You may recall a couple of columns ago I wrote about over-powering planes and trim. One of the problems that bring about this condition is the lack of giant trainers. In the small plane area, there are literally hundreds of trainers, while in giants, there are maybe a few. There is the Pope Dream and a Cub or two. I seem to recall a couple of giant trainer types which are advertised in the national magazines, but I can't remember their names. Anyway, if you want to start your flying with giant or maybe come back to modeling and into giants after a several year layoff, your choices are very limited.

The other day, I received a set of plans in the mail which added to the choices of a giant trainer. Emil Agosta of Dry Ridge Models sent me 1/3 scale plans of two ultra-lights, the J-3 Kitten and the J-4 Sportster. They are not the hang glider type ultralights. Both have real wings with ribs. The original full scale planes weigh 250 lbs. and are Rotax powered. The planes differ only in the cockpit area. The Kitten has a closed cockpit, while the Sportster is open cockpit. I usually don't review plans, but these two planes fit in with my area of beginners, so I thought I would let you know what I think of them.

Let me digress a minute and talk about instructing. I am the chief instructor for my club, and as you guys who are also instructors know, you teach on what the student owns. My favorite trainer for the rank novices is the Kadet Senior, and my least favorites are the heavy ARFs. The big Kadet, which, at 78 inches, is 2 inches from qualifying as a giant, is big and easy to see a long way off. It is light, slow and forgiving. Release the sticks and the plane will right itself. This is a tough combination to beat. It is, however, very speed, power and wind sensitive.

Now, let's get back to the Kitten and Sportster. First, they are big and light, which ought to make them good, slow, forgiving, easy-to-see trainers. They weigh in the area of 13 lbs. and have 1800 plus square inch areas for a 16 oz. wing loading. Emil powers his with an OS 61 SF. He says that customers have used 90 4-strokes. Now, don't go thinking gas or a big glow engine. With a big Tigre or a gas engine, you end up very heavy, defeating the purpose of a light trainer. Why? Because the planes have the long scale nose, a heavy engine up front forces you to compensate for the weight of the engine with more weight in the tail.

Both planes have scale incidence and thrust lines, which make them fly like the real ones, nice and slow with no trim change. Both planes will also recover hands off. They are also reported to penetrate the wind quite well.

The two piece wings with struts have ailerons, and although they will steer without rudder, they, like the full scale versions, do better with coordinated or coupled rudder.

Since the planes are not rockets, regular servos are used, one each for rudder, elevator and throttle, and one for each aileron. Again, if you use a big banger of a big Tigre, you will probably need more or bigger servos, adding weight. Emil uses a 1200 mil battery because that's all he has, but reports that others have used an 800 mil pack. There are only 5 servos, so I can't see any problem with that.

The plans are all drawn and detailed. There are three sheets, one for the fuselage, one for the wing and tail, and a small one with an exploded view of the basic fuselage. The wings are the same for both planes. Plans are available in both 1/4 or 1/3 scale. They also come with a 13 page instruction book.

I'd rate the plane as easy to build. There are no photos in the instruction book like with the Sig Kadet Senior, so you can't say it is the easiest to build trainer, but it's probably easier to build and has more instructions than any other built up giant. If you are looking for a plane to just laze around the sky, or have a friend who wants to learn, and start in giant, drop Emil a line. I don't think you can go wrong with a Sportster or a Kitten.

I gave the plans Emil sent to my buddy Ernie Razanno, who is going to frame up the open cockpit Sportster. I liked it better. I'm going to buy one of the inexpensive K&B 65 Sportsters for power and we are going to have us a club trainer and "let the crowd fly" plane for airshows.

By the way, if you see Ernie and me at a meet, ask him how work is coming on the Sportster. (This just so he doesn't take all year to finish.)