Ep 194: The Last Fly-In of the Year… Probably. And Other News… :(

[00:00:02] Tom: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the RC Plane Lab Podcast. I'm Tom.

[unknown speaker 00:00:16] I'm Ron. And I'm Dave. Hey, guys. Tommy, it's good to hear your voice. Why, thank you. It's not long for… I don't want to say that. Not long for this world. No, that's not right. Am I dying? No, you're just leaving us.

[unknown speaker 00:00:30] Are you plotting something I don't know?

[00:00:33] Tom: I guess we'll start off with that. Yeah, deploying again sooner than expected. The deployment originally was going to be October of next year, but it's October of this year.

[unknown speaker 00:00:42] Yes, so you'll be leaving…

[00:00:43] Tom: For six-ish months. So, yep, quickly. We'll be leaving soon, so this will be my last podcast at home, we'll say, for a little while. Unless we figure something out while I'm gone. Possibly. We might.

[unknown speaker 00:00:56] You never know. Yep. But we do have two in the bag. We do.

[00:01:01] Tom: Really good ones. Well, one of them that I think is really good. Which one? Well, the one we recorded last night, I think, is pretty good.

[unknown speaker 00:01:09] Okay. So, let's give everybody a little bit of warning. Okay. Because timing is going to be weird on those episodes. I think… So, the one we recorded last night will probably be the next one that comes out, and that was the one we recorded with Miguel on AS3X+. Mm-hmm. We went over to Eli, and we actually recorded outside. It was kind of fun. Yeah. I enjoyed it. I mean, it was fun, but it got a little chilly.

[00:01:33] Tom: I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was not quite as chilly. Yeah. And if it was lighter, so that we could have flown afterwards.

[unknown speaker 00:01:39] Well, don't take this the wrong way, but that was your fault. No, I'm not saying it wasn't.

[unknown speaker 00:01:44] And we could have flown afterwards. I did fly afterwards.

[unknown speaker 00:01:47] Well, that's true. Just to say. You did. It was too cold for me.

[unknown speaker 00:01:50] I had fully planned on doing it, but left my plane at home.

[unknown speaker 00:01:53] Yeah. That sucks, Dave.

[unknown speaker 00:01:56] Yeah. I was too freaking cold at that point anyway.

[unknown speaker 00:01:59] Yeah. Yeah. You seem quieter or something right now. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:02:03] I can't hear myself in my mic either. Am I turned down or something?

[unknown speaker 00:02:05] No. Can you? Well, if you can't hear yourself, by the way, that means we can't also. Is that any better? It sounds better.

[00:02:12] Tom: Yeah. It looks better. I can hear you. It doesn't look any better, though.

[unknown speaker 00:02:16] When I'm looking here.

[00:02:17] Tom: Oh, on the screen, you mean.

[unknown speaker 00:02:18] Yeah. Okay.

[00:02:19] Tom: I mean, it's the same old Dave.

[unknown speaker 00:02:20] Lost old Dave. Lost my train.

[00:02:23] Tom: I can say that because I'm older than him.

[unknown speaker 00:02:25] Lost my train. No, you're not.

[00:02:26] Tom: Sam. No.

[unknown speaker 00:02:29] Welcome to this week's episode of Old Guy Fight.

[unknown speaker 00:02:33] Old Guy Fight Club. I'm 55 next week. I've been 56 for a while.

[00:02:38] Tom: Oh. God, you're old. Yeah. Wow. I'm not the old guy. Here, all this time, I thought I was the old guys. Reggie is the old, old guy. Yeah. I know. He's like 63 or something. He's surprising. No. Oh, I thought he was 64. Well, that could be. Is that?

[unknown speaker 00:02:57] So anyway.

[unknown speaker 00:02:58] We're going to get calls.

[00:02:59] Tom: So the timing of the episodes.

[unknown speaker 00:03:00] Yeah. So we did the one last night. I don't think we talked much about timing in that one. But the other one that we recorded was the end of year wrap up with the wives. Yeah. Most of. It was just Tommy and my wife.

[unknown speaker 00:03:18] I'm going to have to grab my stepdaughter or something. Drag her along next year.

[unknown speaker 00:03:22] We have a year and a half now by the time. But anyway, so that one is already recorded. That one is going to go out at the end of this year. So I'm not going to lie. We talked about how many flights we had and all that kind of stuff. I'm just done flying now. I mean, I'm not going to add to that number and have the end of year wrap up to talk about it. So yeah, I'm done.

[unknown speaker 00:03:45] No, I quit.

[00:03:46] Tom: Well, but you flew last night.

[unknown speaker 00:03:47] Oh, that's right. All right. I don't quit anymore. I have to add a crash.

[00:03:51] Tom: Oh, yeah. We'll talk about that.

[unknown speaker 00:03:55] Poor Dave. Dave does that a lot, doesn't Dave?

[00:03:58] Tom: I wouldn't say he crashes a lot.

[unknown speaker 00:04:01] He crashes more often than us. But Tommy, you crash. And when you crash, you crash, crash. Well, no, I guess that's not true either because they've ruined his plane. You fixed your plane, but yours was the jet. So that's more expensive. That's what I was getting at. Dollar wise, he crashes. He crashes, crashes. Right. And by the way, I haven't crashed anything.

[00:04:22] Tom: Really, though? That's a lie.

[unknown speaker 00:04:25] What? Please remind me. I don't remember that.

[00:04:28] Tom: Well, I mean, okay. So maybe not destroyed. But you've had mishaps.

[unknown speaker 00:04:36] Well, yeah, but nothing that had to be like repaired, repaired. All right. Like, I think everything that I can think, unless I'm blocking it out because it's so traumatic, everything I can remember was able to just throw it up in the air again. And I mean, it's been like rough landings and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah, that's just, yeah. But nothing that I had to go, oh, well, I have to take this home and fix it. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:04:56] My stuff's spectacular. When it goes in, it goes in. Yes. Yeah.

[00:04:59] Tom: Yeah. But see, like, if a crash, if putting one in doesn't cost you anything with the rebuild, I mean, can you really say it was an expensive crash? No. Because I really…

[unknown speaker 00:05:12] You can still say it was a crash. And you crashed an expensive plane.

[00:05:15] Tom: Yeah, but it didn't cost me anything to fix it. I didn't have to buy any parts or anything to fix it.

[unknown speaker 00:05:20] It cost you pride points.

[00:05:22] Tom: Well, there's that.

[unknown speaker 00:05:23] And mismatched covering.

[00:05:25] Tom: Well, there's that also. But you can't see it. It's on the bottom.

[unknown speaker 00:05:30] But it's over with. The scratch is over. I've already put a scratch on my new truck.

[00:05:34] Tom: Oh. Already?

[unknown speaker 00:05:36] Yeah. I hit a parking sign at work.

[00:05:39] Tom: Oh, my gosh. Really?

[unknown speaker 00:05:40] He did it himself, even. I took him… Oh. It's extreme. It'll buff out. It's just a little stuff on the bumper. Oh, that will buff out.

[00:05:46] Tom: How mad were you?

[unknown speaker 00:05:48] It's like, you know, I really wasn't. It's like, okay, it's over. I've done it.

[00:05:52] Tom: Well, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:05:52] Yeah.

[00:05:52] Tom: Now it's… You got it out of the way, so…

[unknown speaker 00:05:55] Yeah. Four trucks ago, it was hit, and I had repairs on it before I ever made my first payment. Oh. So I can deal with a little scuff on a bumper.

[00:06:04] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:06:04] That's not so bad. I guess.

[00:06:09] Tom: So the timing…

[unknown speaker 00:06:09] It feels that we got off track, and I don't remember what our track was. I'm trying to…

[00:06:12] Tom: Well, we were talking about the timing of the episodes.

[unknown speaker 00:06:14] Oh, that's right. Yeah. So that stuff is in the past, even though it's going to be in the future. And… It's like doing the time warp again. Yeah.

