Hi all, I am new to this R/C airplane world but flew line control when I was 11. I'm 52 now so out of practice. A friend bought a property here in the Arkansas River valley and in it were these 2 airplanes. One looks like a cessna and the other a crop duster. The Cessna has a 56inch wingspan and is approx 45.5inches long. It has an OS Max 60H motor that is locked up and electronics are pre1992. It had an AMA sticker on it so I wrote them but have received no reply and am wondering if they are stuck up or something. Anyway, I'd like to know who made the kit and is it worth fixing. Please recommend a replacement engine and electronics. It also has a hole in the wing and a cracked tailfin passenger side. If anyone out there is from the river valley and would be willing to give me some advice, I'll bring it and meet up with you. I am uploading pic and you can email directly at: [email protected] Thanks, Andy

PS It has 2 large plastic screws that hold wing on.

Neither airplane is a Cessna or any kind of scale airplane They are both likely from the early eightys or late seventies two of hundreds of possible design sport airplanes.

Electronics are almost certainly a wash and not usable likely not even on current frequencys or legal to operate.

the engines is also in such a corroded states reviving it for any real functional use is going to be a major challange.

The airplanes can of course be repaired and flown however that takes some modeling skills and the airplanes are not really appropriate types for learning to fly. In short if you want to get involved you best start with current appropriate equipment and you will spend far less money as well as improve your chances for success.

The AMA is not 'stuck up' they do not register model airplanes and would have now way to identifty your airplanes. If there is markings that says AMA and up to a six digit number then that is likely the ama number of the member who originally built the airplanes. Likely of no use that far back.


John

I have to agree with John on all counts.

You would be better off purchasing an RTF (Ready To Fly) trainer. You can frequently get an RTF trainer for around $400. If you are willing to do a couple of hours work (and I mean only 2 - 3 hours) you can get an ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) trainer for about $100, a DECENT 46 engine for another $100 (or less) and a modern up to date radio, new, for anywhere from $100 and UP (depending on the numer of channels and other features on it).

In any case, DO NOT TRY TEACHING YOURSELF HOW TO FLY. The typical 1st flight of someone trying to teach themselves how to fly is less than 30 seconds and frequently results in damage (often major damage) to the plane and/or equipment.

Join a local club. The local club not only has a field to fly from, but they will provide instructors AT NO CHARGE.

Hope this is of some help.

One looks like a vintage Skylark.. color scheme and so on.

CGr

Hmmm.. They are airplanes, I'm sure of it.. (Sorry couldnt resist!)

Seriously, most of the answers have been given, but I would give this: Clean up the planes and motors before you write anything off. Chances are the engines are more trouble than worth, but it IS an OS so i would at least try myself.

The air frames look mostly intact, so it a matter of going thru the control surfaces, re-hinging, and recovering as necessary. (Blue and white one anyhow) Assuming you posses some basic modeling and or woodworking skills its not very hard to repair.

That said, those are DEFINATELY not trainers, so while I would most assuredly try to fix em, I have to go with the others in saying get a good trainer and learn on it first. I will also parrot the find a club line, its really the best way to go unless you are:
A) Unusually talented and have the $$ and skills to fix a few crashes. Or,
B) Unusually stubborn, a masochist at heart, and have a lot of $$ to repair / replace the piles of sticks you will create.

Both types exist, and have taught themselves to fly, but its a LOONG road, and me being the type I am just took the easy way out and got an instructor..

I would agree on the engines. Fill them up with oil and let them soak. If they free up, all you might need is some o rings for them. Good Luck, Dave

Yeah, I agree with that. I had a used, old, OS 61 SF that I bought from an estate sale, got it rather inexpensively. I took it home, put about a quart of fuel (regular glow fuel) in a small bucket, and just dropped the engine in there and let it soak for about a week. After I was done, I drained it thoroughly, and put it on a plane, a Tiger 60, by the way, and it started right up and ran just fine. It eventually needed bearings, but with all things considered, that was a cheap quality engine.

Chris has that engine (Overbored) on one of his planes. I gave it to him for his clipped wing Tiger 60/tail dragger. He replaced the bearings, and it flys today. A great engine.

So, never say die. Let them soak in something (I recommend just plain old 15% nitro is what I used, but any fuel with oil will work) for a while and then clean them out/off and see if they turn and if they have compression. If they do, then what the hell... put a new glow plug on, and start it up. You never know.

CGr

This is the cheapist way to get in the air. $250.00 http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXCXF4**&P=0

The radio is very basic. The plane is good. The motor is real good (and can be moved to a more advanced plane). But I tell everyone the same thing about getting into R/C anything. Buy the cheap bare minamum stuff to see if you like the hobby or not. And if you really dont like it you are not out a ton of money and the stuff can be sold(if it aint destroyed).

There are much better RTF and Combo ARF deals...but I have seen none cheaper. I fly a simular set up with my Superstar.......flys good and its simple.

That Towers combo sounds like a perfect combination to start with. There are a lot of low cost ARFs out there that will make it easy and affordable to get into RC. The High wing design will be easy to fly and will giveyou time to react until you become a bit better at it. Save those birds for later on when you have mastered the basics and want to move up to a different aircraft. I would strip them of the covering, go over all the parts to make sure there are no cracks or loose joints and recover. Soak the engines in Marble Mistery Oil for a day or so and try to turn them over. If they are still stuck, try using a hair dryer to heat up the metal and soften the old castor oil inside them, then turn them over. Don't try to fly yourself, rather find somebody to teach you the basics. Some folks think they can just grab a radio and succesfully take off, fly, and land. It isn't as simple as it may seem.

Andermac - I am very new to this forum and am also just returning to RC after quite a few years out of the hobby - so my opinion is not an expert one - but here goes anyway. Years back I bought a SIG model called the Kavalier but never built it. SIG still makes it as a balsa kit. The plane on your truck bed closest to you sure looks a lot like a Kavalier. By the way, it caught my interest because, after twenty years, I finally built that Kavalier kit this last winter. I have not flown it yet because I am very rusty and it is an intermediate plane. I did have one of our club instuctors fly it for me though and it handles quite well. While I am in the re-training mode I'm using a Tower Hobby 60 and intent to get to the Kavalier before the summer is out.
I have pictures of it but have not yet tried to figure out how to post photos - When I do I'll send one.

Thanks guys for all your replys, I checked the OS website and as best as I can tell it's a 1967 model engine. I have a nice Exacto knife set that I've always wanted to use so no matter what I intend to repair the blue and white one. I have determined that the red one is beyond repair as it was exposed to a water leak. All your recommendations were good but as I am stubborn, I need to know how to reskin it and what type of glue I should use. If you know a link to these instructions, I appreciate it. I'm going to study this website as I'm betting my answers are here. I had no intention of ever trying to fly this plane. If I go to all the trouble to fix it you can bet that a pro will giver her first trials. Can you guys recommend a radio that I could use with this plane and a trainer? I figure that would save me a ton of dough. Oh yeah, the prop is a 11 x 7.5 whatever that means. Is their a R/C flight simulator for a PC? Snobelt, you can send a pic to my email address! Thanks again, Andy

Just looking at the pictures, I would say that you probably can save the truck !!

Well the plane on the tail gate is a SIGs Kavalier from back in the 70s
Got to thinking[:@] the red one was made by Royal sort of like the firts ARFs with stick on covering and checker board markings, both fly very well the Kavalier is a second plane.



Spelling

What color is your radio gear some times you can tell what radio it is by the color

Andermac - here is my Kavalier.

Andermac,

I think you are looking at doing this on a budget. Its the same way I have been doing it. Now if you want a cheap radio to use with both planes this is the way to go (on a small budget) http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXLDP9**&P=0 $110.00 This is the Futaba radio with a tower hobby sticker. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXRXF3**&P=0

The radio come with Transmitter and tranmitter battery, receiver and receiver battery, and a wall charger that charges both batterys. And a switch and a extention wire that will be needed for ailerons.

There are alot of fancy radios out there. But I have looked into my needs for today and a little down the road. This radio will work great for 4 servo planes, or 5 servo planes, planes with flaps and retracts. It also has mixes for V-Tail and Flaperon (which neither one of us will be using for a long while).

Cool finds Andermac! Finding old planes like that is like finding a treasure! Yes the R/C flying world has changed a lot since those day's, but dont let that discourage you. I got back in to R/C and C/L flying after being out of the hobby for 10 years, and am having a blast! Not sure how far Lamar AR is from our field in MO, but if you are ever going to be down this way, look me up. We fly R/C and C/L every weekend, and once a during the week. C/L is making a good come back around my area. Good luck with getting back into the hobby.

If you sign up for the email letters first, you will get a $20 off coupon to use on it. Then it will only be $230.00

andermac,

The Sig Kavalier kit is still in production, and plans are available from Sig. The horizontal is a built-up assembly – stick construction with sheeting on both sides and shouldn’t be too hard to fix. This is a very stout, rugged airplane.

The Kavalier is not a primary trainer and was considered a basic, aileron, or secondary trainer (this was from the era where you learned to fly on rudder/elevator/throttle, no ailerons). Don’t try to learn on it, get a proper trainer instead. But for a secondary trainer it’s a great plane. Power wise an OS .46 AX, Thunder Tiger .40 or .46 Pro, or Super Tiger GS-40 or GS-45 will all work great – it doesn’t need any more power than those. Look through [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4537845/tm.htm]RCKen's list of trainer aircraft[/link] for a good primary trainer. If you get something that is considered RTF, or ready to fly, you could transfer the radio and engine over to the Kavalier when you’re ready to fly it.

Hogflyer

It's not that far really to Carthage. Your the first one to respond with zeal about the old aircraft. The Kavalier is the only one that is complete and fixable. The other one was exposed to water and basically in a bag. It looked like a SIG Fazer but had landing gear on wing instead of tripod. It may take a week or two for me to attempt and unlock engine but when I do, I'll bring the whole plane see if you guys can start it. If engine is good then I'll buy me a trainer that I can use electronics in this one when I learn to fly. Send me directions will you Flyin to your field. If you see a white Ford Excursion pull up, you'll know its me. IS Tower Hobbies an online store only? I always like to walk in and look, put my hands on it. Thanks for all the input and more is good so keep it coming! Andy

Hogflyer your the man! After rereading your post, I am no longer sure it's a Kavalier. It has ailerons I believe. They are on the trailing edge of the wing and move up and down depending on which way you turn the rudder. I've got the aircraft wired up in the ceiling as I am adding an addition and space is at a premium. It's been cleaned since my original pics so I'll take some more and resubmit in next day or so. Front wheel steers with rudder turn as well. It sounds like you know your engines but it has a OSMax 60H. Your saying that an .046 will replace it. I'm really over my head when it comes to the miniengines. I've been a mechanic for 46 years and I can fix most anything is I got a manual but I don't have one or a schematic and really don't even know how to disasemble it. 41 years ago, I got a line controlled blue and yellow trainer with rubber bands to hold wings. I crashed it so many times trying to do stunts that finally I glued tail straight and rudder slightly up and just let it fly out of sight. I bought a twin engine Stukka after that and I couldn't keep engines running or tuned right and when one quit and it heeled over and dove into the ground my flying days were over. Take care and thanks for the advice. Andy

It wouldn't be an .046, but a .46 like [link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJA86&P=ML]THIS[/link] or [link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFV71&P=ML]THIS[/link]

I think its really awesome that you found those 2 planes. The best advice would be to read as much as you can on this website, be patient, and do not try to learn to fly on your own!. It will only bring discouragement and heartache....

-Troy

Snobelt thats a beautiful plane. It looks like it has ailerons. Your pics didn't show up till a little while ago or I would have said something earlier. Thanks for sharing. Mine looks a lot like that except no fancy nose cap. Andy

BTW - AMA gave away the stickers to all that wanted them (advertising). Not stuck up - just busy.

Alright, the AMA or a least it's membership is not stuck up but it is a fact that I emailed a picture with a description and where I found it. I waited for a couple of months but no reply. They should of at least replied and said there was no way to tell or forwarded it to a senior AMA member like Hogflyer. That's all I'm saying and in no way intended to put down this organization. After all the great replies, I've about decided to join AMA. I didn't realize just how big AMA has become and how many members take this club so seriously. I hope you guys will have me.

Sincerly, Andy McDonald
retired chief mechanic
GECO, PRAKLA, Schlumberger Oil Exploration