Episode 1: Meet the Hosts of RC Plane Lab

[00:01] Announcer: Welcome to RC Plane Lab, a podcast for anyone interested in RC Airplane. We'll share tips and tricks on how to build models and talk about successful flights, epic crashes, and everything in between. Visit us at rcplanelab.com to sign up for our email list and to ask us questions. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please help us out by rating and reviewing us in your favorite podcast app. Thanks for spending time with us today. Now, here are your hosts, Ron and Tom.

[00:40] Ron: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. This preview episode will help you get to know us. It's our way of introducing ourselves to you. We will tell you why we wanted to start this show and explain some of what you can expect from us after we officially launch the RC Plane Lab podcast on April 7th, 2020.

[00:57] Tom: We'll also give you some background on who we are and why we enjoy the hobby so much.

[01:02] Ron: So, first off, my name is Ron Hull, and I'm an RC Airplane Enthusiast.

[01:05] Tom: And my name is Tom Dale, and I love RC Airplanes, too.

[01:09] Ron: We will be releasing new episodes on a weekly basis starting on April 7th, 2020.

[01:14] Tom: If you find us and are listening before that date, rest assured we are working hard behind the scenes to bring some high-quality RC Airplane content to you guys. And if you found us after that date, come on over to our website, rcplanelab.com, to see what we're all about and to download and enjoy some of our other episodes.

[01:30] Ron: Actually, a bare-bones version of the website is live now before our official launch date, so please go and visit us over there and sign up for our mailing list, and you can be emailed as a reminder about our launch.

[01:41] Tom: So, hey, Ron, since I'm just kind of along for the ride on this, and you're the tech guy, can you tell me why you wanted to start this podcast?

[01:51] Ron: Well, I wanted to start it because it's something different. It's something fun. It's something neither one of us have done before. That's true.

[01:59] Tom: Definitely outside my comfort zone.

[02:01] Ron: Well, mine, too. So I came up with the idea about five or six months ago and have been mulling it over in my head whether or not it's worth bringing it up and asking you to be a co-host or not. But finally, about three weeks ago when you and your wife were over for dinner, I worked up the courage, if you will, to see if you'd be interested in it or not. And I was. Yeah, you said yeah. Yeah. So I ordered some equipment, and this is where we are now.

[02:30] Tom: Yeah, completely outside my comfort zone. I've never done anything like this before. And, of course, I jumped at the opportunity, and I'm flattered that you wanted me to join you on this journey. Would you call it a journey? Sure, why not? And so, yeah, of course, I said yes, and I'm not really sure what to expect. Neither am I. But I sure like talking about RC airplanes, and I sure like RC airplanes.

[02:54] Ron: So I knew I would not be able to do this by myself. While I can handle the technical side of things and making the podcast, editing it and doing all that, I don't have the knowledge that you would bring to the table. So I'm very happy that you agreed to join me on this.

[03:10] Tom: Well, I appreciate that. You know, yeah, I've been in the hobby a while, and, well, we both have, honestly. Me, not as long as you, but yeah. But, I mean, we've been in the hobby long enough to, certainly long enough to put something like this together. And, I mean, it seems like, I'm not a podcast listener, subscriber type. In fact, I, until you brought the idea up to me, I had never even listened to a single podcast.

[03:38] Ron: Which is funny to me, because I listen to podcasts all the time.

[03:42] Tom: Right. So I never, I didn't know what, you know, even really what a podcast was. I mean, I guess I kind of likened it to a YouTube channel, where you basically are just like a video minus the video, I guess, if that makes sense. Like a YouTube video minus the video portion of it. So you're just hearing the people, you know, I'm in the background. So that's, I guess, kind of what I envisioned. But, you know, after doing a little bit of research and looking around out there at other podcasts, and I downloaded a podcasting app, I guess is what they're called. And, yeah, you and I both sort of noticed that there's kind of a lack of RC airplane specific podcasts. There's a lot of, you know, other types of stuff out there, RC cars.

[04:28] Ron: And there's a lot of older versions of the podcast and stuff that people that I've noticed and actually that I've listened to over the years haven't stuck with it. And there's not a lot out there now to kind of fill the void. So, you know, hopefully we can do that. Hopefully we can give somebody something decent to listen to and teach them some stuff while we do it.

[04:46] Tom: Yeah, I think it'll be fun. Like you said, you know, you've got some experience, and I, you know, have many, many years of experience. Much more experience. It's hard to remember that first one, you know what I mean?

[04:59] Ron: Speaking of first times, do you remember the first time you and I met? I do. I think our memories of that event are a little bit different.

[05:08] Tom: A little bit different, but not too much. But not, yeah. Well, my first memory is I was outside my house, which happened to not be too far from your house at the time.

[05:18] Ron: About half a block.

[05:19] Tom: And I was out front playing with an RC car, probably a T-Max. And I remember having a conversation with you about nitro-powered RC cars. And that's my kind of first memory of actually talking to you.

[05:37] Ron: Right, that's pretty close to my first memory. However, mine was at my house. And actually, I remember, so you used to work with a guy that lived across the street from me. Actually, it was the dad, the father of a kid I used to run around with.

[05:54] Tom: Yeah.

[05:54] Ron: And you used to work with him, and he knew I was into the RC toys, cars and such. And he introduced us when you were over at his house. I don't know what you were doing up there, but you were, from what I remember, up at his house. And you were heading home or something when I was out, and he introduced us.

[06:12] Tom: Yeah, that makes sense. Because at that time, I would have been helping him with, it's been a long time ago, but I would have been helping him.

[06:19] Ron: He was rebuilding an old pickup, and I think I was helping him with the engine.

[06:23] Tom: And, yeah, so that makes sense. And that could be the more accurate memory, but either way, they're pretty close.

[06:30] Ron: So, maybe the first time I didn't stand out, and you just didn't remember, because, you know, whatever, who cares? That could be. I mean, I'm pretty old. This weird kid lives up the street from me, and, you know, he likes the same thing I do, but whatever. Because there is quite an age difference between us. There is. At the time, I would have been 21, and that was, so 2002, I think, is about the year it would have been. And so, I was 21 then, and you were?

[06:54] Tom: A lot older.

[06:56] Ron: Do you want to say?

[06:57] Tom: So, yeah, I mean, at that, you know, I would have been 41 at the time. Or, I'm sorry, 31. I was going to say, I didn't think there was that much difference. Math, obviously not my strong point.

[07:08] Ron: So, 10 years difference, not 20. Not 20. Okay. But, yeah, so I'm a little older. Right. And, actually, it's kind of funny, too, because I didn't put two and two together until years afterwards, after we actually became friends and were hanging out. I remember around that time frame, I went up to the hobby shop and bought a nitro-powered car. I couldn't even tell you what it is now.

[07:33] Tom: It was an HPI Nitro RS4.

[07:35] Ron: Okay. So, apparently, you know it. I remember it had a purple body on it. Right. And it was expensive. I want to say it was $300 or $400 at the time, maybe. Does that sound right?

[07:44] Tom: Yeah, that sounds right.

[07:45] Ron: Okay. So, I bought that. Super excited to get home. Got home. Started up. Ran great.

[07:53] Tom: Of course it did.

[07:54] Ron: Ran up and down the street. And, as I was coming back towards me, I did a speed run. See how fast it would go. Right. Which was very fast. Sure. I mean, I was impressed.

