New Guy Here

RcLew

Member
Howdy to all, I have been involved in model aircraft on and off for 50 plus years, my Dad was my influence, he was a member of the 460th Fighter Squadron the Black Rams during WWII, his passion was model airplanes! As a young boy I watched him fly his free flights, control line, R/C and scratch build and kit build planes, my first time was flying one of his U control planes at the town ball field, man was I excited, I was maybe 10 years old, my memory recalls just bits and pieces of it, and yes so was the plane. skipping ahead, I started flying R/C in the mid 70's got married in the early 80's and had two son's when they got old enough also began flying R/C. I'm retired now have four grandchildren who I'm trying to get into R/C planes. While searching online I found Flite Test, what an awesome site, looking forward to building a few planes with my grandchildren from the plans I have downloaded, and getting back into R/C myself. My avatar is a picture of my Dads Super Brigadier he built back in the later 50's, just guessing, what I recall most about the plane is "Don't Touch That" Today It's my most prized possession, to me it's priceless!
 

KSP_CPA

Well-known member
what I recall most about the plane is "Don't Touch That" Today It's my most prized possession, to me it's priceless!
A big positive about foam board airplane is how robust they can be. I had my 7 year old try to buddy box an FT Arrow (I know, horrible idea), he middled it straight into the ground before I could blink. Hot glue, popsicle stick, spray paint, and 15 minutes later, it’s ready to fly again.

Do that with an old balsa plane, you’re looking at 15 hours.
 

RcLew

Member
Yes KSP, spent many hours rebuilding or repairing balsa planes, I have had foam planes, a few plastic Lanier planes they were easy to repair and back in the air, until they became heavy from all the epoxy, also had a material you soaked with acetone to repair the plastic with, can't recall the name of it. My Dad never cared for foam or plastic, he was balsa stick planes only. My first balsa R/C plane was an MEN trainer, loved that plane, had many hrs flight time on it, until I crashed it, not much left, it went in the trash, I'll skip the details :( still have the plans, maybe someday I'll buy some balsa and build one. After that all my planes were balsa stick planes, just my opinion, nothing flys like a stick plane. I'm excited and looking forward to biting the bullet and building a couple foam FT Explorer's with my grandsons to get them started.
 

mhlau999

Member
Thank you for sharing, and welcome. That is awesome to hear how your dads love of flight carried to you, your children and now grandchildren, that is how this hobby keeps evolving. Great stories.
 

RcLew

Member
Thanks for the welcome Mhlau999, yes 3 generations of us enjoying model aircraft is really cool, and encouraging the 4th is my plan. Our grandsons spent a few days with Grandma and I, they cleaned out the frig, I helped ;) We started trimming the tiled FT Explorer plans I downloaded and gluing them together, then will make the templates and build the birds next time their with us, now I need Grandma's approval to buy the motors, battery's, servos, etc for these birds were building, should be easy, they have Grandma wrapped around their fingers, unlike me.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Welcome fellow old timer. Nice to see someone who has a family tradition of model aviation. FT has revived the hobby AND made it so much more viable for more then craftsman working magic with balsa.

Love that signature too. Maybe we should start a thread and see who has the most unique scars and MRI's in the community. I got 56 years of collecting them under my belt at this point.
 

P40VRP

Member
Welcome to the forum @RcLew !
Was your dad a pilot with the 460th Fighter Squadron, "Black Rams" flying the P-47?

Perhaps you should build the FT Master Series P-47 to commemorate your dad's service with the 460th.

220px-P47D_460th_FS.jpg
 

moke

Well-known member
Howdy to all, I have been involved in model aircraft on and off for 50 plus years, my Dad was my influence, he was a member of the 460th Fighter Squadron the Black Rams during WWII, his passion was model airplanes! As a young boy I watched him fly his free flights, control line, R/C and scratch build and kit build planes, my first time was flying one of his U control planes at the town ball field, man was I excited, I was maybe 10 years old, my memory recalls just bits and pieces of it, and yes so was the plane. skipping ahead, I started flying R/C in the mid 70's got married in the early 80's and had two son's when they got old enough also began flying R/C. I'm retired now have four grandchildren who I'm trying to get into R/C planes. While searching online I found Flite Test, what an awesome site, looking forward to building a few planes with my grandchildren from the plans I have downloaded, and getting back into R/C myself. My avatar is a picture of my Dads Super Brigadier he built back in the later 50's, just guessing, what I recall most about the plane is "Don't Touch That" Today It's my most prized possession, to me it's priceless!
cool story. I have flown for 50 years but in retirement got into RC. And though I spent some bigger bucks on out of the box stuff, discovered flite test. Really enjoy the build process, and support. Their models fly as well or better than the high priced stuff. I just built two of their models for less than $20 worth of foam board.
fern prairie 08052020.jpg
 

RcLew

Member
Thanks for the welcomes Psyborg, Hanger, Quinnyperks, P40qrv and Moke, FT is a COOL site for sure. The Unique Scars and MRI's thread Psyborg would be interesting :eek: P40qrv, my Dad was a Sgt. in the 460th he was their aircraft mechanic, he know them ole wars birds inside and out, he wasn't a pilot, but he could fly them, the fly boys would let him fly them now and then, the way he spoke about it, it was like it was a no no for him to do it, he also panted nose art, he passed some awesome stories to me, and a very cool photo album, maybe someday I'll scan a few and post them up here on the FT forum, he never spoke about the P47's much, he always talked about the P51's, and P38's, I have his last stick built R/C airplane it's a P51 Mustang, he never did fly it and he had started a stick FU4 Corsair, he passed away before he could finish it. The price is right on the foam birds Moke fer sure, many hrs in building sticks, one mistake and then it's back to build bench for more hrs, so your a pilot Moke, I have flown a Cessna 180 it was awesome, but I preferred motorcycles with lots of HP:D to old to run a bike at them speeds now a days, besides my wife won't let me have a bike anymore, so I do it in the her Camaro (y) Ok back to my housework.
 

