Hi all... I'm just getting into the hobby, I've been wanting to do it since I was kid - some 20 years or so ago.

Here's what I'm considering for my first aircraft:

SIG Kadet LT-40 ARF
Thunder Tiger .46 Pro
Futaba 6EXAS with S3151 digital servos.

I chose the Sig over the NexStar as I want to do some building, and I want to be familiar with how the engine, receiver, and servos are installed. Popular opinion seems to be that the Sig is an overall better flyer, and the NexStar has some issues. I've read and heard that the LT-40 wire landing gear is somewhat weak, and that its a good idea to replace it. What would be the best thing to replace it with?

The 6EXAS seems to be a good value - I wanted to be able upgrade the plane while using a familiar radio. What are the pros and cons of using digital servos?

The TT just seems to be a good engine - powerful, reliable and long lasting.

Ive also orderd the REalFlight G3 simulator, the demo is great fun, but it would be nice to have the Interlink controller.

Are there any things I could do during the assembly of the LT-40 to make it a better flyer, more durable, or just basic improvements?

I already have a small, light (like a lipstick case) 2.4ghz color video camera that I was thinking would be cool to mount on the aircraft. I know its just a trainer, but it would still be neat to see the onboard perspective. Could the LT40 handle that? I dont think it weighs more than a couple of ounces. I realize I'd have to adjust the CG.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, I cant wait to take to the skies!

Peter

Your choices sound excellent. I'd build the Kadet ARF per the instructions. Avoid adding any weight as this plane is pretty strong as-is. (Avoid the tendency to "beef-up" certain areas). The thunder tiger TT 46 pro is a good engine -- as good as the OS .46 and usually significantly lower cost. I'd hold off on the on-board video until you can fly with confidence - takeoff and land, etc. But when ready the Kadet will handle the few ounces of the on-board video camera and its battery.

You don't really need the digital servos -- they are more precise and stronger around neutral -- for this plane, but if your budget allows, then go for it. You'll want to hook up with an instructor for the first few weeks, so make sure you have an instructor that also has Futaba equipment. You can buddy-box Fut to Fut, but not FUT to JR. So if all the instructors in your area use JR, then you might want to get JR also. in most areas, JR and Futaba are equally popular. Airtronics, Hitec, Multiplex, etc tend to be less common.

I have trained many people. those that have many hours on the simulator learn very quickly. So practice up with the sim before your first flight.

I'd use the landing gear wire that comes with the ARF.

The LT-40 is a great trainer and will introduce you to the hobby the correct way. The 6EXAS is a good radio as well but save you money on the digital servos as it is an overkill on a trainer and will not help you any. Stick with BB servos like the 3004 servos that come with the TX. I have run 3004s on all of my models from the trainers to the warbirds and the 3D planes. Digital are nice, but no need to get that upgrade up front.

I would recommend changing out the landing gear with a set of aluminum gear, but nothing to rigid. The aluminum gear will absorb a lot of energy in a hard landing and bend instead of transferring that energy into the airframe and breaking something. You will have a hard landing or 3 while you are learning.

The TT 46 is a decent engine, but I would suggest an OS 46LA. The LA is a cheap engine with plenty of power for the Kadet and if run properly will last a very long time. I still have my original 46LA that I placed on my first trainer many gallons of fuel and 7 years ago. My TT46 crapped out a few years back.

G3 is an excellent learning tool, fly long and fly often. G3 will teach you all the basics and make you a much better pilot, but it is no substitute for an instructor on the first few flights.

The camera is a lot of fun and the LT-40 will have no problem with it, but do not complicate things too much until you are comfortable with the basics. There is a lot that your brain and thumbs have to learn and you would hate to lose the plane because you were thinking about filming.

This hobby is a lot of fun, but one of the biggest causes of lost planes is impatience. Take your time and follow the learning curve and you will have a much more rewarding experience. Your wallet will thank you for it.

Good Luck and have fun.

Chris

Thanks guys, for all the suggestions. My goal is to accumulate the all the various components over the next few months as cash flow allows. That will give me time with the simulator to practice. Once the weather improves here (going on 30+ days of rain now!) I'll check out some of the clubs around here. My other two hobbies - scuba diving and motorcycling - also had a learning cuve and required patience, so I'm used to that.

