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GrumpyBadger

Junior Member
Hey all,

I mainly go by GrumpyBadger pretty much anywhere I go, both online and off. Long story short of it, some of my friends think I and this character -
7115ef4f246a40066a8cd6377241553e.jpg
and in a way, I have to agree. I'm the same guy at other aviation forums, star wars forums, and history forums.

I've built plenty of things from scale models, rc hobby trucks, to full size sail boats, so I'm feeling up for the scratchbuilding of my first RC plane. I like the costs, and the ease of which I can fix them ;)

I'm thinking about building Flight-test's Blender or Baby Blender as my first rc plane... is that a good choice? Basically, long term goal is to have my favorite warbirds in scale RC.
Wildcat
Hellcat
Corsair
Catalina
Goose

but everyone says don't fly warbirds the first go, which having some flight-time myself, I can see why in the scale community too. ;)I just hate hi-wing aircraft. I don't like em unless they can float too :D I do like bi-planes and they do have the upper wing so... ;)

at first I was thinking of the Catalina BNF I found, but it has twin engines so that's a little too complicated. Beyond that, I can build with the best. If I can build a Master Chief 117 suit, I can build a model airplane out of foam too.

anyway, happy to be here, looking forward to joining the group and getting to know everyone

fair winds and following seas
Pat
 
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Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Hey Pat! welcome to the forum!

On the whole, we're a friendly bunch here, but personality is always welcome ;)

Sounds like you've got some good building experience, and quite a bit of that will transfer. The one difference that's hit me is building for light & looks instead of strength & looks, but most of that is material changes.

BTW, you pick your WWII warbirds well, but how much flying experience do you have so far? you hint it's low (we've all been there) but this can influence how "first" that first scratchbuild is. If you've flown a trainer/sim before and feel comfortable about the controls the blender will be fine, but if this is your first airplane in the air building the Flyer or picking up a cheap trainer (like the HH champ or FZ supercub) will get you enough to know how a plane handles in the air, and how to keep yourself oriented. This can be learned on nicer looking airframes, but it usually involves a slower climb on the learning curve, many scrapped airframes, and a few really bad days out at the flying field.

Either way, welcome, and feel free to jump in to the discussions wherever!
 

GrumpyBadger

Junior Member
well,

I have zero stick time when it comes to RC planes :D maybe I should have worded that differently. :rolleyes:
basically I have stick time, about 100 hours within a military flightsim for the AV-8 Harrier that I was fortunate enough to enjoy via the US Navy Sea Cadet Corp as a kid :cool:
then somehow I never did become a pilot and instead worked for a living for about a decade in the Coast Guard. I've been flying a lot on the computer though, ever since "X-Wing" and "Chuck Yeager's Air Combat." I've been mainly on consoles of late, but have been brought back to the reality side of things since I've been doing my warbird research after I got out. My plan is to start flying a TON in IL-2:1946. I'm GrumpyBadger over on their forums as well.

I also have about 45 minutes of stick time in a SNJ-Texan, am honored and grateful for the flight in the gunner's turret of a TBM-Avenger, and have sat in about every warbird cockpit I have gotten the chance to sit in. It's my goal to become a philanthropist with the old Warbirds and keep the WWII history alive... for me at least, there's just something beautiful about the old piston aircraft. I've also flown in a B-17, B-25, C-47, and PBY-Catalina. Needless to say, they never trusted me enough with the controls of those gorgeous girls, but it's my goal to some day become rated in them.

I'm totally fine with jumping into the other airframes now too, after going over more of the youtube videos. I just found Flite Test about 12 hours ago and this all started with my girl saying she likes planes, and wants to get into RC plane flying. We also found out there's a local club here with their own airstrip... that got me searching videos on youtube, which of course started with me watching videos of warbirds. I found a review of the Parkzone Wildcat, and yep, it was Flite Test's pilot. The rest is history, or at least the last 12 hours anyway.

basically, I'm a fan of building them myself, especially the first, cheaper planes. I like all the models I've seen of the Swappables and LOVE that it evolves into the Meteor and Spitfire! A Spit really isn't all that different from a P-51 or a P-40 for that matter. It'll just take some work figure out the Wildcat, Hellcat and Corsair :D but that's why I'm here :D
 
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Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Sounds like you've got the basics of flight down (and more), which is a real bump up on the learning curve. While the dynamics are the same, models aren't quite the same in feel, since air doesn't scale -- it'll feel a *lot* thicker to the 1:32 scale warbird than the 1:1. That and building electric planes with > 1:1 thrust/weight is trivial, so sometimes it's too easy to boost the power. In a few ways "things" happen slower, but in most cases "things" happen a lot quicker. Trainers are good at slowing things down, and making fewer bad things happen.

You'll still have to get past orentation. When you're no longer sitting in the pilot's seat, it's hard to get the muscle memory switched over from my left/right to the plane's left/right. Most people -- at first -- can follow the plane with ease, but if distracted have trouble regaining it. Practice will help, but any good RC sim will work as well. Depending on the realism they go from Free to several hundred dollars, but there are some good inexpensive midpoints.

Otherwise, really looking forward to seeing your ideas progress!