How dead is our industry?
08-30-2018, 06:00 AM
#26
Thread Starter
08-30-2018, 06:11 AM
#27
My Feedback: (569)
Death by a thousand cuts....or lack of interest
Was a charter member of the Valley Brook RC club in New Florence PA......
Unfortunately older members (6) had to carry the young folk, who thought that their $30 annual dues entitled them to a fully manicured, ready to go field whenever they felt like going flying, with no interest in helping out
In the end the club will officially fold at years' end, but it's been dead for the last 3 years
Here's a google map of the the field....~1,000 foot x 150 foot grass runway, with additional width available to 250 feet .... gravel parking lot and roadway all put in by the landlord
If someone was looking for a place to establish a club this would be excellent
Unfortunately older members (6) had to carry the young folk, who thought that their $30 annual dues entitled them to a fully manicured, ready to go field whenever they felt like going flying, with no interest in helping out
In the end the club will officially fold at years' end, but it's been dead for the last 3 years
Here's a google map of the the field....~1,000 foot x 150 foot grass runway, with additional width available to 250 feet .... gravel parking lot and roadway all put in by the landlord
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4137881,-79.0675733,828m/data=!3m1!1e3
If someone was looking for a place to establish a club this would be excellent
08-30-2018, 06:16 AM
#28
someone above mentioned ..." pick up your transmitter, find a good safe place to fly and go fly"",..........there-in lies the problem. there are no "good safe places to fly" around me and my local club of 7 members is not going to be able to support a designated piece of land big enough to fly from. if it weren't for one of the local club members donating a farm field, there would be no flying in the area. the changes are also coming from outside the hobby. insurance companies cringe when you mention the idea of using your personal land for a flying field and will do everything in their book of tricks to stop it from happening. IOW,.... the main problems don't lie with your neighbor not liking the noise,..... a mere group of flying enthusiasts don't have the meddle to rise up against an insurance company's threat to drop a guy if he lets a club use his property to fly on. the reason for the club member's donating land is because the previously designated farm was sold and the new owner's insurance would not tolerate the field to be used any more despite the AMA's coverage and the club's requirement of AMA membership.......insurance doesn't always solve all problems in this issue of where to fly and the AMA won't cover someone's whole farm because it contains a flying field.
some might call me one of those "nay-sayers",...but I think i'm not,....I am merely exposing the factual side of procuring some flying turf.
some might call me one of those "nay-sayers",...but I think i'm not,....I am merely exposing the factual side of procuring some flying turf.
08-30-2018, 03:29 PM
#30
Our club is struggling for sure. I don't know if it's one thing I can put a finger on. Here's a few thoughts.
Kids are busy these days. It's hard to get them interested when they have constant activities. They have soccer and ball games for grade school age kids at 8 in the evening for example.
Many of the guys I flew with 20 years ago have passed or lost the ability.
Another thing that hurt us was participation in Fly-Ins. We are in a small town and 20-30 pilots showing up for our annual event made a great day. We would have 300-500 spectators. We had it on the same weekend every year for almost 30 years. But it was a steady dwindle. In the end we had 8-10 pilots show up and our membership fell off about the same time and we finally ran out of enough guys to have one.
These things and others are keeping me form spending money with vendors. I don't want to spend a bunch of money to go show off the new plane to an empty field.
David
Kids are busy these days. It's hard to get them interested when they have constant activities. They have soccer and ball games for grade school age kids at 8 in the evening for example.
Many of the guys I flew with 20 years ago have passed or lost the ability.
Another thing that hurt us was participation in Fly-Ins. We are in a small town and 20-30 pilots showing up for our annual event made a great day. We would have 300-500 spectators. We had it on the same weekend every year for almost 30 years. But it was a steady dwindle. In the end we had 8-10 pilots show up and our membership fell off about the same time and we finally ran out of enough guys to have one.
These things and others are keeping me form spending money with vendors. I don't want to spend a bunch of money to go show off the new plane to an empty field.
