Ep 193: Let’s Talk Vintage!

[00:00:10] Dave: Welcome to the RC Plane Lab Podcast. I'm Dave.

[unknown speaker 00:00:16] I'm Tom. And I'm Ron. How is everybody doing this evening? Jovial. That's how I'm doing. That's good. I like that.

[00:00:25] Dave: I was great until I got put on the spot.

[unknown speaker 00:00:27] I know. We started and I started pointing. And poor Dave.

[unknown speaker 00:00:31] Poor Dave was the recipient of your pointing finger.

[unknown speaker 00:00:35] Sure. Well, you shook your head no as I was going around. Yeah. You did a good job, Dave. I did. Well, you did a job at least.

[unknown speaker 00:00:43] Well done.

[unknown speaker 00:00:44] Well, it's done. It's done. So, we have actually kind of a little bit of a topic to talk about today. We do. Bringing back the topics. And it's something that is fitting more so for you guys than me. Because you're old. I'm old also, but not quite to the, old in the hobby, I should say. Oh, that's what it sounds like. As in, your time in the hobby is older than mine. That's what I heard. You go back, way back. Okay. Yeah, you hear whatever you want. Okay. Turn the bell tone up.

[unknown speaker 00:01:21] So, vintage airplanes is kind of what we're going to be discussing today. And the reason for that, I actually thought it was very cool. We went to a vintage RC airplane gathering, a fly-in, and saw some cool airplanes. But, man, they were all just old.

[unknown speaker 00:01:41] It brought back a lot of, you know, vintage nostalgia memories for me. I wish Dave could have gone because he would have, I'm sure he would have felt the same.

[unknown speaker 00:01:50] Oh, he would have fit right in.

[unknown speaker 00:01:52] But, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:01:53] So, where I knew I was out of sorts was, first off, I mean, we knew the gist of what this was going to be. Mm-hmm. And I did have some airplanes that might be able to qualify as vintage.

[unknown speaker 00:02:11] Maybe. Yeah, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:02:12] Like, stretching the idea of what it was. But when we got there, Tommy asked, I don't know if it was the president or whoever, was there putting on the show, he's like, we don't know much about this event. So, what is the spirit of this event? Mm-hmm. And his answer kind of cut me to the quick was pretty much anything that's old is good, but all we care about is no electrics. And I about shut the door on the trailer and left. No, I'm kidding.

[unknown speaker 00:02:47] Like, I thought they might be somewhat, like, inclusive of electrics because electrics go back to, like, the 90s.

[00:02:52] Dave: I was actually really planning on taking my Electra.

[unknown speaker 00:02:55] Oh, yeah. Well, you probably would have been. Well, no, you wouldn't have been. Because it was built in 89. Yeah, you wouldn't have been the only electric airplane there.

[unknown speaker 00:03:03] The only electric airplane there flying. There were some electrics there on display.

[unknown speaker 00:03:08] On display. Right. But not. But they weren't flying. Not part of the vintage airplane. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:03:15] Whatever. So, yeah, I mean, there's, there are some vintage electric airplanes, you know, that I feel like the Electra would have been, would have fit right in. The Freedom 20, if you remember that one. Yeah, exactly, yeah. It was a 20 size Nitro that you could also power with NICADs. That would have fit in. But, yeah, he, he really did. He, those were his words. No electric.

[unknown speaker 00:03:39] Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:03:40] Like, no options. Just no electric. No electric. So, Ron didn't have any airplanes to take.

[unknown speaker 00:03:47] No, I really didn't take anything with me because I, I knew what I was, or what I would take would be stretching the rules. And so I didn't want to be that guy. Yeah. And it worked out okay.

[unknown speaker 00:03:58] Yeah, but I was, I was totally in my element. It was, it was really nice. All the, the smell of Nitro. Constant. Constant. And it was, it was awesome. It really was. I had a really good time. There was a really good showing of Nitro airplanes there. Yeah. There was a lot of dead sticks.

[unknown speaker 00:04:17] Oh, yeah. You think so? I mean, I'm going to be honest. Like, going there and seeing that stuff was cool. And the thought of actually getting, like, having one airplane to cover all my bases. Mm-hmm. So having, you know, one for each segment. So possibly finding something old in Nitro, maybe at Toledo next year or something like that. Yeah, there you go. Has not lost itself on me. Like, I've, I've still kind of have that idea.

[unknown speaker 00:04:44] But, man, after seeing how many dead sticks and how many people walked out with a running airplane to set it on the runway to take off, turn around, walk a foot and a half away, and then it just dies.

[00:04:58] Dave: I mean, we had dead sticks back in the day, but I don't remember it as being a constant every day thing.

[unknown speaker 00:05:04] Yeah. So, so here's what I think.

[unknown speaker 00:05:06] Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:05:07] And I'll give you my opinion. If you're willing to listen. I, we have nothing but time.

[unknown speaker 00:05:11] So, yes, there was a lot of dead sticks. There was, in my opinion, a disproportionate amount of dead sticks or people, you know, putting their plane on the runway, getting ready to take off, only to have it die before they get to take off. And I, I attribute a lot of that is, or attribute a lot of that to practice. Like, what, what do people fly most these days? It's, I would say, probably electric, right? I mean, gasoline, electric and gas.

[unknown speaker 00:05:40] There shouldn't be any difference, though.

[unknown speaker 00:05:42] There is a difference between running a nitro airplane and keeping it in tune and all that. If you get out of practice of doing that, because you haven't been flying them for a while, you know what I mean? You can follow what I'm getting at. So, I think, like, maybe some, at least some of that could be attributed to just, maybe they're just out of practice on keeping a nitro engine running. You know what I mean?

[00:06:02] Dave: Right. The tuning skills possibly have disappeared over the years.

[unknown speaker 00:06:05] Yeah. Or they just, you know. Well, but tuning isn't all that difficult on them.

[unknown speaker 00:06:08] Well, no.

[00:06:09] Dave: I mean, it is if you don't do it.

[unknown speaker 00:06:12] Yeah. If you've never done it, for sure. But, like, if you haven't done it in a long time, you lose your touch. Like, I lost my touch with the stick when we took it down to. Booter. Booter Park. Yeah. I could not keep that thing running for whatever reason.

[00:06:29] Dave: Couldn't be. It was 104 degrees. But, you know.

[unknown speaker 00:06:30] Well, I mean, it was warm. But, like, I will say, I had a dud stick, you know, the last weekend. But it was my fault. I ran the Cub out of fuel because I was having so much fun. Had the timer set a little bit too long. But I fixed that. But all my planes ran fine.

[unknown speaker 00:06:49] A little bit too long.

[unknown speaker 00:06:50] So, and, yeah, I mean, no issues with the Cub. I mean, dead stick with a Cub is pretty much like flying a glider. I mean, it's like, oh, yeah. And it died, like, I think, on final. Like, I was already lined up to land and it died, I think.

[unknown speaker 00:07:04] Yeah. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:07:06] So, at any rate, a lot of dead sticks.

[unknown speaker 00:07:08] And I think your response was, well, I guess I am landing this time.

[unknown speaker 00:07:11] Yeah. Yeah, I was doing touch and goes or something.

[unknown speaker 00:07:14] Practiced approach. I think that was practiced approach from that end because the wind had suddenly shifted. That's right.

[unknown speaker 00:07:19] Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:07:19] So, and it was, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:07:22] But anyway, it was a good weekend. A fairly small-ish turnout, I would say. No doubt because, you know, no electric. Yeah. And it wasn't as hot as booter, but it was warm. Yeah. It was nine.

[unknown speaker 00:07:35] When we came home, the truck said 97.

[unknown speaker 00:07:38] Yeah. But no humidity or lower humidity. So, it helps tremendously.

[unknown speaker 00:07:42] It wasn't unbearable. Yeah. But it could have been better.

[unknown speaker 00:07:45] It could have been better. It could have been worse. Yeah. Yeah. It was definitely warm. I had fun. I enjoyed tinkering with the nitro motors again.

[unknown speaker 00:07:55] I enjoyed sitting in the shade watching you tinker.

[unknown speaker 00:07:58] You flew some. You flew my airplanes.

[unknown speaker 00:08:00] Right. But I'm saying I didn't have to tune them or deal with them at all. Yeah. But so, I think the dead stick reason, by the way, I see your point. And that's probably true that people are not in the habit of tuning and all that kind of stuff like they used to be. But these planes don't get flown very often. So. I was wondering old fuel.

[00:08:18] Dave: Right. How many of these airplanes have sat for a year and a half and they probably break out a gallon of fuel.

[unknown speaker 00:08:23] Yeah. That's a good point, too. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:08:24] I mean, could have been old fuel. Although, honestly, these guys sound like they're more nitro friendly. Yeah. Like a lot of the planes they have on a weekly basis, flying there would be more towards that style.

[unknown speaker 00:08:36] Yeah. They did seem, at least the two guys that introduced themselves to us, did seem very nitro friendly, which was cool.

[unknown speaker 00:08:43] There are more than two, aren't there?

[unknown speaker 00:08:45] I'm thinking of at least three. Well, the two that introduced themselves when we first got there.

[unknown speaker 00:08:49] Oh, I forgot. Yeah. Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:08:50] They seemed very nitro friendly, which I appreciated.

[unknown speaker 00:08:54] You guys spoke the same language.

[unknown speaker 00:08:55] We did. We spoke the same language.

