I was sitting in the coffee shop late Friday night looking at a Tower Hobbies catalog. An older gentleman who frequents the same shop sat down and asked if I flew remote-controlled airplanes. I explained to him that I was just getting started and getting my feet wet, but that things are coming along nicely for me. The old fellow flew with a local club until about 20 years ago or so, then got out of the hobby when his eyes started getting bad. He had a lot of great stories and some good beginner advice. I had a really nice time talking to him, and he was impressed with all of the "newfangled" stuff in my Tower catalog.
Anyway, the guy leaves. I usually sit around and read and watch tv at this coffee shop for several hours on Friday, so I stuck around. About an hour later, the guy comes back in carrying a red Craftsman toolbox, which he sets on the counter, saying, "Here, I'd like you to have this. There is probably some stuff in here you can use."
We went over to one of the empty tables and sat down to have a look. The box was a veritable treasure trove of parts....wheels, control horns, various nuts and bolts, servo horns, propellers....anything you can imagine.
In the bottom part of the box were three engines, an O.S. .15 and two O.S. 25's, all in immaculate condition and in their original boxes. He told me to keep them, that he'd like to see them being used. I offered to pay him for the stuff, because as he and I both know, it isn't cheap. The most he would accept was to pay for his coffee, so I got two like-new engines (a .15 and a .25), a brand-new unused engine (.25), a pile of parts and a Craftsman tool box for $1.09.
So yes, there ARE still genuinely nice people out there.
I think that once I can fly with at least some degree of proficiency, I'm going to put the .15 in a Great Planes SlowPoke, and see if he'd like to go out to the field and fly sometime. The plane I'm thinking of is:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...6&I=LXLP42&P=K
Just a nice story I wanted to share with everyone. Have a great weekend!
Ray out