We be stylin now

[Piotrsko]

Think about it: 1970, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
My first FULL PROPORTIONAL radio, made by world engines the parent company to OS MAX engines. Wow 4 channel, trims on all channels, standard size servos. 6 volt center tapped, discrete components, no digital nothing. Open gimbal sticks! CB radio, I believe current channel 21 Or 27.095 mhz.

Ok couple of problems: first it was a some assembly required kit, second , it cost $199.95, plus tax and shipping ($1750.00 in 2019 dllars). Took me a year on my paper route to save that much.

Bought it, and boy was I suprised by the some assembly required. At least the boards were built. Everything else required being put together. A hundred little bags of parts, 1" thick assembly manual done in black and white. At least I knew how to solder.

The instructions were like this: cut 6" lengths of red black white orange yellow blue brown tan wire, strip the ends and tin.
Find bag #1 and check to see if everything is there. Flip page in instructions for assembled picture, make bag of parts look like picture.
Rinse, repeat. Put parts into place on case, screw together, find the next part..... so after a month working in the evenings, it was done. I had my Dad double check the wiring.

Turned it on. Hmmm no magic smoke, no random pops or flashes, but it doesn't work. Go back and go through all the instructions. It's right. Check. Turn it on again, nothing. Dad looks at it and says " Need to plug in the radio?" Nothing in the instructions said to power the receiver.

 

[FDS]

Stuff like that makes me so glad for sub $100 idiot proof radio gear. I started RC in 1986 or so, the first car I got is still available and at almost the same price!

 

[boogieloo]

In 1970s, after you put together this radio for the 4 channel model airplane, how long did it take before it fired up again? Was it 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year.

 

[Marzipan]

Stuff like that makes me so glad for sub $100 idiot proof radio gear. I started RC in 1986 or so, the first car I got is still available and at almost the same price!

at the same price is a good thing, if it was a good car.

 

[Hondo76251]

@Piotrsko thats awesome! what was the range on that system?

 

[Piotrsko]

Replies: @boogieloo had a plane ready to go: midwest 'Lil T glider for soaring at a place called 3 towers,something called the cardboard box, and a .19 something that I can't remember but maybe a day or so after I built it, it was crashing something. Back then if I got 2 flights out of a plane it was surprising 3 flights was heresy, four flights without repairing something was time to retire the plane

@Hondo76251 output was 2 watt into the final so perhaps 11/2- 3/4 watt out. Range was what you could see the plane so in the case of the glider 2 miles, even being on channel 21 of chicken band which was generally un used back in the day.

 

[Hondo76251]

I think the max on CB is 4 watts IIRC. Back when we all had them in our trucks, with propper tuned antenna and on top of a hill, it was no problem to get clear transmission to 20+ miles.

 

[Piotrsko]

@Hondo76251: Legal limit was 5 watt into the final so generally 4 3/4 out but RC if you couldn't see it you can't fly it, so watt and a half was good for couple three miles. I think I got 20 miles solid 5 x5 comm on my 1 watt walkie talkie on a quiet channel

 

[cyclone3350]

Oh man, do U bring back the memories. My first paper route radio was the Ace single channel pulse. I wasn't able to get a 200.00 dollar radio until the early eighties. Around the time U bought yours, my father bought his first proportional radio. It was a world 4ch also. It had the single stick with the rudder being a rotary knob on top of the stick and a ratchet trim on the left for throttle. What amazes me, was how important it was to set the throws just right as per instructions. How much time it took to adjust the linkages to get it just right. Now, I build everything with about 40' degree deflection by eyeballing it, dial it down with the radio to what looks like 25' and add 30% expo. Maiden and dial up from there.

 

[Hondo76251]

Not old enough to have seen anything like that in action. I started hanging out at the field about the time they were starting to require narrow band and, as i recall, the problem at that field was that no one had one yet! Lol

 

[L Edge]

Oh man, do U bring back the memories. My first paper route radio was the Ace single channel pulse. I wasn't able to get a 200.00 dollar radio until the early eighties. Around the time U bought yours, my father bought his first proportional radio. It was a world 4ch also. It had the single stick with the rudder being a rotary knob on top of the stick and a ratchet trim on the left for throttle. What amazes me, was how important it was to set the throws just right as per instructions. How much time it took to adjust the linkages to get it just right. Now, I build everything with about 40' degree deflection by eyeballing it, dial it down with the radio to what looks like 25' and add 30% expo. Maiden and dial up from there.

Saw my first single stick with rudder back then when a guy (crane operator) flew a heli using the rotary knob to control the rudder(no gyro then). Back then, it impressed me that he could lift it off, climb to about 20 ft, move it forward, stop and land slowly. It was not until the 80's (Cricket) till we tried. Kits were a lot cheaper. Try to use a single stick radio, preferred the regular 2 stick.

 

[Piotrsko]

Not old enough to have seen anything like that in action. I started hanging out at the field about the time they were starting to require narrow band and, as i recall, the problem at that field was that no one had one yet! Lol

Narrow band happened after the FCC sold a bunch of bandwidth between radio channels to commercial radio telephone operators so everyone was interfering with each other. The commercial people had lawyers and dollars, the AMA was worthless and didn't even show up at the informational Nprm meetings. You could fly wide band, but risked being shot down by a dump truck calling dispatch.

