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RC Airplanes & Crawler Trucks Bought one New Video

sanford12

sanford12

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I started down that road in 1980 and it was a costly in time and money. Things have changed in that the tech and quality have much improved. I'm going to start with Horizon Hobbies E-flite Turbo Timber 1.5m. Comes with AS3X that even with full throw on the controls stabilizes for the wind and it also uses the Safe system which has a beginner mode that limits how much throw on the controls and when you let the controls go back to center the plane levels itself it also has a GEO fence. When it hits the electronic fence it turns around and heads towards it's GPS home and after traveling a short distance wags it's wings to let you know you have control again. Next step is intermediate which increases the throw of the controls. Using either mode makes landing much easier. Line it up reduce power and it lands itself.

With the Spektrum radio and all the stuff to get started it's less than 700 bucks and there's no nitro or gas to fool with which for me is a big plus,

In my research which included looking on CL I found a gentleman that had Real Flight 8 RC flight simulator for sale. It has a lot of planes that you can actually buy in the sim. The controller is like a RC transmitter. This set is invaluable for the beginner. It helps you establish muscle memory and boy do you need muscle memory. I'll hit this very hard before buying the real thing. It's already helped.

When the time comes to order the plane I'll join the AMA and the local RC group which has a huge airfield which is a big big +. Altitude and space are your friends.
 
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Judas Priest said:
How about this for your next plane ? :)

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I read every WWII fighter pilot autobiography I could lay my hands on. I went through all the planes and liking different ones at different times. After all the reading the one I landed on for the European theater that would have been my choice was the P-47. For the Pacific it was a toss up between the P-38 or the F-4U

I have to admit I don't think I could fly something that big for worrying about killing somebody closely followed seeing 10,000 bucks scattered across the landscape. Went to an airshow last year and watched a guy lose his jet powered F-86 Saber. He went into a knife edge turn and it was pretty obviously it was slow and sure enough the nose dropped over on it's back and you knew at 75' it wasn't going to survive. I might try a electric ducted fan if I get proficient.

This was a crying shame. The radial engine sounds so good.
 
The AMA is in Muncie,IN.
Toured it a couple years ago.
There’s a replica of a 50’-60’s hobby shop inside the museum itself that was really neat. Cool place.
 
I was scratch building (from plans) powered gliders in 1980 which the biggest was (Big Bird) of 7' wingspan. What fun! The tank had about 15 minutes of fuel, and after that, look for thermals, find a place to lay down in the grass and fly it, sometimes for 45 minutes.. On good days with thermals It was often just a spec in the sky, occasionally I would lose it in a cloud, at which point I'd dive it out..

One day in mid winter, about 20 above, me and a buddy who was a pilot took it flying. It was windy so that I kept it upwind from us, then handed him the box, and he managed very quickly to get it going downwind at a fast speed. Anyway by the time I got the box back it was way downwind and I couldn't see it well enough to know if it was coming back or still going away. We were at the edge of town in a huge cleared area probably a half mile long.

Anyway I eventually dived it into the ground, but where on the ground did it hit? We searched a good part of the day around that field before giving up. About 2 weeks later I got a call from someone who found my plane! (always kept name address ph number inside the fuselage). So it was actually about 3 times the distance we thought, went down in a residential neighborhood in someone's backyard!

If ever I get finished building on this house I would love to pick this hobby back up again.. I can only imagine how the new rc equip is today compared to the late 70's.. Not really that interested in drones, but rc planes are very fun, both in the building and flight.
 
It's a combination that usually don't go together. It's both more sophisticated and easier.
 
Non rc guy here.Would it be possible in the case of the p-47 vid to put some kind of emergency ejection system in the cockpit where if you realize your in big do-do you hit the panic button and the canopy blows off and a chute deploys thus maybe saving big bucks?
 
IMG_0357 (2).JPG I ended up with this Christen Eagle I model after my dad passed five years ago, it hangs in my office/den after being in his hangar for many years. It's a 1/5 scale, 50inch span with a .90 four stroke engine. I don't have the transmitter for it, it would be obsolete anyway. I'm glad its a static display, I would turn it to toothpicks if I tried to fly it. He built a full scale two place Eagle in the eighties.
 
