Naval

I ordered a Senior Telemaster full kit from Carolina Custom Kits. Full kit trainers in this size are hard to find. It has split wings, flaps, 96" wingspan. It should be a real floater. Going with a Spektrum 8ch. Staying with the Super Tigre G60 for now (keeping it quasi-old school). I bought a Jett Stream muffler, nice fit. Glow fuel is rare and expensive though. For the cost of a few gallons of glow I could buy a 4-stroke. But I already have the glow engine. Been accumulating building equipment. I plan to go with this color scheme:

Does anyone use steel blocks for squaring up ribs and things and weighing things down before gluing? I was looking for some on the net. Best I could find is machinist's 1-2-3 blocks, 10 for $60 USD, which seems high. I don't want to use a magnetic rig; I hate magnetizing things, and erasing magnetic media, etc. Or will one of the aforementioned (SLEC) jigs fill the need?

Yes, I see how the Hooligan fits the bill as far as an effective color scheme. That makes sense. You know so many online RC plane pictures show models in colors that look attractive, but would be hard to see in the sky. I joined AMA by the way, just thought I'd say.

My new Club just emailed me. Woo Hoo! I can burn their ears instead. Thanks for all your input, I will post in a few months to show progress.

That "Ohmen" looks really sharp! Thanks for the feedback. I hate the way fluorescent colors look on my plane. I'll try, for the top, a white leading edge, with orange, and black trim. And maybe a totally different pattern on the bottom. How is the visibility of the checkered pattern film? Back to the drawing board.

I can't stomach that paint scheme. Perhaps something like this. I could use the Windex technique for the stars.

'Tis ugly for sure, but better to come home ugly than not come home at all. There's a punch line in there, but I diverse. Spektrum has a 900mAh and a 1400maH. I will probably have short flights, so 900 should work I guess. A switch with voltage reading, you mean the main power switch on the fuselage for the receiver gear? Or the battery charger itself?

THANK YOU Thanks for all of your positive inputs! I just mailed off my application for membership to a big RC Aero club that is about a half hour drive away. I see the point of getting involved with a club early. It may well keep me from buying the wrong stuff, or stuff I could get at a swap meet. Perhaps I will meet people there that can mentor me through the many equipment choices and build techniques. The new club may talk me out of learning to fly with the BTE Flyin' King, but I do plan to build it over the winter anyway. RADIO I will wait for my club involvement of course, but I have been eyeing a Spectrum DX6e with a telemetry receiver. It has a wireless trainer link. Getting altitude displayed on the transmitter sounds cool, as well as the ability to tie in a GPS unit onto the communication bus. I have no sound process to select the capacity of the receiver battery, I am guessing 2200mAh, based on 6 standard sized servos drawing 1.5A(?) average worst case. From what I read it is process best done by experience. BATTERIES I am attracted to the LiFePO4 chemistry, and smart Spectrum batteries and chargers. I know the club's field has stations for powering chargers. COVERING I've been playing around with a color scheme for an UltraCote covering. My current favorite is attached below. I don't want to exceed 3 colors. MOTOR MOUTH I'm probably exceeding the boundaries of this post area (in length and subjects), so I'll cut it off (but so many details are involved with the first time RC build!).

LOL

Brethren: 50 years ago I built balsa kits and flew them, typically nitro .010 to .15 size U-control. Now I have the bug to build a BTE Flyin' King. I have already bought an old ST .60 blue head engine. Starting from scratch here... plan to buy a new 6 channel radio rig, and all the tools to build and cover. I have been looking at many YouTube videos teaching building and covering techniques. Recently I visited an RC model show that had turbine powered jets, Wow! This is a Flyin' King:

What do you think of using 2 in. x 48 in. x 8 ft. R-7.7 EPS Rigid Foam Board Insulation? I have some, and it seems pretty rigid, super light, and would easily take pins. I'm planning on building a large balsa kit RC Air as a newbie.