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The pure joy of model flying


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It's funny, I was thinking just the other day, that in these days of sophistication, with all the experience we have, we expect success.

In all my years of model flying, the greatest joy I remember was when the first model I built by myself (a KK Achilles) flew for about 10 seconds on a balmy summer evening in the field behind my home. Felt like it was in the air for hours. I almost wept for joy.

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I've been looking at all sorts of different models to build and fly, in particular small ones as have I have limited space to build, (my dining table), and so being a glider afficionado I've ordered that classic of gliders, the Bird of Time, but this time in a 48" version so, I'm looking forward to that but, I also fancy a Keil Kraft Ace rubber powered model. Keil Kraft models are making a ressurgence, particularly as they are now supplying comprehensive laser cut kits and including propellor, rubber, tissue etc. I even watched a video of a Ace yesterday which had been built with single channel radio and I was absolutely amazed at its performance, so I'm tempted to buy one for some simple, easy fun this spring/summer after a day in work.

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I wonder does anyone ever forget that first successful flight.

I know that I can still remember mine. I remember the complete scene,the weather and that flight.

I had built quite a few rubber powered models which converted themselves into instant scrap.

This was in 1953 when I was living in the Argentine.

I built a cabin Wakefield called the Cardinal. The kit was bought at the only real model shop in Buenos Aires called Maipu 309 which also happened to be its address.

I took the model up onto a huge open grass field. I can still see the scene with a house among trees up a slight rise about 300 yards away.

I wound the model up and launched it.

IT FLEW. It climbed away and circled round for about a minute an then landed quite near me. Absolute JOY!!!

For the second flight I went with my mother and the dogs to a large area of scrub and grass where there were usually cattle grazing...no fences.

This time I was going to stretch wind the motor.

With mother holding the model I stretched the motor out and started winding with the hand drill with hook in the chuck.

The rear motor peg pulled out and suddenly I had about 8 ounces of rubber with assorted balsa bits being chewed up in it while my mother was left holding four longerons and a wing and a tail.

Again.I cannot forget that.

If anyone has a plan of that Cardinal Wakefield I would give an awful lot for a copy.

 

Edited By Peter Miller on 19/01/2021 15:03:37

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The first successful flight with a model I built myself [I am not counting flights with sling shot launched types you bought ready to go ] was with a KK cadet glider, my first build was a KK Hurricane and was soon wreaked.

I had no one to help with a tow launch so off the hill it went flying away in a woodpigeon type [ swooping flight ] to land three fields away laugh Delighted I was.

As a school prize I chose from a selection of books " Your book of Aeromodelling by Robert R Rodwell which in part covered the building/flying of the Cadet putting me on the path to some 55 years of modelling.  That and a copy of Aeromodeller  left behind by an older cousin who had visited that summer.

Edited By J D 8 on 19/01/2021 15:30:59

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My first two models were not a success but my third did it for me.

It was a Veron Cardinal powered by a Mills 75. I'd covered the wing surfaces in yellow lightweight tissue but I wanted the fuselage in purple. I've always been a bit like that! Purple dope was not available so I mixed red and blue dope together. It came out brown! So I took my brown and yellow Cardinal to my Uncle Geoff, the man who had taught me how to build and he remarked that it was much better built than the other two. Unfortunately he could not come with us to see it fly because he was in the last stages of cncer which took him a few months later. He was only 36.

So my father and I and his brother, who had also built model aeroplanes, went to a local disused aerodrome where we flew the model. It was a windless summer's day. After the usual trim tests and alterations I started up the Mills and the model flew until the fuel ran out. Later on we filled the tank, the model flew until it was a tiny cross above us, the engine would pick up revs as the fuel was exhausted and then quit. The model would stall then glide back to us in descending circles to land just a few metres away.

I did not know it then but I was hooked. I can still see the sun shining through the yelow tissue covering...I was twelve years old.

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Once witnessed an older gent who came back to modelling late in life, sat in the boot of his car, after flying one of his own designs, whilst being a relative trainee, with tears rolling down beneath his sunglasses dripping onto his pressed white shirt and bow tie. A true gentleman, a master craftsman by trade (jeweller), just soaking in something truely special. I was about 12 at the time and thought he was a barm pot.. but oh how I understand now.. will never forget it or Tom

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I remember saving for what seemed years for a Frog Buccaneer...

...which was centre stage in the local toy shop's window. It was on the way home from junior school and I used to gaze longingly at it every day. It came in a box which incorporated the winder, with a little handle inserted in the side. Ironic that my first model, in the early 60s, was an ARTF!