[08:03] Tom: Two-speed transmission.

[08:04] Ron: And hit the brakes, the brakes locked up, rear brakes only, the car spun around, hit a tire, and just exploded. It went into the garbage can because there was nothing. I mean, at the time, I couldn't figure out how to put it back. You know, Google wasn't around at that time.

[08:22] Tom: Right. So, it was just trash to me. Yeah.

[08:25] Ron: Now, you guys, we kind of met back up later in life. Right. We didn't stay in touch that time. It was probably, oh, give or take 2014, probably, where we started kind of becoming friends again. Yeah. I'd say that's about right. And I remember telling that story when you and your wife were over here for dinner and

[08:46] Tom: come to find out.

[08:47] Ron: And then I started thinking about it. Right. Come to find out that car was yours. Yep. And I bought it through the hobby shop when you were getting rid of it.

[08:53] Tom: So, why was it just the rear brakes? So, I had that car set up to race. We used to race nitro RC cars. This was a touring car for anybody listening that doesn't know. Touring cars, back then, they were nitro-powered, was four-wheel drive. Sometimes they had two-speed transmissions. Sometimes, you know, they didn't. But we raced them on parking lots that you just take a track and set it up with PVC pipe or whatever you had available. And we would spray, you know, grape soda, sugar water, whatever, on the track surface to make it sticky.

[09:29] Ron: Oh.

[09:29] Tom: And then we would buy tires that were very high grip and, you know, run these cars on that surface. And they actually had quite a bit of traction on these surfaces, so much so that it sometimes was hard to get the cars to turn. They would, you know, they would understeer terribly, especially four-wheel drive, you know, all-wheel drive, if you want to call it that, nitro-powered cars. So, to get them to turn, we would, on the nitro RS4, it had a, actually, it did have a front and rear brake. There was a disc in front of the center diff, and then there was a disc behind. To get the cars to turn, we would add brake to the rear more so than the front to try to loosen the car up a little bit. Well, it loosened up a lot. Apparently, because it ended up in a trash can.

[10:17] Ron: Yeah, that's kind of funny. So, it was, so that's kind of a funny story that I enjoy telling now to people about how it happened between us.

[10:28] Tom: And it's so bizarre, because who, like, who would have known then? That we would have that story so many years later. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[10:36] Ron: Yeah, because like I said, we didn't catch back up until, it was probably 2014 or so after I bought my first airplane. Right. We were friends with the hobby shop owner, the local guy that owned the hobby shop here. You actually worked at the hobby shop for a while.

[10:51] Tom: Part-time, yeah.

[10:52] Ron: Right. And that's kind of how…

[10:53] Tom: Expensive hobby, you know, so…

[10:54] Ron: Yeah, I know. Got to do what you got to do. That's why I spent many days in there buying parts to replace things. So, I think it was after I got the first airplane, you know, I would go in and buy parts, see you there a few times and say hi. And then I remember he would have all of us over to his house for dinners.

[11:11] Tom: Yep.

[11:12] Ron: Then we kind of started hanging out then. And then I at least have lost touch with him. I don't know if you have.

[11:17] Tom: Yeah, I have too. I think, you know, once he was done with the hobby business, he went and pursued some other full-scale aviation-type activities. Oh, okay. That's cool. Yeah, he was building, doing some contracting stuff for the government with drones. Oh, okay. Big drones, not the little electric ones.

[11:38] Ron: Well, because I haven't talked to him. It's been years. Right. So…

[11:42] Tom: Yeah, it's been a while for me, too.

[11:43] Ron: Yeah, but then after that, you and I kind of, you know, your wife would come out and we would have dinners on the weekends and stuff. And now it's probably once every couple weeks.

[11:52] Tom: Oh, yeah, at least a couple times a month. Sometimes it's every weekend. Well, you know. It just depends on what we all have to put together now.

[11:57] Ron: Well, that's true. Yeah, you'll be out here a lot more now. So, but yeah, that's a fun way to think about the first time we met. So, do you remember the first time we, or the first time you ever saw an RC airplane?

[12:10] Tom: I mean, my first memory is, you know, a memory of a neighbor of mine back in, it was 1978, 79, somewhere in that range. My dad had retired from the Air Force and we moved to a small town here in the Midwest. And I had a neighbor that had RC airplanes. And my first memory of an RC airplane is this shiny silver airplane that he was tankering with in his backyard. And I just thought it was so cool because, you know, I'd read about airplanes in books and, you know, we, you know, learned about, you know, World War II and things like that in school. And, you know, you see all the cool movies on TV, Tora, Tora, Tora, things like that. And you see all these cool airplanes. Well, here was this, this little, comparatively speaking, airplane and this guy standing over it and it was, it was making noise and smoke and he was controlling it with this weird thing he was holding in his hand. I'd never really seen an RC airplane before that. So that's my first memory, uh, of, of an RC airplane, uh, that really takes me back. So how old would you have been then? So I, I guess probably eight, nine, somewhere, somewhere in that range. Yeah.

[13:17] Announcer: Okay.

[13:18] Ron: Well, so my first memory of an RC airplane actually would have been when I was about the same age as you were, uh, seven or eight, something in there. I remember we were at the park up the street from us about a block and a half away. And there was, uh, probably five or six guys out there with their own airplanes that to me, they looked huge, but I'm sure they were, you know, probably 40 size and something like that. Yeah.

[13:40] Tom: So that, so this would have been approximately when would you say?

[13:44] Ron: 80, 87 ish, 87, 88, something like that. Yeah. Time frame. Um, so to me, like I said, they, they were, they were jets, but most likely nitro or whatever in that time frame.

[13:59] Tom: EDFs and, and, uh, you know, real turbines, probably not, not a thing back then, huh?

[14:05] Ron: Yeah. I don't know when they came out. I didn't get into the hobby then. So that's just the first time I ever saw one. Gotcha. Um, but yeah, no, watched them fly around and I was, I was kind of taken by them and remember seeing them then and then didn't really do much with it till much, much later when I got into the hobby.

[14:19] Tom: But that's my, my first memory of a, yeah, I'm familiar with the, the park you're talking about it. Cause you know, I just happened to live pretty close to that park now.

[14:27] Ron: Yeah. About half as far as, uh, my parents do. Yeah. Yeah.

[14:31] Tom: So I know the park you're talking about and it's not a huge park.

[14:33] Ron: No. Three baseball diamonds is about all that fits on.

[14:36] Tom: Right. Right. So if I had to guess, you know, the 86, 87 timeframe, they were probably not even electric. I mean, cause electric didn't really, you know, take off till early two thousands. Take off. Yeah. It's like what I did there. Yeah, I did.

[14:49] Ron: Nice.

[14:49] Tom: Uh, so yeah, the probably, did, do you remember them? Were they making noise?

[14:54] Ron: Yeah. They, they had to have been nitro. Yeah. I'm sure they were.

[14:57] Tom: Yeah.

[14:58] Ron: But I remember one was a Hornet cause I love the Blue Angel at that time. Very cool. That was back when we still had the, uh, the full scale, uh, air show in our town.

[15:08] Tom: Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that fondly.

[15:10] Ron: Yep.

[15:10] Tom: Saw lots of airplanes out there at the air show over the years.

[15:13] Ron: Yep. That was, that was fun.

