Apprehensively Returning to RC after 20 years... where to start

[Amazing Skies]

G'day Folks,

I can't believe it has been 20 years - and so much has changed. The story is probably familiar - flew Sport Models [from 074 to 46 sizes], Sports Pylon, Combat planes, various electrics including 3D depron - almost everything built from plans or scratch built. [The Gremlins we built and flew are some of my fondest memories].

 

Work, family and stuff generally dragged me away and I went on to other things. Still have a few engines and electrical things I kept [Oh, throw in an Astro Hog kit and a bit of a balsa stash too] but with Australia now on 2.4ghz the old JR radio is obsolete. I lived in country Queensland back then but we relocated to the northside of Brisbane about 4 years ago.

 

There seems to be a few clubs within and hour's drive so I'll be checking them out and I'll probably go electric since it's so much more viable now. Currently searching through free plans and articles etc. online - generally getting a feel for things. I can't find much "Australia Specific" content here but I'm sure there's got to be some.

 

Will this work out? Hope so

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Welcome to the forum AS, hobby changed a lot while you've been away a visit somewhere's a sound plan. 👍

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Details have changed massively but the basics are the same so I'm sure you'll slip back into the hobby in no time.

 

I'm sure we have quite a few Aussie members - no doubt they'll make themselves known soon!

[Graham Bowers]

Welcome back 😉

 

For me, the big hitters in no particular order, are:

 

2.4 GHz radio

 

Open source radio operating systems. OpenTx and latterly EdgeTx

 

Electric propulsion

 

Increased regulation

 

Multi-rotor

 

Foam models (foamies)

 

It’s still a wonderful and diverse hobby

 

Cheers

 

Graham (UK)

[GrumpyGnome]

Welcome back! 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Welcome to the forum, be careful electric props are razors so don't fly alone !

[Nigel R]

Welcome back!

 

[Graham Bowers]

1 hour ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

Welcome to the forum, be careful electric props are razors so don't fly alone !

I do keep a first aid kit handy when flying prop any models, including a tourniquet (in-date first aid ticket). The other thing with electric is they don't stall.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

That's not enough, we had 2 members who fainted after a couple of accidents a first aid kit is no good when you are out cold !

[Graham Bowers]

Not very lucky in your club ?-)

[David Davis]

Welcome to the forum!

 

If you find an an Australian sports model please let me know. I spent five years in Oz mostly working in  the bush for the ANR.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

1 hour ago, Graham Bowers said:

Not very lucky in your club ?-)

Our club has been going for 25 years with between 45 and 75 + members, one caught his finger in the prop ( 10cc ) while tuning and that was a Helicopter rescue as blood was pumping out everywhere, on the other he whacked his hand on his Helicopter blade on a big 26cc Lama, not being used to flying any helicopter bigger than a .60 size, both over 60 years old.,,,

[Learner]

1 hour ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

Our club has been going for 25 years with between 45 and 75 + members, one caught his finger in the prop ( 10cc ) while tuning and that was a Helicopter rescue as blood was pumping out everywhere, on the other he whacked his hand on his Helicopter blade on a big 26cc Lama, not being used to flying any helicopter bigger than a .60 size, both over 60 years old.,,,

Be carefull mentioning age Paul mods don't like it

[Graham Bowers]

Ouch! Sorry for being a bit flippant. I'm a regular chainsaw operator so should know better 😉

[J D 8 - Moderator]

              Just get back in there, most modelers have some time out in their lives. As there are clubs around you check them out and find one with the sort of flying you are interested in. I am sure members will guide you in the latest stuff.

Good luck.  John.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

3 hours ago, Graham Bowers said:

Ouch! Sorry for being a bit flippant. I'm a regular chainsaw operator so should know better 😉

Just cut a tree down in my garden, boots and gloves and very careful, I am also over 60,,,🤐

[Cuban8]

Welcome back AS, it remains a great hobby of so many parts and I'm sure you'll fit back in just fine. Get involved as much or as little as your fancy/time/funds take you. In my opinion, joining a club is all part and parcel of it and can really enhance one's enjoyment of the hobby. Doesn't always work out that way as we've heard from a few folks who wouldn't join a club even if their life depended on it - a few clubs are a bit odd when it comes to new members, but most will be welcoming and only too happy to help and have new faces involved without any bother at all.

Hopefully you'll have a few within a reasonable drive, although on our tiny and overpopulated island we just don't get the scale of distances in Australia. Out of idle curiosity, I just had a look at the Australian Model Flying Association's website and you don't appear to have a great deal of choice in your neck of the woods. Hopefully you'll get lucky.

 

[Amazing Skies]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Yes, Australia is a very different place and distance - we just deal with it. I've always been amazed by the model scene in the UK with the options available, it must be fantastic. 20 years ago my 2 'local' flying club fields were 80+ km away and Saturday morning arriving at 6am to fly was normal. There's [at least] 2 model aircraft bodies here Model Aeronautical Association of Queensland [MAAQ] which is part of MAAA and Australian Miniature Aerosports Society [AMAS] and a few other specialist associations. 

[Amazing Skies]

15 hours ago, Graham Bowers said:

Welcome back 😉

 

For me, the big hitters in no particular order, are:

 

2.4 GHz radio

 

Open source radio operating systems. OpenTx and latterly EdgeTx

 

Electric propulsion

 

Increased regulation

 

Multi-rotor

 

Foam models (foamies)

 

It’s still a wonderful and diverse hobby

 

Cheers

 

Graham (UK)

 

Yes indeed Graham, 2.4 GHz radio is a good thing - I've just found out about open source radio systems and haven't read much yet but it sounds interesting. It is a great hobby and I've got a lot of catching up to do

[Amazing Skies]

11 hours ago, David Davis said:

Welcome to the forum!

