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:
:disturbed: Perhaps you may get started into cycle riding...
(http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj83/Frazz_y/cowasaki.gif)
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?
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......
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:
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.
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:
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 (http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/items/ESMDAUNTLESS71.html)
hmmmmmmmmmmmm.........
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.
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?
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).
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:
I have a heritage Tempest buried somewhere..still in the box.......
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:
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!
I have not got into the electrics yet. I did get a Hyperion 12v charger, but can't figure it out. The instructions are very poor, and I mean ppooooorrr.
I also have ssssooooo much glow stuff that I'll probably hang with it for a while just because of how much I have into them. I've got 5 or 6 .46 size glows and an OS 91 in the Hog Bipe I haven't flown yet. After 50 years of glow, it's tough going another route. Nothing like the smell of nitro in the morning.
I imagine I'll slowly start going the electric route. Can anyone recommend someplace to learn about electrics and a web site to find out how to use the Hyperion charger? All this nimh, hipo, lipo stuff is foreign to me and I need to edumacate myself in the flow of electrons. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanx
Wayne, this one:
http://www.6mmflyrc.com/original-series/
Second one down. The motors are tied to the elevators so you get vectored thrust without thirty extra servos or special mixing. It's pretty slick. I'm building their Phantom now.....
Good place to get started in electric stuff:
www.ezonemag.com
Lots of good info there, they have a great beginner's forum.
oh, that one is cool!!
Frank, if the stuff you have is working great, don't feel pressured to move into new technology. Sure, there are some benefits, but they are incremental... The hog bipe with a 91 is an AWESOME combination!! Wish I had never sold mine!!
I am hoping to get in enough flying this summer to fly the hog bipe. Sure is a purdy little thang.
Heh, I wish someone would fix mine. :disturbed:
I actually went flying today!! The poor ol OS46 hadn't run for a few years, so it gave us a bit of grief...(http://www.rcfcbc.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=848)
Maybe it would run better if it wasn't 20 below out? :icon_smile:
it was about thirty....above! Engine was full of after run gunk and had an old sorta working glow plug that I eventrually figgered out needed to be replaced......
We actually got up around 50 and dead calm the last couple days, but as usual when we get a respite like people seem to find other things for me to do. This whole work thing is cramping my intended rich and shameless lifestyle. :icon_smile:
Well at least you got the shameless part pegged........ :notworthy: :disturbed:
Aw heck, I am sure there is a whole lot of 'lesses I have down pat. :icon_smile:
Hey Eric, did you go to the auction in denver this year? I skipped it this time.. only second time in all the years I have been going.
No, I was thinking about it, but the weather was bad so I stayed home too.
I think I was not meant to be a 21st century man. Been playing with my Spektrum DX-7 radio and after about three hours of reading the somewhat useless manual and pushing buttons, I finally got the settings for the Phantom dialed in. And it even worked. All the flappy parts flap in the proper directions. Hope they stay that way.... :eek5:
Anybody else got anything on the bench?
Hey Nony, that yaller flyin' mo-sheen of your'n dint have no wheels!! :icon_mrgreen:
Spoke too soon. I'm trying to get two elevator servos dialed in to where they move in the same direction. Come to find out That a Y-harness doesn't work to well on this radio setup, so you can slave a second servo to a primary channel. I'll have to do this for the elevators and ailerons. Stay tuned...
Then, I managed to knock the Phantom off the bench last week and break the right elevator and half the stab off. I love foam, because it's easy to fix. But I was still a little po'd. The joys of modeling....
Heh, don't feel bad, I have to try and find my manual and relearn my JR 8103 so I can switch models. :icon_redface:
Honcho, I feel your pain. I, too, am looking for my 8103 manual. This was right after reading my new DX 6 manual. It's amazing how much you can forget.
I got an old plastic trainer out to fly so as I don't risk my better models until I get a little bit (as id f I ever had any) of skill back.
JR just release a V2 version of the 2.4 module....a neat single piece unit that plugs right in and gives new life to my 8103!
(http://www.rcfcbc.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=846)
(http://www.rcfcbc.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=845)
I've been eyeballin' that, too. Howsomever, I got 8 more receiver to buy to fill my dx 6. Hhhhmmmm, maybe I'll get that module and replace my receivers in the 8103.
Cool! now to just win the lottery...
just take a cow to market.....and trade it to a stranger for some beans......plant the beans....etc etc etc.....
...works everytime!!
Hmm, When I do that, they just give me a check.
'Spose they ran out of magic beans?
Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot, the more you toot, the better you feel, so eat beans with every meal!
Sorry guys, I just couldn't resist that...
On a more serious note...I am having a P.E.T. scan tomorrow at 7:30 am...would really appreciate prayers for this. I am expecting a miracle if God wishes one.
Love to all!
We're with you Cynthia.
It's all in perspective and attitude! (Judging from your bean composition I think you have one or both of those covered... 8) )
I'm working on it. :eusa_pray:
Prayers sent up Cynthia.
Carl
We're with you Cynthia!!!!
Prayers for ya too Cynthia
My prayers also.
Ditto, Cynthia!!
Hi Guys!
Finally got the results today from the scan. The good words are "STABLE" which means the cancer spread has been halted and there is "MARKED DECREASE" in the pitting in my pelvis from the lesions. The Zometa bone strengthener is working. A wee bit of bad news is that the lesions have weakened my L4 vertebrae but I am not having any pain from that. The doc says there are ways to fix it when the time comes. All in all, I am elated at the news and am continuing with a new chemo drug called taxotere, will have another scan after three of these treatments.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and healing thoughts.
Love to all!
L4? When my chiro is adjusting my hips he refers to "L4" and "sciatica" in the same sentence...
Keep an eye on it, hon. Walking is important!
Great to hear the news on everything else!
Glad to hear the good news.
Hang in there.
Cythia, thanks for sharing the positive news!!!
Yep Great News
Good news is always welcome, hang in there Cynthia.
I was just wondering where everybody went?
The new chemo kicked my butt last week but I am on the mend now. Thanks for all your healing thoughts and prayers.
Love to All!
~C~
Everyone is too shy and bashful......
Glad you are back to your perky self Cynthia..best of luck with the treatments and I hope they nail those nasty bad cells!!!
Aw, my winter break is over and I have had to earn my keep for a change.
At least you can see some benefit from the chemo while you suffer through it Cynthia, hang in there!