I wasn't sure if this was the correct section to place this in, but I was just wondering... what was it that inspired you to take on this hobby? I have attached a story of what got me started... warning... I can be long winded at times:

sorry for the way the txt doc turned out... gotta figure out a better way to format it.

It was a good story.

Did your mom ever notice the pin holes in the floor or the missing blue material.

The first time I saw RC back in 61 I was 6 years old....I have no idea what kind of radio they were using back then or airplanes flown......
The next time I had the chance to get into RC I was a young Marine going to AE-A school in Memphis, but my friend crashed his plane the day before I was going to go with him so no plane....
I visited a few fields over the years....but it wasn't until my wife got me a cheap firebird something that the bug got me hard...my next plane was an LT-40 I joined a club and learned to fly...the rest is history....
I have always been around aviation as a kid, in the Marine Corps, and as a civilian....I've been a flight crew member..and I still do Avionics work with my A&P certificate.....
I truely love to fly RC.....

Sorry mduslick - That was just too hard to read. 

My story - I remember my Dad took me to have a look at a club when I was about 7 years old I reckon.  We could hear the engines from where my sister was playing netball so we left my Mum behind and went for a drive.  I thought it was pretty cool that you could fly your own little plane like that without actually getting up there.  Ever since, I always had it in the back of mind that one day, I wanted to get into it.  I had a crack ten years ago (20 yrs old) but it didn't last long (too many other fun things happening back then) but now with a couple of young boys of my own and a few sport injuries, I figured it was time to get back into it.  I have been to a local club to have a bit of a look a couple of times now and will hopefully head down again tomorrow morning.  I'm happy just watching everyone else for now.

I'm taking it pretty slowly and am in the process of saving money (without the missus finding out) and building my LT-40 kit.  I bought a RF sim a few months back now and have a pretty good handle on that.  I also bought a Futaba 7C a few weeks back and am awaiting an order from Tower of servos and an extra flight pack and extra batteries so now all I will need is an engine and a ARF trainer I think to get up in the air (as well as fuel, glow starter etc).  If I don't invest in an ARF I will have to wait too long before I get to finish my kit and I'm a bit worried about smashing it up early on in my training anyway.  I'm hoping to start flying early next year.

G'day

It all started for me way back in the mid 1950s when my father and I spotted some model engines in a shop in Manly, NSW, Australia. I was fascinated by all the pretty colours and shiny cases. I would have loved one but in those days each was worth about a week's of my father's wage.

Sometime around the same time I saw my first flying model. It was a control line model and I was becoming hooked but the final hook went in when my next door neighbour turned up with a small Frog 150 diesel engine. The two of us did some research and bought some fuel and before long the little Frog was singing happily for us. That little engine taught me a lot about tuning engines.

Later still I was invited to visit a control line club. That was the final straw. I joined, bought an OS 15 Max II and have been flying models ever since (on and off a bit though).

The first RC model I saw was an Aeroflyte Hustler (a very popular Australian made trainer once). It was at the control line club and it did not fly but they did taxi it around and I was impressed with the control system. Not long later a club started flying near where I was living and I saw my first RC model fly and also my first electric glider too.

A move to the country from Sydney gave me the opportunity to fly RC models. That was in 1989 and I am still at it and still learning.

We all have interesting stories. I first started when I drove past a closed airport in Northern California and saw some small aircraft flying around. I was with my wife (since divorced) on my motorcycle. We turned into the parking lot and watched for a while. I was very impressed with what I saw and thought that I would enjoy flying RC.

Well, about a year later, and after seeing these guys flying around, I decided to go and spend some time with them. I was very impressed with the group of guys, one of them was a commercial pilot, one was the Chief of Police, and another was the Chief of the city Fire Department. Of course, there were others, but, since I was an Active Duty Coast Guardsman, these authority figures made an impression on me in that they were out there flying these RC aircraft.

So, after a few months of watching, I decided to buy what I needed to get started. I bought a Goldberg Skylark 56. (if any of you have read some of my posts, you may note that name).

Anyway, I was in transition in my career, moving from a shore station to a shipboard assignment and a medium endurance Coast Guard Cutter. I built the model and finally went to the field with the finished product. Both the Fire Chief and the Police Chief inspected the plane, had some comments and adjustment changes, and then it was time to fly.

