just thought that electrics were safer and easier and perhaps a triffle bit OK to fly by oneself. But I was wrong again huh . I will just have to try to find an instructor no matter how hard it will be. How bout doing some taxiing by myself, or would that still be too risky? Thank you again Ken and all you others.

But I think I may still build an electric so I will have one .

Tigerdude,
Like I said, don't worry about looking bad. We all were there, and nobody is going to look down on you at all. If you try to teach yourself to fly you are going to have a real risk of actually getting fed up with crashing planes and give up on the hobby. A lot of people get themselves convinced that it doesn't look that hard to fly one of these, and will try to convince themselves that they can "work up to it" by using the smaller planes first. IMHO they are A) fooling themselves and B) just spending extra money with very little real gain. I know that there are those out there that have taught themselves to fly, but trust me they are a very SMALL percentage of those that learn. The majority of people that learn to fly use an instructor.

I'm going to make a statement that I am 100% sure will be correct. Even if you buy these smaller slower electric planes and practice with those first. And you may very well teach yourself to fly in the process, but I am 100% sure that you WILL CRASH your LT-40 if you try to fly it without an instructor. I don't know how much damage will occur. It may be repairable, or maybe not, but do you really want to see the plane you have spent so much time building crash?? I've found that people that try to teach themselves to fly usually wind up teaching themselves to repair long before they can actually fly.

A lot of people will come here and say that there are no instructors anywhere near them, but more likely is they just haven't found one yet. Where have you looked for an instructor?? Try asking at your LHS to see if there are any clubs/instructors near. I went to the AMA website and did a club search on your zip code and came up with a club that it says is approx. 10 miles from you. Here's the link to the search I did [link]http://www.modelaircraft.org/ClubZipLocator.aspx?z=01201[/link]

I'm not trying to put you down here, put you down here, or discourage you in any way. It's just the opposite. I've seen how eager you are to fly and you have been doing such a great job in building the planes you have started, I just don't want to see that eagerness shot down as you try to teach yourself to fly. Even those that do teach themselves to fly have a lot of frustrations as they learn. I am just trying to make it easier for you to get into this great hobby.

Hope this helps.

Ken

There is nothing wrong with taxing the plane around. Just be careful. I've seen people do that and have the plane take off because they got going too fast, or got an unexpected gust of wind pick the plane up on them.

Ken

Tiger,

I'm gonna side with Ken here a little bit. The plane you are building is one of the best there is for a trainer. It's been around for years and you'll probably see that most other trainers were modeled after the LT-40 and for good reason.

Now because you are thinking electrics, I'll add my .02 cents in here. Electrics are not much safer than glow to a point. I have 2 very large scars on my right arm to prove it. I hit the power on one with the throttle reversed in the radio and it jumped backwards and before I knew it....

But I will say this...there is nothing wrong with getting in a little practice before you fly your nice new plane. I'm sure I'd want to do the same thing if I was building my first kit before I was done training. Parkzone makes really cheap nice flying simple electric planes for under 200 buck complete, They are great for times like this when the days are getting shorter and you have a good sized parking lot at work!!!

And yes as is custom for me, here is another example for ya....

Most everyone that knows me knows I love big planes with gas engines (not glow). Most everyone that knows me knows I own a well flown 4*60. Allot of people use this plane as a primary trainer as well as a first low wing plane. I find that flying the 4* gives me the freedom to not worry about planting a high dollar plane and if I ever do crunch the 4* I feel it owes me nothing as it has well over 200 flights and literally lives in the back of my truck, except for right now since I got my Cap and Showtime ready.

All I'm saying is most people at the field won't care what you are flying. It's the ones that say, you should do this, fly that because it look better and yada yada yada that I stay away from.

My 4* is by no means a looker and I have been told I should recover it and stuff BUT I let some of those very same people fly it and they usually never say another word about it other than it flies great and they want one too. So see, there is nothing wrong with having a trainer. I still have my original LT-40 for trainer races at the clubs flyin's. My guess is after you move onto your third or fourth plane, you might start teaching others to fly and once you have to fly a trainer for a student you'll remember just how much fun they can be and go get another. Most people do...

GO for the Lt40. Once again, those are trainer, their point in life is to teach newbies like us. To do that, they need to be durable, cheap and reliable. THe lt 40 is just that, so why not? And there is no safer thing. Whatever you choose, you can bet it will be good.