[unknown speaker 00:08:58] Nitro.

[unknown speaker 00:08:59] Mm-hmm. Good times. Yeah. It was good to see. And speaking of that, speaking of vintage, I mean, it wasn't just engines. There was, you know, and airplanes. It was, there was somebody there flying on 72 megahertz.

[00:09:13] Dave: Yeah. I was going to say, how many long antennas were there?

[unknown speaker 00:09:15] At least one.

[unknown speaker 00:09:15] I saw one. It had a smaller, like, I don't know my old airplanes. So do you know what he was flying? It was an old three channel, no ailerons. I don't remember. Was it the yellow one?

[00:09:28] Dave: It looked like a tissue covered, no.

[unknown speaker 00:09:30] No. I don't, I don't remember what he was flying.

[unknown speaker 00:09:34] It sounded like it had, like, a small 15 size motor on it, because it wasn't, you know, how you can tell a little bit in the, it was a smaller plane.

[unknown speaker 00:09:43] I can't, I can't remember. Yeah, it doesn't matter. But anyway, yeah, somebody there on 72 megahertz with no issues whatsoever, I assume.

[00:09:49] Dave: No, because it was just one person. Yeah, every time I fly on 72, I never have any problems. Because it's just one person. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:09:55] Yeah, you don't have to worry about anybody, you know, turning their radio on, on your channel. Like back in the day. Like back in the day, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:10:03] So before we get to back in the day, because I do want, I do want to talk to you guys about how things used to be, and if you preferred it then or preferred it now.

[unknown speaker 00:10:11] Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:10:12] It'll be interesting to hear your topics, because I have no input. But, did you have a favorite plane that you saw there?

[unknown speaker 00:10:20] Well, I mean, the indestructible Super Sportster was, was pretty entertaining to watch.

[unknown speaker 00:10:25] I think that has to be, that has to be my top plane also.

[unknown speaker 00:10:30] And a close number two is the Senior Telemaster. It just looks so good in the air.

[unknown speaker 00:10:35] You can't have your favorite plane there be your own.

[unknown speaker 00:10:37] It's not mine, it's ours.

[unknown speaker 00:10:39] You can't have your favorite plane there be ours.

[unknown speaker 00:10:41] Why not?

[unknown speaker 00:10:43] It's not in the spirit of favorite planes.

[unknown speaker 00:10:45] Okay, well, definitely, definitely the indestructible Super Sportster was certainly the most entertaining.

[unknown speaker 00:10:53] This guy has one that also had dead sticks. Several.

[unknown speaker 00:11:00] Several.

[unknown speaker 00:11:01] Yeah, multiple. One of them, he came in for landing and overshot the runway with a dead stick. And, okay, so let's, let's talk about the runway. This is a skilled pilot's runway, I would say.

[unknown speaker 00:11:17] It's not. Yeah, Ron and I definitely came to the same conclusion that it's, it's not a, go ahead. You were going to say it, I think.

[unknown speaker 00:11:25] Not, I mean, beginner friendly for the right plane, sure. But if you're getting into bigger planes that need to land with some speed, you're probably not beginner friendly. The, I'm trying to remember the dimensions. So the runway was wide. That was nice. I think it was 42 foot wide. Yeah, it's pretty, pretty wide. But 250 foot long. Asphalt. Asphalt runway.

[unknown speaker 00:11:48] Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:11:50] The entire field itself from left to right was 450 feet with 10 foot tall corn.

[unknown speaker 00:12:00] On both ends.

[unknown speaker 00:12:02] All three ends. Well, all three sides. Boxing you in. Yep. So, and so yeah, 450 feet that way. And I think from the road to the corn was 310 feet, if I remember looking that up. So that includes the pits, parking, their, you know. That sounds right. Pits and all that kind of stuff. Yep. So not a huge, huge area to fly in. Like Eli has an 850 foot runway. Right. So that's almost twice as long as their entire area.

[unknown speaker 00:12:33] And sometimes that gets hairy, depending on the airplane you're flying without skill like me. Whatever. But, so that, that was, it was one you had to be careful landing in. You didn't have a lot of chance to.

[unknown speaker 00:12:47] Yeah, you definitely have to spot your landing.

[unknown speaker 00:12:49] Right. With, like with dead sticks and stuff, you didn't have a lot of options to land long or land short. Or, you know, you, you had to get it in that one area.

[unknown speaker 00:13:01] Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:13:02] So having said that, this guy, the first one I saw, he came in and pretty much by the end of the runway, he was still airborne.

[unknown speaker 00:13:11] Oh, several feet.

[unknown speaker 00:13:13] So. So, touched down in the 100 feet, whatever it was, past the runway, and then immediately tried to turn in order to not go into the corn. And he bounced that thing several times. I mean, it, those landing gear are both. Stout. They held up very well. I was surprised. The blocks are well glued.

[unknown speaker 00:13:35] Well glued, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:13:36] It would, I expected it to be broken. But, it was in one piece. He went around and fired it back up and flew it again.

[unknown speaker 00:13:44] Flew it again.

[unknown speaker 00:13:45] Later. Ended up going into the corn, which I didn't see that one go down.

[unknown speaker 00:13:51] I didn't either.

[unknown speaker 00:13:52] But, I heard him say it was pretty, pretty rough. I mean, like, he had no way of making it all the way around to the, to the runway and stuff. He went out and got his airplane, started it right back up, and flew it again.

[unknown speaker 00:14:06] Flew it again.

[unknown speaker 00:14:06] I don't know how. I mean. This time of year, corn's pretty stiff.

[unknown speaker 00:14:10] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:14:11] Yeah. And tall.

[unknown speaker 00:14:12] Not even, not, at least, I couldn't see any holes in the covering. And now, it may have been dope and fabric. It may not have been monocoat or polyester, you know, iron-on. I don't know. I didn't get up close to look at it. So, the silk and dope or the fabric and dope can sometimes be a little bit tougher than… You also conceal damage. Well, that's true. That's true. But, yeah, no holes in the covering or anything. He, he did.

[unknown speaker 00:14:40] He brought it right back, fueled it back up, and away he went again.

[unknown speaker 00:14:44] I was happy to see that. But, that was cool.

[unknown speaker 00:14:46] Yeah. Yeah. I think one of those, didn't, didn't he run into the corn? Like, the edge of the corn? Or, maybe that was the dead stick.

[unknown speaker 00:14:55] No, I think…

[unknown speaker 00:14:57] Because, I thought, for sure, at least dents in the leading edge of the wing. But, nope.

[unknown speaker 00:15:01] No.

[unknown speaker 00:15:02] Looked like no damage at all. So…

[unknown speaker 00:15:04] Yeah. That was after he was bouncing so much.

[unknown speaker 00:15:06] Yeah. Kudos to, to him if he built it. Yeah, to the builder. He definitely built it solid.

[unknown speaker 00:15:12] Yeah. It was cool, though. Armor plate, leading edge.

[unknown speaker 00:15:15] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:15:16] Maybe.

[unknown speaker 00:15:16] Super hard balsa, or maybe bass, leading edge. I don't know. It was tough.

[unknown speaker 00:15:20] And so, I didn't realize, like, you know, corn is tall and all that kind of stuff, but if you're not right there, you don't have scale to it.

[unknown speaker 00:15:27] Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:15:28] You didn't realize how tall it was until he walked out and he was… And went into it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, literally half the height, if not a little bit more, him walking into the corn. Yeah. It was just so freaking tall. It's very tall.

[unknown speaker 00:15:41] Yeah. It took him a couple of tries, too, right? Because they went into the corn and then they came back out and they got some guidance from somebody. Oh, no, you need to be farther over this way or that way. And then they went back in. And then I think that's when they finally found it. But yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:15:55] And I mean, honestly…

[unknown speaker 00:15:56] That one was fun to watch fly because it did fly good.

[unknown speaker 00:15:58] This is where I'm bad because if I would have done that, it would still be in the corn. I'm not. In 97 degree heat, I'm not going in the corn. It is not worth that much to me.

[unknown speaker 00:16:11] Well, I'm… Yeah. I'm not like that. I would suffer through it and go find my airplane. I walked for two weeks.

[unknown speaker 00:16:19] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[00:16:20] Dave: Nope. Find an olive drab airplane and green… Oh, my goodness.

[unknown speaker 00:16:24] It would have to be a very special airplane for me to do that, too. And I cannot think of a single one right now to make me go out in the corn like that.

[unknown speaker 00:16:32] Yeah. Well, I mean, kudos to him. You know, he was a trooper. Took a licking and kept on ticking. Kind of like a Timex. Watch. I know. Okay.

[00:16:46] Dave: I don't know if, you know, that was… He wasn't a part of those commercials. Yes, I saw those. That was the 90s. That was vintage.

[unknown speaker 00:16:54] But… Talking about vintage. So that, you know, that whole fun part of the weekend kind of got me thinking of… I know we've kind of talked about it before, but I missed out, based on when I got into the hobby, on a lot of the old things that… It almost seems like I got into the hobby when it was ironed out. Does that make any sense? Like, they got the bugs out.

[unknown speaker 00:17:21] I know what you're trying to say.

[unknown speaker 00:17:22] Old is relative.

[00:17:24] Dave: Well, and yeah, that's very true. To us, old stuff was, like, early stuff from the 40s and 50s. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:17:32] Yeah. To me, old stuff is what you guys dealt with when you came in. Right. Like, I never had 72 megahertz. I never had the long antennas. We missed out on building our own radios.