P40VRP

Member
Thanks for the welcomes Psyborg, Hanger, Quinnyperks, P40qrv and Moke, FT is a COOL site for sure. The Unique Scars and MRI's thread Psyborg would be interesting :eek: P40qrv, my Dad was a Sgt. in the 460th he was their aircraft mechanic, he know them ole wars birds inside and out, he wasn't a pilot, but he could fly them, the fly boys would let him fly them now and then, the way he spoke about it, it was like it was a no no for him to do it, he also panted nose art, he passed some awesome stories to me, and a very cool photo album, maybe someday I'll scan a few and post them up here on the FT forum, he never spoke about the P47's much, he always talked about the P51's, and P38's, I have his last stick built R/C airplane it's a P51 Mustang, he never did fly it and he had started a stick FU4 Corsair, he passed away before he could finish it. The price is right on the foam birds Moke fer sure, many hrs in building sticks, one mistake and then it's back to build bench for more hrs, so your a pilot Moke, I have flown a Cessna 180 it was awesome, but I preferred motorcycles with lots of HP:D to old to run a bike at them speeds now a days, besides my wife won't let me have a bike anymore, so I do it in the her Camaro (y) Ok back to my housework.

@RcLew I can relate to the motorcycle fun! I had a 2004 Harley Lowrider for 9 years and once had her up to 92 mph and she was still climbing and I chickened out. My wife wouldn't ride with me because she said I didn't have enough experience. But every time I put a strange woman on the back to get experience I got in trouble! Lol
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
@RcLew I can relate to the motorcycle fun! I had a 2004 Harley Lowrider for 9 years and once had her up to 92 mph and she was still climbing and I chickened out. My wife wouldn't ride with me because she said I didn't have enough experience. But every time I put a strange woman on the back to get experience I got in trouble! Lol

Maybe try familiar woman next time? like a sister or girl friend or co worker of your wife. That might motivate her to go with you. If anything to keep you in line hehe.
 

RcLew

Member
My wife loved riding with me, back in the 70s when we were dating, she would jump on the back of my 750 four, and we would go cruising wide open, passing on the right and doing wheelies, lost her off the back once, she wasn't happy, she made me install a sissy bar :mad: but best part is the faster I went the tighter she hung on ;) :love: Sold the 750, had 70.000 miles on it, had more miles on it, speedometer was broke for a few years, I never really used it anyway. Several years later we bought a FXDWG and she loved to ride on that and so did I, but had to sell it, had no choice:cry: Back to the subject of R/C, had the grandsons for a few days, started on the FT Explorer, they helped trim the tiled plans and glue them together, next time their here will glue them on a poster board, trace them on the foam board and start cutting the parts out, Grandpa is excited :D
 

mstubbs007

New member
Howdy to all, I have been involved in model aircraft on and off for 50 plus years, my Dad was my influence, he was a member of the 460th Fighter Squadron the Black Rams during WWII, his passion was model airplanes! As a young boy I watched him fly his free flights, control line, R/C and scratch build and kit build planes, my first time was flying one of his U control planes at the town ball field, man was I excited, I was maybe 10 years old, my memory recalls just bits and pieces of it, and yes so was the plane. skipping ahead, I started flying R/C in the mid 70's got married in the early 80's and had two son's when they got old enough also began flying R/C. I'm retired now have four grandchildren who I'm trying to get into R/C planes. While searching online I found Flite Test, what an awesome site, looking forward to building a few planes with my grandchildren from the plans I have downloaded, and getting back into R/C myself. My avatar is a picture of my Dads Super Brigadier he built back in the later 50's, just guessing, what I recall most about the plane is "Don't Touch That" Today It's my most prized possession, to me it's priceless!
Just a warning don't buy Spektrum hardware it really junk and the servo cable plugs have to be modified to fit possibly causing a short and ruining the receiver. Poor manufacturing. I purchased a FLex jet from flex innovations and they recommend using the Spektrum AR 8010T receiver which has been nothing but issues. Totally wasted my time with this project because of poor Spektrum manufacturing. The jet is great but I cant fly it without a receiver ha ha
 
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Flyingshark

Master member
Just a warning don't buy Spektrum hardware it really junk and the servo cable plugs have to be modified to fit possibly causing a short and ruining the receiver. Poor manufacturing. I purchased a FLex jet from flex innovations and they recommend using the Spektrum AR 8010T receiver which has been nothing but issues. Totally wasted my time with this project because of poor Spektrum manufacturing. The jet is great but I cant fly it without a receiver ha ha
I've been really liking the AR620, AR410 and DX6e. Maybe the problems were with that specific model of receiver?