[15:15] Tom: So a Hornet, I'm guessing, I mean, you know, I've been doing a long time, uh, a Hornet and airplanes like that were probably what we would call it, you know, a tractor, probably not even a pusher back then. Uh, I probably had a nitro motor on the front of it, you know, spinning a regular propeller.

[15:33] Ron: Yeah. Most likely. It becomes mostly invisible when it's running.

[15:36] Tom: Right. So yeah. Very cool.

[15:38] Ron: Yeah. I thought it was cool. So when did you get your first airplane? It would have been, it would have been the Christmas of 79.

[15:44] Tom: It would have been the same, the same year that I had my first RC airplane memory. Uh, the guy next door that, uh, sort of introduced me to RC airplanes, his name was Mike, talked to my mom and dad and, uh, he actually convinced them to let me go with him a few times that summer to the, to the field to watch him actually fly that, that airplane. That was my first memory. Uh, great memory. Uh, anyway, that, so that would have been Christmas of, of 79 and he talked to my mom and dad and told him what to buy and, uh, all the other stuff that I was going to need for it. And under the Christmas tree in 1979 was, yeah, my, my first airplane and everything I needed to, to fly it.

[16:20] Ron: Nice. So where did they get it?

[16:22] Tom: So they got it, uh, you know, they talked to my neighbor and back then, you know, there was no, there was no internet, you know, you couldn't just fire up the computer and order it off of Amazon or, you know, horizon or tower hobbies or what have you. So they actually mail ordered it. That's back when you actually either called a phone number or you actually filled out an order form and mailed it in to the mail order company.

[16:45] Ron: And at that time it was, it was tower hobbies.

[16:47] Tom: That is before my time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they, you know, they, they filled out the order form and checked the boxes of each item that they wanted and, uh, wrote a check and sealed it up in an envelope and sent it in the mail to Champaign, Illinois. And, uh, you know, just before Christmas, I don't know when, but, uh, they got it and had it all wrapped for me under the tree.

[17:09] Ron: Wow.

[17:09] Tom: And what was it? It was a, uh, it was a Great Planes, uh, trainer 20 kit.

[17:15] Ron: So my, my first airplane was a kit. You had to put it together. I did. Yeah. Yeah.

[17:19] Tom: Mike, uh, the neighbor next door helped me and we built it over in his house and his shop downstairs over that winter. Yeah. And I actually, you know, had it ready to fly the following spring.

[17:30] Ron: Wow. That's a lot of work to do.

[17:32] Tom: Yeah. Yeah. It was, uh, you know, prior to that, all I had done was built plastic models and things like that, you know, built stuff out of Lego and whatnot. But, uh, yeah, that was a, that was a real learning experience for me. And it was very, um, in my opinion, it was very beneficial, uh, you know, cause you know, you're taking something that's in pieces and you have to follow directions and you have to do it in a certain order and you have to use a certain technique. And, uh, I, I've learned a lot from that, uh, from that experience actually. Not so much these days, you know, you, people buy an RF, they pull it out of the box, charge batteries and it's ready to fly. It wasn't, wasn't like that back then.

[18:10] Ron: So my first airplane was an RF. He pulled it out of the box and it was ready to fly. Uh, I don't know if I would've got into it if I had to build my first airplane. Like I would've been a little too scared.

[18:20] Tom: Yeah.

[18:21] Ron: Uh, putting that much work into something and then flinging around in the air, if you're not sure what you're doing and not sure if you can land would be a little, a little too nerve wracking for me. Yeah.

[18:30] Tom: That's why back then they, they always, and even in the, in the instruction manuals, I always told you, you know, have, have help from an experienced, you know, uh, somebody who already had experience in the hobby to, to get you started. Cause if you didn't, yeah, it was a guaranteed failure.

[18:43] Ron: Well, not well back then probably for me, it wasn't guaranteed. I was fairly lucky the first time I flew was by myself, uh, without an instructor or a trainer or anything like that. And I, I, I lucked out enough to where I was able to take off, fly around land and, and have no issues.

[19:00] Tom: And the only real experience you had with RC airplanes before that was that memory of them flying those jets in that field, right?

[19:06] Ron: Yeah. So for me, 2012, uh, I took my oldest kid to the hobby shop just because we were bored sitting around the house and it's like, well, what are we going to do? It's father's day. Let's, let's go out and see what they have in the hobby shop.

[19:17] Tom: That's a bad thing to do when you're bored.

[19:19] Ron: It was, uh, yeah. So we saw that there and it was, uh, a hundred bucks, something like that. Right. Included everything you needed. You just had to put the landing gear on, charge a battery. I don't remember, put the decals on. It was just a foam plane, little, uh, hobby zone, super cub. Great plane though.

[19:38] Tom: And it was a fun trainer. Yeah. Three channel, right?

[19:41] Ron: Yeah. Yeah. I would not buy a three channel to begin with anymore. Right. So going from three to four was a little difficult. Sure. Uh, your rudder's on the, the left, uh, left thumb, you know, when you're, when you're on a four channel and when you're learning on a three channel, the rudder's on the right. Sure. Because there's no ailerons. Exactly. No problem when you're flying, but when you're on the ground trying to taxi around and stuff and you need a steer when you're taken off.

[20:05] Tom: Usually.

[20:05] Ron: That changes things.

[20:07] Tom: Sure. Yeah.

[20:07] Ron: Sure. So it was actually harder for me to learn to fly a four channel after learning on a three channel than going to a three channel from nothing.

[20:15] Tom: Yeah. Well, and I was, I was going to say, I mean, this, this could be a subject all on its own, but you know, what's the best piece of advice you ever got? Well, for me that, you know, the best piece of advice I ever got was from that neighbor of mine, Mike. Like he, he said, uh, you're better off learning with four channels than, than learning with just three and then trying to transfer later for that. Exactly what you said. That very reason.

[20:35] Ron: Wish I had heard that first.

[20:36] Tom: Yeah. Right.

[20:37] Ron: But I mean, it worked out, so I can't be too, too upset about it. Yeah. Yeah. Now, when you started, did they have the, the buddy box system that they have now? No. No.

[20:47] Tom: No, there was no, there was no such thing as a trainer cords and buddy boxes. And, you know, with the, with the spectrum radios, you know, we have the, the slave and the master where the, you know, you can, you can hook up a transmitter and take control just with the flick of a switch. Yeah.

[21:01] Ron: No, we had, uh, we had the old, uh, hand the transmitter over method.

[21:05] Tom: That's what, uh, that's how we, how we learned back in the day.

[21:08] Ron: Yeah. And the few seconds of no control with nobody being in charge is what kind of scares me. Yeah. Cause usually you don't want to hand it back unless something is going on and you're afraid you're going to crash it. Exactly. And that's when you don't want to have hands off.

[21:20] Tom: And actually that, uh, you know, that crashes happened a lot during that, uh,

[21:25] Ron: transition from one person's hands to the other, you know, of the transmitter.

[21:30] Tom: Uh, but you know, we did what we had to do and, uh, I'm still in the hobby.

[21:34] Ron: So much easier to accept when you spent a hundred bucks on a piece of foam flying around than when you spent money and had to put hours and hours of labor into it.

[21:42] Tom: Sure.

[21:42] Ron: Sure.

[21:43] Tom: Uh, yeah, I crashed, I crashed a lot back then.

