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'?
Never built one, started a "Jetex?" kit once but got bored.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 23 August 2021, 01:08:37 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.
Quote from: Raider4 on 23 August 2021, 07:03:53 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! :)
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.
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
1/6 scale is what the "serious" people use: STUG III | BY ARMORTEK | BUILD IT YOURSELF (https://www.armortek.co.uk/product/stug-iii/)
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.
Quote from: Raider4 on 24 August 2021, 12:22:14 PM
1/6 scale is what the "serious" people use: STUG III | BY ARMORTEK | BUILD IT YOURSELF (https://www.armortek.co.uk/product/stug-iii/)
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
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.
Quote from: sean66 on 24 August 2021, 01:02:47 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 :)
Quote from: sean66 on 24 August 2021, 08:08:15 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.
If something is a 'REALLY WANT TO DO'... just do it!
Life is too short!
My 'Lead pile' / 'Plastic pile'... must add up to several £k... I will NEVER 'Get round to it' for so many things. :'(
So... enjoy yourself! ;)
R/C boats is one of the things I periodically get interested in. So far nothing has come of it, but . . . you never know.
Quote from: Raider4 on 24 August 2021, 06:45:05 PM
R/C boats is one of the things I periodically get interested in. So far nothing has come of it, but . . . you never know.
As a Lol... was the film 'Beau Geste' where sailing Ship models fired guns? I HAVE seen vid of VERY big model Battleships ACTUALLY shooting at each other with .22 ammo! Can't think how Crazy you would have to be, to be anywhere near that! ;D Somewhere USA, I think! ;D
As a child I had a Triang, battery operated, model of RMS Orcades
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/cnkAAOSwpHJg~oDL/s-l500.jpg)
I used to take it down to the local paddling pool when it was quiet and send it back and forward across the water.
From time to time there was a bloke with a four foot long paddlesteamer, powered by a somewhat larger version of the Mamod steam engines advertised in magazines at the time .... and still available.
(https://www.mamod.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/SP5D.jpg)
I was so jealous!!
Kind of hard to see what's actually going on, but:
Our more staid, terribly English version:
And 1/16 tanks in action as well:
Some of those boats seem to have been a little bit 'excited'! lol ;)
Tank combat... that is one Hell of a Table! 8)
The vid that I saw was 'old'... maybe Cine film, transferred... but the ships were Huge!
As a kids toy, there was a Sub which... when 'loaded' with a 'fizzy' tablet... would submerge and surface..
Several of MY old kits ended uo on bottom of Garden pond! But... that is tradition! I found 'bits' of wreckage in garden stream... kids will want to sink ships! ;D
Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 25 August 2021, 03:53:11 AM
... kids will want to sink ships! ;D
Yeah, not just kids . . . ;)
Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 25 August 2021, 03:53:11 AM
As a kids toy, there was a Sub which... when 'loaded' with a 'fizzy' tablet... would submerge and surface..
I had a whole flotilla in yellow plastic.
Fleet action here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAbFtSuO-cg
https://www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/discover/whats-on/peasholm-park-naval-warfare-battle-of-peasholm-p1369211
I seem to remember as a child going to Scarborough.
they had a big park just off the sea front with a massive lake.
Sundays there used to be big model fleet actions on that pond.
Regards
Sean
Quote from: sean66 on 27 August 2021, 11:26:48 AM
I seem to remember as a child going to Scarborough.
they had a big park just off the sea front with a massive lake.
Sundays there used to be big model fleet actions on that pond.
Regards
Sean
The Battle of the River Plate ... complete with jets!!
Large ships operated by a guy in the ship others by radio control.
Scarborough was the site of several tribe holidays - my grandparents, three sets of aunts/ uncles/ cousins and my own family. We basically took over a small hotel.
You could hire "Red Indian" style canoes on the lake when the battle wasn't in progress. My maternal grandfather, a keen sailor and inveterate pipe smoker became Big Chief Smoke In The Face and took us kids out in small groups.
That and the nearby pirate ship were highlights of many holidays!
No idea if it still exists... probably not, but 70s visit to 'Science Museum', Newcastle Exhibition park was a 'hit'. Wonderful Swan Hunter's models of ships! And you could hire little 'paddle boats' to go on lake. They were very 'Wet'! lol.
Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 27 August 2021, 04:51:15 PM
No idea if it still exists... probably not, but 70s visit to 'Science Museum', Newcastle Exhibition park was a 'hit'. Wonderful Swan Hunter's models of ships! And you could hire little 'paddle boats' to go on lake. They were very 'Wet'! lol.
Until you mentioned that I'd forgotten the pedal paddle boats at Bridlington - a day trip excursion on our Scarborough holidays.
Peasholm Park
Still runs
https://www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/discover/whats-on/peasholm-park-naval-warfare-battle-of-peasholm-p1369211
Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 27 August 2021, 04:51:15 PM
No idea if it still exists... probably not, but 70s visit to 'Science Museum', Newcastle Exhibition park was a 'hit'. Wonderful Swan Hunter's models of ships! And you could hire little 'paddle boats' to go on lake. They were very 'Wet'! lol.
Apparently 'replaced' by Central Newcastle site. (Currently Vac Center).
https://newcastlegateshead.com/business-directory/things-to-do/life-science-centre
Don't know whether 'old' model ships there. Does not look like 'MY' kind of museum... too 'bright', 'inter active', 'LEGO'!... Pity... just might have got into a paddle boat... but it would probably have sunk! lol!