Post your R/C models here!

Racer88

Racer88

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I saw that @clm2112 is an R/C hobbyist in a 3D printing thread. I thought I'd start an R/C thread here.

Many years ago (as a teenager), I got into R/C boats. Tunnel hull hydroplanes, specifically. Lost them in a house fire, and that was it. Got busy with school and life after that.

My last boat was a 30-inch Prather fiberglass tunnel hull with a K&B 3.5cc watercooled outboard engine. Futaba 2-channel radio (with the steering wheel). Looked like this (found with google search):
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Before that I build a wood tunnel hull from a kit. Had to steam and curve the wood myself.

These boats could hit close to 40-mph. Ran on 20 - 25% Nitromethane. Cost $25 / gallon back then (late 70s - early 80s). Lots of fun. Had to build them yourself. None of this ready to go out of the box electric crap! :)
 
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I started with an R/C Hydroplane too. When I was a small child I used to watch the full size ones racing in Seattle, so I had an affinity for them. Then I bought a BMW M1 R/C car (pre built thing) in Singapore, and when I got out of the Navy I built a balsa glider with ~ a 6 foot wingspan that I used to launch off a mountain.
 
Long-time propeller head here. Started with balsa and tissue free-flight models. Never got the hang of those damn U-control planes. Then, as a kid, I got a Heathkit 8 chanel radio as a Christmas present. Took months to assemble it. These radios were actually Kraft transmitters, receivers, and servos in a disassembled state. Learned to fly on a Top-Flight 40, which I also had to build. Then, well... I started flying 1:1 scale airplanes ;)

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In college I started flying R/C sailplanes as well as what was then called 1/2A models (typically powered by an .049 glow engine and with a span less than 36") Today they call them Park Flyers.

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Still have my preference of sailplanes and motorgliders, both as R/C models and as actual aircraft to fly. If I could just buy one full-size aircraft of my own, my choice would be a Sportavia, followed by a Schweitzer or a Slingsby T-61. There's just something about high aspect-ratio wings that I find appealing. It's elegant simplicity and efficiency. They are not very practical to get you from point A to point B, but they are great at depressurizing the mind.

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Ok, with my side trip into nostalgia more or less over.... The Heathkit went into the hands of a collector of old R/C gear as a museum piece... it was rendered useless by the FCC. It was sold off in 2013 along with the other AM radios I owned (a couple of Futaba and Kraft ones.) The proceeds went into buying the radio I currently use, a Spektrum DX8. There's no argument that the new 2.4 GHz digital radios are far more reliable.

The current hanger is occupied by a few 1/2A planes, a 40 sized Pilatus PC-6 Turbo-Porter that was converted to electric power, a few quad copters, a few sailplanes, a few Piper Cubs of various sizes, and a scale MQ-9 Reaper... just in case I want to raise a few eyebrows in the neighborhood.

Plus, a closet full of old balsa kits to putter my way through in the coming decade or so. I really don't like the foamies and the bind and fly aircraft being produced today. I will not be a fudd about it, but I still like the smell of aircraft dope and building airframes from balsa and plywood. If others want to go straight into flying a foamy, more power to them. Just not my cup of tea. But I do have to admit, the coming of the brush-less motor and the LiPo battery are minor miracles. Makes some of the old balsa kits do remarkable things.

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