Ep 122: Craig Straub

[00:00:02] Hello, everyone. Welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I’m Ron. I’m Tom. And I’m Dave. Today we are sitting down and talking with Craig Straub. Craig, how are you doing?

[00:00:19] Good. How are you?

[00:00:20] Not too bad. I’m excited to talk about airplanes. Yes.

[00:00:25] That’s always a good thing.

[00:00:26] Right? It makes for a fun day. It really does. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

[00:00:32] Well, I would say I’ve been flying since about 2007. Started out with electric hobby zone planes. And the first one I had was a Firebird Phantom. It was kind of on the small side. Say the least, it didn’t really survive its maiden flight too well. Many don’t. No, they don’t. And it ended up in a tree.

[00:01:01] Oh.

[00:01:02] And, but luckily I was able to get it and save it. And had to go to Horizon and order spare parts. And probably kept it for probably about six months or so longer. And then ended up getting a hobby zone super cub. And that proved to be a much better plane for me to learn to fly and fly pretty well on. Yeah.

[00:01:30] Those airplanes have taught a lot of people to fly.

[00:01:32] Yeah. I can’t beat a cub. That was my first airplane too. So, yeah, it flew very well. My only problem, I’m going to ask you if you had the same issue. When you moved on to planes with ailerons, did you have an issue going with, actually having the ailerons on the right stick as opposed to just trying to use the rudder?

[00:01:53] I think it was too terribly difficult. But the plane I moved to next ended up being the Hobbico Superstar, the electric powered one with the ailerons. So, that’s the one I went ahead to transition myself to, to get to using four-channel control. And after about, I would say, maybe half a dozen flights, I started to really feel a lot more comfortable with it. But I do know what you’re saying.

[00:02:25] The first flight, it felt a little hairy at first until you started to get used to everything. But after that, it ended up being a really good plane to teach you aileron control as well.

[00:02:37] Yeah, I think my biggest issue moving to that was not necessarily flying in the air, but taxing and takeoff on the ground. Because I was constantly trying to steer with your right stick, which is what you do with a three-channel plane, at least that one. And you couldn’t do that. You had to move.

[00:02:56] I had the exact opposite problem. I took and learned on an aileron aircraft And then when I first tried to fly something with rudder, only takeoffs were just miserable.

[00:03:05] Yeah, I guess I could say that. So, yeah. It’s nice now, though, because what I would do is actually use the sticks correctly and buddy them together.

[00:03:20] That way. You mix them. Yeah, mix them. Mix rudder and aileron sticks together. So, Craig, where roughly, whereabouts in the country are you?

[00:03:29] I’m in northeast Ohio.

[00:03:32] Okay, sweet.

[00:03:33] I live about half hour south of Youngstown. If you’re familiar with where that is.

[00:03:39] I’m not, but okay.

[00:03:40] I’ve heard of it.

[00:03:41] I don’t know where.

[00:03:42] How close are you to Toledo?

[00:03:44] That’s one that we know. I also know Columbus. Oh, my mom loves there. But yeah.

[00:03:49] I am about three, three hours away from Toledo.

[00:03:54] Okay. Oh, okay.

[00:03:56] But I have made that trip twice.

[00:03:58] There you go. Worth it, isn’t it?

[00:04:00] Most definitely. Yeah. Actually, my dad and I, we made the trip to the last actual convention show that they had in 2019. And we were there when they, it was the full exhibit and everything. And it wasn’t turned into just the swap meet.

[00:04:21] Okay.

[00:04:21] And we were actually planning to go in 2020. But then that’s when everything got shut down. So.

[00:04:27] Thanks, COVID. Yeah, exactly. So, now, would you say, without, belaboring the point, would you say that, are you one of those ones that would see somebody like Ron and I at the show, who have never been to the expo part of the show, mind you, and tell us, well, the show is not what it used to be? Because that was our, kind of like our overwhelming experience from folks who had. From veterans that have been there before.

[00:04:54] Folks who had gone to the Toledo show when it was the actual, the exposition with all the vendors and stuff. To what it is now.

[00:05:02] I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t say that. I mean, because from everything I saw online, because I didn’t make it to this past spring when they had it. But I would say from what I saw online and read and everything, it looked like it was very much a nice turnout. It looked like they had a lot of things there. It looked like there’s a lot of people, even some vendors that showed up.

[00:05:26] Yep.

[00:05:26] That, that, that I actually saw at the previous two Toledo shows.

[00:05:30] Oh, okay. Well, that’s good. That’s encouraging. Yeah. Yeah. Ron and I had, had a really good time. But I think, I think a lot of it is expectation management, right? So if you go there with a certain expectation, you could or could not get let down. So we went with the understanding that, hey, this isn’t the show that it used to be. Let’s just go with an open mind. And we were not, I wasn’t disappointed.

[00:05:53] I can’t speak for Ron, but I don’t think he was disappointed either.

[00:05:55] No, I went just thinking it was a swap meet. Right. So for that, I think it did a wonderful job. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:01] Seeing both of them, it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Right. They’re excellent apples. There’s excellent oranges, but they’re not the same.

[00:06:09] Yeah. Exactly. Yep. Yep. Okay. And, and if you go there expecting to see apples and you see apples, then you’re not disappointed. That’s right.

[00:06:17] If you’ve never eaten an orange. Exactly. There you go.

[00:06:20] See?

[00:06:22] I am sorry for you guys not being able to see it in its hey, though, just to have reference.

[00:06:26] Well, so in my defense, like I went to the, the Richter a couple of, well, a few times and then the Urcha after what it was called after that, the Chicago show. And yeah, it’s cool. It really is to see all the, the people that are the vendors there with all their new stuff. And it’s always so bright and shiny and no fingerprints on anything. And it’s a cool, it’s a cool experience. But swap meets are way more fun, if you ask me.

[00:06:50] Yeah, I agree.

[00:06:52] A lot more deals and a lot more interesting stuff. And the older I get, the more fun they become, I think.

[00:06:56] Well, great, because we got more to do. Yes, we do. So, do you belong to a flying club?

[00:07:03] Well, yes, I do belong to a flying club. It’s roughly about 15 minutes from my house. Oh, that’s nice. Oh, that’s convenient. Right. Definitely. The name of our club is the Columbiana County Centaurs RC Club.

[00:07:20] That’s a mouthful.

[00:07:22] Yes, that is. Makes it interesting when they try to put hats and shirts together to sell.

[00:07:29] Yeah. It’s one where on the shirt, the logo wraps around the front and then goes under the arm and onto the back.

[00:07:36] Pretty close.

[00:07:38] So, about how big of a field is that, or a club?

[00:07:42] We have roughly about 30 to usually 35 members. We used to have more, like within the last probably four or five years, but it’s probably like the usual thing at a lot of clubs have been kind of where you have some people that stay for a while and then all of a sudden they pack up and go somewhere else, or they may just get out of the hobby altogether.

[00:08:04] Well, and COVID had a lot to do with the recent, I think, the recent decline in membership. guys, especially, I mean, let’s be honest, the demographic who fly these toy airplanes, especially the ones that we’re interested in, with the Balsa and the gas engines and such, it’s an older crowd, right? Yeah.

[00:08:24] For the most part, and those guys don’t want to be out, in COVID conditions because, they’re at risk, in the at-risk category. So, I think you’re going to see, without, going off on a wild tangent here, I’m making a mark on my sheet so I know where to return, but I think you’re going to see membership and participation ramp up again now that we’re kind of coming out of the shadows of COVID, I think.

