? Your first RC plane
04-08-2006 | 10:57 AM
#53
RE: ? Your first RC plane
Ditto Joe. Don't you appreciate those Chinese and the way they can cover? It has always taken me as long to cover a plane as it did to build it. The ARFs these days are amazing to me. I covered planes in the past with 7 or 8 colors on them that took days to finish. A G-Shark comes to mind. It took me 2 weeks to cover.
04-08-2006 | 11:54 AM
#54
Senior Member
RE: ? Your first RC plane
Yes ram3500, it's amazing how these dudes can cover an airplane with so many colors in so little time, of course they have the advantage of all the covering pieces allready cut and trimmed, but they still have to iron it down. I'd LOVE to see them cover an airplane, I could learn a lot from them.
Maybe they are covering-ninjas or something like that [X(]
PS.- Ninjas are from Japan, but who cares
Maybe they are covering-ninjas or something like that [X(]
PS.- Ninjas are from Japan, but who cares
04-08-2006 | 04:12 PM
#56
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RE: ? Your first RC plane
Oh yeah! Including the radios, from those times where proportional controls where some kind of wet dream and everything was toggle on-off [X(] ... of course I didn't see that, I just came out of the shell (27 years go by really fast you know? 
)
(27 years go by really fast you know? )
04-12-2006 | 09:43 AM
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From: geneva,
IL
RE: ? Your first RC plane
The first plane I bought was a Curare with a Picco 60 and a tuned pipe. I spent so much money on it that I HAD to learn how to fly. The instructor who was a pattern flyer and ex-owner of the plane was kind enough to stay the full day teaching me how to fly the beast. Soloed the first day and learned how to use the dive brakes/flaps too.
Sad to say that I sold it before coming to the US, which I promptly bought a Thunder Tiger trainer after a few years hiatus. Promptly crashed it and bought a pattern plane...a Tipo with a Rossi 60 and a pipe. Finally bought a trainer again, Avistar with a Rossi 40 and no dihedral. This has got to be one of the best sport planes made. That plane lasted me for years. After that, I started going slower and slower. Now I fly electric and my favorite plane for very lazy afternoons is the venerable Slow Stick with a Hacker motor.
B
Sad to say that I sold it before coming to the US, which I promptly bought a Thunder Tiger trainer after a few years hiatus. Promptly crashed it and bought a pattern plane...a Tipo with a Rossi 60 and a pipe. Finally bought a trainer again, Avistar with a Rossi 40 and no dihedral. This has got to be one of the best sport planes made. That plane lasted me for years. After that, I started going slower and slower. Now I fly electric and my favorite plane for very lazy afternoons is the venerable Slow Stick with a Hacker motor.
B
04-12-2006 | 01:28 PM
#58
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RE: ? Your first RC plane
My first r/c plane was a California Coaster, a 110" sail plane built from RCM plans around 1975.
I found it in a hobby shop near the Santa Monica airport, it was all basla with a Dejellski wing (sheet balsa with exposed half ribs on the bottom) all purple and every other rib bay was white.
I put a World Models single stick radio in it and got around 20 high start and power pod flights on it before a very windy day put it in the airplane grave yard.
My second plane was a Hobbi Hawk.
07-25-2006 | 04:27 PM
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From: petal, MS
RE: ? Your first RC plane
Avistar 40 RTF, February 06'. It lasted until late March. Became an organ donor for my hybrid "MUTT" trainer plane. The OS .40 shattered into @ 20 pieces. It was spectacular! I'm buying another Avistar this week. Very sentimental. I hope this one lasts until my son is old enough to start flying.
07-25-2006 | 05:47 PM
#63
RE: ? Your first RC plane
Organ donor. I've had one of those this year. Love that phrase. Good way to veiw our mishaps. Something positive, right?
ORIGINAL: pwillie
Avistar 40 RTF, February 06'. It lasted until late March. Became an organ donor for my hybrid "MUTT" trainer plane. The OS .40 shattered into @ 20 pieces. It was spectacular! I'm buying another Avistar this week. Very sentimental. I hope this one lasts until my son is old enough to start flying.