When I'd finally saved up enough to buy it, my dad took us to Ivinghoe Beacon where I wound it fully and launched it off the back side of the hill. It soared skywards magnificently and once the motor ran out, settled into a circling glide, down into the valley. I set off after it downhill at a trot, which rapidly became a jog, then a run, into a sprint and a realisation that the acceleration wasn't going to stop! The blur that was my 8 year old legs finally couldn't co-ordinate with the ground and the world started revolving around me until finally I came to a stop, thoroughly winded but intact.

Yes, I still remember it very well...

Edited By Martin Harris - Moderator on 19/01/2021 19:00:15

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Posted by Peter Miller on 19/01/2021 15:01:31:

I wonder does anyone ever forget that first successful flight.

I know that I can still remember mine. I remember the complete scene,the weather and that flight.

I had built quite a few rubber powered models which converted themselves into instant scrap.

This was in 1953 when I was living in the Argentine.

I built a cabin Wakefield called the Cardinal. The kit was bought at the only real model shop in Buenos Aires called Maipu 309 which also happened to be its address.

I took the model up onto a huge open grass field. I can still see the scene with a house among trees up a slight rise about 300 yards away.

I wound the model up and launched it.

IT FLEW. It climbed away and circled round for about a minute an then landed quite near me. Absolute JOY!!!

For the second flight I went with my mother and the dogs to a large area of scrub and grass where there were usually cattle grazing...no fences.

This time I was going to stretch wind the motor.

With mother holding the model I stretched the motor out and started winding with the hand drill with hook in the chuck.

The rear motor peg pulled out and suddenly I had about 8 ounces of rubber with assorted balsa bits being chewed up in it while my mother was left holding four longerons and a wing and a tail.

Again.I cannot forget that.

If anyone has a plan of that Cardinal Wakefield I would give an awful lot for a copy.

Edited By Peter Miller on 19/01/2021 15:03:37

It's not this one by any chance is it Peter ? Probably not a a" Fly Fishing by JR Hartley" moment.But there are several Wakefield plans on the outerzone site.

**LINK**

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At age 7 I got the chance to fly a neighbour’s model glider. Knowing nothing about such things I heaved it from his garden into the adjoining field, expecting it to come to earth within a few feet. Fortunately the field sloped gently away, and I managed a decent launch. Impossibly, it seemed to me, the glider flew at the same height for 200 yards before landing. I realised that flight depends on more than the strength of your arm. Thus was the seed sown.

There followed umpteen 9-penny KeilKraft (?) chuck gliders, some carrying propulsion assistance or bangers around Guy Fawkes night.

The great thing was that failures weren’t off-putting, they were interesting (!), and if you stuck with it things would work out. If we’d had superglue instead of balsa cement progress would have been faster.

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Reading through the responses, its apparent that its the good flights with a free flight model which are most memorable.

I can think of a flight with my Bowman's Simpleton, from a small slope, which became a 'speck in the sky' thermal flight and my first successful power flight with an MFA Yamamoto, but one with a free flight Veron Classic on our local recreation ground was the best, because it flew out of one side of the rec, gained height over some houses, then crossed over to the other side, again gained height, then finally returned for a perfect landing back on the rec, all by itself. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement.

As a free flight flying field it does look a bit small now.

Bourne Recreation Ground.jpg

Edited By Robin Colbourne on 20/01/2021 00:32:16

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Waves of nostalgia after reading the posts about early adventures into the wonderful world of aeromodelling!

Particularly the account of flying a KK Achilles, my first model, (1950's), was particularly poignant. I couldn't afford the clear dope to finish the model so made do with just water shrinking the tissue! Remember the KK Polaris?

A mate had a KK Competitor that appeared to fly for hours. His dad fitted a hook into the chuck of a hand drill to wind the rubber motor. Pleasure from simplicity - Happy days!

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....with second thoughts I think that my mates model was a KK Contester? Flying models in those earlier times was also a 'free' activity, free from controls and bureaucracy. We just 'borrowed' local fields and open spaces, using good manners and common sense to abstract hours of simple fun from a box of balsa wood and a tube of cement. Models were easily repaired ( mine were often a patchwork quilt of coloured tissue) and had to be made to last before hard won pocket money allowed a return to the model shop.

