The average person on the street who knows nothing about rc planes thinks of us as just a bunch of nerds with toy aeroplanes.

Cool ?

Depends on your view point, we think out hobby is, but most people dont.

3D is cool in its own way like F3A, IMAC and the TOC there all cool in their own ways
but for me 3D is the coolest

It's still legal until Herr Bush and company figure out the we'll do like the rest of us full scale guys and bow down...
Roy

To me it's 3D. I love to watch/make the planes spin, twist and flop. What a rush. I'm not all that good but I improve every flight. I haven't really flown a pattern or other though. I do worry about the safety at the field. It appears to me with all the close in flying/hovering/tumbling moves that the potential for someone getting hurt is worse with 3D. I hope we can figure out a way to overcome the safety issue before it is mandated to us.
Thanks.
Barry

Sooooooooo True!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I first saw Rocky Hill Tumble his AOL extra 300 I was amazed, just couldn't get my head round the fact that a plane could tumble end over end, and ever since I have been addicted to 3D. It must be the fact the that I have been brought up thinking planes flew on the wing, and could only stall, spin, roll, loop etc. I probably still don't believe planes can do that, thats what makes me think 3D is COOLest.

hahahahaha.

who says everyone wants to fly f3a?

Just why did you feel this comment was needed?

Having experienced first hand the restrictions placed on General Av planes and aircrew around airports, and seeing posts elsewhere about model cropdusters being asked not to post about dropping simulated "dust" in the current mania about "national security", when the other poster commented about the legality of flying, I bit.

If my comment was inappropriate, I am happy to withdraw it. IF, however, it was simply politically incorrect, it stands.
It was meant somewhat tongue-in-cheek, with all due respect to our President.
Ok, no further comments from me, the resident skeptic...
Roy

To me all aerobatics are cool. The more tricks I know the better. But I am trying to get better at having smoother 3D moves and having them flow more from one to the other. Not THAT is cool. [8D]

The cool factor is high when you see one plane hovering over the remains of another that has fallen out. Had a pic somewhere.........

NA! 3D airplane guys are only trying to do what any decent heli pilot can do. Now Heli 3D... THAT"S COOL!!!!!!!!!!

LOL, now that would be cool!!

Coolest form of the hobby??. Hmmm, Yeah 3D is what I would consider "cool". Its racey looking, fashionable, and generally fun to look at.
Pattern isnt cool,, it is for overt fanatics of detail and precision. Its for the anal retentive that expect nothing less than perfection of their work. Those that can appreciate the beauty in the small, complex but otherwise boring details.

Lets make some comparisons for fun, see if you can do better..

3D is to RC what football is to sports.. Anyone can do it but it takes a real athlete to be really good at it.

Pattern is to RC what artistic gymnastics (like Mary Lou Retton) is to sports. You have to be a real good athlete or you cant do it at all at the advanced levels and sheer perfection is the only acceptable performance level.

IMAC is like rythmic gymnastics(ribbons and balls). It isnt as harsh and critically scored as artistic gymastics at its highest level but you still have to be a heck of an athlete to do it.

I think RC is a cool sport,,, for geeks like me. Neomaxiezoomdweebies other than when they are behind the sticks. I mostly see engineers, techies and grandpas. Im one of them so I think its VERY cool. Funny thing is the jocks ruled the school but we geeks rule the world and have most of the $$$ to afford these high dollar toys.

Mike

Angus, nothing personal, but I think 3d is less 'those who can't fly pattern' and more those who dont wana spend £2500 on a plane, then another couple hundred on a competition weekend 4 times a year just to get in the team, then come up with £000's to go to the worlds. not 4getin all the practice time, 20-25% nitro fuel and having to get clear airspace at the average sunday field to fly inverted against the circuit.

mebbe once or twice a year, the nats(if i can keep my pattern ship alive that long).

laser 3d, irvine 53 and FF6(all less than the price of one yamada) can easily keep a good pilot amused for hours on end, so yes, too bloody right 3d is the coolest!!!

McFly,

I was generalising + not everone who flys F3A has the intention of getting to World Champs level. If that were the case and the only people that did F3A were those that had a realistic chance of making the team you would only have about 6 people in the whole of the UK doing F3A! This is not the case.

We do it cos we enjoy it + you dont have to spend £2500 on a plane to go flying schedules, that is just simply not true. Flying schedules does'nt have to cost any more than flying 3D.

Angus

ps BigNed, i agree with 99% of what you said. Only i think pattern is so cool its sub zero! At the end of the day what someone thinks is cool is what they enjoy doing. So i think all aerobatics is cool.

3D: skydiving, snowboarding, Hummer H2.

Pattern: dentistry, ballet, Rolls Royce Silver Spur.

Which is cooler to you? Its all about perception. When I tell someone that I am into RC airplanes, sometimes they roll their eyes. Then they tell me they are into something like say, their car, ie. wheels, stereo, you name it. Thats when I roll my eyes. get it?

flying 3D - how much does a full composite 42% plane cost - more than a pattern plane!!!!!!!!! alot more

yeh but the 42% composite 3D plane is a hell of a lot more fun

Please keep your immature trolling for the Yahoo boards This is a forum for the discussion of Radio Controlled Aircraft and it's more mature enthusiasts.

Thank you

Your the troll, what does your post have to do with the topic anyways? Cool is up to perception. Thats my point.

Whats he on about anyway, you don't like a thread do what the "mature" do and leave it, no one forces you to read topics, no one even forces you to post, so shove off and leave us alone cause it's people like you that make Forums boring and annoying,

oh and also we are talking about Radio Control aircraft, we're talking about a form of flying radio control aircraft "3D flying" and wondering if it is the coolest form of the hobby.

angus, im somewhere down the line of building my 2nd DSM excelsior 150, so I do know you don't need to spend that money. but unless I ridiculously overpower it, its gona have nowhere near the performance of a top end ship. Also, with the trend being deep fuses for presenting to the judges, this thing looks like a ballpoint pen next to anything these days. Not to say i don't love flying it, and keeping it in the pattern can be a real buzz, coz i most definitely do. When I started flying, pattern was always my goal, it was always the 1 thing i wanted to do, but now there's 3d as well.

foofydoo, i would never dream of doing low down 3d with something like that, people that do must have seriously big nuts. not to condemn, but it does see crazy. [&:]

McFly,

You would only need a top of the range type performance if you were in the upper classes where there are manouvers that require more power. A top of the range plane is still optional at this stage (you can buy bulky, modern looking planes for very reasonably prices these days). You wont need all the power for the lower classes. In fact having a lower powered plane will almost certainly help you as you wont have to worry about fine throttle management so much. Judges when judging lower classes will also pay less attention to how you and your model presents and will focus on how accurate you fly it so i really wouldnt worry about not having top notch equipment just yet.

Its a common misconception that you need to spent £1000's just to do schedules. This couldn't be further from the truth. My point above was that pattern flying is no more expensive than 3D.

Angus

ps are you coming to the first comp in Hamilton on Sun 27th March?

I have flown sports and aerobatics a long time..its fun.but I think that more than 3D is the whole area of electrics..I am getting my first one and its great you can go to any large field and just have fun..but I love giant scale as well and own one .. I love all aspects of the hobby.to say its only cool with aerobatics is inmature..todays equipment and technology is was is impressive..

I just plain love rc.

Angus,
Fair enough, apology dispatched in a pm.

cloudancer,
fair point.