David
08-30-2018, 04:37 PM
#31
Thread Starter
I think it is just a multitude of things. The world has changed. A young co-worker told me young people just do not aspire to be a pilot these days. It does not have the same appeal. It is what it is. I plan to have fun with it and then croak and die
08-30-2018, 06:10 PM
#32
My Feedback: (125)
RC isn't dying, it has changed directions. No need for clubs when you have foamie park flyers and FPV "drones". A lot of it is the clubs are just too expensive. When a club was less than $50 per year it was affordable but when they cost hundreds per year and even hundreds more "initiation" they are pricing themselves into bankruptcy.
Our club's single biggest expense is mowing. No one or any group could be counted on to reliably show up and mow the field, nor maintain the equipment. So, for the last 15yrs or so we have had to pay a company to mow, to the tune of about $3000/yr.
We have two types of gatherings at the field - picnics and events. Picnics are put on by the club for the benefit of the membership and the food is free. Events are put on by the membership, for the benefit of the club, to raise money for the club and the food is for sale. Cannot tell you how many guys who literally stuff themselves silly at a picnic will come to an event, B,P&M about paying for food and will buy only a soda or a single item for a couple bucks.
08-30-2018, 08:48 PM
#33
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Measnes, La Creuse, France.
Posts: 2,130
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I suppose I have been lucky.
When I lived in England we had in the membership a man who earned a living as a gardener in the summer. In the winter he worked as an electrician which was his trade. He had several customers with extensive areas of grass; schools, factories and private houses and he had a large gang mower which he towed behind a Ford Transit van. He mowed an eighty yard square with this equipment and we took off and landed on this square if the wind was blowing from the north or the south. He used to charge us about £400 p.a ($520 US or 446€) for grass cutting but I expect that that figure has gone up now. We flew from an old WW2 training aerodrome, Forton Aerodrome in Shropshire, and if the wind blew east to west we used the old taxi-way as a runway.
Having moved to France in 2015 to take advantage of warmer weather and the cheaper houses in this area, I found myself a member of a very enthusiastic club where people willingly turn out and put in a few hours voluntary work. A few weeks ago a good number of us met at 10.00 one Saturday morning. Some of us repaired the safety barrier, others cut the grass or hedges, two of the younger men drilled four holes with a post hole borer in order to instal the mast for a solar panel which we have bought from a neighbouring club. The club refills the fuel tanks of any mowers, hedge cutters or strimmers used by the members.Often we then celebrate with a good barbeque at no cost to the workers. The Treasurer loves to cook and he is not short of assistants. We fly off an eighty metre long tarmac strip which runs east to west. You get used to cross-wind take-offs!
At special events we charge 10€ ($12 US or £9 Sterling) for a four-course lunch with wine and (instant) coffee. Every three months we hold a dinner for those members whose birthdays have fallen in the previous quarter. We charge 6€ for that. Club fees are a modest 65€ ($76 US or £58 Sterling) which includes registration and insurance with the national organisation. Lady members are admitted free of charge but only one of them is really enthusiastic, however, the club makes money in an unusual way. At the end of every flying session and frequently part way through a flying session too, we all retire to club hut where a round of drinks is purchased. We charge 1€ for each alcoholic drink, soft drink or Perrier water, so if seven of us are there and everyone has a drink someone pays for a round of seven drinks and the purchase, 7€, is recorded in a book. Tea, coffee and tap water is provided free! At the end of every month I settle my account, others have to be chased up by the treasurer! In this way the club makes a tidy profit which allowed us to buy a sound glider tug with a 60cc petrol engine earlier this year. The club also has a number of ARTF glow-powered trainers which newcomers can fly on a buddy box.
Only in France eh? At my English club alcohol was banned at the flying field. We all used to retire to the pub at the end of the day!
Mind you, I doubt whether all clubs in France are as good as mine!
