Trainer identification

The plane is a Royal Air 40T.  I recognized the Royal Air logo, and found this thread with pics on RCG: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=385574

The Regal Mark

Note to self! Stick to what you know....

Good job Mark.

Thanks Mark. I reckon that's got to be it. Same markings. Mine has been built as a tail dragger and was missing the wing when I got it. I need to try to work out the dimensions required for a replacement. I was given a good wing off a similar plane but the chord is a little smaller and I suspect so is the span. Also, it appears to have had a flat bottom wing so to fit the one I have I will have to fabricate a new wing saddle to suit the symetrical airfoil. It was fitted with a Tigershark .46 and the carb is marginal so I don't know if I'd trust it. I have a good Torpedo .40 with a perry carb which may be a better option.
Not sure if it's worth the effort with the low cost of similar trainer models these days.

Yep, I was right.  Flat bottom.

Lots of pictures on Google.  Looks like they're pretty old so I don't like the chances of them still being in production.  If I could easily (and cheaply) get a new wing to suit I probably would.  I haven't really decided if I want to bother going down the R/C path.  Tried it once and didn't really like it.  Don't trust those invisible control lines.

Rod.

Looks very similar to a Tower 40 trainer...might be similar enough to swap wings. However a Tower 40 is pretty cheap now.

Phil

Funny... You guys come up with stuff I had quite a while back.

Mine was a Royal .20 T, and I had a worthy O.S. .40, itching to go on something ridiculous, and that was the bird! I modified the dihedral to nearly flat, and glassed the center section, reinforced the nose for the more massive weight and pull, doubled and generously epoxied the tail in place, but I think the wing was rubber-banded onto the fuselage. Vrooom! Instant rocket ship. Neat idea, fun to fly, but dumb! It didn't really need a runway; it would fly out of your outstretched hand-at full throttle, and was still light enough to float-in for landing. This was back in the days before 2.4 was even a dream, so it suffered a glitch that took it out of service, before something dangerous happened! This was a "Goes-Where-You-Point-It" airplane. I took advantage of the new dual-rate function of the radio system, and could perform a lomcevak-at very high speed CRAZY. Some airplanes... you treat with respect, and handle them carefully; they fly only on the best days; but this one was like a warplane. Get airborne, locate operational ceiling, tear up the sky, from ground to ceiling, clear all enemy defenses and maintain air superiority. It did not know it was supposed to be a trainer: it was looking for a fight. It finally got one: It felt like the rudder and aileron servos quit at the same time, in a high-speed point-roll. It didn't take long to make a mess of things, then. I think I still have the wing.

I don't usually abuse the hobby in this manner: I really like stuff that really does fly, not flit around because it has enough power to do so! This was just a get-out-there, and bend-the-sticks, plane. It served its time, and nobody got hurt, or too annoyed. Flying time limits were enforced back then.

Today, I brought out the Baby Birdie, and created 2-1/2 to 3 minute flights, and the guys asked why isn't it flying for 10 minutes anymore. I told them: the contest is over- I won!

Hey everybody, i remember that it was a RCM design and the plans where sold yhru RCM, then it later became a arf.

Mark Boesen wrote:Hey everybody, i remember that it was a RCM design and the plans where sold yhru RCM, then it  later became a arf.

Perhaps the P.T. 40? https://www.rcmplans.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=2a684ada421d4d3f5d2fe939b1d34f9a&keyword=P.T.+40

George

gcb wrote:

Mark Boesen wrote:Hey everybody, i remember that it was a RCM design and the plans where sold yhru RCM, then it  later became a arf.

Perhaps the P.T. 40?  https://www.rcmplans.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=2a684ada421d4d3f5d2fe939b1d34f9a&keyword=P.T.+40  

George

The plane in question is an old Royal Air 40-T A.R.F. from back in the 80's. They were decent trainers but a bit hard to repair because of the sticky back covering and plastic wing and tail tips.
The P.T.-40 was a kit designed by Stu Richmond and sold under the Great Planes brand name and was an excellent trainer.
My first .40 size trainer kit was a P.T.-40 that I built back in 87-88. In fact, I still have it to this day. Although a little worse for ware due to age, a little TLC and it would be airworthy again.

Shawn

sdjjadk wrote:
The P.T.-40 was a kit designed by Stu Richmond and sold under the Great Planes brand name and was an excellent trainer.
My first .40 size trainer kit was a P.T.-40 that I built back in 87-88. In fact, I still have it to this day. Although a little worse for ware due to age, a little TLC and it would be airworthy again.

Shawn

Shawn,

The first .40 size trainer I built was a PT-40.  It went together good, and flew okay, but I ended up selling it.  The best .40 sized trainer I ever found was the Hobbico SuperStar 40.  I built two for myself, and steered two or three other people to the SS40 and trained them with it.  I was even looking for one last year, but couldn't find any in stock.  Just the electric versions.

The SuperStar Mark


edit: I just looked on the Hobbico website for their SuperStar 40 info.

Quote: "In just 15-20 hours, you can be enjoying your first flight with the SuperStar 40." 15-20 hours? I seem to remember an evening and it was ready to go.

The Under Time and Over Budget Mark

GUS THE I.A. wrote:This was back in the days before 2.4 was even a dream, so it suffered a glitch that took it out of service, before something dangerous happened!

Heck, I don't think PCM was even out yet! When I first started flying R/C, we were using AM radios and glitches were were somewhat common depending on your channel and where you flew. My first radio was an Airtronics 4ch AM on Ch. 44 and the club I was flying in at the time had a couple of different fields, until we got our permanent site a couple years later. We had a spot at the local Navy Base, one at a Naval Auxiliary / Coast Guard base and one at a private farm that had a grass runway and pit area in the middle of a bean patch and my radio worked great on the Navy base and the farm field but at the Aux. Base it was hit or miss as far as glitches went. But it only seemed to be that particular channel and maybe a couple of others that seemed to have the problems. And when we transitioned to our permanent site back in 1990 - 1991 around the time the new Narrow Band frequencies were coming into play, the glitches were even worse. I can remember throwing some lunch in our new microwave before going to the field one day and I must have left the RX switch on because when I hit start on the microwave, my servo's went crazy!  Needless to say I stopped using it and I got a new Narrow Band compliant Futaba Conquest 4ch AM (I can't remember which channel) which was a dream to fly. Then a few years later, AM was phased out for FM and PCM.

Shawn

batjac wrote:

sdjjadk wrote:
The P.T.-40 was a kit designed by Stu Richmond and sold under the Great Planes brand name and was an excellent trainer.
My first .40 size trainer kit was a P.T.-40 that I built back in 87-88. In fact, I still have it to this day. Although a little worse for ware due to age, a little TLC and it would be airworthy again.

Shawn

Shawn,

The first .40 size trainer I built was a PT-40.  It went together good, and flew okay, but I ended up selling it.  The best .40 sized trainer I ever found was the Hobbico SuperStar 40.  I built two for myself, and steered two or three other people to the SS40 and trained them with it.  I was even looking for one last year, but couldn't find any in stock.  Just the electric versions.

The SuperStar Mark

The SuperStar 40 is an excellent trainer. I've taught a few new students to fly with them.

batjac wrote:
edit: I just looked on the Hobbico website for their SuperStar 40 info.

Quote: "In just 15-20 hours, you can be enjoying your first flight with the SuperStar 40."  15-20 hours?  I seem to remember an evening and it was ready to go.

The Under Time and Over Budget Mark

It doesn't take long. I've seen some A.R.F's assembled and flown in the same day!

Shawn