[00:06:22] Tom: Yeah. I don't… Sorry, guys. It's my fault.

[unknown speaker 00:06:24] It's been a very hectic week. Let's just say that.

[00:06:27] Tom: For our… I think all of us. Yeah. It's been… Separate… All of us separately, if that makes sense. Like, you've been busy doing your stuff. Dave, you've been busy doing your stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:06:36] My phone exploded, so I had to go get a new phone.

[00:06:38] Tom: That's an entire evening. I've been busy doing, you know, pre-deployment stuff. Plus, we were busy recording episodes.

[unknown speaker 00:06:43] Right. Yeah. Tuesday was a meeting. Wednesday was a premature recording.

[unknown speaker 00:06:49] UNKNOWN: Right.

[unknown speaker 00:06:51] And Saturday… Or was that Sunday? Sunday was… And then right after that, Sunday, we had to rush and do something else. And then I got… We had an event on Saturday.

[unknown speaker 00:06:58] Oh, yeah. That was Saturday.

[unknown speaker 00:07:00] Man, I have been busy. No wonder I feel like I've been busy. Mm-hmm. And then this next… This weekend's okay. But this next weekend, I got stuff both days. Mm-hmm. All day, both days. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:07:09] And it's really fun. Yep. Cool, though. Yep. So, Tommy's gone.

[unknown speaker 00:07:13] Bye. Yeah. Adios. No, really, bye. I'll… I mean, that's… No, just easy.

[unknown speaker 00:07:20] We're done. Yeah, you got to deal with me for six months.

[unknown speaker 00:07:24] I hope you say more than you have the last six months. I hope so, too.

[00:07:30] Tom: Dave is going to have to step up.

[unknown speaker 00:07:32] On today's five-minute episode of the RC Planet Podcast…

[00:07:35] Tom: Ron talks about this.

[unknown speaker 00:07:37] Let's listen to our intro music back-to-back. Here we go.

[00:07:42] Tom: So, sorry, everybody. Yeah, you'll be without me. Not that anybody's going to miss me, but… Yeah. We may be able to figure out a way to…

[unknown speaker 00:07:51] See, don't say that, because if it doesn't happen, then… I said may.

[00:07:55] Tom: Well, yeah. Then say will.

[unknown speaker 00:07:56] Then people are going to be like, oh, maybe? And then it's kind of like, hey, we're going to… No, never mind. I was going to say, like, when we were talking about the tri-motor, how'd that go?

[00:08:05] Tom: Well, I mean…

[unknown speaker 00:08:06] You know what, I really was planning on doing that, like, starting at least this winter. I know, sorry. You know, you still can.

[unknown speaker 00:08:11] Well, we had planned on it.

[unknown speaker 00:08:12] We had, actually. But we didn't announce that yet. You still can.

[unknown speaker 00:08:15] No, I'm not going to.

[unknown speaker 00:08:16] That's something you've got to deal with. I mean, Dave could knock it out probably in a weekend. Dave by himself could probably do it in a night. Probably. Because he… What do you need, Dave? I don't know. Just give me a tree. Yeah. Here you go.

[unknown speaker 00:08:29] Give me a ball of a tree. A tree and a knife.

[00:08:34] Tom: Yeah, some CA. I'm good. All right. So, anyway, what's new this week?

[unknown speaker 00:08:39] We got two new airplanes to talk about.

[00:08:41] Tom: Okay. I'll start.

[unknown speaker 00:08:42] And you guys go.

[00:08:43] Tom: All right. So, X-Fly. I think they announced this, actually, a week before last. I saw this, I think, come across this time.

[unknown speaker 00:08:49] It's been since we recorded. Yeah.

[00:08:52] Tom: But I don't remember what day. Yeah, weird. Anyway, a new F-35, 64 millimeter, which is a nice size. And retracts. Finally, retracts in a 64 millimeter with a caveat. Yeah. It's really… It's a big one. It's a… For a 64 millimeter jet, it's not small. It's really closer to 70 millimeter in size, which is really kind of ironic because X-Fly says you can upgrade the power system in this jet to a 70 millimeter, which makes it a 70 millimeter F-35.

[00:09:25] Tom: At any rate, 750 millimeter wingspan, which is roughly 30 inches. It flies on a 6S up to a 5200, so all of our 5,000 milliamp 6S's would work in this one. Five channel with, you know, aileron, elevator, rudder, throttle, and retracts. It actually looks really good. I have an X-Fly model myself. It's that SU-30 set, the blue. Oh, yeah. That's right. And it actually flies really well. Now, granted, it has a spectrum… Is that fixed gear on that one? Yeah. Mine… Yeah.

[00:09:59] Tom: Well, it's 64 millimeter, so… Oh, no. Actually, that one's twin 40s, right? Gosh, I can't remember. I know mine.

[unknown speaker 00:10:07] If it's the same power system as my Blue Angels F-18, then, yeah.

[00:10:11] Tom: It's the twin 40s. But at any rate, it flies really well, and it's pretty well done. Looking through the pictures, this one looks pretty good. The outline is… I mean, it looks like an F-35 to me. It doesn't have any weird intake bulges or any of that kind of stuff like the F-18 has.

[unknown speaker 00:10:30] You've got cheater holes.

[00:10:31] Tom: The other one…

[unknown speaker 00:10:31] I was going to say, not the X-Fly one. I don't know, the black one or the black and yellow one. The F-MS. Yeah, that one. So, let's take a step backwards really quick. Okay. So, I would call that F-18 over there, the X-Fly, 64mm size. It's about the exact same size… I agree. …as the F-MS F-18 I have, except that's the twin 40.

[00:10:53] Tom: Although, I would say that that F-18 wingspan might be a little shorter than the 64mm Viper.

[unknown speaker 00:10:59] Absolutely, it would. Yeah. Because the… I mean, I'm talking about, like, jets and stuff. Like scale type. Yeah. Yeah, trying to compare it to that one. So, the wingspan on the X-Fly F-18 that's over here is 705mm. What's that one?

[00:11:13] Tom: This one's 750.

[unknown speaker 00:11:15] It's considerably larger. So, can we… This is 27.7 inches. What is that one? Does it say?

[00:11:20] Tom: 29.5.

[unknown speaker 00:11:22] That's not that much bigger.

[00:11:23] Tom: A couple inches. Yeah. Yeah, a couple inches.

[unknown speaker 00:11:27] That's exactly… Length. This one is 980mm or 38.6 inches. 43.3 inches. So, that's…

[00:11:36] Tom: Considerably longer.

[unknown speaker 00:11:38] It's quite a much larger aircraft overall.

[00:11:40] Tom: So, I… You know… Okay, it comes with a 64mm fan, but it's upgradable to a 70. So, I really…

[unknown speaker 00:11:46] I would kind of call it a 70.

[00:11:48] Tom: Either way, 269.99, and that is a plug-and-play. Does it give you flying weight by any chance? I think I saw that somewhere. Flying weight. Yeah. 1,800 grams. Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:12:03] So, there's the difference. That X-Fly F-18 is 950.

[00:12:07] Tom: Oh, my gosh. This is almost twice as heavy.

[unknown speaker 00:12:09] Yeah. Oh, dear.

[unknown speaker 00:12:11] I wonder how that actually flies then. Yeah, it's going to need that 70.

[unknown speaker 00:12:14] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:12:14] It'll fly on 65, but I bet to have any fun, you're going to need that 70. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:12:20] But that's also the difference between a 4S 2200, which is what this little twin 40 is.

[00:12:26] Tom: This is a single 64mm, not a twin 40.

[unknown speaker 00:12:29] Yeah, but so is the FMS F-18, which is like the same size. Okay. Yeah, I got you.

[00:12:34] Tom: Yeah, I don't know. We'll see. But for $269.99…

[unknown speaker 00:12:39] That's not a bad price.