[unknown speaker 00:17:42] Yeah. Heath kits and, yeah. Escapement. We missed out on all that kind of stuff. So that's old to us.

[unknown speaker 00:17:49] Do you think you would have done it if you would have been in at that time?

[unknown speaker 00:17:54] Oh, yeah.

[00:17:55] Dave: Oh, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:17:56] For sure.

[00:17:57] Dave: Yep. In fact, I've kind of looked for a vintage Heath kit to build a radio. There you go.

[unknown speaker 00:18:01] But it's fun because you don't have to do it now. Do you think that still would have been enough of a draw to have you build all that kind of stuff to get into it?

[00:18:08] Dave: Oh, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:18:08] I think so. Yeah. Because, I mean, back then, okay, when I say back then, I mean back when I started, and probably similar for Dave, to be able to fly, you had to build an airplane. Now, granted, most of ours we built from kits. We didn't, well, I can't speak for Dave, but I didn't do a lot of scratch building or building from plans when I got in. So there were kits that were well designed, you know, that pretty good flying, you know, trainers and things like that.

[unknown speaker 00:18:42] But you still had to build it. You know, you still had to take, you know, weeks of time, you know, putting these, gluing these sticks together and cutting them. Stick A to stick B. Right. So that, like, that was a draw to me. And that would have still been a draw to me 40 years earlier because you still had to build your own. Now, maybe you had to cut your own parts, but I still think that would have been a draw to me. So, yeah, I think I would have put up with that.

[00:19:09] Dave: What I don't miss out on, missing out on, is escapements. Having a proportional servo.

[unknown speaker 00:19:16] Right.

[00:19:17] Dave: I, the click, click, click, click, left and right, straight. Yeah, I, I'm glad I missed that.

[unknown speaker 00:19:24] Right. Yeah. So what he's talking about is it used to be you had buttons on the transmitter and you'd press a button. I think it was once and it would go full left. You press it twice. Maybe it would go center. You press it like three times or maybe you held it or whatever and it would go. And it would be full deflection. It wouldn't be like a proportional servo like we have now. That's what escapement. Yeah.

[00:19:44] Dave: You had left, right and center and they were powered by rubber bands.

[unknown speaker 00:19:47] Yeah. But absolutely, I would have, I would have gotten into it.

[unknown speaker 00:19:51] Even if you had to build your own radio. Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:19:54] Yeah. Because like I said, that's just what you did. I mean, even, like I said, even when I started, that's what you did. Yeah. You didn't have to build your own radio, but you had to build your own airplane.

[unknown speaker 00:20:03] Yeah. I guess that's true. You don't know what isn't there if it's not there yet. Exactly. So you don't have anything else to compare it to.

[unknown speaker 00:20:10] Right. Now, if I knew then when I started what I know now to be what the hobby is like, I mean, I would still get in it, but I would, you know, I would wish for the days of the future. You know what I mean?

[unknown speaker 00:20:24] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:20:24] But no, I absolutely would have gotten in.

[unknown speaker 00:20:27] Do you think your beginning self at that age would ever believe that you would spend almost $1,000 on a radio? Oh, absolutely not.

[00:20:39] Dave: Okay. So you have to adjust for inflation.

[unknown speaker 00:20:41] Well, right.

[00:20:42] Dave: A $1,000 radio back then would be, you know, a $10,000 radio today, which I suppose there's one out there somewhere, but.

[unknown speaker 00:20:51] Yeah. The jetties, I think, get pretty close. Half that at least for the, you know, by the time you buy the radio and receivers and stuff.

[00:20:59] Dave: So adjusting for inflation, a $1,000 radio back then was still a very expensive radio.

[unknown speaker 00:21:04] Well, I guess that's true. I mean, I don't, I guess I don't think about it that way. I remember like my dad talking about the first actual VCR was $1,000 that he bought, which even in today's money, I would not spend $1,000 on something like that. No, and you can buy one for 20 bucks. Less than that. I mean, they're pretty much in landfills anymore. You can't buy them new, but. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing how.

[00:21:28] Dave: I still have one. I still got some tapes.

[unknown speaker 00:21:31] Unfortunately, I did too, but they're all home movies. Well, that got off topic.

[unknown speaker 00:21:36] But yeah. Yeah. I mean, going back to, back to what you, you asked, would we, would I do it 40 years earlier? Absolutely. Model airplanes are cool, no matter how young or old they are, I think.

[00:21:51] Dave: Yeah. I agree. Wood wings and covering. It's, it's all the same, whether it was 50 years ago or 60.

[unknown speaker 00:22:00] I just think things have come. And once again, it's looking through it with the glasses that we know now. I just think things have come so far that there's so much easier. Although granted, 10 years ago, we would all probably say the exact same thing. We are in the hobby at the best time to be in the hobby. So five years from now, it's going to be the same then.

[unknown speaker 00:22:21] Probably.

[unknown speaker 00:22:21] I think.

[unknown speaker 00:22:21] Yeah, probably.

[unknown speaker 00:22:22] I mean, we, we talk about turbines, how cheap they have become. We talked about radios and really how cheap they have become for as, for what you get. For what ability that you get.

[unknown speaker 00:22:32] Yeah. For sure.

[unknown speaker 00:22:33] Yeah. It's not one channel that has three positions. It's, you know.

[00:22:37] Dave: My first radio had four functions and four switches to reverse those functions. That's it.

[unknown speaker 00:22:45] My first radio didn't have servo reversing. You had to buy reversing servos.

[00:22:50] Dave: Or reverse them yourself.

[unknown speaker 00:22:51] Or reverse them yourself. Yeah.

[00:22:52] Dave: Which I still do. Oh, really?

[unknown speaker 00:22:54] Yeah.

[00:22:54] Dave: I haven't had to do that in a long time, which is nice. Because I'm cheap.

[unknown speaker 00:22:57] I'm not saying like, I'm not saying that the new stuff isn't nice. Like, I, I would absolutely miss all of the technology that we have now, you know, if it was 20 years ago. But, yeah, I would, I would absolutely have gotten in the hobby.

[unknown speaker 00:23:12] So, with the airplanes we saw, so 90s, and that's probably about what time you guys got in the hobby, right? Like, I know we've talked about it, I don't remember. Well, late 80s. Late 80s, early 90s. Late 90s. Late 70s. Yeah. Okay. So, that's probably pre a lot of the things that we saw this weekend then.

[unknown speaker 00:23:30] Yeah, for sure.

[unknown speaker 00:23:32] So, what was the hobby like when, like, the planes we saw and even before were cutting edge and not considered vintage?

[unknown speaker 00:23:42] I mean, it was a lot simpler. Like, the hobby was a lot simpler. There were, there were, there was way fewer options. You know what I mean? Like, a six-channel radio back then was cutting edge. I mean, a radio with servo reversing, like, I could only, with my, well, I had a Cirrus. I don't know if you remember those, but I had a Cirrus four-channel. That was my first radio. And a six-channel radio with, you know, proportional trims even.

[unknown speaker 00:24:12] And, like, my first radio didn't even have proportional knob or sliders for trims. That was, like, the cat's meow, you know? So, like, I guess it's really not so different now. It's just, you know, that what was high-tech back then is kind of the same thing that's high-tech now. It's like, what is the most, I don't know, it's hard to put into words, but, like, what is the most capability you can buy right now? It was the same thing back then.

[unknown speaker 00:24:43] What is the most capability we can buy? And then, you know, as a kid, you bought whatever was the cheapest, if that makes sense.

[unknown speaker 00:24:51] But the capabilities are different now, though.

[unknown speaker 00:24:52] Oh, yeah, for sure.

[00:24:53] Dave: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:24:54] But, I mean, yeah, they are.

[00:24:56] Dave: We were comfortable with what we had, and it worked well for what it was.

[unknown speaker 00:25:00] Right.

[00:25:00] Dave: In hindsight, it kind of sucked.

[unknown speaker 00:25:02] But, like, back then, it was great. I mean, the technology has given us more convenience, right? So, like, back then, if I needed more travel, I just, you know, played with the geometry of the servo arms or the linkages or whatever. Now, you just make the linkages, whatever fits the airplane the best, and then you do all your travel in the transmitter. Like, so, the capability was still there. We could still make those adjustments.

[unknown speaker 00:25:31] You just had to do everything – it was a little bit more difficult to do. It wasn't as – It was more time-consuming. It wasn't as convenient as it is today, if that makes sense, what I'm saying.

[00:25:40] Dave: And I still do that today when I set up my aircraft. I like to get my linkages so I get the throws that I want as is without doing anything in the radio. But if, for some reason, I can't get long enough an arm or it just still has way too much travel, I have no qualms getting into the radio and adjusting it as need be. So, it's nice to have that option.

[unknown speaker 00:26:00] Yeah. I mean, we could go on and on and on about what is available now that wasn't available then. But, like – Throttle throws.

[00:26:09] Dave: That's the big one.

[unknown speaker 00:26:09] Yeah. We didn't miss what we didn't know. Right. If that makes sense.

[unknown speaker 00:26:15] Yeah. And that's kind of what I was alluding to earlier, but now that you know kind of thing.