[00:08:52] Well, time will tell, but I’m hoping you’re right. Yeah. Yeah, hopefully.

[00:08:56] Craig, do you have a group of guys there at the club that you prefer to fly with?

[00:09:01] Well, the usual crowd for myself is, it ends up being myself, my dad, and this past spring, my three-and-a-half-year-old daughter started taking an interest.

[00:09:15] That is awesome. Yeah.

[00:09:18] Yes. She would come into my workshop in the basement, and she’d just be like, what are you doing? And you start telling her, what you’re doing. And then she started asking, wanting to look at the airplanes. And so, ended up, she said she would like a plane of her own. And so, I got her some foamies. Yes. And I actually have one of those small Hobby Zone Sport Cubs, the little, like, UMX style, the ready-to-fly.

[00:09:52] And I let her have fun with that and put it on the safe. And she’s long darted it several times, but she’s really, she’s impressed, my dad and I. And she has no fear. And she just wants to take off and fly. And then she’ll, she’ll land it. And she’ll say, okay, time to bring it down. Then she’ll land it. And, yeah, she’s just, she’s so far has really taken hold of it. And. That’s awesome. I even signed her up for a junior AMA membership this year also.

[00:10:35] Oh, that’s so cool. The beauty of having no skin in the game. No fear. Yeah. Not worrying about crashing anything.

[00:10:41] Yes. That would be awesome.

[00:10:42] Getty fix. Yeah, yeah. Next best thing would be a simulator. Does she fly the simulator, Craig?

[00:10:47] Oh, yes. I’ve had her on the simulator a handful of times. And she will spend anywhere from sometimes an hour to an hour and a half on it.

[00:10:55] That’s awesome.

[00:10:56] That is very cool.

[00:10:57] I love, I love to hear when, when kids are, getting into it. And third generation now, right? Your dad, you, and now hopefully your daughter, takes off with it. Takes off. I got you again. Yeah. You’re so punny. I know. I try.

[00:11:11] No, but that’s awesome. I, like I said, Piper, we’ve talked about before. She’s kind of showing some interest in it. So we’re going to be working on getting her into flying, hopefully next year. We do the simulator stuff now, but she’s, she’s a little nervous about full RC airplane flying because she doesn’t want to crash it. So we’re also working on getting our kid in.

[00:11:33] But that’s, that’s so cool that you’re getting your daughter in because I know Tommy has had no luck with any of his kids.

[00:11:39] All three of them. Yeah. No interest whatsoever. Same with my oldest. Yeah. So it’s always good. Well, he had some, like a small degree. He did for a while. Comes and goes, it seems like.

[00:11:49] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:50] I don’t know. Well, I mean, it is what it is. Yeah. All we can do is try and it sounds like your daughter’s going to, sounds like if she’s spending an hour to an hour and a half on the simulator, I think that’s a good sign.

[00:12:02] Those are the best video games.

[00:12:04] Right. Exactly.

[00:12:06] Teaching a skill, right?

[00:12:07] Yeah.

[00:12:07] Right.

[00:12:08] Yeah. So, can’t be bad. Without getting into the list that we’re going to talk about later, Craig, do you prefer to build or fly?

[00:12:17] I would say, I would say I’m probably split 50-50 both ways.

[00:12:23] Okay. That’s good.

[00:12:24] I mean, I enjoy putting together nice, nice brand new kit in the box and just sitting there looking over everything and starting putting it together. There’s just, I know you’ve said it, Tom, there’s just something about when you’re working on a kit. It’s just, for the most part, all the time, it’s pretty much relaxing a lot of times.

[00:12:46] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:48] New Balsa smell.

[00:12:49] I know. Right. I love that. Especially a Balsa kit when you first, like a Balsa USA kit. There’s nothing that compares to that smell. Like even with COVID nose, I can still, like the Phaeton, is that how that’s pronounced, I think?

[00:13:03] Phaeton.

[00:13:03] Whatever, the biplane that we got at Toledo. I’ve opened that kit box several times just to, get a whiff of it. It smells so good.

[00:13:12] The one that strikes memories for me is my very first kit that I had was a Goldberg cub. And for some reason or another, they put cedar spars in it instead of pine. You open that thing up, just the smell of the cedar and the balsa together.

[00:13:24] Well, if you ever want to go back, you can come over and sniff my cub if you want to. I’ve got one in the… It might be a little weird. Sniff kit. The kit. The cub kit. I have a Goldberg kit.

[00:13:33] That’s weird. I know. You guys are… I went… I crossed the line tonight.

[00:13:37] I like Play-Doh too.

[00:13:38] So, yeah, I’m kind of with you, Craig. I enjoy both. obviously I like building. And I think I would say that I prefer building. that sort of checks all the boxes as opposed to flying. But flying is fun too, especially when you’ve got a group of guys that… Or family, in your case, that you like to fly with. I think that’s awesome. So…

[00:13:59] So, did you get into it first or was your dad exposed to this and kind of got you into it? How’d that come about?

[00:14:06] My dad was into it first. He was into it, I think, dates back to the 70s.

[00:14:13] Oh.

[00:14:14] Nice. He… My first remembrance of, like, him working on planes was when I was a little kid and I’d go into the basement and play. And I would remember him working on his planes and such that he was building and putting together. And, I mean, I never… I didn’t really take an interest until later in life. But he’s always been into it ever since I can remember. Yeah.

[00:14:46] Well, if that’s the case, Tom, that means there’s still time for you and I with our older kids.

[00:14:52] Maybe. Maybe. I mean, I think about where my kids, my older kids… Well, they’re all older now, but my oldest kids, where they’re at now, yeah, I don’t really see them taking an interest. But who knows? I mean…

[00:15:04] Well, Craig, when you were younger, was there ever, like, the glint of, hey, this is cool in the back of your mind? Or was it just something you didn’t even think about? And then it kind of, like, hits you later in life, and then you wanted to get into it with your dad?

[00:15:16] I think maybe there might have been a time where I may kind of, like, had an interest for maybe, like, a couple days where I kind of said something. But then it really didn’t take off beyond that. Right.

[00:15:29] Quickly faded. Yeah. Right. Well, yeah, because there’s quite a bit of a delay, right? Because you remember, going downstairs as a kid, seeing your dad working on the planes, but you didn’t get in the hobby until, 2008, I think is what you said, really? So there’s, yeah, it took some time for that to percolate. So, yeah, maybe there’s hope for our oldest kids, Ron.

[00:15:49] Never know. Hey, we’ll see. Could be. Maybe we planted the seed. And hopefully it grows and doesn’t die. Die, yeah. And then they come back.

[00:15:58] Yeah. Yeah, it could. Regenerates. Yeah. Something. Yeah, I don’t know. So, Craig, when it comes to your airplanes, do you prefer foam or balsa?

[00:16:11] Balsa, hands down.

[00:16:13] Yeah.

[00:16:14] Yes. I agree. No question. Yeah.

[00:16:16] Yeah.

[00:16:18] Foam has its place. It does. You said it before. But as a building material, as kit building, as all that kind of stuff, I’m definitely into the balsa side of things.

[00:16:28] Although, now, I will say, since I’ve sort of re-caged my brain. Okay, bear with me. Sure. So, if you think of foam, not as a, I’m not, I can’t put it into words, but if you think of it more as a-

[00:16:45] Well, this is a podcast, so you’ve got to figure it out.