[00:12:40] Tom: Plus, you know, you put a receiver in it. I don't think that's awful. For an F-35?

[unknown speaker 00:12:44] It's not bad.

[unknown speaker 00:12:44] By the time you get re-tracks.

[00:12:46] Tom: Yeah, with re-tracks. Right. Yeah. I don't think that's bad at all. I would definitely consider the upgrade to a 70mm. Yeah. So, anyway, new from X-Fly.

[unknown speaker 00:12:57] And X-Fly, I'm going to be honest, like, I think they do pretty good with their airplanes.

[00:13:02] Tom: That Sukhoi I have actually looks really, really good. And it flies good, too.

[unknown speaker 00:13:06] Yeah. Same with that F-18. I really… I prefer that over the FMS one. That just… It flies better. I think it looks better. Mm-hmm. The finish is better.

[00:13:15] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:13:17] Yeah.

[00:13:18] Tom: FMS… Go ahead.

[unknown speaker 00:13:19] I was going to say, the one thing that I can't stand on the FMS is it's not full-flying stabs.

[00:13:24] Tom: Yeah. And this one doesn't have them either. I noticed it has elevators, not stab-a-lators. Right? Because that's… No, I take that back. I was going to say. I was wrong. I figured they did. It is full-flying stabs.

[unknown speaker 00:13:35] Full-flying stabs is the way to go. Yeah.

[00:13:37] Tom: Except for, like, FMS. Yeah. Yep. So, far out.

[unknown speaker 00:13:41] Yeah, because… Yeah.

[00:13:43] Tom: Yeah. Cool. There you go. What do you got, Dave? Bunch of paper. No. That you do.

[unknown speaker 00:13:50] So, I have the… He's not lying. No. I've got the e-flight SNJ Harvard.

[00:13:57] Tom: Or T-6 Texan.

[unknown speaker 00:13:58] Or T-6 Texan. However, this does say SNJ on the tail, so I'm going to have to go with the…

[00:14:02] Tom: We'll go with the Harvard.

[unknown speaker 00:14:04] Which is the Navy version of the Texan. Mm-hmm. Let's see here. This is one and a half meter, find and fly. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:14:13] Just almost five feet. 59 and some change.

[unknown speaker 00:14:18] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:14:18] And just…

[unknown speaker 00:14:18] It's a decent-sized airplane. Yeah. Anything 1.2 to 1.5 is a nice size. It's big enough to have presence, but not so big that it's a pain to put in your car. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:14:28] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:14:29] I like that.

[unknown speaker 00:14:29] And or store.

[unknown speaker 00:14:32] Of course, it's foam. And we're looking at $379.99 for the… Find and fly. Find and fly. Mm-hmm. Beautiful yellow and red silver scheme. Kind of generic markings on it, which is nice, so you could dress it up for your own if you want to. Yep. Comes with a 70-amp AVN speed control in it. The motor flaps and retracts. Just a generally nice-looking sports scale. Looks good in the videos. Airplane.

[unknown speaker 00:15:05] Yeah, it does.

[00:15:07] Tom: And it's a warbird. I know. So… I'm wacky. Yeah, me too.

[unknown speaker 00:15:12] And that kind of warbird. I mean, like…

[00:15:15] Tom: Well, yeah, you had…

[unknown speaker 00:15:16] That's right. F-18 to be a warbird, but…

[00:15:18] Tom: Yeah, yeah. Propeller-driven… Yeah. Yeah, we are…

[unknown speaker 00:15:21] Classics. Something in the heavy metal department.

[00:15:23] Tom: We are shamefully short. Woefully short. Woefully, even. Woefully. There you go. We will have to remedy that. That means new airplanes. Yeah. Yay. Which means I have to get rid of some.

[unknown speaker 00:15:35] Comes with AS3X Plus. Optional use safe. Mm-hmm. Pretty standard stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:15:41] Actually, that just hit me. So, like… We did the end of the year wrap-up already. So, does that mean… No. …from now till the end of the year, I have… You can't buy new airplanes. You have to add them on to 26. No. No. Because it's still 25, so that means I have immunity. No. So, they… That means you can't change your numbers. We don't have to talk about it.

[00:15:59] Tom: No, you can't.

[unknown speaker 00:16:00] We just don't have to talk about it. Like, if I get…

[00:16:02] Tom: Well, then your continuity from 25 to 26 is going to be…

[unknown speaker 00:16:06] No, I mean, I'll still count it, but we won't talk about it, because we've already talked about it early, so therefore… Well, you won't have… It goes unreported. You wouldn't have to talk about it again. Right. So, then next year, it would be like, I didn't buy any planes, but I have, like, eight more. But that would be lying. No, it wouldn't. That would be omitting the truth. Why are we even having this conversation? I don't know, because… I don't know.

[00:16:28] Tom: Because Ron likes to bend the rules?

[unknown speaker 00:16:30] No. I'm a strict rule follower. Indeed. Okay, then.

[unknown speaker 00:16:35] Battery. I've lost my place. It's three or four cell. You can do 2,200 to 4,000.

[00:16:44] Tom: Ooh, a 4S 4,000 would be a lot of fun in that, I bet. 4S 2,200 would be a lot of fun in that, because I already own them. For less time.

[unknown speaker 00:16:51] Well, but still, lighter. I think it would fly better with a lighter pack.

[00:16:53] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:16:54] If it balances. That's the key. I mean, it should. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:16:57] Otherwise, it wouldn't be in the manual or in the literature.

[00:17:01] Tom: Yeah. Nice. It looks good. I like the color scheme. It looks really good.

[unknown speaker 00:17:05] Should be easy to stay. See? And it's bright.

[00:17:08] Tom: It's got gray on it. It's silver. It's silver. But it does have a lot of other color on it, like red and yellow. So it should be visible.

[unknown speaker 00:17:16] If you can't see this, you probably need to pick up a different hobby.

[unknown speaker 00:17:20] It's, yeah. It's not camouflage blue. That's for sure. That's true.

[unknown speaker 00:17:25] Yeah. Talk to me about camo blue.

[00:17:28] Tom: Dave likes it. He likes good challenge.

[unknown speaker 00:17:31] He's weird.

[00:17:32] Tom: The more invisible it is, the happier he is.

[unknown speaker 00:17:35] I want my stealth plane to be really stealth. That, any one I've got in the Navy color.

[00:17:40] Tom: Oh, man. The cub.

[unknown speaker 00:17:41] The cub with the, the navalized cub. Yes. With the, blue top and gray sides. Yeah. That thing. It disappears. Quickly. In the sky. And that will be talked about in a little bit.

[unknown speaker 00:17:53] Yes. Correct? Yeah. That was.

[00:17:55] Tom: So that's what's new this week. the X-Fly F-35 and the E-Flight Texan, or excuse me, Harvard.

[unknown speaker 00:18:04] Before we go on. Yes. Before we talk about our, our last fly-in of the year. For you, for sure. For us, Dave, probably. Like, I don't think we have any fly-ins. I don't think there's a good thing coming up that I'm aware of. No, but there's a good SWAT meet coming up that I'm going to miss.

[unknown speaker 00:18:20] I'm going to miss that one, too. I've got to teach a class.

[unknown speaker 00:18:22] Sorry. Go ahead. I will be there with bells on. I'll have to buy something.

[00:18:26] Tom: Okay. Before we go on, you were talking, you were saying.

[unknown speaker 00:18:28] so I was flipping through the channels the other day and I found an actually a cool show. Like on TV? Well, okay. Not really flipping through channels. That's, that's, that's like saying I'm going to videotape something. You're not actually videotaping something. so I was scrolling through the menus on the TV, and I came across one on National Geographic. It's called Top Guns, The Next Generation.

[00:18:56] Tom: That sounds super interesting.