We flew that plane for several days. At that time, there were no buddy boxes. The instructor would take the plane off, climb to altitude.. three mistakes high, and hand the transmitter to me. We flew that thing for, what seemed hours.. but it was only minutes.

The instructor had some recommendations for me to make some minor mechanical adjustments to the elevator setting, so I made the adjustment and, the next week, I was back at the field with my Skylark 56.

He put the plane in the air and gave me the transmitter. After about three or four minutes, I was having trouble handling the plane in turns, so I gave the transmitter back to the insructor. He tried to fly the plane, but was also having problems. So, he opted to land. But, on the approach, he could not slow it down enough and went around a couple of times, each time, slowing it down more and more. Finally, when we thought it was ready to land, it stalled and hit the pavement.

As it turned out, I failed to secure the clevis with the tubing that was there for that purpose, and obviously did not secure the elevator because during the flight, we lost elevator control, and that caused the crash. Remember, in 1977, the radio's were not what we have today. Were flying over pavement so when it crashed, the plane was pretty much totally destroyed.

Now, I was assigned to the ship and our patrol schedule was brutal, so I never had an opportunity to fix the plane. Then, I was transfered to New York City and that was that. I sold everything because, at the time, there were no clubs in NYC and that ended my aspirations for flying RC until I finally retired from the Coast Guard in 1997 when I got back into the hobby.

We all have stories. Here is a great opportunity to share them with us.

Thanks for "listening".

CGRetired.

In my case I can't remember how old I was when I started building the plastic model planes but it was in the early 50s when they had hundreds of kits to choose from. For me it was bipes, I had build every bipe plane that had a kit, just loved them. Then one day I saw some of the older guys flying there control line planes and I was hooked on that. Back then every boy got a Fire Baby for there first real plane. Also the first ARF, the local hardware store carried all the replacement parts. I was 8 years old then and it was 1956. One of the big boys crashed his plane and gave it to me so I rebuilt it, now I was a builder and started building kit planes. About 1960 we had moved to Calif. and I was introduced to Free Flight in San Fernando Valley so I was still flying control line and free flight. The dam basin also had an area for radio control so I watched that, mostly to see the planes crashing, they did that a lot back in those days. On and off all my life I was building and flying something, most the time it was control line, RC cost way too much. Sometime in the early 90s I got into radio so I had something to do when my favorite nephew would come to visit for a few weeks in the summer. He would go home but I stuck with RC.
Building was nothing new for me so the planes weren't hard for me at all, it was the flying that took a while to learn. Then I was taught set up by a pattern pilot so things got a lot more advanced over the years.
The electronics are starting to change a lot but for the most part not a lot of things have changed in normal modeling. It's a hobby you can get into today, drop out then jump back into a decade later and pick right back up after you read up on the new gear. We were just talking about this at the field a week or two ago. Some of the guys I fly with started a decade or two before I did and feel the same way. It's a hobby for both young and old!!!!!!!!![8D]

<pre><font face="Times" size="3">This is mduslick's story re edited/posted to make it easier to read!

<u>mduslick's story</u>

At the wonderful age of seven years old, I was invited to visit a little boy in my neighborhood for the first time
who eventually became my best friend. As my older sister held my hand, we walked up to his house and saw both him
and his father trying to retrieve one of those small, rubber band powered planes from the roof of their house. This
was my first introduction into aviation. Back then, toys were displayed on the end of one particular aisle in the
grocery store where we shopped, and when I saw one of these planes that my friend had, I begged my mom to purchase
one for me too. After making many promises I knew I wouldn’t keep, I was treated to a small, rectangular cellophane
bag that contained the pieces of my dream that was destined for flight. In the back seat of the car on the way back
home, my lack of patience got the better of me, so I ripped the top of the plastic bag open and examined each part
carefully. Somehow, these pieces fit together and would form one of those cool planes that my friend had but I swore
I would be more careful and not let it end up on the roof of our own home as well.

It was but one of many such planes I was able fly in my back yard and I would wind up the long, slender rubber band
until it had a series of tight knots along its length. My desire was to place the model on the ground, let it go,
and watch it ROG but the result was always the same… a quick, wide circle on the ground immediately followed by
cartwheels. But I still tried over and over.

