pappy35

I'm orginally from NYC, moved to Central CT in 1990, Cincinnati, OH in 2005, and now may be getting a job @ Boeing. What's it like living and flying there? From what I can tell the temps seem OK most of the year. Is there a lot of RC activity? Jets, Indoor, Pattern? How about schools? General cost of living? Is Starbuck's really availble in IV form at every street corner???

GalenB

My Feedback: (18)

There is a lot of RC flying in the greater Seattle area. Many of us fly year round -- when it's not raining. In short -- cost of living pretty high because of the cost of housing. A decent house anywhere near Seattle will cost you! You can get cheaper houses farther out, but the commute is a b$#ch... Public schools are a mixed bag from bad -- Seattle (expensive houses)[:'(], to pretty good -- Mercer Island (very, very, very expensive houses!)[:@]. You should investigate the school districts in which you can afford to live carefully. There is a lot of info available on the web. In the past the Seattle Times and Bartell Drugs have teamed up to gather the info for all public school districts into one book. Maybe you can locate one of these...

At which Boeing plant will you be working if you re-locate?

Cheers!

Galen

PS -- I've lived in and around Seattle since 1965 so I am pretty familar with the area.

Adrian_A

Hi,

I will be coming over to Redmond for a company training this September, and keen to get some RC stuffs to bring home. Could you recommend a hobby shop around Seattle, Redmond, Bellevue area ? I am particularly interested in those who sells Giant Scale & F3A. I am up to getting engine (DA) or electrics if price is right. Your inputs are much appreciated.
Thanks..

Adrian

pappy35

Galen, thanks for the input. Where I work will depend on what engine-line I'll be supporting so I don't know yet.

I've loooked a bit at home prices and yes, they are up there! Looks like I'll be renting for a while. Good question about the hobby shops in the area. I like to buy locally so it would be nice if there's a good shop in town.

How's the condo market? How about home rentals? Here in Cincy real estate prices are low but rents are high (go figure). Is it possible to rent a small home in a nice area for, say, under $1500 a month?

GalenB

My Feedback: (18)

I don't know much about the Condo market, but from what I have observed Condos can be nearly as expensive as houses. I know they are building condos like crazy here in east king county so the market must be strong. There are a lot of units under construction so maybe there will be some price relief in the near future as these are completed. The recent issues in the subprime market are causing issues with jumbo mortgates and that is having a chilling effect here on home sales as most houses are in this price range... This may also push more people into the condo market as loans for more than $417K become harder to get... www.johnlscott.com is a nice local real estate website that you can use for research for houses and condos.

As far as renting -- I've been a homeowner since 1988 and have no current info... I expect that renting can be cheaper than buying, but since real estate in this area is expensive and highly taxed I expect rent rates to be higher than elsewhere. I also don't think we have anything like rent control so I expect you'll find a very wide range of rates depeding upon where you look. I'm sure some web searching will yeild info in this are as well.

As for local hobby shops -- there really isn't much to choose from. There is a Hobby Town in Redmond, but it mostly car stuff and has little RC airplane stuff. Remote Control Hobbies in Woddinville is a nice shop and is well stocked with consumable items for RC aero modeling and 40 and 60 sized planes and engines, but they don't usually carry any GS or F3A stuff. The last DA-50 Dave had in the case sat for a long time (I helped him sell it via an RCU posting) and he's never got another. Most buy their GS airframes, servos, props, and engines direct from the mfg... Down south in Aubrun is another nice shop -- Ultimate Hobbies, but I haven't been there in years... Galaxy Hobby in Lynnwood is another nice shop, but not much GS or F3A stuff. Ditto for Tim's Hobbies in Everett... In short -- Remote Control Hobbies, Galaxy, and Tim's are well stocked with your average glow planes and supplies, but none are GS or F3A...

I suspect you can find something for $1500 a month without too much trouble -- as long as you are north or south of Seattle... Boeing has plants all over the area, but the main facilities are in Renton, Seattle and Everett. I assume the engine lines are near the plants where the airframes to which they are attached are made. This means Everett for wide bodies (747, 777, 787, and 767 if the tanker deal goes through), and Renton for 737... The Seattle plant at Boeing field is mostly flight test and customer delivery -- I don't think they make any airframes there... Renton and Everett are cheaper than Seattle or the east side of King County... Here is a website that I used to look at what's available in Renton: http://www.rentals.com/Washington/Seattle/ It looks like there are plenty of choices in the $1500-$1800 range...

The Internet Killer

He didn't mention we only get 2 seasons here,

August and the rainy season!!

evan-RCU

It's really nice here right now.... whoops it's raining again..... joking, the weather is beautifull today. oh, I'm in Kent... south of Seattle...

Hooked-On-RC

My Feedback: (16)

yes the weather in Seattle is much the same as it is just two short hours north in Vancouver, BC. We both share Karate Kid weather...Rain On..Rain Off...although it does rain more in Seattle than it does here...regardless of where you live around the Seattle area, it is beautiful country.

The Internet Killer

And then there is the Everett Convergents Zone !!! (sp)[&o][&o][&o]


also the phrase " We don't tan, we rust."

BTerry

My Feedback: (8)

I don't mean to take this off track, but I am looking to relocate across the sound to the Port Orchard/Bremerton/Silverdale area. What info can you give me on housing/schools/RC flying sites/etc?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

Brett

luckymacy

OK, this is an old thread but I'm visiting Renton area next week. The weather forecast is great so I expect a lot of RC flying going on somewhere. Can someone point me to an active club where I can see maybe 2 or 3 pattern flyers and some turbine jets? Don't have to be the same club/field and doesn't have to be in the Renton area.

Mooney_driver

I have an app for my iphone called RCMaps. Think RCGroups had it or at least that was where I heard about it. Not great for my area (east of the Cascades) but it shows Renton as having a flying field at Coulon Park. It also lists Seatac Park Flyer Park and Riverview Playfield. North in the Bellevue area it shows MaryMoore flying field. Northwest Bellevue shows Northwest electric Flyers field. It shows Gasworks slope flying field in Seattle. It shows Smith Cove Park as a field in the Queen Anne Hill area. There is a Barn Owls indoor flying field near Lake Washington. It also shows View Ridge Park and Dahl Park. In the Boeing areait shows West Seattle Reservoir. Between Auburn and Sumner it shows Mt Baker Middle School in the Algona and Pacific areas. The app says the Mt Baker site would not be good on weekends as the field is used for football and soccer). It lists Flaming Geysers Flyers flying site in teh Flaming Geysers state Park.

Ihave no personal knowledge of any of these fields and this app seems very useful for that but again I do not know how complete or up to date it is.

Hope that helps.

Tailspin

Hi Lucky,

Try this field, http://www.mar-c.org/ they fly everything but turbines there.


Steve

luckymacy

Thx! Got into town today and had a good time st Boeing's museum. Very impressive.