ETpilot

I have purchased from Micheal's but their stock is 36" and hard wood 24". Not too good for me. So I ordered bulk from Sig. I'm on my second order and pretty much happy with the balsa. I have enough for the plane I am building and 1 + more.

mattnew

My Feedback: (2)

I have an easier solution and one that is more fun...

Fly more... I find that no matter how good you are, it tends to thin the herd after a while :-)

skylark-flier

OMG! ROFL,COMN!! I don't care who you are, that's funny!!!!!!!!



Yeah, that works - unless you're like me and too conservative a flier to ever crash a plane. I'm wearing them out, then rebuilding them so I can wear them out again. This winter's been a real testament to that.

And now I'm plans-building another semi-forgotten classic from the 60's (SIG Stratus from '66) to add to an already overcrowded hangar. It's OK though, just that much more to drive the kids nuts with when I'm gone and THEY have to clean up my mess. Serves them right - I've been cleaning up THEIR mess for enough decades. It's their turn soon.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I got one I may donate to the local CAP wing once I'm through playing with it. Its a1/5 SIG Cub with N number and CAP insignia matching the one in the Air Force Museum. I left the cheek motors off but I can still add them. I think they would like to display it in there ready room. I'll keep the radio gear and motor if I do and rig a fixed prop on it. It has a 14 X 4 on it for scale appearance it matched up fine with the Saito 80 powering the plane..

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

my attic is full of worn outs waiting for TLC. I'm busy converting present hanger to electric. about half way there.

just sold the zeroli corsair version 1, it was too big for reasonably priced electrics.

Joe

TOPGUN WINNER

My Feedback: (27)

STARTED BUILDING IN 1941. FIRST GAS ENGINE 1946 MADEWELL 49 IN AN ALL ALUMINUM U-CONTROL RACER. USAF PILOT. STUDIED AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING. DESIGNED AND BUILT OVER 500 FLYING MODELS OF ALL TYPES.
BUILT WIND TUNNEL MODELS OF AIRCRAFT & HELICOPTERS WITHIN .OO5 INCH. BUILT FULL SIZE MODELS THAT MADE COVER OF AVIATION WEEK. FULL SIZE MODELS COST $100,000 TO 1.7 MILLION WITH FULL INTERIORS. BUILT FULL SIZE MODELS OF TANKS, TRUCKS, AUTOMOBILES AND THINGS THAT FLY IN THE DARK SIDE.
THAT'S JUST ME...I WILL BE 80 THIS YEAR AND I STILL DESIGN, BUILD, FLY AND TRY TO TEACH AS MANY STUDENTS AS I CAN.MOST OF MY STUDENTS WANT TO LEARN HOW TO BUILD ANT SET UP IMAC & PATTERN PLANES.
I BELONG TO LOTS OF CLUBS AND HAVE FOUND THAT THEY WANT TO PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO BUILD, SET IT UP, PROGRAM THEIR RADIOS AND TEST FLY IT SO YOU JUST HAND THEM THE CONTROLLERS.
I JUST MADE THE DECISION TO WRITE A BOOK ON MY 74 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE. (IF I LIVE LONG ENOUGH)
I TRY TO TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO SET-UP ELECTRICS BUT THEY KNOW EVERYTHING, I TRY TO TEACH THEM HOW TO PROPERLY ADJUST A GAS ENGINE, BUT THEY KNOW EVERYTHING...I EVEN TRY TO TEACH THEM HOW TO ADJUST A NITRO ENGINE, BUT THEY BEEN DOING IT 3 YEARS AND THEY KNOW EVERYTHING. DO YOU KNOW ANYONE IN YOUR CLUB THAT CAN COVER AN AIRPLANEBETTER THAN THE FACTORY? DID YOU KNOW THAT 99% OF THE MEMBERS AND THE DEALERS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO TUNE ALL THREE PHASES OF AN ENGINE?

