? Your first RC plane
 

What was your first RC plane? Was talking with a fellow flyer and the subject came up.

Mine was a Cleveland kit of an Aeronca Champ (about a 56" wing I think), doped on silk then painted, Ambriod glue. OS MAX 30, Heath Kit 6ch radio. 1969 (the year we went to the moon)

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Debolt LiveWire, Veco .19, Bonner Vari-comp, Charley C/G reciever and transmitter. Flew nice (as long as I left the pickle alone)
The best oldie was a Falcon with Veco .45, Kraft 10 channel reed gear (really had to have fast thumbs there lotsa toggle switches)

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Goldber Falcon 56 with K&B 40 and a Futaba 6channel brown box.
I had it about half covered with Monokote when I realized I needed to peel the backing off!
[sm=bananahead.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=bananahead.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=bananahead.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif]
JLK

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

My first plane was a Kaos 40. My chosen instructor said "go ahead and buy it ( used ) I can teach anyone to fly on anything". You guess it, it lasted about 8.5 seconds after he gave me the controls. I then bought a Thunder Tiger Skylark 40. This was an ARF trainer and this was 1985. ARF's have come a long way baby. Bottom line is I learned to fly and 21 years and 10's of thousands of $'s later I'm still at it :D

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Before we drown in vintage gear :)

GWS E-Starter electric high-wing trainer. Two years ago. Still flying as my "wind check" plane.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Altech Marketing - 72" Pilatus Porter, with Enya 53 Great trainer semi scale too!

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Great story. I laughed out loud.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Goldberg Gentle Lady, followed up with a Goldberg SkyTiger

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

S-Ray by Lou Andrews


Roby

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Midwest Lil'T, converted to two channels, with an 049 power pod. Radio was a homebuilt prototype 7 channel that was to be marketed by Delta Systems (later of rc car fame) with two huge bonner servos. Summer of 68, finally got it safely flying in '70

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Zagi 400x electric. Taught myself how to fly on that one. ;)

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Balsa USA Stick 40 (with ailerons) , which was quickly replaced with a Goldberg Eagle 2.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

My first plane was a scratch built. Flat 36 inch wing, I didn't know you could get 48 inch wood, Veco 19, Blue Max 3+1 homebuilt radio, R/E/M controls, turned poorly. I'd crash it every week, but it was always ready the next weekend. The first that I flew well was a Midwest foam Cardinal with the Veco in it.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

my 1st plane was the G3 sim followed buy a H9 ultra stick 60 with a OS 91 FX bought from a friend that wanted to get me hooked on flying. it worked!!! 3 weeks into flying the stick i dumb thumbed it into the ground, had a new one built in 3 days and was back in the air. now have 35% yak, 72" QQ yak, Jerry"s Big boy, and still have the stick. and its only been 1 year. this is a great hobby with great people and i'm a happy guy.

randy racer

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Sig LT 40.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

First plane was a Hustler the old man built. Great plane to learn on till he shredded when he forgot to put the aerial up. Then got a Seagull/Phoenix Boomerang. Served me well, till it was handballed off to another learner 12 months later.:D:D:D:D

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

The number one all time best trainer, IMNSHO.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Goldberg Falcon 56mkII covered in monokote
OS .35 FSR
Kraft 6 channel radio
Red Max fuel
Dubro Tires/Wheels

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Lanier Transit with Ailerons, Kraft Series 70 4 channel, Supertiger 46.

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My first plane was a 33% Aeroworks Extra 330L...the first plane I owned and flew though was a thunder tiger trainer...

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

mine was the A-Ray - i think it was designed by Lou Andrews. I built it myself, with some advice from the guys in the CORKS out of Columbus, Ohio. It had a Kraft 4 channel digital proportional radio- one of the early versions, as this in about 1973 a few years after digital proportional radios came into use. it had an orange colored case. the engine was a .35 - not sure which brand- maybe an enya? it flew very well - but then from my very limited knowledge at that time ANYTHING would seem to fly well :) :) :). but I didn't crash it!!

ed

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

First plane was a kit built Sig Kadet LT40 with a Super Tigre 45 & a JR Maxx 4 radio. It's life came to an end when I tried to pull out of a high speed loop without throttling back. That was before I learned to practice good throttle control. The elevator pushrod could'nt handle the pressure & you know the rest of the story. Moved on to a kit built 4*40 with all of the transplants from the Kadet.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

About 25 years ago, my dad converted an old silk and dope control line plane of unknown origin to R/C bought a Perry Carb for an old K&B .35 control line engine. Flew great until someone at the local club turned on their transmitter. I remember him saying, "beautiful inverted spin, where did you learn that?" It was .2 nano seconds later I yelled, "22, who's on 22???"

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25 years ago? Wouldn't it have been Who's on orange white or red white?;)

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It was Brown and White :D

Man, just think what it would be like at the local field now with only 6 frequencies??? [sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

I also had a Falcon 56 in 1982 with an OS 45 FSR ABC and a Futaba 7 channel. Didn't belong to a club and crashed it the first season. Joined a club 10 years later and learned to fly. The OS 45 was a fabulous engine and the Falcon flew great!

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Midwest Tri-squire Enya 19 and Kraft Signature series 7 channel radio.

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Berkeley Rudderbug with Super Aerotrol single channel vacuum tube receiver and transmitter.

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Joe Bridi Trainer 40 with O.S .40sf.

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Lanier Comet with Merko .60 (I loved that motor) EK Logictrol 5 ch

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Lets see, taught myself to fly gliders with a gentle lady..Then taught myself to fly gas with a sig seniorita..Learned the hard way that having a wingtip warped about +15 degrees is not the way to go ...and more throttle doesn't help !