When I lived in England we had in the membership a man who earned a living as a gardener in the summer. In the winter he worked as an electrician which was his trade. He had several customers with extensive areas of grass; schools, factories and private houses and he had a large gang mower which he towed behind a Ford Transit van. He mowed an eighty yard square with this equipment and we took off and landed on this square if the wind was blowing from the north or the south. He used to charge us about £400 p.a ($520 US or 446€) for grass cutting but I expect that that figure has gone up now. We flew from an old WW2 training aerodrome, Forton Aerodrome in Shropshire, and if the wind blew east to west we used the old taxi-way as a runway.
Having moved to France in 2015 to take advantage of warmer weather and the cheaper houses in this area, I found myself a member of a very enthusiastic club where people willingly turn out and put in a few hours voluntary work. A few weeks ago a good number of us met at 10.00 one Saturday morning. Some of us repaired the safety barrier, others cut the grass or hedges, two of the younger men drilled four holes with a post hole borer in order to instal the mast for a solar panel which we have bought from a neighbouring club. The club refills the fuel tanks of any mowers, hedge cutters or strimmers used by the members.Often we then celebrate with a good barbeque at no cost to the workers. The Treasurer loves to cook and he is not short of assistants. We fly off an eighty metre long tarmac strip which runs east to west. You get used to cross-wind take-offs!
At special events we charge 10€ ($12 US or £9 Sterling) for a four-course lunch with wine and (instant) coffee. Every three months we hold a dinner for those members whose birthdays have fallen in the previous quarter. We charge 6€ for that. Club fees are a modest 65€ ($76 US or £58 Sterling) which includes registration and insurance with the national organisation. Lady members are admitted free of charge but only one of them is really enthusiastic, however, the club makes money in an unusual way. At the end of every flying session and frequently part way through a flying session too, we all retire to club hut where a round of drinks is purchased. We charge 1€ for each alcoholic drink, soft drink or Perrier water, so if seven of us are there and everyone has a drink someone pays for a round of seven drinks and the purchase, 7€, is recorded in a book. Tea, coffee and tap water is provided free! At the end of every month I settle my account, others have to be chased up by the treasurer! In this way the club makes a tidy profit which allowed us to buy a sound glider tug with a 60cc petrol engine earlier this year. The club also has a number of ARTF glow-powered trainers which newcomers can fly on a buddy box.
Only in France eh? At my English club alcohol was banned at the flying field. We all used to retire to the pub at the end of the day!
Mind you, I doubt whether all clubs in France are as good as mine!
Last edited by Telemaster Sales UK; 08-30-2018 at 09:36 PM.
08-31-2018, 05:16 AM
#34
When I was a kid we used our imagination to entertain ourselves. Baseball equipment (ball,bat and glove) and ball diamonds all over in parks and schools. A bicycle, home made push cart with baby buggy wheels and as teenagers maybe a cobbled together minibike which we shared. Winter was mostly ice hockey on ponds and frozen rivers or where ever the firemen would flood a park. Sometimes we were lucky enough to have use of the school or church gym where we played basketball and other indoor sports. Back then except for a very few of us model planes were plastic models that cost money or free flight or control line which cost even more. Just about every kid I knew had a few lawns or paper routes, even collecting pop bottles and cleaning yards. Shoveling snow in the winter just to make a few bucks to entertain ourselves. That for the most part is gone today.
In today's culture I see very little of this self starting attitude. Instead kids expect to be catered to and entertained. That's exactly what industry has catered to instant gratification and amaze me with the latest and greatest electronic toy. Our hobby has lost the draw of having to work at attaining success instead everything can be bought already built, assembled ready to fly. There is no commitment on the part of the participant required until one moves up to more advanced levels and even then sometimes its just how deep your pockets are not the development of skill and knowledge. It is at this point that many drop out for the next bit of instant entertainment.
When I started in this hobby if you wanted something you had to invest the time and effort to build it. By the time you were a decent pilot you were also pretty good at building and repair. Lots of people can now try the hobby without much commitment. Move on, try something else is as easy as selling the arf and picking something else to do.