I QUIT HELPING PEOPLE THAT DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW. I DO HAVE A SMALL GROUP OF PILOTS THAT WANT TO LEARN FROM ME BEFORE I PASS ON,,,MY STUDENTS LEARN THE BASICS AND CAN HOVER AFTER 2 MONTHS...SOME EVEN LESS. I AM A LICENSED INSTRUCTOR. HOWEVER, I USE THE USAF PILOT TRAINING SYLABUS THAT I RE-WROTE FOR RC PILOT TRAINING. I QUIT FOR THREE REASONS: 1. I AM 80 YEARS OLD AND I WILL BUILD FOR MYSELF. 1. NOBODY CARES TO LEARN HOW TO DO ANYTHING. 3. THEY EXPECT ME TO BUILD THEM THE BEST AIRCRAFT THEY WILL EVER OWN (SOME I BUILT IN 1984 ARE STILL FLYING) AND THEY GIVE ME A JUNK $15.OO ENGINE AS PAYMENT. I DON'T GO FROM $5,000 A DAY TO $ O.25 /HOUR JUST BECAUSE I'M OLD.

TODAY, IF I SEE AN ARF I REALLY LIKE, I WILL ADD NEW STRUCTURE AND DETAIL. FUEL PROOF IT INSIDE AND OUT, AND EITHER RECOVER IT OR RE-PAINT IT, OR BOTH. I WANT IT TO BE AS CLOSE TO SCALE AS POSSIBLE AND NEVER LET ANYONE GUESS IT WAS AN ARF. I LOVE A GOOD JOKE AND 100mph PLUS WW-1 FIGHTERS. LOL

I ONLY KNOW ONE BUILDER LEFT LIKE ME AND HE ALSO IS GETTING OLD. WE ARE THE DINOSAURS...BUT CHALLENGING A DINOSAUR WILL NOT WORK OUT FOR YOU. I DID GET CHALLENGED BY A CLUB MEMBER AND SET THE WORLD SPEED RECORD THAT ONLY LASTED ONE HOUR. THE MAN WHO'S RECORD I BROKE WAS CAUGHT TURNING MY NEEDLE VALVE BEFORE I COULD MAKE MY FINAL RUN TO MAKE IT OFFICIAL. I PRAYED FOR HIM.

sensei

Well there you go!

Bob

sensei

**

noworknguy

My Feedback: (197)

Haven't you heard , it's a throw away society.

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Hey there TCW How long U lived in the Warner Robins aera? Any chance U know a Tall guy, Woodie L. Colwell Jr.

acdii

Well there you go. TG NAILED it. Not only that, joined in 2011 as a lurker and his first post, tells it like it is. Respect my man RESPECT! Do bad you live down in G and not up around here, I would listen to everything you had to teach, those who do these scale birds look so real are just amazing!

Leroy Gardner

I think they have gone to where all the builders have gone, "oh", that's right here, where else can you go when you don't build but still like to have your say regardless if it's related to the thread question or not, some just like to flap their wings. Actually I have read a good lot of this and It's much like I expected it would get. Truth is times have changed a lot, the hobby has changed a lot and the interest has changed a lot. There are not as many Hobby shops, RC clubs and places to fly, add some noise control zones and there goes the gas and nitro planes that were once kits. I think that has a lot to do with the perception that there are a lot fewer builders of kits which there are.

ARF'S are the way of the future, you can buy a nice one cheaper than you can build one and the new guys don't or won't spend the time learning to build. They are the I-phone generation and most wouldn't have a clue what to do with a box of balsa with some plans in the first place. We lead the world in stupid per capita, 3rd World countrys don't count. I feel lucky to have lived the best years the world has ever had, when I'm gone I don't know what the future offers for my grand kids and guess what,? your not going to turn it around, it's already too late for that.

Enjoy it while you can, it's hard to know how long it will last. Sounds like doom and gloom which in fact it is a fact of life.

Telemaster Sales UK

Er...well I've just (re-)built this.

TOPGUN WINNER

My Feedback: (27)

thank you...i have 57 aircraft in work. Why so many? I clean out the trash barrel...if you can't build, you can't repair, i can. Lol

when my students have a hard landing, do a little damage, i make them repair their aircraft themselves. They come to my home and i teach them to be self reliant. We plan the repair in detail and they execute at their home...these are not just kids, some are in their 60's and just starting out.

