Do you remember when ?

[olwarbirds]

Remember when: You would stare at the ad in your magazine featuring a Heath radio kit? A kit was truly something you had to build and actually use more than a phillips head driver.
Planes came in a box that was just packed with pieces of balsa, not even diecut yet. One of the great building tools was the fullsize plans.
Maybe your first proportional radio was made my Kraft or Cirrus. 7 Channels, what they make something with more than 2 !
Remember the first Guillows or similar kit you got. What a new world FF and rubberband powered opened up.
Have you ever had to silkspan a model then dope it, sand and dope it, sand and color dope it ?
Remember actually having to wait overnight for glue to dry !
Lets go back be it yesterday or 50 + years ago and talk about our first experiences with what got us into this fun addiction or as my ex called it affliction ... DJ

[farmflyer]

RE: Do you remember when ?

My first plane was a cox PT-19 control line with a .049 that I had to teach myself to fly man i beat that plane up that was 1972 next was a biplane cut from sheet balsa used the same motor for it also control line. Now look where we are.

[Alpha]

RE: Do you remember when ?

I still have an old Kraft radio somewhere in storage. Those were the days of really dedicated modeling! Three months of building only to lose it in a pile of wood on a maiden... much more heartwrenching than these days when one can have a foam replacement part at their doorstep in a week and get back to flying.

[olwarbirds]

RE: Do you remember when ?

farmflyer, I remember that cox series, there was a nice mustang too. I do believe my Dad, younger brother and I tried most all those cox CL models. My dad had a nice CL B-25 that had a bomb drop, the bombs were filled with bakingsoda or flour, Man I really thought that was something. My dad was really into the CL stuff, do you all remember the Ringling CL, it had a built up wing and the speedster called I think the Voodoo. Dad never got into the RC stuff in the earlier years but after I got out of the military he really took an interest in the Electrics I was flying.

Alpha not only the time brother but the monies involved back then. My first RC plane I built was maybe the Telemaster. Once I was done building, covering and purchasing all the necessaries to fly nitro. I had way more than what it would cost now. I probably could buy a decent 6chnl radio and 3 pnp plus batteries and charger for what that first plane ended up costing. It took a whole lot more supplies to build and fly than what it takes now. I still do remember my first walk of shame to pick up the pile of balsa and silkspan carnage. I have had some rather spectacular foam carnages too.... DJ

[Alpha]

RE: Do you remember when ?

The "Walk of Shame", a staple in this hobby which keeps things interesting!

You're right, the space required to spread out and build a wing up from scratch, plus the money for supplies and materials, plus the time invested. It was a long road from a box of wood to soaring through the air. I'll be the first to admit I flew far fewer low inverted passes on those planes than I do on foamies.

[PappaBear]

RE: Do you remember when ?

I think we call them the "good old days" . Yes, I remember very well when single channel R/C was called "interrupted free flight". if you had one flight and the model didn't fly off or crash you had a great day's flying. In fact I still have my very first single channel R/C set, it was 1966 and made by Futaba. The same Futaba company we know today, they have been around a long time. I also have a Kraft  KP6 1966 vintage. Gold anodized aluminum case with open gimbal sticks.  Reeds, Galloping Ghost, I remember all that. It was fun, one learnt a lot about why a model flies, why it crashes and more importantly, how to stop it crashing.  

I'm 63 years old and I have been flying R/C since 1967, before that I flew control line, free flight, rubber power models and free flight gliders. My first model was a simple chuck glider, I threw it around the back yard for hours on end.  I was 3 years old.  Hands up all those who remember Pacific Models, they made a rubber model called the Sleek Streak, had a few of those.  They flew very well. I believe they were made in Oregon and they were imported into England and thats where I encountered  them.

I remember, tissue, dope, silk and nylon. Balsa cement. The very first iron one film covering Monokote, it had a sticky back. Cox models, WenMac, Testors and so the list goes one.

I don't know if many British kits were imported into the US. We did have a lot of American made kits though. Guillows, Stering, Topflight. Then the early R/C, Kraft, Orbit, F&M, Ace, PCS, and again the list goes on.

I remember them all fondly, and I still have a lot of the early stuff I keep for sentimental reasons and nostalgia.

Martin  
[hr]
Ah, yes, the "walk of shame". I've been there with that too, when the model crashes and disintegrates into what seems like a million pieces all over the runway. You turn round and see 10,000 spectators cheering. One only tries to be a "Smart ass" at an airshow once.

Martin.

[PappaBear]

RE: Do you remember when ?

The "Walk of Shame", a staple in this hobby which keeps things interesting!

You're right, the space required to spread out and build a wing up from scratch, plus the money for supplies and materials, plus the time invested. It was a long road from a box of wood to soaring through the air. I'll be the first to admit I flew far fewer low inverted passes on those planes than I do on foamies.

Ah, yes, the "walk of shame". I've been there with that too, when the model crashes and disintegrates into what seems like a million pieces all over the runway. You turn round and see 10,000 spectators cheering. One only tries to be a "Smart ass" at an airshow once.

Martin.

[olwarbirds]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Do you remember these

[fhhuber]

RE: Do you remember when ?

I went through Comet, Jetco and Guillows stick and tissue kits... Free Flight rubber power.
Flew in the 1968 NATS "AMA Cub" event for Cub Scouts. There were a lot of sailors busy getting the planes loose from the top of the hanger...

[PappaBear]

RE: Do you remember when ?

I think they call them "The Good Old Days".  Yes, I remember them very well and with fondness. I remember when  Single Channel R/C was called "interrupted free flight". If you had one flight and you didn't crash or loose the model, you had a great days flying. I still have my first single channel R/C set, 1967 and it was Futaba, the very same Futaba we know today. I also have a 1966 Vintage Kraft KP6 in a gold anodized aluminum  case with open gimbal sticks. I remember reeds, and galloping ghost as well. Hands up everyone who remembers the manufacturers too, Kraft, Orbit, Ace, F&M, Micro Avionics, PCS and the list goes on and on. Lets not forget the kit and engine manufactures as well, Guillows, Sterling, Topflight, Goldberg, Cox, WenMac, Testors, Fox, McCoy and many more.

I began flying R/C in 1967, and before that I flew control line, free flight, rubber band power and gliders.I  had small sheet balsa chuck glider, I threw it around the back yard  for hours and hours. That was my very first model, I was three or four years old.

A company in Oregon called "North Pacific" I think they were called manufactured a whole range of small gliders and rubber band powered models. They made a model called the "Sleek Streak", I had quite a few of those. They flew really well and I had so much fun with them in the late 50s and early 60s. I don't remember who imported them into England though.  

Oh, yeah, tissue and dope, silk and nylon. I loved the smell of dope and Balsa cement. Then in 1966 a wonderful new iron on plastic film arrived on the market called "Monokote". The original product had a sticky back, but it still had to be shrunk to the airframe  with an iron. It was imported into  England in 1967 and everyone called it "Moneykote" because it was so expensive. Soon after the arrival of Monokote came "Solarfilm" which was and still is produced in the UK.

Oh, how the memories come flooding back thinking and writing about it.

Without the good old days we wouldn't have the sophisticated models and equipment we have today, and who knows. Maybe in ten years time an EDF model may be able to achieve a flight time in excess of ten minutes. Battery technology is changing all the time.

Martin.  

[farmflyer]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Remembered my first foam plane today a hand toss glider with about a 4 foot wing span called "Soaring Sam" I believe I got it in 1972 or73. I also went through dozens of those .19 cent balsa hand toss gliders and rubber band powered planes.

[olwarbirds]

RE: Do you remember when ?

We use to get those gliders and rubber windups and attach bottle rockets to them, so we were doing FF jets :) ... growing up right across the river from Kennedy space center was a big influence on the rockets..... DJ

[farmflyer]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Oh yea those good ole black cat bottle rockets!

[Lon]

RE: Do you remember when ?



Besides the rubber band powered balsa planes. My first plane was a Cox powered Stuka

[Loneflier]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Besides the rubber band powered balsa planes. My first plane was a Cox powered Stuka

I remember that plane. I had one too as a kid. Flew OK until it ran out of fuel, then dropped like a rock back to the ground. That plastic around the motor mounts never lasted long and once it was fuel soaked, it was nearly impossible to epoxy back to together.