My era prop planes were what captured our imagination. WW1 and WW2 fighters were what dreams were made of. These could be built in any size depending on your budget. Now days the kids grew up with movies like top gun airshows featuring fighter jets. At airshows watch the kids. When the jets come on they're all eyes and ears. When the biplanes and even mustangs and stuff come by its the middle age and older ones that really pay attention. At mall shows the jets get all the attention from the young crowd until they find out how much it will cost then the lights go out and you can see most of the write off the hobby as a rich boys toy.
Its also hard to compete with motorized toys that you can actually ride and there are lots of them out there.
Like someone said its a natural progression for a hobby like ours and the number of core members will likely remain near constant with the numbers on the fringe fluctuating with the economy.
Dennis
In today's culture I see very little of this self starting attitude. Instead kids expect to be catered to and entertained. That's exactly what industry has catered to instant gratification and amaze me with the latest and greatest electronic toy. Our hobby has lost the draw of having to work at attaining success instead everything can be bought already built, assembled ready to fly. There is no commitment on the part of the participant required until one moves up to more advanced levels and even then sometimes its just how deep your pockets are not the development of skill and knowledge. It is at this point that many drop out for the next bit of instant entertainment.
When I started in this hobby if you wanted something you had to invest the time and effort to build it. By the time you were a decent pilot you were also pretty good at building and repair. Lots of people can now try the hobby without much commitment. Move on, try something else is as easy as selling the arf and picking something else to do.
My era prop planes were what captured our imagination. WW1 and WW2 fighters were what dreams were made of. These could be built in any size depending on your budget. Now days the kids grew up with movies like top gun airshows featuring fighter jets. At airshows watch the kids. When the jets come on they're all eyes and ears. When the biplanes and even mustangs and stuff come by its the middle age and older ones that really pay attention. At mall shows the jets get all the attention from the young crowd until they find out how much it will cost then the lights go out and you can see most of the write off the hobby as a rich boys toy.
Its also hard to compete with motorized toys that you can actually ride and there are lots of them out there.
Like someone said its a natural progression for a hobby like ours and the number of core members will likely remain near constant with the numbers on the fringe fluctuating with the economy.
Dennis
08-31-2018, 05:37 AM
#35
whether the AMA covers the landowner or not doesn't matter. many insurance co. have coverage restrictions that state "no use of unmanned vehicles". flying with this restriction on your land is potentially a reason for your private insurer to drop your coverage. likewise, many ins. companies increase your premiums with the knowledge that your property is used as a flying field, despite the specific activity of flying being covered by a separate policy. in these instances,.... it's only right that the club involved should pick up the difference that the landowner must pay, providing the private ins. is OK with the arrangement. these issues should be looked into when the decision to fly on private land is on the table. as well,.... if the private insurance threatens to drop coverage because of the activity on the land in question, the land owner has no choice but to stop the activity in interest of keeping the remainder of his property covered. with private insurance there is nothing "cut and dried" about coverage and every thinkable issue should be brought out and investigated before the activity starts. IOW don't assume anything when it comes to insurance coverage on anything. a local club lost it's flying field because of this.
08-31-2018, 06:32 AM
#36
Thread Starter
The year was 1965. I filled a couple of large grocery bags with pecans for this old woman. She gave me $5. I used it to purchase a used McCoy .35 Redhead. I mowed grass from sun-up Saturday morning till sun-down Sunday night. I used my earnings to buy control liners. Yes things have changed very much.
Last edited by Lee Taylor; 08-31-2018 at 07:26 AM.
08-31-2018, 06:41 AM
#37
I suppose I have been lucky.
When I lived in England we had in the membership a man who earned a living as a gardener in the summer. In the winter he worked as an electrician which was his trade. He had several customers with extensive areas of grass; schools, factories and private houses and he had a large gang mower which he towed behind a Ford Transit van. He mowed an eighty yard square with this equipment and we took off and landed on this square if the wind was blowing from the north or the south. He used to charge us about £400 p.a ($520 US or 446€) for grass cutting but I expect that that figure has gone up now. We flew from an old WW2 training aerodrome, Forton Aerodrome in Shropshire, and if the wind blew east to west we used the old taxi-way as a runway.