When I was a little older, I was rewarded with a Guillows balsa model. I don’t remember exactly what model it was
but I do remember it was a war bird of some type. We had hard wood floors in most of the house, and I used the floor
of my bedroom as my “building board”. I would push my rug aside, lay my plans on the floor and pin the individual
parts down to the plans with pins I “acquired” from my mom’s sewing kit. And I cut those stubborn balsa parts out
with a single edge razor blade I found in the medicine cabinet. Since the razor blade wasn’t as sharp as it could
have been, many such balsa parts ended up being split into many pieces, but I would just apply extra Testers cement
and it was all good. Once the frame was complete, I needed to cover it so it was off to the kitchen to find a
suitable covering material. I saw that mom had a couple of rolls of contact paper stored that she used to line the
cabinets with. It was light blue and almost the same hue as the picture on the cover of the box the model came in,
so I was in business. With roll in hand, I scampered back to my bedroom, umm… hanger, and proceeded to cut small
pieces of contact paper, peel off the backing, and place the thick, rugged, contact paper over the frame of my
creation. Sometimes I would end up with a missed spot here or there, so I would just cut a bigger piece of contact
paper and place it over the gaps in covering. This was one well covered bird with many layers of covering that
could no doubt withstand bullets from unfriendly fire. Once everything was complete, the instructions called for
a “glide test”. I was to hold the model just under the wing and toss it firm, yet gentle at a slight downward angle.
I’m here to tell you, I had just as well performed the “glide test” with a dictionary… the end result would have
been the same. Subsequent models met similar fates but it at least gave me much experience with working with balsa.

Many years later, I was browsing the magazine section of a book store I frequented when I came across
the latest issue of RCM (my favorite) and the cover stopped me in my tracks. A lady was posing behind a
white and red delta and I was awe struck… it was the Balsa USA Northstar… I couldn’t buy that magazine
fast enough. When I got home, I read every word of that article, studied every nuance of each photo, and
dreamed of the day when I would be able to have a beautiful bird like that. It was then that I was
forever hooked on R/C flight.

I took the plans in the article and carefully scaled them up and began making all the parts. This was
back in the mid 80’s and eventually I had the majority of parts either cut out or carefully drawn out
on sheets of balsa. Unfortunately I never got around to actually assembling everything so as the years
continued to creep by, this too began to collect dust. This was entirely different than the Guillows
kits I had as a child, but I continued to read RCM and everything else I could get my hands on.

My Commodore 64 computer was used primarily for games and this thing called the internet was not what it
is today so “surfing to net” for info or just logging into RCUniverse was not even an option for me.

One day while browsing the ads in RCM, I came across the Easy 100… another bird offered by Balsa USA. It
was a sleek looking trainer that was “easy to fly” and “great for the beginner pilot”… at least that’s
what I interpreted. So I sent them a postal money order and I received my first kit. I assembled it in my
apartment exactly per plan, but this time I used actual film covering I got from the LHS and not contact
paper. I checked and re-checked everything once I had a completed plane and because I was such an
“expert” from reading so much, I was confident that I knew everything that I needed to know and could
teach myself to fly. What was that phrase that the robot on “Lost In Space” used to say… “Danger… Danger…”

So I packed all my gear, headed to a nearby “school” and sought out the perfect spot for my maiden. There
was a track at the school that I thought would make a perfect runway, but a couple of people were jogging
around the track and I didn’t want “them” to get in “my” way. So my second choice was a gravel driveway
that led into the adjacent field. It was a gorgeous, sunny Saturday afternoon, and there was not a cloud
in the sky… the only thing to mar the perfect blue sky were the power lines overhead nearby. As I began
to unpack my gear, I noticed a stray dog in the distance staring at me with his head cocked at an angle…
it’s funny how animals can sense ignorance even at a distance.
 
