Teaching My Children To Fly - The Diary

mayan

Legendary member
Ok well I can't seem to get my kids to finish their TT, technically all they are missing is adding the servos and other electronics, not something that should take us more than 30 mins max; I have Thursday afternoon with them so I'll try to get them to finish the build then.

To try pump in some motivation into them my wife and I decided to take them to the IDF Air Force musesuem. So yesterday after my night shift I went to sleep for 1.5 hours, after which I got up and fixed something to eat for the way. The musuem is an 1.2 hours drive from our house, but the drive with two kids can be hard, luckily they slept most of the way. The museum itself houses many planes that have been used by the Air Force and even planes that were used before the Air Force even existed. I personally remember the first time I visited the museum as a kid and the wonderfull exprience that I had; I still owe you all the picture of me there (hadn't found the time to look for it yet). We spent there more that 3 hours even though the weather was colder than we had expected it to be. We have done many pictures of the kids and I personally did alot of the planes, even though I selected only the best pictures it's still a lot to share on a post so I have opened a photo album for it here. I think the kids had a good time I know me and my wife did.

I hope to get the kids to finish off their build on Thursday and if all goes well also hope to take them out to the field for a bit to get in some practice.
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
Kids attention span is very short so you have to keep the tinkle in their eye. The start of a build great but half way through they are loosing interest (boring to them) . I think you finish the planes for them and then say kids here are the different paints I have and you guys pick and do what ever you want to, but don't let them fly it yet. Then I think find some really easy smaller profile planes to build that don't use much foam or glue , cheap small power setups and use them as trainers. You trim them in and set them up but then let them try their hand at flying. Can't fly the TT until you can fly the trainer.

Now even with that one may like flying and the other can't be bothered, or both like it or both hate it but be ready for that.
 

Jimun

Elite member
Ok well I can't seem to get my kids to finish their TT, technically all they are missing is adding the servos and other electronics, not something that should take us more than 30 mins max; I have Thursday afternoon with them so I'll try to get them to finish the build then.

To try pump in some motivation into them my wife and I decided to take them to the IDF Air Force musesuem. So yesterday after my night shift I went to sleep for 1.5 hours, after which I got up and fixed something to eat for the way. The musuem is an 1.2 hours drive from our house, but the drive with two kids can be hard, luckily they slept most of the way. The museum itself houses many planes that have been used by the Air Force and even planes that were used before the Air Force even existed. I personally remember the first time I visited the museum as a kid and the wonderfull exprience that I had; I still owe you all the picture of me there (hadn't found the time to look for it yet). We spent there more that 3 hours even though the weather was colder than we had expected it to be. We have done many pictures of the kids and I personally did alot of the planes, even though I selected only the best pictures it's still a lot to share on a post so I have opened a photo album for it here. I think the kids had a good time I know me and my wife did.

I hope to get the kids to finish off their build on Thursday and if all goes well also hope to take them out to the field for a bit to get in some practice.
I looked at all the pictures. It looked like you and your family had a good time. Seeing your big grin when you were seated in that plan made me smile. You were a kid again. I am happy for you.
 

basslord1124

Master member
Looks good so far! Yeah kids have short attention spans. @Wildthing has a good suggestion with letting the kids pick out the paints for the plane. I think the kids will definitely enjoy that. I'd make sure and pick up some googly eyes too. ;) The electronics side is more of a pretty technical part...your son "might" find interest in that part. You can try it with him to see what he thinks. If not, you may be on your own with that and if so, that's ok.
 

mayan

Legendary member
I have been thinking all of last night how to tackle the situation. I decided that I'll try having my son help with the electronics, like @basslord1124 said he might find interest in that because he is a little inventor :). Can't even count how many times he said he'd build me a car that can drive through things, so that we don't have to wait in traffic ever again :). If he doesn't want to help out that will be fine I'll just finish adding the electronics myself. I already thought of what @Wildthing said which is let them do the paint job of the plane, I am sure that will spike their interest again. If all goes well I also hope to take them out to the field to practice gliding the TT a bit. I know that some of you mentioned to use a different model as a trainer but feel comfortable training them with the same plane that I used to learn to fly :), which is why I am going to train them on the TT.
 

mayan

Legendary member
Alright so the kids finished setting up the electronics in their TT, both of them helped out. The triger was that if we finished it up we could decorate it. We started off be setting our work space I find it important that they respect their work space, setting aside anything that might distract them (kids with A.D.H.D).
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Next we went through a brief explanation about the electronics and what they do. After all I hate those ppl that know to drive a car but know nothing about changing a wheel. Instead of doing a dbl z bend I gave them some linkage stoppers so they had to enlarge the holes on the servo arms to fit in the stopper.
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Next they fitted the control horns and cut the push rods to the right length.
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After which they installed the servos making sure the elevator and rudder are straight. Re-thinking this just now, I should have explained why we are trying to get it straight :(, going back the effect of the rudder and elevator on the plane's flight.
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Fit in the reciever, ESC and do a balance check with a 3S 800mah battery and EWERKA were done.
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Quick super market break and we are back to start decorating, and they are not done yet they want to continue decorating tomorrow.
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Stay tuned for their final version tomorrow. I'm wondering what more do they plan on adding :).
 