Having moved to France in 2015 to take advantage of warmer weather and the cheaper houses in this area, I found myself a member of a very enthusiastic club where people willingly turn out and put in a few hours voluntary work. A few weeks ago a good number of us met at 10.00 one Saturday morning. Some of us repaired the safety barrier, others cut the grass or hedges, two of the younger men drilled four holes with a post hole borer in order to instal the mast for a solar panel which we have bought from a neighbouring club. The club refills the fuel tanks of any mowers, hedge cutters or strimmers used by the members.Often we then celebrate with a good barbeque at no cost to the workers. The Treasurer loves to cook and he is not short of assistants. We fly off an eighty metre long tarmac strip which runs east to west. You get used to cross-wind take-offs!
At special events we charge 10€ ($12 US or £9 Sterling) for a four-course lunch with wine and (instant) coffee. Every three months we hold a dinner for those members whose birthdays have fallen in the previous quarter. We charge 6€ for that. Club fees are a modest 65€ ($76 US or £58 Sterling) which includes registration and insurance with the national organisation. Lady members are admitted free of charge but only one of them is really enthusiastic, however, the club makes money in an unusual way. At the end of every flying session and frequently part way through a flying session too, we all retire to club hut where a round of drinks is purchased. We charge 1€ for each alcoholic drink, soft drink or Perrier water, so if seven of us are there and everyone has a drink someone pays for a round of seven drinks and the purchase, 7€, is recorded in a book. Tea, coffee and tap water is provided free! At the end of every month I settle my account, others have to be chased up by the treasurer! In this way the club makes a tidy profit which allowed us to buy a sound glider tug with a 60cc petrol engine earlier this year. The club also has a number of ARTF glow-powered trainers which newcomers can fly on a buddy box.
Only in France eh? At my English club alcohol was banned at the flying field. We all used to retire to the pub at the end of the day!
Mind you, I doubt whether all clubs in France are as good as mine!
When I lived in England we had in the membership a man who earned a living as a gardener in the summer. In the winter he worked as an electrician which was his trade. He had several customers with extensive areas of grass; schools, factories and private houses and he had a large gang mower which he towed behind a Ford Transit van. He mowed an eighty yard square with this equipment and we took off and landed on this square if the wind was blowing from the north or the south. He used to charge us about £400 p.a ($520 US or 446€) for grass cutting but I expect that that figure has gone up now. We flew from an old WW2 training aerodrome, Forton Aerodrome in Shropshire, and if the wind blew east to west we used the old taxi-way as a runway.
Having moved to France in 2015 to take advantage of warmer weather and the cheaper houses in this area, I found myself a member of a very enthusiastic club where people willingly turn out and put in a few hours voluntary work. A few weeks ago a good number of us met at 10.00 one Saturday morning. Some of us repaired the safety barrier, others cut the grass or hedges, two of the younger men drilled four holes with a post hole borer in order to instal the mast for a solar panel which we have bought from a neighbouring club. The club refills the fuel tanks of any mowers, hedge cutters or strimmers used by the members.Often we then celebrate with a good barbeque at no cost to the workers. The Treasurer loves to cook and he is not short of assistants. We fly off an eighty metre long tarmac strip which runs east to west. You get used to cross-wind take-offs!
At special events we charge 10€ ($12 US or £9 Sterling) for a four-course lunch with wine and (instant) coffee. Every three months we hold a dinner for those members whose birthdays have fallen in the previous quarter. We charge 6€ for that. Club fees are a modest 65€ ($76 US or £58 Sterling) which includes registration and insurance with the national organisation. Lady members are admitted free of charge but only one of them is really enthusiastic, however, the club makes money in an unusual way. At the end of every flying session and frequently part way through a flying session too, we all retire to club hut where a round of drinks is purchased. We charge 1€ for each alcoholic drink, soft drink or Perrier water, so if seven of us are there and everyone has a drink someone pays for a round of seven drinks and the purchase, 7€, is recorded in a book. Tea, coffee and tap water is provided free! At the end of every month I settle my account, others have to be chased up by the treasurer! In this way the club makes a tidy profit which allowed us to buy a sound glider tug with a 60cc petrol engine earlier this year. The club also has a number of ARTF glow-powered trainers which newcomers can fly on a buddy box.