[00:16:47] Right, I know. But if you think about it more as a building material, just like any other building material, like balsa or plywood or paper, if you’re into paper airplanes or whatever. If you think of, like me personally, if I think about it in those terms, then it’s easier to accept it as a hobbyist quality material. Does that make sense?

[00:17:08] Yeah, yeah.

[00:17:09] Yeah, I can see that. Like, the stuff that Dave here can produce out of a sheet of basically a blue insulation, the quarter-inch thick stuff, the stuff that he can create with that is, I mean, they’re airplanes. Yeah. And they are hobbyist quality airplanes. And if you look at it in the terms, well, it’s just a building material.

[00:17:27] You’re not going to win any shows with it, but it’s a good quality-

[00:17:30] Some of the stuff you’ve done is pretty doggone good, I would say. But anyway, for me personally, it’s easier for me to accept it as a hobbyist material, thinking of it in those terms.

[00:17:42] Well, I’m not worried about accepting it as a hobbyist material as much as for building. Like, that’s cool to see other people do it, but that’s not something I want to build with. Does that make sense? Like, just the whole shaping and- Well, we all have preferences, yeah. So that’s kind of what I was getting at. Balsa just is a fun, and it’s what I know, too. Right. So I would have to learn a whole new skill to go into the foam side of things.

[00:18:04] I would say Dave is way more comfortable with foam than we are. Oh, that’s easy.

[00:18:08] Yeah, I go either way, balsa or foam. It doesn’t matter to me. If I want something, I do it.

[00:18:13] Yeah. But I’m glad to hear Craig say, balsa.

[00:18:16] Yeah. I like balsa. It’s going to make for a better conversation. Yeah. Right? No, I’m kidding. That’s fine.

[00:18:23] Craig, kits or ARFs? What’s your preference?

[00:18:25] Kits. Yeah. Me, too. I like that box of stuff. Yes. Right. Great, most definitely. Nothing beats opening a kit up and just seeing everything there.

[00:18:37] I agree.

[00:18:37] Ron, it took you a second.

[00:18:38] Well, because I’m just imagining the difference in, yeah. I agree. I agree. Kits are awesome, but I still like the speed of putting an ARF together at times. Yeah. It depends on what your end goal is. If you’re trying to enjoy the build, then there’s absolutely no question it’s going to be a kit. Yeah. If you’re just wanting to get something together quickly and go fly it, then an ARF or even a foamy airplane that’s ready to go is not a bad idea. Right.

[00:19:06] We’ll have to admit, though, I do like taking an ARF and modifying it, heavily modifying an ARF.

[00:19:12] Yeah. Making it yours.

[00:19:13] It’s almost like building.

[00:19:14] It is kind of like a building.

[00:19:15] Well, yeah. Well, it is building. It really is, because you’re building something new out of something that wasn’t that to begin with. Wow. what I’m trying to say.

[00:19:31] I’ll say yes, just to make it go easier. I know exactly what you’re trying to say. You’re trying to say you’re customizing it to make it your own. Right. And it takes building skills in order to change it from an ARF. Perfect. To your own airplane. Exactly what I was trying to say. Thank you.

[00:19:45] I guess probably the part that I maybe don’t like as much about an ARF is, at least on my end, you have to go through and pretty much inspect every glue joint. Yeah. You should. Put CA in every place all through it before I’ll even entertain going any further with the assembly of it. And it’s just, if I’m doing a kit, I know how much glue I’ve put in those joints when I was assembling it and putting it together. So there’s no guesswork then.

[00:20:16] Yep. And it’s right.

[00:20:18] Right. Correct.

[00:20:19] Yeah. The right materials were used. Everything was done to your standards. No 45 degree scarf joints. Dave, you have to get past that, buddy. You have to get past it. It’s been a while now, but that’s, he won’t. It’s okay. It’s okay. When the airplane is finished and flying again, he might get past it.

[00:20:35] That’s when he might get past it. Okay.

[00:20:35] Yeah. Anyway.

[00:20:38] Right. So Balsa, like going back to Balsa, the reason, I mean, I know we’re kits or whatever, but I like Balsa because it’s easier to strap a glow motor to it.

[00:20:50] Definitely.

[00:20:51] See? I’m….

[00:20:53] Yeah. Yeah. I’m not. I know. You keep rubbing in the fact that we don’t… Well, I am not a big glow fan. What about you, Craig? Do you do glow or are you just electric and gasoline?

[00:21:04] I am pretty much most… Everything I have is glow and gas.

[00:21:09] Oh, well, that’s good. Love it.

[00:21:11] You should get some electrics in there. Yes, but pretty much everything… I mean, my glow engines outnumber the gas.

[00:21:19] Nice. Yeah.

[00:21:21] Excellent.

[00:21:21] Yeah. Tom just brightened up here. Yeah, I’m glowing. Yeah. Oh, man. I see what I did right there. But, yeah, you’re speaking his language now.

[00:21:30] Oh, yeah. And I’ll be… I mean, it’s just, for me, it’s nostalgia. I mean, that’s what I learned with, and I like the smell. I like the sound.

[00:21:42] I like the smell of burning castor.

[00:21:43] Yeah, we’ve gone over it over and over, but, yeah.

[00:21:49] So, what drew you to the nitro side of things, Craig?

[00:21:55] I would say I just… Basically, I wanted longer flight times, basically. And I got tired of having to wait for batteries to charge.

[00:22:05] Yeah.

[00:22:05] And then I also… That’s what my dad’s always primarily been into was glow also, even though he has a couple electrics, too. But I also like the sound. Yeah. And when I was at the field, at the club, and you saw the other guys flying around with gas and glow, the sound initially is what drew me. And along with, obviously, you get longer flight times. And then I would have to say I agree with Dave. The smell of that fuel burning, just something about it. It’s a nice…

[00:22:43] It might sound strange to some people, but it smells good.

[00:22:47] Yeah. No, I agree with everything you said, except for the dirtiness and the expense. That’s the only thing… I was going to say, that’s the only thing that turns me off of glow.

[00:23:00] Yeah. My big turnoff right now is the slime. Just the oil all over everything. I just… The dirtiness. The dirtiness.

[00:23:07] If you have your exhaust set up correctly, though, you can minimize that.

[00:23:10] Oh, I know I can. I’ve been doing this a while. I’m just saying.

[00:23:14] I’m just saying. You can minimize the amount of slime on your airplane if you have your exhaust set up correctly. But anyway, Craig, do you have a favorite airplane? Like an airplane that’s your go-to? The one that goes with you to the field almost every time you go?

[00:23:30] Currently, right now, the one that probably travels me to the field the most would be my Hangar 9 10cc Ultra Stick that I have.

[00:23:40] Yeah. It’s a great airplane.

[00:23:42] It pretty much makes it every trip. Yeah.

[00:23:46] Well, it’s a stick, so, I mean… And this is the 10cc, so that’s got a 65 on it?

[00:23:53] Yes.

[00:23:54] I think I read that somewhere. Yeah, OS 65. That’s a good combination. Really good combination.

[00:24:00] Yeah.

[00:24:01] Did you put the flaps on yours? I’m sorry. I’m trying to look at the picture here.

[00:24:06] Initially… There it is. I didn’t. I just went with the full span ailerons. But this past winter, I cut those off and put the flaps on with the ailerons. Nice. And I actually liked it a lot better because it had the tendency, it wanted to come in hot all the time.

