What would be some good aerobatics to do with a trainer before you upgrade?

Thanks,
Nathan

Hi,
You can do loops, rolls, inverted, stall turns, outside loops, cuban 8's, split S, immelman turn, etc.
Basically a trainer fitted with ailerons and with moderate power can do all of the above moves.
The only difference is that a trainer will not be able to do some of the moves as well/accurately as aerobatic machines.
Be careful to make sure your wing is well mounted. If you pull too much negative G a wing poorly mounted or fitted with bands may well come off. Just be careful not to pull to much when flying aerobatics with a trainer.

Loops, rolls, stall turn (aka: hammer head), Cuban eight, inverted flight, outside loop (if the plane is capable), immelman (Sp?), and Hover... thats a joke in there for Ken Not that some overpowered trainers cant...

I was hovering my nephews Alpa Trainer on Saturday. Its the stock setup with the EVO 46, but we fitted it with an 11X5 APC in place of the stock three bladed prop.

Brad

As stated above you can do most of them with a standard trainer, the big problem is that most people won't take the time to practice, practice, practice until they get them smooth and neat. Another thing is that most of the time you don't need full power and in some cases it will hinder a good manuver. PRACTICE< PRACTICE and be SMOOTH !!! ENJOY !!! RED

IMO.

The ailerons on most trainers are undersized to do any rolls. I know mine won't. If high rates and adjustment on the control horn won't do it..... A guy at my field has a trainer that he glued 8" of 1-1/2" x 1/8" balsa sheet to his ailerons. While it's not pretty, I assure you, it'll roll now! I was suprised how agile his trainer is, wheras mine floats.

Before you ditch the trainer, use it to master the rudder. I've been trying.... the rudder will do some pretty cool stuff.

Most people often underestimate what a trainer can actually do. They will say that trainers aren't capable of doing aerobatics when in reality they can do a suprising amount of them. I often take my own trainer back up and fly it to just have some fun flying aerobatics with it. One thing that will make a world of difference is to seal the hinge gaps on your trainer. When I did this to mine it flew like a completely different plane. You will be suprised at how much of a difference this will make in the way it flies, and it will perform aerobatics much better when you have done this.

Hope this helps

Ken

No kidding? Cool! Ya' just give me a how-to to search for.

It's not really too hard to do with covering.

1. Use tape to fully deflect the surface you want to seal the gap for.
2. Cut a strip of covering long enough to cover the entire hinge line (if possible). Fold the strip in half and set in the gap.
3. Use a trim iron (or the tip of a covering iron) to iron down one side of the strip against the "V" of the gap. Make sure the fold of the strip sits all the way down in the gap
4. Now do the other side of the gap with the trim iron.
5. Now use the covering iron to seal down the rest of the strip onto the control surfaces.
6. Trim the ends of the strip.
7. Now flex the surface and then inspect the gap. If there are any parts of the strip that came up use your trim iron to seal it back down.

Do both sides of the gap this way. Doing this will reinforce the CA hinges to help prevent failure.

Hope this helps

Ken

Here is one place to start for aerobatics....


http://www.mini-iac.com/Portals/57ad...2007_Basic.pdf

Ken:

Both sides? Is that necessary?

Dick.

What Exeter Acres posted is a good set of beginning aerobatics, but it is show in Aresti notation for aerobatics. If you need help in reading the diagrams here is a good description from [link=http://geistware.rcuniverse.com]Geistware's[/link] website. [link=http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/aerobatics/aresti.htm]Reading Aresti Diagrams[/link]

Hope this helps

Ken

That's a good question to ask, and people have had some good suggestions. In particular, I would like to suggest that you work on precision, throttle management, and rudder use, to make your loops round, your rolls linear, and your Cuban 8's & Immelmans, etc, follow a straight path.

Takeoffs & landings that are nice & straight are good practice. The crosswind low pass is good practice. Make it slow, and use rudder & aileron to keep the plane flying along a path parallel to the center of the runway.

Inverted flight, using a high-wing plane with dihedral, is difficult. I recommend it highly! If you master inverted flight, people will notice.

Good luck,
Dave Olson

No, it's not necessary. But I prefer to do that as over time "stuff" can accumulate in the gap and cause problems. If you seal both sides this won't happen. It's really a personal choice to do both sides.

Ken

Ok being really new and able to ask stupid questions I was wondering what can you do with a trainer(sig kadet) that has no ailerons in the aerobatics area?

One of the hardest moves to make is a STRAIGHT LINE!

The three channel Kadet will do loops, inside and out, rudder rolls, and if the CG is far enough back, spins.

They are undersized? [X(] Hadn't heard that before. While they may be too small to do the 4-5 rolls per second that some people like to do, I've seen plenty of trainers do rolls. Heck, I was even taught to do rolls with my trainer, which didn't even have ailerons!

Stall turns.

I just want to throw this out there. When you start aerobatics with your trainer, if the wing is attached with rubber bands use new ones and put and extra one or two on there. I have heard that slapping sound on beginners planes from lack of rubber bands, and it can lead to disaster. (crisss cross rubber bands dont help!)