I'm really looking forward to RC aviation, I've always been fascinated by aviation, and more specifially the science and technology of it. I've designed aircraft with X-plane, and it occured to me that instead of flying them in the simulator, I could actually fly a scale model. I'm sure thats a few year down the road though, I still gotta get this Sig off the ground!

Thanks again!

Peter

Ker, you made some excellent choices. I'd leave the camera off for now. you should concentrate on learning to fly. Then you're bored with your trainer and have the basics down well, then install the camera. I hope you're planning to get with a local club and have an instructor. No amount of sim time will enable you to fly solo the first several times. Good luck to you!

Dr.1

Generally, radios come as complete set-ups and this is where you get the best bang for the buck. I'm an Airtronics guy so, so I'm not familiar with Futaba "package deals" I agree with everyone, digital servos aren't necessary for this application. I have no problem with them, and if that is what you want, go ahead. However, be aware that they consume more power and therefore a larger battery pack is necessary.

Find a club now! Generally clubs have meetings year round and you can start meeting people, see what equipment they use and get help now! Think about joining the AMA. Get a simulator now, if you can afford and your confuser has the needed capacity to operate one.

Good luck and have fun!

Mark DeSchane, AMA 59157

Must of thought so highly of what I'd said, that I posted it twice! Sorry!

Mark DeSchane, AMA 59157

I believe they have the 6EXAS bundled up with 4 of the S3151s. I was gonna buy that radio myself, but at the last minute my wife said,"oh just go ahead & get the one you really want" so now I own a JR


Mark

While you're working up the "kit", take a few minutes at the LHS and look through their books. There are a couple that really cover a lot of the details that're worth knowing early on. And they're details that you're not usually going to get with "first advice", like.........

Setup that radio with some exponential. You'll be glad you did. Exponential gives you a couple of things. It makes the airplane feel less twitchy, quick, sensitive around neutral. It actually makes flying the airplane easier to do smoothly too. And when you're beginning, it's helpful to have the stick movement be less quick around neutral. And when you're experienced, it's helpful to have the stick movement be more accurate around neutral. Exponential gives you all that. Try it, you'll be glad you did.

As for the G3 simulator..... great idea..... really great idea. Plus it's fun as heck. After you get it, go to the Great Planes website and look around for the upgrades. I think they're actually over at Knife Edge, but wherever they are, get the latest. They fix some things and add some. And the Interlink Controller is good to have. You don't use your TX up, nor constantly need to recharge it. And the sim's controller is made by Futaba. I'm presently flying an Ultimate and have painted the sim's Ultimate to look just like mine. And have tweaked the sim's to fly like mine. Matter of fact, I did the tweaking right after the first flights, have since tuned the model a bit, and just now have noticed that I need to re-tweak the sim to match the latest model trimming. How's that for accuracy.....

hey darock, Don't forget to tell him about the real flight swap page. You can go & download other planes that other ppl have re-created by changing the entire set-up like darock was talking about. I just have the G-2 version & have downloaded some pretty radical planes that other ppl set-up. It's pretty cool, I got a giant scale Cap that is just a complete 3d monster! if you got the newer G-3 version it will have alot better features than mine does. Speaking of more features, here is a link to the JR radio my wife bought me. It is only a few dollars more than the 6EXAS. Nothing wrong with the 6EXAS at all, don't get me wrong, this one just has a few more features & 10 model memory instead of 6. And mostly I just really like the JR stuff so anyway, here is the link if you wanna check it out.

http://www.jrradios.com/Products/Def...odID=JRP6647**

Good luck in whatever choices you end up making.


Mark

When choosing your radio, you might want to consider the Futaba 7C. The FM version w/o digital servos (which you don't need right now) is $239 and the FM version w/ digital servos is only $10 more. Also, if you run a forum search on Tower Hobbies discount codes (the codes you enter when you checkout that take money off the total), you will find one for I believe $40 off $249.99 or $30 off $200 or more. That now brings the price down to the levels of the 6EXA almost. Believe me, you will not regret buying a radio you can grow into. I myself have the 6EXA and now I have a helicopter (Kyosho Caliber 5) that I can't fly yet b/c the 6EXA has no heli programming and no way to get it either. I regret buying the 6EXA. I should have ponied up the extra for the 7C to begin with. I would tend to believe that you won't need more radio than the 7C for a few years at least if ever.

JMO though.