[00:24:30] Really? Okay.

[00:24:31] It seemed to. And maybe it’s just, might have been the way I had it propped maybe, and maybe the engine combination, but it seemed like it came in a little hot most of the time.

[00:24:45] And the flaps helped?

[00:24:47] Yes. Okay. Yeah, most definitely the flaps did help. It slowed it down to like a crawl, literally, when it comes in.

[00:24:55] Nice. Interesting. So, like, I have the old version, like the original Hangar 9, 60 size ARF, and no provision for flaps, so I just fly mine with flapper on. But I never use them because mine, maybe I’ve got, I might have mine balanced a little bit on the tail-heavy side. But mine, I mean, I can come in and, pretty much land tail first. I can get it slowed down so much, which is kind of fun. Yeah. But, I don’t know, you might try playing with CG.

[00:25:22] Although, if you have flaps now, you may not need to worry about it. But, so, a stick is the go-to?

[00:25:26] Yeah. I get that. Currently, it is. Prior to that, that my go-to all the time was the Arrowworks Yak 54, the 60 to 90 size ARF that they made.

[00:25:41] Now you’re talking Ron’s language.

[00:25:42] You got my ears perked up.

[00:25:44] Which one? It’s had that. Similar size to the Seagull. Okay. 90, yep. This one.

[00:25:50] That’s a good size airplane, then. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I love yags.

[00:25:55] Yes, you do. They’ve got like four.

[00:25:56] No, it doesn’t matter. I love yags. So, why is that no longer your go-to, then? What, I don’t know. What happened?

[00:26:07] It is in need of some repair. It’s actually been sitting for probably two seasons now.

[00:26:13] We’ve all got planes like that. Yeah.

[00:26:15] I brought it in for a landing. Landing was fine, except when I was about a foot off the runway, I got a crosswind. Mm-hmm. And it literally cartwheeled the plane over on the turtle deck. Oh, yeah. Right behind it. Initially, I thought, hey, there’s no damage. I walked out to pick it up. the cowl had several cracks in it. and the firewall was loose and broke, broke off.

[00:26:44] Oh.

[00:26:46] So I’m in the process of. I have a new firewall cut for it. I just need to make the time to repair the cowl, repaint it and put the firewall back in and remount the engine.

[00:27:00] Well, nice. That won’t be too bad. I mean, it’s, it’s a weekend’s worth of work, but. Right. It’s finding the weekend, especially having young kids. I understand.

[00:27:09] Yeah. Lately what you’re, what you’re going through. Does that one have the, the foam turtle deck or is it also sheeted foam? I can’t remember.

[00:27:17] It’s, it’s actually the balsa sheeted turtle deck.

[00:27:21] Those are actually surprisingly tough and easy to repair.

[00:27:24] I’m going to say that makes your repairs a lot easier.

[00:27:26] Yeah. So. Yeah, but there’s nothing broken there. No, no. Right. But. Well, he mentioned that it, had flipped over onto it. Cool. Yeah.

[00:27:34] I like that. You should get that one fixed. Yeah. You should get that one fixed soon.

[00:27:38] I, I’ve thought that many times and then something else always seems to jump in front of it.

[00:27:43] Oh, yeah. Oh, I know the feeling. But if you get that one fixed, you don’t have to go back to flying that old stick all the time. You can go back to the yak that, is the best go-to plane.

[00:27:53] How many yaks do you currently have flying, Ron? Two. Currently flying. Three. Currently flying. Three. You’ve flown three yaks this year?

[00:28:02] Yeah.

[00:28:03] Which ones? Well, they might be small. Well, it’s still a yak.

[00:28:06] The two profiles and then the e-flight. It’s the same airplane. But it’s two different airplanes. But it’s the same. It’s two different airplanes. It’s the same. It doesn’t matter. No, it matters. If no, it does not matter. I’m going to stay over here.

[00:28:18] Good idea, Dave. All right.

[00:28:21] And then the e-flight. Okay. Follow me.

[00:28:23] Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, I guess you have flown two. Three. So, Greg, so hopefully it would be ideal if that is your, like, worst crash story. But I have a feeling if you’ve been flying a while, that’s probably not. Would I be correct?

[00:28:38] No, it’s not. Not by landslide. So, let’s hear it. Hit us with it. Okay. I would say my worst was a Great Plains Escapade, the ARF, the little 40-sized.

[00:28:58] Okay.

[00:28:59] I was at a Club Funfly, and it just so happened we had a swap meet going, and I was flying on FM at the time, had no issues with it ever. And I have a feeling later on that just from the way the plane was acting, it went into, like, a death spiral from about 100 feet up, and I had no control, absolutely nothing.

[00:29:28] And it just spiraled until it hit the ground and there was some talk later on and we think what happened. Someone may have turned on an FM radio that was for sale at the time, possibly.

[00:29:43] Oops.

[00:29:44] Oh. And, but we obviously don’t know for sure, or who could have possibly been, but trying to replay everything, because I actually had it out there the night before, flew great, fantastic new issues. And, or who knows, maybe it could have gotten into a tip stall, but it didn’t have the tendency to want to do that.

[00:30:07] Yeah. Yeah, I’ve flown a couple of different escapades, and I don’t recall them ever having that bad habit.

[00:30:14] Right. Yeah.

[00:30:16] So, which begs the question, you were flying 72 megahertz then?

[00:30:20] At the time, yes. Okay.

[00:30:21] So what’s your radio of choice now, if you don’t mind me asking?

[00:30:24] The radio I have right now that’s my go-to is a Futaba 14SG. Okay, so you’re DSM now, or, well, Digital Spread Spectrum, or whatever Futaba calls it, Fast. Yes. Okay.

[00:30:37] So hopefully that never happens again. Yeah.

[00:30:40] No, hopefully not.

[00:30:42] Would that also be your favorite crash story? Because there’s worse crash, and then there’s favorite crash, right? Then they’re different for me.

[00:30:49] I would say, I’ve probably got a couple that are favorites more than that one, really.

[00:30:53] Okay.

[00:30:53] That were kind of more entertaining, I guess, would be a good word for it.

[00:30:57] Exactly. Yep.

[00:30:57] I was probably a couple years after that one. I had a kit built, SIG something extra. Had it flying an evening at the field. Everything was going great. And the next thing I know, I’m flying over top of the treetops we have out in the distance, and it was my dad and another fellow club member. He said, you better get that thing up. You’re close to them treetops. I go to pull up elevator, nothing.

[00:31:33] And I’m really pulling on that elevator stick, hoping it’s just going to magically do something, even though I knew at that time, you’re just along for the ride to see where it goes. And it just literally went straight into one of them treetops. And the only thing I did remember I did was throttle the engine back. And you could just hear the sound of the balsa breaking as it went through the tree branches.

[00:32:02] I know that sound, and it’s not a fun one. No.

[00:32:04] No. It’s a very sickening feeling, I guess, is a good word for it.

[00:32:10] Every crack, you’re thinking, oh, I can glue that back together. When it’s all said and done, you’re like, yeah, that’s way too many cracks. I’m not going to be able to glue all that back together.

[00:32:19] And actually, it wasn’t that bad. I actually was able to get it back about four days later. It literally blew down out of the tree.

[00:32:29] Oh, that’s good.

[00:32:30] And the engine was fine. Only thing I lost was a couple of servos, and one wing half was gone. The fuselage, for the most part, was still intact. And just basically needed a new set of wings for it.