[21:46] Ron: Yeah. I think that's normal when you start. I actually, after I flew a few times, uh, I actually didn't start at the field when I, when I started flying, I just went out back here into the few acres we have and, and kind of flew around the house. After I did that a few times and knew I was kind of be into it. I, I bought a, um, a simulator for the computer.

[22:07] Tom: Yeah.

[22:08] Ron: That helped a lot. Sure. Um, but it does give you a false sense of security. Absolutely. They don't fly the same in real life as they do on the simulator. So it's good for taking off or flying around for landing, for getting the basics down, but don't expect everything.

[22:24] Tom: The whole, yeah, the whole, everything is reversed when it's coming at you.

[22:27] Ron: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's, yeah, that's difficult to get used to if you're not used to it. But see, I started out with RC cars too. Sure. And if you, if you kind of get that with a car, you can get it with an airplane just

[22:36] Tom: as easy.

[22:36] Ron: Right.

[22:36] Tom: It's, it's almost like it's a, it's a trained, uh, reaction or, or switch in our brains. I think sometimes it like, especially with cars and boats that are sort of two dimensional.

[22:47] Ron: Yeah.

[22:48] Tom: You know, you're not worrying about the up, down so much. But yeah, once you get the left and right is backwards when it's coming at you. Yeah. That's a, that's a big hurdle to get over. I remember.

[22:55] Ron: Yeah. There's some people that can't.

[22:56] Tom: Yeah. When I, that's true. When I was learning to fly, I, uh, another great piece of advice I got also from the neighbor is that, you know, when the, when the airplane's coming at you, there's, there's just one thing you need to remember. Stick to the low wing. And I, I still remember that, you know, when the airplane's coming at you and you've got a wing low, if you move the stick in the direction of that low wing, it, it corrects, you know? Oh, okay. So that was a great piece of advice that I got, you know? Uh, unfortunately it didn't, uh, it didn't avoid all the crashes, but, uh, it was a great piece of advice.

[23:29] Ron: Yeah. Unfortunately, crashing is part of flying, uh, at times, but of the ones you have or haven't crashed, what is your favorite airplane? Oh gosh, that's a tough one.

[23:38] Tom: Uh, I've had so many, um, over the years. Uh. About how many have you had? Uh, I, I would say I've probably built from kits or scratch at least 50 over the years. Wow. Um, and I've had probably quite a few more with, you know, when you factor in ARFs and buying used ones and trading and whatever. But, uh, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think, I think my favorite would depend on what type of flying we're talking about. You know, if we're talking about, you know, just, just going out, you know, on a relaxing Sunday afternoon in the summertime and not having to worry too much about putting on a show for anybody. Uh, I, I gotta say that my favorite is probably the, you know, the classic, uh, stick design, you know, the Great Planes big stick or the, I think Midwest called it the sweet stick or something like that. But, uh, yeah, I think that's, that's probably my, my go-to, uh, for just all around, you know, just going out and having fun without too much stress. Um, but you know, there's lots of different types of flying. What about you?

[24:37] Ron: Well, my favorite airplane, I would say is the SIG Cavalier. Uh, that would be. Yeah. That's my first nitro plane that I ever bought. Sure. It, uh, it just behaves well. There's no surprises with it. It's very nice, slow flying characteristics. Uh, doesn't take a lot of space to land, doesn't take a lot of space to take off. It's, uh, it's just a good flying little airplane. Yeah.

[25:00] Tom: And that's what I love about the stick so much too. It just, it just doesn't have any bad habits.

[25:05] Ron: Yeah. But the stick is ugly.

[25:07] Tom: Well, I mean, it's a matter of opinion, right? I mean, with the right, the right colors and the right covering and, you know. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's not an attractive airplane.

[25:15] Ron: It's not for everybody, but that's okay.

[25:17] Tom: But I mean, it's just such a sweet airplane. It just doesn't have any bad habits. It, it never surprises you.

[25:23] Ron: Well, same with the Cavalier.

[25:24] Tom: Right. But it looks a lot better.

[25:26] Ron: It is a good looking airplane. Although, although that's what, those are kits from when were they have been made?

[25:32] Tom: Oh gosh, the Cavalier, the SIG Cavaliers come from, well, early eighties probably, maybe even late seventies. I mean, it's a SIG kit. Yeah. It was probably a design by somebody else first from plans, you know, and the SIG probably got the rights to produce the kits from plans and stuff would be my guess. But yeah, I mean, we're talking, I mean, I remember the Cavalier from when I started flying. So, I mean, that was, you know, 79.

[25:56] Ron: So. So it goes back. You could, up until probably five years ago, I know for sure, still buy the kit. Yeah. It was hard to find, but I did find one because I wanted to build one after I, after I bought that one and flew it. So I did at least find a kit, you know, that I can start putting together.

[26:13] Tom: And you can always find, you know, not always, I shouldn't say always, but you can usually find, you know, through the secondary market, you know, used market or whatever, or collectors, you know, which is weird. There's, there's a collector's market for old kits, which is. Which you're part of. As much as I hate to admit it, yeah, I've got a stash of kits too, but I plan on flying them all. I'm not buying them to, for investments. I actually plan on someday. One day.

[26:40] Ron: Assembling them all. Right. Right. Filling up your shop.

[26:44] Tom: Well, the shop's already full, but yeah, I have to get rid of a few to, to make room. So getting, you know, back to the question, you know, favorite, favorite airplanes, and it depends on the type of flying and I'm not much of a 3D pilot myself, but you. Nor am I. Well, but you happen to have like the perfect airplane for that, which it's not my airplane, but it is one of my favorite airplanes.

[27:07] Ron: It's that big yak of yours. It's a fun airplane to fly. Um, it behaves well most of the time when you're flying it, but I can't say I've flown it very much because it's still a little scary to, uh, to be flying.

[27:20] Tom: Well, no, the, the, the times that I've seen you fly it and the video, it seems like you're pretty comfortable with it. It seems like it has no bad habits to me.

[27:27] Ron: It doesn't when you're flying it. The, the first time I flew it, it was perfectly fine. I mean, there was no issues whatsoever. The second time I flew it, however, um, I was flying a little more aggressive than I was the first time. You know, the first time was just take off, fly around land and kind of see how it behaves. Second time I was doing more loops, barrel rolls and all that kind of stuff. And I think the draw from all of the servos kind of caused it to brown out. Oh. Uh, yeah. Not fun when you, when you're flinging that much around.

[27:54] Tom: So especially for an airplane that big to, to our listeners, the scale of the airplane is what, 40?

[27:59] Ron: It's a 40% yak, uh, 126 inch wingspan with 170, uh, CC twin DA, yeah, DA170. That's what powers it. Um, so I ended up after that cause it browned out and luckily within probably 50 feet from the ground, it connected back and I was able to very gingerly bring it back in for landing.

[28:21] Tom: What position was it in when it, when it finally came to?

[28:24] Ron: Well, it was facing straight down. Ouch. I mean, it was about to just like lawn dart right into the, into the field. So yeah, luckily it reconnected and everything came back to me just in the nick of time. So I, I brought it back and, and like I said, landed it, uh, were your knees shaking? Uh, that wasn't all. I, I literally put everything away right after that. I got it landed, brought it back to the table and shut it off. All the other airplanes I had with me just took them all apart, put them back in the trailer and brought them home.

