Say Hi!

[JimCR120]

Thank you both for coming here to say hi. The Forum has grown quite a deal and having this thread is a nice way to keep connected with newcomers and learn a bit about them.
I remember when I was younger and wanted to get into this hobby but saw it as cost prohibitive. Fortunately for me and countless others as yourselves the hobby has grown in ways that not only make it possible to get in at an affordable price but also there's the benefit of making and building friendships.
I really appreciate the caliber of well-natured people that share here and also how widespread this has become.
James, I like how you and your friend have different platforms that you share and get the experience from each.
Simon, 40 models?!?! Wow. If I started now I think that would take me quite a while to get there. You must be quite a builder. What are your most memorable builds?
Welcome to the FT Forum!
—Jim

 

[JimCR120]

Greg,
Hey I live about an hour from Augusta... Maine. At least my daughter-in-law is from GA. I still have yet to try some gator tail but I will if I ever get the chance.
As you I wanted to get in to the hobby earlier but held back for the cost factor. It wasn't until a couple decades later my youngest bought me a WildHawk that I was officially in. He's such a good son.
Anyway I'm hoping to get my other children and grandchildren (when they get a little older) into this too.
Welcome to the Forum.
—Jim

 

[ViperTech]

Hi all! My name is Gerald. I am 44 years old and am a rookie pilot, just started flying in Sept.2013. I am married and have 3 grow children and a grandson on the way. I always wanted to have an rc plane just cost too much years ago! The family got me a gift card for my birth day and I decided to look into a RTF plane. I bought a hobby zone mini super cub and I was hooked! I found flight test shortly after that and I have built The flyer, nut ball , delta, 2 old fogeys, speedster,dusty crop duster and ft22. I am hooked on building. I love this hobby and my oldest son has started building an old fogey! I hope to design one some day but just building and flying is great!

 

[Craftydan]

Jim, might be a good time to visit in April . . . just in time for SEFF

Greg, might be a haul from Augusta to Americus, but it's a fly-in that's worth the trip -- April 7-13. There will be a few folks from the forum there, (and some guys from Navarre, OH), and it's always nice to put a face with the name

 

[Craftydan]

Hey Gerald! Welcome to the forum!

You're in good company -- A lot of us here grew up living with "too expensive" and staying on the "public" side of the fence at the club fields. It's great the hobby is becoming more reachable and easy to play with -- it's bringing in new blood and a ton of creativity!

 

[Simdor]

Well, I live in Sweden...We have some long winters here, perfect for scratchbuilding! However, my most rememberable builds would mostly be planes from RCPowers.com. I love the F-18 V2, F-22, T-50 V1, F-1 Hydro 150% and Mikeysrc Pylon Racer. Also the Eurofighter V2 is a great flying plane. These 6 planes are definitely my favourite scratchbuilds.

Yesterday I was busy building my F-18 V2 agian. Turned out really nice! For the people who wants the specs:

Wingspan: 960mm or 38 inches
Lenght 1500mm or 59 inches
I used 6mm depron foam and colored tape

 

[JimCR120]

Simon, That Super-Hornet is a work of art! Of all the scratchbuilds I've done, the F-18 has been the one that I've had the most flight time and fun with and as a Navy veteran I have a particular fondness. My son and I did Dave Powers first version which was good but I soon tried doing some mods to make it less flat and more shapely. Is this you own design and are you willing to share it? Maybe first thing I should ask is, how does it fly?

 

[Simdor]

Thanks! Yeah, the version 1 of Dave Powers F-18 does look quite flat and squarish but it makes it easy for beginners to build. The version 2 (the picture above) on the other hand is absolutely amazing! It's the third one I've built and this one I did do a couple of changes. First of all, I scaled it up 15% to get a larger feeling to it (even the original is quite big). The KF-m 2 (step on the top) is great on it. I do not like the original elevator set up, during high g maneuvers the long pushrods makes it flimzy and weak. I strenghten the elevator section with carbon fiber tubes (3mm) and mixed the elevators with the ailerons to make it a 4x4 setup.

I maiden it just a couple of hours ago and wow, what a plane. It flies like nothing I've ever flown, the larger size does make it more stable but I noticed a reduction in top speed. The Super Mega Jet could just barely make it go vertical. However, I did order a slightly larger motor from Hobbyking, should arrive quite soon. I wouldn't recommend to scale it up, it's perfect as it is! Other than that I didn't do much to the airframe. I use the DX6i, orange receiver, 50 amp esc, Super Mega Jet (Grayson Hobby) and four
9 gram servos.

