I remember when those little pieces of balsa wood on the floor would cause my mom to scream " I just vacuumed" and the wood is all over the house. How about the smell of pactra or testors dope throughout the whole house. Not to mention how well tuned our ears were to the sound of a model airplane engine at a nearby school yard. We used to rush over just to see who was flying. The first time I went to a contest and saw all those airplanes. I remember dynajet powered speed planes and the bicycle pump used to start them. How amazing it was to see Carrier landings on a simulated flight deck. How exciting it all was, how real it seemed. Funny thing, it's still exciting, still so real. Being older now, I can remember how each new model was a learning experience, and now, when they brake I can fix them. Modeling was always an expensive hobby, but we learned to adapt, save, use over and over, and above all we were creative, we could make things work from nothing. How to squeeze the Ambroid tube for that last drop that was always there.

I remember what it was like to be one of all those young people in the hobbyand there seemed to be so much to learn. Control line was dominant, R/C was the elite, and only rarely did we see one fly. Today, R/c is the dominant, control line, well I hear it still lives but certainly nothing like the past.

Sledge_78