nexstar soloed just before christmas

Started flying RC proper in 97. I had dabbled in free flight and C/L as a kid as well as building a single channel radio model somewhere in between.

First plane was a Great Planes trainer 40 which I built from a kit. Given that it was the 1st plane I had built for many years it was OK up to the point where I joined the wing halves. As soon as the expoxy had set it was obvious that I had not aligned the wings accurately such that the incidence was slightl different. Took a bucketful or aileron trim to get it to fly, but fly it did!


Terry

My first trainer was a Gentle Lady back in 1985 When I was in the Marines. Also had a 2m Bird of time. There was a slope on Pendleton that faced the ocean and we could fly our batteries dead with a little toss.
First power plane was the Spit. I have no idea what ARF kit it was but it was all white foam, I got it at Hobby Shack north of Anaheim. (notice the Tower System 3000???5000???) It lasted a while but the .35 enya (don't really remember) just wasn't enough for it. The gliders lasted alot longer. Moving around so much and going overseas I finally gave it up until last year when I found the Royal 40 in a friends garage all busted up. Joined a club and flew 6 gallons through it during the summer until the Funtana 40 came in the mail last August.
Man I hate winter!!!

1993 Goldberg Eagle 11 with OS FP.40 gave it up for 10 years,,got back into it with parkflyers, now into 1/2A (the fun stuff) self taught with on going continual instruction.....Rog

Started off with an Eagle 63.....then a Eaglet 50.....then the memory fades.....between 1986 and 96 had a lot of planes..........found out why I was dorking them all in.....brain tumor/pilot error.....after that.....kept an Eagle 2/SPAD hybrid that I lovingly call the Beagle, and 1 Eaglet 50 with 1 wing with ailerons and dihedral and 1 with ailerons and no dihedral. Have some others but that's what I re-learned with.

In the same time frame as LOUW of Moreland Ga.
My plane was a tried FREE FLIGHT of British design, the TOMBOY, very similar to the Miss America, running a DIESEL "Oliver" and an excellent Free Flyer of the "CABIN TYPE"
Around 1956 or so I purchased in AHC in NYC a C&S escapement system and in a communal effort with a group of U/C flyers we were able to get the plane to carry the batterys ( the big problem of that time was that weight)'ONLY THE RUDDER MOVED...no elevator, no throttle, no ailerons at all.While the motor run it was a perpetual climb, broken by the "turn"
We got LEFT and RIGHT and that alone was close to a miracle !
We were able to land back close to where we launched..... In 1966 emigrated to the USA and have been flying RC ever since.First real full house flight was in Dallas with a high wing and a Kraft system (or was it an EK ? ) I forget. Missed the REEDS system by some months. Proportional was just coming into its own, for the masses

self taught with a coroplast contraption called QHOR. It was a 4 channel with 4 servos and powered by a magnum 28 with a 9x6 prop. Rated as 3D by the guys who first made it flew just fine. It was slow but fairly unstable and could do aerobatics as I found out later. Man I crashed that thing. Every time for the first 50 or so flights. But repaired it on site almost every time. It was cheap and fun. It was like a brick without engine. If it died inflight than it was a crash. No lift from the wing. Just the prop. I still have it but I'll never fly it.

They all went by,by.
I got an AVISTAR for $40 and a CONTENDER built for $30 at a fun fly.
Crashed the Avistar doing spins
Got a Durable plane to help me get though improving landings before I put the
contender in the air.
An ACE 4-40 was my first tail dragger.

My instructor, a good friend crashed my 4-40.
He put it into a flatspin and took chances and got it real low.
Being a good pilot as he was he manage to pulling out inches of the deck probably.
But that damn over grown brush/weed did it in.

the 4-40

Midwest Esquire with a K & B 15, escapement on rudder. Radio was an Army surplus ARC 5 tank transmitter on 6 meters. Used two 12 v batteries to power a dynamotor to get the high voltage needed, ran 100 watts (no range problems ) usually powered down to a couple of watts. Reciver was a two tube homebrew. Year 1957.

Carl Goldberg Eagle 2... Super Tigre .45 ABC...

