j.duncker

My Feedback: (2)

Born in 1947 and before I was 10 I was spending my pocket money on the famous Keil Kraft Flying Scale kits



of course I never got the Spitfires and FW 190s to fly but did have some success with the more sedate Luton Minor and Piper Cubs. Some good Pirelli rubber donated by an older modeler improved the perfomance dramatically.

The Keil Kraft Senator was a big step forward and made many a 2 minute flight on summer evenings.



I built a Hill receiver as a physics project at school and with the help of the fairly mad physics teacher resurrected an ED ground based transmitter. The combination had about a 100 yards range so I flew in left hand circuits around the TX.



I was about 16 when transistors became affordable and a home brew TX and RX was built as another school physics project and instead of a 60 inch 35 powered monster I built a 27 inch monster called a Sharkface, an Eric Clutton design. I had a huge amount of fun with that and wore out at least two small diesels.

There has been a resurgence of interest in the UK in flying by pressing a single button. The radio link uses modern 2.4ghz stuff and the rubber driven actuator is replaced by a modern servo but it is still pure button pressing at it's most basic. If I was in reach of those clubs I would be in there with a Sharkface and reliving my youth http://www.singlechannel.co.uk/
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http://youtu.be/oYXPy8hBjBg

4ptroll

My Feedback: (35)

RCKen....any word on when we might be receiving the KY Jets DVD that was paid for in July at KY jets?

ARUP

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binns aero

Going on 57 in 2015, Grew up felling silly, just like my dad. That dam butyrate! love it! built just about every Guillows kit there was.(safer then the Comet kits) Joined the boy scouts to learn about sharp thing safty. Then the printed kits made more sense over the early die-smashed kits.First rc was a Dicks Dream with a citizenship single escapment.Then Logictrol brick in a Andrews H-Ray. with a KB 19. Then a Mambo 56. I could just about cry with joy talking about this stuff all day! Take that happy trip every time I fly.Mambo #3 helps with the memories.

binns aero

Sorry about the spelling, Must be the vapors in the shop.

acerc

I started around 6 years old with Guillows and rubber bands. Somewhere in the early seventies (71 or 72) I managed to pick up a Monogram Piper Cub with a Drone diesel engine. That was a trip and a half, luckily I lived through it. Been many a models and equipment through the years. Lots of hard work and horse trading to get the things I wanted in the early going. But I have got to say there is no better than the here and now. What I mean is getting to a point in life where one is capable both financially and ability wise to do what one wants, well, it just don't get no better.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

My first airplane was a McCoy .35 powered Comet Rookie that my dad and I built when I was 5. I thought he was taking far to long to finish it up, so one day I got out the dope and painted the entire model, right down to the wheels and tires. Good thing the engine and tank were not yet mounted. Well, 5 is a bit young, but after a number of laps of flying with dad's hand over mine in the handle he got the idea that I was on top of the airplane enough to fly it by myself. This worked fine for two or three laps, but I got into pilot induced oscillation and managed to drive it into the ground before he could recover the plane. Didn't matter to me, because those laps alone were etched into my mind forever.

cannonball200

My Feedback: (36)

Eddie Cannon here. Just a little past 70, wow. My first plane was a control line FLYING FOOL biplane with a McCoy 35 Red Head in 1957. I never flew it but I started it a lot. I started RC in 1974 with a Goldberg Skylane 62 & a K&B 40 rc engine & an Expert 5 channel radio. It flew awesome and taught me to fly rc. I will find my pictures.

GallopingGhostler

It is actually a Hayes 3 oz. tank. I couldn't fit a 4 oz. as it was too long and I'd have to notch out the wing leading edge to make that fit. I get more like about 7 minutes with it, which seems to be an eternity in the CL circle.

Speaking of Berkeley, I have this 1960 Interceptor for .35 engine I plan to build, think I will use a 1950's Fox .35 Stunt:



I was 1 YO in 1955.

I am self taught, too. Repaired a Ken Willard 27" wingspan Top Flite RC Schoolboy with Cox .020 Pee Wee on Ace Pulse Commander many times. You mean engines with exhaust flappers like these? (Enya .09-III TV and OS Max .10R/C shown):

Greybeard1

Now 73, first attempt at building a model at nine, that little Comet Taylorcraft, 16 inch span if I'm right. Started ukie at 21, busted more than my share of balsa. Veco Papoose, don't remember what weak engine I had, but that didn't make any difference, crashed it many times. First RC, maybe in the late 1970's. Still remember standing in the middle of a private airstrip that was our front yard, watching a Thermic B climb out of sight, my first, and cheering it on. Never found it, but that hooked me on HLG for many years. Dropped out for far too long, playing with HO scale railroading, getting back in now. Building a Magnum 40 from RCM plans. Yeah, I know. It's probably going to be rekitted the first or second flight. Maybe.

