As I get to thinking about building radio controlled model airplane kits, I remember back to my first airplane. I not only built the airplane from a kit, but I also built the radio from a kit. It was a Heathkit radio that I bought through a catalog, and when it came it was in a million pieces, more or less. At first, I was frightened about this, but having just built my own airplane from a kit, a I figured I had a good chance of being able to build the radio, as well. It was an eight channel radio system with four servos. Building that radio was somewhat of a challenge. Mostly because the parts were so tiny and my soldering iron was very large, but I succeeded in building the radio. I still have that radio today, it is 34 years old, and it still works as good as it did when it was new.
I flew many different airplanes with that radio, and I intend to keep on using it as long as it keeps on working. It has survived many crashes, some were completely fatal to the airplane. So apparently I must've done something right. I have had to replace the battery packs a couple of times, but other than that, it has served me well.
What I'm trying to point out here is that there is a lot of enjoyment and personal satisfaction to be gained from building your equipment from a kit. I don't think the Heathkit company is even in business anymore. I guess that means that if I should have a serious flying accident or a radio failure, I'll have to replace it.
It is installed in an older plane that is mostly just junk that I use only when my other ones are out of service, so if I should have a radio failure and lose that airplane, it really won't hurt my feelings to badly.
I still haven't got my kit yet, and needless to say I haven't started building it yet either. I hope it shows up soon because I want to get on with building that kit and creating the video of the process. I just talked to an old friend tonight, who has covered his airplanes with silk and dope. That method of covering the airframe was used even in the construction of some full size aircraft. In this day and age that seems to be a lost art. I consider myself very fortunate that I will be able to learn that process from him and pass it on to you. See you next time.
Winter is fast giving way to Spring. Are you ready for the upcoming radio controlled modeling season? Is your club or organization planning some events for 2008? I will be happy to help you get the word out. Just add your event list to your comments and I will post them in the upcoming blog entries.
I want to remind you of the purpose of this blog and that is to promote the advancement of our exciting and fullfilling hobby. If you are an experienced modeler, I ask for your input (use the comments at the end of the post) on your special interest within radio controloed hobbies. As stated before I am interested in all areas of the hobby including boats, indoor and outdoor cars and trucks, tanks, helicopters, and last but not least radio controlled model airplanes.
For the new people that have an interest in joining the sport of radio controlled modeling, if you have questions regarding anything in the area of radio controlled hobbies, use the comments at the end of this and all subsequent entries to ask your questions or request information on the area of your interest. I will be glad to help you in any way that I can and will help you seek answers from others int he hobby if I need assistance. We are all in this together.
Currently I am waiting for a kit to arrive so that I can start producing a video of all the steps of building a radio controlled model airplane from opening the box to getting it into the air. I will explain each step as we go along and record the process on dvd and make it available to anyone that wants it. My plan is for clubs and individuals to have the video for use in instruction and training. In this effort, I ask for assistance from anyone with experience in building and flight training to provide the best information possible. Thank you in advance for your help. Please communicate to me and others through the use of the comments. I'm the OldManFlier and I will see you next time.
Last time, I started out to present a few more different RC trainer kits to build, but I kind of ran on about the Carl Goldberg kits. Today, I will tell you about a few more excellent kits that are available.
There is one more Goldberg trainer available in kit form that I want to tell you about. It is the Eagle 2, formerly it was called the Eagle 63. In the early eighties, I purchased two of these kits and helped my two sons assemble them. They are also an excellent trainer that is easy to build and comes with full-sized plans and a comprehensive instruction manual. The Eagle is a .40 sized model with a flat bottomed wing that spans 63 inches. Easy to build and easy to learn to fly with.
The Great Planes PT-40 Mark II is another easy to build and fly trainer that is available in kit form. It too, comes with full-sized plans and a well-written instruction manual which includes several photographs. As the name implies it is a .40 sized radio controlled model airplane with a 60" wingspan that is designed to built either as a true trainer or as a sport flier. Both types can have ailerons installed and can be flown with rudder, elevator, and throttle or as a four channel model. This is another excellent trainer that ca also be built as a sport flier for that aerobatic second airplane.
Sig Manufacturing's Kadet LT-40 kit built trainer is another of the fine trainers that I am somewhat familiar with. It is a .40 sized radio controlled model airplane that has a 60 inch wing span. The Kadet LT-40 is an excellent trainer to get someone started flying. It flies slowly and it has built-in inherent stability that allows it to restore itself to straight and level flight if the beginner finds himself in trouble. All that is necessary to regain control is to let the control sticks return to the center position. This gives the flier a little extra time to rethink what he needs to do. This is just one more of the airplanes that works very well for the beginning radio controlled model airplane flier.
There is one more type of trainer that I will talk about and that is the Telemaster 40 available online from Hobby Lobby. The Telemaster is a well designed trainer kit that if well assembled can almost fly itself. It is a big trainer that can be built either as a tail dragger or a tricycle with steerable nose wheel. The kit also includes flaps if you want to use them. It is a slow flier and once it is headed in for a landing it will be capable of landing itself (depending on crosswind conditions). Easy to build and fly it makes an ideal trainer for someone that is trying to learn to fly by himself. I don't recommend doing this but this radio controlled model airplane is very stable and quite large making it easy to see what is going on in the air, people have learned to fly this model by themselves. I still think it is much easier, faster and safer for the plane and flier to work with a qualified instructor.