[unknown speaker 00:26:20] Oh, yeah. Like, the stuff we take for granted these days, the conveniences that we have, like, you know, like, throttle trims and travel in a radio, we just take that for granted now. It didn't used to be that easy to set up a throttle, you know, on a carburetor anyway.

[00:26:36] Dave: Yeah. I remember sitting for hours playing the throttle linkages to get that throw so that it opens it completely and shuts it completely.

[unknown speaker 00:26:43] Yep. Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:26:44] And now it's nothing.

[unknown speaker 00:26:45] And now it's – Seconds of the button. Exactly. So, yeah, there's certainly conveniences that I would miss if we went back. But, yeah, there's no going back.

[unknown speaker 00:26:55] So, like, let's talk computer radios versus regular radios. With old school 17 megahertz and all that stuff, what did you have available on that? Or I guess I should say what – I don't want to get into it too much, but what was lacking on those that you have now? Like, dual rates, like, obviously, Expo and all that kind of stuff was unheard of and not on that. But did you still have, like, a way of doing a dual rate setup or just some of the things we do without thinking today?

[unknown speaker 00:27:33] Was that something that was around back then or is that just all now added to it?

[00:27:37] Dave: My 4-channel did not have dual rates. You step up – it was the Top of Conquest series. 4-channel did not have the dual rates. You step up to the extra big bucks and bought the 6-channel. You got dual rates, elevator, aileron.

[unknown speaker 00:27:50] And that is it. I think you also got FM when you went to that 6-channel.

[00:27:54] Dave: You could get FM.

[unknown speaker 00:27:56] Yeah. So, yeah, dual rates, like when I started, dual rates, like, it wasn't a thing. Like, even the high-end radios when I started didn't have dual rates or Expo.

[00:28:11] Dave: I was going to say Expo. What is that?

[unknown speaker 00:28:12] Or back then we had EPA on some of the higher-end radios, which is endpoint adjustments, which is kind of like a dual rate, but that really just limited the high-end or the end points. You could shorten the end points. But then would that still map out? But not independently. You did them together.

[unknown speaker 00:28:31] It was one – and I think, like, on the first one that I had that actually had EPAs, it was a – I forget the name of them, but it was a tiny little switch you had to move with a screwdriver on the back of the transmitter. And it wasn't proportional, so you – A little dip switch. Yeah, dip switch. Thank you. So you had, like, three options, maybe two or three options on that little dip switch.

[unknown speaker 00:28:53] And they were just – like I said, they were just endpoint adjustments, and they were both ends together. So if you shortened one end, you also shortened the other end, which then you would go back through and redo the linkage geometry to get the throw you needed. But, like, EPA or – I'm sorry, dual rates, that wasn't – that no one knew what dual rates were back then. That just wasn't a thing. You know what I'm saying?

[unknown speaker 00:29:17] Yeah, so with the way you're talking about the dip switches and stuff, would that still give you – so, like, when you move your – let's say it's throttle. You move it from zero to 100. Does that take it down, like, to zero to 80, to where 80 to 100 on your transmitter does nothing? Or does that actually map it out to where 100 is now 80?

[unknown speaker 00:29:37] No, it would – Are you following it? Yeah, you would still get full deflection of the stick on the transmitter. It would just – instead of going to 100% throw, it would go to 80. It would, like, remap it. Yeah, exactly. Kind of. Yeah, okay. But, like I said, it wasn't – it wasn't proportional. You got, like, one or two options, and then you would work with your geometry of your linkage to work within whatever option you had to choose from.

[unknown speaker 00:29:59] But, yeah, dual rates being able – or triple rates that – like, I fly triple rates on a lot of my airplanes nowadays.

[unknown speaker 00:30:05] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:30:06] Just because I put it on a three-position switch, you know. Rates, that wasn't a thing.

[00:30:12] Dave: And flight modes and –

[unknown speaker 00:30:14] Yeah. None of that was a thing.

[00:30:16] Dave: Independent trims.

[unknown speaker 00:30:17] Yeah.

[00:30:17] Dave: The trims that stay put, they were all ratchet. So, if you dropped a radio and pushed the trim, you got to re-firm your airplane.

[unknown speaker 00:30:23] Yeah, there was no memory, no trim memory. So, the – yeah, the physical slider that you would move on the front of the transmitter, if you use that transmitter on another airplane, you would have to remember where that slider was. Or do what you were supposed to do and then re-center everything when you land, you know what I mean? Move the linkages so that you could re-center the trim.

[unknown speaker 00:30:44] And that's how you set everything up, because you wanted to know, if I'm using this transmitter on another airplane, if I put the trims in center, then I know it'll be trimmed, if that makes sense. Yeah. Just put it in the car, though.

[00:30:54] Dave: I don't know how many times I heard, zip.

[unknown speaker 00:30:57] Yep. So, that goes into model memory and that kind of stuff. So, obviously, back then, it was one-to-one.

[unknown speaker 00:31:03] Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:31:05] And rebinding? Or you wouldn't even have that, would you?

[unknown speaker 00:31:08] You just have the same crystal. Turn it on. Yeah.

[00:31:10] Dave: For the most part, we moved the receivers around because they were so expensive.

[unknown speaker 00:31:13] Yeah, back then. Yeah.

[00:31:14] Dave: So, you had three airplanes and one radio system. You might, if you're lucky, have multiple servos.

[unknown speaker 00:31:20] Yeah. I can't remember how many airplanes I had that had receivers in them with rubber bands. You know, it was a receiver sitting on a piece of foam with, you know, screw eyes on either side of it with a rubber band over it because I'd have to take it out and put it in another airplane to go fly.

[unknown speaker 00:31:35] So, quantity of airplanes, then?

[unknown speaker 00:31:37] Much smaller.

[unknown speaker 00:31:39] Well, I had five. Five was a good number for me.

[unknown speaker 00:31:42] Back then, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:31:42] And, understandably, that's probably because of younger, didn't have as much money, didn't have as much time to put into it. But, like, knowing other people in the hobby and stuff, what was a more common number? Like, it seems like people have more airplanes now. Oh, way more. Especially because the entry level has gotten so much lower. But what was a normal, like, of friends and people you knew, what was a normal number that people would have?

[unknown speaker 00:32:11] Three to five. Three to five, yeah. Yeah, that, like, gosh, like, when I became an adult and went to college and, you know, I had airplanes in my dorm room, I never had more than two. Like, because everything was expensive then and much.

[00:32:30] Dave: And you spent time building it.

[unknown speaker 00:32:31] Right. And I don't want to say it was less accessible, but it was. You had to go to a hobby shop to buy whatever, you know, whatever you needed. Or if you, you know, had a well-stocked hardware store that carried the Midwest Balsa rack, sometimes you could get Balsa at your local hardware store. But you had to, I mean, there was no Amazon. There was no Horizon. There was no tower.

[unknown speaker 00:32:55] There was no cell phone.

[unknown speaker 00:32:56] Even back then. Well, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:32:57] There was no internet.

[unknown speaker 00:32:58] Right. Exactly. No phone. So I don't want to say it was inaccessible. It just wasn't as accessible. And it took longer.

[00:33:05] Dave: It just took longer to do stuff because you didn't get your parts in three or four days. That's right.

[unknown speaker 00:33:10] Yeah. Yeah, they didn't, they didn't normally come from, like, so my first radio, which was a Cirrus, which was, as I discovered later, was actually produced by JR. It came from California because, you know, Horizon Hobby and Tower or Great Plains, whatever, they didn't exist yet. So it was opening up a magazine and either calling the number or sending a check via mail order to get whatever you need and then waiting weeks sometimes.

[unknown speaker 00:33:42] So, like I said, not that it was inaccessible. It just wasn't as accessible as it is today. So you had fewer airplanes. Yeah. The instant gratification did not exist. Yeah. Like, I don't remember having more than four or five airplanes until, gosh, I want to say until late, like, shortly before spectrum or spread spectrum, let's say, 2.4.

[unknown speaker 00:34:06] Like, even then, I didn't have a lot of air because, you know, I had to have a receiver and everyone, even though the 72 megahertz radios had evolved to computer. You know, I think my X347, I think it had 7 model memory, which at the time, that was fantastic.

[00:34:23] Dave: My 8103 was a 10 channel or 10 model. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:34:26] And it would remember your trims.

[00:34:28] Dave: And that was a fairly high-end radio.

[unknown speaker 00:34:29] Oh, yeah.

[00:34:30] Dave: Sure.

[unknown speaker 00:34:30] So, anyway, back when I started, yeah, getting back to your question, dual rates and stuff like that, that wasn't a thing.

[unknown speaker 00:34:40] So, back then, everything was nitro, right?

[unknown speaker 00:34:43] Pretty much.

[unknown speaker 00:34:43] I mean, there was some giant-scale flying quadras, midwacker motors.

[unknown speaker 00:34:49] Right. But for the most part, yeah, it was nitro or diesel. There was some diesel stuff out there, too, smaller stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:34:55] So, with nitro, how has the cost matched? Like, nitro is very expensive now compared to other things. Was it the same price back then without inflation, or was it just so much more easy to get, so much more accessible that it was, you know, like, oh, no big deal if I fly for five hours straight. It's not, you know, it's not 20 bucks.

[unknown speaker 00:35:21] Well, the fuel has always been kind of expensive.

