FalconD

My Feedback: (190)

Hi Ram-bro. At least two of these came from you!!

acerc

I don't have any kits stashed. But I do have a lot of sets of plans and a good stash of wood. For me, it don't matter if they don't make it any more, there will always be something in print.

acejinx

I agree with Walther on this point. I have owned two sailboats (Non-trailerable), been a hunter, and really really want to own a full scale airplane. This is really a cheap hobby for as fun as it is! Now I'm starting to fly with my kids which makes it even better. It's just funny how excited how excited I get about a new airplane when I have more than a dozen at home!

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

they are like my kids.......since I dont have any. I thought you would be gone by now........Got anything Byron you wanna sell? lol

catspaw

I too like to receive packages in the mail, probably more than I like having the contents, so OP's post is accurate.

I've been in the hobby since the late 80's, and have been active on and off over the years. I never got rid of my stuff, and kept up my memberships in the club and AMA.
I've got 2 planes I consider to be "ready" to fly (not really, I'm in the middle of converting them to electric), 3 planes in the bones waiting for radio and covering (and electric conversion), 1 started giant scale kit, 1 1/2 way built 4 star 120 from a fellow club members estate. Those are the ones in my shop. Plus a 2m glider I just don't fly anymore. Oh, and a small quad I got last winter and fly indoors.
In the attic, I have another members P51 kit, mostly built, a plans built twin that has only the fuse built, plus 4 or 5 untouched kits.
I also have several dozen plans.
In other words, if I built one kit or plans built a year, I'm set for life, probably. And I'm only 47.

Yet, I will still buy a bargain plane, plan, or kit if I can get a really good deal. I'm kinda looking at a mid-size cub, for example, possibly someone else's finished plane, or a ARF. Believe it or not, I've never flown a cub in this hobby yet.

Ron Stahl

My Feedback: (12)

Between myself and my business partner we have over 200 kits and a few dozen arf's. We just bought a hobby shop together so that number may rise. Lol. Seriously I give the trainer kits I have away to kids who want a plane, and build the ones I wanted as a kid I couldn't afford. I enjoy building more now than the flying as I only have to deal with myself when I'm in the basement instead of the politics of the club when I'm at the field.

cublover

My Feedback: (47)

I to have build a **** load of ARF's last year I built a scratch build giant scale Spacewalker,,,,What a total thrill!!!...I forgot how much fun it was!!!... The pride in the first flight was so intense! worth every second of the build....Total ARF'rs don't know what they are missing!!... My next one is on the bench for this winter,,,you guys will see it,,but I'm a secret type of guy till its out...I promise you,,,you'll love it!!!... here is the Prop...it will have a DLE 111 or a DA 120 or close spinning it!!!...Build one,,,you'll love the outcome!!. Fly or Die

heggen

If I had the money and the space, I would be collecting kits. There were and are so many geat airplane kits out there begging to be built someday. With money and space being the limiter, collecting plans is the way to go for me. Occasionally, I get inspired enough to actually build from the plan that has held my interest the longest. The few kits I have collected sit in storage while dozens of plans are readily accessable and easily opened to view. Hours can be spent dreaming of what hardware and materials would be required, how it could be built and how successful it could be as a flying airplane. Reading plans can give greater understanding of design and structure to make anyone a better model builder. This is one of the benefits strictly ARF assemblers are denied.
But, it doesn't matter if it is a scratch build, plan build, kit build, ARF assemble, or buy and fly. We are all having fun in our own way and fun with model airplanes is the common denominator in this great hobby.

ww2collector

I have over 70 kits in the basement...most of them are the planes I wanted to build when I was a child in the 70's. Some glass, some all balsa. I fear that kits are becoming scarse due to the influx of better quality ARF's from China. As my daughter commented when she was 5 years old in Toys r Us "everything is made in China!" The build should be half the fun!

countilaw

I have a lot of planes. Some over 40 years old. But my down fall is engines. It's hard for me to pass up an engine. A quality made engine is a work of art to me. I only hope my kids will appreciate them when I'm gone.

Frank

sensei

Bashing kits is allot of fun, but there is no greater satisfaction then designing, scratch building and the maiden of my own creation.

Bob

countilaw

The plane in my avator is my design and build. It's really is a pleasure to see something that you designed from a thought in your head to paper, and then into a model, and then to see it fly.

Frank

scaleflyer50

Kit building provides the builder with a sense of accomplishment. To see the box of sticks transform into a real flying machine under the skill of your hand, to see that it flys, and to be able to say ' I built that flying machine' that gracefully flys through the air, and under the skills of the pilot comes back to earth gently is why I build airplanes from kits!

