After graduating from 3 channel, I have completed a 4 ch aileron trainer (Graupner Stinson) and have completed a few timid flights consisting mainly of lazy turns and a few loops. Before attempting an aileron roll, I thought I'd check to make sure what the proper technique would be. Do I just crank the stick to one side? Any rudder? Recovery tips if things go awry (I lost a GWS mustang after a tip stall that I could not recover from)?

Any tips that might help me avoid a handful of foam chunks would be appreciated.

get high, seeing as how this is your first roll, angle the plane a little up, and give it a good amount of ail. if you want to give it a little bit of down while inverted to help stop altitude loss you can, and make sure you know when it comes back to being right side up

are you sure you want to try a roll after only a few flights with this plane? If i were you i'd get comfortable with it first and then increase the throws a bit before i go rolling around the sky.

Thanks for your concern, red91sit. It's been a few weeks since I posted the question and took some time to get the feel of the plane before attempting my first roll. It was kind of ugly, but it didn't crash, so I can only get better - right? I have another plane on order, so what the heck! Throw caution to wind.

Trainers usually do make kind of ugly rolls because they are designed to stay top up.