 

If you find an an Australian sports model please let me know. I spent five years in Oz mostly working in  the bush for the ANR.

Davis, there's a bunch of Australian sports models. - I could have shared a few but let my big bundle of plans go a long time ago. Airborne magazine had a huge inventory of plans but it's gone now and I can't find any information. Someone somewhere must have their stuff. I'll be trawling through my old hard drives looking for CAD files etc. Hopefully I'll find some useful stuff. 

[Graham Bowers]

10 minutes ago, Amazing Skies said:

 

Yes indeed Graham, 2.4 GHz radio is a good thing - I've just found out about open source radio systems and haven't read much yet but it sounds interesting. It is a great hobby and I've got a lot of catching up to do

If you're happy contemplating a bit of a steep learning curve, OpenTx  (OTX) is wonderful, everything is freely configurable. I was a multiplex profi 4000 user and that was similarly configurable however multiplex lost their way in my opinion and their competitors ate their lunch.

 

Many of the youtube channels are hyping EdgeTx (ETX) however I'm sticking with OpenTx for the moment. Although I have just bought a Radiomaster TX16S with a 4 into 1 internal module. (It came with ETX however I flashed it with OTX). It'll bind to many 2.4 GHz protocols. So far I've bound it to 3 brands of Rx. Multiplex, Spektrum (in a Mobula6) and FrSky. Although FrsKy keep changing their protocols and not all are backwards compatible.

 

Anyway, I only mention this to give you some start points for your reading / watching.

[Amazing Skies]

1 hour ago, Graham Bowers said:

If you're happy contemplating a bit of a steep learning curve, OpenTx  (OTX) is wonderful, everything is freely configurable. I was a multiplex profi 4000 user and that was similarly configurable however multiplex lost their way in my opinion and their competitors ate their lunch.

 

Many of the youtube channels are hyping EdgeTx (ETX) however I'm sticking with OpenTx for the moment. Although I have just bought a Radiomaster TX16S with a 4 into 1 internal module. (It came with ETX however I flashed it with OTX). It'll bind to many 2.4 GHz protocols. So far I've bound it to 3 brands of Rx. Multiplex, Spektrum (in a Mobula6) and FrSky. Although FrsKy keep changing their protocols and not all are backwards compatible.

 

Anyway, I only mention this to give you some start points for your reading / watching.

Thanks Graham. It's odd to see how the radio business has changed with technology. JR, Multiplex and Futaba were the main players. I'll try to get up to speed with the new technology - steep learning curve ahead. 🙂

[GrumpyGnome]

7 hours ago, Graham Bowers said:

If you're happy contemplating a bit of a steep learning curve, OpenTx  (OTX) is wonderful, everything is freely configurable. I was a multiplex profi 4000 user and that was similarly configurable however multiplex lost their way in my opinion and their competitors ate their lunch.

 

Many of the youtube channels are hyping EdgeTx (ETX) however I'm sticking with OpenTx for the moment. Although I have just bought a Radiomaster TX16S with a 4 into 1 internal module. (It came with ETX however I flashed it with OTX). It'll bind to many 2.4 GHz protocols. So far I've bound it to 3 brands of Rx. Multiplex, Spektrum (in a Mobula6) and FrSky. Although FrsKy keep changing their protocols and not all are backwards compatible.

 

Anyway, I only mention this to give you some start points for your reading / watching.

The latest version of EdgeTX (flying dutchman) is well worth a look - some extra functionality, but a much improved user interface.  And you get to use the touchscreen, if you want.  Most of all though, the developers fully support this so any bugs are fixed..... OpenTX is stagnant now.  The basic functionality and mindset of OpenTX lives in EdgeTX.

 

Another shout-out for the TX16S - great piece of kit that allowed me to keep using receivers from Spektrum, FrSky, FlySky, Futaba, Lemon, Orange plus simple clones.

[Graham Bowers]

26 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

The latest version of EdgeTX (flying dutchman) is well worth a look - some extra functionality, but a much improved user interface.  And you get to use the touchscreen, if you want.  Most of all though, the developers fully support this so any bugs are fixed..... OpenTX is stagnant now.  The basic functionality and mindset of OpenTX lives in EdgeTX.

 

Another shout-out for the TX16S - great piece of kit that allowed me to keep using receivers from Spektrum, FrSky, FlySky, Futaba, Lemon, Orange plus simple clones.

 

I do get the bells and whistles of EdgeTx however wonder if OpenTx is now "stable" (positive connotations) as opposed to "stagnant" (negative connotations)? I do know that as it's open source the devs are volunteers and are probably tempted by the sexy stuff in Edge!

 

I'll admit to not being an early adopter of anything and am still running OTX 2.1.8 of 2016 vintage on my Taranis. It works just fine.

 

I'm now on OTX  2.3.15 of 2022 vintage on my TX16S and in all probability would have left it on Edge (that it came with) if I hadn't been on a new learning curve with the stabilised S6R Frsky receiver. So I bottled it and flashed OTX so at least I was on more familiar ground.

 

I'm also a little bit cynical and wonder if some of the enthusiasm for EdgeTx on the popular youtube channels has a smidgen of chasing hits? A video saying "Edge is good, but so is OTX" doesn't whip up quite the same froth as an "out with the old, in with the new" stance.

 

In reality, I've toyed with the idea of a second TX16S so I can play with Edge as well 😉

 

Anyway, neither is right or wrong, they're just different. And something for the OP to ponder 😉

[GrumpyGnome]

I thought long and hard about the move to EdgeTX as initially the only positive for me was touch screen.... but now the interface makes using it so much easier. 

 

Absolutely personal choice - if it aint broke, don't fix it!