A Dinosaurs lament

Started by Onepoint, February 10, 2010, 07:58:41 AM

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Onepoint

Well I don't think its a secret I have not been flying near as much as I used to, other hobbies, other priorities and moving slower as I get older combined with having multiple planes, engines and kits stored around led to back burner much of the RC interest of what was new.

So today I started clicking my bookmarks one after the other were dead links,  I vaguely remembered Lanier and Goldberg were bought by Great Planes, today I find they dropped all of the really fun models they had and kept a just a few of the old standards. So it has finally come to pass that Tower/Great planes have become the milquetoast one size fits all direction of the hobby.  Fortunately there is still Hangar 9 and Sig, for however long that lasts.  Honestly, if I was starting this hobby with the current state of what was available I may not have been so facinated. My interests has always been warbirds and more often semi scale golden age sport type planes.
which seems to have become far less common.

Gone are the Stingers, the PT19, the Flybaby, the Skywalker, the Giant Aeromaster and others, even some of neat ARFs are gone like the Ryan STA an Goldberg Decathlon.  Sure there are all or at least most of these available in electrics, but that just doesn't hold that much interest for me.  There is just something about the messy, smoky, noisy, dirty glow or gas planes, combined with the dust and weeds (and berms  :icon_smile: ) of dirt runways that bonds the whole experience into some sort of intangible fun factor, that is just missing in electrics for me.  Nothing beat that Cub or biplane coming across in front of you  cruising throttled back, with your minds eye seeing you wave at yourself with a big grin.  

Now its not like I lack for anything, I still have kits, planes and projects from kit to rebuild, but its my personal perception of the idea of an era of a RC golden age in nearing an end, I suppose much like the old timers did when ARFs started to show up and brought out people by the dozen to fly their shiny planes with little emotional investment into them.


On the other hand Hangar 9 does have that cool AG Wagon now, it may not all be bad.  :icon_mrgreen:

Frazz

 :disturbed:  Perhaps you may get started into cycle riding...

To understand true love, lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car for an hour and then see which one is glad to see you when you come back

zrct02

I gotta make certain I'm not drinking anything when I read these threads.  You guys realize how much it hurts when one's sinus and nasal membranes are blasted by soda?  I'm just thankful it wasn't hot coffee.  EMS tech:Just how did you manage to get those 2nd degree burns on the INSIDE of your nose?

jetmex

I feel your pain, Honcho, but that got me to going off in a different direction.  While many of the old timers are disappearing, they're being replaced by new and more exciting stuff.  I like warbirds as well, and there's no better selection than can be found as electric models.  I challenge you to find a Bristol Beaufighter, a Junkers Ju-88 or Martin B-26 in affordable gas or glow.  I can afford jets now, and there's LOTS of those.  They may be smaller, but are just as fun to fly and not nearly as much of an emotional investment if you lose one.  So:

www.hobby-lobby.com

www.6mmflyrc.com

http://www.wowplanes.com/

www.nitroplanes.com

http://www.bananahobby.com/

http://donsrc.com/cart/index.php

http://www.yardbirdrc.com/catalog/

http://www.alfamodel.cz/index_eng.htm

http://www.samsmodels.com/site/flyingstyro.html

The list goes on and on......

Onepoint

I know Jaime lots of neat looking electrics in scale,  trouble is after flying my cousins electrics some, its just not doing it for me.

I don't know Ron, I don't think I would get all that mootivated having dozens of those already.  :icon_mrgreen:

Frazz

Yeah I know u have a bunch of em.. I jes wanna see u get them sockees on em.   :icon_biggrin:

I got 4 kits left, 3 jack stafford and one Hot Lines Kits  of a comanche.  I converted my basement where I used to build the kits into a basement home theater room.  Haven't flown a plane in almost 5 years now, only online sims.  I made a nice screen out of some stuff I got ideas from looking at online home theater forums.  Basically you get a sheet of Marlite (bathroom shower wall stuff) and turn it around with the rough side to view pics from. Build a 2x4 frame behind the marlite and paint that with 5+ coats of paint to kind of fill in the rough backing and then frame that with some door trim.... voila... cheap screen for less than 50 bucks altogether.   None of that 1200 dollar screen stuff for me. 

