Hello!

Has anyone else noticed that when RC aircraft are brought up, everyone instantly assumes you mean Walmart Airhogs and similar "toys"?
I'm sick of having to explain that a Tiger 60 is not made by Hot Wheels, and that I don't need to "Grow up." and stop playing with toy aeroplanes.


Any thoughts?

I get that too, but I'm 47 years old, and after 3 heart attacks. I don't pay attention to those people, the way I look at it, I'm having fun and their jealous

I've been flying RC for almost 14 years now, and I'll be the first to admit that they are nothing but big toys. Yes, they are expensive, huge, powerful, and can hurt people if they aren't used correctly, but in the end they are just toys that we play with. I don't mind admitting that one bit at all. The way I look at it, toys keep you young!!!!

Ken

I agree, they are basically serious toys just the same way a boat or motorcycle would be a toy. I don't that the general public quite understands the size, performance and complexity though. They think of some $39 thing that their kid had, not a serious aircraft. Not that there is anything wrong with those $39 toys of course, I've been known to frustrate the cat with some toy helicopters.

If people say you need to grow up, just find out what they are into. I'm sure it is cars, guns, fishing, golf, computers, bicycles, cooking, woodworking, video equipment, cameras, painting or something. Then tell them to grow up and get over that stuff. Sometimes that helps them get it.

Invite those people to your field for
some toy watching.



Bob

The difference between a man and a boy is just the price of there toys!! I often use the term toy when I'm around scale pilots and they tend to come unglued!! These are scale aircraft!!!! Not little toy airplanes!!! Sorry, I like to go out and play with my toys!! When I was still shooting trap and skeet I also called my guns toys or tools. A rose by any other name........

Toy airplanes in my eyes would be something that is very small and be held in your hand as you pretend to fly it around and make noises as you zip it through the air. lol

Without starting a war where the line is drawn, to me there is a point when the airplane quits becoming a toy, and becomes a piece of art...that happens to fly...

Awesome - next time I am going to agree with the person.
"Oh yes, I play with toy aeroplanes all the time...."

See how simple that was!!!

I sometimes allow my friends into my shop and they marvel at my "toys" then I show them the 91- 120 4stroke engines that power them, and the retractable landing gear on most of them,and the aprox 1,000$ price tag and they start refering to them as my "airplanes"

I will admit that I've had the same experience as Bigtim, guys at work called em "toys", which yes they are, but after seeing and hearing my "toys", now I have to keep them updated on any new planes I get, plus now their bugging me to get my new great planes PT17 stearman done, just glad they don't know about the corsair

Most people wouldn't see the difference, other than size, between a $40 model and one that costs $400. I do think they're all toys and that is OK. I'll be 50 in two months and I like playing with toys. I hope I never "grow up."

I'm pressing the button on 54 this year. I guess some would consider that old just like they would call what we do playing with toys. I'm OK with that too since I bet I can get my blood pumping faster flying a new toy then someone else my age would walking the dog around the block!

Even Jimmy Stewart had to have it explained to him in one of my favorite movies, "Flight of the Pheonix" that a model aeroplane is not a toy. (Henson and Stringfellow flew one 600 meters fifty years before the Wright brothers or something like that.) A toy aeroplane, it was explained, was something you pull around on the floor with a string.

I will be 72 in a couple months and I still play with (toys) race rc Cars , n scale Trains , Kites biggins 12 ft and up and yes planes up to 8 ft Telemasters and RC Skydivers , Nope not boats ,but have one sitting in garage a tunnel hull with a 35 mCcoy outboard on it

I quit when I die No body takin my toys away - PS that why I gots a carry permit , now if I can find my glasses I be set LOL

R/C Skyjumper - Sounds like my basement! - I find people seem even less accepting of my trains (Z scale) then the planes. Always wanted to build a layout in a suitcase....

I'm 62 and I was the kid at a couple of my clubs. Two weeks ago I was flying with a fellow that was 90. I started when I was 8 and I still enjoy my toys. When some of the guys from my wood working club come by I too dazzle them with the big four strokes, then I bring out some of the gassers!! I don't have any of my old twins with me here but they about fall over when I show them my toy engines are still bigger then the engines in the scooters they are riding. And I start them by hand!!

WOW us ol codgers have a lot of fun ,cause we past the age that dont care what others think, to a degree ,and we do and will have fun , Z scale is more spendy than planes also rc cars are spendy in the upper classes, It would be neet to put a Z scale layout in a breifcase , providing the bank will give ya a loan on yer house to finance it LOL

Last summer the wife & I had a fish fry for some of my airplane freinds
and their wives, also invited one of my single co-workers that knew I was
into airplanes and told him to bring a lady friend along if he so wished.
To make a long story short, when she observed us guys in my shop talking
about my airplanes, she made the comment that we weren't "nuthin but a bunch
of kids playin with toys", to which I replied, I don't drink or smoke and I don't chase
women and my wife knows where I am when I say I'm going flying. She took a deap
breath and proclamed she was my co-worker's toy and he didn't need anything but
her to play with. Following Monday at work during lunch we were planing his first
"Toy Plane" purchase, as for that lady friend, haven't seen her around him much
anymore, but he comes to the field now with one that is very freindly and just
adores everyones "Model Airplanes".

I guess she was just unable to fill a certain spot in his heart. So much for not needing anything else...lol

 people ask me if we have any children, and i reply, "yeah, me. the only difference is the toys cost a whole lot more" lol. really, i dont think these are toys. could a child build a plane like the ones we all use?

My wife and I have gone through so many different toys/hobbies over the years. Sking, camping, fishing, shooting, hunting, motor cycles, years of building sand rails and living in the desert for weeks on end. My airplanes were always there too. Like you she always knew where I was. I do drink, smoke and look at women though, don't fool around but when I quit looking you may as well toss the dirt on my face, I'm dead!! Drinking is social only so I never go to bars to get loaded, just a beer and some wings. Because I can't do much of my old hobbies any longer she is happy to see me still modeling. She joins me in the shop for a smoke, we never smoke in our home but the shop is my do anything spot. She understands about man childs and supports it. She doesn't go to the fields with me though, BSing with the peanut gallery isn't her thing. FYI, all of my hobbies were just my toys! A child can't build or drive a sand rail either but it's just another toy.

Whether of not I get offended when someone calls them "toys" depends on who is saying it. If you guys call them "toys", it's cool. You guys understand what is involved, and they really are just bigger, more expensive toys than some. But when some arrogant ass wants to attach that label to them in a derogatory sense, my hackles rise. I don't want anyone who doesn't understand what is involved to bad mouth them.

Good point Jollypopper - It's when it's said with a sneer that annoys me. I think RGM762 is right: They're just jealous!