digger.10

The Tower Trainer should make a fine first plane, although I have not flown that one myself all comments and indications that I have seen are quite positive regarding its quality and airworthiness. I have also been extremely pleased with Tower's service, they get my stuff to me in Japan within a week of ordering, faster than the LOCAL hobby shop does!

For the 46FX, O.S. recommends an 10.5X6 prop as the minimum, this will do quite well for training flights. When you want to go faster, later, you can move up to an 11X6 or 7. I advise against wood until you gain a bit of proficiency. Wood props are very nice to fly on but they are quite fragile compared to their plastic counterparts; one bump against anything on the runway (or anything else) and they will usually splinter. Plastic props stand up to the rigors of training much better. Don't forget to balance whichever prop you choose.

I might here suggest that the 46FX is quite a bit of power for a 40 trainer, you may want to detune it a bit for your first flights. A 40 or 46 LA would be just about right, although I understand you may want the nicer engine envisioning future projects.

As far as servos, the Tower TS-53 can be had for $10.00 or so and will do just fine in a trainer.

It is pretty much a certainty that are you are going to have a few bumps with your first plane, keep it simple (and cheap) and you will feel more relaxed when learning to fly, something that greatly influences the learning curve. Of course you should also have an instructor, this also goes a long way in ensuring that you return from your first flying sessions with an airplane and not a "rekitted" ARF.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

digger

FHHuber

On my .46's, I tend to use 11X5 for sport and trainer type planes, 10X7 for R/C combat planes. The 11X5 seems to be a slightly low load, and the 10X7 the correct load for the engine... but a slight under-prop won't hurt the engine.

The 11X5 will help keep the airspeed down at full throttle, while letting you take advantage of the .46's power for climbing and accelleration. It will also help with slowing the pane down for landing. It will be a good match for your trainer.

The ,46 ball bearing type engine is at the top end of what is appropriate for the Tower Trainer .40, but I've seen them with that engine, and they do fine.

I also like the Tower TS53 servos. And... if you peel the label off... it has Futaba S-3003 molded in the case. The Futaba S-3003 is a $14 to $16 servo. (saving money and getting quality... gotta love it.)

digger.10

The Avistar is a fine plane too and yes, it is covered with monocote. However it's snap-together design teaches nothing about gluing or other essential modelling skills needed to make the repairs that are going to be needed sooner or later.

The sticky paper covering on the TT CAN be repaired with low heat film like oracover, although the results may not be real pretty. As this is a training and practice plane, it doesn't really matter. When the patches have patches and the thing starts to look a bit ragged, you can pull off all the sticky paper and recover the whole plane in monocote, if you wish. Good practice.

Also Tower guarantees to replace their trainer if you crash and destroy the thing while learning to fly (certain conditions apply), a nice bonus.

Sojourner

If you want a cheap airplane that will fly GREAT!!!, go to the combat section and look at the posts by Tattoo. He has been building S.P.A.D (Simple Plastic Airplane Designs) for several years. He has plans available for FREE, and while I designed my own for combat, they do fly great. You can build one in around 4 hours, they cost less than $5.00 / plane, yes, I said FIVE dollars. They are almost indestructible. I have seen them get hit mid air and keep flying and finish the combat round. I have heard the wings get hit with the props and they keep flying. When they land thay have a series of hash marks, but a little 2" wide packing tape and they are back in the air. The wings are glued together with CA, and the fuselage is 2 1/2" vinal downspouts that you can buy a 10' piece for $6 or $7 dollars, enough to make 4 or 5 fuselages. The wings and tail feathers are made from Coroplas. You see those big COKE and PEPSI adds at the gastations? They are made of corrogated plastic. That is the stuff the wings are made from. If you can find a gastation throwing away the add, ask for it and poof, instant wing material. They do fly great! I have crashed one and it didn't hurt the wing at all. I just rubber banded back on and replaced the prop and up in the air it went again. They are great trainers because they are cheap, and fly well. If you crash, ehh so what is $5.00 and four hours compared to a $50 to $100 dollar kit? and the 5 to 10 hours you will spend putting the ARF together? they are easy to make too.

Later,
Soj

FHHuber

The two best SPAD trainers are pictured on the SPAD website: www.spad.org The two on the left side, top of the page. (the ones that have wheels )
Not much harder than putting together an ARF, and they tend to bounce, not break. (and... pull the wheels and you have a combat plane. )

I've been learning more about how to work with repairing the "shelf paper" covering... Towerkote seems to work best. Its shrink temp is just under met temp for the sticky back stuff. that temp is also appropriate to dewrinkle the original covering. Heat until it starts to sag a bit, and pull the iron away. (don't move the iron while in contact.... it makes things worse) The covering will tighten up.
BTW... towerkote is about the cheapest iron on covering there is. and it works just fine if you seal the edges with a bit of clear fuelproof paint. If you don't seal it down that way... it peels when exposed to fuel. (and Windex removes it too...)