[00:35:24] Dave: Yeah. I mean, like, back in the 80s, it was 10 bucks a gallon, which, you know, $10 in 80s money is…

[unknown speaker 00:35:29] Yeah, it was, nitro fuel has always been expensive, and it, for me, anyway, it was always a limiting factor on how much I was able to fly. Like, in college, I flew a lot. Like, I flew a lot in college. Like, we had a, just outside our dorm, there was a grass runway for full-size airplanes, and we had a club, and, I mean, I flew almost every day. If I could. But the cost of nitro then was, even by, you know, that economy's standards, it was still expensive.

[unknown speaker 00:36:01] So, and I think it, I'm not sure. And, yeah. So, I'm not sure, like, if the cost of nitro fuel is really that much more expensive today. It's definitely not as prevalent. It's harder.

[00:36:14] Dave: It's a lot harder to get.

[unknown speaker 00:36:15] It's harder to find, because, you know, there's not as much of us using it anymore. So, but cost-wise, I think it, I think it's still kind of about the same, you know, when you compare apples to apples.

[unknown speaker 00:36:27] So, how, okay, how has, how has pricing on things changed over the years? Meaning, the first computer we ever bought as a family when I was a kid, I was in eighth grade, and it was almost $4,000. Holy smokes. Now, you can go buy a computer for 200 bucks. Yeah. 300 bucks, whatever. So, computers have come down a lot in pricing. How has the hobby pricing-wise changed? Not taking into consideration, like, inflation and all that kind of stuff.

[00:37:00] Dave: I have to say, radios, you get a lot more for your money, but the pricing is still, the ouch factor out of the wallet is about the same, but you get a lot more for that ouch.

[unknown speaker 00:37:09] Right. Yeah, you get a lot more, you get a lot more capability. But I think it depends on what you're talking about also. So, like, you know, back in the day, you know, let's say a, gosh, a SIG cub kit, let's say a 40-ish size, you know, when I say 40-ish size, I mean a 40-size nitro, which would be about, what, a 75-inch cub kit. But back in the day, I remember those being 99 bucks, right? Yeah. For the cub kit.

[unknown speaker 00:37:40] Now, like, I think SIG actually still makes that kit when they're in production. I think that kit is almost $300 now. So, but when you factor in inflation, it's probably about the same. So, I want to say it depends, like, cost-wise, it depends on what you're talking about. Like, technology, like, technology-type items, like radios, receivers, servos, you know, stuff that's technology.

[unknown speaker 00:38:09] Like, I think… Things that you can get the next best thing in.

[unknown speaker 00:38:11] Yeah, I think that has become more accessible over time, meaning easier to get a hold of, cost less, right? But, like, the hardware-type stuff, like airframes or…

[00:38:24] Dave: A box of wood is a box of wood, and there's not much change. Yeah, I think… It's just adjusted for inflation.

[unknown speaker 00:38:30] Right, exactly. So, I think, yeah, the hit on the wallet is about the same for some items, but, like, technology stuff has certainly become cheaper. Decreased. Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:38:39] But how much were receivers back then compared to what you pay for now? Like, I know you didn't… I still rarely bought one, because you had one, and you used it over and over and over.

[unknown speaker 00:38:48] Because they were expensive.

[unknown speaker 00:38:50] So, you guys, when you bought them, it was, like, a set, or was it…

[00:38:53] Dave: So, my first radio was the four-channel AM, which came with four servos, one receiver, a battery pack, a switch, and one extension. And I think it was $125, give or take.

[unknown speaker 00:39:06] That sounds right, yeah, for the Conquest.

[00:39:08] Dave: Yeah, Conquest, four-channel. Oh, it came with three servos. You had to buy the…

[unknown speaker 00:39:12] You had to buy the fourth one. That's right.

[00:39:14] Dave: It had a slot in the box for the fourth one, but…

[unknown speaker 00:39:15] They never gave it to you, yeah. Okay. Yeah, well, because back then, three-channel was, like, common. And if you were four-channel, you were, you know… You were bald. You were doo-dooing in tall cotton, to put it in those… That's a euphemism. Okay. Pooping in tall cotton. You've never heard of that one. Anyway, that means you were, you know, high money. Yeah, you were in with the high-end crowd. You know, if you had a four-channel radio or a four-channel airplane.

[unknown speaker 00:39:47] yeah, so… But, yeah, my… Like, so my first radio predates Dave's, but it was also a four-channel AM radio. And I want to say, back then, the receivers were almost as much as buying the whole radio outfit.

[00:40:04] Dave: Yeah, it was almost cheaper to buy a whole set.

[unknown speaker 00:40:07] Another, yeah, another complete radio. But, like, let's say if my radio was 99 bucks, a receiver was probably, like, 69, 79 bucks. Which, back then, that was, you know, a lot of moolah. So, and it was easy to swap a receiver over to an airplane, especially if you had it in with rubber bands. Yeah. So, yeah, receivers were, you know, expensive.

[00:40:27] Dave: I think I owned two receivers, maybe.

[unknown speaker 00:40:30] Yeah, I had one. In college, I had that one receiver that lasted me all through college. And I just swapped it between a couple of planes.

[unknown speaker 00:40:39] And so, three-channel, four-channel. When did six-channel become a thing? And what would those channels have been used for? Splitting ailerons, or…? Flaps and retracts.

[unknown speaker 00:40:48] Flaps and retracts. Oh, flaps and retracts. Yeah, we didn't split ailerons back then.

[unknown speaker 00:40:52] So, that wasn't until, like, eight-channel when that became a possibility?

[unknown speaker 00:40:56] Well, I mean, it was… It was awesome. It was a possibility.

[unknown speaker 00:40:58] Well, I mean, not… Okay, but more of a commonplace thing, then.

[unknown speaker 00:41:01] Well, okay, so…

[unknown speaker 00:41:03] There was a lot of Y cables.

[unknown speaker 00:41:05] Yeah, right. So, splitting the ailerons, like, that's done via mixing in the transmitter nowadays, right? Well, to split the ailerons to get them to operate as flaperons or whatever required mixing that wasn't available in the lower-end radios that I flew with. So, that, like, I didn't need that fifth channel to split my ailerons. I needed a fifth channel to operate the flaps.

[00:41:29] Dave: And if you look at a lot of older designs, they're all designed for one aileron servo mounted dead center. Right, yeah. Because servos were expensive. So, you designed everything to use one servo to drive two surfaces.

[unknown speaker 00:41:41] I mean, let's think about that, too. Like, back then, for proportional radio systems, you had, what, four manufacturers, maybe? Three or four? Big ones, anyway. Yeah. You didn't have the Amazon specials, you know, or whatever. You had brand name…

[00:41:59] Dave: Futaba Aertronics, JR. JR, eventually.

[unknown speaker 00:42:03] Futaba. Oh, you said that.

[00:42:04] Dave: And I think Circus Hobbies. I can't remember who made those. Those were JR. Those were JR. Those were made by JR, yeah. But that was the ones you saw.

[unknown speaker 00:42:10] Right.

[00:42:10] Dave: So, basically, Futaba and Aertronics were the two that you dealt with daily.

[unknown speaker 00:42:15] Right.

[00:42:15] Dave: And then you had a couple sub-brands.

[unknown speaker 00:42:16] Yeah. So, you only had a couple of options to begin with. And they, those manufacturers only made one or two different servos. So, like, you know, the options for servos weren't what they are now, either. Like…

[00:42:31] Dave: The first micro-server I saw, which is, like, a mini today…

[unknown speaker 00:42:34] Right. …was, oh, my gosh, that is so tiny. It was just… It's, yeah.

[00:42:40] Dave: And it had, like, an ounce of…

[unknown speaker 00:42:42] Yeah, not much. But, like, to your question, the six channels… Like, six channel was available when I got into the hobby. But they were way out of my price range. And even then, it only… You only got two extra channels. Like, you didn't get any… Like, it didn't get you dual rates or FM or whatever when I started. So, yeah, you paid more for the six channels. But you only got two more channels. You didn't get more capability with the radio.

[unknown speaker 00:43:11] Does that make sense what I'm saying?

[unknown speaker 00:43:12] Yeah, I gotcha.

[unknown speaker 00:43:13] So, yeah. But you could get six-channel radios when I got in the hobby. So, that was 78.

[unknown speaker 00:43:22] I wasn't even thought of it. Anyway.

[unknown speaker 00:43:26] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:43:27] No, that… Like I said, I'm just… Looking back at things, it's amazing. With everything, too. Not just the hobby, but how far things have come.

[unknown speaker 00:43:36] Sure. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:43:37] I don't know. And a lot of times, like, names get lost, too. When you guys were first starting to get in it, like, what… Are there names that you remember that would mean nothing to me?

[unknown speaker 00:43:46] Well, I mean, you know some of the names because we've, you know, we've talked about them. But Dave Platt was a big one. Carl Goldberg. Carl Goldberg was a big one. Maxie Hester, you know, from Sig. Hazel Sig, you know. Glenn, what's his name? Sigfus. Yeah. Glenn Sigfus, who the company is named after. Sig. Glenn Sigfus. Sigfus.

[unknown speaker 00:44:07] I didn't know that.

[unknown speaker 00:44:08] Yeah. Some of the other ones. Doug Lanier was one of them. What was Hazel's last name? Sig. Or Hazel Sig. That's what they called her, but it was Sigfus. Oh. That was his wife.

[unknown speaker 00:44:20] Okay. See, I did not know that.

[unknown speaker 00:44:21] Yeah.