I am thinking about a "book of the month club" where each month you get an individual book on "how to..." example: Tune a walbro carburetor the correct way (opposite a nitro engine) how to cover the easy way, how to repair foam, how to repair a wing, how to program a transmitter for "knife edge mixing" or even how to balance and do a flight test on any airplane.if an aircraft does this, you modify and change it like this...how to calculate the low pressure point of a wing.(cg)

everyone should build at least one airplane from a kit. Then they can save their flying mistakes...a little knowledge is better than none.

EscapeFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Hmmmmm...

While I understand why you wrote this, I have to say I am not so cynical or pessimistic in the future.
With the growth and interest in groups such as the historic vintage society, the spa, cpa, and even warbird builders, I am seeing a turn around in this.
Because of interest in the old classic pattern designs and flying/building, companies have taken notice by designing engines to fit these aircraft once again. Check out Nova Rossi with their rear exhaust engines. Even YS released a short run again.
I am happy to disagree with you in this. Plans building is coming back because of the ease and availability of the computer. They are easy to find as well. Google outerzone and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Brian

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

In the Past, Building was a NECESSITY, if U wanted to fly U had to build.. Today there are so many other ways to get airborne that even the UNSKILLED among us (Present company included) that our hobby has grown because of no longer having to have the skills and the wherewithal to put hundreds of hours into a project just to see it distorted in the first 15 seconds of flight. I under stand that building, for some is a hobby that they enjoy as much or maybe even more than flying.Then there are those among us that don't like to build. I for one wish I could put a project up on the Bridgeport, Machine it to with a couple thousands of an inch, (Weld my Mistakes) and bolt it together. Fat chance of it ever leaving the ground under it's own power. My supposed problem is (and maybe I'm Just jellious or what ever) . It just seams that some , Not All, skilled in the art of model airplane building tend to SNUB us less capable, that either Can't, Won't, or are unable to build for any merriod of reasons... I apologize if my perceptions are wrong or to those that don't feel superior because of their skills. I've said My piece so I'll try to restrain my further comments on this subject. and that ain't gona be easy babes Thanks again JMHO.

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Double post sorry

Telemaster Sales UK

Hound Dog, if you don't want to build that's fine. I like to build rather than to buy. If you can build you have many more choices.

I suspect that a man with your manual skills COULD build a model aircraft, and once shown how to cover one could produce a fine-looking unique model. Something like a Four-Star-Forty should be a fine model for a novice builder.

henschel

My Feedback: (47)

My how things change. I remember what turned most everyone into ARFers. Hobby Shack and those garbage EZ Models guess you can call them planes. I am an old time kit builder from way back. Got into scratch building because of all the so called scale looking ARF junk. Think the Chinese need to get better glasses as their idea of scale and mine clash. Don't get me wrong if you want to be like the rest of the lemmings and buy arfs then spend away. I remember a few years back at a flying field in Ft Worth Texas their was a guy saying he built his plane from a kit. So I asked what kit? Turns out it was a arf. So I asked him do you even know the difference between a arf and a kit. He looked at me puzzled. So anyway even I got tired of building kits. Wanted to build my favorite plane of all time. Has to be the most famous. Only thing is nobody builds and sells the kit in the scale I wanted. So I went and bought a set of plans off ebay that had been around for years. A 1/8 Mig-21MF. So I scratch built it. I went all out. All the panels,rivets,bumps bulges and blisters. I got tired of seeing most of the old time jet manufactures going out of biz. Cottage industry we called it. Now it is time to manufacture and sell 1/8 Mig-21MF kits.I scratch built a B-58 and showed the build on here. Spent 1,000s of hours building it. Got tired of building just one of a one of a kind so I decided to make and sell kits of the Mig-21 as nobody on the planet builds and sells them. So if you want to see a truly sinister looking jet and see what is going to be coming on the market and will be 100% American made then go look up the build on here and RC Groups.

Leroy Gardner

Do I sound cynical for reading the signs all around me and then expressing them,? I don't think so, as hard as I would like I find it hard to escape the truth. Having lived 3/4 of a century I have seen a lot of changes, it isn't just in this hobby, it's across the board where as skills are concerned. There will always be a few builders be it scratch, kit, or design your own but the truth is the mentality in man has changed to the degree that the desire isn't there to do much of anything that requires time or the need to learn something out side of the little box so many live in these days.