[28:53] Tom: Yeah.

[28:54] Ron: You were done. I was done for quite a while. So there was a lot of research after that to figure out, you know, what happened. Cause you know, I just lost it, you know, lost signal law. I had no clue what was going on. Yeah. After playing around with, uh, electronics and stuff.

[29:07] Tom: That's a very eerie feeling.

[29:09] Ron: Yeah. Especially with playing that big. Yeah. Cause I'm not going to buy another one that size. Right. Yeah. Um, so yeah, but anyway, so I had to buy a, uh, I remember what it was called, but it was a whole, a whole different power supply system for it that runs the batteries in and actually it powers, powers things differently. And I, I'd have to look into it again.

[29:30] Tom: Like a smart board.

[29:31] Ron: Yeah.

[29:32] Tom: Right.

[29:33] Ron: Right. And that, that seemed to solve it, but I've only flown it a couple of times since then and don't know if I plan on it anytime soon. Oh, you're going to fly it this summer.

[29:41] Tom: Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. We got to recover it, right? I would like to very much. Yeah.

[29:46] Ron: Yeah. Actually, my favorite thing with that airplane is the, the prop sound when you're flying by is the, the, what's it called? When the ends kind of break the sound barrier. Supersonic. Yeah. Make the, yep. That popping noise. And that actually is in the intro. If you hear, uh, there's a prop sound and that's that plane flying by you. That's cool.

[30:04] Tom: Yep. So. Yeah. That thing, uh, it, like I said, it's not, it's not my airplane. It's yours. Uh, but that's, that's probably one of my favorites. And when, when the day gets here that you're really comfortable with it, that'll be a great 3d type of flying, you know, airplane.

[30:19] Ron: Yeah. It's, it's big and docile. Right. So, I mean, it really flies as well, if not better than most trainers. Right. Just because of the size.

[30:27] Tom: So it's not, it's not really the airplane itself that, that, uh, is, is so intimidating. It's the, it's the, it's all the stuff that's inside it. It's the cost of everything that's in it. Right.

[30:37] Ron: I mean, I'll crash a 40 size plane and not care about it because it's a couple hundred bucks. Right. The motor alone on this one was $1,800. Right. So.

[30:45] Tom: Yeah.

[30:45] Ron: I don't want to do anything to harm it. I totally get it. Servos are 150 bucks a piece and there's 10 of them on there and you know, there's a lot that goes into it and I don't want to have to deal with it. Yeah.

[30:55] Tom: No, I get it. I get it. So we're talking about our favorite airplanes. Do you have a favorite type of flying run? Yeah. I prefer sport flying.

[31:02] Ron: Just flying around, taking off and landing. I don't really care for 3d. I like watching 3d. Right. But I don't like flying 3d mostly because I can't. But it's more fun.

[31:12] Tom: I can't either.

[31:13] Ron: Yeah. Well, maybe one day, but it's more fun just to take off and land, practice landings. I think you can tell a lot about a pilot by how well they can land. Sure. You know, anybody can fly around in circles, but a nice landing with no bounds.

[31:26] Tom: Well, not anyone.

[31:27] Ron: Most anyone should be able to fly around in circles without any problems. Right. But yeah, a nice landing with no bounds, with a nice rollout, with a, you know, just a beautiful touchdown, I think tells you a lot about how good of a pilot somebody is. You know what kind of airplane does that really, really well? A stick. You make fun of my sticks. Only if you know how to fly. Right. Right.

[31:48] Tom: No, you're right though. I mean, somebody who can, who can grease a landing in no matter what they can do in the air.

[31:53] Ron: I mean, you still have to be able to, to land the thing. Yeah.

[31:57] Tom: So no, you're right. I, I, I totally get that. Uh, and I agree. My, my favorite type of flying is, is just, uh, going out there and just doing it for, for sport. You know, I'm, I'm not a 3d pilot. Uh, I don't really aspire to be, I think it's neat. You know, like you said, I like to watch people who are really good at it. Yeah. Uh, and I'm impressed at the talent that is out there, especially on YouTube. You, you know, if you ever watch YouTube videos with these, some of these guys are, what they can do with an airplane is amazing.

[32:24] Ron: Oh yeah.

[32:24] Tom: More like a helicopter. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but, uh, no, for me it's a sport flying and, uh, you know, that, uh, that seems to, I like going to the field and not having any pressure to like put on a show or anything like that, you know?

[32:39] Ron: So a little different than favorite airplane, what's your go-to airplane? Like if you're just going to fly somewhere really quick, what do you, what do you just pick up and throw in the truck?

[32:47] Tom: Well, it seemed the one, the one that I grabbed the most for just, you know, impromptu flying session is the little electric stick.

[32:55] Ron: Yeah.

[32:55] Tom: You know, the little red and white thing, I think it's an old hangar nine electric job flies on an 1800 three cell, you know? Um, but that thing, I mean, I can fly it anywhere. I mean, I can take it to the, to the park where you saw those jets fly so many years

[33:08] Ron: ago and fly it there with no trouble at all.

[33:10] Tom: It just seems to be my go-to. It's a one piece airplane that I can just throw in the back of the car and take anywhere. And it's always ready.

[33:18] Ron: Don't worry about taking the wing off. Nothing like that. It's just ready to go. It's always ready to go. Yeah. I mean, I can take the wing off. If it's a two piece, you know, airplane. Right.

[33:26] Tom: I mean, it hasn't always been my go-to though. I mean, back before we had electrics, um, you know, I had a go-to that was a sort of a similar style. Uh, Sig made a, uh, airplane called the Cobra and they made a couple of different versions of it. They made a big one and a kind of a medium size one, a King Cobra and the Cougars. Um, but it was a one piece airplane. It was powered by a little 25 size, uh, nitro motor and a same thing. You could just throw it in the back of the car. It was always ready to go. Always kept it on a trickle charger. So, you know, I could fly at a moment's notice. Um, but that seems to be my go-to is a small airplane that I can fly in a small space.

[34:05] Ron: Yeah. I think everybody needs one like that. That's the same with me. My go-to is a small, uh, edge 540.

[34:11] Tom: Oh, right. That I have.

[34:12] Ron: It's about the same size as that, uh, as your stick. Uh, where do you get your stick?

[34:18] Tom: Uh, so I think, I think the little electric stick that I have, I, I got it in some wheeling and dealing with, uh, with one of the club members, but I, I think ultimately it came from Horizon Hobby. It was a Hangar 9 airplane. Yeah. And where'd you get your…

[34:31] Ron: Yeah. So I don't know who made the one that I have. It's a, uh, it's a stick built balsa. I'm guessing it was, uh, uh, an R for, or something like that. Um, but anyway, so no, have you, I don't know if you ever heard of the, the Highway 127 sale?

[34:46] Tom: Uh, only because I know you go there.

[34:48] Ron: Yeah. Once a year. It's the world's longest garage sales, like 690 miles long or something like that. It starts somewhere up north and goes…

[34:55] Tom: That's a big garage sale.

[34:56] Ron: Yeah. It is. It goes all the way down through, uh, Tennessee and Georgia. Uh, but we stopped at one of the tents on the side of the road there and I saw a guy had, had this airplane for sale and it had been crushed a little bit on the fuselage and he, uh, he was asking 10 bucks.

[35:12] Tom: $10.

