Johnnysplits

Yes sir!

Johnnysplits

Ran into these two last weekend

born2build

There you are! I've always been curious about float flying but never took the "plunge". Ha! I have the Kadet Senior still in the box. Ya never know...Have you been flying yet?

Johnnysplits

I haven't been flying yet...been here trying to figure out why my pics are always turned like that when I post them.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Hey there if ya have already become proficient on wheels then float flying can be an almost religious experience. An awful lot of folks tend to always keep a few float ships around.

Do give it a go when you are ready.

John

born2build

Hey, John. Thanks for the encouragement. Before I start on the Kadet Senior, I have a couple of projects to finish up. Namely a Super Skybolt I want to refurbish and a G.P. T-Craft electric conversion still in the bones. Can you recommend a set of floats for the Kadet Senior? I'll be adding ailerons and converting it to a tail-dragger. I'm thinking foam core, sheeted and glassed. I want to keep the weight down (of course) as I'll be using a new Saito 62. I know Goldberg used to make sets of foam floats back in the day. Any ideas?

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

You are welcome. First the Seniors are (my opinion) the best choice as a first glow/gas powered floatplane ever. I have used just about every float structure that has included Coroplast, built up wood types, sheeted foam core and moulded with coverings such as fiberglas, monocoat heck even used a pair of the wives old panty hose and and resin on one ship.

I think foam core to be an excellent choice But I much prefer the covering to be monocoat even on the bottoms yea the bottoms this definitely keeps the weight down (unlike fiberglas). Works for me (before the rocks start flying). Now since I only have the chance to fly on the water perhaps four times a years its no problem to maintain the bottoms of the floats a little more carefully.

The shortest floats I would recommend for the Seniors is forty inchers 42 better. The trouble with the senior is that very long nose so if one uses a shorter float even though they may have sufficient buoyancy is when you position them where they need to be fore and aft (step is at or slightly behind the CG, The tips of the bows ends up slightly behind the propeller when many kit built or arf floats are used.

I do believe there is one supplier of nice floats left and is a gent up in Main or the northeast anyway. Search here at RCU in the Seaplane forum.

John

born2build

Thanks for the advice, John. I guess I'm on the right track in my thinking. I have investigated this whole seaplane business in the past, so I do have some idea of what's involved. Your comment about the tips of the floats being ahead of the prop is an interesting point. I'll check out the seaplane forum post haste. Thanks again!

Johnnysplits

Ok, I know it's been a while, but here we go. After logging approximately 6 hours on the simulator and debating about getting with an instructor, this morning, life didn't get in my way. I put the battery on the charger and packed up the plane in the car. Drove to this place that I spotted over a month ago to fly at. Got there, unpacked the car and got the plane ready to go. Did a range check, then control surface check...good to go. Wind was at 4, gusts to 7. Here's the thing, the way the asphalt driveway was set up at this subdivision that's under construction, I could only take off in one direction. That meant that I would be taking off with the wind, landing against the wind. I know the rule is to take off and land against the wind, but I wanted to fly. The wind was at a 23 degree across the driveway (now my runway). So here I go. I taxi it a bit to just get a bit a feel for ground handling. Now my pulse rate was already climbing just loading the car. Now, my left leg is shaking violently, uncontrollable. I started having flashbacks of when I was 17-18 when I tried this and crashed $900 worth of planes inside of 30 minutes. At that point, I just told myself if you don't try, you won't know...and it's only money. So with that, I lined it up, slowly rolled the throttle to full, gave the tiniest bit of up elevator, and it was on! I did two takeoffs and landings including flying around doing figure 8's and one loop. My plane doesn't even have a scratch on it. So I'm here to say that with enough sim time with this particular plane, yes you can fly yourself with no instruction. So, my next move is to order two more batteries for it so I can get a LOT more flying in. Then I'm going to get a low wing plane and try that out. Out of all the r/c cars, trucks, boats of battery, nitro, and gas power, and model railroading I've done over the last 40 years (since 8 yrs old) , flying this plane was the most exciting thing I've ever done!! The only other thing that excited me like this was when I was 16 and drag raced at a track for the first time. But I certainly can't afford to do that anymore, so I'll stick with flying.