After a final check, I used the butt end of my flathead screwdriver as a chicken stick and with a couple
of flicks, brought that K&amp;B .40 to life. I stood behind the tail of the plane and with my fancy book
knowledge at the ready, I slowly advanced the throttle to full and watched my blue bird quickly roll away
from me in a perfect straight line… and roll… and roll. Oh uh… the end of the driveway was coming up fast
and I still had all three wheels on the ground! So at the last minute I threw all caution to the wind and
gave it full elevator. Nothing happened at first and then the next moment the nose came up an inch and
the mains soon followed. My brand new Easy 100 was pointed up at a 45 degree angle and was beginning its
climb out. Never had I ever felt such exhilaration… sure pure joy… to see all my hard work pay off and
to actually see my plane “take off”… just like I always wanted my little rubber band model to do to when
I was a little boy. But these were the first few seconds of my maiden… after she rose to an altitude of
approximately 20 feet, I noticed the left wing start to dip lower than the right. The thought registered
in my head that she’s starting to bank to the left and the seconds seems to speed by faster and faster.
The slow climb-out quickly leveled out into level flight. Level flight turned into a shallow dive. I had
to do something quick. The throttle was wide open. I had read all the books. I didn’t need help. I could
teach myself to fly. I could see the top of the entire wing as the plane turned back to me. Left was
right. Right was left. But I didn’t notice. Panic set in but was soon followed by a wooden pop when the
nose struck the ground and all was silent again. If I could have torn my eyes away from the pile of balsa
ahead of me in the distance I would have seen that same small dog that watched me setup earlier just
shake his head from side-to-side and walk away while muttering under his breath “poor fool”.

I took a break from building for awhile but continued to read, and read, and read. Then I invested in a
RealFlight sim and flew every plane in the menu. After that, I bought a copy of Aerofly Pro and did the
same thing until that pesky left/right orientation thing became second nature. Next, I joined the AMA,
sought out and joined a fantastic local club, and was fortunate enough to get paired with a great guy
that took my Kadet Senior up (that I built from a kit) and then handed me the controls. As I took
control and performed the basic maneuvers he asked me to do I began to think I had the flu because even
though it was a warm day, I couldn’t keep my knees from shaking or my hands from trembling. It was only
later that I discovered that I was not ill in the least and that it was the thrill of flight that had me
so pumped. When I was finally instructed to land on my own, I lined up for my final, croaked
“landing left to right” loudly like a kid in the midst of puberty, eased back on the throttle and watched
that beautiful black, grey, and white bird float in and touch down on her mains with the nose a split
second behind with only the slightest amount of bounce. I had a terrific instructor (thank you Bob) and
if I could have pried my hands off of my transmitter or taken my eyes off of my Kadet I would have hugged
him. But only for a moment mind you, only for the briefest of moments.

After that day, my addiction was permanent and there was no coming back. I knew right then and there that
when I took my last breath, my thumbs would be resting on two knurled, chrome sticks of a transmitter and
I would be piloting my soul to the heavens… at least that’s where I hope to be headed and not have to
give down elevator. But I did stick all those pins in the floor of my hardwood floor when I was a little
boy and then cover it with the rug when I was done so my mom wouldn’t find out. I’ll have to make amends
for that somehow.

And what became of my first love that was designed by Laddie Mikulasko? The parts for that “scratch
-build” were eventually used as repair stock for other planes in my hanger and I decided to just buy the
Northstar kit and build it that way. It was about 90% complete when I realized I really didn’t like the
way it turned out so I will purchase another kit and start over, incorporating several improvements that
I feel I will be much happier with.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and take a look into brief moments in my R/C history.
It is a wonderful community that I feel I belong to and for all those who have helped and taught me, I
thank you from the bottom of my heart. And to you Laddie, especially you, thank you for the inspiration!

mdu

</font></pre>

For me, this is a childhood aspiration that finally happened. I never knew anyone who flew RC, but I always loved things that flew. My dad taught me how to make paper airplanes which I did often, and I used to get up at 5 am to watch the space shuttle launches. The first RC planes I ever saw were in the Sears catalog, but my parents wisely said "No" every year when I asked for them. Model rockets scratched the itch well enough through grade school and then competitive shooting became my hobby. I was 30 when I remembered the interest and went searching online for information, and read all I could about it. I was in my last year of my Master's degree and so as a reward my wife got me started in the hobby for Christmas. That plane didn't last long due to a radio problem, but I've slowly enjoyed the hobby for nearly 5 years now, keeping costs down by buying mostly used things and doing lots of repairing. I love to work with my hands and the hobby gives me a break from the books and people tasks of my job in ministry. My little girl (2 1/2) loves airplanes and helicopters now, so I'm excited to see how she will fit in to the hobby, if at all, when she's older.

well zackesch, if she did she never said anything...lol. Besides, it was an old floor. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...lol.