I don't expect everyone to agree with what I just said, seams like we all have a different perspective about things, that is unless your over 70 yrs old and have seen the best the world has to offer and that applies to this hobby also.

Leroy

henschel

My Feedback: (47)

I am like you. I am older and came up through the ranks building kits because that's all we had. We live in a throw away society where not too many people take pride in building something unique or take pride in their workmanship. If people want their arfs then so be it.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I haven't seen any increase in building at all. We have so many places to fly but no one has bothered with SPA at all, even IMAA is now gone and that was for the most part builders except for the ARF manufactures or distributors showing there new products and the 3-D guys. The one thing we have here that I thought was long gone is Free Flight. We have a huge FF competition here once or twice a year. Those guys are all building there own. Not a lot of FF or U-controls in ARF.

henschel

My Feedback: (47)

I don't expect anyone to agree with me. Anyway the Mig-21 is my last build. I built every plane that I wanted. Mig is the last as I have become tired of spending countless hours building. My thing is if I can build Mig-21 kits for other people to enjoy then all the years I spent building maybe counted for something

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I fly at several different fields but only know of two jet pilots. As cool as the 21 is it will be a limited plane for most of the RC pilots and builders. Good luck with the endeavor.

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

No I hate building because a CA and Epoxy hate me. When the top comes off the bottle they instantly glue my fingers togeather hen glue me to anything that is with 3 feet of me. No ... I under stand building is reaction for U ... for me it's pure torture.
I've built and repaired many planes since the spring and summer of 1958 Between 8th and 9Th grade when I built my first C/L PT-19 with a McCoy .29 ... Turned out pretty good for my first try too. Just because some one doesn't enjoy something why would U think they are no good at it. I'd rather be flying or Instructing some O'L fart that thinks he want's to Kill airplanes ... but he doesn't realize that he a killer yet. I really keep them from killing their plane cause I don't want to get discouraged or have to do too many repairs right off the bat.

U Know what an articular 15 is? Well it's a written reprimand U get from your USAF TI (training Instructor) for doing something against the UCMJ. Now this a long story but it explains part of my dislike for Building. I was building a C/L Stuka JU-87 in the barracks at Canute field in February of '65. Staff Sgt. PETERS (one man I'll never forget) Comes in to the barracks about 9 pm (2100 hours) stops buy my room and says "Airman what is that there" I reply a model Airplane SIR" "Not that, that bottle on the table ... Is that Flammable?" I pick The bottle of Testors Black Dope and read the label and bigger than S**t-e, it says in large red letters FLAMMABLE. Yes sir I guess it is. The Sarg says "Get that stuff out of my barracks" Yes sir right away . Airman "IT'S LIGHTS OUT" So I clean up the mess put every thing away intending to remove it from His Barracks in the morning after Chow and before we leave for Tech School. Comes )5:30 hours and we are all standing tall shivering like wet puppies, When He hollers ... "Airman (MY Last Name) Did U get rid of that "DOPE". NO SIR U said it was lights out. I was going to do it after chow." Airman (my name) see me in my office immediately after chow. Well After a bunch of questions about Not following instruction who was the Base Commander and the chain of command if I so wanted to use it. EDT. He gave me an Articular 15 for Failure to Repair "whet ever that means" Cost me my second stripe and the pay and time in grade and I was a one stripper when I got to my permanent duty station. K.I. Sawyer AFB my home for 3 years 2 months 2 weeks 3 days and 11 & 1/2 hours, till 11:30 Hrs 9 Sept '68. But who was counting, it was Exactly 4 years minus 1 and one half hours since I was Sworn to protect the constitution of the USA and defend the World against the Commie RED's Back then.

But know I don't hold it against any one for liking to build TOY AIRPLANES. Just bugs me when people lord something over ya and be little U cause they are better, or think they are better, because of their skills they posses.. or just don't care to do something they do. If I'm WRONG I apologize.
That's my long winded story and I'm stricken to it ...

One Name Omitted to protect the Guilty .... Mine of course.
p.s. I had a FOX 36x on it ... still got the FOX but left the Plan in the furnace room cause there was no room in Norman's 61 ford convertible with 6 guys & Dufflebags, headed North, on first leave, to Chicago and Milwaukee Area.