I will mention another huge model that can make a real good trainer and that is the Senior Telemaster. It is the original Telemaster and it is said to be so controllable that with the right wind conditions, it can be landed flying backwards. One of my sons built this kit and it is a big kit with a lot of balsa parts, but he managed to build pretty much all by himself as his first radio controlled model airplane. It was a very successful trainer for him, but we learned a couple of things that make it a little more difficult to deal with. Did I say this is a huge model? It has a .60 cuin engine and a wingspan of 95" and the fuselage is 63" long. The size makes it necessary to have a pickup truck with a covered box or a van to transport it to and from the flying field. Otherwise, it is truly an awsome model. My son built a trailer to haul his telemaster in. A great flying model very lightweight and rugged. If you choose to build the Senior Telemaster, plan on a longer construction time and a little more expensive to complete, but it will provide a flying experience that is amazing.
The models that I have talked about should give you enough information to select a radio controlled model airplane that will work best for you. It is not too early to locate a club near you and find someone to help you get started on the right path. If you choose to go it alone, remember you can always ask the OldManFlier at this blog site by using the comments option. I am always open to comments and questions. Keep reading and I'll see you next time.
My recent surgery was much more extreme than I was expecting it to be and has made it very difficult for me to try to write posts to the blog. For the next few weeks I will be unable to maintain a new post every day as I had originally began. The surgery on my neck was so extreme that I have been unable to sit in a chair by the computer and type. This has continued far longer than I had anticipated because of severe nerve irritation in the ring finger and little finger on both hands. This makes it almost impossible for me to type and therefore for the next few weeks don't expect a new post every day. I will do the best that I can, however I must have someone else do the typing for me. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
My very first successful radio controlled model airplane was the famous "Carl Goldberg Falcon 56". I'm not sure when this kit first became available, but I believe it to be somewhere in the 1960's. It had several characteristics that made it a very ideal beginners first airplane. In it's original design, it was built to be flown as a three channel airplane. This means that there were three control functions required to control the aircraft. Throttle, rudder, and elevator control functions were all that was needed to fly this radio controlled model airplane. Some fliers modified the design by lessening the dihedral and adding strip ailerons to give it four channel performance. This worked fairly well in some cases because the pilot had the foresight to modify some of the other flight characteristics needed to enhance performance when being used as a four channel aircraft.
First there was the Junior Falcon, a smaller plane probably around the 36 or 37 inch wingspan. Next came the falcon 56 indeed the most popular trainer of all time which is still being made. Next in line came the skylark which was the same size as the Falcon 56,however it was a low wing aircraft designed to fly faster and be more aerobatic.
The last and largest of the Falcons was the Senior Falcon a 60 sized aircraft with about a 73 inch wingspan. Also an excellent aircraft that was used in a cross country flight from California to South Carolina sometime in the mid 1970s. That famous radio controlled model airplane now resides in the Smithsonian Institute. All said and done, the Goldberg Falcon series of trainers are all excellent, easy to build, and will give you years of flying enjoyment.
If I were going to build my own trainer today, I would build the Falcon Mark III which has several improvements over the original Falcon 56. It is an excellent flying aircraft, very ruggedly built and slightly smaller than most of the trainers that you see today. I start thinking about building one and now I'm thinking of doing just that and featuring it in a series of blog entries. The OldManFlier is back and I hope I am up to more regular posting. See you next time.
When you purchase your radio controlled model airplane kit, there will be several additional items that you will need to get in order to complete the assembly. Wheels, fuel tank, fuel line, propeller, spinner,and fuel fill valve are among some of the items that are not always included in the kit. The hobby supplier, whether that is a local store or online, will usually have a list of what additional items each kit will require.
Some of the things you will need are probably already available in your household. Snap clothes pins, dressmakers T-pins, waxed paper and masking tqpe are some of the common things that will come in handy when you begin to assemble your model aircraft. You will also need an assortment of glue. Different parts of the model require different kinds of glue. CA (cyanoacrylate) is what will be used for most of the assembly of the balsa parts, carpenters glue ( "TiteBond" is my favorite) is better for gluing parts that have a large surface and will need careful alignment. The carpenters glue dries much slower and will allow a few minutes to make minor postion adjustments. Epoxy is recommended for gluing any parts that are subject to extra stress or vibration, such as the wing center joint and motor mount rails. You can select epoxy according to the drying time. Some is 5-minute, 30-minute, and some have even longer set up and curing times. Usually, the longer times will result in a stronger bond, but who wants to wait 24 hours to assemble the next pieces. I use mostly 5-minute and 30-minute epoxy and have good results with both.
Probably the most useful and important tool that you will need is the hobby knife fitted with a #11 tapered pointed blade. You will probably want to buy a set of various hobby knives or at least an extra package of the #11 blades. For making nice smooth cuts be sure to change to a new blade if it starts to tear or rip the balsa instead of cutting it. Another handy cutting tool is the razor saw. These come in a couple of different styles and number of teeth per inch. It is handy to have a couple different ones. Also, for cutting the plywood parts and any irregular shapes, a coping saw or a scroll saw is helpful.
Another very helpful tool is a dremel moto tool. There are many useful attachments available for these moto tools, but a word of caution is in order. Be sure to follow all the safety instructions and be careful when sanding or grinding on balsa, as it is soft and it is easy to remove more material than you want and you could ruin some of the parts.
Well, maybe you will have some time to order some of these items online or pick them up at your local hobby store. It is always a good idea to know which radio controlled model airplane kit you are going to build so that you can learn exactly what extra items you will need to get. More on that will be coming up in the next few blog entries. See you next time.
