How Do You Retire Your Planes?

poor boy 101

Active member
I hate to say this but one of my favorite things to do is retire flite test planes. What I do is take them to paintball( my other hobby ) and see how long i can fly the plane with people shooting at it. The most memorable was retiring my second guinea pig. It took three battery packs to shoot it down with 16 people! The thing is a tank. I posted this thread because i am about to retire my ftx-29 because of it being underpowered. ( if you get one run it on a 70mm fan. My 64mm freewing one was really hard to fly)
 

FastCrash45

Elite member
I hate to say this but one of my favorite things to do is retire flite test planes. What I do is take them to paintball( my other hobby ) and see how long i can fly the plane with people shooting at it. The most memorable was retiring my second guinea pig. It took three battery packs to shoot it down with 16 people! The thing is a tank. I posted this thread because i am about to retire my ftx-29 because of it being underpowered. ( if you get one run it on a 70mm fan. My 64mm freewing one was really hard to fly)
When my planes and it's current motor are getting to hard to keep in the air I see how far into the ground I can punch it. Full powered dive. Foam planes don't give near the satisfying crunch that balsa planes do though. 😁😂😎
 

Piotrsko

Master member
I will let you know how I do it when I retire one. The spirit of '76 glider is pushing 35 years, the Zagi,20. Slowstick is 15? All the others end up in a PUFF of rapidly expanding bits, and end up being recycled. Somewhere I have a rudder from a favorite from '75
 

Bricks

Master member
Some I will take to the field and let others have some fun with it, if a newbie is around they usually get a chance to fly usually not very long. Then recycle and start over if it was a balsa model the frame is saved and at one of the fly ins usually Komro`s we have a bon fire and tell the story of how it came about being there. .
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
So far the only way I have come up with to retire any planes is to maiden them.... none have lived past that point once beyond repair.
Half my planes would have to agree with you... they usually retire themselves, unexpectedly. I have done one on purpose, the Baby Blender just cuz I wanted the parts to build the Sportster. And that one is still around, like the live long spirit of the BB has transferred to the Sportster, two of the longest lasting planes yet. All others hate life and take the dirt nap
 

Jackson T

Elite member
I hate to say this but one of my favorite things to do is retire flite test planes. What I do is take them to paintball( my other hobby ) and see how long i can fly the plane with people shooting at it. The most memorable was retiring my second guinea pig. It took three battery packs to shoot it down with 16 people! The thing is a tank. I posted this thread because i am about to retire my ftx-29 because of it being underpowered. ( if you get one run it on a 70mm fan. My 64mm freewing one was really hard to fly)
Do you have any video of shooting them down? It sounds like heaps of fun!