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When did you start into rc?

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When did you start into rc?

Old 04-18-2011, 09:17 PM
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flyingaardvark
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Default When did you start into rc?

Curiosity go the better of me on this one so have at it.
Feel free to answer regardless of what type of rc you do.
Btw go ahead and answer for your kids, relatives etc.
Old 04-19-2011, 03:07 AM
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MinnFlyer
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

My dad was in the hobby, so I was flying at a very young age. I was in my teens before I realized that not everyone had a basement full of airplanes

BTW, I'm now 56 and my dad is 90 and still flies every day!
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Old 04-19-2011, 03:38 AM
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flyingaardvark
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

Minnflyer, that's awesome!
I'm started when I was 10 and now in 14.
I got into glow power this last Christmas when I received a h9 p-51 pts.
My 6th grade science teacher got me interested in rc.
His name is Brandon chitty, if you don't know who he is than look him up when you get the chance.

Happy flying!
Old 04-19-2011, 04:20 AM
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CGRetired
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?


ORIGINAL: MinnFlyer

My dad was in the hobby, so I was flying at a very young age. I was in my teens before I realized that not everyone had a basement full of airplanes

BTW, I'm now 56 and my dad is 90 and still flies every day!

56! Jeech.. near as old as me..

I actually started twice, or make that three times. Back in 1977, I was stationed in Eureka, CA and saw these guys at the local airsrtip flying RC. I was fascinated, so I went over and started watching them and getting acquainted with the guys there.

So, this perked my interest in RC so I spoke to the guys there and they recommended a plane to get to start off with. That was a Goldberg Skylark 56. I don't recall what engine I had on that plane. So, I built the kit and then headed out to the airport to get my flight instruction. That worked out pretty good until I made a mistake in a mechanical trim adjustment and crashed the plane. Since I was assigned to a Coast Guard ship, the patrol schedule was brutal... foreign and domestic fisheries pretty much dominated our time, and fit that in with law enforcement and search and rescue activities, well, there wasn't much time to rebuild, so I dropped the hobby until I had more time to devote to it.

Step forward about 20 years, and I retired from active duty, and started working as a contractor for the FAA. So, it started all over again.. out by a field one day seeing RC aircraft, so I decided to get back into it. So, I bought a Tower trainer and an OS .45 engine, and an Airtronics RD6000 radio and off we went. The work I was doing had me traveling a lot to England, so since I was there a lot, I had a good friend that helped me build another trainer to have over there. So, I did some training over there as well as some over here, but that got put on hold due to divorce. [:@]

Step forward about another few years and I got serious, and picked up a Nexstar Select RTF and flew that to solo time and after. So, I guess I've been interested since about 1977, but serious into it starting at about 1999 or so and have been into it ever since.

That's my story and I'm going to stick to it...

CGr.
Old 04-19-2011, 04:30 AM
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pdm52956
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

Started when I was 51. I'm hoping that all the adrenaline pumping for 12 minutes at a time will help keep me feeling young. Of course I suppose it could kill me too.
Old 04-19-2011, 04:34 AM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

My Dad got hoooked up with the guys who founded Delta Systems RC cars back in the late 60's in the St. Louis metro area. He actually designed the electronics that went into an early servo for them.

We started with a midwest Lil T and a heathkit radio in the summer of 67. I flew infrequently for until 1995 when I moved to my curent home and joined the TORKS in OKC. I've been teaching ever since.

Here's a shot of Dad me, the little T and our HOMEBUILT Delta Systems 7 channel RC Radio from the summer of "68

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...0&postcount=72
Old 04-19-2011, 04:38 AM
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goirish
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I started when I was about 12 in control line with a ring master and fox 35. I am 72 at present and holding. I flew until about age 19, went off to college and then got married. Hobby was on hold for about 25 years. I am back in the hobby and flying almost evey day in the summer if weather will cooperate. I have two grandsons and one granddaughter that goes flying with me once in awhile. I joined a club about 3 years ago and that was the best thing I have done regarding the hobby. Would recommend that to everyone. At present as I type this I am watching it rain for several days in a row with winds in the +30's. So doing some building. I enjoy scratch building. So, my advice is get a young person involved in the hobby.
Old 04-19-2011, 04:41 AM
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G.Barber
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I got my first control line airplane when I was 10 - it was an Ace Lil Wizard, and I had a Cox .049 Babe Bee on the front.