Avistar 40 RTF, February 06'. It lasted until late March. Became an organ donor for my hybrid "MUTT" trainer plane. The OS .40 shattered into @ 20 pieces. It was spectacular! I'm buying another Avistar this week. Very sentimental. I hope this one lasts until my son is old enough to start flying.
07-26-2006 | 02:01 AM
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From: , TX
RE: ? Your first RC plane
First plane was a Hobbistar, OS .61 FX, Futaba 6EXA. Got my AMA, joined the club, assembled the plane, went to the field six days in a row and nobody showed up. Decided to fire that mother up and taxi around a bit. Got a little too fast, and up she went. No instructor, no sim time, nothing. Talk about panic! Got her back down without a scratch.
Next day, back at the field, someone volunteers to "help", if that's what you call it. Ended up with splinters.
Got another Hobbistar, built it with no dihedral, dual aileron servos, and a bolt-on wing. Found a real instructor, but the plane was simply too hot for basic training. Very frustrating.
Stopped by the LHS and bought a used Topflite Sierra. What a beautiful trainer! Excellent flier. Four flights on the buddy box and I was greasing those landings. After about 20 flights, flying figure-eights and the plane just quit responding to the sticks. Nothing. Nada. She just continued rolling left and lawn darted at half throttle. Wasn't pretty.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and it was still scarey, so I bought a Nexstar Select. Excellent flyer, terribly engineered, it fell apart in the sky (3 times), constantly deadsticked from bubbles in the fuel, and a host of problems from poor engineering and manufacturing. Once all the defects were taken care off, it was good for 5 or 6 gallons of fuel before I tried to take off with the trims pushed all the way up, down, and over. She rolled on takeoff, drug a wingtip, cartwheeled, and broke the horizontal stabilizer. Many hours on the sim, too.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and learned some basic aerobatics. That was a fun plane. After 5-6 gallons of fuel, died to another loss of response to the radio. I was broke from medical bills at the time and darn near gave up RC. Over the next couple weeks I watched three other planes on my channel go in. I finally changed to a different channel and haven't had a radio problem since.
Started building HORS with u-channel and conventional tail. Added a .25 engine and landing gear. I started pushing my ability in patterns and aerobatics. Crashed many times, but kept rebuilding and flying those HORS. Switched to fully symmetric wings. Flew those HORS every chance I got, in whatever conditions were. Went back to balsa this spring with an Avistar and a Skyraider Mach II. How many people do you know who can do touch-and-goes with an Avistar with a 20mph wind directly across the runway? Who else is stupid enought to even try?
So, if you ask what plane I learned to fly on, it was the Sierra. If you ask what plane I learned to fly, it was a half dozen HORs.
Next day, back at the field, someone volunteers to "help", if that's what you call it. Ended up with splinters.
Got another Hobbistar, built it with no dihedral, dual aileron servos, and a bolt-on wing. Found a real instructor, but the plane was simply too hot for basic training. Very frustrating.
Stopped by the LHS and bought a used Topflite Sierra. What a beautiful trainer! Excellent flier. Four flights on the buddy box and I was greasing those landings. After about 20 flights, flying figure-eights and the plane just quit responding to the sticks. Nothing. Nada. She just continued rolling left and lawn darted at half throttle. Wasn't pretty.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and it was still scarey, so I bought a Nexstar Select. Excellent flyer, terribly engineered, it fell apart in the sky (3 times), constantly deadsticked from bubbles in the fuel, and a host of problems from poor engineering and manufacturing. Once all the defects were taken care off, it was good for 5 or 6 gallons of fuel before I tried to take off with the trims pushed all the way up, down, and over. She rolled on takeoff, drug a wingtip, cartwheeled, and broke the horizontal stabilizer. Many hours on the sim, too.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and learned some basic aerobatics. That was a fun plane. After 5-6 gallons of fuel, died to another loss of response to the radio. I was broke from medical bills at the time and darn near gave up RC. Over the next couple weeks I watched three other planes on my channel go in. I finally changed to a different channel and haven't had a radio problem since.
Started building HORS with u-channel and conventional tail. Added a .25 engine and landing gear. I started pushing my ability in patterns and aerobatics. Crashed many times, but kept rebuilding and flying those HORS. Switched to fully symmetric wings. Flew those HORS every chance I got, in whatever conditions were. Went back to balsa this spring with an Avistar and a Skyraider Mach II. How many people do you know who can do touch-and-goes with an Avistar with a 20mph wind directly across the runway? Who else is stupid enought to even try?
