Flying Model Aircraft

Started by Heedless Horseman, 23 August 2021, 04:36:18 AM

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Heedless Horseman

Having re-watched a TV prog series on fighting the BoB with Flying Models... and enjoyed it... curious about others experiences in similar vein?
(OMG! If there had been kit like that in the 70s! Pre built Foam RC planes, "Almost Ready to Fly"... or not! TV show budget fitted some with 'cockpit cams' and VR headsets... and Lasertag guns with smoke canisters for hits!)  :o  8) 8) 8);;D LOL!

My experience, pre-teen,with attempting 70s  'Flying Models' sadly a bit different!
Read a library book. Yammered Ma into getting a couple of Keilcraft kits... (And an enormous  'Veron' (?) Fokker DVIII, still in a box, somewhere!). That Model Shop Loved Us1 Lol!  ;D
Keilcraft Piper Cub (?) build started well... many sections pinned and glued to board.. then Curious Cat jumped on it! (Bless Her :'( !).
Keilcraft Glider... fuselage done, (The easy bit!). Wings going well, pinned out...but Guess What Happened next?  ;)
'EndEx'! . >:(
Did get a Ready to Use Keilcraft Control Line PLASTIC Hurricane... which was fun for a couple of times... but lost interest in going round in circles!  :(

So...  any Flying Model 'Fun'?
(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Never built one, started a "Jetex?" kit once but got bored.
FOG IN CHANNEL - EUROPE CUT OFF
Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

Steve J

Not for me but my Dad flirted with the idea in the '70's and even bought a kit, started it and attended a few club meetings. Nothing ever came of it though. I do remember us going to a RC show somewhere or other where they had racing cars etc. The best bit was a demo of WWI & WWII RC planes with an intended bombing run. Sadly that failed to work but two planes did collided mid air which looked brilliant as they crashed to the ground (well we were kids!). We happened to be watching right next to the owner of one of the crashed planes who looked absolutely crestfallen as he brought back the remains of his lovely plane.

Raider4

R/C aircraft seems to be one of those hobbies where you are certain to see your pride & joy destroyed at some point in the future.

steve_holmes_11

My only experience was as a youngster.

My bedroom window looked out across an above-ground bit of the central line and the old Fairlop Airfield (WW1 and WW2 vintage).
The nearby fields were all football pitches for Redbridge schools.

Beyond the railway the disused airfield was used by R/C aircraft fliers.
Little internal combustion engines, balsa and tissue aircraft and a box of tricks like the ones you see on Robot Wars.
They made a noise like a massive angry wasp and were known among us kids as the Buzzy aeroplanes.

Another bunch flew theirs on the Wanstead Flats, more accessible, and they were friendly enough to show you th kit and talk about how it worked.


As for me, I has one of those toy yachts with cloth sails, woden hull, steel keel and no means of control.
Hours of watching and hoping.



Ithoriel

I really enjoyed the TV show but the closest I ever got was an 18" long plastic bodied and plastic-sheet-over-wire wings vaguely Piper Cub-ish craft powered by a large elastic band.
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Heedless Horseman

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 23 August 2021, 02:08:37 PM
.As for me, I has one of those toy yachts with cloth sails, woden hull, steel keel and no means of control.
Hours of watching and hoping.

I had a ready built Plastic + weighted keel and cloth sail, yacht... rather good, really... which had a couple of outings on a boating lake in S Shields... or afloat in garden pond. BUT, it didn't DO anything apart from wander around so never 'got into it'. Gods... it will still be in Garage somewhere, 50 yrs on! lol.
(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

Heedless Horseman

23 August 2021, 05:58:11 PM #7 Last Edit: 23 August 2021, 06:10:55 PM by Heedless Horseman
Quote from: Raider4 on 23 August 2021, 08:03:53 AM
R/C aircraft seems to be one of those hobbies where you are certain to see your pride & joy destroyed at some point in the future.

So true! I don't thiink I could have coped with that... but Respect for those who can cope with repeated Disaster! :o
The 'Modern' foam things seem pretty tough... but, the 'old day' Balsa and doped paper home builds! Maybe 100+ hrs of construction... then crunch!
You need a VERY positive mindset to 'survive' that.. and just keep on doing it! Respect! :)
(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

hammurabi70

Well as I am thinking of taking it up in retirement I am interested in leaning more.  I attended the Wings & Wheels Show this year to discover more.

sean66

Not Planes but i have started looking at R/C Tanks.
less change of destroying them I think.
not many can say they have a Stug III in 6/10/15/20mm then 1/35th and finally 1/16th scale.  ;D


regards
Sean

Raider4

1/6 scale is what the "serious" people use: STUG III | BY ARMORTEK | BUILD IT YOURSELF

There's also quite a big following of R/C trucks & HGVs and construction-type vehicles apparently. Saw a big exhibition/layout of these at the SWMEE show a few years ago.

sean66

Quote from: Raider4 on 24 August 2021, 01:22:14 PM
1/6 scale is what the "serious" people use: STUG III | BY ARMORTEK | BUILD IT YOURSELF

There's also quite a big following of R/C trucks & HGVs and construction-type vehicles apparently. Saw a big exhibition/layout of these at the SWMEE show a few years ago.


Im not sure i could afford the Thousand of Pounds a 1/6th scale Tank would cost.
Regards
Sean

Heedless Horseman

24 August 2021, 05:15:00 PM #12 Last Edit: 24 August 2021, 05:21:45 PM by Heedless Horseman
RC tanks. Long before there were any 'specialised' RC tank models... sometime 70s... there was a mag article and, I think, a clip on TV... where a group scratchbuilt their own from plywood and whatever motors and 'bits' were available. Dunno 'scale'... but, I think, about 3' sq. and some were rather good models.They happily trundled about woods having battles!  8) 8) 8)

Much impressed at the time, but way beyond me! I Built a 1/35 Tamiya Tiger with motor and wire control... but it wasn't 'up to much'!  ;D
Ha! Thinking about it, I may still have a Tamiya Centurion still boxed, somewhere in Garage...maybe? Completely forgotten about that! lol.
(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

Ithoriel

Quote from: sean66 on 24 August 2021, 02:02:47 PM
Im not sure i could afford the Thousand of Pounds a 1/6th scale Tank would cost.
Regards
Sean

Still significantlly cheaper than 1:1 scale :)
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

hammurabi70

Quote from: sean66 on 24 August 2021, 09:08:15 AM
Not Planes but i have started looking at R/C Tanks.
less change of destroying them I think.
not many can say they have a Stug III in 6/10/15/20mm then 1/35th and finally 1/16th scale.  ;D


regards
Sean

And do not forget the boats and hovercraft.  Electric power and modern materials seem to have made a big difference to robustness but planes still take a lot of damage.  Even at 1/16 scale it is a sizeable chunk of money.