My First Radio Controlled Model. A Chance For you All To Remember Your First R/C Model And What Happened To It!

[David Ashby - Moderator]

15 hours ago, Robert Parker said:

Hi All,

My first RC model was in 1990, a Galaxy Models Fiesta a channel trainer with an OS FP 25 up front, (this was the worst motor I ever owned) The plane few great however, getting the motor running was quite a task, I think every club member had a go, but I had no choice but to keep on with it funds were low being a student at uni. I had and still have my first radio it was a Futaba "Attack 4". The model suffered several arrivals during it life until the day arrived of the last flight, my club then Barry Areo Modellers were flying from a farmers field complete with cows who kept well clear of us, on that day I had a couple of flights all be it short due to the motor playing up. My tutor made another adjustment to the engine and it sounded great so due to the long grass it was down to me to hand launch which I was used to and did once more, however, on throwing the model my finger accidentally knocked the "on-off" switch to the off position, from that moment the model was doomed, it flew a long slow arc banking slightly at full bore until it hit the metal fence, the type which has 4" square holes in it, the motor and fuselage went through very easily but left everything else behind. I did rebuild it but it did not last long, back then we did not have buddy boxes and the transmitter was passed from tutor to pupil.

Seems such a long time ago.

Regards

Robert

 

Nearly bought one of those Robert, but went for the 3-channel Galaxy Mini Escort as my second model. Enya 15 powered. It flew really well - as all Galaxy designs seemed to do - until it banked into the deck after take-off, possibly 27MHz interference or battery failure. Seen here resurrected 11 years later. 

 

[MattyB]

No original pictures to hand, but mine was a Rookie 68 from DB Models in the mid 80s...

 

 

Mine had a navy fuselage and red transparent wings, and led an eventful life teaching a 6 year old to fly from the slope! I really got the hang of it about 9, then moved on to an original SAS Thing (pre-EPP version). At that point the Rookie was retired, but made a comeback about 10 years ago testing RC and telemetry gear for another project for my Dad. It also flew with battery powered Christmas lights at one point, and remarkably still refused to die...!

Edited March 8, 2021 by MattyB

[Nick Cripps]

I flew control-line for many years in my teens before leaving the hobby to pursue other interests (the usual: beer, girls, motorbikes, etc). I rejoined my local club some 10 years later and carried on where I left off but as interest in CL at the club tapered off I moved on to RC.

My 1st model was a Veron Impala fitted with a Cox Baby Bee mounted on a pylon above the wing and controlled by a Micron radio I had built some years earlier when I was doing a bit of model car racing. The Impala met its demise when I tried flying it on a windy day - it was much too windy for the model and I was too inexperienced to realise it.

Deciding to take it more seriously I bought a Precedent HiBoy, Super Tigre S40 and a secondhand Futaba radio. The horrible liteply caused the fuselage to contort like a twisted banana so was scrapped and replaced by one built from 1/8 balsa and covered with Solartex - much better. With the help of my instructor, Steve, I learnt to fly without too many mishaps but finally killed off the model while attempting to fly inverted. Here it is sitting in the long grass in my back garden after it's 1st day out.

 

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

A most excellent thread & a wonderful chance to wallow in a bit of nostalgia.....

 

1979 (so I would be 14) my R/C life started with a Mercury Matador powered by a 1.5cc DC Sabre (from a control line model) & fitted with Fleet 27 Mhz AM 3 channel gear (which was a Christmas present).....

 

Flying off Deane School playing fields (you could back then) in Bolton with a few other like minded souls the Matador taught me to fly. I forget what actually happened to it...I remember it was crashed & repaired a few times (getting heavier each time) & was fitted with a PAW2.5 diesel & then an OS15.....I have a vague memory of it spinning into the all weather pitch after a radio failure......

 

 

[Graham Davies 3]

So my RC story began when I was made redundant in my early 20s, so around '85. Having done a bit of C/L and F/F as a young'un, the sudden influx of cash prompted a trip to a shop and a splurge. Initially, a Veron Cardinal and a PAW80 that was moderately successful as a free flighter, I then bought a Telemaster 66, OS40FP and Futaba Challenger. I built it and got it into the air on my own. And I got it back down again on my own. I also collected all the bits on my own! So I embarked on joining a club; the most excellent Warboys Club near Huntingdon. Whilst waiting for instructor time, I built the Cardinal wing onto a slightly redesigned (made up as I went along) fuselage and installed rudder/ elevator control. This, along with a nice free plan HLG on 2 channels taught me loads. I could fly this successfully on my own. Around the same time I built a 4 channel 36" span model similar to a Wot 4 (Wot3?) of my own design on an OS15Max and flew this from my local fields. I flew this to death over many years and only killed it when a mate managed to switch the radio off during a hand launch.

