My parents hurt my feelings

[crankestein]

Just when I was so stoked about been able to fly rc airplanes, my parents show up to visit during the holidays and things did not turn out as I expected.

Took my dad to the rc airplane workbench and showed him a few of the planes I got, some glow and a few others brushless. Next thing he said was, "So this is what you do in your off time?" followed up with a, "I guess is better than wasting your money in gambling" gave me this look as if I was crazy and that unique sarcastic plastic laugh.

Wow... simply wow

:Crying2: :(:Crying:

[OV10]

Sorry to hear that your Dad has a different perspective of what is valuable and what is not.
If it makes YOU happy and it is not affecting you or him or whomever financially then ENJOY.;)
As a multiple cancer survivor, every day that I can put a grin on my mug playing with toy airplanes like a 10 year old boy again is wonderful.
I'm really fortunate in that my Dad who is in 80's and still going strong gave me my own airstrip. See my post on BWA :)

[RCjetdude]

My dad was always Mr. Practical. "If you can't eat it, can't wear it, can't drive it to work, then what good is it?" When I was young he thought my RC hobby was a big waste of time and money. In 1990 I won the National Novice Helicopter championship and his tune changed a little. Still have the trophy which is collecting dust on a shelf and I still enjoy wasting time and money on the hobby.

[Mad Baron]

When I was young my Dad would take me to a hobby shop when I had saved up my allowance for something that I had my eye on weather it was a r/c plane that I never got off the ground (there was no local club here at that time) or for a model railroad that me and my friend was building. I feel blessed that my parents supported my hobby interests. When I was in the USAF we came home on leave with my and my sons r/c planes and my Dad came out where we were flying and took pictures of us flying our planes.:Cool:

[Dirty Dee]

My mom is embarrassed that her 30 year old son has so many "toy" planes, and usually shakes her head or facepalms if she goes down into my hangar/workshop and sees the fleet, haha.

My dad is the opposite and is encouraging and interested in my purchases and projects. He is a tinkerer himself and spends lots of time in the garage hard-crafting copper lanterns.

[rifleman_btx]

My parents use to be against it, but after Iraq they just let me do as I will. They realize now that it is more of a therapy for me that gets me through my days.

[fhhuber]

RC modeling used to be reserved for people who were skilled craftsmen and had knowledge of at least the basics of aircraft design.
It also used to cost as much as a decent used car to get a basic 4 channel RC model in the air.

Its only recently that flying models stopped being an important part of design of all aircraft and they still do solid model wind tunnel testing for practically every new design.

Notably NASA used RC models in developing the Space Shuttle and the piggy-back system to carry it on a 747.

"Kid's" magazines about model aircraft used to include very good articles about aerodynamic theory, structural design and electronics. (since early RC systems were ALL built at home)

I was encouraged in the assorted stages of model aviation. From about age 6 I was building and flying models from sticks and tissue. I had read enough Aeronautical Engineering texts that the High School math classes were a joke to me. One of my High School drafting (pencil, straight edge and paper) projects was a 6 ft span RC model I designed, drawn at a level the instructor framed it and put it on the classroom wall where it stayed for at least 10 years.

I was flying a Control Line model on a Naval Air station at age 15. An "old guy" asked if he could try it. Being me, I said Sure, then started to explain how Control Line models worked. He said "I fly F-4 Phantoms for a living, I can figure this out" He promptly crashed it. I got to go around the base for 6 months saying I could out-fly the CAG off of the USS Enterprise and he would back me up on it.

Those who think these things are just kid's toys are really just clueless.

You are learning history with the scale models and you HAVE TO learn at least the basic principals of flight.
You may not need the skills we used to HAVE TO have, to fly RC now... but its still a highly educational hobby.

[RCjetdude]

The hobby taught me how to fix stuff that most people would throw away. It introduced me to methods and materials that most people were oblivious to and as a result people would come to me asking me to fix things like broken toys, clocks, toasters, etc.

[EA-6B Geek]

Ive been lucky. My Dad, an engineer at Douglas, grew up building and flying model airplanes. He started flying RC about 1970. I will never be able to build at the quality level that he did, but because of him, I can build a flyable RC plane. Foamies are sure cool though!
Flying RC as a kid I learned a bunch! What the effects of torque are, what a high wing loading means, what an adverse yaw departure is, what it's like to fly a plane with the cg too far aft, etc etc etc. When I started flight school I cannot tell you what a huge advantage this was!!

[mr.frankenjet]

The hobby involves allot of skills/thrills. Engineering, finishing, flying, tuning, on and on. Some cannot see the challenges, benefits and educational attributes of the hobby, what a pity they will be unable to experience and enjoy it like we do. Do it for the love and thrill of it, understand there will be some who just don't get it.
I have a picture of me flying a plane with my mom standing next to me, we both have the exact same ear to ear grin on out faces, she gets it :)

[Twowingtj]

Hey crankestien, don't listen to your parents. Listen to the voices LOL:Cool:

[Boots Whirlygig]

Santa gave me a Cox PT-19 U/C and a couple yrs later the Diamont sailplane, which was a 6 ft w/s stick and tissue kit. Dad and mom took us kids to air shows, it was free entertainment and it was awesome! Dad was interested, but when it came to watching me try for hours to get an .049 to run he had no patience! When I graduated HS, they thought I should have outgrown the toy airplanes and start acting like an adult and make something of myself. Today my dad marvels at my planes and loves to watch me fly the Opterra in a field across from their house. This year I turn 60 and my dad will be 90. I hope to join a club this year where I can fly my expanding hanger of warbirds and EDFs, and I’ll take Dad with me, which I know he will enjoy.

