khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Vicman--will you be MY dad? I can follow both of those rules, I'll even furnish my own Elmer's glue. BTW, you started that Space Shuttle Yet?

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I'm not retired, but my job gives me lots of time to play on RCU and do the writing and layout part of the reviews I write. As for building, all of the kids are grown and gone, but even before that, my son and I would work together often.

I also only sleep for about 6 hours a night. In bed at ten means up at 4am to write, build or whatever till it's time to go to work.

GrnBrt

My Feedback: (5)

did someone mention space shuttle????

islandflyer

I work 40-45 hrs/week, have 2 children, only watch CNN to go to sleep, and spend most of my evenings in the garage (of course it's not for cars@!!!! It 's my workshop!!!), and most of my week-ends at the field. My 15 year old son likes to hang out with me in the garage doing his own stuff or helping/watching me, but after soloing his Ultrastick 40, he gave up the hobby. I have greatly simplified my life to doing the essentials only: work, be a father/husband, R/C.
I am lucky that my wife accepts it; she doesn't work , so doing chores is her job.
I hope to be in a position to retire after both chidren are out of school, so I can be like some of you guys....[8D]

CafeenMan

The better I get, the slower I build but the faster I get things built. I know that makes no sense so I'll try to explain it. I spend more time on each part to make it better. For example, I used to pop the pieces out of a die-cut sheet and glue them in.

Now I sand everything. And I do mean everything. I sand pieces that I'll never see again. I sand the inside of the fuselage, the shear webs, the spars, the longerons, etc.

But more experience also allows me to build faster because I know in advance everything that needs to be done and can do things more efficiently than I used to. At times I like to sit down and finesse a part just because it's enjoyable, but most of the time I go into production mode and perform the same task to all parts that need it at the same time.

It's a lot faster to cut all the parts, sand all the parts, fit all the parts and then glue them in place than it is to cut a part, sand it, fit it, glue it and then move to the next part. I don't have to keep pulling the same tools back out and put them away.

Another thing I do is clear my bench several times during a building session and definitely before I start. A clear bench improves efficiency.

This has been a good building year for me because I got injured at work and the doctor wouldn't let me go back. I'm back now, but have another surgery scheduled for December so I'll be out again which means at least one more plane this year and maybe two.

This is a chronology of what I've built. You can see the dramatic jump in output this year.

http://airfieldmodels.com/gallery_of...chronology.htm

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Grn Brt-- that looks like a Buran in NASA paint job--just kidding,. How big is that thing, and what powers it, looks fabulous.

I was pulling Vicman's chain, he and I are in same club; I had some old Estes kits lying around, gave them to him 'cause his son likes rockets. One of them is a boost glider model of the Space Shuttle; when launched, it goes up as one, the main tank and SRB's come down on a 'chute, and the shuttle is a glider. About a foot and a half tall, not quite as ambitious as yours.

GrnBrt

My Feedback: (5)

I built that back in '95 when I took a break from building for others and after an ear operation and had a ball doing it. I can't remember the specs now but it had a ST .40 pusher in the back and was of good size. It flew like a pattern plane and the plans are available from RCM, it designed by Parker Leung.

dicknadine

my answer is NONE-- since I learned about RCU-- no more building time, tho I'm 80 and what else to do, all of the planes sit waiting in line to be repaired or battary's to be overcharged. dick

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Ken,
I have been working on this thing since I got all those engines from propbuster.
Do you smell what the vicman is cooking?
While working with the FFF I made these for Spence, if you can't tell he likes the Flash.[sm=bananahead.gif]

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

I feel the need....the need for Speed...oh, yeah, that was a tomcruisecat. Gonna have a cool boost glider, there Vicman. Tell me when you test it (at the field,yes?), I wanna see it go. Then we can strap a G-80 to it, go supersonic. I like Spence's ears, can I have a pair, too, Dad?

Bud Faulkner

My Feedback: (1)

Slade....kudos to you for taking care of that boy, we cared for my grandson while my daughter worked who had water on the brain and CP and lost him at age 15...........thanks for caring, you'll be rewarded some day.
Bud

v-snap

My Feedback: (18)

This Christmas my son gets his first kit, err I mean arf. A rascal 40 in blue to start. I know he needs to learn to build but since my shop has been relocated to the garage there is no room to build. My wife can spend 8 hrs a day with nail polish and remover but not a split second with any type of glue smell in the house so I can't build upstairs.
I too have fond memories of getting into things in my dads shop, all those cut fingers with the x-acto knife and when HOT STUFF first came out my fingers were made of wood or baking powder not flesh...Hope my son likes it as much as me.
Hope to build a shop for us to build everything from model planes to Kayaks and someday a homebuild.
I find that if I do one thing each time I walk past the plane it will get built pretty quick. So in between all my house duties I found myself going down to the basement add a rib or two and back up. It actually worked good for me. Built multiple planes in a year this way.

David Cutler

Can't you [>:] and build aircraft at the same time?



-David C.

hookedonrc

Well, I am not retired, and my building is on the slow side. My shop is in the garage and in the winter, I have to heat it before I really get going. Since I work my usual 40-50 hours per week, after work is pretty hard when the weather is cold. Doesn't really matter too much, as I am not real flush with funds for building right now. My son is a senior in college and for the last 3.5 years most of my spare funds went to OU. I do have 6 planes (5 ARF's and 1 finished kit) with a 7th (the SIG Hog Bipe kit) in the box ready for me to start building. Not sure when I will get to it since my space for building is limited and I usually have only 1 plane going at a time whether it is a kit or an ARF. I was going to start the Hog Bipe this winter, but am drooling over the new Carl Goldberg Monster Pitts. Got one more semester to pay tuition for, and 5 more months for room and board. After graduatiion, my son can return the favor.....lol.

Go Sooners! - Sorry, just couldn't help myself