Part I

I've always wanted an RC plane...just love airplanes and flight! I've flown sims since the TRS-80 was the newest thing on the block and have even gone up occasionally with a friend in a Cessna for a putt around the city. I'm 36 years old and figured that I oughta be coming up on a mid-life crisis soon. Can't afford a convertable sports car so I put in my order to Santa last Christmas for an RC plane. Santa (aka my girlfriend) came through! I open my present and there before me is a ARF Electra Streak! Wow....looks fast.... Santa had the fore-sight to include a very nice remote and plenty of large servos. One trip to the hobby shop and I had all the tools, battery, and a charger so I got to work putting it together. While putting it together I got to talking to the guys at the hobby shop and I discover that this thing flies around 70mph top speed stock. They've got a speed freak cop in the club that flies the same plane at over 100mph!!!

I'm beginning to become intimidated by this sub-sonic beast I'm assembling on my dining room table. (Ate a lot of dinners at the coffee table)

I get this thing together...never built one before, but I'm meticulate. Besides, I used to have an erector set as a kid...I can follow directions. I take it to the Hobby Shop for them to give it a go over. Imagine this! I got it perfect the first time and am told it's flight worthy. Even after I learned the hard way how to arm the ESC and I launch it off the table into the kitchen door. My girlfriend laughed so hard she was curled up on the floor crying! A little epoxy and some white out....I even got my 3 degrees down and right before I even know I needed to.

Took it out to the field the following weekend for it's maiden flight. I decide (wisely) to have an instructer take it up to see how she does. One good hand-launch later and she's whistling merrily up into the heavens. Now I did a lot of research on this plane and I read that stock it performs only marginally and takes a bit of time to get some alt to the point where you can have fun with it. I must have done something right because this thing screamed! Did snap-rolls nice and crisp, flew inverted, even stalled out nice and level. Once he got it level again he handed me the remote... What in the world am I shaking for?! I guess most ppl are like that the first time they fly. I wiggled the wings a bit...did kind of a shaky turn and handed the remote back to him just as he decided that he should take back over anyways. Damn, I'm sweating too?!

I took it back home rather proud that I build such a sturdy and well performing plane. Haven't flown it since... Scared witless to even think of it!

So I bought a slow stick....

I saw one at the airfield and thought that this was definitely more my speed. 5 mph vs 70 mph. Don't have the nerves of steel I thought I did....

First day out with it I made nearly every mistake that I've read in these forums (if only I had read them first!)

*put the propeller on backwards
*clipped the control rods too short and ended up tail heavy (did some very extraordinary porpoising tho...although my son said he'd never hand-launch for me again)
*Taped 20 cents worth of nickels to the front and that seemed to help (guy at the field said I should take that 20 cents and go buy new control rods)
*Started chasing around another slow stick that was much better piloted than mine and folded the wings. (I agree with some guys here...if you're going to pile drive from 75 feet up there should at least some kind of explosion)
*taped it all back together, launched it, discovered I had NO control, and helplessly watched it circle lazily onto the train tracks 200 yards away only minutes before Amtrack came blasting through. In a sense I suppose that's a little better than an explosion. Must remember to have someone start recording these flights.

Here's the pic of my first Slow Stick