So, if you ask what plane I learned to fly on, it was the Sierra. If you ask what plane I learned to fly, it was a half dozen HORs.
07-26-2006 | 02:22 AM
#65
RE: ? Your first RC plane
In 1974 I got a partially built Falcon 56 with an extra wing that had been built w/ strip ailerons. (I scratch built another '56 fuse for it later, but that's another story )
The airplane and the used WE Blue Max 4 ch. cost 125.00 which was a lot of money for a 14 year old!
Thankfully, my mom said that she'd match my $ if I could come up with half...so I mowed lawns, and delivered a lot of newspapers...(mom still likes to come out to the field at 89 and watch the "boys" fly...)
I paid something like 35.00 for my first new "big" R/C engine...an Enya .29TV...back when Tower's catalog was olny about 25 pages thick
The airplane and the used WE Blue Max 4 ch. cost 125.00 which was a lot of money for a 14 year old!
Thankfully, my mom said that she'd match my $ if I could come up with half...so I mowed lawns, and delivered a lot of newspapers...(mom still likes to come out to the field at 89 and watch the "boys" fly...
)I paid something like 35.00 for my first new "big" R/C engine...an Enya .29TV...back when Tower's catalog was olny about 25 pages thick
07-27-2006 | 02:17 PM
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From: Go Riders Go!!!!!!!, CANADA
RE: ? Your first RC plane
I love these threads. It is nice to see people that have been in the hobby so long. This will be my 3rd year flying. My first plane was a Parkzone J-3 cub. I then bought a H-9 Arrow. I live out in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan and don't have a club within 2 hours. I was taxing around the arrow on my farm and got going a little to fast to stop before the ditch so (gulp) punched it and off we went. I brought it back to about 1/3 throttle and tried to land it on the gravel road running by our farm. It took me just about the whole tank before i finally got the courage to land it. Smooth as butter however when i was taxing back to me caught a small rock and broke the 3 blade training prop. Put a 10X7 on it and away we go. the rest as they say is history. I am proud to say i am completely self taught, but i spent a LOT of time on that J-3 before i went to glow. The main reason i went to glow that 1st summer was i was tired of waiting on the wind to die right out. cheers
flyboy76
flyboy76
07-27-2006 | 05:32 PM
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From: Harker Heights,
TX
RE: ? Your first RC plane
My first r/c plane was a little German made 3-channel trainer__ never flew it though. Then when I really got serious about this[addiction]
hobby I bought an AirCore .40 with a Royal .46 engine/Futaba radio. Flew it till fell apart.
hobby I bought an AirCore .40 with a Royal .46 engine/Futaba radio. Flew it till fell apart.
07-28-2006 | 06:20 AM
#68
RE: ? Your first RC plane
Great story Smokin. Thanks for sharing it.
ORIGINAL: smokingwreckage
First plane was a Hobbistar, OS .61 FX, Futaba 6EXA. Got my AMA, joined the club, assembled the plane, went to the field six days in a row and nobody showed up. Decided to fire that mother up and taxi around a bit. Got a little too fast, and up she went. No instructor, no sim time, nothing. Talk about panic! Got her back down without a scratch.
Next day, back at the field, someone volunteers to "help", if that's what you call it. Ended up with splinters.
Got another Hobbistar, built it with no dihedral, dual aileron servos, and a bolt-on wing. Found a real instructor, but the plane was simply too hot for basic training. Very frustrating.
Stopped by the LHS and bought a used Topflite Sierra. What a beautiful trainer! Excellent flier. Four flights on the buddy box and I was greasing those landings. After about 20 flights, flying figure-eights and the plane just quit responding to the sticks. Nothing. Nada. She just continued rolling left and lawn darted at half throttle. Wasn't pretty.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and it was still scarey, so I bought a Nexstar Select. Excellent flyer, terribly engineered, it fell apart in the sky (3 times), constantly deadsticked from bubbles in the fuel, and a host of problems from poor engineering and manufacturing. Once all the defects were taken care off, it was good for 5 or 6 gallons of fuel before I tried to take off with the trims pushed all the way up, down, and over. She rolled on takeoff, drug a wingtip, cartwheeled, and broke the horizontal stabilizer. Many hours on the sim, too.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and learned some basic aerobatics. That was a fun plane. After 5-6 gallons of fuel, died to another loss of response to the radio. I was broke from medical bills at the time and darn near gave up RC. Over the next couple weeks I watched three other planes on my channel go in. I finally changed to a different channel and haven't had a radio problem since.