 

By the time I got some instructor time, I had pretty much taught myself, and so the (now rebuilt) Telemaster seemed a bit redundant! I think I had a couple of lessons and sold it on. 

 

The cardinal met it's end after I swapped the PAW80 for an MVVS 1.5 diesel. I only did this because vibration caused the PAW spraybar to break, and spares took longer than my patience to arrive. I bought the MVVS and fitted the prop backwards to tame it. First few flights were great. I then turned the prop the right way round and my attempts to prevent it leaving orbit resulted in the wings clapping hands at by now, considerable altitude!

 

So my first model was really EITHER a Veron cardinal-alike, A Telemaster 66, A plan built HLG, or my beloved Wot3!

 

Graham

[Don Fry]

Tell you all a common thread though all this, as one poster said, laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. But the survivors do it because they persist. 

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Denim flares, I remember those, not good in strong winds. ?

[Don Fry]

Ar, but those are proper flares, soaked in mud. No flapping involved. 

[J D 8]

What I like about this thread is it shows that many of us have made it to the new look forum. I was starting to wonder what the numbers were like after the change. Thanks David.?

[Ron Gray]

Waves of nostalgia! Unfortunately I don't have any photos of my early models but after some C/L flying (not very successful) and FF I decided to try my hand at RC. It was late 60s and I bought a second hand RCS Guidance System, single channel and for my first model a really 'sensible' (not) Roarin' 20

 

 

However and despite the odds I did manage to fly it and even manage to swap out the Elmic Conquest escapement for a Commander so that I also had kick up elevator. 

 

[Dane Crosby]

I built a Swannee in 1967. OS Pixie and Ripmax escapement. DC Merlin powered. McGregor Single channel radio. Flew OK for a few flights. 

Re-engineered with McGregor galloping ghost TX and Ripmax GG actuator, still with OS Pixie. Spectacular crash ended that project in 1968. 

[Stuart Quinn-Harvie 1]

Some great stories here: leccyflyer's story of picking up his KK Outlaw at the Manchester Model Shop on Deansgate got me all misty eyed ( after it being my local for a LONG time,  I worked there for a while, not long enough, a few years ago before it was cruelly asset stripped by the excuse for a human being that took over as CEO of Model Zone who basically got the whole chain ready for his mates at Delloitte ) As did Peter Christy's fantastic video of his Mini Robot. 

My own first was a Cambria Eagle which was "guided" by a Sprengbrook 2 channel set. 

The radio was my 14th birthday present from my dad, second hand and cost him well over a week's wages - 48.50 in 1978, mail order from a shop on Cheapside in Leeds. I remember this because I had to post the cheque. He was advised to buy this one by a chap from the RAFMAC at Leeming where he was a civilian Semi Skilled Worked. ( I think this meant he swept up bits of swarf in the workshops) 

We moved to Durham just after my birthday and my first summer job paid for the Eagle. Sadly it was doomed. Dad decided it needed hurling like a javelin after some of my less athletic launches and he didn't know about stalling. Well, not at the start of the day anyway. 

Later that year I bought a Veron Mini Robot with a Testor's 8000 series glow - you know the one with the nylon crankcase. I covered the MR in dark metallic blue solarfilm, fired up the new engine and was shocked when it started first flick. In restrospect I should have done this outside. It took ages for the smell to disappear from my bedroom. 

That one lived fast and died young: Sprengbrook gear was well built and ...er...hefty. I dread to think what the wing loading of the little Mini Robot was. Either way, destruction waited in the grounds of Durham Racecourse. 

Then followed the usual: "Girls! Drink! Rock and Roll!" I bought a drumkit and moved to Manchester. 

Back in 91 I went to the much missed Manchester Model Shop and the fantastic and also much missed Chris ( he died in a motorcycle accident about 5 years ago ) sold me a Futaba 6 channel radio, an Enya 40, and a precedent Hi Boy. 