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I lost mine pretty much the same way. Luckily the soybean field it dove into softened the impact a bit. I still have the fuse. I also have the wing from a second LT40 that got mangled in a midair. They both rest in my garage, waiting for me to mate them up.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Alright, as Paul Harvey would say, here is the rest of the (my) story.

Took my Champ and Heathkit radio to the local school yard. Taxied into a goal post. Replace broken prop, and line up for take off. Roll and lift off into the wind. Clime out briskly into a loop and totally out of my controll 5 seconds after take off. Continuing to loop, now about 40ft at the bottom of the loops, down wind (east) and it is carrying over I77 which runs right next to the school. My brother climbs over the fence for the freeway and is now giving chase across the intersate! I give up on the controlls and jump in the car. We catch up with my brother on the other side of the freeway. We are now the chase car, asking people working in their yards and some guys doing a new roof, which direction it was heading. Driving down cross roads, I spot the plane, now on a picnic table about to be disected by the kid who found it as it swooped down in the middle of the only empty lot in the whole developement, almost three miles from where we started. Yes, another broken prop, but it hit just as it leveled out at the bottom of a loop, and that is the only damage! I reclaimed my property and exused myself from the neaborhood. We were done for the day.:)

Next day, I took it to a secluded field, hand launched it, and was flying on the second attempt, honestly.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

In '93, I got an Aircorpse (yes, corpse, not core) Trainer with a Supertiger GS40 and a JR 4 channel. That plane was a pile of poop, and I can't believe they're still around. It was like a Chrysler K car... it was the biggest pile of crap, but no matter what you did, you couldn't kill it. After buddy cording the thing for two months and still not being "signed off" by the field instructor, I said screw it and took it to a base ball field. The flight was uneventful.

Then I moved from FL to VT (I was 15 and didn't have a choice), and my parting gift was a Midwest Hotts II from my flight instructor. When I got to VT, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I threw the 'Tiger and JR gear in that and had at it. Would you believe that the Hotts II was easier to fly than the Aircorpse? Well, it was. Love love LOVED that plane and was actually sad to see it go due to "one more flight before I go home."

Next up was a GB Eagle II with two bays clipped from the wing, anhedral, double sized control surfaces, same 'Tiger and JR gear, and done as a taildragger. It was fun, but nothing special. Radio glitch did that one in.

After that, I was ready to try a GP Super Sportster 40 bipe. Absolutly fantastic plane, and beautiful to match. I'd love to find one that hasn't been built yet. I flew that one for a looooong time. Over time, glow fuel got in to the wood hoding the upper cabane struts in, and they softened to the point of not being able to hold the wing on. It shed the top wing during flight, and kept flying for two more weekends as a monoplane 'till it high speed stalled coming down the backside of a loop and rekitted itself.

Next was a Super Sportster 20 that never got finished. This is spring of '96 now... I was graduating high school, going to college, getting my real pilots license, and kinda lost track of RC planes. About two years ago, I discovered the SS20 in my parents basement and finished it and put a Saito 50 on the front. Hell, I was a hotshot pilot ten years before, and knew how to fly real planes, so this should be no sweat! hah... Ooops.

Two years elapsed and I finally got around to buying RFG3, and a GP C182 ARF. I haven't flown the plane yet, but am logging some considerable simulator time. When I come back from the desert in the fall, I plan on flying the plane for the first time. :)

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Midwest Esquire with a Fox 15, 10x3 1/2 prop, Bonner Varicomp escapement , WAG 3 tube receiver built from Ace kit, Marcytone transmitter bulit from ACE kit. This was rudder only, no throttle. We had TWO frequencies, 27.255 and about 465 (no one around here ever flew on 465).

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

GWILLIE.

Great picture! How many lawns did you mow to buy that? I bought my Falcon 56 kit in about '74 and bought the engine in about '76 and didn't get a radio till about '82 when I got the job I am currently in. I don't have any pictures of it but I wished I did.

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Mine was a Sig Kadet MKII that I built with Dad's help.Took the dihedral out and made a real windshield from a 2 liter coke bottle.Magnum .45 for power,dont remeber the radio except it had a metal case and no trainer cord.Landed myself on 3rd flight after I stalled the motor and my dad wouldnt take the radio."You killed it,you land it"He had me shooting approaches for the 1st 2 tanks and I think he knew I was ready.I sure miss that plane and the time it gave me and my dad together.Im trying to get him back into the hobby with me.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Your story really evoked some emotion in me. My dad was a full scale pilot and was killed in 1966 in his plane. I was just 13, and was involved in control line flying, which dad was enchouraging. He was always building a HeathKit something, and that is why, I think, my first radio was a HeathKit. I hope you and your dad can again enjoy this great hobby together. I only wish I had dad back. I know he would have enjoyed what we have today. Thanks for the memories.

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Sig Kadet Senior with an OS 52 Four Stroke that my dad I built together when I was about 12 or 13. I'm 19 now, still have the trainer, and a lot of other planes! [8D]

RE: ? Your first RC plane
 

Man, this should be called the nostalgia string. Your Esquire made me think of my Fox 15 powered Esquire and of all those times I was flying single channel all alone.
It had a Babcock compound escapement for rudder and a Citizen-Ship escapement for throttle.

I also had a K&B .049 powered Lil Esquire. It had a 3 volt transistorized Citizen-Ship LT3 super regenerative receiver and compound escapement.

That's my green and white Esquire in the photo and it's MRC Arcon Company transistorized relayless superhet receiver and Citizen-Ship 3-tube transmitter.
One transmitter photo shows the DC to DC converter built from an Ace kit that eliminated those two expensive 67.5 volt batteries and the 1.5 volt lantern battery.
Six volts was supplied to the converter by cheap military surplus Ni-Cad wet cells and converted to 135 volts DC.