The SIG Kadet Junior was my first airplane. I never finished it, mainly because my age at the time prevented me from being able to assemble it well enough to fly it. I was too young, and my modeling skills just weren't very good yet. Plus, I didn't have the money for a decent work area, so that was another impediment. Plus, it didn't make any sense to me that you could fly an airplane with rudder-only control.

Anyway, I was curious why this plane is no longer for sale from SIG. Was there something wrong with it? And if anyone has one they want to get rid off (still in box, please) let me know and I will take it off your hands for some cash.

I recall that an RC airplane builder told me decades ago that a "hollow door core" was the best surface one could get for laying down plans and assembling airplanes. Is this because the pins can penetrate well enough to hold the model together during assembly? The "T" pins that SIG has for sale are way overpriced. Where can one get these locally? Would Home Depot or Lowe's have them? Specialized stores like hobby stored tend to over price things like this.

One last thing - back in the day (1985 or so) I recall that the "glue" that one would use to attach and secure fabric covering on the surface of the wing and such was called "DOPE." I couldn't find this listed in the SIG catalog anymore. Is it called something else these days? The word "DOPE" doesn't sound very PC so I am guessing they either renamed it or did away with it as it was extremely toxic, flammable, and gave off dense nauseating fumes.

Thanks to all!

A lot of good questions here. I learned to fly on a Kadet Jr with a Veco .19 in the eary 80's

It was a fine airplane, and a good trainer in its day. Several reasons it isn't produced anymore.
* It was a 3 channel model, at that time there was debate whether a beginner should start with an aileron trainer or not. Now 4 channel trainers are the norm. Rudder & elevator worked fine for control on the Kadet and Kadet Jr.
* It was a kit. Folks built back then, many do not these days-especially trainers. Cheap, good quality ARF's are what folks tend to train with.
* There are very few .20-.25 size kits (or arfs) period these days.
* The Kadet Jr does have a sort of a spiritual successor in the SIG LT-25. Bigger, with ailerons but still aimed at the 25 size engine.

Clear dope was commonly used to adhere covering and fill the fabric then colored dope used to provide...color. Dope is still used by vintage modelers and scale builders, but 99% of sport models are covered with Monokote, Ultracote or similar coverings.

Don't fret the cost of pins or hardware at the hobby shop. All of them are struggling to survive in todays world of internet commerce. Look at it this way, engines and radios are bargains compared to what they used to cost in relatve dollars, and so much better quality...

Hollow core doors are inexpensive, and you can count on them being perfectly flat, not warped, and yes, you can stick pins in them.

Dope is getting harder to find mostly for the same reason that it is hard to find tea that's not packaged in tea bags at the local supermarket. People just stopped using it, going to iron on films line MonoKote or iron on fabrics like Coverrite. These coverings have adheasive already on them and the heat of an iron melts the adhesive as well as shrinks the covering. Available in a wide range of colors so you don't even have to mess with paints. Dope is still available though. There will always be people who like to build the traditional way.

Lotus72D and I posted at almost the same time and he beat me to it. His comment on not fretting the cost of things like pins is right on. I have seen about a half dozen hobby shops close in the city where I live, and I don't think it's because the owners couldn't stand prosperity.

I am actually building one of these "old timers" at the moment from plans. That might be on option for you as well. You might try contacting Sig and see if the plans and instruction book are still available. Last I knew, you could still order rudder and elevator stock from them, since it's not a standard "off the shelf" item. I have modified mine, however. It is now getting ailerons and a 54" flat wing instead of the 48" with 1.75" per wing dihedral. While not up to "modern" standards, it still will get the job done[8D]

My Kadet Jr...

I was our big box home improvement center a while ago and went through a whole stack of hollow core doors (the luan plywood variety). There wasn't a straight one in the stack.

Thanks for the overwhelmingly helpful replies. I contacted SIG and they said the plans were available, and they emailed me a PDF of the instruction manual for the kit. The part number for the kit plans is SIGKP246 in case anyone is interested. They also said the balsa sheets for the tail were also available, but did not provide a part number for that however.