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My first model that did fly was a control line Phantom Mite with a DC Dart Diesel motor. I never really fly it by control wires but put a pole in the centre of my parents lawn and rigged out a line so it would fly around it. Stared off ok but then the string started to "Wind" rather that rotate!! It flew faster and faster as it wound in. Quite a sight really.  Fortunately she ran out of fuel before it destroyed itself. First and last flight!

Many years later I built a free flight model by Vic Smeed called Austerish which was a free plan from Radio Modeller with an Enya 49 I recall and was my first time using red solarfilm. Had a few flights but moved onto radio Control as funds allowed. A Hi-Boy with OS35 was my first radio model quickly followed by a Masterline Vandal that had an Irvine 40 up front.

Edited By Low pass Pete on 20/01/2021 07:30:35

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Posted by Bob Smitham on 19/01/2021 19:27:57:
Posted by Peter Miller on 19/01/2021 15:01:31:

I wonder does anyone ever forget that first successful flight.

I know that I can still remember mine. I remember the complete scene,the weather and that flight.

I had built quite a few rubber powered models which converted themselves into instant scrap.

This was in 1953 when I was living in the Argentine.

I built a cabin Wakefield called the Cardinal. The kit was bought at the only real model shop in Buenos Aires called Maipu 309 which also happened to be its address.

021 15:03:37

It's not this one by any chance is it Peter ? Probably not a a" Fly Fishing by JR Hartley" moment.But there are several Wakefield plans on the outerzone site.

**LINK**

I am not sure, the fin doesn't look familiar but it was actually about 70 years ago!!!!

I will do some more checking on another lead that I have been given.

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Some 40 years ago, a Summer evening, not quite dark, I'm flying my Gentle Lady off the bungee with my younger son, who was then probably about 10 years old. Not a breath of wind but little sniffs of lift here and there, just enough to keep her 20 or 30 feet off the ground and everything so quiet we can even hear the servos. As the Gentle Lady drifts by at shoulder height Francis says: "I know a bit about aerodynamics and aerofoils now, but it still looks like Magic."

Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings cometh forth Wisdom.

I often think back to that evening when things are quiet and I'm on my own, flying my Junior 60 or my Scorpion as I like best - Low and Slow and Close-In --- nothing quite like it. It still looks like Magic.

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Another one here, with fond memories of the Frog Buccaneer! In fact, I also had its predecessor, the Frog Mk V (?). Similar concept, but the fuselage was made of paper thin aluminium foil, and the wings of stiff paper. Nowhere near as robust as the Buccaneer!

My first power model was a Cox PT-19 control-line job. Taught me to fly CL and also to start glow engines! First successful RC model was a Mini-Robot, with MacGregor single channel, Elmic escapement and Cox TeeDee .049 up front.

I built a replica of it back in 2015 to celebrate my first successful RC flight, and it is still going strong!

Since then, I've built quite a few models from that era, my favourite probably being the Frog Jackdaw, IMHO a much better flying machine than the Super 60, which I always found a bit too "floaty". The scaled down Super 60s were much better, probably due to the higher wing loading. I still have a pair of half-size ones (Super 30s?) that still fly extremely well - even with rubber driven escapements!

These days, I seem to get more fun out of flying these "old timers" than I do more modern machinery. They certainly look better than most modern "trainers"!

--

Pete

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I remember my first flight with a powered FF model as clearly as if it was yesterday (it was actually 60+ years ago). I had built a Keil Kraft Halo and installed a DC Merlin in it. I was testing the motor in the garden and decided to see if the model would taxi on the lawn. I let go and to my horror it ran a short distance, took off and circled out over the main road and continued back over the house when the motor stopped. It then glided down into the garden and hit the fence and fell undamaged into the flower bed.

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Talk of DC Merlins and learning to start model engines takes me back to the heady (in more ways than one) days at the back of my dad's garage of priming, winding the starting spring, getting the odd burp from the engine, adjusting the compression screw, a longer burp, repeating and finally getting sustained operation while being immersed in the aroma of paraffin, ether and caster oil.

When I finally dispensed with the quickstart spring system and learned how to flick properly, it was a revelation!

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I got a diesel in the late 40s early 50s. It took a lot of pocket money ,Mills 2.4 if I remember Dad was away so had to learn /teach myself , What came naturally to me was that the comp screw was the most important thing to adjust whilst starting so that task was given to my right hand whilst I flicked with my left , Scars from Etas still evident )

Then I joined some con line mates and soon realised I had to stand inside the circle to start engines , not ideal for team race or combat flying ,

the weird thing to me is that I am not left handed ??!!

Also taught myself RC but thats another story !!!

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