ben goodfellow 1 Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 precedent hi boy 4ch ,with the worst ever engine , an mds 40 gold .....futaba challanger 5 ch radio.... with the stuff mow we dont know were born .... fly low Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Lane Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Mine was Pal Joey in 1975. Built from a free plan in the Christmas 1963 edition of Aeromodeller and powered by a DC Merlin diesel engine. The radio control consisted of a single channel transmitter that I built (with help from my physics teacher) from an article in the RCM&E, a MacGreggor receiver and a Elmic Conquest rubber powered escapement. Two years later and after a lot of saving and 14th birthday money , I purchase my first set of proportional radio, a Horizon Systems HS4E. It cost about £100 back then or a whopping £1000 in today's money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Reading many of the posts above it's surprising how many "first attempts" ended in disaster and\or splintered balsa....my own first attempt was similarly disasterous when my Keil Kraft Joker c\l model completed all of half a circuit before gravity got the better of me & the model was smashed to pieces never to fly again........... ........yet we are still here.....decades later. Still flying......still building..... With such an inauspicious start why didn't we just give up? Aeromodellers must be made of strong stuff...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Timmis Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Hi It is said that you never forget your first............. Well my first was 'Workmaster' by Ron Moulton, published in Aeromodeller. I always wanted my models to look like proper planes so this was ideal being a slightly simplified 1/9 scale Auster. 48" span , powered by a 1.5cc PAW & guided by sc Macgregor (super regen) & an elmic conquest escapement. This is the model that taught me to fly rc. It looked good, was simple to fly, I don't ever remember it crashing & I certainly never had to repair it. I also discovered that it would fly very well free flight when I once launched it without switching on the radio. That ws a long chase. If you google " workmaster by Ron Moulton ' you can find the details. It would still make a super trainer/ sport model, especially if enlarged about 50%. After that came a Sharkface & then Force Four, a single chanel slope soarer by a young Chris Foss. Happy days. Happy Christmas. Cheers John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo565 Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 First one, Tyro major by DB. os 20 up front. The model is being displayed by my war dept. and the pic was taken on a Brownie 127 a couple of years ago It lasted about 20 seconds and went home in a bag, war dept. in tears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Yes , I remember the cost, I bought 100 unsexed chicks, for two years. They were little yellow things. And then they grew. And started to eat each other. Then started to lay. And necked, and sold the cocks, and sold the eggs. And necked the layers, and sold them, and started again. To buy, for a months wages for my craftsman paid dad, a four channel set, very basic, Horizon as recalled.. And pylon racing called. 1970. My car cost 30% of the radio. While enjoying the taste, I hate chickens to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Jim Carss, thou be a brave man. I would not dare. War dept., I shudder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo565 Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Donald No probs,her every day handle is the Crocodile, so snappy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tee Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 My first model (late 60's) was a single chanel Pal Joey bought second hand. Don't seem to remember much success. Radio was RCS silver box with an on/off switch and a push button. Later models were more successful with single channel. In those days you had to learn to trim a model to fly on its own as there were frequent losses of "control". Happy days. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ady Hayward Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Hi, My first RC model was a second hand single channel model called the "OOPS" (Named after the first attempt at flight which was a 30" parallel chord all balsa built up shoulder-wing and box fuselage bought in 1970. It was very similar to the "Bazz-Bomb" and had a DC merlin up front and McGregor single channel with an Elmic Conquest escapement to the rudder. Many fun flights were made including spot landings as it was so predictable when the escapement still had turns available at the end of the flight. My first own build was a Graupner Topsy S/C purchased in 1971. Proportional Radio was an OS Digimax5 with a powered 72" span glider bought off a good friend (Taff Davies) at RAF Halton in 1973. It was with this glider powered by a Cox Tee-Dee 0.75 on which I cut my RC teeth and soloed a couple of months after. I purchased one of the new Futaba M Series systems in 1973 and have been hooked ever since. Notable training aircraft were: KK Outlaw, APS Plan "Pelago". Ripmax Dazzler, Skyways Hawk 70 to name but a few. Halcyon days! Adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Z Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Hi, A Hi-Boy followed by a Super 60. Radio was Digifleet 6 channel with a shared OS 35FP Learnt a lot quicker on the S60 including inverted circuit. Oh but you had to start high up! S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVC Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 Posted by Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 18/12/2015 18:50:58: Aeromodellers must be made of strong stuff...... Steve, I've always thought so. My wife's asked me several times why we keep insisting in such a ungrateful hobby: - In general, the best days to fly are when you have to work, are sick at home or have been invited to a wedding that you can't skip - A good chunk of those few days that you can go, the engine decides that is not the day to start up - If the above don't apply, the strip is full and you can only have a couple of flights in the whole day - Not to mention bad wire weldings, faulty servos or depleted batteria that end in crash - and so on, and so forth... So yes, definitely we're made of a special matter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Lots of simple rubber stuff but in truth even the best flights were always less than a minute. The first really successful flight was with a home design 48" glider but with my trusty Mill 75 on the front. Wait until the fuel was nearly empty and launch. Up it went in a tight steep spiral for perhaps 15 seconds to what seemed an immense height, cut and then set off gently circling down wind. Took me an hour to find it in someone back garden! First radio control was not much better. A single channel glider with a MacGregor Terry Tone Rx, Tx kit (still have that). Control always seemed so marginal and usually resulted in a poorer flight than if the plane was left alone! Did eventually get a 6 ft span glider to perform using a Futaba 2M (27mHz) with full digital proportional control on 2 channels. Wow! (still have that as well!) Career then limited things to electric round the pole but at least it did give me a bit of a start when real electric RC came along! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 First R/C model was a Graupner Dandy powered by a Cox on a power pod in 1974/5 when I was 17. Most of my wages went on the model and radio gear at the time, so it was a pretty heavy investment - IIRC something like £80 to £100 for model/ 2 channel Futaba radio/ engine etc. I think I was earning about £25 a week as a trainee engineer, so an eye watering amout of dosh at the time for a pretty basic outfit really. Joined a local club in London (name omitted to protect the guilty) and received a wonderful bit of help from a couple of their members (clowns) who proceeded to test fly the model for me with the RX switched off Model survived their 'assistance' and I eventually managed to get it going, more or less teaching myself the fundamentals of control and trimming. Never looked back since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Geezer Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Having committed a bit of f/f and c/l as a lad in the 50s, when I caught the bug in the 70s my first was a Cambria Eagle which I sloped and bungeed. Very pretty, but really needed a lot of washout built into those graceful tapered wings, but even then could really bite if slowed up - not really a beginner's plane but she taught me a lot. Control was via a second ( or 3 or 4th ) hand Skyleader set, button cells, red servos - I seem to remember it cost me about £20. My first power model was a Galaxy Escort, pre-owned OS Max 25 on the front, doped nylon covered for strength, and she was strong, also a really safe and predictable flyer which aided by my trusty OS ( if only all i/c motors were like that one ) meant I could keep flying circuits and practicing landings for tank after tank of fuel. A bit like flying an electric powered plane actually - just noisier and dirtier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cooper Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I built my first R/C model in 1964 at the age of ten. . . It was a Mini Super, powered with an AM-25 diesel engine and had single channel radio complete with an Elmic Commander escapement. I learnt to fly with that aeroplane and had a lot of fun with it before advancing to models with a somewhat better power-to-weight ratio. Happy days. B.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Jefferies Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 'Lots of free flighters before, but my first attempt at R/C was with a Vic Smeed "Debutante" powered by a Mills .75 (which I still have) and equipped, or more like ballasted, with a Mini Reptone single channel set......'Didn't fly though . That would have been about 1962/3. I suppose it depends what you call success but to me, success meant a flight with a few intended turns and taking it home without having to repair it ........... My first SUCCESSFUL R/C model was a Veron Robot with the same Mini Reptone and powered by a Mills 1.3. Paul Edited By Paul Jefferies on 19/12/2015 08:59:16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon B Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 My first plane when I came back to the hobby was a Parkzone Supercub with a brushed motor, rattly old gear box, NIMH battery and tamiya connectors. It taught me the basics, got taped up a lot, I learnt to use expanding foam to repair the front when the firewall ripped out and looked like a disaster zone in the end When I was about 12 my dad built me a glider that I barely remember, although some pics resurfaced recently. 2 channel radio, MASSIVE dihedral on the wings. Don't think I ever really flew it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Posted by AVC on 18/12/2015 21:19:33: Posted by Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 18/12/2015 18:50:58: Aeromodellers must be made of strong stuff...... Steve, I've always thought so. My wife's asked me several times why we keep insisting in such a ungrateful hobby: - In general, the best days to fly are when you have to work, are sick at home or have been invited to a wedding that you can't skip - A good chunk of those few days that you can go, the engine decides that is not the day to start up - If the above don't apply, the strip is full and you can only have a couple of flights in the whole day - Not to mention bad wire weldings, faulty servos or depleted batteria that end in crash - and so on, and so forth... So yes, definitely we're made of a special matter... My wife prefers a much simpler explanation...... "You're all loonies...!!" she sez.... The nostalgia on this thread is almost too much to bear.....I too had a Jolly Roger as my first aileron trainer & great to see the Bazz Bomb get a mention....I was sure that was the name of a model I inherited back in the late 70's but I've never been able to find any reference to it since then..... Oh yesterday leave me alone......!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Barlow Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I notice there are lots of post about old airframes and single channel control but what about first RC models from the last 10 years? Surely somebody has taken up flying recently! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Z Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Good point Chris I am making a come back so newish in some ways - have gone for a Max Power Riot and a Wot 4 Foam E both with 2 rate set ups and half way through building a 4 ch Super 60. None flown yet - waiting for a mentor as I haven' t flown for 20 years. Strange market to come back to, kits seem to have disappeared to a large extent, so much ARTF & RTF. around. Gone for a 2.4 T8J but my original 35meg stuff is serviced and ready and will be in use on future models as I have 2 35 meg Tx's and 3 Rx. S P.S. Not many fly my mode (Mode 1) so it is a slow come back. Looking forward to getting airborne again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidKP Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 KK Outlaw with an OS15 and the Wee McGregor sticker on the wing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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