Now you're talking. I've been in and out because of real life ever since, but I'll never forget landing that thing on my first flight, with a chap from the club ready to save me if I did something stupid. It was a real novelty taking a model home without a bin bag. 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Stuart Quinn-Harvie 1
spelling and a bit of rearranging.

[Dave S.]

This was my first successful radio model, 6ft tissue covered glider with Gem 1+1 on rudder only. I can still remember the exhilaration of achieving an 8 minute flight that landed just a few yards from my feet from a short tow line on the rec at the end of our road - I'd guess it was 1972 or 3.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Dave S.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

On 07/03/2021 at 09:40, Martin Dance 1 said:

My first R/C model was a APS Lumpers, nylon covered and as tough as old boots. Macgregor transistor .....

 

....Had many flights with that model. At one time hitting a telegraph pole. retrieved the model, it looked OK until I shook the wing, I had a nylon bag full of balsa chips! Re built the wing and had many flight with the model after that.

I missed this post in the flurry of nostalgic tales. It was amazing how much punishment the Lumpers could take...a modern ARTF trainer is like an eggshell in comparison. 
 

My wings rattled well after multiple arrivals - with no throttle, some of them were at ridiculous speeds but they would simply detach and bounce away. I don’t recall any major repairs to the fuselage that didn’t involve more than a splodge of Devcon (what happened to what was the then market leader?) epoxy. 

[Alan H]

My interest in R/C goes back a very long way. As a youngster I did a lot of sport F/F and C/L flying but I was also fascinated by all things electrical and electronic. This combination led to an early interest in R/C models, this would have been in the early 1960's. My first model was a Mercury Galahad which was powered with a Frog 150 and controlled (occasionally!) by REP Mini Reptone single channel radio. It was not very successful, the MinI Reptone was more sensitive to metal to metal noise than the transmitter! The Galahad did provide quite a bit of fun as a F/F model. My first successful model which followed shortly after the Galahad was a Ken Willard Gasser which was powered by an ED Racer and controlled by REP Unitone single channel gear, the Unitone was very reliable and at last I achieved successful controlled flights. Back in those early days a successful flight was one where the model landed in the same field it was launched from and arrived more or less in one piece. I have attached a couple of pictures of those early models.

Alan

[gangster]

Having built the RCME AM system for a boat I was given a gasser which I put the RCME in and had an AM15 up front. It had a few flights but the friend told me I needed something a little more sophisticated if I was to learn to fly seriously. He then gave me a Pair of wings for a Trueline Executive together with the plan. Into this I put an Enya40 and Micron. PL7D radio. A lovely set up which served me well. It took a lot of hammer and regular repair.  Finally it was simply not worth another repair 

[John Wagg]

1st - Weekender (by Dave Hughes) single channel with 049 glow.

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=1110

2nd - was another Dave Hughes plan - Slope soarer Soacerer.

Two channel proportional but made another wing with ailerons and 3 channel a bit later.

https://outerzone.co.uk/search/results.asp?keyword=soarcerer.

3rd - A Dave Butcher plan - Monterey, 100 inch glider. Bungeed and sloped. Not the original below (although still have the original wings) and still slope it.

https://outerzone.co.uk/search/results.asp?keyword=Monterey

 

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by John Wagg

[Mike T]

My first RC was a 'Sir Jasper' from the free plan in the April 1970 Aeromodeller.  I bought a McGregor 'Codamac 1+1' for it with my 'Christmas money'.  It didn't work, so my father took it (and me) to an electrician friend who diagnosed that the power supply leads from the PP3 connector to the Rx had been soldered in reverse at the factory!  That fixed, we got it going, but for reasons I can't recall, I never flew it.  It met its end when I tried to remove a wing warp in front of my bedroom electric fire.  I must have got too close, because it went up like a flare and was rapidly ejected from the bedroom window.  There didn't seem much point in keeping the fuselage...

 

A few years later, with my second or third ever pay packet, I bought a McGregor Digimac 4 channel set (I'll never learn!) a Merco 35 and a Trueline Executive Custom (or Custom Executive, depending on your sources).  When finished and set up, I realised that trying to go it alone with this would see it destroyed, so I mothballed it and continued to dabble with free flight stuff.

