NGC - rubber band power

[ohiorider]

I stumbled across several YouTube videos of model airplanes.  I was pleasantly surprised to find several showing rubber band free flight models.  The videographer (is this a word?) blends music that adds to the calm of the feather light planes in flight.

Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vZonYHiXSY

[oldbike54]

 That is pretty cool Bob 

 Dusty

[not-fishing]

I still have my winders, wakefield plans and a couple of kits for when I have the time.

I'll never forget about hearing how Henry Fonda and James Stewart used to get together and build balsa model airplanes.

My oldest son knows how

Mark

[tris]

Don't forget to lube your bands

If the rubber band lets go they sure do mess up the fuselage

[Gusable]

I’ve watched many of that guys videos.  Super cool stuff. As a kid I always wanted r/c planes but couldn’t afford.  So winders were my thing. About 10 years ago I got into vintage control line flying.  Ringmasters with fox35 kinda stuff.  Now I’ve got a closet full of planes that collect dust.  Another wind up might be fun.  Most modern kits are laser cut and easier to build

[ohiorider]

I’ve watched many of that guys videos.  Super cool stuff. As a kid I always wanted r/c planes but couldn’t afford.  So winders were my thing. About 10 years ago I got into vintage control line flying.  Ringmasters with fox35 kinda stuff.  Now I’ve got a closet full of planes that collect dust.  Another wind up might be fun.  Most modern kits are laser cut and easier to build

I built (and crashed) several Sterling models, including a couple of Ringmasters, and a Yak 9, and P51 ... all profile models, all powered by Fox .35.  Never got too good at stunting.  The combat wings were way faster than my reaction time.  Still have a Sterling F6F Hellcat, complete with Fox .35 in the basement, built in 1984.

Bob

[Zoom Zoom]

I’ve watched many of that guys videos.  Super cool stuff. As a kid I always wanted r/c planes but couldn’t afford.  So winders were my thing. About 10 years ago I got into vintage control line flying.  Ringmasters with fox35 kinda stuff.  Now I’ve got a closet full of planes that collect dust.  Another wind up might be fun.  Most modern kits are laser cut and easier to build

After a long disconnect from RC, I got back into it last year. Things have changed a lot since nearly 20 years ago. In particular, the price of admission is drastically lower than it used to be. The stuff I have now is all electric and if you confine yourself to entry level stuff you can get in and flying pretty cheap. Last year, I bought into what the hobby calls a UMX plane. That means Ultra Micro X???. Anyway, it is a 5 channel model made of foam, ready to fly out of the box, complete with a motor, receiver and all servos. $130.00. You still need a transmitter, batteries, and charger and battery meter. The smaller planes use pretty inexpensive batteries. Bigger batteries get more costly. I have since gotten a couple larger planes but the little one that I bought with the consideration of being inexpensive were I to crash it has turned out to be one of the most fun. Besides having five channels, (rudder, aileron, elevator, throttle, flaps) it has flashing strobe lights that are pretty cool near dark. With a 27 inch wingspan it fits easily in the car without disassembly and is a capable and fun flyer. The modern transmitters can hold many models in memory so you simply select the one you are currently flying.

As an aside, I had Ringmasters too but it was a very long time ago.

John Henry

[Roebling3]

Coincidence? (not talking about where your biplane's leading edge is). The latest issue of Model Airplane News has an extensive article interviewing 'stalwarts' of the industry & Model Airplane News contributors regarding the failing interest in building & flying RC airplanes. I've built many and never stop dreaming, but leave the flying to others.  R3~

[Roebling3]

Addenda:
www.WarbirdsOverDel aware.com

Four Days of war bird flying! Pistons to Jets. Recon Cubs to 1/2 scale P51's, Dauntless or monster B-17, 29, Fighter jets & turbine power! The Delaware RC Club has been doing this event for 28 years.  You will not be disappointed.

Kirkwood, DE. Are you close enough? Interested enough? Breakfast & lunch each day? Pit passes? Flying 'til dark? I have no personal connection with this event.  R3~

[Lannis]

I'll bet that very many of us were into that hobby ... many still are.

I have boxes full of Fox .35 and Gieseki Nobler parts ... I was so tempted when the estate of our Guzzi buddy Jim Stogdale was sold at auction last year - he had dozens of beautifully built planes, several generations of radios, jigs, building supplies ... I could have gotten back into it but decided that would be one more thing I don't have time for these days (MAKE time for, I mean).

It's a lot of fun.  That guy in the original video really knows how to build and trim a plane for flight, too.

Lannis

[ohiorider]

Do some of you guys or gals have any memories of model engines prior to the glow-plug era?  Both my older brothers, now sadly gone, flew control line planes.  Powered by engines that weren't glow ignition, but conventional spark ignition.  The planes carried a couple of AA size batteries, condenser, and coil.  A small set of points on the front of the engine fired the tiny Champion spark plug.  Timing could be advanced or retarded by moving a lever  that rotated the points mounting plate.  Fuel was a mixture of lead free Amoco, lubed with castor oil
One of their engines was an Ohlsson and Rice .23.  Their other engine was a Fleetwind .60.

Bob

[BRG-BIRD]

That was pretty cool, thank you!

[Chuck in Indiana]

Model airplanes plus "Engineering for the amateur aircraft builder" by Raul Hoffman taught me everything I know about how airplanes fly. My first RC models were single channel with a rubber powered escapement that moved the rudder left or right by either 1 or 2 pulses from the transmitter. 
My ex father in law was a long time modeler, and had tons of antique airplanes, engines, etc..that I promptly restored and crashed. 

[Lannis]

Model airplanes plus "Engineering for the amateur aircraft builder" by Raul Hoffman taught me everything I know about how airplanes fly.

That was the theme of one of my favorite movies of all time, the 1965 version of "Flight of the Phoenix".   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQW_FQpdvc

Herr Dorfmann (after this clip) explains to Frank Townes that a model airplane must be MORE stable and have MORE margin than a plane controlled by a man piloting it .... and therefore even harder to design.   Probably something to that ...

Lannis