[35:12] Ron: Yeah. Ten whole dollars. Okay. So of course I can't pay what anybody's asking. So I asked him if he'd take five.

[35:19] Tom: Jeez. $5 airplane.

[35:21] Ron: $5 airplane. He said, yeah, you know, I explained to him that it was broke and I'd have to recover it and all that, which it, it needs it. Um, you know, I, I just kind of glued it to him. I put it together to see how well it flew before I spent the, the time and effort to cover it. Uh, which does need to be done now because I liked the way that plane flies. I had all the electronics here. Right. You know, so I, it wasn't like it was a fully ready to fly for $5. Still $5 airframe. Yeah. Airframe, $5. I was happy with that.

[35:48] Tom: And having flown it myself, it is, it is a good flying airplane. Yeah. Behaves well. We'll have to post a picture of it on the website or something.

[35:54] Ron: Yeah. We can put it in there shortly and maybe somebody will know what it is and tell me. Hey, there you go. That'd be good. Yeah.

[35:59] Tom: So yeah, that's, so that's your go-to. It's a one piece, you know, a little electric job.

[36:04] Ron: Yeah. I just take it out back, put it on the runway and go. So what, what's the last plane you flew?

[36:09] Tom: Well, so the last airplane I flew is actually over here on your bench, about half recovered. Imagine that it's a stick.

[36:17] Ron: Yeah. Go figure.

[36:18] Tom: I just thought, you know, we, you know, kind of a tradition here locally is January 1st. We always go out at the first of the year, you know, rain, snow, shine, you know, sunshine, whatever the temps are fly on that first day of the year to try to set the tone for the year. Cause we always say we want to fly more this year, right? Every year we do. Every year. So, um, so yeah, we, we flew out there on January 1st and it was, uh, actually turned out to be a pretty good day that day.

[36:44] Ron: A little wet, but not bad.

[36:44] Tom: Yeah. Right. Um, so I flew the stick over here and, uh, it's, it's looking a little sad. It's, you know, it's the covering is, uh, come off in places, got a few holes that are repaired with, you know, packing tape and this and that. So I felt like that airplane has been pretty good to me. So it deserved a, a new, uh, a new skin. So that's actually the last plane I've flown. Hopefully it'd be the next plane I fly. Hopefully.

[37:09] Ron: Well, after we get off this, we'll, we'll go start working on it some more. Sounds good to me. So the last plane I flew actually was that, uh, was that edge. Yeah. Like I said, that's a go-to plane. That's so easy. Yep. Just throw a battery in, go out back and, and run through it. So.

[37:23] Tom: Yep. I think, I think I flew it that day too.

[37:26] Ron: Probably did. Cause I don't think you brought anything out. Right. So yeah, we just ran a couple of batteries through that one. So with as fun as, as flying is, do you prefer to build or, or to fly?

[37:36] Tom: Well, I, I like to build. Um, I would have to say if I, if, if I had a choice to do one. One or the other, I would choose to go down in my, my little shop and just kind of get

[37:47] Ron: lost in whatever project I happen to be working on.

[37:50] Tom: Uh, I, I get a real satisfaction out of sort of bringing something to life from just a box of sticks. You know what I mean? It's a, it's a, I don't know if you want to call it a Zen or if it's just, you get in a zone, but I really, really enjoy the, the manipulation of, of putting pieces together and making something cool out of them. Uh, so I, I'd have to say I like building more than flying. I mean, I like them both. I'm not saying I don't like flying, but. Yeah.

[38:20] Ron: Uh, I gotta say I like building more. So you're a bigger fan of the, uh, the stick built planes than the ARFs?

[38:28] Tom: Yeah. I'm not, I'm not inherently opposed to ARFs. I mean, they have their place. They're, they're, they're great. You know, they're convenient. You pull them out of the box and just some minor assembly and you're, you got a really great airplane that's ready to fly. But, uh, I, I prefer, you know, building things out of, out of sticks. Uh, that's how I got in the hobby. That's how, that's how I got started. Um, it's a skill I think, I think everybody should know how to do. I think everybody who plans on staying in the hobby for a while should probably build a kid at least once in their, uh, in their hobby RC airplane career.

[39:04] Ron: Yeah. Just so you can appreciate it. Yeah. Appreciate all the work that goes into it and the skills and quality. That's right.

[39:09] Tom: Uh, and covering, you know, we, you know, in ARF you're sort of, not that you're tied down to, to what that airplane looks like. Cause you can always take the covering off and recover it, whatever color you want. You know, but, um, when you're building an airplane yourself, it is your airplane. You know, you can make it yours and, and make it look like no one else's. And I think, I think the individuality that you can get out of building your own airplane is something that satisfies me too on some level.

[39:39] Ron: Yeah. That's fun. I would say that it depends on the time of year for me.

[39:43] Tom: Sure.

[39:43] Ron: You know, summertime when it's warm out and, and light late, it's more fun to go out and throw a battery and, and fly through a, you know, a couple of batteries or something in a night. But wintertime is definitely when you kind of start to hibernate. It's dark early. Yeah.

[39:58] Tom: Oh, I definitely do most of the building in, in wintertime. Yeah. Summertime is, it's hard to make time to, to spend three or four hours downstairs in the, in the shop building an airplane.

[40:09] Ron: But yeah, a lot more going on in the summer, so wintertime is nice to just kind of hibernate and, and get your stuff built to fly, uh, when it warms up.

[40:16] Tom: And you've built your first kit here just, you know, over the last year or so.

[40:20] Ron: Almost. Not finished yet, but it might be, it might be by the time that's, it's time to get out and start flying this year. It's close.

[40:25] Tom: And you got some good, uh, experience, you know, recovering this old airplane over here.

[40:29] Ron: Yeah. That's another fun one.

[40:32] Tom: That's an interesting story right there.

[40:33] Ron: How'd you get that airplane? Uh, well, you can tell the story cause you got it for me.

[40:38] Tom: Well, I mean, it sounded like I was trying to feed my own intro there, but yeah, that's a, that's an interesting story. So a club member, you know, uh, uh, uh, passed away recently and, uh, the club offered to help the family by, uh, you know, liquidating, it was, he had a lot of airplanes, uh, this individual. And, uh, so the club offered to help and, uh, I provided a couple of tables, you know, for them to display the stuff so they could get the stuff sold. And, uh.

[41:06] Ron: Oh, was it like an auction or? Yeah. It was like just a garage sale type thing.

[41:09] Tom: And we invited, you know, a couple other clubs, you know, from the area and, you know, tried to get the word out so she would, you know, get the maximum value she could out of the stuff that was left.

[41:18] Ron: Mm-hmm.

[41:19] Tom: Um, anyway, that, you know, when the, when the sale was over, you know, there's, there was always, you know, there's always stuff left over that nobody wants. Right. So what she did was, you know, she put it all in a big old trash can. And, uh, so yeah, sun, the, the Sunday following the, the sale, I went to go pick up my tables and I happened to see this trash can, a couple of trash cans actually full of airframes, you know, in different states of repair and covering and whatnot. And in this, in these trash cans was a, was a, uh, a Hobby Lobby senior telemaster, which for our listeners who don't know what that is, it's a really, really large airplane, but it also happens to be a really, really good flying airplane. It's a great trainer. Uh, it's a good heavy lift airplane. You know, a lot of, uh, competitions are, are, you know, use this airplane for lifting

[42:08] Ron: heavy objects and, you know, see how far they can fly with it and whatnot. A vintage airplane.