[00:44:23] Dave: The British guy that designs everything. Platt. Dave Platt.

[unknown speaker 00:44:29] I said that. Didn't I? I meant to if I didn't. Bob Dively. That was another one. Bob Dively models. He was.

[unknown speaker 00:44:35] You said. The one you said was the one that did the. My mind just went blank. Who did the duelist? Was that Dave Platt? Dave Platt. Yeah. You already said that one then. Yeah.

[00:44:43] Dave: Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:44:43] Okay. Dave Brown. Yeah. Dave Brown. That's another name I haven't heard in a long time. But yeah, those were some of the names that were really big when I got in. Those are the names I would see in the magazine, you know, when I would read it.

[00:44:58] Dave: And through the years through Toledo, I've met a good portion of those folks.

[unknown speaker 00:45:01] Yeah. Which is cool.

[00:45:02] Dave: I've not met any of them.

[unknown speaker 00:45:04] Yeah. Well, you didn't go to Toledo enough.

[unknown speaker 00:45:06] That's true. I didn't. I should have went with Dave. He offered to take me many times and I never went. See? That's on you. I know. I'm not blaming anybody. Just I should have gone. Yourself, you should be. Bad Tom.

[unknown speaker 00:45:21] So when you started then, obviously, you're building and all that kind of stuff. Do you remember the first easy to assemble airplane that was already built for you? I don't know if that would have been an ARF back then or what was the other things they had? Where it's almost ready to cover or something.

[00:45:36] Dave: Quick builds and things like that. I don't know. My, I don't know. It's not exactly an ARF. I was given an ARF. Do you remember the old foam covered wooden built one?

[unknown speaker 00:45:47] I was just going to say. Easy kits. I think they call them. Sportsman Aviation.

[00:45:50] Dave: Somebody gave me one of those and it was wrecked. And I ended up planking it and recovering it like a standard airplane, stripping all that foam off.

[unknown speaker 00:45:58] Yeah.

[00:45:58] Dave: So that's technically my first ARF, but it wasn't an ARF because I built it.

[unknown speaker 00:46:02] Right. So I, like when I think of ARF, those are the first, those are the ARFs that I think of. Those easy, you know, they, gosh, they made lots of different airplanes. But they were, yeah, they were a, the core of the airplane was ball, sound, light, play, but then they covered them with this really thin foam with a printed covering on top of it to make it look like, you know, whatever airplane.

[00:46:25] Dave: Not durable.

[unknown speaker 00:46:26] Not, you know, they would dent very easily. It doesn't sound like it would be. They would dent very easily. If you grabbed them with your fingertips, your fingertips would leave impressions in the, in the covering.

[00:46:35] Dave: A stiff, stiff piece of grass, put a hole in them.

[unknown speaker 00:46:37] Yeah. But they came mostly pre-assembled. You know, the panel, the wing panels were built and you'd have to join them and all that kind of stuff.

[00:46:44] Dave: A few hours.

[unknown speaker 00:46:45] Yeah. So that, that's probably my first, I never owned any of those because I never liked the way they looked.

[00:46:51] Dave: They were ugly.

[unknown speaker 00:46:52] So, but me, my first ARF had to be. Man, I don't really remember what my first ARF experience was. It was probably a seagull of some kind.

[unknown speaker 00:47:04] You might say probably because why?

[unknown speaker 00:47:07] Because I've built a lot of them. Seagulls, you know, seagull branded ARFs, but.

[00:47:12] Dave: I've repaired a bunch of them for other people, but I've never owned one.

[unknown speaker 00:47:15] But I couldn't tell you which, which was, when was my first. But my first recollection of ARFs were those easy. And I think the name of the company was Sportsman Aviation is who made those.

[00:47:25] Dave: I just knew them as easy kits.

[unknown speaker 00:47:27] Yeah.

[00:47:27] Dave: Nice. So, yeah, there you go. I remember they had that yellow star in their ad. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:47:33] Yep. And then the words easy, or letters easy. Good times. Bringing back memories. I do remember they made a laser that I wanted. Like the easy made a, made a 40 size, 40 nitro size laser that I wanted way back in the day. But.

[unknown speaker 00:47:49] Oh, so not a laser cutter, but an actual.

[unknown speaker 00:47:51] No, no. Yeah. Laser. Laser 200.

[00:47:53] Dave: I was thinking it was probably 200. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:47:56] So with vintage airplanes leading up to today's airplanes, are there any pros to having a vintage airplane? Or do you think modern ones are just superior?

[00:48:05] Dave: A well-designed vintage will fly every bit as well as a modern aircraft.

[unknown speaker 00:48:10] And they're tough.

[unknown speaker 00:48:12] As we saw.

[unknown speaker 00:48:13] As we, as we, yeah, as we witnessed. For me, it's just, it was just nostalgia. That, that's, I mean, the dualist, you know, if it has a story, you know, the dualist had a story. So that was, that was really rewarding for me to build when we built ours together and then fly. I really liked the way. So modern airplanes, you know, when you, when you compare similar types of airplanes, like let's say a sport, just a sport flyer.

[unknown speaker 00:48:45] the older ones heavier, you know, they're built, they're not, they weren't, we were not able to build as light as you can today. You just can't, back then you couldn't anyway.

[unknown speaker 00:48:56] And what causes that? Like, what's the.

[unknown speaker 00:48:58] I, just the design, you know, the, like the, like the really thin fiber reinforced plywood that like a lot of the R firm manufacturers are using now. That just wasn't available back then.

[00:49:09] Dave: You just had to use heavier wood to get the same strength. I mean, carbon fiber was around, but it was well outside of.

[unknown speaker 00:49:16] Yeah.

[00:49:16] Dave: Our world.

[unknown speaker 00:49:18] For sure. and, and, you know, we were flying with one piece wings, you know, the two piece wings that were sliding on a tube. That wasn't a thing back then either. So, you know, and you had to reinforce the center section with fiberglass, you know, to stand up to flight loads and things like that. Which is all weight. It's all weight.

[00:49:36] Dave: You hoped anyway.

[unknown speaker 00:49:36] So the older vintage, you know, sport plane for sport plane, they feel heavier, but they also, for lack of a better word, penetrate better. So I feel like the older, older designs, the vintage airplanes were smoother. You know, they, they weren't buffeted by wind as easily as a lightly, more lightly loaded wing loaded airplane of today.

[00:50:03] Dave: That can be fixed today though with the gyro, which we didn't have access to.

[unknown speaker 00:50:06] Exactly. So you can, you can make a modern plane feel like an old plane with adding a gyro and things like that. But for me, just the nostalgia, I think is the only reason that keeps me, you know, keeps one or two in the hangar.

[00:50:19] Dave: It's always been hard for me to explain to myself and I still haven't quite figured it out. You have no physical feedback from the aircraft whatsoever. It's just a spring tension in your radio. That's all. That's it. But some airplanes feel heavy. And I cannot wrap my brain around how.

[unknown speaker 00:50:37] I know what you mean and I agree. It's hard to explain. Yeah.

[00:50:41] Dave: Because it's the same spring tension on a light floaty airplane versus a heavy one.

[unknown speaker 00:50:47] I think it has to do with the speed of which it moves. It kind of makes it feel heavier too. If you have a slower lumbering airplane, it's going to feel, with it being slower to respond to stuff, it's going to feel heavier.

[unknown speaker 00:51:00] Yeah. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:51:01] That's the only thing I could kind of think.

[unknown speaker 00:51:03] Yeah, Dave, I know what you're talking about, and it is hard to put into words, but I know exactly what you mean.

[00:51:08] Dave: My quarter scale D7 feels like a lumbering beast. And it feels like I have to really just manhandle that stick all over the place. But it's exactly the same as electrostreak. There's no difference.

[unknown speaker 00:51:19] Servo speeds, maybe.

[unknown speaker 00:51:21] Response time. Maybe to input. You know, maybe it takes a little microsecond longer to respond. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:51:26] And if you have slower or lower servo speeds that don't move it as fast, then when it starts to go that way and you start to correct, then it takes longer to react.

[00:51:36] Dave: It's perfectly flyable, but it just has an instant different feel on the sticks. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:51:41] Yeah. No, I get it. It's, yeah. Not hard to know what you're talking about, but hard to put it into words. Right. And you don't know what you're talking about.

[unknown speaker 00:51:51] Some airplanes feel heavier in the air than others for whatever, however you want to describe it. But yeah, and older vintage airplanes feel heavy.

[00:52:00] Dave: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:52:01] I wonder how they would feel if you pepped them up with an overpowered electric system, like normal, and faster servos. And it could be some of the older ones, too, had really small control surfaces compared to what…

[unknown speaker 00:52:13] Well, they do. Yeah. Like modern airplanes, even sport-type airplanes, the control surfaces are, I think, proportionally speaking, much larger in proportion than…

[00:52:25] Dave: You could use Expo now.

[unknown speaker 00:52:26] Right. Right. Right, exactly.

[00:52:28] Dave: If you tried to fly something back in the 80s with a controlled surface that size… Oh, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:52:31] You'd be all over the place. It'd be uncontrollable. Yeah, so…

[unknown speaker 00:52:35] But maybe it's not heavy as much as it's lumbersome and just slower and… Yeah, I don't know.