My first RC came at the age of 12 when I got an Ace Wizard 2-channel airplane and a Futaba 2-channel radio system. This plane, again, used the same .049 engine. Unlike Minnflyer, I was the only person in my family with the airplane 'bug'.

My first 4-channel plane, a Tower Trainer .40, I got when I was about 14. I used it as my 4-H project in the aerospace division, and it took me to the Minnesota State Fair. At that point, I had an uncle that was into RC, so I went to monthly RC club meetings with him. I'm now 33 years old.

My son, on the other hand, is now 9 years old, and he soloed last spring. He is flying a Flyzone Skyfly Max, and he'll be moving on to the E-flite Advance 25e ARF when he's ready this year. He's been around airplanes since he was born. Both of his grandpas fly full scale planes, and he took his first airplane ride in his grandpa's Bellanca Explorer at 3 yrs old. Grandpa strapped him in the back seat in his car seat, and my son has been hooked ever since. Grandpa now has a small Zen air side-by-side, and my son is already learning the finer points of taking off and landing.
At the rate he's going, he'll probably have his pilot's license before he gets his driver's license!!!
Old 04-19-2011, 06:08 AM
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CGRetired
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I drove my first control line aircraft, with a Cox .049 engine, right into the side of a very large oak tree in my back yard. I got so dizzy that I almost felll over, which I did, in fact, but that was after I drove that thing into the tree [] . That ended that. Then, move forward to my previous post.

CGr.
Old 04-19-2011, 06:14 AM
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G.Barber
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

Ah yes! I remember that too!

My dad was the first one to fly my Lil Wizard... We lived on a culdesac (dead end street) and my dad thought we'd start with 25' lines. He got so dizzy that he fell over. We all laughed (except him)! Just be fore he fell, he tried to fly it by swinging his arm over his head - it didn't work so well - he and the plane and hit the ground at about the same time!
Old 04-19-2011, 06:16 AM
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bigedmustafa
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I was spending too many nice summer evenings parked in front of my computer playing First Person Shooters and Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. I enjoy fishing and golfing, but you can't really go do either one on a random weeknight after work.

I thought flying an rc plane would be a cool way to get some fresh air and sunshine, so I jumped into RC planes at the tender young age of 37.
Old 04-19-2011, 07:36 AM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I have been in the hobby 3 times:
1979 - High School. Too much money and not enough expert advice left me grounded.
1986 - Out of college, with a job and no responsibilities. Flew actively till '91 when I met my wife and became interested in her tailfeathers.
2009 - My teenage son found my old Telemaster in the attic. "Dad can we fly that?" I've never seen a kid with so many airplanes...
Old 04-19-2011, 07:58 AM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

ORIGINAL: MinnFlyer

My dad was in the hobby, so I was flying at a very young age. I was in my teens before I realized that not everyone had a basement full of airplanes

BTW, I'm now 56 and my dad is 90 and still flies every day!

that's awesome!!!!!!!


i was exposed to it since birth. and made my own balsa gliders till i was about 12 and havent looked back since.
Old 04-19-2011, 09:55 AM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

Mike, your a lucky man!!!!! RC planes is something I'm pretty new at, I never counted my first 2 ch Cub so I figure about 15 years. I started building control line in 56 and went into free flight in about 60. The cost of radio gear was out of my reach when I was younger so I built the RC planes and set them up as free flight. That was in the days of kits, something I miss. Hobby shops smelt like balsa wood when you walked in.
Old 04-19-2011, 03:03 PM
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tailskid
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

Started R/C after college....and it was UC for about 10-12 years before that...
Old 04-19-2011, 03:09 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I started RC in my early 30s, but this was after 20 years flying control line. I started that in 1950 after flying gliders and building solid and stick models.

When I came back from flying F-4s in the Vietnam War, I had some extra money and "blew" it on an RC set and plane.
Old 04-19-2011, 03:34 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

ORIGINAL: Ed_Moorman

I started RC in my early 30s, but this was after 20 years flying control line. I started that in 1950 after flying gliders and building solid and stick models.

When I came back from flying F-4s in the Vietnam War, I had some extra money and ''blew'' it on an RC set and plane.
Write the Book Ed!!!!!!!!!!
Gene
Old 04-19-2011, 03:42 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I picked 41-50. I couldn't afford RC when I was a Teen, and I was more involved with flying full scale aircraft and going after women through the3 ages 20-30. I'm 44 turning 45 in July.


