I want to start kit building but Iwas wondering who makes the best kits</p>

If you let us know what type planes you like we can make suggestions.We are constantly handling hard to find kits.

trying to find plans or kit for F22

Youll get a lot of different opinions I'm sure. [&:]

My favorite is Sig because of the quality of wood. Balsa USA also has very good quality wood and the instructions are also good but their kits are aimed at more experienced builders I think . For a first time builder, it's hard to pass to pass up Great Planes because their instructions seem to offer the best "Tips" for the new guys.

Since you had to ask, I assume your a new pilot and looking for a first kit suggestion and an easy flying plane. I would recommend the Sig Kadet LT-40 with an OS 46AX and the radio of your choice. Join a club and get help learning to fly via a "Buddy Box" and in the mean time, get a flight sim like the RealFlight one.

What type and size??

Let me say this first. If you are not an experienced builder and experience flyer do not start with a f22 in kit form.
Unfortunately we do not have any for you and do not have the ability to guide you on jet kits.
This link may be helpful http://www.rbckits.com/shop/index.ph...;productId=177

I have been flying park flyers for the past 5 years I was looking for a good plane for my first nitro. I don't know what size

Look at Sig and Great planes for good kits with easy to follow instructions. Most of us will tell newer pilots and builders to look at the SIG 4* series. I use the 4* 60 to teach building. Most of the people I teach are older and the bigger 60 has a couple of building features I like better then the 40 and it's easier for old eyes to see in the air due to it's size. Very good first kit build and an outstanding second plane. With a good instructor and a buddy box it may be OK for you? An instructor may have a trainer on hand {I do} to teach new students or they may ask you to buy one? If so ARF trainers are pretty good and you can build something you like more then a trainer?

Most folks go with a so called 40 sized plane. 60 size will also work well if you want a bit of extra size.

If you want a high wing trainer type plane, the Sig LT 40 is hard to beat. It is a large 40 size but will fit in most cars. You can fly it on pretty much any .40 2 stroke, even a less expensive one. Climbs nicer with a .46. I use a .52 4 stroke on this type of plane. It’s an easy build with excellent instructions with photos.

Sig Kadet and Kadet Seniorita are awesome trainers but they have a complicated sort of bird cage rear fuse and are a hard build. Same thing with the Telemaster series.

The 4 Stars are great. Get some decent aerobatics on high rates but they fly smoothly, nearly like a trainer, and land slowly. 40 and 60 size are both good.

For the 60 size, Bruce Tharpe, designer of the 4 Star, has done an upgrade called the BTE Venture. It flies great and the kit is the best you will find anywhere, hand cut not lasered. Bruce at btemodels.com is on another project now but hopes to cut some more Venture kits by end of the year.

The Goldberg Tiger II or Tiger 60 is often overlooked and most excellent. It has the same thick symmetrical wing as the 4 Star and shares the same performance envelope. Landings are very slow and smooth and a beginner could learn on this plane with an instructor. I’d fly the Tiger (or 4 Star) on a 2 stroke 46 or a 4 stroke 60. Don’t need an expensive hot rod engine here.

One major point is the Tiger is a very easy build. It has a box fuselage with self aligning tabs and nearly falls together. Probably the best build of any of these planes.

Good luck on your first build. It is a great part of the hobby.

Tom

How could I have forgotten the Balsa USA Stik 40 Plus?

Very simple build; it is simply a box on a crutch fuselage. Is very inexpensive and does fine on any old 40 2 stroke. You can set it up easily as tail dragger or trike gear.

It flies a tad faster than the other planes I mentioned but is stable and maneuverable. A few flights with an instructor should do you well. And landings are good. It is less “floaty� if you have a bit of wind.

Yep, she’s kinda ugly but you will forgive her when you get in the air. Sort of like the old VW bug. And rather solid and crash resistant.

If you want a wing that will chop wood, there is a simple trick that adds minimal weight. I mix up thinned epoxy with 1 part A, 1 part B and 1 part rubbing alcohol. Then I put it on and sort of scrape it along with a card edge until it soaks in the wood and I get a very even coat. When dry, I scrape with a single edged blade held near 90 degrees, very lightly until everything is smooth and I get a sort of semi gloss sheen over the entire wood. This takes Monocote very well.

Do remember to get the “Plus� model with ailerons.

Tom

Hi Fellows: My first trainer was a PT-40 from Tower Hobbies. Move to an Eagle 2 when the PT flew away, and was lost. I buildt the Balsa USA Stik 40 plus with ailerons, but some how missed doing any test flights. In paging through different articles, there was one which discussed the Stik 40 plus model. From the flight experience, there was a suggestion to increase the aileron deflection more up and down than what was listed in the building manual. It seems the suggested amount did not give very good control in flight. I have made that adjustment on my plane already, but our club just lost the flying site; so the test flying will have to wait. Mounted an OS Max LA .46 blue engine, and think it might be a bit big for such a small light model.

