RC Airplane Dreams

My lifelong dream to fly RC Planes

I've always wanted to get into RC airplanes.  As a kid my grandmother asked me what I wanted for the holidays and I told her, an RC airplane.   I was seven years old, maybe 8.   This is what I got.



I loved it, however it wasn't an RC airplane. It's a control line plane.  Here's a photo of someone flying one.

Here's a video of someone flying one.  You have to admit, it's kinda cool for it's day but today they don't make these planes anymore.   It had a .049 engine with a glow plug.  You would have to heat up the glow plug with a battery then hand crank the motor without cutting yourself.  Oh, best of all, it had this really wicked fuel.  It's a combination of nitro and methyl alcohol.  Holly crap, this isn't something you should let a kid have access to!

The way it worked  was that the plane had a set of thin wire similar to fishing line. The only thing that moved aside from the wheels and motor were the elevators. You would stand about 20 feet away from the plane.  You were in the center of the circle and the plane few around you at the parameter.

So, what happened to the plane?  My dad was the first to fly it.  You tend to go round and round unless you have some control line skills to make it do flips.  The thing really hauled.  And after a minute or two you would get dizzy.  My dad's first flight he didn't land it super well and the gas tank nozzle broke off.  It was a $2 replacement, but back in my day, asking for $2 to fix a toy was ludicrous.  I learned how to fly it without the motor.  I got pretty good and making it go up and down. Finally,  my friend Mark came over and tried to make it fly super fast, and it did, into the side of our garage.  That was that.

I did check with my local hobby shop.  You have to keep in mind this was the 1970s at the time.  They told me  a trainer was only $20.  I was like "Cool, I'll take one."  And then they said it was in a kit, and would have to spend weeks building it. But they were honest when they said I would destroy my first one.  They were kinda vague on all the radio equipment I would need, motors, fuels, all the normal stuff.   If the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys than RC planes was certainly a man's toy.

In today's world my grandmother would buy me a Chinese made foamy with a control board that has the servos, ESC and receiver built on it.   They can be found online for around $30.   I would have flown it for a short time before I crashed it, would have tried to fix it and would have probably checked the box  "Fly RC Airplanes". Maybe I would go further into the hobby at a later time.  But to me, RC planes have always felt like a dream I never accomplished.  I don't know what it is about making a plane fly in the air that I can control from the ground, but it just appeals to me.  I don't want a Harley Davidson, I don't want a Colt 45, I just want to fly RC planes.

I am going to document my journey because I have learned so much from others.  When I tried to do the hobby in the 1990s I spent a lot of time and money and nothing got up in the sky.  I will outline why there are a few planes that have spent the better part of the last 20 years in my garage gathering dust.  I am going to be very honest about my failures and shortcomings.  I will do this to say "Hey, if I can do this, you can do  this."  We won't give up, right?   With passion, a desire to succeed, and a wife with a very good job that includes health insurance anything is possible.

The next blog entry, "Pleasing the Zagi gods" leads me into my re-entry into the hobby.  My first project is to get a plane that hasn't flown for more than 20 seconds into the air. But first, it needs to be rebuilt.   Or, should I say, built right at last.