General control line discussion > How I got my start in the hobby
My Start Story
(1/1)
Steve Maines:
OK, let's see if I can remember that far back with any accuracy. I started building balsa kits and my first was a Guillow's Spad biplane. It took some time to build and cover but got it done. Flying on the rubber band power was an utter failure and the plane didn't last long. My father later purchased a Cox Baby Bee .049 for me and my younger brother got a Cox Pee Wee .020. We ran these in our garage in Montreal until our ears rang and I still remember that.
We eventually purchased a Testors Cosmic Wind plane and flew that at the local elementary school yard. It took a full lap or two to gain speed to eventually fly. It was so cool to be able to fly a plane and things progressed from there. We moved to another Province but I kept building and bought many Goldberg and Scientific C/L balsa kits and flew them at the school yard. I used a scrap piece of plywood as a building board and built the planes in my bedroom, covering and then doping the tissue. Sure did smell up the place but it was fun.
I eventually went to R/C airplanes, later R/C nitro race boats, and as my boys grew we tried R/C cars and trucks. I eventually came back to R/C airplanes, but the MAAC issue with the exemption and NAV CAN and Transport Canada now mandating we have a pilot's license, register each plane and maintain several flight logs has since had me stop flying. Luckily, flying control-line does not have the same onerous reporting / log book issues and I also don't need to pass a pilot's license so I am back to where I started with control-line models.
It's taken some 50 years to get here, but I'm still plugging along.
john e. holliday:
Glad to have you back. I remember building or trying to build the Comet stick and tissue plane. Never got one to fly If you search you will find my history on this forum. H^^
Steve Maines:
--- Quote from: john e. holliday on November 10, 2023, 12:53:15 PM ---Glad to have you back. I remember building or trying to build the Comet stick and tissue plane. Never got one to fly If you search you will find my history on this forum. H^^
--- End quote ---
Loved mine and once I added a Telco CO2 engine she was a free flight beauty.
Will Hinton:
Got my first Comet rubber job around 1948 and never stopped until flying full scale got in the way in 1971. During those years I ended up flying c/l with a true passion. Flew more than I studied while in aviation electronics school in Navy Memphis but still passed, then a lull while in Quonset Point, RI.
That lull lasted from 1961 until 1964 and then it was full passion building again.
Flew a lot of local combat, some stunt, and continued until that 1971 time when a Tri-Pacer wanted a new owner and I took it on.
The lull in c/l lasted way longer because somehow I ended up getting my commercial, then the CFI, then started a flight school, then bought a Piper Pawnee and flew that as a business for two years.
Lost my medical in 1978 and c/l re entered my life not long after.
Started stunt again in 1989 and never looked back until my wife got cancer in 2013 and I could not take the time from caring for her to fly. During those next three years the fire went out and I have "retired" from modeling altogether. At 84 years of life and with a thriving custom guitar shop I'm getting all the building time I want, but with two unflown c/l stunters hanging from the big shop ceiling, the love never is far away.
Modeling has been such a beneficial part of my life that I will never get 100% away from it! I wouldn't trade my c/l time for any other experience in the world!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
Go to full version