Dear all,

Im looking for a second plane and the new TopFlite Elder 40 cought my attention. TF claims this to be an excellent second plane. I would like to hear if anyone have any experience with this new plane or comments about it. Eventually I would like to move into scale planes from WW I and WW II.

My experience so far is one season on an Eagle 2 from Carl Goldberg which I built as a kit. I like kit building and the Elder 40 looks kind of WW I scale.
Thanks in advance
RCer

The configuration of the Elder is appropriate as a second plane. One of the members of a nearby club has one, and it s a fairly slow, docile aircraft. It is not highly aerobatic... probably not as aerobatic as the trainer you have flown. He was using a Manum 4-stroke on his plane (I forgot which size... think a .52.) and it gave a decent representation of a civilian aircraft just at the start of WWI.

Thanks FHHuber for the quick response. Could you tell me if this plane would be a good preparation to move into more advanced warbirds from WWI and WWII. For example the AT-6 Texan would be a nice first scale project. I really would like to build up my skills as fast as possible toward the cool birds from these periods (but safely), yet at the same time practice on something that looks like a plane.

Thanks in Advance.
RCer

Rcer,
It's great you have the time to build....I would love to but with full time job, wife, college at night so buy arf's. Now that that's explained, I too really enjoy the military scale part of this hobby. Made model tanks and warbirds since little kid, so after wearing out my trainer I bought a Kyosho PT-19. Awesome plane. Lots of Dehedral(sp) and really slows down. I've crashed it a couple of times but always rebuildable. After one of the crashes I was with out so bought an Great Planes A/T 6. For me it is difficult to fly. Short fuselage and you need to fly it to land it. It's currently in hanger receiving new firewall. Hope this helps.
Duke

I'd say its NOT a great stepping-stone to head toward WWII heavy metal warbirds... Closer to a secondary trainer.

To head directly toward a WWII plane such as the P-51, you want to head to a plane more similar in configuration... low wing, symetrical airfoil.
The stepping-stone plane should be light, and responsive. (and STRONG) 4*40, or Somethin' Extra would be top choices. As you improve your skill... add lead weight on the CG. When you've gotten a 4*40 or Somethin' Extra up to a weight where it takes 200 ft paved runway to lift off with a .46... you're about ready for a heavy scale warbird. (don't try aerobatics at that weight... the wings will fail.)

The main problem scale warbirds have is wing loading. The tend to be VERY heavy, which makes them prone to tip-stall durring take-off and landing. The wing designs of WWII fighters aggrivates the problem... they are designed for maneuverability, not stability.

Also, the warbirds tend to be highly powered... and poor throttle management durring take-off run will lead to the 'Ground loop" which tears so many of these planes apart. You MUST learn throttle management for taildraggers before trying a heavy scale WWII fighter.

Thanks for all the replies,

Based on the comments I think I will get a SIG something extra instead of the Elder 40. I plan to fly one more season with the trainer or at least a good portion of next season. This will allow me plenty of construction time (Im kind of a perfectionist when I build so I build slow) and hopefully make me competent enought to handle the Extra. I like that I can reuse my TT 46 engine which I like very much.

Again thanks very much for the replies
RCer

When you put the TT 46 on the SE... try an APC 12.25 X 3.75 prop. (as long as it clears the ground...) Its an amazing combo for vertical performance. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] The TT.46 spinning that prop can pull a nearly 9 lb aircraft straight up from a standing start. (that would give you the abilty to lift the SE with an added 3 lbs of lead!)