[unknown speaker 00:52:42] Yeah. But yeah, that's why I keep at least a couple in the hangar. I think mostly just for nostalgia, but I do like the way… Like my contender that I took last weekend, great flying airplane, very, very forgiving, but it does not feel light. I mean, it has no bad habits, really, other than the weird… Other than the turn. Other than the rudder thing. The rudder thing, yeah, which all contenders suffer from, but the airplane has no… Quick explanation. Oh, yeah. Adverse yaw.

[unknown speaker 00:53:12] Yeah.

[00:53:13] Dave: Or roll. Roll, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:53:14] It's weird. So like on every contender I've ever flown, and I think Dave would probably agree, when you add, for example, left rudder, it rolls to the right. I mean, it will yaw to the left, but it also does this weird… Significantly rolls. Yeah, to the opposite direction.

[00:53:31] Dave: And most aircraft, normally, if you apply left rudder, it wants to roll to the left. Yeah, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:53:36] That's normal. Yeah, because it moves the other, you know, the opposing wing farther ahead in the airstream, and it should create a little more lift, and it should roll the same direction that you're yawing. But for whatever reason, contenders just don't do that.

[unknown speaker 00:53:50] So do you think it's the style of the rudder?

[unknown speaker 00:53:53] It probably has to do with the shape of the rudder.

[unknown speaker 00:53:55] I noticed that after you started talking about it, I was looking at the way that the rudder goes down, and it's not straight up and down. Yeah. It's an angle.

[unknown speaker 00:54:04] Well, it makes two angles. It cuts in, and then at the bottom, it cuts back out.

[unknown speaker 00:54:08] I didn't pay attention to the bottom part.

[00:54:09] Dave: It's basically two rudders just joined together.

[unknown speaker 00:54:12] Yeah. And then, you know, it has a fairly pronounced ventral fin on the bottom. It's got a keel. A keel. There you go. So I don't, I can't explain it. Like, I've tried mixing it out and stuff like that, but.

[00:54:25] Dave: Even that doesn't really work.

[unknown speaker 00:54:26] Anymore. It feels weird. I just fly it on basically five channels, because I've got the big center flap on mine. Fly it on five channels.

[00:54:33] Dave: Yeah, I rarely use a rudder on that bird.

[unknown speaker 00:54:35] I don't either.

[00:54:36] Dave: Just because it's so annoying.

[unknown speaker 00:54:38] But it flies great. Like, I mean, it has, the stall is very gentle, you know, but it penetrates well because it's heavier, and it just has that heavy feel like Dave was talking about. Because it's vintage. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:54:51] And it's got that thick wing. It slows down super fast. Very thick wing. I was surprised when I picked it up in Mudra. I was like, this is a thick wing. I haven't told you. That's a thick wing. You did.

[unknown speaker 00:55:00] You did make a mention about how thick my wing was.

[unknown speaker 00:55:02] I did. I think that one. It was weird. So are there any, any kits or brands out there you guys miss? Oh, I miss Goldberg.

[unknown speaker 00:55:12] Goldberg, of course. For sure. Yeah.

[00:55:14] Dave: They're stuff belt heavy, but man, everything flew good.

[unknown speaker 00:55:17] Yep. They all, they all flew well. So Goldberg, I miss Goldberg. I miss Lanier. I mean, I know some of their designs were kind of.

[00:55:24] Dave: Lanier was kind of getting missed for me.

[unknown speaker 00:55:25] But.

[00:55:26] Dave: I had a couple. They were nice. Yeah. I had a couple that were, oh my God, get this thing out of the house.

[unknown speaker 00:55:29] Yeah. The bingo. I missed the bingo. That was a good flying airplane. I've never even heard of that one. Yeah. Who, Ace. Ace is another one I miss.

[00:55:38] Dave: The Ace foam wing was great for the scratch building.

[unknown speaker 00:55:41] Yeah.

[00:55:41] Dave: I hear some people are still cutting those, so. Oh, really? They're round. You just gotta dig.

[unknown speaker 00:55:46] That's awesome. but yeah, I had, I had the 440 bipe. I had the 440, the regular monoplane. Very fun airplanes to build. Cause it was mostly stick.

[00:55:58] Dave: Aesthetically not the best looking thing, but.

[unknown speaker 00:56:00] Well, you know, beauty's in the eye of the beholder, right? but. True. I missed, I missed the Ace kits. what else? Sig, I miss. I mean, I guess Sig is kind of off and on with production. Yeah. but I need to find another Cougar. I miss the, I need to find another Sig Cougar. Cause man, those are good flying airplanes too. They're, they do everything a contender does. Minus the adverse. Minus the weird troll thing. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:56:25] Is that what the other guy had at the flying last week?

[unknown speaker 00:56:27] Yeah. Yep.

[00:56:28] Dave: Yeah. Saw a lot of Cougars.

[unknown speaker 00:56:31] I'd like to find an actual kit of the Cavalier and do that one again, but do it for plans. Oh. I don't know. I don't know about nitro or not. Well, yeah. I mean, easy enough to go electric. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:56:43] Without the retractable gear and stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:56:44] Without all the bastardizations that I did to mine. I still like mine. It still flies.

[00:56:50] Dave: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:56:50] It would just be nice to have something more. A standard Cavalier.

[00:56:54] Dave: They flew great. I had you print out those plans for the Bridey Vagabond. Oh, yeah. Bridey had some nice stuff. And he did the Chaos.

[unknown speaker 00:57:02] That's right.

[00:57:03] Dave: Which was created by Great Plains.

[unknown speaker 00:57:04] Joe Bridey, the designer. That's another name that you were asking about. That's another name that's not around anymore.

[unknown speaker 00:57:10] And I guess that's one thing, too, that maybe we take for granted now that you wouldn't have had back then. But the fact that there are a couple websites now that give you access to all these old plans that, I mean, back then you didn't have the option of just building a plan or buying a plan. But I know it's a little bit different now. Sourcing materials and stuff should be a little bit easier than back then as opposed to buying a kit.

[unknown speaker 00:57:38] But just having that out there where you can go on the computer, search them, find what you want and see all the information on it. Yeah. I've got to be honest. Depending on my mood and stuff and like what airplanes I'm looking for, I've made several trips down Outer Zone and just looking at all the different ones. And I have a file of things that would be cool sometime in the future.

[unknown speaker 00:57:58] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:57:59] Dave: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:58:00] I've got a similar file that will probably never be touched, to be honest.

[00:58:03] Dave: No, but it's always there just in case. Yeah. If they quit making airplanes today, I mean, you could never buy another one.

[unknown speaker 00:58:10] You're set.

[00:58:10] Dave: I'm set.

[unknown speaker 00:58:11] Yeah. Yeah. It's just wood at this point.

[unknown speaker 00:58:13] Northeast Aerodynamic. Sorry. Another kit brand that popped into my head. They're not around anymore. Most of the kit manufacturers are gone.

[00:58:22] Dave: Gone. Well, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:58:25] I get it. So not only airplanes and radios, though. The other thing I thought about, how has field equipment changed? Because honestly, for me right now, I go to the field. I take a charger, batteries, which I don't even charge before I go to the field. I just do those while I'm getting everything together because it charges so fast. And then all of the tools and stuff I need are in my flight case. I have screwdrivers.

[unknown speaker 00:58:54] I have, you know, nips, extra Velcro, all the kind of stuff I would need to fly what I fly is there. How has it changed? How has it changed? Because obviously before you guys would have starters, all that kind of stuff, which you still do. How has that changed over the years from what you have now versus what was available then versus what did you have to build yourselves back then versus what you can buy now? Does that make, that's a long, long, drawn out question, but.

[00:59:27] Dave: Very few people had pre-built caddies. Boy, when those first caddy kits came along from Habaco and, did Great Plains do one? I don't know.

[unknown speaker 00:59:37] Sig did one. Goldberg did some. Yeah. A couple.

[00:59:39] Dave: The caddy kits changed the world because everybody was making their own toolboxes.

[unknown speaker 00:59:46] Mm-hmm. I remember my first flight box. My dad had a buddy of his that was a carpenter. He had him build one for me and it held a gallon of fuel, a transmitter, 12-volt lawnmower battery.

[01:00:04] Dave: Gel cell.

[unknown speaker 01:00:06] I'm not even, mine was a wet cell.

[01:00:08] Dave: Oh, yeah. My first few were wet cells and then after burning those up, I got gel cell.

[unknown speaker 01:00:11] Right. All the tools, a fuel pump, a manual fuel pump, all the nitro stuff. He built it, he built it out of, I think, I want to say it was three quarter inch marine plywood. And the thing was like almost as big as this table. This, was this a. So 48 inches, maybe square. Yeah, square table. And it was so heavy that as a young lad, it was difficult for me to carry the dang thing.

[unknown speaker 01:00:43] But that was my first flight box was something that was custom made by, you know, a friend of my dad's. That, you know, there weren't any prefabbed flight boxes out there. So yeah, you had to, you had to build your own and then you had to equip it properly for whatever you were flying.

[01:00:58] Dave: Oh, it weighed every bit of 40 pounds.

[unknown speaker 01:01:00] I was going to say at this point, well, at that point, not this point, because they're harder to find. But flight boxes are made out of what, quarter inch like plywood and pre-painted and you just have to assemble them?

[unknown speaker 01:01:11] Yeah. If you can find them, yeah.

[01:01:14] Dave: Three quarter inches thick.