My Eagle 2 has a TT .42 engine, and flys the plane very well. Through some mismanagement of the TX controls, this plane has gone through several rebuilds, and has become somewhat an antique. The 1994 Royal Aire 40T is what I am flying now with JBA engines. Just removed the .39, and have the .46 installed. Needed more power for vertical flight to do maneuvers.

Cheers!!!

[email protected]

Differential aileron sounds like a great idea. Mine also was not the greatest on things like rolls and hard banks.

For our friend, Google "aileron differential" and there are instructions on the 'net re: setting it up with control horn. Also it is easy to program if you have the right radio.

I am rebuilding a Stik soon from scratch. Going to make it lighter with hard balsa rather than spruce sticks and a 3/32" balsa crutch box with some 1/4" triangle stock reinforcement at edges instead of plywood.

I have read about and will try wing without dihedral. Supposed to work well without a major loss of stability. Lots of stability in this design seems to come from the tail feathers anyway.

Did you try coordinated turns with rudder?

Tom

Thanks for the help I am sorry if I forgot to say this but I know how to fly already. I have another question can you fly balsa kits in the winter?

Read this:

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=1196]Kit Building 101[/link]

Fly balsa kits in winter? No. You still have to build the plane first, summer ,fall, winter or spring? Kits do not fly well...

Now seriously, why would you not be able to fly any kit built airplane in winter?

Gerry
(unable to contain myself)

Good article. But not all Balsa USA are for experts:-)

The most common mistake (one I have done) is to build two right (or left) sides of a fuse. I did that with a Goldberg Cub eons ago. Fortunately the solution is easy, find someone that has the same kit to be built, and swap your fuse side for the wood needed our of your friend's kit. He gets an already built side, and you get the wood to build the OTHER side. I think many of us did this mistake once. (I never heard of somebody making this mistake more than once).

when buuilding kits, one has to be like the Inspector Cousteau (Pink Panther). He never committed the same mistake twice. He always committed new mistakes...



Gerry

This section does have a whole listing of kits doable by a beginning builder that fly well. The Stik 40 Plus and all the low wing jobs could wring out to give some serious fun flying.

It is too bad Bruce Tharpe put the Venture on temporary hiatus. The kits are all hand cut and sanded by Bruce and the quality of the work and wood selection is amazing.

I have a neurological issue and am losing some hand strength. I have an untouched Venture kit I may have to sell just at Bruce's price I bought it for.

Tom

Sorry, I forgot all about Mikes kit Building 101, I even have a hard copy I show to friends that I have tried to talk into building. {with no luck!} Winter flying is a big deal for some of my friends on the east Coast. They use Ski's or Pontoons to take off and land on snow or water. Either or. Pontoons work great on snow too.

My interest picked up when you stated you might sell the kit. But Ilooked up the plane and Imust say it looks ALOT like the Tiger 60 I just built. I've always heard the Venture was a good plane and Iam sure it is as this is my second Tiger and something tells me they fly very similar.

Agree. Flight profile would be very similar to your Tiger.

Tom

I'm a huge fan of the Tiger 60 as well. I rebuilt a friend's who had lost it due to an elevator servo failure. It flies beautifully, and, as stated above, lands like a trainer. I would say it is easily one of the best aerobatic models for the size you can get. <div>
</div><div>As for building, one of the biggest problems I have had, as well as others, is keeping the fuselage straight. If you can build the Tiger 60 warped, you have apparently assembled it with a sledgehammer and soft cheese. It's a piece of cake. Another advantage that you might not realise is that it will fly just fine one 4 channels without any mixing and such.  </div><div>
</div><div>Sig kits are also exceptional, and I really enjoy the flying characteristics. I learned to fly on a Sig Kadet Senior ARTF model, but the kit is not difficult to build. It is more involved than simply plugging sheet balsa fuselage sides together, but it is very light and far better looking. A bigger airframe (the Kadet's wings are huge!) are easier to work with, and small errors in cuts will not be as critical. The same goes for the Tiger 60. Of course, bigger flies better anyways, so you will be left with a model you can fly on days that ground other pilots. </div><div>
</div><div>I hope this helps and happy building!</div><div>
</div><div>Graeme</div>

I built and flew the smaller Tiger II. I need to revive it from the hanger.

It can fly very slow almost like a trainer but also will do very decent aerobatics. Landings are very slow and smooth.

Agree with the fuse construction. Best I have seen with those idiot proof interlocking tabs. You're not going to make a bananna plane with this kit.

I flew mine with a Saito .52 4 stroke which is perfect for this plane. With a 12 x 6 wooden prop plenty of pull for climbs and loops. It also likes .46 sized 2 bangers.

Not mentioned here but also very good is the Hobby Lobby Funster. Finshing one I plan to try on electric.

Tom

Ihave been a big supporter of Great Planes and Goldberg models. Its time Ibought a Sig!!!

I love how everyone just went of on a tanget completely ignoring the fact that the OP wanted to find plans or a kit for an F-22. I can't provide any help, but at least I won't offer suggestions that were not asked for.

Edit: Almost everyone, at least one guy provided a link to a kit.

First thing, clean the plexi glass covering your belly button then go read post #1 then post#3, notice anything??