acarter

i just flew my first electric this weekend and now i am looking for an easy to fly and durable nitro plane, so some poeple at the field recomended a duraplane, so now i am looking at a [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0095p?FVSEARCH=zz7021&FVPROFIL=++]this[/link] tower hobbies combo, i am just wondering if this plane will be a good engine to go with the plane and if it will have enough power, (i will have an instructor), any comments are apprecieated,

Thanks,
Austin

rclement

My Feedback: (1)

That is definately a durable plane to fly with. Nice thing about the Duraplanes is that it's easy to replace or fix the parts if they get messed up. Not sure about the LA engine on it though.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Duraplanes tend to come out on the heavy side. The O.S. .46 LA would probably be a better choice than the .40 LA. A little bit of extra power could go a long way toward improving the flyability of the Duraplane trainer, especially if you're taking off from a grass field.

This Duraplane trainer is a kit, you will also need to purchase covering, covering tools, and other accessories to complete the airplane. You will need a radio system, and you will need field equipment for starting and maintaining the plane.

Why not consider the Thunder Tiger Easy Trainer 40H w/ Side Kick flight accessory combo?

http://www.thundertiger4u.com/easy-t...k-p-13081.html

At $259.99, the price not only includes a .40-size glow trainer with 61" wing span, a very high quality Thunder Tiger GP-42 glow engine preinstalled, and a Hitec Laser 4 radio system pre-installed, it also comes with all of the field accessories you need like a glow ignitor and charger, chicken stick, 4-way prop/glow wrench, fuel pump with fuel tubing and fuel cap it, even a cardboard carrying caddy for all of your starting accessories.

The $259.99 price even includes delivery right to your front door, the folks at http://www.thundertiger4u.com deliver any order over $150 for free.

You can read about Thunder Tiger's terrific all-inclusive glow trainer package over at the AMA's Sport Aviator website:

http://www.masportaviator.com/ah.asp?CatID=1&ID=124

The box will contain just about everything you need to go flying except a jug of fuel!

You'll have an instructor to help you. Instead of purchasing a plane that is designed to crash well, why not choose an aircraft that is designed to fly well instead?

Good luck and good shopping!

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

I'd go with the Tower .46 BB engine or the OS .46 AX engine over the LA. Personally I use .40 LAs in .25 sized planes, and would use at least a .60LA in a .40 size plane... power output and engine weight for the LA series engines is similar to the next class down in BB engines. It's nice having some extra power to pull out of botched landing approaches...

opjose

Someone here said that the .60 LA was the best .40 sized engine he'd ever flown. Heh.

Gary L.

That made me giggle

acarter

ok, now i have been reading a bit more and some poeple say the duraplane flies like crap, and bigedmustafa had a point, since i will have an instructor maybe i should get a plane the flies better than it crashes, so anyway now i am looking at the hobbico superstar arf with a tower hobbies .46 bb engine, just wondering if this is a good plane and engine,

any other suggestions on planes and engines are welcome


Thanks, Austin

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

I have the Hobbico Super Star but changed the 40 LA engine to an OS 46 SX with a MACS exhaust. Not that I needed to do the exhaust but I had it so I used it. This combination has lots of power, yet is calm enough to run at low RPM and do all the training that it is supposed to do (but I think better than it would with the 40 LA).

I bought it as a club trainer, it came as an RTF, by the way, thus the 40 LA engine. It came with the basic Futaba 4 channel radio and connects to the buddy box.

As I said, a good choice.

My first trainer was a Tower 40 with their 46 BB engine and that too flew just fine. Your choice, but both are very suitable for your purposes.

DS.

opjose

The TH .46 is a good and strong engine.

Don't touch the needles out of the box, but DO tighten all of the cap screws on the engine.

Pay particular care to push the carb against the O-Ring when you put the carb in place.

This MUST be tight!

Tighten anything that CAN be tightened, including the needle screw nuts, but be careful not to change the needle's position.

Start up the engine and run at least a full tank of fuel through it.

Then retighten the head cap screws as they WILL loosen after the engine warms up! Careful not to strip the aluminum head by over tightening.

Run a few more tanks of fuel through it then start tuning as directed.


If you set it up properly this engine is easy to tune.

It will feel "stiff" when you take it out of the box. This is normal.

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

Since you're going to have an instructor, why not check with the club members? Often, these days, a trainer will get retired (instead of destroyed.) Those people are wondering what to do with their trainers, and will part with them reasonably.

And, they know the plane's characteristics.
Good luck,
Dave Olson

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

One new guy at my club had a duraplane... it flew fine. Personally, I soloed on an Avistar, and crashed it 6 flights later, then went to SPADs (similar construction as Duraplanes). I did a whole lot more learning on my rugged SPADs and have since switch to balsa/ply ARFs. I say get something rugged and easy to fix to learn on... after you get lots of experience with that, go with the nicer flying balsa/ply ARFs.

acarter

thanks for all the help guys