Posts: 75
Joined: 8/29/2004 From: Lawrenceville,
GA, USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Lou Melancon
I haven't picked up a CL handle in about ten years but with the introduction of the Brodak ARFs and the quality of CL Combat ships coming in from Eastern Europe I want to give it a try. One of the drawbacks for me is finding a place to fly and folks to fly with. Atlanta is a big city but doesn't have any permanent CL flying sites. You really need folks to fly with and a partner to launch the ship.
I do fly RC, and compete in RC Combat heavily. There is a limit to just how much modeling anyone has the time and energy to do. When attempting to fly CL Precision Aerobatics about 20 years ago it took all my time to build and fly that one event. Now it is taking all my time to build and fly RC Combat.
There is one thing about CL flying that cannot be matched by any other form of modeling and that is the feel of the airplane flying. In RC we are not connected to the plane, but in CL we feel every bump in the air. Also the plane is always 60 feet away so you can watch it fly and I really enjoy the feel and view when flying CL. It is rather boring for spectators but very fulfilling for the pilot.
Several years ago at the Joe Nall flyin a fellow brought a CL stunt ship and flew it for fun. He was surprised at the amount of interest it evoked among former CL fliers and those who had not seen it before.
I will always have a love for CL and will also try to participate in all forms of modeling.
Shoot me an e-mail, or give me a call sometime to fly CL. I live in Lawrenceville/Snellville, and have been looking for people and a place.
Posts: 117
Joined: 10/24/2004 From: SHARPSBURG,
KY, USA Status: offline
Lou Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth. I started flying c/l in the early 60's with the Cox .049 engines and 1/2 A planes that I had to build myself. No such thing as ARF back then. Progressed up to the larger craft (40 to 52 inch spans) and flew these into the 80's. Ringmasters, Noblers, and all I could get at the time. I wore out a McCoy .29. Flew it for 20 years. By the mid 80's, family, jobs, and education took most of my time and money. But now kids are gone and I once again have time on my hand. I got into R/C about 8 years ago and do enjoy it a lot, but I still miss my C/L days. My hanger has 4 R/C craft but I am going back into the C/L business. I never thought the circles I flew were boring. Every flight was a blast and i never could figure out why I could still control the plane with the cables as twisted as they were at the end of a flight. Inside loops, outside loops, overhead figure 8's, vertical and horizontal 8"s. Basically everything I could throw out there. I guess it all depends on how a person sees the sport. I can never remember a flight being "dull" or "boring". Don't get me wrong, R/C is a lot of fun too, but why limit ourselves to one avenue of the sport? I think C/L is a GREAT learning tool for all ages, and should help build the knowledge and confidence to advance one's skills in any aero sport. RWCherry Mt Sterling KY
Posts: 3841
Joined: 12/3/2001 From: New Caney,
TX, USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Steve Helmick
FWIW, we have 43 members of our club, essentially a CL club. A very few also fly R/C or Free Flight. One of our best PR gigs has been to fly in a schoolyard which happens to be on the parade route of a small city parade. We are there, ready to teach kids to fly, sometimes with fathers or mothers also getting the hard sell. Lots of kids line up, some actually learn, but we don't see many joining our club. We are hopeful, however, that at least some of these folks won't be crabby when they hear a model airplane engine, maybe it will bring a fond memory to their minds, and maybe they'll stop in at the LHS and get started in a great hobby. Oh, I quit flying R/C about '63, when we moved to a city with Controline and Free Flight contests, as well as plenty of R/C flying.
Replying to Steve H. because he resurrected this thread and because he presented a special point in his statement, "....that at least some of these folks won't be crabby when they hear a model airplane engine, maybe it will bring a fond memory to their minds,... ." IMO this is significant to the promotion of the sport/hobby of model aviation. Back in the '70s RC was the 'snob arena' for many of those wanting to get into model aviation. Those modelers with a firm base in modeling that got into RC were mostly just climbing another hill in the activity that they loved. The newcomers of course had to keep up with the 'Jones' and since the newbies had no base in CL/FF, they rather looked down on the 'lesser' disciplines. The real problem is simply a result of the society that we have developed in this country. Look at the homes we live in, the cars we drive, the parents that MAKE their kids play sports where the main game is between the parents themselves, the clothing that young people 'must have' and their general lifestyle. Definitely no kid will be "cool" when flying model airplanes especially of the 'lesser' disciplines. However RC has its problems with growth in that area. I can't remember just how many kids that I soloed in the past 10 years that tried to move up far too fast and quit when they found that being the best on the field was much more than a simple "I fly RC". For those that look down on CL, as others have stated in this thread, they simply have no clue as to the discipline and both physical and mental dexterity displayed in CL stunt, racing, and combat, plus the art-form of CL Scale. So CL modelers never dismay because of the unlearned boors that love to look down at any thing, regardless of what it may be.
Have I flown CL. YesWhy did I quit? I couldn't get any better with my CL Stunt and family and jobs precluded additional practice. So I just had to climb that RC Hill and I couldn't support both activities. Did I compete? Yes. The picture below was a portion of my basement rack during the transition days. All CL and FF.
I still do up to .19 with kids in my backyard. I am still going to build another stunter and try the pattern again.
Now one suggestion: CLers, you really need to make mufflers the order of the day in all your CL disciplines if you really wish to get CL back to the use of those limited spaces where people will see what you do. I know the dyed-in-the-wool competitor will fight this, however sometime the overall growth of the sport must be considered. Just my thoughts. I financed the Jetero RC field (www.jetero.com). We advertised that CL groups were welcome to build a couple circles there however engines of .15 and above must have a muffler. 9 years now and no CLers have wanted to take the offer.
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Posts: 1023
Joined: 7/18/2003 From: Dunnunda, AUSTRALIA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: scubyfan I'm saddened that CL is losing its popularity to R/C.
Hi Scubyfan
Whilst I empathise with your frustration, no offence intended but your employment of the verb transitive lose in the present participle "losing" begs the question, where have you been for the past 30 years?
The answer in two words is "it's 2004". If that doesn't make the answer abundantly clear, amplification is pointless.
I flew/fly C/L and fly R/C, I am not into absurd superiority arguments. Although today I fly predominently R/C, both are fun. But the reasons C/L is an anachronism in today's society are so obvious they shouldn't require any elaboration. Whether C/L deserves to be in this position or not is completely moot and unworthy of debate. Like Free Flight, except for it's own generation and a very few of their introduced progeny accompanied by the odd fanatical afficionado, C/L is virtually dead and is doomed to inevitible extinction for all practical purposes upon the demise of its own generation. They, just like R/C is now, were both of and came of age in their own era. If it gives you any satisfaction, R/C will invariably go a similar way. You can witness this already in the age demographic representation at R/C clubs. The PC and other 'cooler' techno-titillation has replaced it with the emergent generation.
Is C/L fun. Heck yer! So stop living in the past, get over it, get on with it, and enjoy it while you still can in the company of like minded others.
If it helps you understand and accept why, perhaps you've observed that cars aren't hand started by crank handle any more and people travel intercontinentally airliner rather than steamship?
Posts: 2419
Joined: 10/24/2002 From: Port Ewen,
NY, USA Status: offline
While many are debating/arguing over whether CL or RC is more fun, the guys that seem to have just as much fun and just do their thing, are the FF guys (wet powered, e-powered, and rubber powered).
Posts: 1023
Joined: 7/18/2003 From: Dunnunda, AUSTRALIA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: gcb While many are debating/arguing over whether CL or RC is more fun, the guys that seem to have just as much fun and just do their thing, are the FF guys (wet powered, e-powered, and rubber powered). George
May I suggest that's merely self-comforting illusion?
They may not bother clashing egos arguing about superiority under the guise which is the most "fun", after all why fight a battle against overwhelming odds against which the ego can't possibly win, perhaps something the control-line crowd ought consider? But they certainly do whine every bit as much, just about different issues, as unlike quite a few obstinate control-liners they have by and large realised that their passion is passe in terms of its appeal to any body of demographical significance.
Their pet whines are arguing pedantically about the ever appended competition rules and losing their old/finding a new a place to fly, the latter something with which most of us can empathise. It seems they and their 'pilotless missiles' are even more persona non grata in the era of NIMBY than the rest of us.
Posts: 2822
Joined: 10/9/2002 From: Austin, TX, USA Status: offline
I see that you are from Australia and thus have a strange view of the world. Well, I sympathize because I am from Texas and my view of the world is thought strange by many. (By the by, on another forum, someone said Australia is an island off the coast of Texas. I doubt that is correct, but with plate tectonics, one never knows. )
So far as moving right along with progress; there are still people who race horses rather than jet aircraft, people who hunt with bow and arrow rather than magnum rifle, people who paddle their canoe rather than using a motor, etc. It would really be a boring world if everyone was a clone of you (or of me for that matter, I suppose.)
Well, it is a fine day, and I am going to take a couple of control line airplanes down to our circle in the churchyard near my house. I'll fly them, and, believe it or not, I will have fun!
Well I am back from flying Frank Ehling EASY's designed in 1949, and I have a serious question.
It appears to me that many large cities in the USA have many more places you can get model train stuff, than places where you can get model airplane stuff. How come model trains are as popular as they are? How retro can you get?