[42:14] Tom: It is a vintage airplane. Yeah. We're talking, you know, eighties, mid eighties, something like that. And you could buy these as kits and ARFs and all that from a, uh, a vendor that was, you know, Hobby Lobby. I don't think they're in business anymore, but. No, they, I've looked them up. They're not.

[42:29] Ron: Yeah. And this was not the kit. This was the ARF version. Yeah. Yeah.

[42:34] Tom: Um, but anyway, in this trash can was this airplane and upon, you know, just a kind of a brief look at it, it looked like it was in pretty good shape. I, uh, I didn't attend the sale, so I didn't really get a chance to, to look at all the airplanes that were there for sale. But, uh, so anyway, I went up to the, to the door and I knocked on the door and I asked her, I was like, Hey, what, uh, are you, are you throwing these, these old airframes away? She's like, yeah, I don't know what else to do with them. And, uh, you know, I just, I just want to be, you know, done with this. And so I can, you know, move on. And I was like, well, would you mind if I took them? She's like, no, I don't mind at all. You know, saves me from having to have our garbage man take them, you know, and, uh, put them in the truck. So I, so I took everything that was in the, in the cans home and of everything that was in there, the, the senior telemaster was the only airplane that was really salvageable. Most of the other ones that had either been crushed or, or crashed, you know, or just otherwise too much work to, to bring back to life, except for this airplane that is

[43:38] Ron: now sitting on your bench over there. And yeah, 30 feet from us, whatever it is. Right, right.

[43:43] Tom: So yeah, all it really needed was some minor repair and some, uh, covering. Uh, so you stripped off most of the covering and are in the process of finishing up the covering.

[43:54] Ron: Starting from scratch. Yeah. Yeah.

[43:55] Tom: I think it's going to be a good flying airplane though.

[43:57] Ron: Yeah, I like the, the red and black color scheme a lot better than the yellow.

[44:00] Tom: Yeah. So anybody that's, uh, familiar with an airplane called the Beast, which was a, a biplane

[44:06] Ron: Hangar 9.

[44:06] Tom: Hangar 9 produced, uh, it's kind of a similar color scheme and it's actually going to look

[44:11] Ron: really good on this airplane. Yeah. Instead of gold, it'll, it'll have silver, but yeah, the same pretty much design. Yeah.

[44:17] Tom: Yeah. So I'm going to make a builder out of you yet.

[44:19] Ron: I could see that happening. It's fun.

[44:22] Tom: Right.

[44:23] Ron: It does give you, it gives you a sense of satisfaction. When you see something that you built, you know, covered and flying around in the air. However, it's a lot more scary doing it that way than flying an ARF.

[44:37] Tom: Well, you do have a lot of, of time invested.

[44:39] Ron: Yeah.

[44:40] Tom: Um, and that's, but, but to me, um, it's not really an investment of time. It's, uh, I don't know. It's hard to explain. Uh, like it's therapy almost. I can get away. I can go downstairs in my workshop and, you know, work on covering an airplane or come out here and work on covering airplanes with you. And it's, to me, it's, it's not an investment. It's, it's quality time.

[45:02] Ron: It's, it's time away from the, you know, the rat race, the grind of going to work and whatever.

[45:08] Tom: So I don't really consider it a, an, uh, you know, an investment so much as it is just a, uh, it feeds me, not me feeding it, if that makes any kind of sense.

[45:19] Ron: No, I can understand that once, once I have more time, you know, I still have young kids. So that takes up most of my time now.

[45:26] Tom: Sure.

[45:27] Ron: Uh, once, once she gets a little bit older, it'll be a lot easier to spend more time building and have the extra time to do that. So yeah, I definitely like to get in the building from gets more or from scratch even.

[45:38] Tom: Yeah. And that's, and that's something that, uh, that I would also like to do more of. I've, I've got a few sets of plans at home that I would like to build, uh, airplanes off of that they just don't offer kits for anymore. Um, and, and that's something I'd like to do more of over, you know, over the next few years is now that my kids are older, I don't have the, I don't have the distractions like I used to. I can, I can devote a little more time to cutting out parts and gluing them together.

[46:05] Ron: Yeah. I'm not there yet, but I'll get there. So what are you working on now?

[46:09] Tom: So I'm, you know, aside from the airplane that I'm recovering here at your house, uh, on my workbench at home, I've got a, uh, uh, it's a project for one of our club members, uh, that I agreed to take on. And it's a, it's a Horton, um, a scale model of a Horton 229, which was a, uh, World War II, uh, German airplane, uh, that they were developing a jet fighter, um, to sort of come online at about the same time that ME 262, which was their first operational, actually the world's first operational jet fighter. Uh, so it's an, it's a flying wing, uh, no tail, uh, no fuselage. It's a, it's what we would call a blended wing these days, but it's all wing and it's a big airplane. It's going to be an electric ducted fan has two, two, uh, I think 110, 110 millimeter fans in it. It's a, it's a big one.

[47:01] Ron: Yeah.

[47:01] Tom: It's a big airplane. Retractable gear, flaps, uh, slats, drag brakes, which are similar to spoilers, except there's one on the bottom and the top of the wing, uh, to help control yaw because there is no vertical, you know, there's no tail on the airplane.

[47:17] Ron: So is that kind of like a B2 bomber? Is that the B2 that's the flat wing? Yep. Okay. Yep. Pretty, pretty much exactly same idea, except not as angular. You know, radar wasn't as big a deal back then, so they didn't have to be as stealthy.

[47:31] Tom: Although this airplane was about as stealth as you could get back then because the cross sectional area was just very, very small compared to everything else that was produced at the time. So it would have been nearly invisible on radar at that time. So, so that's what I'm working on now. It's a, it's a complicated project. Um, it's a, like I said, it's a big airplane. I think that it's a 92 inch wing. Um, you can get on a Google and look up Horton 229 and give you an idea of what this

[48:01] Ron: airplane looks like. Uh, yeah, we can post a link in the show notes too.

[48:05] Tom: Sure. Uh, but the, uh, it, it, yeah, it's, it's, uh, I mean, you would think you're just building a wing, right? It shouldn't be that big a deal, but there's a lot of stuff that goes inside, uh, this particular wing with the, with the drag rudders and the, and the flaps and the slats and all this other stuff that's, that's going to be incorporated into the wing. Uh, it was a, it's a, it's one of the more complicated builds I've, I've actually tried to tackle here, at least in the last few years, uh, because of the, the mechanics, you know, they, it's a, it was a kit that, uh, the club member brought in from, uh, Europe somewhere, uh, cause you couldn't get it here in the States. And, um, so it has plans and it has, you know, the kit parts, but they don't give you anything really for the, like the mechanical aspects of it. So they tell you where to cut everything for, to make the flaps and the ailerons and all that, but they don't tell you how to hinge them or how you want to actually build log or anything like that. Nothing like that. So it's been, it's been quite a project.

[49:08] Ron: Who's going to fly it first?

[49:10] Tom: That's a good question.

[49:12] Ron: I'll tell, I guess.