I am a big supporter of the local hobby shop thing because I think it is important to the hobby to have knowledgeable people available for those who have questions about getting started in this hobby. There's only so much a Tower Hobbies catalog can provide in terms of guiding a newbie in what to buy and how to learn. It's cheaper, but I am willing to pay the extra money to keep the local hobby shop in business. Local to me is a very nice HobbyTown USA store that is less than 2 miles from my house. I made the mistake of confusing "Hobby Lobby International" with the nation-wide mega-chain "Hobby-Lobby." I went to the local craft-store Hobby-Lobby and kept wondering if there was some hidden room somewhere with the RC kits. After a while I figured out my mistake. I walked out with a Guillow's kit to satisfy my need to spend some money.

Thanks again.

That makes it easy. You order the plans and main(and nose if so inclined) gear from Sig and get the rest from the local hobby shop. Now you have the best of both worlds[8D]

I am a scratch builder and also buy and sell rc stuff , i ran across a kadet junior kit complete last week so seeing if any one in these old threds want it first before i let flea bay fight over it. Just pm me . joe

Most, now days anyway, are looking at the MkII, LT40, Senior and Seniorita. The Jr is almost too small for many to even consider anymore. If I didn't have a pair of them under construction from the plans I have, not to mention kit supplied landing gear, I'd probably jump at it. Do you have any idea how much you're going to want for it?

How about 50.00 for it since you cant but any kit for 50 anymore , joe

I will take some pictures of it first for you . i build a little myself :-) sir

I Dont know but 48 inch wingspan is not that small ,thought about making it electrict but sinse they stopped making the kit 30 years ago there are others looking for one. here are a couple pictures let me know if you want any more . Been a while since i took pictures and got them on my pc so iam a little rusty in my old age .lol smaller kits under it will be forsale soon after i go through them and try to figure out a cheap price on rubber band kits, joe

So figured i would try to pay it forward a bit and gave the kit free to a younger guy i fly with who only flys ARFs and never tryed to build anything . Iam trying to pay back some of the old farts who are no longer with us who took me under their wing 30 years ago and helped me to learn how to build . Good luck guys and happy flying ! joe

If you decide you want to sell it, I'll take it. I figure it would be a fun little rig to put my 25FP into. Since I increased the span and, obviously the drag, I figure I'll need a 35 for one of my plan builds and a 45 or so for the other since it's getting floats

Sorry Junkie gave the guy my word on it. BTW i just sold a older super tiger 40 and 60 brand new in the box so not made in china . sold a como 29 new in the box too . Let the guy have them all for 160 . Stuff does not sit around at my house . joe

Not a problem. How does that saying go, "You snooze you loose". I figure if it's going to a good home, it's all good

The current Kadet MKII looks just like the Kadet Jr.

They are built pretty much the same but the MkII has strip ailerons and is much larger, considering the span is 9.25" longer and it takes a .25-.40 where the Jr takes a .15-.25

A guy at our field got frustrated flying various modern ARFs too soon after he soloed. Things like a Tower Uproar, H9 Twist, etc. Even his trainer was high powered. I suggested he was trying for too much performance too soon. He bought a Goldberg Eaglet 50 on Craig's List and put an OS .15 LA on it. It flies beautifully and he has been enjoying it for a year now. It is about the same size and weight as the Kadet Jr. and has only three channels.

Several years ago I picked up a Kadet Jr. with an OS 25 FP and had a great time flying it till it crashed when landing on a gusty day and the oil soaking caused major joints to let go. I'd still like one. They are as big as most electric trainers and the engines run great. I have the plans. If Sig still sells the landing gear that would be nice. Looks like an easy scratch build, and you could easily make it lighter.

Jim

NOW THAT IS FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm plans building a pair of JRs right now and one of them is getting a 25 FP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I said in a prior post, the 25 FP is the engine I bought for the kit when I originally built it. Too bad it was destroyed in a move before I got to cover and fly it. I kept everything as far as hardware so I could replace it eventually. Now, I have two in the works(was only supposed to be one, made two right fuse sides by mistake), one gets the 25 with tricycle gear, the other gets a 35 with floats. They both get a highly reduced dihedral and barn door ailerons

The 25FP was a good match, pretty aerobatic even though the plane was built like a tank.