rcunivers went down hill
 

this used to be a good place to come and talk airplanes what happen to it.

I thought it still was, are you referring to this 1/2A under-forum, or something else?

this sight used to boom. its like second hand now. dont mean anything. just saying

It's winter, too cold to fly. The excitement is down a bit.

The forum is what we make it to be.
I think there was a lot more novelty to a forum about ten years ago, while now there are perhaps too many of them...

Many of the heavy contributors to this forum have moved on for various reasons.
There are not going to be enough young people interested in 1/2A to keep this forum alive as time moves on. 1/2A is at about the same level of interest as black powder firearms are to the gun hobby.
This forum WAS a very interesting place to visit at one time, but so were the drive in movie theaters that all got closed down. Come to think of it, those "drive in" theaters were so much fun, but for a combination of reasons they are 99% a thing of the past.

I think the outflux of the nouveau-Cox engines (or whatever the collective name is for them) and once-again parts availability may have resulted in a bit of a surge of casual 1/2A activity, but how sustainable can that be? For now though it is kind of cool, in fact only yesterday.. I just went online and cherry picked Cox parts like a kid in a candy store.. "ooh, better get one of those, no wait, two! And and what else, oh yeah a couple of those cool spinners, and lookit the cute three blade props, and I wonder if they have.. and so on... and boy did CI ship it fast.

My slightly elder brother had a cool idea 3-4 years ago and built a toy store window façade in his den, with all kinds ofhis old collectible neat stuff to look at. It's a real neat little cornucopia of, well, old cool stuff.

Anyhow, on a similar but less dramatic note I decided that, since I had a bunch of pegboard behind the bench that was supposed to be for a visual extravaganza of tools, but instead is buried in dumb crap, I would instead make my own little hobby shop. Why not hang up all the stuff - engine parts, spare glow plugs, DuBro/Sullivan/whoever bits and pieces still in the bag, etc. - in other words all the bits I have rat-holed in my workshop that have any kind of visual interest. I suppose that is not a new idea but it beats rooting through drawers and bins to find treasures all the time, and I have all the common bench tools in a small bin anyway, so there is no point fantasizing about the tool emporium. Use a toolbox like everyone else I guess.

And I just ordered three 1/2A CL kits from Brodak - a 1/2A Twin Mustang, L'il Jumping Bean, and L'il Satan. Never had a twin, and the other two are nostalgic for me. I am probably going to do horrible things to them that are dumb ideas but at least they are repro kits, right? But at the least the Satan will be built as-is. I just haven't flown one in so long I couldn't resist. Now, for a while I've had this dumb idea that I can fly a Jumping Bean on micro RC and a Golden Bee or Black Widow up front. Tinkering with some micro gear recently reminded me again of that little fantasy, so I'll give it a whirl! I'll modify as necessary but as little as possible. Hmm, VA MKII and 4 channel with bladder tank?

So I'll try to contribute some activity when I get to one of those by posting a build thread.

i been out of the hobby a while to. but now im back in the spirit added 3 new cox 049s and a norvel 074 to my stash. the norvell is for the bibe stick. cant wait to get started on it

What the others said. The lure of easy to use and cheap electric power options that run as hot as a good Tee Dee or Norvel with far less fuss and muss is simply too much. The 1/2A forum is just a holdover for us old curmudgeons.

Hey, before we got the RCElectric 'verse we used to see a lot of electric questions and projects in here that artificially expanded the post count. But they've all gone over to their own place and left us old timers here to fondle our cute lil' engines and mutter about how the world used to be a better place.

Such is the cost of progress.

It doesn't help that a lot of the old regular posters here have moved on as CP said.

I'm going to build a Lil Satan as well but not the Brodak kit. It's about as simple as a model can get and the parts can be cut out in less than an hour. Not to mention that Brodak changed it for a beam mount engine and I plan to put the exact same Black Widow on it that I had on my original models 35 years ago. That was one little hot-rod of an airplane.

I guess I have to admit I am certainly becoming, or already am, one of those old curmudgeons. I already know I am a curmudgeon :mad:, it's the old part I don't want to confess to.. :(

Whatever the numbers are, I find that a forum such as this is a place to talk about what's on your mind or on the bench or to ask stupid questions (or in my case give stupid answers). 1/2A fliers are too many miles apart around here to be sociable in person regularly. So let's hope it will stay alive for those of us still clinging on.. gasp.. wheeze..

I have an original L'il Satan kit and a Jumpin Bean kit, but I like to keep those intact as memorabilia. Yeah I could easily scratch build one but I was feeling lazy, and had some curiosity about their kits too. Mine will get a Black Widow or at least a reedie with 8cc tank that I build up from parts. The Jumpin Bean has to go micro RC (might subtly lengthen the tail moment, maybe not) with engine TBD. A Sure Start would be more than enough power, but..