PointMagu

My Feedback: (11)

I grew up with a Dad and an Uncle that had been modelers since the '30's. Dad built Sterling "ukies in the basement and I would watch him fly them at the local airport, Mexico Farms in Cumberland, MD.
I built my 1st balsa kit, Miss America as a FF, rubber-band powered bomb. Undaunted, I continued to dabble through my pre-teen years with Guillows and Scientific offerings.
Point is, I grew up with a parent that TAUGHT me how to hold an X-Acto knife. How to apply Ambroid glue and apply SIG and Pactra butyrate dopes. Tissue paper, silkspan and real silk made me truly appreciate that very first roll of peel and stick Monokote. I'm 60 and have been building ever since. I ALWAYS found time to build. Not always had time to fly but those I didn't usually ended up in someone else's hanger.
It is my opinion that society has impacted even the modeling community in that we have legions of PILOTS with no time available to BUILD. Also, the "fear" of demolishing a project that has hundreds of hours of love and labor can be overwhelming. I share this and always had my club Pres. test fly each and every bird off my board. If he passed it, I tweaked and flew it. If it was a hand-full, it got donated, gifted or sold to a better pilot than I, lol, (most of those were bipes, btw)
It is easier and less stressful to buy, assemble and fly an ARF than to open a box of wooden sticks and planks and start cutting. IMO, again!
Now, here I'm going to step on some toes and probably irritate a few of y'all...I HAD a Dad that devoted his time and his love of the hobby to his son. Not a lot of boys today can claim this distinction. Work-work-work. The economy. Busted households, single parents....it all adds up. Ultimately, most of us want to FLY. ARF's have transformed and boosted AMA membership and hobby distributors into major players. The average person can buy an exotic design or a warbird, learn to add radio gear and transition to "pilot" without ever knowing what banana oil was ever used for, LOL.
Companies can't be blamed for discontinuing kits.....who's out there buying them? Laser cutting is expensive and as 99.99% of ARF's feature this style construction, kit manufacturers have to offer similar quality and maintain a line of offerings to a niche market. And THIS is why ROYAL kits are pulling premium prices on eBAY and other sites. Top quality band sawing, packaged parts packs....unseen anymore.
Yeah, I have a few antique kits. My "prize" is an original Top Flite R/C Nobler. Best coupled flap job I ever flew. Oh, I have a coveted ARF Goldberg Sukhoi SU-26MMX, too. D*mn.....I love this hobby!

PointMagu

My Feedback: (11)

AD-1 Skyraider...

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

QFT!

They make kits so some of us can improve on them!

I don't have anywhere near as many as lots of you guys but I do have an eclectic bunch. Part of a case of HOB P-51's and AT-6's all the way up 18 giant scale kits and a Gere Sport I am trying to finish. Would have finished it this weekend but the damn puppy ate ALL the wiring off my new trailer Friday. I wanted dog burger for dinner but the wife said NO.

Don't even ask about the repair jobs in some state of progress (Challenger - pull and ship the engine, AJ Slick Edge - rebuild the lower fuse, Pica P-40 - properly install servos and engine [G-62], and a fixing Giant Aeromaster that flat spun to the ground, and the Cap 231 EX - cut enough of the fuselage away to mount the 3W-70 then mount the cowl)

And yet with all that going on and the kits in the attic, I am STILL shopping for interesting kits. Saw a 27% Edge the other day I am interested in.

Michel

Hi
I,m mostly a kit builder .
I don,t want to change the topic , nor have a pi$$ing deul . But do you guys get a little edgy when someone starts an ARf thread , and calls it a , " BUILD " . Unfortunatly , for me , I do .

Good thread topic

Michel

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

Agree, it's like $*E*X LOL

Cheers V.

CafeenMan

I build because I love to build. The anticipation is good but it's not the epitome by any means.

I just love to make things. I've spent the last year making miniature rocking and rolling horse ornaments. They're all very nice hardwoods - ebony, cocobolo, cherry, maple, walnut, Brazilian rosewood and some holly pieces.

I make a lot of my own tools because I need them but I take my time with them usually because I enjoy making them as much as using them - especially when they work particularly well.

Here's an example: http://www.airfieldmodels.com/inform.../bevel_master/

Honestly if you believe the anticipation is the greatest thing then in my opinion you aren't really there yet and don't quite "get it". That's not a knock-down. Whatever makes people happy is good if nobody's getting hurt in the process.

I see so many people who are not very happy and are pretty much doing nothing with their lives at all. I mean there's nothing that they look forward to except the occasional event now and again.

The more time goes on the more strongly I believe that true satisfaction in life comes from accomplishing something that was challenging.

Using myself as an example again, I could not build a flying model aircraft when I was kid no matter how hard I tried. I had a lot of problems.

I was hyper-active. I had zero patience. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't have a real workspace. I had nobody who could help me. And I didn't have tools. I thought there was something really wrong with me because all the kits were Guillows which I now know are some of the most difficult kits to build and fly successfully that were ever sold.