[00:32:47] Now, when you say the wing panel was gone, do you mean like it was not present, or it was just beyond repair?

[00:32:54] It was not present. It was still stuck in the tree.

[00:32:57] Oh, wow. Okay. So you got most of the airplane back.

[00:33:00] Right. You got most of it back.

[00:33:03] That’s weird. Usually a wing comes out, unless it’s actually held on through. It was probably impaled.

[00:33:08] Impaled, you’re just thinking that. That would be a pass. Having owned one of those, they’re built tough. The something extras.

[00:33:19] Yeah, and yours flies really nice.

[00:33:21] Yeah.

[00:33:22] That’s because you’re not around trees.

[00:33:26] That helps.

[00:33:27] Yeah. So I imagine, being from Ohio, your season’s probably similar to ours. So you’re approaching, the close of the flying season and the beginning of the building season. Do you got anything planned for a winter build?

[00:33:44] I do. I’ve actually probably got two that I’m going to try to get done. And I’m in the process of working on a SIG Cadet Mark II kit for my daughter.

[00:33:56] Yes.

[00:33:57] For her to eventually transition into. Even have an OS46 glow engine, brand new, waiting for it.

[00:34:08] Attaboy. Now, will you be building that with her?

[00:34:12] She has come down and helped. She’ll actually go, can I help? And I’ll give her, like, a couple pieces and say, okay, now we need to glue these together. And she’ll kind of, like, help. If I tell her where to put the pieces, she’ll kind of do her best to get them there. And, I mean, I’m trying to do as much of it with her as I can. But then there’s obviously parts that is easier to do if I do it myself. Right.

[00:34:42] Well, it’s all easier to do if you do it by yourself. Well, right. Yeah, I get it. Piper’s wanting to start building, too. So, we’ve got to find something.

[00:34:49] Well, in a Cadet Mark II, there’s lots of opportunity to glue stuff together because there’s a lot of pieces in one of those.

[00:34:54] A lot of sticks.

[00:34:55] Yeah, a lot of sticks. I tell you, for a trainer, though, is that not one of the best-looking trainers ever? Like, ever. I would agree. I just love that airplane.

[00:35:06] The classics are sometimes the best.

[00:35:09] And if you cover it with, like, a transparent or translucent, oh, man, such a good-looking airplane.

[00:35:13] I know, you disagree, but.

[00:35:15] No, I’m okay.

[00:35:16] I’m partial to my Aerostar.

[00:35:18] Yeah, that’s a good one. A good flying airplane.

[00:35:20] It’s a little sleeker looking. Yeah.

[00:35:22] But the slab sides, and I just like that stick built up. Oh, it does. I don’t know. Just classic-looking. I don’t know.

[00:35:29] I agree. So, anyway, sorry, Craig. We got off topic.

[00:35:33] So, the Cadet Mark II for you and your daughter, you said you had another one? Another project?

[00:35:38] I’m planning to finish up a Tower Hobbies Uproar kit that I have. It’s under partial construction. I want to get that one done for myself. And then I want to start on my Super Sportster 40 kit that I have. Short kit, actually, I should say.

[00:36:01] Oh, cool.

[00:36:02] Those fly well. Yeah. The Super Sportsters in general. It’s a great design.

[00:36:06] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[00:36:07] I agree.

[00:36:08] I agree. A short kit. Where’d you find a short kit?

[00:36:11] Got it from one of your favorite places, Tom, the Balsa Workbench.

[00:36:16] Oh, yeah. Yeah, Rob’s a good dude.

[00:36:18] Definitely.

[00:36:19] Yeah, he does a really good job. I don’t know if you’ve put any of his stuff together yet, but it goes together really, really well. Yeah, he does a good job, I think.

[00:36:27] Cool. Yeah. I mean, from everything, I’ve bought several of his short kits so far and haven’t had the chance to totally assemble one yet, but just like trial fitting parts. I mean, just the quality of laser cutting a job that he does is, like you said, it’s a great job that what he does.

[00:36:49] Yeah. Yep. And he, like he takes, if I may say so, he takes a little creative liberty sometimes, excuse me, with the actual design to simplify it to the benefit of the builder, if that makes sense. Yeah. Like they’re really easy builds, because he does the key lock, the tab lock type stuff, wherever. Oh, yeah.

[00:37:11] Easy alignment and all that kind of stuff. There you go. Yeah.

[00:37:13] That’s perfect. The wing. So I was fortunate enough to build the prototype for his Cloud Dancer 10 kit. And yeah, he had pretty much re-engineered the entire kit to where it was kind of like jig lock construction. Yeah. I didn’t even need a jig to build the wing. I mean, it was just self-locking. It was awesome. That is very nice. Yeah. Huge fan. Yeah.

[00:37:35] I think you’ll, I think you’ll definitely like the finished product for sure, because the Sportster is a great flying airplane, but I think you’ll also like the build experience. Are you going to build it? Are you going to put it together with CA or my favorite aliphatic resin?

[00:37:50] It’s probably going to be a mixture of probably some different glues. Sure. I mean, I have used the aliphatic resin. I just kind of started using that more probably within the last year. Okay. But primarily, usually everything I put together is CA and epoxy. Yeah.

[00:38:12] But trying to, I guess, expand and try new things and see like what’s the best place to maybe use this type of glue or that type of glue and just kind of try different things and expand what you already know and use.

[00:38:29] Yeah. Well, since, since you’ll have two projects going on simultaneously, that’s a, that’s a great setup for using aliphatic or wood glue. Let’s just call it the yellow wood glue. because it takes time, it lends itself very well to working on multiple projects at once. Cause you can, you can set up a glue joint over here and then while that’s curing, you can go over here and work on your other project and so on and so forth. But that’s why I like it.

[00:38:55] And the cure time is longer than CA. Yeah. But it’s not exorbitantly long to where you can only do one glue joint a night. Right. I mean, you can still build in good time.

[00:39:03] Well, sure. Right. Especially if you’re using T-pins and the classic, I say classic, I don’t know if that’s applicable anymore, but the classic building style, right? Yeah. Yeah. you’d sort of jig everything together and hold it down with weights and T-pins and then you move on to another, another project or another part of the build. So I personally like, the, the wood glue because it’s really easy to sand.

[00:39:27] Like, especially if you’re joining sheets together with it, it’s awesome because it sands the same, speed as the balsa that’s surrounding it or that is surrounding it. Whereas with CA, CA dries very, very hard and it doesn’t sand the same as the balsa around it. So that’s why I like it.

[00:39:47] And the nice thing about wood glue too, is it doesn’t, you can get it off your hands.

[00:39:52] Easier. It doesn’t stick your fingers together.

[00:39:55] And if you’re building with a kid, you have less to worry about with, with the wood glue as opposed to CA. It doesn’t get hot either. No.

[00:40:02] Like CA does. And it doesn’t give off the fumes either. Yeah. That can, that can cause, allergies and things like that.

[00:40:07] So, so we’ll definitely, when I do stuff with Piper bees and wood glue.

[00:40:10] Yeah. I like it. Yeah. Cool. That will be.

[00:40:13] So those are your two projects.

[00:40:14] A SIG cadet Mark two, which is awesome. And a sportster.

[00:40:19] I like it.

[00:40:19] So you’re going to, is the goal to fly those in the spring?

[00:40:23] That would be the goal. Yes.