Many many years ago I build a Jumpin Bean with a Golden Bee, and added flaps on a whim. Flew great. I think I built one other stock before that. Cute little model. I'm looking forward to flying the L''il Satan. Esp. on steel lines, I did a lot of dacron flying as a younger fellow and not sure I ever flew 1/2A on steel until the last decade.

I've been to the Brodak site several times and they say the kit is original except for engine mounting. If you go with a Black Widow you'll have to change the kit back to the way it was.

http://brodak.com/1-2a-lil-satan-kit.html

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[h=2]"Quick Overview"[/h] "1/2 A Carl Goldberg model. A truly exciting combat-type plane for advanced flyers. It has been modified by Brodak to take a beam mount engine. Thrilling performance on an inexpensive .049 engine."

Yup I know - not a problem. Might take me 10-15 minutes to fab up a firewall and support.

I picked up a used Jumpin' bean a few years back (maybe more than a few) and keep thinking I ought to get it out, but just never seem to have the time. I figure I've got another 8-10 years till I can retire, THEN maybe I'll have time! :)

Yeah but don't wait! Used? Like as in built and ready to go? Fire it up!

Well, at least you fessed up to part of it. ;)

Recently, I was asked for an ID when I went into a local bar ---- I showed them my Medicare card. I guess they just wanted to know I had identification in case I had a heart attack while there.:confused:

Recently, I was asked for an ID when I went into a local bar ---- I showed them my Medicare card. I guess they just wanted to know I had identification in case I had a heart attack while there.:confused:[/QUOTE]

Love it.............:D Yea, ya gotta wonder what is going thru the servers mind. I was recently carded as well and said "are you kidding me".

If you are an old timer stuck around 2010 with the old PC your screwed here today. And what is FPV must be something you wear! I just like being able to use RCU not have to Hack It

Ha. Well, I am now in my mid 30's but still collect Cox stuff. Also, smokepoles rock! Ok, now I will ultimately confess. I have not run a Cox engine in a couple of years, nor made any smoke. So I casted up some lead, and will ultimately make some noise and smoke this year! And the smoke is best started by a piece of flint.

I know where you are talking about......:cool:

Ha good fun! My older brother has two Brown Besses and I forget what else in flintlock. I only go back as far as 1867, with a Snider Enfield .577. But it's smoky!

:) Hi All,

I don't post much here, but, I follow along...:)

For me, this site is like a great stew... dip your bread/balsa in to it ! ! !:cool::cool::cool:


World Wide Experience, we enjoy.:)

My guess, and it is only a guess...

Getting That needle set,
Full tank run,
Land by your feet,
That is FUN ! ! !

CURMUDGEONs ? ? ?:)

Wailing props are .. Cool !:cool::cool::cool::cool:

Take care,
Have fun,
Dave'crosscheck'Fallowfield
Maac 6437
Unabashed Combat Team

I noticed a change after RCG switch to this new format. I've lost my gallery 3 times and have found the new format not as user friendly to work with. I have seen an increase in the 1/2A forum in RCG, so maybe user friendliness of the forum may have a bit to do with it. I've ended up spending most of my time over at RCG along with scale and glider/aerotowing sites which are very user friendly. There's still several aspects to the new RCG format that I don't care for - not nearly as nice to use as the old format used to be.

A few years ago there were a lot of build threads - people like CP doing on-off experiments and his SWR's, re-pop's of old kits being scratch built, GRACE that was passed around which disappeared. People like PT Ulmer, Bipe Flyer, Raymond LeFlyer, 1/2A Hec who have all disappeared. Now I look at the forum and it's mostly engine related. I for one miss watching all those small winged creations take shape on the bench, then take to the air.

I also believe that electric has made the largest dent in 1/2A. While there's no substitute for a screaming 1/2A engine, there's also quiet and no clean-up that is very enticing to many. Not to mention the ease of use for the I want it now generation who don't have the patience to want to learn to start a fussy Cox engine or how to properly trouble-shoot or tune it. I have several small electric planes that I can fly from my front yard - something I can't do with a screaming Cox engine. Looking at the cost of a new product engine, one can buy a similar size motor and ESC from Hobby King. And the cost of a few glow heads is the cost of a LiPo battery that will last several years, and this is before the cost of 1/2A fuel is added into the equation. So economics wise, electric has probably surpassed the cost of glow for cost effectiveness.

Then you can get into the building side of the hobby. I know many who say they don't have the time or desire to build a plane. When they crash their ARF they just toss it into the trash can and go buy a new one. One of those ARF flyers was amazed when I showed him one of his old planes he was going to pitch that I rebuilt. He had no clue that it could be put back together and how much different it looked with just a simple color/trim change. Thank goodness for the Outerzone.uk, and guys like Gene Rock/Dave Fritzky for preserving all those old plans that would disappear otherwise.

CP - we still have a drive-in theater, and it happens to border the park one of our the flying fields is at.....:rolleyes:

Hogflyer