I stick built a few planes back in the day. Loved building them... hated flying them!

I had too much time and worry invested to enjoy the flying.

Last one I built was a model from Tower Hobbies, the "YARDSTICK". It was built from... yardsticks!

Six foot wingspan. It resembled a Piper Cub somewhat.

I covered it with translucent yellow Plasticoat. That way you could read the logo on the yardstick.

They were donated to me by the local Paty Lumber Co. Many thanks to them.
 
John James said:
I stick built a few planes back in the day. Loved building them... hated flying them!

I had too much time and worry invested to enjoy the flying.

Last one I built was a model from Tower Hobbies, the "YARDSTICK". It was built from... yardsticks!

Six foot wingspan. It resembled a Piper Cub somewhat.

I covered it with translucent yellow Plasticoat. That way you could read the logo on the yardstick.

They were donated to me by the local Paty Lumber Co. Many thanks to them.
Click to expand...
I steered clear of the high wing loading planes after a few mishaps. Too fast and stressful! But the big powered light weight gliders were easy to fly, easy on the nerves. It was a hoot to fly on windy days, I could make it hover or even fly backwards in relation to the ground in a 20 mph wind by getting the throttle backed off just right.

And the ravens would sometimes screw with my plane (or perhaps it was the other way around)..
 
The Turbo Timber I'm looking at is a STOL. It has slotted flaps and comes with leading edge slats you can install for even more low speed lift
 
That's what's nice about the Safe system. If you get in trouble switch back to Safe and it will right the plane. When you land with Safe line the plane up chop the power it keeps the plane level and does most of the work landing. The simulator I use has a few planes that use the Safe system and it was easy to go from beginner to intermediate. In expert when things get out of hand hit the Safe switch and the plane goes back to straight and level. Check out YouTube it really is a remarkable system.
 
"Bailout" functions are found on most RC Helicopter flight controllers these days. Here he tests it at about 0:35. When activated, the flight controller automatically rights the helicopter from inverted and makes it go vertical as long as the switch is held.

Nice thing about helicopter crashes is the availability of parts; that is how the manufacturers make money. They sell the parts for repair. If there is a crash, helicopter repairs are all 'screw together.' No balsa wood or glue involved.

 
Did enough thinking about how to get started that common sense came through in the end. Mulling it over about spending 600+ on a plane with at best marginal skills didn't make sense. When I was looking at planes this RTF kit was always popping up. It's the Aeroscout 1.1 pusher. All the positive reviews about it's ease of flight, ruggedness in addition to the 200 bucks and your flying finally swayed me it was the way to go.

For 200 dollars it a really well done piece and well thought out. A wingspan a little over 3 foot so it's got some presence. Super easy to put together. About 15 minutes and I was taking my time. The one draw back was the battery charger. Pretty cheesy and took 14-15 hours for the planes battery. Looking forward to getting out to taxi around maybe a few runway hops.

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When I was a teen in the early 70's I started off with balsa wood & tissue/ dope covered control line planes ( Cox .049 to .35 Enya engines) that flew in a circle. I stunk up the house with that hobby!

They were fun and fast but wanted to try RC , and with paper route $ I saved and bought a Futaba 3 CH radio and I think a Tower Hobbies
hi wing foam plane (.19 ci 2 stroke OS engine) for it's quick build.

It was fast and tricky for a trainer plane and there was no one else flying RC here then so I quickly wrecked it and even damaged a servo. I sold the radio
to a HS friend as I needed a 4CH set for a Helicopter I wanted to buy.

I was In HS by then and working after school in a Hardware store so saved and bought a really nice super high quality
German built kit with a nice big OS .45 ball bearing 2 stroke engine for helicopters. They never had gyros yet and I only got it off the ground a bit and was scared to
wreck it so I gave the Kraft 5 CH radio to a older friend who got me into the whole plane hobby. He passed on sadly at a young age and I still have the chopper.
 
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