[unknown speaker 00:19:00] I didn't know how, which way you're going with that, to be honest. Because, because, anyway. So, it's a, it says it's a docuseries following a class of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps student pilots through their final intense phase of their elite strike fighter training. But what got me more than anything, and like why I actually stopped and started to watch it, they fly the, the T-45 Gosshawk. Oh. So, it's like the exact same thing that Hangar 9 has out.

[00:19:28] Tom: So, yeah, it makes a connection for you.

[unknown speaker 00:19:29] well, that's what caught my eye, and now after watching that, I, I want that jet more. Oh. Oh. I can't afford it, so that's not going to happen by any means. But, yeah. Especially after seeing that in, in person flying.

[00:19:43] Tom: It's so, in the, in the future, a possible T-45 Gosshawk for a ride.

[unknown speaker 00:19:47] I doubt it, but one will never say no.

[unknown speaker 00:19:50] I've got parts for one. I had a, free, not free, this guy, free wing? Free wing, yes. I had a free wing, T-45. Nice. Second flight, I had a boo-boo.

[unknown speaker 00:20:07] There seems to be, yeah, that seems to be something.

[unknown speaker 00:20:10] So, if you need T-45 landing gear, I've got some slightly bent ones.

[unknown speaker 00:20:15] Those might look weird on the, the turbine version, but. It might be a little small.

[unknown speaker 00:20:19] This was years ago.

[00:20:21] Tom: Oh, okay.

[unknown speaker 00:20:22] But anyway, so if anybody's looking for something to put on in the background while you're building or doing something like that.

[00:20:26] Tom: You mean besides our podcast?

[unknown speaker 00:20:28] Well, yes, but that's only like once a week or every two weeks, I guess. So, yeah. I don't know why I said once a week. I haven't done that for a long time. It's been a while.

[unknown speaker 00:20:37] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[00:20:38] Tom: So, cool show. Good show. You would recommend?

[unknown speaker 00:20:40] I think it's something worth, tuning into. I'll check it out. In the background. It, so. It wasn't one like I was constantly watching. Is it on one of the streaming services? Or YouTube?

[unknown speaker 00:20:49] I may have dozed off a second. What's it on?

[unknown speaker 00:20:52] I, YouTube TV is where I got it, but it's on National Geographic. So. Oh, okay. If you can get that on, I think Disney Plus or whatever. I think Disney Plus has, I think, maybe.

[00:21:01] Tom: But anyway. Okay. Worth tuning into. Top Guns Next Generation. The Next Generation. So, it's like Star Trek The Next Generation, but Top Guns.

[unknown speaker 00:21:11] I don't know what Star Trek. I've never watched that one.

[00:21:13] Tom: I haven't either, but that was like a popular TV show back in the. I know what that one is, but yeah, I never watched it.

[unknown speaker 00:21:18] Well, why'd you say that? Well, because I want to see how dorky you were if you're going to be like, Oh, no, that's the best, best one ever, blah, blah, blah. You were trying to set me up then. I was just trying to pull some information out.

[00:21:27] Tom: You were trying to set me up so you could make fun of me.

[unknown speaker 00:21:29] I, absolutely.

[00:21:30] Tom: Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:21:31] Dave's pretty quiet though. So, Dave, you a big Star Trek fan?

[unknown speaker 00:21:36] Well, yes.

[unknown speaker 00:21:37] Oh, boy. Here we go.

[unknown speaker 00:21:38] I tend to lean towards the Star Wars side of things, but I don't object to Star Trek, especially the older stuff. I cannot get into the new Star Wars stuff. It's just, well, it's like watching Parliament or something.

[unknown speaker 00:21:57] So, since we really don't have much to talk about today and we're getting a little off topic. We have stuff to talk about. I will show my stupidity by when I was in high school, they re-released Star Wars in theaters. I thought they were new movies. Didn't realize that they had been out for a while. I got made fun of a lot for that. And also, they're doing new Spaceballs. Did you see that? Spaceballs, too.

[00:22:16] Tom: And Rick Moranis is coming back. I know. He's coming out of retirement to do that.

[unknown speaker 00:22:20] I think that is so amazing. I can't wait to see it. 2027. I'm looking forward to it.

[unknown speaker 00:22:25] Me, too. Ways off.

[unknown speaker 00:22:26] Yeah, but it'll be worth it. I hope. History of the World was terrible. The new one. So, hopefully, this one actually does make up for it, hopefully. Yeah.

[00:22:36] Tom: Anyway. Yeah. Cool new show. I'll check it out. I'll see if I can find it on YouTube.

[unknown speaker 00:22:41] And I'll watch. Sorry. Yogurt's coming back. Mm-hmm. Mel Brooks will be back in. They better do that quick, though, because he's 99. Yeah. He's still pretty spry, though.

[unknown speaker 00:22:52] With AI stuff, you just take old stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:22:54] Oh, yeah. Well, but at that age, he's still probably just in case.

[00:22:57] Tom: Well, that's true.

[unknown speaker 00:22:59] Anywho. All right. So, what's next? We had a fly-in. We did. The last unfortunate fly-in of the season. Mm-hmm. But it was a good one.

[00:23:07] Tom: The local, yeah, the local SVRC club here in town. I think we went out with a bang on this one.

[unknown speaker 00:23:13] I enjoyed it.

[00:23:14] Tom: Yeah, that was a good day, I thought. Did quite a bit of fly-in.

[unknown speaker 00:23:18] No. Can I say that? No crashing? No crashing?

[unknown speaker 00:23:23] No crashing? Amongst this group. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:23:24] No crashing?

[unknown speaker 00:23:25] Yeah. I did four aircraft, new flights on new radio, so all four were remade. Remade. Kind of, yeah. And everything went swimmingly.

[00:23:36] Tom: Yeah. I flew the Cub a couple times. What else did I say? Oh, the escapes me. I'm going to have to look at my pictures.

[unknown speaker 00:23:45] Anyway, yeah, it was a good day. The 163 didn't blow up?

[00:23:49] Tom: Yeah. That's, yeah, I was going to talk about that. Like, I was, I forget what I was doing. I was doing something in the pits. And I knew you were flying it. I knew it was, like, in the air. And I made a mental note, oh, I need to watch while he flies, because he's probably going to light off the rocket. And then I turned away, and I was, I forget what I was doing. What was I doing?

[unknown speaker 00:24:13] It's your story, buddy.

[00:24:14] Tom: I was not looking at the airplane. And then the rocket went off. And it's, it's, like, frightened me. I was like, oh, my gosh, what's that? Oh, I missed it.

[unknown speaker 00:24:23] So, anyway.

[00:24:24] Tom: There's the smoke. But it was a successful rocket ignition and not explosion. Two in a row. That's awesome. That thing is really fun to watch.

[unknown speaker 00:24:34] It's fun to fly. You really need to fly it somewhere.

[00:24:39] Tom: I don't know about that.

[unknown speaker 00:24:40] It slows down really, really nice. And it is a nice, gentle, flying, sport airplane. But when you push that left stick forward, it goes. It goes. It's fast without the rocket. Yeah.

[00:24:54] Tom: I don't think it's any faster with the rocket, though. I was going to say, to be honest, when you ignite the rocket, it doesn't appear to really accelerate much.

[unknown speaker 00:25:01] Flying it, you can't tell the difference. But it is a cool experience. It's just, all of a sudden, smoke comes out the back of it. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:25:07] The other one you took, Tommy, was the decathlon, by the way.

[unknown speaker 00:25:09] Yeah. The RJJ Gritter.

[00:25:11] Tom: Or RJJ Gritter. The RJ Gritter decathlon. Yeah. Flew the snot out of that thing.

[unknown speaker 00:25:15] Yeah.

[00:25:16] Tom: Yeah. Learned a new maneuver, which I will probably forget by the next time I fly, which that's okay. Learned how to do a pop top, which that was, that's really fun to do. And it's fun to watch.

[unknown speaker 00:25:26] Yeah, we know you enjoyed it because it was giggling, giddy giggling, and just one after the other, after the other, after the other, after the other.