 

[JustGreg]

just in time for SEFF

Greg, might be a haul from Augusta to Americus, but it's a fly-in that's worth the trip -- April 7-13. There will be a few folks from the forum there, (and some guys from Navarre, OH), and it's always nice to put a face with the name

Thanks for the heads up! My wife and I are going to make plans to attend. Im a lucky guy. She actually takes interest in MY hobbies.

 

[Christopher14]

Hi Christopher here from Sandpoint Idaho. I am 14 years old and I started flying late winter of 2013 with a FT Simple Soarer and a Hi-Start. from there I built a FT Old Speedster, I put a 2s (3s recommended) 1500mah lipo battery on it with a hextronic 24g motor with a 9x4.7 prop, Needles to say I crashed it. (not enough climb, and it was tail heavy)

About a week ago I made an FT Flyer and it flew! I destroyed that a few days later. But I know where the dollar store is.

 

[Foam Addict]

Hi Christopher here from Sandpoint Idaho. I am 14 years old and I started flying late winter of 2013 with a FT Simple Soarer and a Hi-Start. from there I built a FT Old Speedster, I put a 2s (3s recommended) 1500mah lipo battery on it with a hextronic 24g motor with a 9x4.7 prop, Needles to say I crashed it. (not enough climb, and it was tail heavy)

About a week ago I made an FT Flyer and it flew! I destroyed that a few days later. But I know where the dollar store is.

Congrats!
Don't you love that feeling?

I wouldn't worry, I was fixated on designing my own planes when I got into the hobby, and built 5 before one flew, then destroyed 6 or 7 learning little by little. I'm a pretty extreme case of this, so don't get too discouraged.

BTW, I really got started when I was 14 as well, and I'm still hooked almost 4 years later.

 

[Christopher14]

I resurrected my Old Speedster and It flew as well, but after I accidentally put 2-3 degrees of down thrust on the motor it would not climb for anything. but I have a cool template for a Blue Dart Xtra, it is like a Xtra 300 and a FT Flyer smashed together.

Gene Bond from RCGroups is the designer of this awesome plane, huge credit to him!

Here are the plans: View attachment BluDart_Xtra_tiled.pdf

 

[Amandal]

hi my name is Amanda im new to flying but my boyfriend is teaching me to fly quads and planes

 

[LunarModz]

Newbie RC pilot checking in. Been following the hobby for years, and used to run nitro trucks years ago. Currently have a HZ champ and HZ duet, couldnt decide which i wanted to start with.

I live in texas and love the show that FT does. I look forward to getting into scale planes and pattern flying! I have a feeling i am going to get bored with 3 channels before too long so am already starting the hunt for a bigger 4ch that can take a bit more wind. I look forward to all the advice that im sure i will be asking for.

-Andrew

 

[brenagwynn]

Hi everyone! My name is Igor and I live in Ukraine. I'm sort of a newbie pilot, my flight experience is about 6 months. I was really inspired by the FT show (accidentally stumbled upon some of their videos on youtube and that got me in). I've started with the AR Drone 2, but soon realised that quad is very limited. I have a friend who is an experienced RC pilot, he was teaching me for about a month, we were flying with the buddy box. Then I began to fly by myself, crashed a couple of times (actually, crashed many times :black_eyed, learned some valuable lessons (not only on flying, but also on repairing planes) and now I crash less and less often I wanna try flying FPV, so I'm collecting the gear and preparing my Teksumo wing for that.

 

[JimCR120]

Hello Amanda, Igor, and Andrew.
I am pleased to see people joining the forum from near and far. I trust you will find many contacts and help here.
Welcome!
—Jim

 

[TheFrogman123]

My name is Chris, flown an ft ss. I have built over 20 planes.

 

[JimCR120]

Hey Chris, Welcome to the Forum. Where about are you at/from?
—Jim

 

[Robin]

Hi my name is Robin and I´m from Germany (where Robin is a seldom, but male forename ;-) ). And I hope I got the difference between 'Quick Reply" and "Reply to Thread" right ;-)

 

[Defog]

I'm Brian. I'll have to get a picture of my first airplane and use it as my avatar. Dad was a carpenter. He made me his rendition of a Cessna 180. I still have it. I flew that plane everywhere I was allowed to go. Always between 2 and 4 feet AGL. Not a typo. That plane is 53 years old. I am going to paint it, put tundra tires on it, and a prop that is more to scale. The rest is staying stock.

Flying full scale was my dream, but a lack of positive reninforcement to follow your dreams kept me from it. So I decided that one day I'd get into RC flying. And here I am. Right now the only thing I fly is my DJI Phantom 2 with a GoPro. I purchased the 3-pack swappable kits, and will be adding a blunt nose Versa Wing.

I'm busy lately trying to "fund" retirement, move to Ohio, and volunteer at Flite Test. Okay, that may not actually happen, but that is a work environment I can thrive in.


Blue Skies!