Jim
< Message edited by Jim Thomerson -- 12/2/2004 12:19:45 AM >
Posts: 2419
Joined: 10/24/2002 From: Port Ewen,
NY, USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: sigrun May I suggest that's merely self-comforting illusion?
They may not bother clashing egos arguing about superiority under the guise which is the most "fun", after all why fight a battle against overwhelming odds against which the ego can't possibly win, perhaps something the control-line crowd ought consider? But they certainly do whine every bit as much, just about different issues, as unlike quite a few obstinate control-liners they have by and large realised that their passion is passe in terms of its appeal to any body of demographical significance.
Their pet whines are arguing pedantically about the ever appended competition rules and losing their old/finding a new a place to fly, the latter something with which most of us can empathise. It seems they and their 'pilotless missiles' are even more persona non grata in the era of NIMBY than the rest of us.
Heck, all this time I thought I was just having fun.
sigrun, I think SOME of us are taking our hobby way too seriously.
Posts: 1023
Joined: 7/18/2003 From: Dunnunda, AUSTRALIA Status: offline
Hi GCB
Presumably you read what I wrote? If so, then you should have comprehended that I wasn't inferring that you weren't, nor that anyone enjoying whatever aspect of the hobby/sport/interest isn't or shouldn't be.
You are right, some people do personalise and identify with the issues raised in this thread. Fortunately I'm not one of them, merely, if you'll forgive my lack of false modesty, an astute observer. The views stated earlier are simply observations of what is occurring/has occurred, neither assigned as good nor bad, right or wrong, superior or inferior by me. Only interpretation by the individual appropriates them that perspective as can be amply witnessed within this thread.
Posts: 2419
Joined: 10/24/2002 From: Port Ewen,
NY, USA Status: offline
sigrun,
I guess where you see clashing egos, I see differences of opinion. Where you see pet whines, I see guys trying to make it fair for all (and flying sites here ARE disappearing here).
I guess I tend to give people a lot of slack. They don't have to do things my way to be acceptable. They do their thing, I do mine, and we all can have fun.
I think we tend to view things somewhat differently...that's OK.
Posts: 30
Joined: 11/10/2004 From: Los Alamos, NM, USA Status: offline
to me, this is not a matter of "better" or anything like that, just different, and having it's own sets of skills. i am a glider guy down deep ( of course all cl planes are gliders for a bit :}) but a buddy talked me into trying cl combat. what a hoot. far different than a quiet day of making lazy thermal turns. and there is nothing like 3 or 4 guys in a circle on a rat race, eh? after doing this for a while, i find that even tho my passion is still for soaring, there are a few unique areas where control line has helped me.
a) had to learn to not get dizzy (that is a skill, by the way) b) i can come up with a plane design from scratch, and build and try it in a weekend easily with cl, (very theraputic in this day of canned arfs to scratch build your own designs) c) i got over my fear of the ground. when flying gliders if i got within about 50 feet of the ground i got pretty tense, and was never good at turns low-n-slow. now i am ok with turning the planes as low as i want to and still have the wingtip miss the ground! d) i got ok with fast planes. taught me better reactions e) gave me a chance to give a lot of kids some time flying a model. it is alot easier to give a bunch of kids some time on a simple cl model than an rc- buddy box, and they do better with it right off the bat as well. nice for a kid's first try at something to go well! my 12 year old son was soloing in just a few sessions. nice confidence booster for him. f) even tho i can use a stooge and solo fly, it is a good excuse to make some new friends and have a buddy go out with you, since hanging out with buds is more fun than solo anyway.
so we have seen a resurgence of CL here in northern new mexico. last year was kind of quiet, but the previous few years we have had good attendance, and our club (mostly rc people) hosts at least one and most years two events a year for CL.
shoot - now i wanna go fly, and the ground is covered in snow :{ hmmm. skiis on the combat planes? no, i know! maybe indoor control line is the next big thing!
Posts: 2822
Joined: 10/9/2002 From: Austin, TX, USA Status: offline
I just saw an ad, "Excellent trainer has EVERYTHING in one box. Assembles in 30 minutes." I hope, someday, to see this ad, "Excellent CONTROL LINE trainer has EVERYTHING in one box. Assemble in 30 minutes." Until that happens, CL will grow very slowly . The original ad is on page 3 of the Jan 2005 Flying Models.
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All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> Control Lines >> RE: Why is CL losing popularity? 
RE: Why is CL losing popularity? - 
RE: Why is CL losing popularity? - 
have a strange view of the world. Well, I sympathize because I am from Texas and my view of the world is thought strange by many. 
(By the by, on another forum, someone said Australia is an island off the coast of Texas. I doubt that is correct, but with plate tectonics, one never knows. 
) 
. The original ad is on page 3 of the Jan 2005 Flying Models.