 

Fast-forward to the mid 90's and house-hunting saw me viewing a house, the owner of which turned out to be the Chairman of the local MAC.  I joined, the Trueline Exec was dusted off and fitted with more modern 35MHz gear (Fleet XP/FM - I'll still never learn) and my new found friend taught me to fly properly with it (I also bought his house).

[Nightflyer]

Mine was a Trueline Custom Executive powered by a Merco 35 with Skyleader Clubman rc. That's not the Clubman Super. Model was nice looking but engine reliability led to its eventual demise.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

4 hours ago, Mike T said:

My first RC was a 'Sir Jasper' from the free plan in the April 1970 Aeromodeller.  I bought a McGregor 'Codamac 1+1' for it with my 'Christmas money'.  It didn't work, so my father took it (and me) to an electrician friend who diagnosed that the power supply leads from the PP3 connector to the Rx had been soldered in reverse at the factory!  That fixed, we got it going, but for reasons I can't recall, I never flew it.  It met its end when I tried to remove a wing warp in front of my bedroom electric fire.  I must have got too close, because it went up like a flare and was rapidly ejected from the bedroom window.  There didn't seem much point in keeping the fuselage...

 

There seem to be lots of common experiences, what with one other poster having learnt on a Lumpers and several mentions of the "Wee" McGregor.

 

My first radio was a Codamac (for the uninitiated, this was a transmitter with a stick connected to a piece of PCB with copper tracks and wipers to automate the process of 1 button press for left, 2 for right that was the norm for single channel equipment).  The 1 + 1 designation refers to the additional "quick blip" facility which detected a very quick signal pulse from a separate button and cycled a dedicated "servo" to either open or close the engine throttle.  Very sophisticated...

 

What really brought back memories was the tale of attempting to reduce a warp on a tissue covered glider wing in front of an electric fire. Yes, I did the same thing when I was about 13 - it was like a re-run of the Hindenburg disaster! ?

[J D 8]

                 Much like my KK Gloster Javalin when lighting the Jetex motor's fuse then.?

[Bob Cotsford]

4 hours ago, Nightflyer said:

Mine was a Trueline Custom Executive powered by a Merco 35 with Skyleader Clubman rc. That's not the Clubman Super. Model was nice looking but engine reliability led to its eventual demise.

That airframe and engine was my first successful foray into propo using a Horizon 8 that I bought second hand from a shop in Quinton - Hobby Spot or something?  I picked up a kit on E-bay the other year with the intention of building it for electric power.  I don't think I'll be finishing it in Powermax paints over doped tissue though.

[GrumpyGnome]

Lots of great posts! I wonder if in 40 years, a similar thread will be created.....

 

"My first plane was a foam SU27, 12 channels, 8S Lipo batteries, 14 channel radio, auto take of and landing, auto self stabilizing, geo-fencing, pre-programmed flight pattern using gps...........' Ah those were the days!".

 

GG

[David Davis]

This is fascinating!

 

I also set fire to a Keil Kraft Ace fuselage by holding it too close to an electric fire one winter's morning trying to dry out the damp tissue. The model was intended as a birthday gift so I had to buy more wood and build a second fuselage. Fortunately the model shop was within easy walking distance of my school.

 

There are also several mentions of the Trueline Custom Executive.

 

In the late Nineties I used to commute to work in Birmingham on the train from Shrewsbury. One evening, a gent wearing an RAF blazer and tie noticed that I was reading the latest RCM&E. He lent across the aisle and asked me where I flew. His name was Frank Wall and we became firm friends. He used to have a Trueline Cutom Executive and he had built two Big Wigs by LS Wigdor. I can't remember which engines he used but Frank he went on to build a powered glider and a Junior 60. He made an excellent job of them, he was a watchmaker by trade but he never really mastered r/c flying. He died of leukaemia in 2004.  

[Nigel R]

Age 10 i think, a Precedent fly boy, my dad's 1960s os 19 up front. Lasted about six flights until I discovered what a spin was, mostly by accident. Concrete awaited which sealed the deal, and broke the engine into three large parts.

 

More successful was a junior 60 with an hp vt 25 up front. Still have the motor. The j60 was still flying many moons later after being passed along, at the same time my dad bought me a flair meteor kit for Christmas.

 

Happy days.