thailazer

I've been flying a Tower Hobbies Trainer 40 since 2008 when I got back into the hobby after a long absence and the plane gets flown a couple times a week. Even built up an 82 inch on it for better short field performance. At any rate, the covering is falling off, the control rods are corroded, and one of the wheels just burst one day. Yesterday I was doing some low passes and heard a "smack" as it went over a fence and I saw the left gear leg shaking like crazy. Apparently I hit the very top of a concrete fence post (pyramid shaped on top) and by all rights an inch lower and it would have likely destroyed the plane. I really should recover it but with all the cheap ARFs out there, I think I'll keep flying this until it finally does expire in some way and then buy a new plane. Anyone else out there flying a ragged bird they are too embarrassed to let other people see?

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Ive got a great planes electro-stik. It gets flown multiple times every time. I have done harrier landing with it, snapped it less than half the wingspan above the ground and busted the wing off. Ripped the gear out, flew into a fence inverted... Rolling circles immediately after takeoff with the wingtip inches off the ground, pylon racing around traffic cones, with the wingtips lower than the top of the traffic cone tips.

It is by far my funnest beater plane. The wing covering is all split and cut up with clear packing tape covering the holes. The tail wheel was ripped off of it from doing full throttle touch n go's, and the vertical stab is leaning to one side bc it is landed inverted more than it is right side up (i really should put landing gear on the top of it. Lol

CK1

My Feedback: (60)

My favorite old beater plane is my 12+ year old Sig Kadet Sr . It fly's when nothing else can (wind ,rain ,snow ) Built from a kit as a taildragger with a Saito 80 it loves to take a beating . The covering is shot and the crank bearings are a little loud but it keeps going . I like the one wheel run's down the field , slips , flat turns , climb and glides
touch and go loops . I will miss it when its gone but can build a replacement within a week so I won't miss it long .

Mr-Punk

My Feedback: (2)

Nice CK1. I myself have a 18ish year old Kadet Sr. Ibuilt it bone stock 3 channel to see if it really was the "original hands off trainer". It is! It's oil soaked, the tire treads are just about wore off, it rattles and buzzes, and the wore out Magnum plain bearing 40 spews oil out the carb and front bearing. The windshield is cracked and patched with packing tape and Icontinously re-stick the covering down with CA due to oil soaking. When people poke fun and say it's time to get a new one I say watch this and show em what a Kadet can do! Ehmm no hands landings, no hands iverted recovery, my fave full throttle full up short take offs in 5' dragin the tail and vertical landings in a little wind. :-) They are usaully amazed at what that ugly thing can do. Kids love it when I drop a couple parachute dudes from a couple hundred feet up too.
I keep saying I'm gonna recover it, 4stroke, taildrager, build a new wing with flaps and ailerons but it's so hard to strip her down in cause I still love to fly that ugly thing.

If someone doesn't have a beater plane they aren't flying enough. :-P

Peace,
J

skylark-flier

My indestructable Sr Falcon is my greatest beater plane, and still my favorite of all my RC planes. Built in 1974, she's had 4 radios, 4 engines, probably a dozen nose wheels, 5 completely new covering jobs. Other than the airframe itself, nearly the only original parts still there are the main landing gear wheels - and they're probably going to be retired this spring.

Her flying performance has always been nothing short of stunning. When I first built her she was to be my 2nd RC plane (original 3-channel SIGKadet was #1) and I had the idea to build the wings with near-ZERO dihedral. She was light enough that she flew reasonably well with my old Enya .35 but after several "interesting" landings (she's never really been "crashed") over the first few years she'd gained a fair bit of weight and I eventually ( fall of 1999) did a total overhaul on her - Fox .45, 12-oz tank, slightly larger elevators and rudder, and I replaced the original single aileron servo with torque rods with twin servos in the wing - which also made flaperons possible when I installed the latest computer radio. The Fox .45 eventually died and was replaced with a OS 45LA. She's now flying with a OS .46AX-II running with a 11x6 3-blade prop.

Love that plane!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave

(pics - Falcon as she was in 1974 - - Falcon today)

red head

I have an old " A Ray " that looks pretty bad and an old " Gentle Lady " that has been up dated with electrics, she still looks pretty good and they both fly Great so I just keep taking them flying . ENJOY !!! RED

yellerchamp

My Feedback: (42)

I am actually recovering a old wm chipmunk, it was covered in monokote , the wheel pants were patched and the strut covers were thrown away but its a fun flyer, will have to buy a new canopy and maybe a new cowl to match the new covering, power a os 91 4 stroke, look forward to flying her this spring....

thailazer

Wow, great stories and some of you sure have gotten a lot of years out of your planes! There is something very special about a beater that flys well. I had a 40 powered, ply sided ship with a Balsa USA 60 inch wing on it years ago and trained several people to fly with it. The gear came off several times and it was just a blob of epoxy at the attach points. Folks affectionately called it the Ugly Duck Truck.

Nice to see the Falcons and Kadets getting old! Both excellent airplanes.