Matt

First plane - Aerobird
3 Channel Electric
250+ flights and still love it!
Now I have 6 electics

First sailplane - Great Planes Spirit
This is the one that got me hooked on sailplanes
Now I have 10 sailplane/gliders

Home made, fitted with rudder escapment only on Silvertone pulse radio, powered with Mills 1.3 way back in 1967, Only climbed under power and then glided back.(sometimes)

Cheers.

I first flew a glider I built when I was 14-15, an aeroflyte Brolga. Traveling to a from the field was a hassle with parents etc so only flew it 3 or 4 times and crashed it as many before girls became more interesting. Now many yrs later having worked as a pilot (not anymore) I started flying RC 2 yrs ago with a Canterbury Sailplanes Jazz with a speed 400 I bought off ebay. Flew it off a slope with motor backup once or twice, then without motor attached and I was hooked. Since then Ive built and flown about 6 slope gliders over 15 months. Im just putting the finishing touches to an OS140 powered Arresti III 2M pattern ship this afternoon.

ASW 17 made by carrera/robbe/germany.

I was 12 (1980) and it was THE glider arf to get. I've had it for 2 years on my xmas wishlist
until i finally got it (was so expensive, dad wanted to make sure, i stay with the hobby).
fiberglass fuse, composite balsa sheeted foamwing 6'8 wingspan, rud,elev only.
selftaught slope gliding/soaring at the west denmark coast, 100 ft high sand dunes close to
the beach with lots of upwinds. alone at the beach, I felt like i was on top of the sky! no crashes.
than girls and motorcycles and more girls became more important.
restarted 6 month ago with a pt-40/tt42 this time with instructor than ustick60/saito100.
awaiting the OMP ultimate profile 100-300 bipe delivery soon.
pat

Great Planes SlowPoke Sport 40 kit. it was my first experience with RC, first kit, first flight, first tail dragger. It was pretty scary in the wind (thank god for my instructor) but was a great flyer. Notice the was, it made it all the way through the training process with a few minor repairs. After that it survived 3 major crashes (rebuilt from the wing forward) but alas the last one distroyed the wing... I learned the art of dead stick landings before powered ones thanks to a cranky OS LA .46 that wasn't run in. All in All a Great Plane (pun intended).

For some reason my .jpg file won't upload... keep getting the error "error saving the file to disk". Oh well, I was pretty proud of that plane.

My first plane!

Balsa USA swizzle stick with a OS 40FP. Had for about a year and a half it was great practice because if you can fly a POS like that you can fly just about anything. One of the guys at the old club where I learned to fly at placed our 55 gallon trash barrel in the middle of the runway and attemped to deposit his swizzle stick full throttle. Didn't miss the trash can by much and of course succeeded in desposing of his plane after he had walked over and placed what was left of his plane in the trash can. As Microhenry's creator Ed Henry was also present it was immortalized in a couple of his cartoons.

First solo flight was 1 week prior to 9/11 and the plane was a Thunder Tiger Trainer 60 .
LA 65 up front and one of the first Eclipse 7 radios in the country .

I asked my Instructor (an older gent)how to set up the radio & he told me to go away and read the
manual . To this day that instructor ( now a good mate ) still dosent know how to properly setup
his own radio , I have to do it for him .

I am now a fully certified instructor my self . I think we all owe our instructors a big thankyou ,
for not only the skill and knowledge they give us but for the guidance provided at the most
crucial times .

Thanks Bob

Stuart Davies

rcm trainer 40 -sadly lost to toothpick status though not by me. right flyer 40-still alive and kicken though showing the abuses handed to a trainer. Sig mk2 built from kit- still flying narry a scratch. building four star 40 now.

Pretty much self taught, learned on a GP Big Stik 40 with a O.S. 46AX. It met its
end after a frequency glitch on a TX and went straight down WOT.

There was no digital pictures when I started, so I can't post a picture. I learned to fly on a kit made by OK Models: Pilot Q.B. 20L. It was a .20 size low wing, a little like a tricycle Sportster. It never crashed, but ended up completely oil-soaked after a summer of very intensive flying (1978). The next plane was a Carl Goldberg SKYLARK, and that was the beginning of my on-going addiction.