Indianapolis RC South

What was your first plane? And what is in your "hanger" now? Post pics if you like.

Well,

My first plane was an aerostar 40 that I built from a kit.... Took me quite awhile to finish  about 8yrs.  :-\ When I finally finished it I learned to fly At RC South about 4yrs ago.  Crashed it several times and rebuilt it several times.  Thats the nice thing about wood... it glues back together.  Originally it had an LA 40 engine that would barely get it of the ground before running out of runway. ;D  Replaced the LA 40 with a GMS (I think 50, but don't quote me on that).  The engine took a long time to break in so... I got really good at deadstick landings.  Once it broke in everything was good and the plane had plenty of power.  I really liked how the aerostar performed as a trainer (including its ability to handle the newbie abuse I gave it.)

The next plane I bought and built was a Sig Something extra with an OS SX ringed .50.  This is the plane I fly today.  It performs very well.  Pretty easy to handle on low rates for an intermediate level plane.  On high rates its pretty snappy. Chuck Baker helped me set up the air brakes and flaps on my radio. All in all I like both of them.

(Note:  You may post pictures using the additional options Item under the message edit box by using the attach box.... just select browse and pick the file to attach.) Example below

My first plane was an old Sig Kadet Mark I, w/ailerons.  I say with ailerons because the stock kit was set up for 3 channel operation, but it did have optional instructions for adding ailerons.

I bought this old kit and an old OS 35 S converted control line engine from my late uncle - the guy responsible for getting me into this hobby.  :)

I still remember getting my first real paycheck (from my first job out of college) and spending part of it on my first radio control system.  It was an old Kraft FM system on Ch52 (the old red/green ribbon frequency).  Apparently Kraft was out of business, but the hobby shop still had one - and it was cheap.  The clerk told me that there wasn't any warranty on it, so we tried it at the store.  It worked, so I bought it!

I still remember how cool it was to move the sticks on the radio and watch the servos move.  It was magic!  :)

I finished up the plane the same summer I got married - 1986.  Wow, that seems like a long time ago now - almost 20 years!

I met Jerry Bunner over at the old Grassy Creek school where he took it up for me.  The plane was in serious need of some downthrust and Jerry ran out of the downtrim needed to trim it out properly.  However, he did manage to get it back on the ground without any damage to the aircraft.

I think Jim Eudaley was the next to take it up for me.  We didn't use buddy box systems back then, but instead passed the box back and forth.  I still remember Jim saying that the plane "flew like a truck".  Well, regardless, it did teach me how to fly and it did survive.

The old OS 35 S engine was barely enough to get the plane into the air.  We had to use the entire runway to build up speed, then pull back on the elevator at the end and hope that it would get airborne.  I later installed an OS 40 FSR engine that solved my power problems.

I didn't realize how right Jim was about the "flying truck" comment until I began flying other planes.  A modern Kadet LT-40 flies so much better than the old Kadet Mark I.  :)

Chuck

My first RC plane was actually a Gentle Lady glider.  My father purchased a used one for me when I was about 13 (1985 or so).  We thought it best to get into the sport with fewer variables (like an engine).

We taught ourselves how to fly by hand launching the glider from a small hill at a local park.  Eventually we got up the courage to start hi-launching it.  We flew that plane for about two years before I got the itch to try something with an engine.

I selected the Jemco scale Me-109G .40 sized plane as my first glow "trainer".  (Remember we taught ourselves to fly...).  Needless to say, lots of folks warned us not to attempt to fly a scale warbird as your first plane.  It took about a year to build the plane.  I had gotten so far as to conduct taxi tests with the plane before we came to our senses and put together a Goldberg Eagle trainer and started flying with it.

I still remember that first flight with the Eagle.  Mind you, we flew it at the same huge park that we flew the glider at.  Boy, that throttle adds a whole different dimension to flight when you are not used to it!  Remarkably, the flight was challenging but not disastrous.  Flew a very loose and erratic pattern maybe four or five times and then killed the engine for my landing (wanted to get back to a more familiar form of flight).  The Eagle did land - no damage.  Unfortunately, the second flight was not as good as the first.  I killed the engine too early while on the base leg.  The Eagle crashed into a tree.  The wing smashed into the upper trunk just outboard of the fuselage and remained stuck up there.  We had to climb the tree to get her down.  We were very, very lucky.  That was the last of my intentional dead stick landings.  The tree incident was but just one of the many instances that the airframe gave a bit of herself in the pursuit of the hobby - so much so that we nicknamed her Charity.   My dad has since taken an interest in getting back into the sport - guess what, he's learning to fly glow again with the help of Charity.  Yep, she's still around just a bit heavier (all that extra glue) and her covering job is a bit patchy. 

That Me-109 never flew until something like 14 years later.  After having built several other aircraft since then, lots of construction improvements were required before I could honestly say it was flight worthy.  There is no way I could have flown that plane back then based upon the way it flew for the first time.  Used up all the down elevator and aileron trim on my Tx and it still needed more.  Oh yeah, and the engine quit on short final, too.   Joy!

Biff, What a nice job on the 109 !!!   .........lownslo