Hey gang

I have built a few kits here and there, its been a while since I have done one though. Much to my shock, my 11 year old daughter wants to get into this hobbie with her dear old dad. We are going to build her own trainer and I am going to teach her to fly it. The kit we are thinking about is the Carl Goldberg Protege .40. I have the real flight 4 sim that she is working on now to get some idea on how things work. I am experinced enough to teach her, just not sure if this is a good building kit or not. We thought about an ARF trainer, but we both love to tinker and build things and I figure that this is a great project to start working on now and have it ready to go for her Summer break.

Anyone that has built this kit please chime in, or suggest a diffrent kit. I would like a kit with at least a 65" wing span and run somewhere to a 40-60 2-stroke (perhaps even a 4 stroke).

I have heard good things about the CG Protege, it should be a great kit. I have also heard nothing but praise for the Sig LT-40. You can't go wrong either way, and good for you for going with a kit instead of an ARF.

I have two girls around the same age, and we built SPAD trainers this winter. We have maidened them both and they are eagerly awaiting their flight training this spring. Look down in the SPAD forum if you want to see them.

Good luck.

You can't go wrong with a Goldberg kit - For building OR flying.

My first trainer was a CG Eagle 2 i don't feel you can go wrong with a Goldburg Kit I did Build a SIG Kadet Seior Kit about 15 years ago and it is still flying but it is all sticks so unless you really injoy doing a lot of cutting and fiting a lot of sticks stick with the Carl Goldburg Kit eather way HAPPY BUILDING

Thanks guys, music to our ears.. She is already breaking out the crayons and trying to come up with some kind of yellow and neon pink design for it lol....

Great feeling to get the kids invovlved. One of my daughters will be learning to fly this summer with her Dad

That was my daughter's favorite part of the project. I printed off some blank 2-views of a generic trainer and she went to town. Then I had to tell her what Dad's capability for cutting out color schemes was, and we compromised.

One bit of advice - there seem to be a lot cooler decals for RC cars than for planes, especially if you are a 10 year old girl.

That is really neat that you are doing this with your daughter. Don't be surprised if this is something that she takes to. I'm instructing a college class in building a LT-40 kit, and I have 4 female students who are aerospace majors. 3 of them are becoming hardcore builders. They are really good and all 4 love building the trainers.

Great project to be doing with your daughter. If you're not dead set on the plane think about doing a Sig LT-40. That's a great flying trainer and it's an easy build. In fact, I did a very detailed build thread on this very plane!!

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3439708/tm.htm]Pay It Forward build thread!! LT-40 build.[/link]

Oh yeah, this plane turned out pink as well!!!!

Ken

I absolutely agree with the Goldberg Protege. I built (assembled.. it's an ARF) one after reading Minnflyer's review. It is a great handling plane and a great performer. The build was fairly simple, and the best of all was that when I was finished, it did not require any weight to make the CG. Landing this thing is an absolute dream.

The review had the OS 55 AX engine, which is more than adequate. But, I put the OS 75 AX on mine because the LHS didn't have the OS 55 AX in stock. I was not sorry. Either way, it is a great aircraft.

CGr.

Great to see another girl get into the hobby ! The sim is a wonderful tool, I've been working on my instructors Real Flight G3.5 he let me borrow, for quite a long time now and I believe it will pay off when I start training in the spring, which is only about a couple weeks off up in Wisconsin. That should be some great father/daughter bonding, which I know she'll enjoy, I know I do. Good Luck !



-- TakingFlight96

Once again thanks for the responses gang. Sara (my daughter) has always had a love for flying. she inspires to be an airforce pilot one day. She studies hard, a straight A student and very level headed. Words cant say how proud I am of her. I figure building this kit together would teach her alot about flight and the joys of it. I will keep some progress reports when we star the build and post some pictures...

Wow ken we will never get tired of the pink LT-40 Who decided to put that on?

The daughters of the father it was built for.

Ken

Man you will never lose that thing

Love the pink plane!! My daughter has agreed to try flying, but she had one stipulation. The plane HAS to be pink. So, I think my winter project is going to be to recover my SuperStar ARF with pink monokote.


Tom

I let my wife pick the colors for one of my fun fly planes, an Up-Roar, and it was A metal flake pastel pink and gray?? Then my Kaos got recovered and it turned out to be white and purple. Dang good thing I'm color blind and just don't care. The Up-Roar I couldn't see very well in the air and I lost it just before it found the trees. The Kaos is in the shop now for old age repairs and A recover, I haven't allowed my winf in the shop and I already bought the Yellow covering.

I forgot to ask, 2days, how did your daughter do on the trainer?? Is she still into it??

My daughter is currently in the control line stage. Funny, her favorite is a green Japanese Zero (go figure) . And I just had to share a photo of her plane and practicing her "Art" Both make daddy very happy.
Best of luck with your daughter and her flying career. I think mine just does it to humor the old guy.