Started building HORS with u-channel and conventional tail. Added a .25 engine and landing gear. I started pushing my ability in patterns and aerobatics. Crashed many times, but kept rebuilding and flying those HORS. Switched to fully symmetric wings. Flew those HORS every chance I got, in whatever conditions were. Went back to balsa this spring with an Avistar and a Skyraider Mach II. How many people do you know who can do touch-and-goes with an Avistar with a 20mph wind directly across the runway? Who else is stupid enought to even try?
So, if you ask what plane I learned to fly on, it was the Sierra. If you ask what plane I learned to fly, it was a half dozen HORs.
First plane was a Hobbistar, OS .61 FX, Futaba 6EXA. Got my AMA, joined the club, assembled the plane, went to the field six days in a row and nobody showed up. Decided to fire that mother up and taxi around a bit. Got a little too fast, and up she went. No instructor, no sim time, nothing. Talk about panic! Got her back down without a scratch.
Next day, back at the field, someone volunteers to "help", if that's what you call it. Ended up with splinters.
Got another Hobbistar, built it with no dihedral, dual aileron servos, and a bolt-on wing. Found a real instructor, but the plane was simply too hot for basic training. Very frustrating.
Stopped by the LHS and bought a used Topflite Sierra. What a beautiful trainer! Excellent flier. Four flights on the buddy box and I was greasing those landings. After about 20 flights, flying figure-eights and the plane just quit responding to the sticks. Nothing. Nada. She just continued rolling left and lawn darted at half throttle. Wasn't pretty.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and it was still scarey, so I bought a Nexstar Select. Excellent flyer, terribly engineered, it fell apart in the sky (3 times), constantly deadsticked from bubbles in the fuel, and a host of problems from poor engineering and manufacturing. Once all the defects were taken care off, it was good for 5 or 6 gallons of fuel before I tried to take off with the trims pushed all the way up, down, and over. She rolled on takeoff, drug a wingtip, cartwheeled, and broke the horizontal stabilizer. Many hours on the sim, too.
Brought the modified Hobbistar back out and learned some basic aerobatics. That was a fun plane. After 5-6 gallons of fuel, died to another loss of response to the radio. I was broke from medical bills at the time and darn near gave up RC. Over the next couple weeks I watched three other planes on my channel go in. I finally changed to a different channel and haven't had a radio problem since.
Started building HORS with u-channel and conventional tail. Added a .25 engine and landing gear. I started pushing my ability in patterns and aerobatics. Crashed many times, but kept rebuilding and flying those HORS. Switched to fully symmetric wings. Flew those HORS every chance I got, in whatever conditions were. Went back to balsa this spring with an Avistar and a Skyraider Mach II. How many people do you know who can do touch-and-goes with an Avistar with a 20mph wind directly across the runway? Who else is stupid enought to even try?
So, if you ask what plane I learned to fly on, it was the Sierra. If you ask what plane I learned to fly, it was a half dozen HORs.
07-28-2006 | 06:27 AM
#69
RE: ? Your first RC plane
Hi Flyboy (cool handle). You'll find many of us self taught pilots in threads like this. We are not alone, are we. Although I still don't recommend it, unless the circumstances are such as yours, it does make for some entertaining reading.
