radfordc

My Feedback: (14)

I built a Heathkit radio, and both a Silver Seven and MicroPro8000 Ace system.

djohnstone

My Feedback: (1)

My dad built a Heathkit with Kraft sticks on 72mhz and I think he still has the transmitter. It worked perfectly. The servos needed a lot of work to keep them going. He worked on it for a long time! I had a used one with Bonner sticks on 27 that he didn't build. That one didn't work as well. I eventually upgraded to a World Engines Mk II. I used that radio for years with no failures.

HIr/cer

My Feedback: (74)

Great story, 049flyer!

Anyone notice the new JR radio? Looks familiar:

049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

Thanks for all the kind words gents. I'm happy you enjoyed my Mambo tale.

I have another Minnie Mambo kit ready for the building bench and a newly checked out Ace Pule Proportional radio for single channel control. Thanks Jaymen!

I'm confident I'll be more successful this time! I intend to use a Cox .049 for power. It will be ready for SMALL 2016.

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

I have to say that my career in electronics is clearly anchored at the GD-19 I built in high school. Lots of lawn mowing and house painting to afford it. The biggest problem I had in construction was with the multicon connectors. I didn't have the skill, tools, help or knowledge to resolder broken or frayed wires in the back of them. Ultimately, it ended up on the bench of Denton Birch, the local Kraft repair wiz. Once sorted, it ended up stuffed into a Top Dawg (three of the four KPS-9s), then an H-Ray, then a Mambo, two Jensen Ugly Stiks, a Lanier Caprice, a midget mustang, a mini-master and a Little Stik.
So the radio worked very well for me. The only serious problem I had was nicad failure, which with the split-supply for the servos resulted in a full-over.

LJE4357

My Feedback: (74)

Anybody remember when Signetics came out with 14 pin, dip IC's for the encoder's and decoders ? You guys are bringing back memories of good times, and a lot of crashes.

049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

grotto2-

I have a Minimaster kit in my stash. Any memories on how they fly? I'm thinking of building a few of them.

geeter

My Feedback: (110)

i did build one years ago. a 3 channel radio from heathkit. alot of parts to to it and alot of soldering. it had servos to i remember they were the linear kind of servo. everything worked when i got done to. things have come a long way since then............RON

Russmall

My first radio was the Heathkit Gd-19 which I built and learned to fly with after many crashes. I flew with that radio for a couple of years and then traded it in for an EK Super Pro. There was a mail order company (can't recall the name) that took trade-ins on radios and I believe he allowed me $100 for the Heathkit rig towards the purchase of the EK. Good times back then.

Jim_Purcha

My Feedback: (8)

Never did a Heathkit, but I did solder up a mirco receiver and two servos from Ace R/C. One of the WRCC club members had a Heathkit and 1975. One of my neighbours (family doctor) did a color tv too.

Jim

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

As I recall, it was a great plane, despite being a bit heavy with Coverite.

049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

Grotto2

Thank you.

I use Polyspan these days, much lighter. Looking forward to building it!

flyingagin

I built an 8 channel single stick system. Tx, Rx, Battery pack, 2 linear servos, and 2 rotary servos.
I now wish I had kept the Tx.

Ken

CafeenMan

My first RC set was an Ace 7-channel that my dad built. It had Bantam servos and was installed in a Falcon 56 (original kit, not the MK II) with an OS .35 engine. Never had a problem with the radio. No glitches no issues. I traded it many years later thinking of it as an obsolete unit which was a mistake. I wish I still had it for nostalgia.

I couldn't have built it because I don't know jack about electronics and can't read the diagrams.

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

I also built an Ace Silver Seven and installed the boards in a Proline Transmitter case with metal sticks. It had an NE5044 encoder and lots of options for mixing and dual rates. A number of the pattern guys built these around that time since it filled a niche that existed for most features per dollar.

spaceworm

I have a Heathkit complete system that I am thinking of selling. Also have assembly manual, if I can find it.

Any offers? PM me if interested.

Sincerely, Richard

HIr/cer

My Feedback: (74)

Built two of the red-cased Silver Seven sets but the first SS transmitter initially did not work! Traced the problem down to a defective NE5044. Ace R/C immediately sent a replacement NE5044 but wanted the defective one back,

The second Silver Seven transmitter had metal sticks, and I added the CAR board mainly for my then new Sagitta 600 built with ailerons per the kit instructions.

Both SS sets performed very well. Still have them.

Some years previous to the Silver Sevens, built the Cannon 5 channel set, in the metallic greenish leatherette case, and it worked well although the neutrals drifted during use. What a difference in the transmitter parts count in comparison to the Silver Sevens as the NE5044 had not been invented then.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I built the Heathkit 3 channel dual stick model with KPS-9 servos for a high school electronics class and got an "A"! The third channel was a trim pot on the back for the throttle. I had a third servo and I remember that huge ceramic resistor in the on board transmitter charger. I had good luck with that radio! I replaced it in 1975 or 1976 with a nearly new series 70 Kraft 5 channel but continued to use both radios. The Heathkit 3 channel was last housed in a plywood Cub powered by and OS .20 engine. I got out of r/C in 1980 and sold everything and didn't come back until 2004.

jaymen

Wow, what great stories, especially Eugene trying to trim those Turkish officers mustaches with a Mambo!

Those servos from Litco were Bantams by D&R
The Sinetics chip sets were the NE-5044 and NE-5045, and encoder decoder pair, and were what made the Ace Silver Seven so nice.
I did build a Siver Seven with the mixer and expo option board, metal sticks, on 6 meters, I miss it now.
Am going to revive my third Heathkit GD-47 (Bonner sticks) using a Traxxas 2216 27MHz receiver and new servos for park flyers. Can you guys beleive that the Heath's old round battery still holds enough charge to run it about 10 minutes?

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Heathkit really designed stuff to last!

LJE4357

My Feedback: (74)

From what I remember all the Heath Kit radio's, the circuit design were copies of the Kraft radios. Phil Kraft gave them the rights to make the kits.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Not exactly copies! In some cases, certain parts were loose copies of the Kraft radio but by the time the GD-19 came along, only the servos and the stick assemblies had much if anything to do with Kraft. The GD-19 used an all Heath receiver layout with ceramic filters rather than IF transformers and the decoder used SCS devices to decode each channel. Similarly, the transmitter used SCS in the encoder where Kraft used discrete transistor circuitry in both the encoder and decoder. There were other areas where there were major differences. Later on, when Heath came out with 3 wire servos they used the then new Kraft IC and mechanics so these were pretty much Kraft copies and they even used the Kraft Multicon connectors. Later Heath receivers got away from the SCS decoders but they used an IC decoder with open collector outputs on each channel. When using various non-Heath or Kraft servos with capacitor inputs, a pull up resistor was necessary to make the servos compatible. At the time, Heath recommended just installing the pull up resistors in the receiver case when the receiver was going to be used with other than Heath / Kraft servos.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

What I remember most about my old 3 channel Heathkit was the KPS-9 servos. Granted they were big monsters but I loved the dual lateral arms, the were perfect for pull-pull rudders. You still had the traditional servo arm like modern servos so you could go either way.

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

Now that you mention it, we didn't worry about not having servo reversing because you had your choice of outputs. The rotary and linear outputs of KPS-9s moved in opposite directions.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

They sure did, very handy! The drawback is the weight and size. Just try to put a pair of KPS-9s in a Park Flyer!