Only in France eh? At my English club alcohol was banned at the flying field. We all used to retire to the pub at the end of the day!
Mind you, I doubt whether all clubs in France are as good as mine!
We do however bring our own favorite malt beverages, fire up the BBQ, and have a good old brat cookout, pot luck, and BS party after our evening flying sessions. These have become quite popular with families and local townsfolk all coming out and enjoying a big social event.
One thing that has changed with me, and that is a club ran by politics, budgets, and rules no longer works, A group I fly with are dedicated people that like to fly and be together, but are very spontanious and when something needs done, someone does it. If we want to all have a fun-fly, it develops as one guys starts a phone call or email string and then before we know it, we either only have only one guy flying in circles by himself, or twenty people showing up with half we never seen before.
Will this last forever, probably not, people and interests change, but it works for us. We all practically quit the hobby when we tried to organize our group as a traditional club with officers, by-laws, constitutions, and all that red tape. We are no longer a AMA charter club but just a group of guys with individual AMA memberships that happen to fly in the same place. We also are nomads, meaning we don't have a dedicated field, but a number of locations deeded to us by other flyers who have made private landing strips, a local golf coarse, and a small local airport. We also fly anything, from 1/4 scale Cubs, pattern, and foamy RTF, to 3D printed homemade multi-rotors by FPV.
09-01-2018, 09:12 AM
#38
Banned
Actually it does. I've seen more than a few clubs be required to obtain the AMA Landlord coverage in order to keep a flying site. The AMA landowner coverage is separate from the liability one gets with membership. It has to be purchased by a club for the owner of the site. And it, unlike the members liability coverage, is primary.
09-07-2018, 04:57 AM
#39
exactly,....don't assume that your private property ins. will cover your land if a flying field is installed. this,....is the reason the AMA has the rider on it's membership coverage to insure the landowners' property . even at that,....the basic AMA membership coverage does not cover a landowner, it only protects members from suite should they be sued for damages as a result of their aircraft causing damage. a land owners' policy must be applied for separately,.....over and above basic AMA member coverage. it is there to be had, but unless you apply, your land is not covered by the AMA. a landowner, who has rented or leased or donated land for a flying field, to a club, is not automatically covered by the AMA just because the members of the club, who use the land, have AMA coverage. the immediate field itself is covered, as long as it meets AMA requirements,....but the ownwer's property is not covered.
with this in mind,...a property ins. company that restricts coverage from use of the property as a flying field, will be left high and dry should a plane bump into a barn or house and somehow start a fire, unless the landowner files suite on the "specific individual" who was flying the plane. unfortunately, it is the only recourse that a landowner has, if his private ins. restricts coverage from land use by unmanned aircraft.
with this in mind,...a property ins. company that restricts coverage from use of the property as a flying field, will be left high and dry should a plane bump into a barn or house and somehow start a fire, unless the landowner files suite on the "specific individual" who was flying the plane. unfortunately, it is the only recourse that a landowner has, if his private ins. restricts coverage from land use by unmanned aircraft.
09-07-2018, 05:55 AM
#40
Thread Starter
After reading some of the replies I think it is safe to say our industry (like most industries) is all about the demand. As the demand continues to diminish, so will the supply. Of course the opposite is true also. So it is all about the buyer. Since I started buying RC modeling gear a few weeks back, my computer sidebar is flashing RC ads in my face like crazy.
09-07-2018, 09:21 PM
#42
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Measnes, La Creuse, France.
