Can anyone tell me what the differences may be in the two generations of Telemaster 40 kits? Weight? Construction or size changes?

HL is out of stock on the new kits. Looks like maybe not available for Xmas.... I have access to the old kit, but I dont know if its worth buying or not, at least as an electric conversion.

So... new or old???

Thanks...

buy the TM Electra.. strip off the covering and recover in your choice of colors.. voila you have a kit

Nah, too easy. Actually, I think its faster to build a kit than to do recovering on some planes. I am in the middle of one now, a Mighty Mambo. Tons of work to get it ready for covering...

ahh, you have to use silk or silkspan on the Mighty Mambo.. post some pictures please..

I cant believe that there are SO many Telemasters out there and no one has responded with an answer.... what is the major differences in the kits?

I am covering the Mambo with Solarfilm. Sorry, no dope, no silk, no silkspan, no Koverall. I just cant take the fumes anymore, nor the time required to do it all. The last plane that I did the old way was my Kadet Senior that I built back in 1988...

Well, I just got around to building the Telemaster 40 kit. The plans are barely readable, very fine lines and print. Its like building an old timer. Im not real pleased with this kit. There are NO PHOTOS in the instruction sheet. Its all text.

The older version is easier to build. Im almost wishing that I had bought the Kadett Seniorita. That kit is laser cut and has excellent instructions.

At least I know this will be one sweet flying plane when its done, so it will be worth it in the long run...

BTW... Hobby Lobby is still out of stock on these-dating way back to September of last year.

Originally Posted by Zagabond

Well, I just got around to building the Telemaster 40 kit. The plans are barely readable, very fine lines and print. Its like building an old timer. Im not real pleased with this kit. There are NO PHOTOS in the instruction sheet. Its all text.

The older version is easier to build. Im almost wishing that I had bought the Kadett Seniorita. That kit is laser cut and has excellent instructions.

At least I know this will be one sweet flying plane when its done, so it will be worth it in the long run...

BTW... Hobby Lobby is still out of stock on these-dating way back to September of last year.

I have been watching the TM40's on the HL site for months also. I think HL gets the kits in but doesn't get enough in to cover the backorders. I was hoping to get one during their March sale but it only applied to in-stock items. I know the TM's are popular but I don't understand why they can't get enough in stock.

Someone recently gave me a 20 year old Rearwing Speadster kit that everything is on one huge sheet of plans with very small fonts in the directions. I took the plan sheet to a local copy center and they made me two sets of plans to be cut up for buiilding over and they blew the narrative to a size my old eyes could read. This should be a challenging build.

I ordered a TM 40 in September. I cancelled my order in December. I was told that the kit manufacturer was having problems buying balsa at a reasonable price and could not deliver the kits. Dunno....

Originally Posted by Zagabond

I ordered a TM 40 in September. I cancelled my order in December. I was told that the kit manufacturer was having problems buying balsa at a reasonable price and could not deliver the kits. Dunno....

That could be but I don't see many other balsa kits being on backorder for so long for other company's models. Maybe some belt tightening at HL with the current downturn in the economy. I am now looking at the Sig Kadet offerings and I don't see any of their models on backorder.

Wouldnt you think that their signature kit would be available? Kits are a tough sell today.

I recently bought a kit for myself at the local hobby shop-the owner made a wisecrack about it, since nearly eveyone buys arfs today. He told me the kit has been in the shop for 3 years (Four Star 40).

Btw, they closed that hobby shop in March...

Originally Posted by Zagabond

Wouldnt you think that their signature kit would be available? Kits are a tough sell today.

I recently bought a kit for myself at the local hobby shop-the owner made a wisecrack about it, since nearly eveyone buys arfs today. He told me the kit has been in the shop for 3 years (Four Star 40).

Btw, they closed that hobby shop in March...

This has been documented many times on this forum. Local hobby shops can only sell arfs or car stuff anymore. Us airplane builders will soon only have the internet to shop from. As long as we can still do that I guess that is ok. But what concerns me is a leader in the field like HL can no longer get one of it's top of the line kits anymore.