[00:40:24] Okay, cool. What are you going to, what are you going to power the sportster with? If you don’t mind me asking.

[00:40:31] I guess I’m possibly thinking about, maybe a SuperTigre 45 or a 51 that I have. SuperTigre.

[00:40:42] All right. Now you’re speaking Dave’s language. He’s a SuperTigre guy. Nothing like Italian horsepower. Unless it was made in China.

[00:40:50] Yeah. You got to watch those. Right. I forgot they moved production. Yeah.

[00:40:54] And they’re not the same. I don’t care what anybody tells you. They are not the same.

[00:40:57] You want one that’s stamped made in Italy.

[00:40:59] Made in Italy. Yep. Those are the ones that, yeah, the ones, the ones that actually run. The ones in China, some of them run.

[00:41:06] That’s about all. They cut corners somewhere.

[00:41:08] I don’t know.

[00:41:09] Yeah. That’s weird.

[00:41:10] I think the same design would be the same, but anyway. Sorry, Greg. I didn’t mean to cut you off.

[00:41:15] That’s okay. I’ve, like Dave said, I, I do have one of the Italians super tires. It’s a, a 40, an S40 in, yeah, hands down. I mean, that, that engine, that thing just screams. I mean, on whatever you put it on in, it’s always been reliable. now the other two super tires I have, they are the Chinese versions. the 51, I should probably knock on a piece of wood somewhere, but so far in the 10 years I’ve had it, it’s always performed and ran well. Yeah.

[00:41:54] So I must’ve got one of the good ones, I guess.

[00:41:56] Could be.

[00:41:58] Yeah. I mean, they’re not all bad. No, no, they’re not. Just, they’re a higher likelihood of them not running well if they are the Taiwan.

[00:42:05] Well, and the thing that I’ve noticed with the, with the Chinese ones that I’ve experienced, is they wear out faster. Like they lose compression pretty fast quickly, as opposed to the one, the Italian made ones, which I still have a, I think it was an X something. It was a pylon engine, X40, X45. Yeah, whatever that was.

[00:42:24] Yeah.

[00:42:24] The thing, you can’t wear it out. So anyway, cool. I like super tires. They’re okay.

[00:42:31] A little harder to tune than like an OS, but, yeah. Once you get them tuned, they stay there.

[00:42:37] They do. All right, Craig, so you sent us a list, of the list, I should say, before we get into the list and the details, do you like, what’s your number? I mean, that’s like the, the question that Ron likes to hear the answer to.

[00:42:51] I do like to hear the answer.

[00:42:52] It’s exciting.

[00:42:54] I would say my number is 28.

[00:42:56] 28.. It’s a good number. That is a good number. Mm-hmm.

[00:43:00] Always like to get more though. It’s just a matter of storage. Like Ron always says, it’s a matter of storage.

[00:43:05] Yeah. I think we’ve all had that issue. We just need to buy bigger houses.

[00:43:11] Yeah. After seeing what’s on the floor down here, this is going to be fun.

[00:43:14] Yeah. There’s no walking space anymore, but that’s okay. This is how I like it.

[00:43:17] It’s how Ron likes it. He likes to be able to not walk around his basement. Be surrounded by airplanes.

[00:43:24] Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I’m going to have to repair something every time I’m down here. Cause I’ve got three appendages I’m dealing with on the ground. Not just two.

[00:43:30] Not just two. I try to make paths for you. Okay. It’s not actually that bad. Like there’s still room. They are just around us.

[00:43:38] Yeah. But it’s more fun if we make it sound worse.

[00:43:40] I know, but I, it’s not like Brian’s. You’re right. I get, Oh, Oh my gosh. Yeah. Anyway, that’s getting worse.

[00:43:47] Craig, if you ever get a chance and you’re in central to North central Illinois, I would say Northern, Northern Illinois, you should definitely make a trip to, to dynamic balls. If getting more airplanes is on your to do list, then that’s the place to do it. But he’s got so many now, I mean, I’m, it’s not an ad for Brian, but like, I don’t know where he’s going to put more airplanes. I don’t either, but that’s okay. That’s good for us because he has to get rid of them. Yeah.

[00:44:12] You guys went up there recently and from the way you described it to me, like I, it’s already, it was packed in there the last time I was up there and that’s over a month ago now. So I can’t imagine. All right. Currently under construction. I’m going to go down your list, Craig. Great planes, P540 size kit. Is that the one that’s, oh no. Yeah, here we go. That’s the one we’ve got a picture here of it on the bench. It looks pretty good.

[00:44:37] It looks like you’re actually fairly close.

[00:44:40] It’s, it’s not too far away. It’s just, I’m at the final stages of it where I just need to finish the fine details and then you can start covering and everything else. It’s just, I’ve, I’ve had this plane for probably 10, 11 years and it just kind of got put off to the side and I just have not went back to it yet.

[00:45:00] Oh, I know the feeling.

[00:45:02] I mean, as much as I want to and get it done. It’s just, it hasn’t found its spot yet.

[00:45:07] Do you have a, a color scheme picked out for it or?

[00:45:13] Not really, not yet. I’m kind of trying to sort that out.

[00:45:17] Okay. Cool. Well, myself, I like the, I like the OD green over silver, but that’s just me. All right. Next we have a Goldberg Tiger 60 kit. Nice. Where’s that one in this stage? I don’t have a picture of that one.

[00:45:35] It’s probably about halfway.

[00:45:37] Okay. That is a great flying airplane also. I don’t know if you’ve ever flown one, Ron, but the Tiger 60 and then they did 40 size too, didn’t they?

[00:45:45] Yeah. They feel very locked in.

[00:45:47] Yeah.

[00:45:47] That long tail.

[00:45:49] Great, great airplanes. Almost as good as a Sportster. Really? In fact, I might even say they’re, they’re on a par with each other. I’d say. Yeah. They fly really, really well. Interesting. And then we’ve got the Tower Uproar that you mentioned, Sig Cadet Mark II, yep, being built for my daughter.

[00:46:05] I love that. I love it. Is it going to be pink? That’s a fair question.

[00:46:10] I kind of, really, pink isn’t her favorite color. Okay. Really?

[00:46:17] Surprisingly, it’s not. So what is her favorite color?

[00:46:21] Right now, if you ask her what her favorite color is, she says yellow.

[00:46:24] Oh. Oh, I like that. Nice. You can do a lot with yellow. Yes, you can.

[00:46:28] I thought that would be really good for somebody beginning because you could make it a lot, visibility would be a lot easier.

[00:46:36] I was just getting ready to say yellow airplanes. Yellow and black trim. Yeah, they show up so well in the air. Awesome. The beans. Then we’ve got a Tower Chaos 40 there, which, so you’ve got a Tower Chaos 40. Oh, Chaos. Okay.

[00:46:52] I’m getting them confused with the Sportster.

[00:46:53] So Chaos, yeah, that’s a good flying pattern plane. It says currently under construction, so you’ve started that one, right? Correct. How soon till we see that one fly?

[00:47:07] I would probably like to have that one done in maybe the next month.

[00:47:11] Okay.

[00:47:12] It’s getting there.

[00:47:14] Mm-hmm.

[00:47:14] Probably about halfway through that one as well.

[00:47:18] What are you going to power that one with?

[00:47:19] An OS 46AX. Yes.

[00:47:22] That is one of my favorite engines, the 46AX. Good, solid engine. Yeah. Yeah, if it doesn’t sleeve peel. Tower Trainer 40 ARF. Okay. That should be a pretty straightforward build.