Rich.

Rob2160

Damn.. just became eligible for this group 6 days ago… Started RC in 1978 at the age of 14.. It would have been 13 but it took a long time to save my pocket money.

Once I had the funds I went into the store planning to get a 3 channel radio, motor and aircraft kit, however the store owner (thankfully) convinced me to go with 4 channel Futaba instead which left me about $60 short - I begged and borrowed the extra from my younger brother and he still won't let me forget it…

and I'm still getting used to the reading glasses…

John Sohm

My Feedback: (9)

Born in 1956 and built my first stick and tissue plane when I was twelve, a Guillow's 24" span SE-5. My stepdad got it for me, he got the Rumpler C-V. We built them side by side. Needless to say, his came out a lot better than mine but mine did fly. I was hooked ever since then. We didn't have the money to do R/C in those days so it wasn't until I dropped out of college to join the Air Force that I actually got into it. I worked a year before I went in. My very first R/C plane was an Andrews H-Ray with an Enya .19 2-stroke that I bought off my neighbor whose brother was selling along with an Enya .60 at his yard sale. I was then introduced to Frank Tiano of Top Gun fame by a Kingston Aero Modeler that I worked with. Frank was selling a Royal 6 channel single stick AM system with NiCads and four servos for $200. I flew that plane exactly once since I flew it on my own. I did fly it though, it was on the landing approach that I strained it through a tree. Nine years later in 1986, I tried again with a Midwest LiveWire Champ and a Futaba 6 channel system. I did it the right way that time: I joined the AMA, joined a club and got someone to show me how and there was no going back. I've been an AMA member ever since. Makes it real easy to pick gifts for Christmas.

KREAMKARTER

My Feedback: (4)

Hi
This might fit the bill.
John Pond "Miss America" built in 1963. Was also flown by John Pond(note Johns AMA rego number) in, I think, the mid 80's. Was recently discovered in a now deceased friends shed.Aircraft is in really good condition as testimony to the build quality.Has been converted to 3ch rc
..

Charlie P.

Born in 1959. Lots of Gillows rubber powered. I remember a red control-line Albatross biplane I had to have a whole bunch of box tops for (Alpha Bits?) with a little Cox .049 engine that was a miserable little $#!+ of an engine. I cartwheeled that poor thing big time in a tire rut where I was trying to fly. That was probably when I was 10 or 11. Used the engine later in a free flight.

Had a Stuka control line (Goldberg?) that was still flyable and in the attic of my parents house when, unfortunately, they had a small fire and a LOT of water damage from the Fire Dept. Can't blame them - they saved the house but squished my boxed and piled childhood - about 20 model rockets, several free-flight airplanes, lots of other kid goodies.

My RC success was a Sig Riser II two channel glider and a surgical tubing hi-start. Had good luck with that and still have the stripped-out airframe.

Then I tried to do a Sig Kadet that came out at about 15 pounds with a .35 sise engine and again with the cartwheels.

oh44077

My Feedback: (5)

80 years gone by. built many gallows planes. first u control testors profile used forster 29 ign. engine converted to glow with arden glow plug and still have it. 1948or 9. many sterling models. still have my 1936 denny plane jr. original box plans adds etc given to me by relative in 1941 finally built it in 1958 and 2001 converted to 3 channel rc rough around the edges but told my family when they cremate me through in the plane. still flying rc and building. we also carved our own race cars from block balsa put a hole in back for co2 cartridge and raced them. great hobby and a lot of good friends over the years thanks Charlie

GallopingGhostler

My first stick and tissue kit was the 15" span low wing cabin Comet Ryan SC, cost $0.69 back in 1965. One of my favorites from the same series was the 15" span low wing cabin Bellanca Jr. I've built several of those.

http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=120

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

I still have the Mambo I built in 1967 when I was 12 or 13. It survived because I never got a transmitter for the Ace receiver and Bonner S/N escapement. I flew it twice as a free flight, and it so terrified me that I never put it to risk again. Same can not be said for the Falcon 56 that started with 3 channels of a 1970 Orbit. First flight was going so great that I landed it. The third flight was completely solo, thanks to an unknown modeler at the old Beech field in Wichita. The Falcon lasted about 75 flights until the balsa wing spar decided that was enough.