Ill take a pic and post it later of some of what I have done.
To understand true love, lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car for an hour and then see which one is glad to see you when you come back

jetmex

Keep working on it Honcho, it kinda grows on you.  It was ho-hum to me until I flew my Mig, that was the turning point.  And I will admit that I don't miss cleaning up the slime at all, which is probably why I'm not going all that hot and heavy on the Spitfire and Zero (four strokes) at the moment.

And there's the cost.  I'm on a budget, and for what I paid for the engine on the Spitfire, I could have gotten an electric Mustang (or Messerschmitt or Wildcat) ready to fly.  It's also nice to have five or six different airplanes to fly at one go, since they all fit in the truck.  Of course, if I lived at the flying field, it might be a little different..... :disturbed:

I did nearly hit a cow with the Hawg a few years ago while flying at a field way out west.  Them horn things go way up in the air!!  :eek5:

balsum fractus

It's a personal thing....we all do what we need/want to do (with wife's permission, of course..).....
I used to fly a lot more than I do now. Probably one of the biggest reasons was that flying models was a nice excape from the big mean corporate world that consumed me for so many years. Once retired (escaped?) from that, the need for an alternate reality diminishes... I prefer the big planes - gas powered... having tasted them, the attraction of glow fuel sunk pretty low. But both my gassers (a Cub and a Cessna) have been laid up for repairs/upgrades for over a year now. But that still didn't make glow attractive enough to load stuff in the truck and head out to the field.   I have accumulated some electrics, but they just don't do it for me.......A Spitfire just does not make "whzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" noises!!! The little micro fliers from parkzone - especially the Vapor - are fun, but you have to wait for dead calm to fly them. But they are good ol' stick and rudder flying in your front yard!!!

Now having said all that, I bought a dated Midwest Starduster. It was a nostalgia purchase - my Dad had one. And I just finished it off last night.  A very modest plane, but an awesome flying one. I have to say that seeing the servos come to life powering all the control surfaces, has got me excited to see this plane fly!!

Then I stumbled on this this morning http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/items/ESMDAUNTLESS71.html
hmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

Onepoint

Oh, I like gassers too,  they are just a little more cumbersome and less prone to get flown in my situation. I have a Dynaflite Decathlon and a Lanier Taylor Craft Kit waiting  for a someday build.  Still have a my half finished Flybaby kit bash sitting around too. Though my interest seems to have topped out at 1/4 scale or so.

jetmex

To each his own, I guess.  I'd love to do bigger airplanes, I just don't have the space, either to store or transport them.  I have to admit I'm getting lazy as well and don't like hauling a ton of support stuff to the field to fly.  And the schoolyard is right around the corner, so I don't have to go far to fly.

The buzz doesn't bother me any more.  Even less the first time you fly an EDF jet.... :icon_mrgreen:

Wayne, if you're really interested in the Dauntless, let me know.  One of the area distributors for the KMP/ESM kits is a friend of mine and I may be able to get you a good deal on it.  He carries the VQ ARF's also. Here's his website:

http://www.vqwarbirds.com/

Honcho, do you still have that Global Skyraider?

balsum fractus

Thanks Jaime, I may take you up on that!! I.ve always liked the Slow but Deadly.. A round engine with a difference
and lots of history!

What kind of edf's do you have? I have a Synapse and an L-39 (patiently waiting to be built).

Onepoint

I don't think it was the Global kit, I think it was Heritage/Skyshark, but I will have to go and look. :icon_redface: I know I have a Heritage dauntless, Tempest and FW190.

I guess the good thing is, if I ever un-bury my kits under the bench and make room It will be like Xmas seeing what I have forgotten about and have projects to keep me busy for the next 275 years.  :disturbed:

balsum fractus

I have a heritage Tempest buried somewhere..still in the box.......


jetmex

Wayne, no EDFs of my own yet.  I've flown Wally's F5 and F-18 EDFs, and rebuilt the T-33, so I'll probably get a shot at that one soon.  I wouldn't mind having an F9F or an A-10.  The two jets I have now are both pusher prop, the Mig-29 (flying) and the F4 Phantom (under construction).  The next one may be a pusher as well..that 6mmFlyRc Su-37 with the vectored thrust sure has my attention!

Ooooh, a Tempest....... :devil:

balsum fractus

is it this one:
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/images_templ/swap-images/fw034bs_xlg.jpg
???

We have one at the store that was slightly damaged, so it is going to be a shop demo.... It has 11 servos in it! The retracts are really slick too!