Johnnysplits

And yes, I only flew it in experienced mode and didn't have to touch the panic button.

Johnnysplits

Got another three flights in before it got dark out. I couldn't go back to the place I flew this morning, so thankfully, my girlfriend lives on a golf course and got these flights in there. Was a pain because there were still a few people still golfing, so I got delayed a few times. But I gotta say, I'm finding it extremely easy to fly this plane. I did a few touch and go's, one loop, and straight inverted without turning. Think I'm going to get a balsa plane and try that out. I'm sure that will take more finesse to keep it in one piece than this foam plane.

jester_s1

It probably won't be any harder. If it's a bigger plane, you'll probably find it easier actually. Thanks for the update. I love to hear about a new pilot having a successful start to the hobby.

Johnnysplits

Thank you sir! I'm very excited about starting a new venture in r/c. As each flight progressed during the day, my nerves finally started to settle lol.

da Rock

Flying on a golf course that's in use can really be a pain.

flyboy2610

My Feedback: (1)

Particularly for the golfers.

Johnnysplits

Well, I look at it this way. The three foursomes that kept getting in my way who all sucked by the way, should have all thanked me for getting out of their way. Sucky players on a golf course surrounded by homes...guess who has the last word? The homeowner! My girlfriend stopped me from opening my mouth to this one guy who needs to find a different hobby because golf is not agreeing with him at all. I wanted to tell him to hurry the hell up, that you may have paid a fee to play this one time, but I pay $420 a month in HOA fees, so get the hell out of my backyard! But of course, I kept my mouth shut and waited 12, yes 12 minutes for this idiot to finally finish one hole. Anyway, I just ordered another plane...a Flyzone Island Wings DHC-2 Beaver.

da Rock

What is the golf course?

Rocky Point?

Is there a member in the HOA whose hobby was off roading? He chose to not interfere with the golfers by enjoying his hobby when no golfers were around.

Does your girlfriend's HOA membership mention anything about the use of the course by association members?

Johnnysplits

I have no idea what's what with the HOA and the golf course. A few people were sitting on their patios watching me and thought it was cool. And then I hear the kids. I'm happy they didn't come out onto the course. I can hear them now...can I try it can I try it. NO! ya little rats. Reminds me of the time I was tuning the carb on the HPI Baja truck while at a park. Here comes some teenagers. Hey man, can I try it? I said sure, give me $3400 in cash to hold while you try it.

jester_s1

FWIW, kids can be a great investment going forward in this hobby. Many of them won't ever spend their own money on planes or trucks, but some will. It can also get you a lot of goodwill with the community. You transition from being the selfish guy on the golf course using it for what it wasn't intended for to being the nice guy who lets the kids see his toys and takes a few minutes to talk with them about it. Those are perceptions, of course.
No, you don't have to let them fly your plane. But you can explain the learning process and let them move the control surfaces with the transmitter. I used to keep a trainer handy at the airfield just in case someone showed up who wanted to try it. Of course, that requires that the space be adequate for student flying and the hobbyist have the skills to do training. But the time invested pays off big in the way the public perceives our hobby and in getting the next generation interested in it. I've let a lot of kids drive my RC truck with me controlling the throttle, and boats too. They've been respectful and appreciative every single time, so who knows how many of them will take an interest in RC when they are older?

