I don’t know if anyone cares, but here is the update on my r/c airplaning hobby.
The number of little foam air hog biplanes has doubled from 2 to 4. And we cut the lower wings off of one of them, and it flies like a rocket. It looks like these things are in production again. We went to Toys ‘R’ Us over the weekend and they had a bunch. I’d definitely recommend them. $30 and they are so much fun.
Dad had bought a plane that had a v-tail with control surfaces on it. Sweet! It was really windy, so we didn’t have a chance to fly it for a couple of weeks. The first time we took it out, I crashed it on the 2nd flight and broke the propeller and lost the landing gear. So after ordering some new parts, we took it out again. And we flew it and crashed it head first into the ground, because it is impossible to control. The wing snapped in half, and the fiberglass tail boom also snapped in half. It is going to take some pretty serious work to get it back in the air, but I’m determined to fly it again.
I ordered 2 more planes from some Chinese company. They are big, and they float, but their controls are too simple. You can’t turn and provide power at the same time, so you lose way too much altitude in the turns. But still, they are fun to putz around with. I snapped the wing on one of them, but I fixed that. And I’ve broken a ton of propellers on them. I don’t know what to do about that.
My kit plane, the Great Planes Tutor, is completely build and covered and ready to fly. But the speed control they sent me (the thing that controls the throttle) was defective or something, so I am currently waiting for a new one. Hopefully that will get here today or tomorrow, because I’m really ready to fly that bad boy. I think it is going to be a ton of fun.
I figured out last weekend that I can fit my radio gear directly to the servos in dad’s Gentle Lady sailplane, which is awesome. It hasn’t flown in probably 10 years, but after I make a covering for the radio gear, it’ll be ready to go. I’m hoping to take it out this weekend for a little bit of flying. Apparently it is a great plane to learn how to fly on, and that is just what I need right now.
Finally, I have 2 kits ready for building. One is the Dynaflite Talon. It is a sailplane with ailerons and a small wingspan, great for flying in small flying areas. Kelly and I are going to start building that this weekend. The other kit arrives today, and isn’t going to be built for probably a month or so. It is a special request of Dad – a sailplane with a motor mounted on front to get it up to altitude. I bought the Great Planes Spirit Elite, a sailplane with an advanced wing design perfect for slow speed flying. It isn’t an electric sailplane, but can be easily converted. Plus it has the option for a lot of advanced features that I think will be fun to build.
Well that’s about it. I realize I’m a pretty big geek about this, but whatever. It is totally the most fun I’ve had with something in a long, long time.