[00:25:33] Tom: Well, and then you can, yeah, you can tailor it. You can, you know, depending on the timing of the stick movements, you can make it do other neat stuff while it's doing that.

[unknown speaker 00:25:43] Right.

[00:25:43] Tom: I thought it was cool.

[unknown speaker 00:25:45] Yeah. Daniel was out there with his.

[00:25:46] Tom: Yep. I was out there with mine. We flew, we tried to fly three of them together.

[unknown speaker 00:25:51] We did fly three of them together.

[00:25:52] Tom: Well, we did, but we just weren't very close together.

[unknown speaker 00:25:54] You and I were, I mean, there was a couple of times where it looked like we were going to touch. They're so far. Well, Daniel was missing half an inch off of one propeller blade, so. Why does it sound weird? Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:26:07] It was pretty good.

[00:26:08] Tom: Yeah. But after he trimmed the prop, it was fine.

[unknown speaker 00:26:10] Yeah, we just took a Dremel to it and cut off the other prop and he hasn't even balanced it. It's fine.

[unknown speaker 00:26:15] Yeah. Good enough for the rest of the day. Yeah. It's a pretty forgiving airplane, honestly. Those propellers aren't very expensive either.

[00:26:21] Tom: Yeah. I think they come in packages of two, actually. Oh, do they really? I think so.

[unknown speaker 00:26:25] I think, actually, it's the same propeller that was on the plane I recently destroyed and I have a spare one for that one.

[00:26:30] Tom: Well, there you go. See?

[unknown speaker 00:26:31] Very good.

[unknown speaker 00:26:33] Yeah. So, we were there pretty much all day. Yep.

[00:26:37] Tom: Yeah, you guys got there before I did. I couldn't get there as early as you did, but yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:26:41] Well, and the only thing that sucked is, so, I actually went before it opened because I knew parking was going to be a little bit more difficult because this was not only just an RC fly-in, but it's a full-length runway. I mean, it's an active runway, grass runway still, but anyway. And it was in conjunction with the local EAA guys. Mm-hmm. So, there were the possibility of seven airplanes coming in, and I think we ended up having three or four. I think it was three.

[unknown speaker 00:27:10] It was two airplanes and a gyrocopter. So, anyway, they weren't wanting people to park much farther down. So, Daniel got there before I did, but he dropped his trailer, and then there wasn't enough room, I was told, for me down by you guys with the trailer, so I had to go opposite side of the parking area.

[00:27:34] Tom: Oh, I was wondering why you parked where you parked.

[unknown speaker 00:27:36] I tried to park down by him at first, but I was told they didn't know that room.

[00:27:39] Tom: Well, that's where I would have expected to have seen you, but when I saw you were back then, like, normally where are we all back? And I was like, well, that's weird, but okay.

[unknown speaker 00:27:46] It would have been nice to have all the trailers together.

[unknown speaker 00:27:48] Mm-hmm. I know. I didn't like having the separation, but that just, unfortunately, was just how things came in with people showing up time-wise and all that. But it ended up, like I said, it was a good day. We had, I mean, there was a lot of flights between us, especially, because I took the Hangar 9 Cub. I don't think I'm ever going to do that again, though. You know, we'll go somewhere with that when you take your Cub, because, I mean. Why?

[unknown speaker 00:28:18] I mean, it's just, it's, even my wife showed up and saw them there, and she's like, oh, you have a mini one of Tommy's. It's like, it's not, it's not mini, but.

[unknown speaker 00:28:28] But next to, next to. Next year. Next to a quarter scale. How do you think I felt with mine sitting there and there?

[unknown speaker 00:28:35] Well, yours wasn't right next to it, so I didn't have to hear that.

[00:28:39] Tom: The same color.

[unknown speaker 00:28:40] Yeah, it was, and everybody would go down. Oh, look, it's a mini me. Yeah, everybody would go down and look at yours. Oh, that's, the covering on that's beautiful. Look at that. And just would ignore mine, but that's okay. So, yeah, I'll probably never do that again. Sorry. Well, that wasn't mine. I probably, I probably will. I mean, it's fun to fly. It is. It's a good flying airplane. Got a few flights on the Cree Cree. Cry, cry. Still don't know.

[unknown speaker 00:29:02] I'm going to say that both ways every single time. Can you Google that at some point so we can end this? Probably can, but I'm not going to remember. No. And it's more fun to say it twice. Found out that plane actually flies better than I thought. It flies wonderfully. I don't know what you were scared of. Well, because it just, I've seen how it's assembled, and it's not the best assembled airplane. It's a little sketch on the inside. Right, it's not, anyway, it was fun.

[unknown speaker 00:29:31] Got some pictures of it. Almost had another Tommy watch this moment as I was taking pictures. You flew it once for me so I could get pictures because nobody else knows how to take a picture. Well, I mean, you're not wrong. Crystal, Crystal, God love her. She took a couple pictures for me, and she's like, here, what do you think of this one? Well, I'm flying, by the way. I'm like, I can't look now. Like, I cannot look over.

[unknown speaker 00:29:56] And then after I landed and stuff, I looked over, and it was like three pixels wide. I mean, I'm like, what? Zoom, zoom, zoom. What is that fuzzball?

[unknown speaker 00:30:03] It was a dot in the top right.

[unknown speaker 00:30:04] Exactly. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:30:05] Not centered at all.

[unknown speaker 00:30:07] And she's like, well, I don't know what you're looking for. And I'm like, I know. It's okay. Tommy, come fly this. And then we got some good pictures. But like I said, with the whole, I told you to go left to right with a little bit of a bank so I could get a photo. And then you were three inches off the ground with the wingtip.

[00:30:23] Tom: Yeah. Yeah. As requested. I don't see a problem. Yeah. That's what you requested. So that's what I gave you.

[unknown speaker 00:30:29] No, Dave likes to do that. And then just hit the ground.

[00:30:32] Tom: But. Wow. It's beat up on Dave. Nice. No. I was being nice. But no, it flies great. And you told me, like, you handed me the transmitter and, oh, by the way, don't fly it around at full throttle.

[unknown speaker 00:30:46] Right. Well, because I had not had a lot of time on that before. I think I got one or two flights on it when we were at Eli the first time. And so at the flying this past weekend, I flew it, a couple batteries through it, and one of them I went full throttle. And the thing just kind of started to shimmy back and forth. But not like AS-3X, like just a weird, I think it must have been just going through turbulence or something weird like that.

[unknown speaker 00:31:11] And it was probably, what made it look weird is it was probably the AS-3X trying to fight it and bring it back.

[unknown speaker 00:31:18] And it's got such a high center of gravity in that, too.

[unknown speaker 00:31:20] And, yeah, that's the other thing. It's just a weird-looking airplane to begin with. And, I mean, I don't know how the weird thrust angle works because the pods are not level with the wing. They're not in line with anything. They are just up and out and, yeah.

[00:31:36] Tom: It flies wonderfully. It really does.

[unknown speaker 00:31:38] No, it does.

[00:31:38] Tom: You're right. And I opened it up and I flew laps.

[unknown speaker 00:31:41] And that's why I think it was just turbulence or something.

[00:31:45] Tom: Yeah, no problem at all.

[unknown speaker 00:31:46] Because we saw there was a lot of air movement.

[00:31:48] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:31:48] Oh, yeah. There was a lot of dust devils. A lot of dust devils.

[unknown speaker 00:31:50] A lot of thermals.

[unknown speaker 00:31:51] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:31:52] Thermals, my little Umex Waco, we thermaled that. Nice.

[unknown speaker 00:31:55] That's cool.

[unknown speaker 00:31:56] Motor off and it was shooting straight up. That's awesome. Yeah, that's cool.

[unknown speaker 00:31:59] But, yeah.

[00:32:00] Tom: So, we took it up and installed it. That's a keeper, actually. And it's very well-behaved.

