vhandon
Active member
Hello everyone, my name is Ben and I live in a suburb north of Austin, Texas. I apologize in advance if this intro gets a little long, I'm just a little excited about getting back into this great hobby.
TLDR - I’m addicted to Flite Test and RC planes.
My story is probably not all that unusual. My first attempt at flying was in 1994 with a gas-powered Hobby King Trainer 40 (if I remember correctly). I spent at least 40 hours building that balsa plane and coated it in beautiful yellow. I should have just hung it up on the wall and admired it but instead I crashed it after a 10 second terrifying flight. I collected all the parts and promised to rebuild but real life happens and I never made the time for that plane. About five years ago a friend gifted me a crashed Hobby Zone Super Cub LP (Red graphics). He knew I liked to build things and thought I would enjoy rebuilding this one. I was in the middle of too many other projects so I put that plane in the attic and sort of forgot about it, until March 9th 2018…
In my YouTube recommended list there was this video titled “Can a Little Tikes Car FLY!?”. Well, I don’t know, I better find out, so I clicked. I have watched at least one Flite Test video every day since. I started to wish I had a plane to fly. Then I remembered I had one in the attic. Even though this Super Cub model is discontinued there are a ton of parts still available. $30 later I had a flying plane with several successful flights under my belt. At this point I could only think of one thing…
More power! The motor in this plane along with the NiMH are underpowered. I already scratch built one of the small FT gliders to see if I would like the process, and I did. So, I ordered an FT Simple Cub speed build kit and a B Power Pack. While building that one (I painted it yellow in memory of the fallen) I got the idea to use the swappable Power Pod on the Super Cub as well. It took some modifications but it worked, I mean it worked great! I plan on submitting an article on the build on the Flite Test site if they will have it.
Future plans include 3d printing a 3DLabPrint Spitfire and my favorite plane, the P-38. I fly at a large retention pond in my neighborhood that is mostly filled with water so I guess an FT Sea Duck is in my future as well. Although, I am still terrified of twin engines and gasp, ailerons!
So that’s my story. I dove back in head first and I’m not sure if I will ever come up for air. The plane collection is just starting:
Hobby Zone Super Cub FT mashup – flies like a dream, loops for days.
FT Simple Cub – successful nose heavy maiden waiting for a good day to get back in the air.
X-VERT VTOL – so much fun, great for practice and warm up. (I still get my left and right reversed at the wrong time)
Thanks for reading, I look forward to lots of building and flying and crashing and building. I am very thankful I came across the Flite Test crew and look forward to being a part of the community…
See you at Flite Fest Texas 2018!
TLDR - I’m addicted to Flite Test and RC planes.
My story is probably not all that unusual. My first attempt at flying was in 1994 with a gas-powered Hobby King Trainer 40 (if I remember correctly). I spent at least 40 hours building that balsa plane and coated it in beautiful yellow. I should have just hung it up on the wall and admired it but instead I crashed it after a 10 second terrifying flight. I collected all the parts and promised to rebuild but real life happens and I never made the time for that plane. About five years ago a friend gifted me a crashed Hobby Zone Super Cub LP (Red graphics). He knew I liked to build things and thought I would enjoy rebuilding this one. I was in the middle of too many other projects so I put that plane in the attic and sort of forgot about it, until March 9th 2018…
In my YouTube recommended list there was this video titled “Can a Little Tikes Car FLY!?”. Well, I don’t know, I better find out, so I clicked. I have watched at least one Flite Test video every day since. I started to wish I had a plane to fly. Then I remembered I had one in the attic. Even though this Super Cub model is discontinued there are a ton of parts still available. $30 later I had a flying plane with several successful flights under my belt. At this point I could only think of one thing…
More power! The motor in this plane along with the NiMH are underpowered. I already scratch built one of the small FT gliders to see if I would like the process, and I did. So, I ordered an FT Simple Cub speed build kit and a B Power Pack. While building that one (I painted it yellow in memory of the fallen) I got the idea to use the swappable Power Pod on the Super Cub as well. It took some modifications but it worked, I mean it worked great! I plan on submitting an article on the build on the Flite Test site if they will have it.
Future plans include 3d printing a 3DLabPrint Spitfire and my favorite plane, the P-38. I fly at a large retention pond in my neighborhood that is mostly filled with water so I guess an FT Sea Duck is in my future as well. Although, I am still terrified of twin engines and gasp, ailerons!
So that’s my story. I dove back in head first and I’m not sure if I will ever come up for air. The plane collection is just starting:
Hobby Zone Super Cub FT mashup – flies like a dream, loops for days.
FT Simple Cub – successful nose heavy maiden waiting for a good day to get back in the air.
X-VERT VTOL – so much fun, great for practice and warm up. (I still get my left and right reversed at the wrong time)
Thanks for reading, I look forward to lots of building and flying and crashing and building. I am very thankful I came across the Flite Test crew and look forward to being a part of the community…
See you at Flite Fest Texas 2018!