[Lon]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Besides the rubber band powered balsa planes. My first plane was a Cox powered Stuka

I remember that plane. I had one too as a kid. Flew OK until it ran out of fuel, then dropped like a rock back to the ground. That plastic around the motor mounts never lasted long and once it was fuel soaked, it was nearly impossible to epoxy back to together.

I've been trying to recall how much allowance money i had to save to buy that Stuka.
Thinking i bought it around(year) 1966. Thinking around $20...not sure

[Grossman56]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Oh man, I remember those days, I was like Ralphie and his bb gun.  I had to have that cox Spitfire!!
I still can picture it under the tree on Christmas morning!! (My best friend got the Stuka)
Dad and I going to the field to try it out, him first.  It went up...........and it came down....end of its flying career.
But I rebuilt it and hung it from the ceiling.  I stretched paper across the bottom of the wing and drew roundels on it, it was the greatest gift.
Then I got the PT19 and flew that one into the ground as well, but had a good time flying, that is until one of the strings came loose. Oops!
So, my flying career was put on hold, but I still built models.  Come the 80's and I had to try again.  So I bought a kit and built and built and built.  Every time I moved and had to relocate the man cave, it was an act of frustration.  I remember seeing my first foam plane then.  My young cousin got it and was out flying the next day.  I convinced myself that that wasn't really an R/C plane and kept building, don't know what became of his plane.  Eventually, I admitted defeat and gave up.  I really didn't know what I was getting into and probably picked a too difficult kit anyway.  Then I got involved in restoring the DC3 and that got me hooked into full size.  Ten years later, we donated her to the local museum and walked away, a sad day!
When we moved to Wyoming, we made a fresh start and I was kicking around the idea of getting my pilots license, but reality set in.  For the cost of said license, I still wouldn't have a plane of my own and that was something that I could not afford, so what was the point.  The days of the RCAF selling off its Mustangs for 18,000 each were long since gone.  Then a light went off.  What about R/C?
I used to envy watching those guys fly almost as much as watching Bob Hoover and Art Scholl, and it might be more in my price range.  On to the internet, found Motion R/C almost immediately and the rest is history.  Picture a great big fish hook coming out of the screen and hooking me!

Grossman56

[olwarbirds]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Besides the rubber band powered balsa planes. My first plane was a Cox powered Stuka

I remember that plane. I had one too as a kid. Flew OK until it ran out of fuel, then dropped like a rock back to the ground. That plastic around the motor mounts never lasted long and once it was fuel soaked, it was nearly impossible to epoxy back to together.

I've been trying to recall how much allowance money i had to save to buy that Stuka.
Thinking i bought it around(year) 1966. Thinking around $20...not sure

I think they were around that with fuel and the battery. After many cox models, I had multiple engines so I started building sterling kits I think... DJ

[olwarbirds]

RE: Do you remember when ?

Alot ot those old cox kits and engines are now considered collector items. Sure wish I had some of them now. I do have a few of the engines like the pic I posted previously. Would be fun to find an old kit and put one of those diesel engines on it. I do enjoy reading yall's post about how you started and what influenced you to get into this hobby (addiction/affliction) ...

[pgiroma]

RE: Do you remember when ?

My first model building started before the end of WWII, when I started carving solid models from a block of wood. First flying model was an Ohlsson 23 powered c/l model , running on gasoline/oil and a spark ignition. Glow followed, with my dad helping me build on our dining room table. That continued until I discovered girls, then went dormant until 1961, when I started flying free flight off a dry lakebed in southern Oregon, while an F101B interceptor pilot in the USAF. Turns out, I lost too many models that would not descend from flying over the hot lakebed, so I bought an F&M single channel radio on cb,and a Goldberg Falcon. I still have that tx & rx today. Also still have the Controlaire reed tx & rx & 5 Bonner Transmite servos. My early modeling experience influenced my entire life. After serving in the USAF for 6 years, I spent 29 years flying as an airline pilot. My r/c experience went through Orbit 4ch proportional to 2.4g 8ch Tactic & Spectrum today. Small a/c up through giant scale gas, and now back down to electric foamies. All have been a blast!