Here's the link to the 7CAF at Tower

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LA6320**&P=1

Your choices are near-perfect. Stick with them & you just can't lose.

Hi Darock, can you recommend some specific titles? I've looked at my LHS and there a lots to choose from. I'd like something that covers the basics - constriction, aerodynamics, electronics, engine install / tuning, flying etc., as well as more advanced topics. When I do connect with an instructer in a few months time, I'd like to be well versed on things.

Peter

I was going to give you some links into Tower's Online Catalogue but I had my 2006 "book" open beside me here so just flipped to the back to look at what they'd have. Looks like they got way more than the LHS has.

There are a lot of them, but some don't apply much nowadays. Since most everything is ARF nowadays the comprehensive books would have a bunch of pages on building and that wouldn't be as useful as..... HARRY HIGLEY'S MOSTLY MOUNTING looks to be excellent for today's RC world. It would give a bunch of good info on what everyone should be doing with their ARFs. It's about $20 from Tower. My LHS has it for $24.

I got HARRY HIGLEY'S GETTING AIRBORNE Vol 1 (or at least HAD it at one time) and it's very good. Tower has it for $16. My LHS doesn't have it.

Model Airplane News has a ton of books. I was surprised by how many are listed in this catalog. I've only seen a couple of them in LHSs but the ones I saw were good.

There are even videos.....

I wouldn't bother with digital servos. They use more power, are more expensive you won't notice the difference, certainly not on a trainer. Maybe check the flying club where you will be flying. If you have a JR radio and the club only has Futaba trainer boxes then you will have to buy your own JR to match. I don't like JRs for training because the trainer box needs a battery pack that has to be kept charged. The pack isn't required for Futaba or Airtronics. I went with Futaba just because I liked the way the radio fit in my hand but there is nothing wrong with Airtronics. Also remember that dual rates don't work on buddy boxes. The box will only use the high rate setting. [8D]

I agree with the advice given in this post. The Sig Kadet is an great trainer, as one of the guys in my local club recently earned his wings with one. He also has the thunder tigre 46. I recently had a crash and he replaced it with the Nexstar ARF kit (no engine, readio, etc... $129.00 CDN). I myself went with the Nexstar RTF.. I am in college and do not have the time to build, I have built in the past and love it). One thing I really wanted to mention is that a alot of the posts I have been reading about the Nexstar are problems I have not had, nor other members in my club that fly the Nexstar. The typical problems usually sound like pilot error, misunderstanding, etc. Both routes are great, either way you are off to a good start.

fatsky, It not my wish to contradict you, but while I was buddy boxing, we used the Tower 4 ch that came with the Tower RTF as the instructor radio & my Futaba 6DA or 6EDA whichever it's called as the student box. We assumed the dual rates on the Futaba didn't work either since for one, it wasn't turned on & for 2 the main 4 channel radio didn't even have dual rates, but they did work! As long as he held that trainer swtch down all the features on the Futaba worked. Don't ask me how because I don't understand it, it just did.[sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

the OS LA IMHO is marginal on a plane as large as the Kadet. YES it will fly BUT.....
the TT .46 is more than a "decent " engine. it is an excellent engine for the price . the ones Ive had & run for others have been nothing short of EXCELLENT. the Super Tigre 40/45 series has given me superb service over 6 years with no sign of ANY trouble . amazing.

Your setup seems perfect i know for fact the radio, servos, and planes excllent though I've never had a TT before. I mainly run Super Tigre, but it should do, its the right size. Your getting the servos with the Radio right? Other wise theres no use for the digitals on this plane

The main thing with most ARF's though is that there put together with hot glue. So when you put it together I'd recommend getting some triangle balsa and glue it all along the inside of the fuse where you can, for reinforcment on the seams. I just wouldn't trust that hot glue.
Have Fun and Good Luck!!

Crash-D,

(I hope your nickname isnt indicative of your flying!! )

Thanks for the suggestion... I think I know what you mean by triangle balsa, but is there anyway you could elaborate on where I should be reinforcing the fusalage? Do you mean on the inside? I only have the opening under the wings to give me access to the inside.

Thanks!

Peter

Yes exactly just right in that area where your servos, fuel tank, ect goes. And defenitly on the inside of the plane with the triangle. Any size triangle balsa works

It depends on the day when my name makes sense.
I have two kinds of days 3-D days and Crash-D days. LOL