Johnnysplits

From what I see, going by my girl's nephew and my niece, who both happen to be 12, only care about video games. My coworkers that have kids that age and teenagers all are into video games. It's extremely rare for me to see an r/c car running around the streets. It seems like if the parents aren't into anything r/c, kids will never know it. I'm all about promoting the hobby, but when you're dealing with parents who freak out about the costs involved, it's not easy. You call me selfish...I am!! When I was younger, I wasn't. We were one of only a few better off families in our neighborhood. I had a lot of friends who I didn't think twice about sharing my toys. But then when stuff gets broken, stolen, nobody fesses up to it, nobody offers to replace, then no more sharing. Those days shaped my way of thinking for the rest of my life. I cringe when people ask to borrow tools or equipment from me. However, after I join a club one of these days, I have some ideas to help promote the hobby.

jester_s1

Oh I'm with you on that. I don't let people have a chance to break my stuff. Kids especially aren't going to take responsibility for things they break. And yes, they are selfish and have short attention spans. Yes, they are screen addicted and expect instant gratification for everything. All that said, they can be tempted away from the bransucker 7s with real things and real achievements if someone is willing to let them try it. I won't turn them loose on an expensive toy that they don't know how to use just to watch them break it. But I will take up time with youngsters to show them how much fun they can have by putting down the I-Stupid and doing something real.

Johnnysplits

Well, once I get a become a more proficient pilot, I will try to get my girl's nephew out of his room, away from the computer and get him outside with me and see if I can get him interested. It would be of no inconvenience to him because he lives in the same golf course community as my girl, so his backyard is a golf course too. We can just walk out the back door and right to the "runway". The kid is 12 so I might not have such a hard time with him. But his parents, like my girl's parents, and their respective siblings all have no lives. I grew up in a family where we went on vacations all over the country and abroad, we went camping, we had boats and took long trips with them for a week at a time, my parents had parties quite often, so we would have a lot of people over and it was fun. But man, this kid's dad is a computer nerd who has a great paying job, but no life. I don't get that. But anyway, I will work on this kid some and see if I can get him interested in something that will make his brain work. There's a ton to learn with r/c...especially aircraft. The good thing about this is that if I can break through, money won't be an issue for the parents so I can really move him along. But before I can try this, I wan't to get at least one more hour of flight time down.

jester_s1

It sounds like you have a sweet opportunity there. It sounds like that boy needs to be shown how to catch a fish and build a fire too. I work in education and one of the big buzzwords is "enrichment." That is simply doing things that are fun and educational just to do them. It used to be called parents spending quality time with their kids, but it's not a given anymore that that will happen. The online world is so addictive though. Game designers know what they are doing. They give more stimulation than the real world ever can, and offer just enough gratification to keep gamers coming back. It's not altogether unlike a casino where a carefully designed room keeps you pulling the one armed bandit for 8-10 hours while you feed it money for the privilege. I wish you the best of luck with the youngster.

Johnnysplits

I thank you sir. As you say, video games are very addicting, and I grew up in the Atari days and had multiple game systems since. Yet, they have never captured me like actually being outside and doing things. It's like the flight sim. From using it for a month, to going to a field with the plane and flying it...you just can't compare the two. Hopefully, I can get this kid out of his room and into something a lot more worthwhile than video games.

Johnnysplits

Went out today to get some more flight time in. Now last week, the crosswind was at 4-7mph. Today, it's 10-13mph. I wasn't going to go, but I said what the hell...you'll never learn to fly in it unless you're in it! So I drove to the big field next to where new houses are going up, parked, and started to get the plane ready. I had the plane behind my car so the wind wouldn't catch it, but it did as I was getting the Tx out of the car. Plane started rolling backwards and I had to run after it lol. Now I do the pre-flight and take off with the wind...had no choice. All I can say is wow! What a difference it is flying in a higher wind! The gyro in the Rx was working overtime. So I was just flying around, checking out it's behavior in the wind. Now it's time to start bringing it in. I did four approaches to get a feel for landing in the higher crosswind. I wish I had a video. It was so cool seeing the plane crabbing as it's coming down. Every time I made approaches, I was standing directly in line with the plane. Then on approach #5, I brought it down, crabbing away until the last second, I gave it left rudder, straightened out and touched down. Just about stopped, then the wind blew it to the left and the wing grabbed some asphalt. So now there's a scratch on it lol. Oh well, better than a crash! It was fun as hell, but I really need more batteries.