My first Large RC Plane Telemaster 40
 

I spent the last year building a Telemaster,and I'm a little nervous to fly it.

Looks great !

My very first RC flight was on a Telemaster. I was standing next to an instructor and his student. The instructor handed the TX to me, and I was flying !

My point is that your beautiful bird will fly as good as she looks. If you are nervous, ask a more experienced pilot to do the maiden, and trim the model for you.

Good luck, and have fun !

First of all I would get rid of that 3 bladed prop. They are very inefficient a two blade prop in the 6 inch pitch range will provide plenty of pull and speed. Best of all it will allow you to land even with a medium idle. With the heavier pitched props even at an idle the plane might be near its flying speed making for long extended landing approaches.

The Telemaster is probably one of the best trainers you could hope to own. Yours looks wonderfully built and a nice colour combination. Just make sure the CofG is right on the money and It should fly like a champ. Know someone you trust as a pilot? It never hurts to have someone check it over a second set of eyes sometimes picks up an obvious mistake we may have missed. If he's a good pilot you might ask him to fly the maiden and trim it out. Once you fly it you will never go back. I still have 2 flying Telemasters a 40 like yours and an old, old 66 as well as I am slowly building an electric 40.

If you like building you might want to take a look at the Lazy Ace for your next winter project. Its almost as if it were a Telemaster biplane. and fly's the same.

Dennis

Hey david and please allow me to welcome you to RCU. Indeed your Telly looks like a fine job. I still keep a tired old Senior around for an occasional glider piggyback launch.

From that tell tail muffler your engine is likely a fox and I am guessing maybe a .61. I must say I agree with propworn (dennis) above about that monumentally oversized paddlebladed three point prop. Even though your engine may be larger (over the forty recommendation) I feel that the prop is going to present you with running problems and a loss of inflight reliability.

John

It looks like you did nice work on the plane. I'll agree about the prop too. The best thing you can do from this point forward is get with an experienced pilot who will give your plane a very thorough inspection and do the maiden flight for you. Then you want him or another to teach you how to fly. Telemasters are as good as it gets for beginner planes, but there is still a skill involved in flying. Take the time and possibly spend the money to get with a group of guys (ie, a club) that will help you get started in the hobby. Flying model planes is a blast, but really hard to learn on your own.

Hey my friend,Don' be nervous. I had the same plane with a fox .40 on it and it will fly itself, Very stable. You can almost land it in a stall. It floats like a butterfly! and lands like puppy. It is a Great trainer! It will take off at half throttle. The only thing is I don't think you can buy them anymore. Just don't fly it on a windy day. If you have Questions, let me know. Happy flying.

I agree,Get rid of the 3-bladed prop,especially for this plane. 3-bladed props were used on planes with variable pitch that flew very high where there is less air.And also pattern planes where speed is needed.All The Telamaster.needs is something to get it airborn,It is not an arobatic plane. Good luck.

I disagree; the Telemaster or any trainer for that mater will do the basic aerobatics. Rolls, loops, stalls, spins, split S etc. About the only thing they don't do well is extended inverted, knife edge and the 3D that is so common today. If you fly it like a prototypical high wing aerobat like a Citabria you can fly those maneuvers quite scale like. Even a cub and a 65 hp Aeronca are capable of basic maneuvers. You will have a riot with the Telemaster and when you master the trike gear change it to a tail dragger and have at it. It’s the perfect plane to learn to fly off floats.

Add me to that list. Trainers are more aerobatic than many give them credit for.

Ok, you can do some things with it,but I do agree,it is an excelant trainer, I wish I new where to buy one,I'd like to build another one.

what's up with the swastika and the ss badges in pic 4?

Telemasters
 

Hobby Express.com sells kits

As to whether to use 2 or three bladed props, not a really important decision. Both will work equally well although at the small size our model props are (relative to the size of the molecules of the air) the three bladed props will be slightly less efficient. However, if you properly size them either type will fly your model quite well. In general, the three bladed prop gives you more ground clearance as the blades must be shorter to keep the same load on the engine that an equivalent performing two blade prop would require. As long as the one you have on the plane does not over tax the engine, use it and have fun.

My experience instructing tells me that 6 inches of pitch is much more than you need, and less pitch often helps control landings better. I generally use 11x5, or even 11x4 props for trainers with 40 size engines. For a three blade prop I guess 11x4 or 10x5 would be appropriate, but I don't know what yours is.

A thread on the subject of three vs two blades really surprised me because tests showed no difference in efficiency. I always assumed the same as Rodney, that the three blade prop would be a little less efficient. In any case, even if it is a little less efficient, you will have more power than you need. Nice airplane!

Jim

I actually think the 6 pitch is about right for a trainer. When I've used lower pitch props on trainers, I found that they slow down too abruptly when the pilot lowers the throttle. They also have a tougher time on windy days because they don't have the speed they need to power through it. A common mistake is to try and make a trainer fly as slowly as possible. It doesn't help. I wouldn't want excessive speed mind you, but being comfortably above the stall speed of the wing and significantly faster than the wind makes the plane smoother and more predictable. Since the mind adjusts its perceptions of speed to match what it's looking at, flying at 50 mph isn't really a problem after a couple of sessions.

My experience with lower prop pitch is not like this at all. I guess it goes to show that it pays to experiment with props to find out what you like.

Hi Jim! 3-blades on RC aircraft might not do much, But on full scale they to do alot with efficiency. I posted before that mostly all of your WW2 planes had 3-bladed props and modern planes today,have variable pitch. The main reason was because the higher you fly, the less air there is. and you could adjust your pitch,to compensate. You can grab more air. just like in Pylon racing, Im shure everyone knows this,Take a 10 by 6 prop, The reasoning is that for every revolution you move 6" forward,I gues on a calm day. But we never have that.HA. Nice to here from you JIM. How have you been?