GallopingGhostler

My favorite single channel plane with auxiliary throttle was the 36" span Minnie Mambo. I built it from a Sterling kit back in 1979, powering it with the then new Cox .049 RC Bee and a new (bought a year earlier) Ace Pulse Commander with KRD sequential quick blip throttle and Adams Stomper Actuator. I put over 100 flights on it, enough to wear out the piston/cylinder combo. It met its demise in 1983 when I dorked it in from about 150 feet.

Rebuilt it a year ago, now with a new fuselage and tail feathers, it now sports a .061 Norvel Big Mig .061 RC on modern digital rudder and throttle.

donnyman

WoW!!!!!!!

I am flabbergasted by the responses, G/ghost it's passed your bedtime. that mambo looks real nice, I had one when I first arrived here in texas. Well I am not the oldest in this thread some one said he was 80, got me by seven years.

It's passed 1 in the morning see ya later.

sensei

I was born in 1956 and began learning to build and fly free flight and u-control models in around 1962 or 1963, just can't remember fore sure. I do remember loosing a couple of free flights that disappeared over the Palmdale, Calif. mountains and how bad that made me feel, but I also remember a couple of airplanes that I built and had allot of fun with back in the day, my Top Flite Flite Streak with a McCoy .35 red head on the nose, my Goldberg Voodoo with a Torpedo Green Head .35 on the nose, and some years down the road was my Sig 450 Mustang with a K&B 6.5 rear exhaust on the nose.

Bob

Scotch75034

Brings back all kinds of memories for my Gents. I'm 51, didn't get started in RC until the mid 70's. My comment is one of how times have changed for me. My first modeling experiences were when I would take a Comet, or Guillows kit with me to elementary school along with a building board, pins, white glue and ...... an XACTO knife! Can you imagine the response in some schools today if a student brought an Xacto to school? Or CA? I would stay inside during recess and build models that were, well, hmmm. Pretty paper weights. Thanks for starting this. Its been great reading about everyone's early experiences.

skylark-flier

OK, gotta chime in here. You've got me by 7 years. Born 1948, in 1955 (Christmas) I got my first CL plane, the legendary Cox PT19 - and the FOREVER EMPTY POCKET syndrome started. First build was a Guillows Fokker DR1 built with Ambroid (was there anything else at the time) and covered in tissue & dope (aerogloss), like a lot of other guys, and it met with the same fate as a lot of other guys - 10 seconds of "flight" ending with busted landing gear. Mounted a Baby Bee .049 on her and pointed it skyward - never saw it again.

BUT, that really started something. Second build was a Lil Satan with a TD.049 that I still have mounted on a CG Gentle Lady that flies fairly regularly.

Over the next 15 years I built & flew (C/L) a dozen planes by a half-dozen manufacturers, my greatest favorites of the 1960's - early 1970's was the Midwest P-63 and Cosmic Wind. Then I found my first true love with wings - Sterling Skylark (hence, my moniker here). I've had a dozen of them, still bid (and usually win) when I see 'em on E-bay. Highest price I've paid for a Skylark kit is $325 about 10 years ago, it was worth it - and of course, the plane's still flying.

ALL my C/L planes are built with Ambroid or Duco cement, no CA, covered with silkspan & SIG dope. Most are still flying.

DeBolt Aerocoupe converted to C/L. Fox .15RC engine, plane was a BEAR to get back on the ground - floated all day with engine on idle.
My old Midwest C/L stable - ME109, P63, Cosmic Wind

Some of my Skylarks - burgundy is the $325 plane.

1973 started my RC stable - SIG Kadet, built with Duco cement. I still have several tubes on-hand from my latest build, my SIG Kadet Mk-II that was built last winter when I retired that original Kadet. Of course, CA is my prime glue nowdays, but the Duco still has its place, usually with laminations and sheeting.

Ye gads, so many decades, so many planes, so many memories.

rgburrill

Why is diversity all about categorizing and separating people? Would someone younger than 50 benefit by reading about where we came from?
And before you ask or make some comment my first plane was a rocket powered F-86 on a string with about a 12 inch wingspan in 1959. I had several control line planes before my first single channel escapement RC in 1965.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I think he added 50+ to get us old fogies interested!

My first R/C airplane was a .15 to .25 Cub with a fuselage with plywood sides. I don't have a clue who amde the kit. Power was provided by a OS Max .20 RC engine and the radio was the 3 Channel Heathkit radio previously mentioned.

Rodney

I guess I might qualify here. got my AMA number (1455) in 1936 at the ripe old age of 9+. Started out with balsa gliders, Joe Ott rubber band models until I got my first RC in 1955; could not afford them before that. One of my favorite models back in the 40's was the old Clevland Condor Glider (a six foot wingspan balsa and tissue model) that I chased across the South Dakota plains a few times when I caught a nice thermal.