Doog-meister

Got a Goldberg Tiger II (.40-size) ARF with an OS .46 SF that I've been flying since 2003. Canopy is fogged and cracked, patched with packing tape, and the covering is patched in places, and needs to be re-attached between trips to the field. Only ARF I've ever owned, and it's still my go-to plane when I want something relaxing to fly that can still do some aerobatics or work on technique (cross-wing landings, tail slides, etc.) . It has been begging me to re-cover it this winter. I procrastinate, as I would have to make a new canopy.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

My oldest airplane is a Lanier Stinger 120. I built it in 1996 and proceeded to put over 1000 flights on it over the next 1 1/2 years before i finally stopped counting. I suspect it had about 5,000 flights on it by the time i decided to retire it in 2002 due to its old age and exhaust soaked wood. I have been thinking of pulling it out of storage and revamping it and getting it back flying again.

thailazer

The Tiger 2 I built a while back had a parts list with an address for getting them. If you would like, I can post that address here and you can order a new canopy for your potential rebuild. (Edit: You can find it here...... [link]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXYXF7&P=7[/link] )

Invertmast... Good feeling to retire a bird after it is too oil soaked! Lanier made some great flying, and rugged airplanes in its day.

turbo.gst

My Feedback: (8)

Mine is a Blue Max 2. I built it in 1988 and have several thousand flights on it.

freeonthree

My Feedback: (1)

I have a 20+ year old Balsa USA EAA Biplane with an XYZ 26 on it. It's got extra holes in the cowl from several past engines, and packing tape where the covering should have been patched properly. It's definently a beater bipe, but it runs and flys good. Dennis

PAK26499

My Feedback: (3)

Got a Goldberg Eagle 2 kit that was built in the late 80's and still keeps going strong. Fly it frequently and have never had any airframe mechanical issues whatsoever except for the front windshield cracking around the edges. (Cant say the same about many modern ARF's these days)

Red_Jeepster

Here's one for ya...
I have a very old Dura-Plane that actually flys great! I moved the wing as far forward as I could by re-drilling the holes for the dowels. I located the forward dowell snug to the fuel tank.
Anyway... I have flown this thing into the top of a tree (don't ask) and as it fell to the ground it not only landed on it's gear, it was still idling! That was a 50 foot drop.
I had to add so much nose weight because of the wing move, that it is now called the "Dura-BRICK" by my flying buddies. It comes with me every time I fly. Except to public fly-ins - it's too ugly and embarrassing for those. LOL

GeeBeer

I remember that Dura Plane haha I had one. I still fly an Ultra Sport 40 that I built in 1992! Im building a new one right now so I can retire it.

cole455

My Feedback: (4)

Sounds like my old gp big stik qualifies. It's the older arf version; it was fuel soaked, the covering was losing color, it was peeling, it came back with new rips each flight, the .40 magnum was spitting fuel, it was on its 3rd landing gear, 2nd floor, 2nd radio etc..... But it flew great. Unfortunately I lost track of how close I was flying to the trees; it looked like it went through a wheat thresher when it came to rest. I almost tossed it in the garbage but decided I wasn't done with it yet. I'm in the process of restoring it to its former glory and should go airborne shortly. It will now sport new monokote, a spektrum ar600 and an nos os 46fx. Couple before/after/rebuild pics

thailazer

Cole... That is one amazing rebuild! Trees do make effective plane strainers, don't they? It certainly qualifies.

busted2props

My Feedback: (9)

Too many interesting stories happening here to let this thread die. Mine is an old Doc Matthews Ace 4-40. The poor ol' girl has an O,S. 40 FP up front and probably more packing tape than monokote! Nothing is aligned and she makes the strangest rolls and loops. But she lands like a sweetheart. She's kissed a tree or two and even eaten some gravel just to return to the sky! About 15 yrs old now.

carlgrover

I have a Sig Kougar that has been flown for many years. I think I built it in the 90s. It was worn out, the paint was cracking, and oil was soaking in everywhere. I sold it to a guy in the club when I was financially strapped. He never flew it so I bought it back from his widow after he died and have been flying it ever since. It got beat up at his hanger so I had to make some repairs before it took to the air again. Hit a telephone pole once years ago and fixed that. Numerous other crashes have been repaired since. I flew it this past weekend and noted that it sounded like something was vibrating. I landed and checked it out, found nothing and took back off. I told the guys I was flying with that the old girl didn't owe me a thing and all I asked was that on it's last flight that the engine wouldn't be damaged. I'm running one of the new Fox .45's on it and that is one sweet piece of machinery.

It runs fantastic, flies better than anything else I've ever owned but looks like it's been rode hard and put up wet. The landing gear blocks are really beginning to worry me.


carl

thailazer

Always liked the look of the Kougars, and yours sure sounds like it has made the rounds. Hope you don't lose the gear on a touch-and-go!

Rv7garage

My Feedback: (10)

My Sig Miniplane will start its eighth season this year, guess that's not a lot to some but she has seen some rough landing and just bounces back for more! As long as the old Saito keeps crankin' she will keep bankin' !

Rv7garage

My Feedback: (10)

Dbl post. RCU is running sloooowwwwww

Jason Gross

My secondhand GP .60 Big Stick is my beater. I got it with a non running 20cc gasser on it and then started flying it with an old os .70fs. I couldn't believe that I had to hang a pound(!) of lead off the engine mount just to get it to balance but it flew ok if underpowered. On a dead stick I ripped the gear/floor off and knocked the tail off. During the repair I discovered three sticks of adhesive weights inside the tail end of the fuse and after removing them I was able to ditch the front weight, so the plane lost almost 2lbs due to that crash! It's had 5 engines on it since I've owned it and it's currently wearing an os gt15 which is the best one yet. last weekend I put a 4500mah receiver battery in it, 62oz of gas, 5" du-bro balloon tires and I flew it for more than an hour using only about 1/4 of my fuel. It's my go to windy day plane and I hope to have it around a long time.

308jockey

A friend of mine just lost a Telemaster .40 that he built and we painted in Sig dope in 1982. It was still wearing that finish when it crashed due to failure of an experimental battery system. My Dad has one of the first Kadet Sr. ARFs that still flies well if worse for the wear and a kit built version on floats that goes back to the 90's. Then there is the Balsa USA J3, one of three in his fleet, that goes back to about 1988. Yeah we crash one now and then but some of them just keep on going.

Rick H.