I would like to correct myself a little bit after reading Bubba's comments. I wasn't saying there was anything wrong with getting the smaller electrics. Heck, I'm even considering getting a couple that I can take with me when I travel so I can get in a little bit of flying. I was just pointing out that you really didn't need to spend the money in order to "get better" before you flew the LT-40.

Ken

tigerdude, I thought the same thing about teaching myself on my electrics, I didn't have much luck[X(] I did manage to successfully fly around the pattern and land one time with a 3ch plane called an SR Cutie, & just like Ken said, it was far from pretty!! It was all I could do to drag it all the way around & set it back down. I got all excited, charged her back up & proceeded to crash it. Tried to fly my Sig Rascal with the same results. The best flying I've managed so far is with my Tower Trainer, Instructor, & buddy cord. Not ready to land yet, but at least it's starting to feel like I'm in control (while at a safe altitude) instead of the plane being in control and me to trying to repsond to it in time. I don't care much about the Rookie syndrome anymore, they all know I can't fly my way out of a paper bag yet by myself, but they don't care. They're allways trying to teach me something new, & we all have a good time. I say try to hook up with that club Ken found for ya, & go from there. Have Fun!!


Mark

Heck if I lived closer to him I'd think nothing of tossing the 4* in the truck and go spend the day with him letting him get used to it. As Mark said, don't worry about the new student syndrome...it's perfectly normal to feel that way. Don't sweat the small stuff, you'll be fine

Heck, you could stop off and do this when you drive down here to deliver that WH Ultimate to me!!!!!

Ken

As I said once before and to use your words.

WHEN YOU PRY MY DEAD WARM FINGERS FROM IT keyword is DEAD

HAW HAW HAW

And just to rub it in, here's a pic of it and my G26 powered Stearman and my old and no longer owned CG Ultimate that had a TS110 in it and now soon to be completed GP Ulitmate 160 size (no pic yet)

Bill,
[X(][X(][X(] [&o]

Ken

Okay guys, be nice. BTW, Bubbagates, would you mind terribly if I asked you to send that Stearman my way for a year or two?

Who?? Me??? I'm always nice to Bubba. Or at least I will be after I get that WH Ultimate from him!!!!

Ken

Oh man, now there is 2 of you I have to deal with

I guess I won't tell you both that I'm considering the Military version Great Planes has out of the Stearman next and that's while I'm building a SIG Pig this winter.

Beleive it or not the Stearman only has about 20 or so flights on it. It's one of those ones I only take out on a very nice day and I'm doing an airshow. The smoke system really sets it off and the G26 from RCIgnitions is a perfect match. The prop on it really sslows it down but boy does it set it off

Hey Ken, WH has the Ultimate on sale for about 70 bucks off then what they normally sell them for.

Maybe Santa will send you one. All you need to tell him which color, the purple trimmed one or the tan trimmed one

Here's a better pic of the Stearman Tiger is gonna get jealous and don't worry about us Hydro, this is an ongoing thing between Ken and I. He's a big bipe lover also

That's a great pic of the Stearman, with nothing in the pic to reference size against, I can't tell it's a model and not the real deal!


Mark

TIGERDUDE:::


Listen to these guys, the LT40 is by far the best trainer in the world. If you have a local field and an instructor then the LT40 is the best choice. I started out on one then went to the Ultra Stick 60 and now im up to WWII fighters and Im currently working on a sopwith Pup 1/3rd scale. I recently built a LT25 and done it in coast guard colors, much like my orgional LT40 that I sold. I got the LT25 as a tinker toy, and my girlfriend want to learn to fly.

STICK WITH THE LT40 AND GET AN INSTRUCTOR. DONT TRY TO LEARN ON YOUR OWN.

I learned to fly when there was no buddy box. I will tell you from all the advancements in this sport, I think one of the best is being able to train without passing the box. I learned on a tail dragger and had my fits. The LT 40 is the ticket. Electrics can be dangerious especially if you do not use care in charging and an electric motor has tremendous torque which will cut you up just as bad.

If you want a cheap think to fly out of the box and dink around with then get something like a firebird or better yet get a good flight sim.

I wouldn't waste your time with anything but your LT and someone to train you. That is your best chance of sucess. Also after you build, no matter how bad the urge (we have all been there) have an experianced modeler go over your plane before you go out and do anything, even taxi playing.