[00:47:33] Mm-hmm.

[00:47:34] Okay. And then we’ve got the built and flyable list. Here’s my favorite, the Hangar 9 10cc stick with the OS 65AX. An E-Flight T28. Which one is that? I know it says 1.1 meter, but is that the big one or the medium?

[00:47:49] That’s the medium-sized one.

[00:47:50] Medium one.

[00:47:51] Okay. Yeah, that’s that yellow one they just come out with within the last year or two, I think.

[00:47:56] Yeah. Sharp airplane. I like the picture of it. Sorry, I’m looking at it here. Yeah, it’s a good-looking airplane. Does that have flaps?

[00:48:06] Looks like it has flaps. Mm-hmm. That one does not. Oh, okay.

[00:48:10] Cool. All right. Next, we have the Freewing Stinger 64-millimeter jet. How do you like the EDFs?

[00:48:18] I like them. Yeah. It’s just, it’s one of those things, they’re really fun for like the three, four minutes you get out of them.

[00:48:26] Right.

[00:48:27] Before you guys start looking for your landing approach. Right. But yeah, they’re fun to just have them screaming down the runway full throttle and pull up into a loop and then go do it all over again.

[00:48:41] Yeah. And then land. And then land. And then land. That’s pretty much all you get to do. Does that one have retractable gear?

[00:48:48] No, it actually is just hand launch.

[00:48:51] Oh, nice. Okay.

[00:48:51] Hand launch and belly land.

[00:48:53] So simple and light. So I bet it is fast then. Yeah. What type of battery do you have to fly with that one?

[00:48:59] I’m running a three-cell 1800 milliamp Li-Po.

[00:49:03] Well, that’s not so bad. Really?

[00:49:06] Hmm.

[00:49:07] Hmm. That’s doable.

[00:49:08] That is doable.

[00:49:09] We have lots of those. Ron’s thinking.

[00:49:10] Yeah, that got my gears going. So I’ll have to look into that one.

[00:49:13] So Craig, the Freewing is pretty decent quality? Like I have no experience with the Freewing. I don’t either.

[00:49:18] I’ve owned several and they’re great.

[00:49:20] Oh yeah? Okay.

[00:49:21] Yeah. I mean, no problem at all. I mean, when I bought it, I think it’s about five years ago, everything went together great. No problems putting screwing and bolt knitting together. It went together just as it should. No issues.

[00:49:38] That’s a sharp airplane too.

[00:49:39] I like the color scheme on that.

[00:49:43] And that one’s pretty much just straight four-channel control? Yes.

[00:49:46] No flaps or anything like that on this one either? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no flaps.

[00:49:49] Could you do, like, are the ailerons plugged into separate channels? Could you do, like, a Flaperon setup with that, I wonder?

[00:49:56] You probably could.

[00:49:58] Nice.

[00:49:59] Yeah, but if it’s not necessary, why do it?

[00:50:01] So the Freewing, did it come, like, with all the electronics and stuff? Like a receiver and all that kind of stuff?

[00:50:07] It was essentially a plug and play. I just had to supply the receiver.

[00:50:11] Oh, okay. Cool. Did you put an AS3X receiver in it or a standard receiver?

[00:50:16] I just put a standard receiver in it.

[00:50:19] Nice. I’m asking for Ron because this really piqued his interest. Yeah, it did.

[00:50:24] Like I said, I’m going to have to look this up. That’s a good-sized battery.

[00:50:28] Yeah. It’s a very common-sized battery. So we have lots of those. Between the three of us, we probably have a bunch of those batteries.

[00:50:35] Well, I don’t have any 1800s.

[00:50:36] I have a 2200.

[00:50:37] But a 2200 will probably fit. 1800, 2200 Is essentially the same.

[00:50:40] Yeah. Yeah, we got a ton of them. We got a bunch of those.

[00:50:44] It’s surprisingly pretty affordable also.

[00:50:46] Yeah.

[00:50:47] When I bought the one that I have, it was on sale for, I would say, $100.

[00:50:54] Oh, okay.

[00:50:55] But it’s since, like everything else, jumped up. And I think it’s around $150 right now. The last time I saw them, I bought it from Motion RC.

[00:51:07] Yeah, I still don’t think that’s bad. Because considering the one I was looking at, and granted, it’s got retractable gear and all that kind of stuff. But it was the 90 millimeter, oh, my mind just went blank, the Hangar 9, or not Hangar 9, E-Flight Viper Jet. The Abbey of Gallup Viper. Those are $650, I think. And then the batteries are $150 a piece. Right. So this is much more doable.

[00:51:31] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:51:32] Yeah, 64 millimeters, fairly affordable.

[00:51:35] Yeah. What size fans are on our A10s? Those are small, right? Oh, yeah.

[00:51:39] Those are real small.

[00:51:40] Those are 50s, aren’t they? Are they 50? Yes, those are 50s. Yeah. Cool. So it’s probably about the same size, then.

[00:51:45] All right. So Ron’s going to be on the lookout for one of those. Maybe.

[00:51:49] Probably. Yeah, you’re right.

[00:51:52] Next on the list, we’ve got the Pilot Extra 330 SC with a DLE20 on it, 20RA. This is the one that we were talking a little bit before the show. I really, really like the color scheme on this airplane.

[00:52:06] Yeah, I do, too.

[00:52:06] Yeah, the blue, red, and I’m assuming that’s red, and black and white with the checkers. I really, really like that. So like I was saying, don’t be surprised if you see an E-streak with something very similar to that on it in the near future. Oh, you think so? Yeah, I really like it. Yeah. Okay. Can you imagine what that’ll look like backlit? Huh? That’s going to be cool. Okay. Yeah. So anyway, how do you like that 20RA?

[00:52:33] I mean, it hasn’t been run yet. Oh, okay.

[00:52:39] Oh, right. I’m waiting to meet. Duh. I should have continued reading.

[00:52:44] But as far as the quality of the engine, I mean, I have no complaints. I mean, I’ve heard some of those run that belong to other club members. I mean, they appear to be really reliable, great engines. Yeah.

[00:53:00] My experience with all the DLE rear exhaust engines is that they all produce more power than their side exhaust. Cousins, brothers, sisters, whatever they are.

[00:53:10] Really?

[00:53:11] Yeah. Something to do with the flow and all that. They’re just more efficient and they make more power. And they sound good, too. I like that rear exhaust, especially with a header and a pipe. They sound really, really cool.

[00:53:22] Nice.

[00:53:23] Anyway, Sig 4 Star 40. That’s a great airplane. What color is yours? No picture of it here.

[00:53:30] It is currently a red and yellow with black stripes.

[00:53:37] Nice. But that shows up good.

[00:53:39] Yes. It’s very easy to see. Not a problem with visibility.

[00:53:44] You do. Next up, we’ve got a Seagull Edge 540. This is the 60 size. And you’ve got a DLE 20 on that one. Standard 20 or the rear exhaust?

[00:53:54] It’s the standard 20.

[00:53:56] You won’t be disappointed. I don’t think it’s going to make the power that that rear exhaust one does, which is not a problem because that Seagull is a pretty sweet flying airplane. I had the 40 size. Let’s see what else we got here. Hobby Zone Duet. That’s going to be, that is Your Daughters. Also the Sport Cub S. And then you have a Hobby Zone Super Cub. What’s the difference between the Sport Cub and the Super Cub?