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Personally, though I have some ARTFs, they do not bring me the same satisfaction as models which I have built. My ARTFs fall in to two categories: models I use to teach people how to fly; and models I use to improve my own flying, so you could say that they are tools for a job.
I much prefer seeing something I have built, in the air, defying gravity.
I plan to build Dr Walt Good's eight foot 1938 Big Guff over the coming winter.
I much prefer seeing something I have built, in the air, defying gravity.
I plan to build Dr Walt Good's eight foot 1938 Big Guff over the coming winter.
Last edited by Telemaster Sales UK; 09-07-2018 at 09:24 PM.
09-08-2018, 06:36 AM
#43
Thread Starter
GREAT photos! I like those BIG wheels. Am I seeing Silkspan on those wings? I like the different colors and the translucence. I am cleaning, re-building, and resurrecting my aero modeling hobby. Meanwhile I purchased a simulator to help me along.
Here I am doing a take off and landing
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oUfH1z3RJl8" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Here I am doing a take off and landing
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oUfH1z3RJl8" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
09-08-2018, 10:29 AM
#44
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Measnes, La Creuse, France.
Posts: 2,130
Received 146 Likes
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123 Posts
GREAT photos! I like those BIG wheels. Am I seeing Silkspan on those wings? I like the different colors and the translucence. I am cleaning, re-building, and resurrecting my aero modeling hobby. Meanwhile I purchased a simulator to help me along.
Here I am doing a take off and landing
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oUfH1z3RJl8" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Here I am doing a take off and landing
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oUfH1z3RJl8" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
09-08-2018, 05:51 PM
#45
Join Date: Feb 2018
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I'm one of the lucky ones I guess. I live on a private airport, have airplanes in our own hangars. I've been a modeler for 50 years, always built my own. If I want to fly an R/C plane I just "go out back" onto the airport and fly.
09-13-2018, 06:19 AM
#46
My Feedback: (21)
It is all about perspective, live long enough to develop some history and things come more into perspective. For me I see way more interesting things going on than I ever did when I started RC in the early 70's. I always tell my friends who miss the "good ole days" that the buggy whip mfg's thought things were going to hell also
Larry
Larry
09-13-2018, 06:33 AM
#47
Thread Starter
Some things change for the better. My RC simulator is awesome. I hammer the earth.... I push a button and I am immediately flying again. No rebuild, no repair, no fixin, no doin. I am a kit builder from way back in time and yes I am going the way of the dinosaur. That is okay. Like Cat Stevens sings... "I am old but I am happy"
09-15-2018, 06:08 AM
#48
Thread Starter
Okay I have come to accept that I am living in the past. Finally waking up to the reality that Carl Goldberg has passed. People and things come and go. That's life! I guess the saddest part for me is the kits. Kits were a BIG deal for me... back in the day. Yes I have rolled-up paper plans for the purpose of scratch building. I may be forced to go that path. It looks like I am in an personal adjustment period. I need to wake up to the fact that it is not 1970 and we do not have screaming RC model airplane pattern flyers burning up the skies. I have tried to get myself interested in drones but they are just too simple for me. Sorry no offense intended. I am spending my time on my RF-8 simulator as of now. It is everything I expected and more. It is actually a deterrent to building and field flying. No re-building, no re-fueling, just push a button and the throttle stick and away you go!
09-15-2018, 06:26 AM
#49
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Measnes, La Creuse, France.
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My flight simulator gives you the possibility to fly a WOT 4, a well-known British sports model but I find it easier to fly the real thing!
Pictures of my Classic WOT 4 (Irvine 46) and Mark 3 WOT 4 ( Thunder Tiger 54) below.
Pictures of my Classic WOT 4 (Irvine 46) and Mark 3 WOT 4 ( Thunder Tiger 54) below.
09-15-2018, 07:13 AM
#50
Thread Starter
Great photos! The Wot-4 form and shape strikes me similar to the American Ugly Stik (very popular). I like that style landing gear. The Mark 3 reminds me of my American Senior Falcon. Great finishing job. How did you arrive at that? silk? paint?