anybody familiar,,I ordered one ,,my eagle 11 bit the dust a decade or so ago..next a Raidentech $40 trainer, what a brick,,the manual said the cg was 5 mm from the leading edge, knowing that wasnt right I went back to the spar for the cg,,close but it was tail heavy, but the .40LA flew it fine,,fix the cg with 4oz of lead in the nose and now the LA wont take it off from wet grass!!?? so I hand launched it...I hand launch all my 1/2a stuff anyway, long story short, it went in , cartwheeling, the wing looks fine but I dont trust it and the nose is bashed in pretty good so I figure as cheap as they are I'll just get the Tower one...transfer everything from it and trash the raidentech....all this talk about trainers, figured I'd get another one for fun...Rog

I learned on a Tower Trainer 40 ten years ago. Since then I've taught 5 or 6 others to fly on it including my sons. I still have it now and it goes to the field with me a few times eac summer. Nice flying trainer. You'll do well with it.

Ken

Ken, what engine do you have on yours? I have either the .40LA or a Fox .45 I could put on it, I've never run the Fox but I did send it back in to the factory, they put a new ring (Ithink) and muffler on it and said it ran fine..the time I did fly the raid...it was tail heavy and very difficult to control,, took all I had to bring it in in one piece, and what would be a good prop for the Fox?..Rog
my big props are 7x3 and 6x3

I have an old OS 40 SF. It's got close to 600 or so flights on it, no compression, almost black from the castor oil burned on to it, won't flip start now, can only be stared with an electric starter, but fires right up and runs like a champ!!!!!

Ken

oh man!!! my towers trainer was buy far the best trainer I've ever flown!! although I've only flown two trainers in the process of learning..the towers trainer with an os .46=crazy fun!!!!

I've got a Tower 40 and a Nexstar. I'm all thumbs but the're dumb thumbs. The Nexstar is bigger and gives you more time to make corrections. It also appears to be easier to land and settles in nicely. The Tower 40 has a different glide angle, or so it appears to me, comes in a little more steeply and gives you a little less time making the landings just a bit less forgiving. Both planes are great for learning the basics. For what ever reason the Tower 40, from my perception seems to be more responsive in flight. Might be due to less wing length or maybe just my imagination. The Tower 40 has a strong airframe. As a beginner I've abused it quit a bit. The main landing gear take a lot of abuse. I made a outline template of the wire gear on plywood so that I can always bend them back to their proper shape - it keeps life simple. For the money, it's a great plane, fun to learn on, easy to fix. "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

enjoy, Bert

I have the RTF version with the Tower .46 Pro engine & it runs & flys excellent. With an APC 11X6 on it, it pulls real good & with a 10x8 as Tower suggests it still pulls pretty good & has real good top end speed. Given the two choices you put up I think I would try the Fox .45 if it runs good I think you will be happy with the extra little boost. Especially since you already know how to fly & are just looking for a fun type Trainer. You'll like the Tower. It shreds the sky real well & is pretty stout too. It can take some abuse. Have fun with it, I still do.

Bert, It's not your imagination. I have both too & you're right, the Tower is a much more nimble flier imo. I soloed on the NexStar because like you said it is more forgiving & easier to fly I think. Once soled though I began to have a ball with the Tower.

Thanks for the confirmation Grumpy. I'm glad that the two trainers are at differing ends of the spectrum. Hopefully it will serve a useful purpose. I plan to use the Nexstar as a training platform for crabbing and slipping the plane, as well as, landing in moderate crosswinds. Doing things that I'm uncertain of the results or have apprehensions about. Once I learned the technique or maneuver it should be easy to transfer over to the Tower 40. I think, I hope, I pray

Bert

Got it!!..came in 2 days early too!..the Fox wont fit on the motor mount that came with the plane and since I fly mostly 1/2a I dont have one of those mounts sitting around, dont think anyway..it looks great and I think I could put this thing together with my eyes closed, nice hardware package too....looks like the .40 LA will have to do, I bet this one balances better than the raid..did....Rog

xe2, I believe that you will find the NexStar first to be a great choice. For all the things you stated it will work well for you. That is pretty much exactly what I did. Since I had the luxury of 2 different Trainers, I started with the most docile of the 2. After getting quite comfortable with the NexStar then then Tower became much easier for me to handle. In the beginning though I had the Tower first & it seemed really fast & touchy to me, I really wasn't doing very well. Then I picked up the NexStar & started over. After developing a softer touch at the controls with the NexStar I began to have a great time with the Tower & still do!! It is my warm up plane. I fly a hot-lap or two with it everytime I go flying as a warm up before I fly my good planes.