[unknown speaker 00:32:05] I almost took that to get rid of at Toledo last year.

[00:32:09] Tom: I'm glad you didn't. I'm glad you still have it because I think that one's a keeper.

[unknown speaker 00:32:11] Yep. That's definitely. Because it's just so different.

[00:32:14] Tom: It sounds cool, too. Because the motors are just out of sync. Yeah. So, you kind of have that, you know, that wah-wah.

[unknown speaker 00:32:20] Yeah.

[00:32:21] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:32:21] But then it's a drum because of the way it's built. It's just, so it has that weird resonance sound in it, too. And that's.

[00:32:28] Tom: I don't know. I like it. The thing that takes some getting used to is because the motors are up on pods, it does. It's weird. In certain positions, if you're not really paying attention or if you're just kind of half paying attention or look away and then look back at it, it looks like it's flying around upside down because those look like landing gear.

[unknown speaker 00:32:52] Even if you are paying complete attention, like my mind still, and it's getting better as I fly it a little bit more.

[00:32:58] Tom: And it probably, yeah, you'll eventually get used to it or whatever. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:33:02] But there was several times, which makes no sense because there's a bubble canopy that's like seven feet tall. Huge. And then, you know, you can tell the rear stabilizer is up. So, I mean, it needs a pilot. It does. But I don't have any 40% pilots around right now to put in that. That don't weigh five ounces.

[00:33:24] Tom: It's a 40% scale, 32-inch wing.

[unknown speaker 00:33:27] I'm exaggerating, but yeah. I don't know what that is, but it's not 80-inch. I think it's like 70 or 71. So, it's not even like considered, you know.

[00:33:38] Tom: But like the real, I mean, the full-size airplane is tiny.

[unknown speaker 00:33:41] Yeah. Well, I know. It's, I think, 16 feet or something.

[00:33:43] Tom: Dave and I saw one. Well, the single-engine version, we saw one.

[unknown speaker 00:33:48] Oh, we can talk about that, too. I forgot all about that. At the Wings and Wheels event, so. I'm going to write that down here so we don't forget.

[unknown speaker 00:33:56] Okay. And wheels. It's written down.

[unknown speaker 00:34:00] So, I also took the FMS-18, FMS-F-18. There you go. Flew that a couple times.

[00:34:06] Tom: Almost crashed it. No, no, no, no, no, no. It was closer to the ground than me flying the Cree Cree. Yes. I mean. Yeah. Another half an inch. No, another inch.

[unknown speaker 00:34:18] I think half an inch. It didn't touch the grass.

[00:34:20] Tom: No, but I'm saying.

[unknown speaker 00:34:21] So, that was a bad takeoff. That was a bad throw. And honestly, saved by the hand launch assist built into the receiver. Because.

[00:34:32] Tom: Oh, yeah. For sure.

[unknown speaker 00:34:34] I would have Tommy'd it.

[00:34:36] Tom: Can I say that?

[unknown speaker 00:34:37] It would have been me launching it still. But you were flying it when I threw your airplane into the ground. So, would that be Tommy'ing it? I'm going to say.

[00:34:45] Tom: No, because Tommy had nothing to do with the launch.

[unknown speaker 00:34:47] Yeah, you could have, like, tried to pull up a little harder.

[unknown speaker 00:34:51] God, he's just mean to both of us. I know.

[unknown speaker 00:34:53] No, it was all me. I know. When I crashed your airplane. But anyway, so hand launch assist helped me quite a bit. I. You run. I would never.

[00:35:00] Tom: Ronnie did. Mm-mm. I'm going to say that. Ronald.

[unknown speaker 00:35:03] But, I mean, no harm, no foul. It took off fine. It was very close.

[00:35:08] Tom: Hand launch assist saved your bacon.

[unknown speaker 00:35:10] It did. And then I had, by the time I got my hand back to it, you know, it was already full throttle. But I was able to give it more up elevator. And, I mean, it probably missed the weeds on the side of the runway by, I don't know, a good two and a half, three inches.

[00:35:27] Tom: Oh, it was close.

[unknown speaker 00:35:28] It was, yeah. Yeah. I expected the walk of shame just to the end of the runway where I had to go pick it up.

[00:35:33] Tom: But, no. Had the corn not been taken out? It would have been in the corn. It would have been in the corn.

[unknown speaker 00:35:37] Oh, absolutely. But I also would not have thrown it that way.

[00:35:40] Tom: Well, that's true.

[unknown speaker 00:35:41] If the corn was there, I would have gone with the runway as opposed to the end of the wind as much as I did. Because it didn't have rudders, so it was more.

[00:35:47] Tom: Yeah, but the next launch after that was perfect.

[unknown speaker 00:35:51] F-22. Freewing F-22. I also took that one. Flew that a couple times. And then, as we said before, we had the RJG, or how did you say? The RJG Gritter. RJG Gritter Decathlon. And Dave, not Dave, because Dave doesn't have one. Daniel, Tommy, and I flew them all together, and it was a bunch of fun.

[00:36:14] Tom: What did you fly, Dave, besides the Comet?

[unknown speaker 00:36:17] I had the 163. I had my NE1 Naval Ice Cub.

[00:36:21] Tom: Oh, that's right. I forget you flew that one because it was invisible.

[unknown speaker 00:36:24] Yeah, because we didn't see it. And the Force struck so quiet on it.

[unknown speaker 00:36:28] It is. So was that the Goldberg? It's the Goldberg.

[unknown speaker 00:36:32] That's the one I bought at Toledo for $50 and stripped.

[unknown speaker 00:36:36] That's the one that smelled so bad. No, it's not me. I swear. It's my airplane. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:36:41] Like, you know, all of a sudden I had a 50-pack a day to have it. That's why it was yellow, too. Yeah, we locked that one in the trailer and opened the door on the trailer. I was like, oh.

[00:36:50] Tom: Oh, dear. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:36:53] And then I had just my little UMX Waco. Oh, that's right. Yep. Interestingly, on that day.

[00:36:58] Tom: Did you take them to us that day? No.

[unknown speaker 00:37:01] There was one there. Because it was a scale event, and so.

[unknown speaker 00:37:05] Yeah, but somebody ended up. Somebody helped.

[unknown speaker 00:37:07] No, I flew Daniel's wing. Ah, that's what it was. The Shadow Seeker. The Shadow Seeker.

[unknown speaker 00:37:12] Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:37:12] That's it. Interestingly, on that day, I flew gasoline. I flew glow. I flew electric. And rocket.

[00:37:21] Tom: Yeah, the only thing missing is turbine. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:37:25] Turbine.

[00:37:27] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:37:31] We're going to get him.

[00:37:32] Tom: We're going to get him. Just give it some time. We'll get him. We'll get him in.

[unknown speaker 00:37:35] A couple more crashes amongst you guys. I'll pick up some equipment real cheap.

[00:37:40] Tom: Exactly. Yeah. I mean, pretty soon, Ron will have a second one and spare. I have a second one and a spare, so.

[unknown speaker 00:37:48] I mean, I have so much I have to spend on the trailer still. That's first.

[unknown speaker 00:37:53] A lot of it is there's none out there that I'm interested in that would be a trainer-type jet. Mm-hmm. Or an entry-level jet.

[00:38:04] Tom: I don't. Honestly, I don't think you need a trainer. Yeah. I really don't. Like.

[unknown speaker 00:38:09] Yeah. You fly well enough.

[00:38:10] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:38:11] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[00:38:12] Tom: Like, you could get something like a vampire. Because you're into the weird stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:38:17] I'm kind of. I was actually looking for a vampire.

[00:38:19] Tom: Yeah. See? And they make them. I mean, they're out there. I mean, some of them are more expensive than others. But, like, you could get the. I think. Who is it that makes a big electric one? Is it Black Horse? Somebody makes a larger phone one that would be an easy turbine conversion. There you go. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:38:39] So, I mean, I've kind of looked. But, like I said, there was no, like, kangaroo. Not kangaroo.