[49:13] Tom: Well, because it's such a unique airplane and big and expensive, he's spent quite a, quite a bit of money on the, on, well, 110 millimeter fans. And he didn't buy the cheap ones. These are like the cool machined aluminum anodized. They're like red and gold. If anyone knows what that is, they can chime in or call us and let us know. But, um, so I would be nervous to fly it myself, even though I consider myself a fair test pilot. Uh, I usually I'm okay with flying airplanes for the first time, but I.

[49:48] Ron: Well, there's a lot of people that come to you to, to maiden their planes. So, yeah.

[49:52] Tom: Yeah.

[49:53] Ron: You've actually made more of mine than I have.

[49:55] Tom: Well, I mean, I know my limits, right? So, um, if, if the CG looks about right, I'll, I'll usually, you know, attempt it. But this thing is, uh, is so, so unusual compared to most other airplanes that, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm hoping that I, that I don't get tapped to, to fly this one the first time. Hopefully the owner of the airplane will either fly it or have someone else fly it. Or maybe I'll be, you know, uh, conveniently sick the day he needs to fly it.

[50:26] Ron: Oh no. You want to be there for it.

[50:28] Tom: I would like to see video. Cause I think it's going to fly well. I do. But, uh, yeah, just, uh, I think I'd rather see someone else test fly it. But, you know, if it comes down to it and he really wants to fly it and there's nobody

[50:40] Ron: available, then I guess, I guess I'll be it. And then make sure I'm there when that happens. Yeah. You'll hold the camera. I'll hold the camera.

[50:48] Tom: What about you? You got any projects going on right now? Uh, just. Aside from the old telemaster over here?

[50:54] Ron: Recovering that and the Cavalier I'm working on. That's about all right now.

[50:58] Tom: Cavalier's close though.

[50:59] Ron: Cavalier's probably got another couple months in it and it should be able to be maiden. Um, yeah. After we do that and then we get the, uh, telemaster covered, I'll probably bring the big plane in and get that one torn apart. We'll, we'll have to see how that goes though. Depends how much time we have.

[51:16] Tom: Yeah. That won't be the only big airplane we've covered down here.

[51:19] Ron: No. No. The other one was a little bit smaller than that, but what was it? It was 150 CC, uh, oh, extra.

[51:27] Tom: I believe it was an extra. Yeah. Extra 300. Yeah. With the Red Bull colors. Yeah.

[51:31] Ron: I think 118 inch wingspan.

[51:33] Tom: That sounds right. So I was eight inches bigger. Yeah.

[51:37] Ron: Wider.

[51:39] Tom: Right.

[51:40] Ron: Where it counts.

[51:40] Tom: It's not a competition, Ron. No, it sure is. That's a little awkward.

[51:46] Ron: Yeah. Okay. So let's move on. Um, so what do you prefer to fly with? Do you prefer, uh, nitro gas or, or electric?

[51:56] Tom: Uh, I'm old school. I got started by building my own airplanes and back then the only way to power them was with nitro, right? Yeah. You know, electrics didn't really come on strong until 2000s, early 2000s, uh, with, you know, the advent of brushless motors and lipo batteries, um, and, you know, gasoline powered engines weren't real, they weren't as mainstream as they are now, especially for big airplanes. So the only way to, to do it back then when I started was nitro and, uh, and, and because I think I also built my first airplane, uh, that's probably why I like to build because my first airplane was nitro powered. That's probably, I would have to say that's my favorite. I like the smell. I like the sound that they make.

[52:42] Ron: Um, I like the, um, yeah, the smell is definitely unique to nitro.

[52:46] Tom: Sure. Sure. I mean, I know there's disadvantage, you know, they make a mess and they can be kind of finicky, you know, depending on weather and they're hard to run in cold weather or whatever. But, um, for me, it's, it's, uh, it just takes me back. You know, it's, it's what I've always done. Uh, I'm a very hands-on type of individual. So I like to, I like to tinker with my hands. I like to tune them. You know, I, you know, frequently at the field, you know, somebody, Hey Tom, can you help me tune this, you know, tune this airplane? It's, I just really, really enjoy that. Um, not that I'm saying the electrics aren't fantastic and the gas powered stuff is great too. Uh, but I would have to say that my favorite, my go-to is, is going to always be nitro four strokes or two strokes.

[53:32] Ron: They all have their place. Sure. So the, the electric is where, where I would go. Right. Solely because I like the simplicity of it.

[53:39] Tom: Yeah.

[53:40] Ron: But when it comes obviously to bigger planes, I prefer gas, uh, a lot easier to work with than the nitro is a lot cheaper to run. It's cheaper to run for sure. Yeah. And there's just, uh, there's, there's something to having an actual small engine with a spark plug that I like. Right. I don't know.

[54:01] Tom: Well, and, and you get into the, to the really big airplanes, like let's say your Yak, for example, you, I don't, I mean, I think it would be hard to power that airplane with a nitro or with something nitro powered.

[54:12] Ron: Yeah. I don't know if you could or not.

[54:14] Tom: Electrics are coming on.

[54:15] Ron: They, they have some 170 CC equivalent electrics, but the batteries are huge.

[54:22] Tom: Yeah. Yeah. And that amount of, that amount of juice in one small area really makes me nervous. Electricity scares, scares me to death. I don't even touch electricity in my own home. So I'll go with nitro.

[54:36] Ron: Yeah. Yeah. I can see that, but I, I do like battery just for the simplicity of it. Yeah.

[54:41] Tom: How about, uh, do you have a, an opinion on two strokes or four strokes?

[54:46] Ron: Uh, four strokes sound a lot better. Right. Right. So I would prefer that over two stroke. But once again, you get more power out of a two stroke. So that's true. There's pros and cons to everything.

[54:57] Tom: Right. It's whatever you, you value most.

[54:59] Ron: Right. Right. You know, if you want to go with a bigger engine that's going to weigh more, that sounds better, you can do that or go with a smaller one that puts out the same amount of power, but doesn't quite sound the same. Right. Boost the performance though, because it's lighter weight. Yeah.

[55:11] Tom: I'd have to say, I like the four strokes. Yeah. You know, they, the sound and the, and it adds another level of, of complexity to the engine that, you know, you have to stay on top of adjusting the valves and I'm just that, you're the tinkering with the hands. I think that's what, uh, really kind of makes me tick.

[55:31] Ron: Yeah. So our, our new tinkering project is going to be this podcast. Um, so I think, I think we'll end it for this one. Yeah. Yeah.

[55:40] Tom: I think so.

[55:41] Ron: Yeah. I think that was pretty good. Uh, I actually didn't know all that about you, so that was fun.

[55:45] Tom: Yeah, it was fun.

[55:46] Ron: So yeah. Uh, thanks for listening, everybody. Our next episode is going to be a primer on how to get started in the hobby. Um, I think our plan is to have both of us talk about what we recommend for getting started. Right. Um.

[55:58] Tom: It'll be two different recommendations.

[56:00] Ron: Yeah.

[56:00] Tom: But there'll be recommendations nonetheless.

[56:02] Ron: Yeah. Um, yeah, because we both would recommend different airplanes to get started. Um, so yeah, that's, that's what we're going to go with. And thanks for listening. Uh, until next time, I'm Ron.

[56:14] Tom: And I'm Tom.

[56:14] Announcer: We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC plane lab podcast for topic suggestions to ask questions or to give any feedback, connect with us at rcplanelab.com or email us direct at either ron at rcplanelab.com or tom at rcplanelab.com. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, may your landings be gentle.