[unknown speaker 01:01:16] That's weighty. It was, yeah, he built it to withstand, you know, the second coming, right? But. Should have added wheels. Yeah. Well, it had a lid. It had a bifold lid also that opened up that had storage in it for tools and stuff. It was really a nice box. It really was. Like, it was well thought out, but it was just super heavy. Yeah. So yeah, back, back then, that was what I took to the field. It had, you know, everything was nitro. At least everything I had was nitro.

[unknown speaker 01:01:45] So, you know, the gallon or two of fuel. The, I had a Dave Brown six shooter pump. That was my first pump. And then, you know, I had the 12 volt lead acid battery to run the 12 volt starter and also my power panel, because that's how I lit the plug was off of a panel that was mounted onto the box that had jacks in it for your starter, for your nice, you know, for your glow heater.

[unknown speaker 01:02:12] And if you were really bougie, you had an electric fuel pump and that plugged into your panel too, which I never had. But anyway, yeah, that today to go fly nitro, I've got a kind of a similar situation, but it's much smaller. Holds my gallon of fuel. I use a LiPo battery now for my electric starter, which that has the weight. Cut the weight in half. Cut the weight, yeah, nearly in half.

[unknown speaker 01:02:36] And then not nearly as many tools because anymore, if I'm going to fly, I'm taking, because I have so many airplanes now, I don't have just two airplanes. I have many. If one of my airplanes gives me a fit to where I need to glue something together, I just put it back in the car and fly something else because I have so many other, so I don't need to take, you know, the glue caddy that was in the flight box. I don't need to take epoxy.

[unknown speaker 01:03:03] I don't need to take mixing sticks and cup, you know, other than going to a big event.

[01:03:08] Dave: I never take glue or anything with me anymore.

[unknown speaker 01:03:10] So nowadays, it's even flying the Nitro, I have really simplified what's in my flight box, you know, and lightened it up because I don't have the big 12-volt battery in there anymore and I take fewer tools and supplies and stuff like that.

[unknown speaker 01:03:23] So it still felt pretty heavy to me.

[unknown speaker 01:03:25] It is. I mean, it's still got a gallon of, well, a gallon or less of fuel and tools and, you know, a bunch of other stuff in there that I really probably ought to just take out because I don't, I don't need most of what's in there. But yeah, if I'm going to the, to Eli to fly electrics or even, or even the Jed, which is simple too, it's same, same as you.

[unknown speaker 01:03:46] My, my transmitter case, I've got, you know, three wrenches, you know, one and a half, two and two and a half, a flat screwdriver, well, actually a multi-screwdriver that has replaceable tips that I can go Phillips or flat and a small screwdriver set. That's, that's all I need to fly that stuff, you know, to fly stuff nowadays.

[01:04:06] Dave: It's gotten very simple.

[unknown speaker 01:04:08] Yeah.

[01:04:08] Dave: I mean, my entire toolbox, which I carry way more stuff than I need. I, everybody's always rummage, I'm rummage of parts for people.

[unknown speaker 01:04:15] It's true.

[01:04:17] Dave: It all fits in a one foot long tool bag from Menards. It's six inches wide and a foot long and everything fits in there. Two chargers, spare parts, all the tools. Yep.

[unknown speaker 01:04:29] Well, you do, that reminds me, you do carry, Tommy, more than that with you because you lost a screw for the telemaster and you at least had extra ones with you. Yeah. Just some parts. I got a small assortment of disillaneous tools. See, I never carry any of that kind of stuff.

[unknown speaker 01:04:46] See, and if I hadn't had that, then, well, we probably would have flown it anyway because I flew the telemaster without the wing struts the first flight.

[unknown speaker 01:04:53] Oops. Yeah. Forgot all about that.

[01:04:55] Dave: And it was fine.

[unknown speaker 01:04:56] It did fine.

[unknown speaker 01:04:57] You were floating. Yeah. And I'm the one that loses a wing.

[unknown speaker 01:04:59] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:05:00] Yeah. Weird. He was just floating, though. He was not doing anything fast, although that doesn't do anything fast.

[unknown speaker 01:05:04] It doesn't do anything but float. Right. But you weren't pushing it. Although I did roll it on the second and third flight.

[01:05:11] Dave: You still probably had one G on it when you did it. Yeah. But he did have the struts on by that point.

[unknown speaker 01:05:16] Yes, I did. But yeah, that's what it looks like nowadays. It's much, much simpler. But back then, it was heavy and you took everything you could possibly need to the field because you only had the one airplane normally. So you wanted to maximize your time.

[unknown speaker 01:05:31] Happier now than in the past.

[01:05:33] Dave: Yeah. If it doesn't behave itself, it gets chucked back in the truck and next.

[unknown speaker 01:05:38] I don't know if I would say I'm happier, honestly. More contender? I mean, I was pretty happy back then.

[01:05:44] Dave: I was super happy back then.

[unknown speaker 01:05:45] I mean, I had a blast back then. I think it's just different now. Maybe I enjoy it more because I have such a wide variety of stuff to fly now. And technology and the cost of that technology has come down has made it maybe more enjoyable. But overall, I would say I'm as happy as I was then.

[01:06:09] Dave: Yeah. Designs. The modern technology has made it so much easier to do the… You guys know I like the weird stuff. The weird stuff was just completely undoable back in the day. And now it's commonplace.

[unknown speaker 01:06:25] Yeah. Right. Yeah. You can fly really odd designs now because the radios have gotten so much better and materials have gotten so much lighter.

[01:06:35] Dave: And able to use the small servos that are now less than $5. Right. And I could never fathom paying $5 or less for a servo back in the day.

[unknown speaker 01:06:45] But they're out there.

[01:06:47] Dave: It just makes odd stuff more feasible. For cheaper or less.

[unknown speaker 01:06:51] More accessible. Yeah.

[01:06:53] Dave: There you go.

[unknown speaker 01:06:54] Yeah. Yeah. For foamies. Right. Profile foamies and stuff is where I draw the line on those.

[unknown speaker 01:06:58] Right. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:06:59] But I get you. Yeah.

[01:07:00] Dave: I'm not using $5 servos on anything nice. Right. Right. But experimental flat foam board? Sure. Why not?

[unknown speaker 01:07:07] Yeah. How things have changed. Now imagine in 10 years when we look back and be like, man, I can't believe we had to fly with a 20-channel radio. That's all that we have? That's so silly. Now all we do is talk to it and it does what we say. Right. Put the flaps down.

[unknown speaker 01:07:21] Okay. Flaps are down. Yeah. I mean… Yeah. Who knows what it's going to look like even in just five years. Yeah. I mean, the synapse. Look at how much easier that made setting up a gyro. Yeah. And gyros are just pretty young too, you know? Really. Modern gyros anyway. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:07:39] Piezo gyros, I guess. At this point, they're just in everything. We take them for granted.

[unknown speaker 01:07:43] Yeah. Well, and I think I even made the comment about when I was flying, I think it was the contender. I was like, man, I look terrible. I was overcorrecting. I mean, I've gotten lazy with the gyros because they make it so much easier or better to fly well. Smoother. Yeah, smoother. There you go.

[01:08:04] Dave: Yep. I still have a mechanical gyro. Electric motor spinning two big brass weights inside a box.

[unknown speaker 01:08:10] Futaba?

[01:08:10] Dave: Futaba. GY-401? Probably.

[unknown speaker 01:08:13] Yeah.

[01:08:14] Dave: Wow.

[unknown speaker 01:08:15] That's interesting.

[unknown speaker 01:08:16] I remember when gyros were really kind of a helicopter-only thing. Yeah. Yeah. And now they're everywhere. Everywhere.

[unknown speaker 01:08:24] Everything. Really? Yeah. Even small UMX.

[unknown speaker 01:08:28] Yeah. Lightweight. Crazy. What's it going to look like in 10 years? It's hard to say, but man, it's going to be exciting.

[unknown speaker 01:08:36] It's going to be fun. I wonder how many more planes they'll have by then.

[unknown speaker 01:08:39] Well, I'm out of room. So, I won't have any more. I'll just have different ones.

[unknown speaker 01:08:43] Well, whatever. All right, guys. I think I'm finished with anything I have to talk about. Yeah. You guys have anything else you want to add?

[unknown speaker 01:08:51] Yeah. It was a fun stroll down memory lane, you know, last weekend going to that fly-in. Hopefully, you know, it works out. I get to go again next year.

[unknown speaker 01:09:01] And Dave can tag along.

[unknown speaker 01:09:02] And maybe you'll have something to fly next time. We'll see.

[01:09:04] Dave: Yep.

[unknown speaker 01:09:05] Hopefully, I'll make it.

[01:09:06] Dave: And I will be taking an Elettra.

[unknown speaker 01:09:07] Nice. There you go. Yeah.

[01:09:09] Dave: I'm scared to have to fly it because it cracks and pops every time I fly it. We'll let them run him out. I still have a four-channel AM Conquest in it.

[unknown speaker 01:09:16] Perfect. He will fit right in. Yep.

[unknown speaker 01:09:19] Yep.

[unknown speaker 01:09:20] All right. Cool. Last words. Anything else? Anybody? That's all I got. All right. Until next time. Thanks for listening. I'm Ron.

[unknown speaker 01:09:26] I'm Tom. And I'm Dave. Good night. Good night, everybody.

[unknown speaker 01:09:29] Good night.

[unknown speaker 01:09:29] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Planelab 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.