[00:38:45] Tom: Boomerang.

[unknown speaker 00:38:46] Boomerang. No, actually, there was a one out there. It was called a kangaroo. Oh. It was a pod. Kind of vampire-like. Oh, okay. With one booms.

[00:38:54] Tom: Yeah, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:38:55] Not really. And I don't want a Viper or anything like that.

[00:39:01] Tom: Yeah, you want something scale. Scale-ish. Yeah. I get it. They're out there. There's nothing really from the trigger.

[unknown speaker 00:39:07] Wow.

[unknown speaker 00:39:08] Not a real fan of the Hawk.

[00:39:11] Tom: Okay. You know what I think would be cool? I mean, I know this is off topic, but I would like to have an A4. Like an A4 Skyhawk. I think those are just really neat little tiny hot rods. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:39:22] It looks pretty cool flying around out here. There's a full-size one that flies up here every now and then.

[00:39:27] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:39:28] It's noisy. They are noisy. For a single engine. Oh, pardon me. Speaking of which.

[00:39:35] Tom: Yeah. Speaking of noise.

[unknown speaker 00:39:36] I'm trying to see what it looks like. Shut up.

[unknown speaker 00:39:40] So, anyway, that's what I took to fly. It was nice to be able to fly all the different types. All four were made in flights. Yeah. I was a little sketchy on the 163 because it's been over a year since I've flown it.

[unknown speaker 00:39:51] Is that what you're talking about? Mm-hmm.

[00:39:53] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:39:53] Okay. That's what I thought. But then he said it's noisy for a single engine. I went to a prop plane in my head and I'm like, I don't know what we're talking about then. Okay. So, it is an actual jet. Yeah. Gotcha.

[unknown speaker 00:40:07] 163. I'm a little spooked because it's been a while since I've flown it. It's small and fast. Yes. And it tends to blow up.

[00:40:16] Tom: Well, under the right conditions. You know, I haven't done that.

[unknown speaker 00:40:19] I only did that twice.

[00:40:21] Tom: That's true.

[unknown speaker 00:40:21] You've only flown it four times.

[00:40:22] Tom: So, it's, yeah, 50%. Yeah, that's not bad. That's not good.

[unknown speaker 00:40:27] I can give you the numbers. It's more than four. I'll take those odds any day. Took it at Joe Nall. Flew it at Joe Nall. It didn't blow up there. Oh, that's right. I did do a touch and go at 100 mile an hour and it doesn't have landing gear.

[unknown speaker 00:40:39] How many lighting events have you done successfully versus not? Because flying it without doesn't count.

[unknown speaker 00:40:47] I have only flown it once, maybe twice without a rocket motor on it. I've had a couple failures where the rocket motor did not ignite and I attribute that to grass pulling the igniter out the back. Yeah. Things happen and it's blown up twice. I bought 20 rocket engines and I think I'm down to five.

[unknown speaker 00:41:10] Nice.

[unknown speaker 00:41:11] So, one of those I did throw away. That's better than 50%. Yeah. Yeah. One of them I threw away because it was in the same batch that was blowing up. So, I just tossed the third one. Quit her.

[00:41:25] Tom: It's not fun repairing the same thing more than once.

[unknown speaker 00:41:28] Yeah. Yeah. I get it. Well, yeah. The other thing before I move on. I was surprised. So, I went to… I ended up assembling the airplanes at home before I left for the flying. Just because anytime you can make it easier there, it's better. And the servo leads for the ailerons on the cub all pulled back into the actual wings themselves. Oh, that's great. So, I had to go and undo the servos. Pitch them out. Pitch them out all the way out.

[unknown speaker 00:42:00] I see my little ball chain thing and put it on the end. Yep. So, now that is… That's one of the tools that goes with me everywhere. Just in case. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:42:10] Easy way to stop that.

[unknown speaker 00:42:11] The chain.

[unknown speaker 00:42:12] Put a zip tie on it. Leave a little tag. Like, so I can't pull back through the hole. Well, it's not a bad idea.

[unknown speaker 00:42:18] What they have on this little extra that Flex has is just a piece of foam on the outside that stops it from going back in, too. And I actually like that a lot.

[00:42:27] Tom: Mm-hmm. And it's like, wait. Yeah, I put that on…

[unknown speaker 00:42:30] Actually, I put that… I think it was on the Cree Cree. I put those on the end of the wings when I did that one. Cree Cree Cree.

[unknown speaker 00:42:38] Whatever. Dang it.

[unknown speaker 00:42:40] The weird-looking ugly duck. Yeah.

[00:42:43] Tom: But overall, it was a good day. Yeah. We had good weather. The wind was favorable. Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:42:49] It was a little crosswind-ish.

[00:42:50] Tom: And it was thermals. But not bad. Yeah. And the corn was out, which that made it so much better.

[unknown speaker 00:42:56] I was glad to see that, because that made all the difference in the world.

[unknown speaker 00:43:00] Large flock of the turkey vultures. Yeah. There were a lot of them. Yeah. At one point, there were, like, 20 of them.

[00:43:07] Tom: Yeah. Just circling thermally, mocking us.

[unknown speaker 00:43:10] Look what I can do.

[00:43:11] Tom: Yeah. Oh, I don't even have to flap my wings. Oh.

[unknown speaker 00:43:15] So the other thing, we can talk about that wings and wheels thing I forgot about. Yeah.

[00:43:20] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:43:20] I had not been there before. I had forgot all about it. And was that just, that was just this past weekend, right? Yep. That's right, because the fly-in was two weekends ago. Right. And so Crystal worked that Saturday, and Piper and I had gone to breakfast, and that's when I got the text. We all started texting back and forth about something, and you guys said something about, well, I think Tommy said he just talked to you out at the wings and wheels thing.

[unknown speaker 00:43:48] I was like, oh, that's today. I forgot all about it. Piper wanted to go, so we went out there.

[00:43:53] Tom: Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:43:53] It was pretty cool. Yeah. Not as many wings as I thought.

[00:43:57] Tom: Well, so, yes. There were not as many wings as there were last year, both on the civilian and the military side. There were no military aircraft there because of the government shutdown. You know, there's no money. So we couldn't get the 126 with their KC-135, nor could we get the 183rd with their C-130. And the Army guys were absent with the helicopters again also. But last year, yeah, it was a…

[unknown speaker 00:44:26] The wrap was full.

[00:44:28] Tom: Yeah, it really was. Well, I mean, KC-135 kind of fills the ramp up by itself. True. Yeah, there wasn't as many airplanes, but there was more cars. I was talking to one of the organizers, and they've steadily increased the participation in the show. This is only the third year.

[unknown speaker 00:44:47] Oh, is it really?

[unknown speaker 00:44:48] Yeah. I didn't realize that.

[unknown speaker 00:44:49] It was like the fastest-run car show in Illinois.

[00:44:52] Tom: Yeah. So I think they… I think Scott told me they had over 200 cars this year. I think the number was 178 last year. So next year, you know, budget permitting, we'll get the military folks back and try to ramp that up. And I think the goal is eventually the EAA wants to turn that into a flying show, like an air show. Like a…

[unknown speaker 00:45:19] Oh, that would be so nice.

[00:45:20] Tom: Kind of like the old air ride they do. Air ride they do. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:45:22] I miss that. I miss that.

[00:45:23] Tom: Long time. Yeah. So that's their, like, five-year and 10-year visions. Oh, cool. So, yeah. It was a good show. It was a good turnout. Not as, you know, good as last year on the airplane side, but there were factors that weren't the reason for that. So…

[unknown speaker 00:45:41] Yeah. No, I get it. But like I said, that was the first time I had gone. The local club does a, I don't want to say membership drive, but like a display. Just a display, static. So Dave and Daniel, actually, you had your jet out there. Most Repair. And it looked good.