I probably started around age 8 or 9 trying to build flying models and I attempted one after another. I was at least 13 and maybe 14 before my first model actually flew.

People who take on simple "challenges" just can't even begin to understand the satisfaction that comes from working hard at something and failing over and over and finally conquering it. I'm no master builder by any means. I've never done a very highly detailed WWII warbird and I probably never will. Not because I don't think I can but because I hate doing research. And even the guys who do all the research there's always a chorus of people telling them they got this detail or that wrong. Now I don't really care what anyone else thinks about my stuff, but if I doubt that my work is correct then it takes a lot away from it. So it is in fact another challenge for me but not one I really care about. When I decide to build some warbirds I'll put in whatever details and not really care if it's actually historically correct or not. As long as it looks right to me I'll be happy.

Anyway, I've never really thought that collecting things is much of a hobby. But again, it's not my place to say what makes anyone else happy.

CafeenMan

By the way, I have a couple dozen kits and tons of my own designs all waiting to be built. I have maybe a dozen sets of plans - probably not that many if you don't count the ones that came from kits I built.

i have three or four projects I started, intend to finish but left my shop because I was out of something for the magnetic fixture sets I sell and had to do some production. Unfortunately, when a half-built model leaves my shop they seldom come back in. I see them stored in a room in my home and I just feel very disconnected and don't remember what I was thinking when I left off.

A few days ago I took one of those planes back to my shop. The wing is silked and I had to redo the ailerons. They now have silk attached but no dope coats yet. That will begin tomorrow a.m. if the weather is good enough.

I have two nostalgia kits I'm really itching to build.

One is a Top Flite .35 size Control Line P-51. I built one of these as a kid and botched it. This one will be Radio Control. I have to check the plan to see if the wings are symmetrical. Control line kits often have one wing longer than the other. I think this one is fine. The wing span is something like 35" or 36". It's way over-built.

I plan to use a .21 or .28 engine in it and reduce the weight by very much. I will probably cut almost entirely new wood for it but use the plastic canopy. The decals are shot so I'll have to find replacements or paint the markings or make my own decals.

The other kit is the Sterling 1/2A Corsair. Another kit I botched long ago. Same deal with this one. I'll put on a .09 to .12 engine, replace the wood and use the plastic. The decals may be ok. If I recall correctly they are severely curled and starting to crack. If I were to try to flatten the dry sheet they would definitely crack a lot more. If I decide to use them then I'll cut them apart carefully and when soaked they should be pliable enough not to become more damaged. Anything that needs to be touched up with paint will be.

If I can't find rotating retracts for this model that are reliable then it will have no gear at all and be hand-launched and belly landed.

In case you're wondering, I don't hold "antiques" as sacred. These are kits meant to be built. I couldn't care less what the kit are worth or may become worth. The reason I'm replacing wood is to take off a whole lot of weight, not to preserve the kit.

still bill

My Feedback: (1)

How about you guys with unbuilt kits, let us kit builders have a shot at building them, sell them to us

Glyder

Me....I like to fly!!!!!..ill be 61 on the 23rd of Dec. I built all the kits and all the scratch from plans I care to build long ago. Fun, rewarding, enjoyable, etc...at the time yes. I wanna be out at the field. My times runnin out. Ill fly in any weather as long as the winds not out of control.
Been quite a few guys that have been around my club and area that are droppin like flies....a lot of them WWll vets.There widows usualy ask the club to get rid of the basements, sheds, garages etc...full of unfinished kits,built planes that havent seen a runway in 25 years, engines, servos, radios, props, starters, batteries, covering, paint and hardware. Most useless junk now that was once top of the line and rotted away.
If youre not gonna use the stuff...sell it...give it away.
Get out and fly. Get some air. Smell the nitro

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

WHAT????? Then what would *I* do?

jester_s1

In any hobby you have the doers and you have the buyers. The doers keep a practical collection of quality items that are well maintained and used a lot. They prefer not to buy more hobby things because that takes money and time away from doing them. So doers who hunt have one good rifle, maybe 2 if they want a varminter and a big game gun, one good shotgun, and maybe a couple of handguns. The doer RC pilots has one good radio and 1 plane for every purpose- maybe a warbird, a pattern plane, an IMAC plane, a couple of racers (gotta have a backup, right?) a sport plane or two (one of floats maybe?), and maybe a Cub. A buyer is focused on the thrill of the next acquisition. When I worked in a gun shop, I knew several. They rarely shot their guns and couldn't really come up with a reason to need another one. But every 6 months or so they got the urge and had to spend some money. RC buyers are the same way. Every few months they just have to come home with a new box.

cublover

My Feedback: (47)

amen brother!!