 

[Piotrsko]

Oh man, do U bring back the memories. My first paper route radio was the Ace single channel pulse. I wasn't able to get a 200.00 dollar radio until the early eighties. Around the time U bought yours, my father bought his first proportional radio. It was a world 4ch also. It had the single stick with the rudder being a rotary knob on top of the stick and a ratchet trim on the left for throttle. What amazes me, was how important it was to set the throws just right as per instructions. How much time it took to adjust the linkages to get it just right. Now, I build everything with about 40' degree deflection by eyeballing it, dial it down with the radio to what looks like 25' and add 30% expo. Maiden and dial up from there.

Escapement or galloping ghost? Ace sold both. Back in the day, we had to adjust everything by hand because trim was only like 5% of the total movement. To this day, I still don't need computer memory because everything I fly is set up for zero trim flight, so you just turn on the plane and maybe 1-2 trim clicks at worst.

 

[cyclone3350]

Escapement or galloping ghost? Ace sold both. Back in the day, we had to adjust everything by hand because trim was only like 5% of the total movement. To this day, I still don't need computer memory because everything I fly is set up for zero trim flight, so you just turn on the plane and maybe 1-2 trim clicks at worst.

Galloping ghost. Back then I bought it second hand unused for I think $15. By then, I moved up from the paper routes to lawn mowing. @ $5 a pop, that was 3 home yards worth. Yes, I also set up for zero trim. I just didn't have the skills to handle it with too much throw authority or worse, not enough.

 

[Piotrsko]

Not enough throw simply meant you had huge circles to deal with and sometimes landing in trees or roofs. Sometimes left turns were the only way to turn. Too much meant crashing until you figured out it was too sensitive, which sometimes never happened.

Wow, $15 bucks then was a weeks groceries for me and I ate really well or 1weeks rent.

Have you noticed yet that the new Tudor looks like Dicks dream?

 

[cyclone3350]

Not enough throw simply meant you had huge circles to deal with and sometimes landing in trees or roofs. Sometimes left turns were the only way to turn. Too much meant crashing until you figured out it was too sensitive, which sometimes never happened.

Wow, $15 bucks then was a weeks groceries for me and I ate really well or 1weeks rent.

Have you noticed yet that the new Tudor looks like Dicks dream?

That pretty much describes my early experiences.

 

[Hondo76251]

Narrow band happened after the FCC sold a bunch of bandwidth between radio channels to commercial radio telephone operators so everyone was interfering with each other. The commercial people had lawyers and dollars, the AMA was worthless and didn't even show up at the informational Nprm meetings. You could fly wide band, but risked being shot down by a dump truck calling dispatch.

Glad things have changed so much 🤪

 

[Piotrsko]

Glad things have changed so much 🤪

Things were both so much easier and harder back in the day. Learning things was a one off expensive experiment, but you didn't get hassled about everything by Kevins and Karens walking their whatever over bred dog

 

[Hondo76251]

I had meant to edit that one:

AMA was worthless and didn't even show up at the informational Nprm meetings.

🙄

But, yes, i agree. A lot of things (in many areas of life) were harder back then that have been made significantly easier now, but at what cost?

 

[quorneng]

Pretty early RC although never fully achieved.
In 1959 (I think) the model plane UK endurance record was broken and stood at 14 hours. It used a 8 cc glow with two elasticated tanks fixed under the wing. Petrol was mixed with the glow fuel. Petrol has a much higher calorific value than methanol although after the flight the engine seriously coated in burnt carbon.
My Dad who was a serious model engineer thought it should be possible to do better with a small petrol 4 stroke motor. The fuel economy of such would be twice that of a 2 stroke glow and equipped with a proper carburettor would do much better at the low throttle settings used for the last half of the flight.
The weight limit for model plane records was at the time 10 lbs (4.53 kg).
I was only 13 at the time but keen model plane builder. Together we did some research and established that an efficient 10 lb RC plane with glider type wings would fly quite adequately with even a basic 5 cc motor.
What I did not know was my Dad had long harboured a desire to build a small light petrol 4 stroke. He had been involved with model hydroplane racing before WWII and felt the 30 cc engines used were powerful but heavy.
So he set about building a lightweight air cooled 5cc petrol 4 stroke with big inclined valves in a true hemi head. It was complete by mid 1961.
This is a cut away drawing he prepared although after he had built it.

All ball race with a ringed aluminium cylinder and a float carburettor. Note the big head fins and the bifurcated exhaust port at the front to ensure the exhaust valve and seat got the best possible cooling. It weighs 8 oz and turns a 9x6 at 11,000 rpm. The really clever trick is its dry sump lubrication system so no oil in the fuel as is used now even on 4 strokes.
Using the underside of the piston as a pump a pair of one way valves in the crankcase back plate result in oil being drawn in from a separate tank and fed directly to the big end bearing. The oil leaving the bearing is then 'misted' by the crank rotation to lubricate everything else The oil with any air from leaks and piston blow by is returned to the oil tank.
The engine did quite a bit of fuel consumption testing and it demonstrated there was a good chance that with 5 lbs of fuel (4 pints, 1/2 gallon) would run the engine with a progressively reducing throttle for a good 24 hours.
At the time I made a rough sketch of what the plane might look like.

72" (1828 mm) span with the 1/2 gallon fuel tank built into the wing centre section acting as the spar! Simple rudder ,elevator. throttle only control. Of course with no electronic ignition systems it would have been almost impossible to provide sparks for such a long period with a meaningful weight battery.
In any case the problem solved itself as the model 'endurance' category was soon abandoned by the FAI and the model weight limit removed in the UK, yes really. How things have changed.
I still have the engine and it still runs but I dare not risk flying it as it is quite unique and I certainly don't have the engineering skill to make any replacement parts.
Edit: It seems I got the wrong video!