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Another of the nice time-saving features of the plane is having all control horn mounting holes accurately pre-drilled. The three-bolt triangular control horns and mounting plates (above) offer both automatic alignment and additional stability for control surface movement. Although intended for access to the battery for the electric version, the author found the front hatch (at right) very handy for fueling up and for determining how much fuel is left after a given flight. It is held in place with a carbon fiber peg and magnets.


I chose to side-mount my reliable Saito .56 to reduce the amount of damage to the fiber- glass cowl. Inverted would have been my preference, but the provided tank opening in the firewall would have fallen well above the center line of the carburetor and I didn’t want to rework the firewall and tank mount area on a review airplane. It turned out that all I needed to do was enlarge the engine mount holes just a bit with a Dremel tool to turn the provided nylon mount sideways and still use the pre-drilled mounting holes and T-nuts installed in the firewall. After check- ing to see that the throttle arm cleared the motor mount and the throttle pushrod would clear the tank after it was mounted, I nestled the engine into place and bolted it down. Cutting out the fiberglass cowl for engine clearance was the next item on the agenda. That was accomplished by using a card stock template the same size as the side- view of the cowl and taping it to the fuse- lage. It was easy to keep snipping away at the card stock until it cleared the head of the engine and the opening was large enough to reach the carburetor fuel nipple. I then transferred that opening dimension directly to the cowl and the Dremel work began. In addition to the opening for the engine


head, it was also necessary to open the bot- tom of the cowl a bit to accommodate the Saito’s cylindrical muffler. As the photos show, neither opening appreciably impacted the cowl’s appearance. Those choosing elec- tric power will most probably want to make use of cooling slots on top of the cowl as shown in the assembly manual, rather than unnecessarily opening the side of the cowl for cooling. With the installation of the supplied tank anchored by silicone sealer and the use of the supplied auxiliary tank bulkhead, the model lacked only having the four side win- dows glued in place. That was accomplished using Pacer’s Formula 560 canopy glue. And since the windshield was already mounted to the handy magnetically-attached top hatch, the assembly of the Kadet Senior Sport was complete at that point.


First flights The Kadet series is such a stable, reliable platform in the air, I had none of the jitters that usually occur the first time a plane leaves the ground. With the battery pack pushed as far forward as I could get it against the back of the tank bulkhead, the CG fell to- ward the front of the generous recommended


CG range, which was between 4 and 5 inches behind the leading edge of the wing. That seemed like a good place to start, giv- en the wind conditions we were facing that day. It was blowing approximately seven to nine mile-per-hour wind almost directly across the runway. Paul Phillips did the honors while I took the photos. He had no problem with the plane wanting to weather- vane on takeoff and had to feed in only a small amount of aileron and rudder correc- tion in the approach to get it back down safe- ly and smoothly. I may move the battery back a bit as the plane gets more flight time, but for our photo purposes, the CG was right where we needed it.


Surprisingly, the plane demonstrated a nimbleness and aerobatic ability far superi- or to the older Kadet Seniors, one of which was on the flight line while we were photo- graphing the Sport. It does far more than just lumber around the sky and doesn’t have to be coaxed into any standard sport maneu- ver. The Saito .56 proved to be a good match for the plane with plenty of power for any sport flier.


The plane’s rolls couldn’t exactly be called axial, but they were tight, thanks to the large ailerons. Loops and stall turns didn’t require much more than three-fourths pow- er to take the plane through those maneu- vers. Paul remarked that he was surprised how well it flew inverted with little or no el- evator correction to keep it level, a most un- usual characteristic for a flat-bottom wing. The fact that much of the original dihedral has been taken out of the Sport probably ac- counts for it not wanting to automatically right itself when it is upside down.


The new "sporterized" version of the Kadetshows off its leaner fuselage profile and conventional gear, as well as the new laser-cut balsa and ply structure. These details differ considerably from earlier versions of the plane with their three-wheel gear and 1


⁄4 FLYING MODELS square balsa construction.


Improving the breed As Paul brought the Kadet in for its first smooth landing, several club members gath- ered around to comment on how well it flew and what a good-looking plane SIG had pro- duced again. I suspect those will be the kinds of comments made across the country as more and more of SIG Kadet Senior Sport ARFs show up at flying fields. Suitable in the hands of pilots with beginner or expert skills alike, the Kadet Senior series has been a favorite for nearly 30 years. This one is even better.


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