[00:54:20] The Super Cub is the one that I originally learned on. Oh, okay. When I first started flying. So you still have your first airplane? I still have my first airplane.

[00:54:30] That’s impressive. Awesome. Mine’s long gone. Yeah. That’s really, really awesome.

[00:54:35] Mine have been composted.

[00:54:38] Now, is that the blue one or was that the red one?

[00:54:40] It was the red one.

[00:54:41] The red one. Okay.

[00:54:42] Mm-hmm.

[00:54:43] Because I think that was, I think the red one came out before the blue one did. Because I started with the blue one and the blue one had a couple extra things added on to it that, if I remember right, ended up being about useless. Because it had some sort of, tell me if yours did, mine had some sort of sensor that sensed the sky. And if you kind of got, it was just, it looked like a little LED, but it was a light sensor.

[00:55:04] And if it got off kilter or something and noticed it was darker than it was supposed to be, it would kind of fix itself. Interesting.

[00:55:11] I believe mine did have that. I think they referred to it as anti-crash technology, I think, at the time.

[00:55:18] Yeah, that sounds right.

[00:55:19] I think it’s what it says on mine.

[00:55:21] Okay.

[00:55:22] And I actually just turned that off.

[00:55:24] Oh, I did too. Because I hated not being in control of it. Yeah. Yeah. He would always do things at the weirdest times.

[00:55:31] Right.

[00:55:31] Kind of like safe. Well, I mean, you can tell that, I mean, this obviously, if he was 2007 with this red one and I started 2011, 12, whatever it was, yeah, with mine, I mean, they’ve come a long way for that in the last 10 years.

[00:55:46] And don’t get me wrong, I poo-poo safe. It’s a wonderful technology. It’s just not for me.

[00:55:52] I agree.

[00:55:52] All right. Moving on. Under repair, you have the Arrowworks Yak that we’ve talked about. And then you have, and this, I love this, you have this very long list of kits to be built, which you can never have too many kits waiting for a rainy day. I mean, nope. Or retirement.

[00:56:10] My theory is you can’t ever have too many airplanes and you got to keep adding to it so that the ones you currently have don’t get lonely.

[00:56:18] Yeah. Oh, I like that. Yeah. I like that also. Yeah. I may have to replace my N plus one with what he just said.

[00:56:26] N plus one so they don’t get lonely. Oh, combine them.

[00:56:32] All right. So first we have the Great Plains Extra 360 size kit. I remember that one. Was that Great Plains take on the Goldberg kit?

[00:56:43] They’re very similar, yeah.

[00:56:45] Okay. Because that was a great flying airplane. Oh, a Goldberg chippy kit. Where’d you find one of those?

[00:56:51] I actually bought it off eBay about five years ago.

[00:56:55] Okay. And if you don’t mind me asking, did you pay a fortune for it? And you don’t have to tell me the number, but did you pay what you felt like was too much for it? Because they’re ridiculous prices now.

[00:57:05] Those chipmunk kits are up there.

[00:57:06] I can’t believe how much people are getting for them. If you get on eBay and look at sold ones, it’s like $300 and $400.

[00:57:15] Red box top flight kits are $300.

[00:57:18] Well, yeah, there’s that. But there’s a lot of balls in one of those kits.

[00:57:23] I believe I paid, it was about $220 for it. Shipped.

[00:57:26] Oh, that’s not bad. That’s what I would consider reasonable.

[00:57:29] I would say that’s the reasonable round. That was five years ago.

[00:57:31] Right. Well, just recently I’ve noticed, I think I was on last month sometime because I saw somebody across Facebook had one for sale. And the price was up near $4 or something. I was like, no way. Oh, my goodness. So then I got on eBay, and sure enough, they have been selling on eBay for around that. It’s like, man, that’s nuts. Why?

[00:57:54] Why? It’s a great kit, but not at $400. It’s a super chipper.

[00:57:59] Supply and demand. I mean, if people want them and you don’t have very many of them, then you can get a fortune for it.

[00:58:05] And the same thing, not to get off the topic here, but the same thing for the Goldberg Ultimate kit. Remember that kit? Oh, those are sky high. Yeah, ridiculous. And I’ve had like four of them in the past, few years. And I wish I would have kept one now. Anyway. So anyway, Goldberg Super Chippy. That’s going to be a fun airplane to fly to. Great plane Super Sportster, the big one, 9120. That’s the kit, right? Not the ARC?

[00:58:32] That’s the kit, correct. Awesome. That’ll be a fun build, too.

[00:58:36] Top Flight P47 60 kit. Is this the Gold Series or the original one?

[00:58:41] It’s the Gold Series. Nice. I have one of those as well. Much nicer than the Redbox.

[00:58:45] Yes. Much more fun to build. Top Flight Corsair 60 size kit. Top Flight P51. So I’m seeing a trend here. Warbirds. And then a Top Flight P47 short kit. So you got two Top Flight kits. Okay. Of the P47. Is that a Balsa Workbench short kit?

[00:59:06] It was. I was able to obtain a CAD cut file for that airplane. And I sent it to Rob. Nice. He had it for about a week or so and worked up a price for me. And he goes, I can most definitely cut it for you.

[00:59:25] Awesome. So that came with ribs and formers, basically?

[00:59:29] Yes.

[00:59:30] And then you’ll supply everything else? Nice. That’s awesome. I may have to give Rob a call. Great Plains Sportster 40 short kit. And then the Sportster 60 short kit. Also. The rest of these are all, looks like they’re all Balsa Workbench. Oh, here we go. Goldberg Extra 300 short kit. It will be interesting to me to see if there’s any difference between that and your Great Plains Goldberg 60 kit. Or, I’m sorry, Great Plains Extra kit. Like, dimensionally.

[00:59:55] You see if there’s much of a difference.

[00:59:58] And we got a Tower Trainer 40 kit. That’s a good flying airplane, actually. It’s a fun airplane. It’ll actually roll. And I think we used to do stall turns with them, even. Tiger 60. Another Tiger 60. I like the Tigers. I like those, too. And then, yeah. So that’s the list. That’s a great list. I love the fact that his kits to be built list is longer than any of the other lists.

[01:00:24] Yeah, it takes after you. Yeah, I like that.

[01:00:27] And they’re all Balsa, did you notice? Yeah. That was all Balsa.

[01:00:30] Yeah, I know.

[01:00:31] Yeah, I like that. That’s a very good list. That makes me very happy.

[01:00:35] Well, that’s what we’re here for, just to make you happy.

[01:00:38] Yes, exactly.

[01:00:39] Make Tom happy.

[01:00:40] Yeah, Craig, thanks for agreeing to do this with us. I always enjoy, especially guys who have similar interests as me, Balsa and Glow. So this has been fun. And I appreciate the pictures of the airplanes. And like I said, don’t be surprised. We’re going to do a group build, probably. I can say that we’re going to do that now, right, Ron?

[01:01:01] Well, I don’t know when this is going to come out.

[01:01:02] So we might be potentially a group build over the winter. And don’t be surprised if you see that edge color scheme on my project or something similar. Because I really like it. Maybe add some stars and bars on the side. That’d be kind of cool, right? All right. But yeah, I’m sorry. Okay.

[01:01:24] Well then, Craig, thank you very much for coming on. It’s been fun. Until next time, I’m Ron. I’m Tom. I’m Dave. And you? I’m Craig. Goodbye. Good night.

[01:01:33] 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.