Control line for kids

[Dave Nyce]

We had our first get together with a group of local kids on Saturday. We flew half-A sized planes with cox engines. Next, we'll have some building sessions for the kids to build their own planes. I supply all materials and engines.

[Colin McRae]

Dave, it's great what you are doing to expose our CL hobby to the younger folks. I hope they stay interested.

Our RC/CL club (mostly RC) has an 049 trainer and also a 25 trainer (a Testors Freshman 29). We welcome and try to get kids interested in the CL experience, but unfortunately, they give a few laps a try then we never hear from them again. They are just more interested in RC. And definitely not interested in the building process. They just want to purchase a model plane and fly. Kinda sad!

But we certainly keep trying as best we can.

[john e. holliday]

How many of those kids will be supported by their parents.  The IC(internal combustion engines ) are too noisy.  Electirc if low enough in price and ready to fly may keep some of the kids flying once they learn.

[Dave Nyce]

So far, no one has mentioned being bothered by the noise. We use Cox .049 reed valve engines. The parents watched, and cheered as the kids took turns flying. The kids had a great time, and seem very excited about our upcoming building sessions for them to build their own planes.

[Jim Hoffman]

Kudos to you Dave Nyce

Hope you can have continued success.

[mike londke]

So far, no one has mentioned being bothered by the noise. We use Cox .049 reed valve engines. The parents watched, and cheered as the kids took turns flying. The kids had a great time, and seem very excited about our upcoming building sessions for them to build their own planes.

That's all that matters. Don't listen to the naysayers who tell you the kids won't keep up with it. The point is you exposed them to it and they had fun. They now know what CL is and if they ever start modeling they may revisit it in the future. You never know when your influence will bear fruit and if it doesn't, so what, you spent a day enjoying your hobby and had some laughs with a group of eager pupils. Good job Dave.

[Dave Nyce]

We started today with building the Skyray. One child said he wants to be an engineer. (He liked my machines: lathe, milling machine, and others.)

[Doug Moisuk]

How old do they need to be to have success?

[Frank Imbriaco]

Hoping my 6 year old twin grandsons are ready this season. Built them two Sig kits with Cox .049 .

[john e. holliday]

Old eneough to follow directions.  My son was 4 when he tried to build a Scientific 1/2A Cub.

[Dan McEntee]

How old do they need to be to have success?

   Somewhere around here I have video of my son Sean successfully flying his Goldberg Wizard at 3 years old. He didn't show much interest in building until he was much older, and that is part of it when it comes to building, they have to want to do it. He loved the flying, and would fly C/L or free flight gliders as long as I would give them t him.!! I think it was getting close to 10 or 12 years old before he built his first 1/2A Skyray. he was well into an Army career when he would call me at home asking for building tips on HL gliders!! I would say anywhere between 3/4 years old and up and it depends on the child.

  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Colin McRae]

At our RC/CL club, we have had a couple of kids for the first time try a few CL laps. We have a couple of CL trainers. A Cox 1/2a, and a Testors Freshman 29 w/ OS 25FP. We supply everything in an attempt to get new kids interested in CL (models, fuel, lines, etc. - and also crash repairs). A labor of love, I guess!

We have not had the experience of very young future pilots, but a few in the 10-12 age range.

One thing we noticed. They were able to fly both models in a circle, but the larger model was definitely easier for them. The small 1/2a was less stable and harder to fly, certainly if there was any wind.

The Testors Freshman 29 being a solid balsa wing model that is relatively heavy with a high wing loading can't really do stunts effectively, but will inside loop if the loop is very large. But the larger model was more stable and allowed to pilot to feel the pull of the model. Something that is not experienced with a typical 1/2a model. Basically, the 12-year-olds were able to fly the 25-size model better than the 1/2a.

And on the Freshman, since the newbie pilot will only be going in a circle (no stunts) the model has a very small 1 oz tank that will allow the 25FP to maybe go for 2 minutes. Usually runs out of fuel before the new pilot gets too dizzy.

[Dave Nyce]

The youngest in our current group is 7, the oldest is 17. But in another group, there was a 4 year old who learned to fly, and several 5 year olds.

[Steve Dwyer]

The kids need structure. Years back when my son was in the Cub Scouts, we had a pine wood derby build sessions. Part of the session was showing the boys a sample box of different wood species, using tools and in the end finishing their cars. This was not part of their regular scout meetings but their interest was good with repeated turnout. That was 40 years ago I don't know how kids would respond today? Keep up the good work!

Steve

[Dave Nyce]

A few crashes make it more exciting. And an accomplishment when you don't crash. An advantage of the 1/2 A planes is their lower cost, higher crash survival, and easy repair.

[Dave Nyce]

In our new group, we are starting out with C/L planes. But in previous groups, we also expanded to Estes rockets, water rockets, AMA rubber powered balsa planes, Blurzz rocket cars, pine cars, a giant water balloon slingshot, giant bubbles, and other things of interest to the kids. One objective is to help the kids learn to use their hands, use tools, and understand how to figure out and build things.

[Dan McEntee]

In our new group, we are starting out with C/L planes. But in previous groups, we also expanded to Estes rockets, water rockets, AMA rubber powered balsa planes, Blurzz rocket cars, pine cars, a giant water balloon slingshot, giant bubbles, and other things of interest to the kids. One objective is to help the kids learn to use their hands, use tools, and understand how to figure out and build things.

    I applaud your efforts and enthusiasm. I'm kind of surprised at the response that you get compared to what I've experienced.  I volunteered with the KidVenture venue at Oshkosh for 17 years all together, and must have has 3 or 4 thousand kids and adults on the handle. We even had some kids that came back year after year because the enjoyed it so much, but when asked if they were doing anything on their own, the answer was usually "no."  We would send out the plans for the TuffBaby by email fort free to anyone that would sign up for it and there were usually several hundred each year that got emailed out, but I think we got feedback from people only a few times that indicated that any got built. Oshkosh would seem to be the perfect venue and location to drum up interest because it is all aviation oriented and their Kidventure venue was originated to help drive interest in the younger generations. . It's the most popular attraction at AirVenture each year, voted that by those in attendance. But on the full scale level and on the model airplane level, I wonder how successful the efforts are> I was at Buder Park flying by myself a few Sundays ago to get a few flights before the pesky wind came up, and did some other stuff like make up lines and such after it started blowing. Soon a bunch of cars pulled up. A guy came over and asked if I was still flying or packing to leave. He was with a Boy Scout troop that was have a water rocket launch and wanted to use the square pad. I gave them the OK and there must have been 30 to  4 0 kids and their parents. The pad was fully lined with people and they launched from the center. I took it as an opportunity to ask some questions and offer up the club's services for anything that might be model related, and left my stuff out on display in case anyone might be interested and have any questions. i got a few looks by some parents, but not much. Some of the kids looked genuinely interested and a few asked some very good questions, but their parents wouldn't give it all a second look. I even asked the troop leaders if they thought of doing s similar project using our trainers or they could build their own, and was politely told  thanks but no thanks!!  They really didn't get to see one fly and that may have helped, but I was pretty disappointed in the complete lack of interest from a crowd of almost 100 people all together. After they handed out the "awards" "printed certificates that were given to almost every kid from what I saw, (so they were the proverbial "participation trophy") they all jumped in their cars and and disappeared so fast it made my head spin ! It just made me wonder what it takes to trigger the spark of interest in people these days, no matter what age. And why it can be seen so differently from region to region??
    Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee