Top Flite S.E. 5A
 

This is my first kit build and I have a lot of questions. If anyone out there has built one of these, I would really appreciate any advice or expertise you may have.

Kit Questions
 

Good luck on getting replies here!

A good way to elicit good comments is to start a build thread. Post your progress, and ask questions, if you have problems.

While your model may have specific issues, most air frames are built in a similar fashion. Builders should be able to offer good advice, when needed.

I do not understand your comment. I have always foud great help here not only for me but for most who ask for support.

Best Regards,

ttdflight, I have not built this kit. I do know it has a habit of coming out a bit heavy..

I would make sure you use very light wood in the back and keep the covering, tail skid as light as possible. I think pull pull on the tail surfaces will save you a ton of weight up front to balance later.

A friend built one and tricked it all out.. It was a hand full and ended up having the most scale like wing failure I have ever seen.

oops, I replied to the wrong person, changed the name..

Ttdflight, is this the Dave Platt designed kit? I don't know how long the kit was in production but it is still likely to be pretty old. Dave Platt is a great designer but the state of the art has still moved on. I agree with Tom Crump about build threads. It keeps people interested and experienced builders will follow along. Having recently built an Aristocraft Staggerwing I've experienced some of the thrills of a vintage kit. Vacuformed details such as cowlings and exhaust pipes or louver plates can usually be salvaged but you want to look at any load bearing plastic with a very critical eye. Plastic gets brittle with age and replacing control horns and mounting clips is cheap insurance. You should probably count on dumping the phenolic mounting plate. The one in my stagger wing cracked after the first flight. You may want to pop down to the hardware store for a bit of aluminum stock or order some G-10 fiberglass sheet from McMaster-Carr for a new engine mount. Modern materials such as carbon fiber, flexible pushrods and lightweight servos are your friends. Please don't take this as discouragement. Building old kits can be very satisfying and I am a big fan of WWI airplanes. There are still a lot of builders around who will give freely of their experience.

Kit help
 

This is what I meant. Your question is off the first page and the answers were not of much direct use for your application.Not many builders left and this plane probably hasn't been built for many seasons.If someone had built it,they probably can't remember it. Good luck! Just follow the instructions step by step and ask all the old guys at the field when problems arise.

I built one back in 1971 and still have it, though it's not flyable now due to badly warped wings from storage in a shed over a summer 20 years ago. Covered with silk & dope, powered with OS H60, 6-3/4 lbs.

I had no experience with taildraggers so with the very narrow landing gear I had a very tough time getting it off the ground. It was the King of Groundloopers. That 60 was plenty of power - I still remember it hanging on the prop after adopting a "full throttle takeoff" philosophy to minimize the time window for groundloops. Now that I can handle taildraggers, I'd like to dewarp it and get it in the air again, but so much to do and so little time.................

It was 47 years ago, so I don't remember much about the build, but I'll try to help.

-Dave Plumpe