Jimun

Elite member
Alright so the kids finished setting up the electronics in their TT, both of them helped out. The triger was that if we finished it up we could decorate it. We started off be setting our work space I find it important that they respect their work space, setting aside anything that might distract them (kids with A.D.H.D).
View attachment 129384

Next we went through a brief explanation about the electronics and what they do. After all I hate those ppl that know to drive a car but know nothing about changing a wheel. Instead of doing a dbl z bend I gave them some linkage stoppers so they had to enlarge the holes on the servo arms to fit in the stopper.
View attachment 129400
View attachment 129386 View attachment 129385
View attachment 129387

Next they fitted the control horns and cut the push rods to the right length.
View attachment 129388
View attachment 129389


After which they installed the servos making sure the elevator and rudder are straight. Re-thinking this just now, I should have explained why we are trying to get it straight :(, going back the effect of the rudder and elevator on the plane's flight.
View attachment 129390
View attachment 129391
View attachment 129392

Fit in the reciever, ESC and do a balance check with a 3S 800mah battery and EWERKA were done.
View attachment 129393

Quick super market break and we are back to start decorating, and they are not done yet they want to continue decorating tomorrow.
View attachment 129394
View attachment 129395
View attachment 129396
View attachment 129397
View attachment 129398
View attachment 129399

Stay tuned for their final version tomorrow. I'm wondering what more do they plan on adding :).
Awesome job kids, show your dad how it's done.:LOL:
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
Alright so the kids finished setting up the electronics in their TT, both of them helped out. The triger was that if we finished it up we could decorate it. We started off be setting our work space I find it important that they respect their work space, setting aside anything that might distract them (kids with A.D.H.D).
View attachment 129384

Next we went through a brief explanation about the electronics and what they do. After all I hate those ppl that know to drive a car but know nothing about changing a wheel. Instead of doing a dbl z bend I gave them some linkage stoppers so they had to enlarge the holes on the servo arms to fit in the stopper.
View attachment 129400
View attachment 129386 View attachment 129385
View attachment 129387

Next they fitted the control horns and cut the push rods to the right length.
View attachment 129388
View attachment 129389


After which they installed the servos making sure the elevator and rudder are straight. Re-thinking this just now, I should have explained why we are trying to get it straight :(, going back the effect of the rudder and elevator on the plane's flight.
View attachment 129390
View attachment 129391
View attachment 129392

Fit in the reciever, ESC and do a balance check with a 3S 800mah battery and EWERKA were done.
View attachment 129393

Quick super market break and we are back to start decorating, and they are not done yet they want to continue decorating tomorrow.
View attachment 129394
View attachment 129395
View attachment 129396
View attachment 129397
View attachment 129398
View attachment 129399

Stay tuned for their final version tomorrow. I'm wondering what more do they plan on adding :).

Great job kids. :)
 

mayan

Legendary member
The kids woke me up at 13 sharp and started asking to finish decorating their plane. We were just about to eat lunch so I said we’d do it after that and so we did. I don’t think they finished yet so no pictures for now. I’ll post some pictures when they’ll say it’s ready.

I have re-enforced the plane in several places that I know are easily broken in crashes, and added a magnet to the hatch of the glider nose, b/c I don’t like the original version of what closes the hatch, it tends to break at least it does for me.
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mayan

Legendary member
Just a quick update it’s the second morning in a row that the kids wake up and want to keep working on decorating their plane. Thanks @Wildthing for the tip about the decorating.

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Tomorrow we are going on a trip the North and I plan on taking both my TT and the kids TT with us just in case we find a nice place to practice flying :). I am affraid though of my TT because this will also be it's first time maiden.
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
No problem, you have to keep changing up things slightly to keep their interest peaked ;) . You will know right away if they are losing interest.

What's your daughter doing, final inspection of the underside of the wing :D :D .
 

mayan

Legendary member
They are doing a great job of decorating that TT! It’s going to look like a flying work of art at this rate. When it’s all done put a clear coat over it to seal in all that hard work so it doesn’t smudge.
Thanks for the tip :)