I built my first plane when I was 8, yeah , it looked like a POS. But I built it myself and I didn't know anybody else that built model airplanes. It was a Sterling Ringmaster. I saved my money until I could afford to buy a McCoy red head .35. I flew CL until 1972 when I saw my first RC plane. We built from kits or scratch built back then. Back then you could buy one of the first ARF which was a Johnny Casburn Lucky Fly. It had a build up balsa fuselage with a foam turtle deck covered with poster board. The wings were foam covered with a shiny vinyl. The canopy was a flat piece of clear acetate plastic. Several years later one of the club members formed a canopy on a vacuum form and they became part of the kit. They were good flying planes. One of the nice things about the kit was that it was open customizing.

The other ARF was made by Lanier. They were real POSs made with thin plastic and foam.

Back then, if you didn't know how to do something, you hoped you had a club member that did. Otherwise, you had to figure it out yourself. NO INTERNET BACK THEN BOYS !!!

The big suppliers was Circus Circus, Tower Hobbies, Hobby Barn, and your neighborhood hobby shop.

Frank