And thanks wazzbat for reformatting my story.

At the age of 10 my father gave me a Testors P-40 Warhawk control line plane. Iflew it to death. Then took the engine and built a profile from a kit, flew it until the dog ate it. Then took about 35 years off from the hobby but never lost my passion.

jester

Did you get your daughter interested in this or did she show an interest on her own? My fiancé adopted a little girl from Ethiopia and she is about 2-1/2 years old now too… right now she just loves to “eat what daddy is eating� or want me to assume the role of the tickle monster. But if she could share this passion with me that would mean the world! When she’s on the potty (I know… TMI…lol) her favorite book is “A Little Bug That Went Kachoo� and of course I have to make all the sounds for her when I read the story. There are a few pictures of helicopters and when I make the sound of the blades she just giggles, but the one thing she really loves more than anything is the motorcycle. Whenever she sees a picture of one she’ll point and say “cycle… daddy cycle� then cover her ears and say “loud�.

Must be a Harley.

I had every Testors, COX, TD plane they ever came out with at some point except the PT 19. The P-40 was my favorite plane but I found it too under powered and could never fly it very well. That and my lack of skill!! There Little Stinker was my number one plane. $10.00 a piece, wish I had a full unopened collection of every plane they ever built today!!
Glad to hear that plane got you into the hobby! Even if I couldn't fly it the plane was just so cool!

my mom was my inspiration and helper we would hang and build small plastic models together, I was 6 or 7 the local kids who had money got .049 models and after watching a few of the control line planes, I had to have one,man I pestered my mom relentlessly.
I got a stuka for xmas and promptly destroyed it, after a few trials and errors my cox collection was pretty impressive having almost all the carl goldberg kits we would go through qts of fuel just burning circles at the open lot we flew at.
I got bit by the RC bug when I was about 12 or so, I was still into scale plastic models, but the RC models were just too cool, so I saved up my cash and with some help from gramps I got my Kraft 4ch radio and a Falcon 56 kit, with a K&B 35.
having built a bunch of stick and tissue, and control line models the 56 was a snap,one thing about the 56 was it didn't have stearable nose gear that was interesting to say the least,and was a real challenge to stear.
a guy who owned the local hobby shop flew at a undeveloped area by my house,now full of condos and a strip mall, and would help us kids with our planes, the big club at lake casitas was way to far for us kids, and they flew at first light, but Carl was a cool dude and he put up with us, afetr flying and crashing some, I kind of lost interest got into High school and moved on.
so wow its been about 7 years now I decided I wanted to check out RC again and started browsing the web here on RCU and just got the bug again, my kids are interested in checking it out so I have started with a couple small planes and I have a little 049 collection going as well .

this last year I have slowed down quite a bit, its been a bit hectic, had knee surgery, and life has been busy, but I still have some larger projects going and my planes in my hangar which seems to be growing each year.
these days WWII fighter planes are my muse

Actually it's aYamaha. I made the mistake of firing it up in the garage while she was there. My fiance was holding her at the time and she was curious about what daddy was doing. But when the bike fired up, the low rumble echoed in the garage and scared her. So I had to explain to her what the noise was. I know it will be awhile before she's ready to be around glow engines. When she gets a little older I'll take her to our field and let her watch the planes fly there and hopefully she'll like that.

G'day mduslick. This is way off topic but seeing your bike reminded me of the effect I had when I turned up at my then fiance's place on my small Honda SL-100. As I pulled up, her little sister (who must have been about 12 months old) was watching and she was absolutely horrified when I pulled my helmet off. She thought I had pulled my head off. From that time on she would run screaming whenever I turned up on the bike.

But back on topic, after we were married I needed to get back into some sort of hobby and naturally I went back into control line that I had been into about 7 years earlier when I was still at school. Once you get into playing with balsa and small engines it never really leaves you.

Mike in Oz

Mike, that is hilarious! I'll bet everytime she watches "Sleepy Hollow" now, she'll think of you. LOL!!!

And you're right... it's in our blood... ahhh, the aroma of fresh balsa or burnt glow fuel.