ORIGINAL: Flyboy76
I love these threads. It is nice to see people that have been in the hobby so long. This will be my 3rd year flying. My first plane was a Parkzone J-3 cub. I then bought a H-9 Arrow. I live out in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan and don't have a club within 2 hours. I was taxing around the arrow on my farm and got going a little to fast to stop before the ditch so (gulp) punched it and off we went. I brought it back to about 1/3 throttle and tried to land it on the gravel road running by our farm. It took me just about the whole tank before i finally got the courage to land it. Smooth as butter however when i was taxing back to me caught a small rock and broke the 3 blade training prop. Put a 10X7 on it and away we go. the rest as they say is history. I am proud to say i am completely self taught, but i spent a LOT of time on that J-3 before i went to glow. The main reason i went to glow that 1st summer was i was tired of waiting on the wind to die right out. cheers
flyboy76
I love these threads. It is nice to see people that have been in the hobby so long. This will be my 3rd year flying. My first plane was a Parkzone J-3 cub. I then bought a H-9 Arrow. I live out in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan and don't have a club within 2 hours. I was taxing around the arrow on my farm and got going a little to fast to stop before the ditch so (gulp) punched it and off we went. I brought it back to about 1/3 throttle and tried to land it on the gravel road running by our farm. It took me just about the whole tank before i finally got the courage to land it. Smooth as butter however when i was taxing back to me caught a small rock and broke the 3 blade training prop. Put a 10X7 on it and away we go. the rest as they say is history. I am proud to say i am completely self taught, but i spent a LOT of time on that J-3 before i went to glow. The main reason i went to glow that 1st summer was i was tired of waiting on the wind to die right out. cheers
flyboy76
07-28-2006 | 06:55 AM
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From: Ulverstone, AUSTRALIA
RE: ? Your first RC plane
since this is a good subject to talk about I thaught I'd share my first plane too.
I built completely from scratch a piper cub 52' span from a plan I borrowed from a local club member and is powered by an Enya 15. I learn't a great deal when building it and appart from having sections explained all the construction was done by me. Its covered in fabric heatshrink 'cub yellow' and looks great for the size. The first flight was piloted by the same person I got the plans off and after It took off he said it took off quicker than he thaught.
(pictures later)
I built completely from scratch a piper cub 52' span from a plan I borrowed from a local club member and is powered by an Enya 15. I learn't a great deal when building it and appart from having sections explained all the construction was done by me. Its covered in fabric heatshrink 'cub yellow' and looks great for the size. The first flight was piloted by the same person I got the plans off and after It took off he said it took off quicker than he thaught.
(pictures later)
07-28-2006 | 07:15 AM
#71
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RE: ? Your first RC plane
My first plane was a Bob Martin EZ trainer (kit) 1989. I had a futaba Conquest 4ch. I remember getting a good butt chewing from Mom because I used her clothes iron to cover the plane. It had a bark blue fuse and red wings and tail surfaces. It had a OS-40-FP on it. This was a 25 size plane, so we were over powering planes back then too. (Still do).
All that stuff is long gone now, but my second plane that everyone said I couldn't fly was a Miss Marta. I did fly it and still have it. although it doesn't fly anymore.
Later,
All that stuff is long gone now, but my second plane that everyone said I couldn't fly was a Miss Marta. I did fly it and still have it. although it doesn't fly anymore.
Later,
04-13-2007 | 08:50 AM
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From: San Diego,
CA
RE: ? Your first RC plane
y first RC plane was a Hobbico Sky Fly. It flew well until you get out of range, then spiral down to obliteration. Next I got a Tower Hobbies Vista, then a Great Planes Fling HLG (Not the DLG). After that, I was flying mu buddies PT-40 Kit. Once comfortable witht that I got a Pheonix Dolphin with an O.S. 46AX (WOW, this thing is GGGGGGreat!!). And lastly, I got me a Hobbico Avistar for lazy day flying and to teach others how to fly with.
04-13-2007 | 09:34 AM
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From: East Orleans,
MA
RE: ? Your first RC plane
mine was an hobbico 3 channel superstar ep. Boy was she underpowered. Then after I crashed that, I got the 4ch one. great little trainer
04-13-2007 | 01:56 PM
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From: Scarborough, ON, CANADA
RE: ? Your first RC plane
Hi
My first R/C plane was a Midwest Esquire powered by a Veco 19 control line engine.
It had a Bonner escapement with a Kraft single channel radio.
Oh those were the days when you could just about go anywhere to fly around here.
Anyway fun times.
My first R/C plane was a Midwest Esquire powered by a Veco 19 control line engine.
It had a Bonner escapement with a Kraft single channel radio.
Oh those were the days when you could just about go anywhere to fly around here.
Anyway fun times.