[Grossman56]

My Dad wasn't really supportive of anything I did, I always thought that was strange. He passed away at age 41 and the funny thing was when I hit 41, I realized I wasn't much different than I was as a teenager and really didn't know a damned thing! That was when I started listening and figuring life out. I really only knew him as he was going through his thirties, hell, I was rocking out through my thirties!!
But to be fair, one day, out of the blue he took me out to the airfield for an introductory flight in a Cessna 152 (cost $5 back then!!!) and we went to the Abbotsford Airshow every year that I could remember and that was one of the highlights of my year.
I also had a Cox .049 Spitfire and a PT-19. Poor dad decided he was going to test fly the Spitty. Like Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, it went up diddly up up and came down diddly down down! I glued it together again and it hung from my ceiling for years.
Funny how life works, I don't know what he would think of me in this hobby, but I like to think that he would have thought it was okay at least.

Grossman56

[Boots Whirlygig]

As a parent of who are now 3 adult men, I can honestly tell you I did not approve of their adolescent hobbies, and wished at least one would have interest in aviation and aircraft. It’ was tight for us money wise, neither Susan or myself went to college, my parents didn’t have college but knew how to stretch a dollar having grown up during the Great Depression. The greatest generation. We bought our boys the latest game systems for Christmas and that made birthday gifts easy, getting them games. When they received cash gifts they’d blow it on things like boxes and boxes of sports cards or stupid overpriced Nike shoes. That’s what our oldest son did. He is now an orthopedic surgeon in Orlando, having just finished a year with Dr. James Andrews. He’s the first in our family history to attend college. Let me know if you’re in need of a doctor for a bad shoulder or hip. For Christmas he and his wife told me I’d be getting my first grandchild due this June! I say as long as you’re not neglecting other parental or spousal responsibilities,and it’s not keeping food off the table, buy airplanes. Lots of airplanes. And stop judging me!

[Grossman56]

I'm with you Boots. it's always a thrill when you get that shipping notice and know that somewhere out there is a package with your name on it!
Come to think about it, my dad would probably been relieved that I got rid of the Marshall Amps and am into a much quieter hobby!!!
My dear mother, who just turned ninety!! She allowed us to practice in her basement three or four times a week, then with me practicing up to hours a day on my own, wow, as an adult, I can really appreciate what she did for us. She was probably relieved when we finally got a deal with a highschool to practice in their portable gym. In later years I asked her about that, she replied,"Well, I always knew where you were" I still don't know quite how to take that, but I love her for it just the same.


Grossman56

[rifleman_btx]

Fixed a broken vacume line with rc fuel tubing on one of my cars just yesterday lol

[doctormike]

I guess my dad was too busy making a living to show an interest in my models. He did become interested when I spilled glue on a floor lamp! In the 50's, I must have built 100 plastic models. Everything from tanks to airplanes. I don't know if I already had the patience or learned patience from building. Anyway, today, I have the patience of Job when it comes to model planes. Doc

[crankestein]

:Cool:

Thank you everyone for the responses.

The situation got worst when the dreaded comment; "I thought you left the hobby behind when you got married"
Its somewhat strange as if they gauge maturity by the hobby. To add to the drama, a big box arrived from Tower Hobbies, as I cashed in with the e-rewards and store credit, basically had the airplane almost for free. I had to store all the airplanes away, finally they left, and can get back to the assembly line, je je!

My kids are into gaming consoles and all kinds of mobile apps (vines, snapchat, twitter, youtube), which I did when I was young (Atari), but I always searched for that outdoors fix be it on a atv, skateboard, bikes, surfing... this new generation of media numbness is mind boggling :Scared: and something I need to work on with them, trying to see if at least one of them picks up rc cars to get him out of the room and away from the flat screen.

Grossman56, I bet that guitar shot is priceless, thanks for sharing

[Grossman56]

You bet, thats a 19 year old Grossman56 with his blonde 1972 Strat. Here's one that will make you weep (makes me weep!!) I traded in a, wait for it, 1963 Pre CBS Fender Strat for it:(The blond was $630 brand new in '72, I bought the '63 the year previously for $325:(:(
Dang thing was worth over $5000 last time I felt like torchering mself and researched it. :Angry:
The thing is, I didn't get out of the music business until well into the 80's and still enjoy picking up the guitar on occasion (like at Nefi with CB). I'm sure a lot of people wondered when I was going to 'grow up', I'm 64 and it hasn't happened yet. I never got the house and picket fence until I moved down to the good old USA and that was just before hitting my 60's. My life hasn't been 'normal' but its been one Hell of a ride and I would change any of it. I gave up worrying what other people thought a long time ago. I was told I was nuts to be moving here, wrong!!
Hey, if I want to fly R/C, that's my business, beats the hell out of sitting around in front of the boob tube until you can't move,!
I've met some dang fine people (and continue to) through this hobby, not to mention all my fellow Squawkers, including some honored folks who defended this country and paid for it in one way or another.
Bet they don't ask them when thy're going to grow up!
Sorry to rant guys, but if you don't have a hobby, especially post retirement, then you'll most likely be dead within four years, just the stats speaking.
I'd rather be a kid than a dead adult!!
One of my favorites, me and my daughter



Grossman56

[boomer108]

That's a great picture Gman.;)