Pete
Old 04-19-2011, 04:31 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

When I was 12 I built a Goldberg Gentle Lady and left it in the bones. I could just afford the kit and the glue, so I had no money for covering. About 15 or 16 I had saved some money and bought a Futaba 2 ch stick transmitter a Cox .049 engine and I mail ordered a aileron/elevator kit from (I think) Hobby Shack. I built that and crashed it about 4 times, before it was relegated to a trash bin. I built another 2ch kit and promptly destroyed that too. Total flight time of both airframes was no more than about 45 seconds. Fast forward about 15 years and I got back into the hobby after a high school friend told me that he was flying. Well, that was 3 years ago and I now have 12 airplanes and 2 helicopters in my basement and have sold about 4 others too. I think I am officially back in the hobby to stay. I am also happy to say all of my airframes have lasted more than 45 seconds.
Curtis
Old 04-19-2011, 04:56 PM
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All Day Dan
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

It was 1952 and I was 13. I was king of the control line circles when someone showed up with and RC that worked. I was hooked. My first plane was a Berkeley Bootstraps with a vacuum tube receiver. The receiver cost $10, a fortune! Here's me the with a U/C Barnstormer then and now with a replica of the Bootstraps. Dan.
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Old 04-19-2011, 06:33 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I make it about 1952 when Schumacker got Babcock to kit the Breezy Jr..... cost around $ 7.00 for the kit.
One hand launch flight... one left turn and landed on a barbed wire fence in the cow pasture.

It was great even for that short flight.

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.ph...ge=7&mat=balsa
Old 04-19-2011, 07:44 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I started in 1980 with a Bridi Soar Birdy. I had asked my parents for a R/C glider and got the dreaded "we'll see." About two weeks later my mother got a job as an engineer at Kraft and I got my first radio and plane. I started to teach myself to fly that year and have been hooked ever since.
Old 04-19-2011, 09:32 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

I guess if I had to pick a date, it would be summer of 1972 because that is when I bought my first RC radio, a Kraft Series 72. I also bought a Sterling Fledgling trainer, but I forget what engine I had on the nose of it. I joined a club and got an instructor, but getting together with him proved to be a real PITA, so after only a couple of lessons, I tried it all alone one day and guess what. Right. I destroyed it. The first of many. I believe it was the following year that I bought what must have been the very first ARF ever offered for sale. I don't remember what the name of it was, but I do remember part of the instructions was to fill the fuselage behind the servos with expanding foam like you use in home construction. Man, what a turkey that thing was. It would fly, but only under about 3/4 WOT and higher. I had a HP .40 on it, and that engine was a screamer. It needed it. It had all the glide characteristics of a brick and you had to land it at about 40MPH. Man, what a POS. Anyway, what with chasing the ladies, playing with guns, and trying to drink the state of Missouri dry for years, I didn't do a lot with RC. Then I moved here to Arkansas and got together with one of the finest bunch of guys I have ever met. It is not a large group, but not an ass in the bunch. I also met the best flier I have ever seen and he was also an instructor and he became my instructor. We were on the same wave length at all times. He taught me to fly.
Old 04-19-2011, 09:49 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?

From day one, really. I got my first RC experience waaay back in 1990 when my dad had his frog out and about. 'Course being less than a year old I don't really remember much but it did foster an interest, because I can remember getting my first toy grade around age two. Hopped around toy grades until I was 12 or 13, then landed a MiniZ. After I wore that the hell out I got my first proper hobby-grade, the CEN MT2 which now sits in my closet awaiting restoration.

My interest in planes didn't spark until around age 7. At the time RC was more or less just a collection of toy-grades, my main focus being on model trains. Ran N-scale. One day I headed into a Hobbytown USA to pick up a few box cars and some track and, hanging there right above the door, was a nitro trainer. It was like a light switch. I had to have one of those. It took me a while, but now I've got one, and I absolutely cannot wait to get it completed and see it in the air!

What sucks is that I have a thunderstorm keeping me from doing anything with any of my RCs!
Old 04-19-2011, 10:18 PM
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Default RE: When did you start into rc?


ORIGINAL: DAN REISS

It was 1952 and I was 13. I was king of the control line circles when someone showed up with and RC that worked. I was hooked. My first plane was a Berkeley Bootstraps with a vacuum tube receiver. The receiver cost $10, a fortune! Here's me the with a U/C Barnstormer then and now with a replica of the Bootstraps. Dan.

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/jpegs/Be...%20Bootstr.JPG that

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