A couple of years ago I finally got around to building and flying something that actually wanted to stay in the air without a fight. I bought my first plane 'way back in '86 or so, but never even tried to fly it. My next plane was one a lot of people wish they still made today...the Hobby Shack "Spirit of '76" glider. It was made from plain white styrofoam, maybe a 72" wing, 2 channel with a full flying elevator...all for $20!! Mine? A breezy day, a tree, my dad with a rake...end of story.
Next I bought a Duraplane, one of those gutterpipe and styrofoam indestructible-but-easy-to-repair planes. For the amount of effort I put into building that thing you'd have thought it was a stick built B-17 with a 10 foot wingspan. My building skills just hadn't developed enough yet to make the little anomalies and easy fix...every little problem was a major pain and every step of the way meant another week-long wait for the Tower Hobbies delivery. That was in 1988 because I found the packing slip for my O.S. 40FP. Never flew it, lost interest, and got into R/C cars big time.
I can't remember what lit the fire under my ass, but in 2000 I got the bug again and was once more determined to fly something. I dug out the Duraplane and a Cox Canario I'd found at a flea market and got to work. One big help in getting restarted was that I'd moved to a different town and found a good R/C club that was in a private setting with a small number of members. This gave me a safe, prepared place to make mistakes and generally putter around without the constant annoyance of spectators. As with just about everything I do, once I get the hang of something I love an audience in front of which to make a fool of myself. But when I'm learning, or experimenting, or practicing I don't like spectators because instead of concentrating on what I'm doing, I end up wondering what they're thinking about me and my fumbling activities. Get it? Good.
I wasn't successful getting a plane to fly that wanted to fly until I got my U.S. Aircore Trainer 40. What a beast! It weighs a ton, but it takes punishment like you wouldn't believe!! If you think an Aircore is a piece of junk, you probably followed the directions! Look at my Aircore page to learn more. When I first took the plane out to break in the engine and taxi around a bit, I wasn't surprised as hell to have it jump into the air and start climbing out straight and true! I couldn't bring it right back down because I was out of runway so I decided to fly a lap around the field. I almost lost it right off because I was flying late in the day and flew right through the setting sun! All I could do was wait and hope it came out the other side...no problem. The first attempt to land was a little hot (that sucker's got momentum!) so I had to go around, back through the sun again...no problem...this thing wanted to fly.
Now I was really excited. Now I was back on the steep learning curve. The biggest thing to learn was all about glow engines...I'd only used electric up 'til then. I was using that old (yet still brand new) O.S. 40FP to pull the Aircore around which was enough power to fly, just don't try to fly upside down...it didn't have enough power to maintain altitude. See more Aircore fun & tips on my Aircore page.
Next I needed the notorious "second plane". Trainers by their very nature are supposed to be boring...safe, but boring. I got into more trouble trying to do things the Aircore wasn't designed for and mine was most certainly too underpowered to even try (but try I did...I was bored). Of course, I can never do anything the way everybody else does, so I ended up wasting a lot of time on little projects that never seemed to work out the way I'd hoped. You can see some of them on the pictures page.
I always ended up going back to the Aircore...Old Reliable. In 2002 I ended up taking an extended break (threw everything in the corner is more like it) due to lack of progress, lack of fun, and excess of aggravation. For about 7 months I never even thought of R/C airplanes...nothing...didn't even open a magazine. Then in Feb. 2003, KA-LICK!! Something flipped that ol' R/C switch on again and I was off to the races. I rebuilt the Aircore and started on the extra projects again. As usual, the Aircore got boring and the projects bogged down. I finally decided to bite the bullet, spend the penny, and buy a good ARF for a "second plane". Y'know, I'm lucky I'm determined (stubborn some say). I bought a Yellow Aircraft Sukhoi in May in hopes of taking it on a business trip in June. Well, 3 schools for work, surgery, a fairly major illness and multiple missteps and modifications later I finally got the Sukhoi in the air...in late August. Now I've got a plane that's fun to fly. Now I need warmer weather.
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