The 40LA will fly the Tower Trainer well enough. I learned on that combination. Our filed is grass, and the landowner doesn't want it mowed as short as we would like. There were several hot August days when I wished I had more power for takeoff. Other than that, the 40LA was just fine.

Yeah I remember the .40LA having "Plenty-o-power" in the air, thats why it surprised me that it wouldnt take off in wet grass..the Tower trainer is almost done but for the radio install...probably be next week before I can fly it, but it will be done by tonight or tomorrow...Rog

I dont care much for this motor mount sandwiching the engine in place ..oh and I found a nasty scratch on the piston,dont know where that came from, could have been there all along I guess but I'm not sure...

Grumpy, our flying experiences have taken similar paths. I had the Tower before purchasing the Nexstar. It appears we have had similar experiences and perceptions regarding these planes. I took the Tower to the field this morning. There was a fair cross wind early morning that require opposite rudder to aileron to do a decent pass over the runway. All went well thanks to the time on the Nexstar. However, I couldn't land the Tower worth a sh#@! The sink rates on the planes are so radically different. During one landing I almost got airsick watching the Tower bouncing down the runway. It looked like a kangaroo being chased by a car. Ho well, hope springs eternal and there's always tomorrow - aka Saturday.

Bert

xe2, Yes it does sound like we have taken similar roads to get where we are. Not to far apart from each other too. I'm sure you get similar winds in Salinas as we do over here in Tracy. We get the Delta breeze as they like to call it just about everyday. The winds come sweeping down off of the Altamont pretty much unabated to where our flying field is. That's why we like to get up early & be at the field by 6AM if we can. That usually gives a good 3 or 4 hours of flying time before the winds kick up too bad. We still fly though even after the winds have arrived, Mostly because we don't know any better.[&:]

Any time you're coming out this way, give us a pm if you want to do a guest fly at our field. We fly regularly so I'm sure we can accomodate ya.

I didn't like the sandwich motor mount either, but it worked out ok for me. The motor does wiggle loose once in awhile and you have to re-align the motor and tighten the clamps. No big deal.

While it's not the best way to mount an engine, it will get the job done. I learned to fly on a Tower Trainer 10 years ago with the same type of mount. I've still got the plane today and still using the stock mount. And yes, I still take it out and fly it occasionally.

Ken

If tall/wet grass becomes an issue you can always increase wheel size a little. Also helps if you have gravel. I'll just have to suffer with my asphalt runway [:'(] .

The wheels on the Tower are a good inch taller than the ones that were on the Raid..trainer so it shouldnt be a problem..its done , hope I get to fly it tues or wed..Rog

When I learned to fly with the Tower Trainer I was on a grass field. It didn't have any problems with the grass. As long as the grass is cut fairly short you shouldn't have any problems with it.

Ken

who you tryin ta kid, aint no grass in Oklahoma!!,,you can watch the grass grow here and they are only concerned about the weekend flyer,,so when I get out there wed,thurs, morning in soppin wet grass, it slows a plane down abit,,the other trainer had 2 " wheels the tower are 2.75 but even so they are dense little sponges that soak up water...Rog

Yeah, right. I just can't win. I spend all my time at home watering my grass to make it grow. And the dang grass at the flying field I can't get to die!!!!!! Arrrrggghhhhhhh. I wish the flying field would brown out so I didn't have to mow it as often.

Ken

i learned on a nexstar great plane in general flies like champ when its brand knew however of u crash pretty hard something can get messed up. I just order a new airframe/wing for $100. not a bad price in my opinion. but just practice on the sim for a while and u will get the hangof it pretty fast. also make sure to sequre all screws i found a few loose.

Has anyone else removed some of the dihedrial on the tower trainer? I took about half of it out upon some advice of an old timer. It flies really well now, but I don't know what it flew like before.

Bummer ...I go to the field today,,only have an old hand pump, cause mostly I use a syringe to fill my tanks..well I'm crankin away for what seems like too long,and the tank is only 1/4 full?? so I crank some more,I pick the plane up to look at the tank and the whole front of the plane is full of fuel!!..well it's loaded with baby powder at the moment...tower wants me to send the fuse back!..turns out the tank got a hole from the landing gear mount screw..I looked up the replacement parts and tower doesnt have the tail group until late July...so I tell the guy the plane wont fit back in the box with the tail on it..he says to cut it off..but they dont have any to replace it!!..hopefully I can fix it and got the powder in there in time!!...ony other suggestions are welcome....Rog