JoeAverage

Hi Charles,

This is a lot of what "you" already know. I try to promote the hobby when I speak of it. So many people don't know how much fun the hobby is and how friendly the people interested in it are. There is demanding competition for those who want that aspect of a hobby. 120 - 140 mph combat models being flown with the idea of cutting a ribbon towed by each model is one event. Racing another. In racing there is a stock engine rule, and fuel and prop are provided by event co-ordinators. Pit stops make or make these often. The plane must conform to a set of parameters. It's not the guy with the most money who wins. Scale can be as involved as one wants. C/L is a good method of flying a scale model that one wants to fly but method of control is second to the building and detail of the model.

The Shark Attack is an Impact with a Tom Dixon ST.51. It works great and it's not mine. I am considering one. My control line stuff is a more dated selection. Having got away from it for a several years when I got back into it I built stuff I knew. Mostly Goldberg stuff. I wanted the 1/2 A Stuntman and Lil Jumping Bean so I built a few of them. I built a Lil Wizard for my wife to learn to fly on. Built properly they really do fly on 52 foot lines and are self correcting. I built three .35 Ringmasters and three .35 Shoestings.

I have six other airframes requiring covering. One is a 63" Ringmaster I built for a Fox .59. I am putting an ST .51 in it instead. Something I had never built before but have decided to focus on is the I-Beam Designs. I have kitted 3 Ares from Ambroid plans. I got talked out of one kit. Then Bill released the plan for the real '59 Ares so I will try to do one of those to. Just yesterday I ordered Tucker 4 plans from PAMPA. The Tucker 4 from the late fifties is truly exceptional I beamer. These 50+ inch span models like the Ares are popular eith OS LA .46's. There are more expensive engines. I would have been quite content using my Fox .29, .35, and .36 engines. I have OS MAX-S an FP-S engines in all sizes and Enya's galor. The Fox .36 is earmarked for a VooDoo I have in the works. I bought the Wooten VooDoo kit and just duplicated it for one to build. They fly better if one doubles the length of the booms. There are other I-Beam models in the works also. I can't forget the new Original Nobler by George Aldrich that is new in the box and a Buster that I will turn into a Racer. 70 lap heats with one pit stop. Final is 140 lap heat with 2 pits. I like to fly the crap out of a fast combat plane. It makes for being a better stunt pattern flier just like .25 size RC Combat hones ones thumb skill.

All my scale C/L models are in boxes. The Sterling C series. I bought a bunch of them off ebay. It was fun to remove the celophane again 30 years later. One was supposed to be NIB but opened and missing the decals. The .35 size Great Lakes ST-2-B I think. That will be a good scale model. The others will reamain collectables and I'll build from plans. I got one of the original C series Waco SRE .35 size for almost nothing because the seller on ebay didn't know how to list that item.

Carrier flying is just too much to ask for. I'm lucky to have found these other stunt and race type flyers. I have some old Veco kits. Among them are 2 I-Beam Crusaders specifically for Navy Carrier. Anhedral wings and full flying anhedral tail. Very cool.

I submit that there is a lot of fun to had from control line models. This Brodak company which is a one stop shop for control line everything. Even ARFs. They have a week long event on site, a huge pastoral piece of private parkland in Pennsylvania that maybe hundreds of people wouldn't miss for anything. Non stop fun flying and workshops. A fully serviced shop for everyones use. I wish I could go. One of these days. There is the VSC event. RC takes a ot of the summer weekends up.

http://www.brodak.com/shop_productde...ProductID=2592

Control line can be an affordable hobby that lets a person build and fly at the park. If you want to spend $300 for engines and get all high performance. That can be easily done also. It doesn't compare to R/C well except for building. Many C/L flyers build R/C as well. For a solitary builder there can be no club, no fees and an unlimited outlet for craftsmanship. All you need is a socer field somewhere to fly off. There is a device called a stooge that will hold your model so that after you have started it you can get back to the handle, prepare yourself and with a line on the ground, release the stooge.

I don't have many better pics Charles. The 2 of my den are obvious and not current. The beautiful Models are mostly I-Beam and not mine. There is a Nobler, black with white nose. A Nobler is a must have. 3 Ringmaster wings, a 32" 42" and 64". The big one is a 150% enlargment I made from the .35 size kit.

I have to check out some plans that I just got in the mail that I have been looking for for 20 years. Once I see them there may be no more time for talk.

Cheers, JoeSoAverage