[00:45:56] Tom: Did you ever start it up? I did. You left. Yeah. We didn't stay right. I fired it up a few times, taxied it around once. Oh, did you really? Yeah. Just kind of to the end of that. You should have taken off.

[unknown speaker 00:46:07] I think you were scaring some folks. They were going, where's he going with that?

[00:46:11] Tom: No, I walked in front of it so it wouldn't get away. And I wing walked it. And yeah, Dave helped me. He was a wing walker for me. But yeah, I just taxied it out there and kind of ran it up and then taxied it back. And yeah, I got a lot of questions. Hey, are you going to fly that? I was like, man, I can't. You know, we're at an airport and the FAA, we have to be more than five miles, I think it is. I can't remember it. I have to read. But yeah, people were asking about it.

[00:46:36] Tom: So, you know, you never know. Maybe the club will get some new members out of that. And if that's the case, then mission succeeded. Accomplished. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:46:44] No. Like I said, though, that was a pretty cool thing to go see. What cut us short on being there was the fact that we weren't prepared very well and Piper didn't have a hat, didn't have sunglasses, and it was hot and it was bright.

[00:47:00] Tom: It was warm. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:47:02] It could have been cooler. But I mean, yes, it could have been hotter. But, you know, I don't like a lot of heat. No. And we just, we weren't dressed for it and we weren't planning on going. Otherwise, I think we could have hung out for quite a bit longer. Yep. Had we had the proper attire. Yep. One of the guys that was displaying his stuff, though, had his Mustang out, P51 Mustang, and had his…

[00:47:28] Tom: Full size.

[unknown speaker 00:47:28] Yeah. Real. Yeah. Full size. And his, oh God, my mind went up. Corsair. The Corsair. Thank you. Out in his hangar. So we walked out and saw that. Actually, what annoyed me is we walked over to look at the Mustang. And it was, what do you think? A thousand feet probably from the building where you guys were set up to where that other hangar was.

[unknown speaker 00:47:55] It was a little bit of a trek.

[unknown speaker 00:47:56] Yeah, it was a trek. So that guy has two hangars together. And so we saw the Mustang from far away and that's what made us go over to look at it. Piper wanted to go up and see it and stuff. So we walked over that way. Went in the hangar door to the right, which they had a whole bunch of like McLarens and Porsches and all that kind of stuff set up that we looked at. Then we went inside. They had other airplanes. They had actual model airplanes hanging up and all that too.

[unknown speaker 00:48:22] Went through, like made a U through the side doors into the other hangar. Looked at those airplanes and all the stuff behind there. He had a Packard in there, by the way. Oh. Old car.

[00:48:31] Tom: That's cool. I've never been in there. I need to make it. Oh, really?

[unknown speaker 00:48:34] Yeah. It had a Model A in there also. Model A and a McLaren.

[00:48:39] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:48:40] And a Packard.

[00:48:42] Tom: Odd juxtaposition, but okay.

[unknown speaker 00:48:43] I mean, when you got money, you can do it every week.

[00:48:44] Tom: Well, yeah. He calls it a museum, but it's really just his stuff on display.

[unknown speaker 00:48:47] Come look at my stuff. Yeah. Well, I mean, cool. And that's okay.

[00:48:50] Tom: More power to him.

[unknown speaker 00:48:51] Not for profit, I guess. Probably a text write-off thing.

[00:48:53] Tom: Who knows?

[unknown speaker 00:48:54] But anyway, so we went out that other door and then started to walk out towards the car show, and it wasn't until we were pulling out, I looked back over and I was like, we didn't look at the Mustang. Completely walked right by it and forgot all about it. I don't know how. I'm a dummy. But anyway, he flies that every now and then. He does. We see that fly.

[00:49:17] Tom: Not as often as he used to, though. Like, I haven't seen it much at all. I haven't seen it for a year or so. Yeah. So, I don't know. Maybe it's out of annual and he doesn't want to spend the money. Who knows?

[unknown speaker 00:49:26] Have you ever seen the Corsair fly? I haven't seen it. I've seen it once.

[00:49:29] Tom: Have you? I bet that sounds good. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:49:32] Those are bigger than you would expect it to be.

[unknown speaker 00:49:37] Okay. I saw it fly over my house shortly after he got it rebuilt from the fire.

[unknown speaker 00:49:44] Cool.

[00:49:46] Tom: So, yeah, that was the wings and wheels. If you happen to be in the Springfield, Central Illinois area next year, about the first weekend of October, that's when the show is, typically.

[unknown speaker 00:49:58] Nice. Yeah. Hopefully it'll be cooler next year.

[00:50:01] Tom: Yeah. I mean, that's bad. Yeah. That's why they have it the first weekend of October, because normally it's not 95 degrees outside in October.

[unknown speaker 00:50:10] And now we're down to decent weather, where it's almost too cold at night. I'm never going to be happy. True. I know, right? So, I think last thing.

[00:50:22] Tom: Yes.

[unknown speaker 00:50:23] Tommy's being deployed.

[00:50:24] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:50:25] Sorry. Well, that wasn't.

[00:50:27] Tom: Oh.

[unknown speaker 00:50:27] Tommy's being deployed. Tommy might be taking an airplane with him.

[00:50:32] Tom: Yes.

[unknown speaker 00:50:33] What airplane do we think Tommy is taking?

[00:50:35] Tom: Mm-hmm. So, I can tell you that I have one in mind that I'm more than likely going to take. And if I have room, I am for sure going to throw the Ultrix in there, the UMX Ultrix. So, if you were guessing, UMX, Ultrix.

[unknown speaker 00:50:52] That was my thought. The Ultrix got sand in it last time you took it.

[00:50:55] Tom: Yeah, but I was at a beach at the school. It's like, I'm pretty sure.

[unknown speaker 00:50:59] Those external gears are not.

[00:51:00] Tom: I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be at a beach this time. And it's fixed, by the way. So.

[unknown speaker 00:51:06] Yeah, it was cheap.

[00:51:07] Tom: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:51:08] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:51:09] So, my guess would be decathlon. Mm-hmm. Dave?

[unknown speaker 00:51:15] Hmm. I don't know.

[unknown speaker 00:51:19] Wow. Good input. So, the reason I think decathlon. Well, hold on. That's fine now.

[unknown speaker 00:51:26] It's got to be relatively small, because he's got to live with it.

[unknown speaker 00:51:30] Which the decathlon is.

[unknown speaker 00:51:32] It's got to be relatively inexpensive, so if it gets banged up. Which the decathlon is.

[unknown speaker 00:51:37] It is. Breaks down easy and quick.

[unknown speaker 00:51:42] The decathlon does. That's pretty good. I don't know. That's way up on the list, but, man, I just can't. Can't pull a trigger on it, but I'm saying probably the decathlon.

[00:51:54] Tom: You're both wrong. Well, that's because he copied me.

[unknown speaker 00:51:57] Well, the reasoning.

[00:51:59] Tom: No, I get it. And, you know, those were certainly factors, but I'm. Is it a timber? Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:52:05] Yeah.

[00:52:06] Tom: Yeah, the turbo timber.

[unknown speaker 00:52:06] Oh, actually, I forgot all about that one. As soon as I, yeah.

[00:52:09] Tom: Mm-hmm. Yep. Not that I don't like the way the decathlon flies. I love the way it flies, especially now that I know how to do. The whoop-dee-doos. Whoop-dee-doos. which the turbo timber will do also. Flippy flop. Now that I know how to do it. but the turbo timber, because, um.

[unknown speaker 00:52:28] I was kind of ruling that one out because of the size.

[00:52:31] Tom: It's not that much bigger, honestly, than the decathlon. It's longer. It feels like it's bigger. But the wing is, it's a two-piece wing. So that makes it easier. So the wing bag is smaller? Well, yeah, assembled. But I don't have to keep it in wherever I'm staying assembled. It'd be, you know, disassembled.

[00:52:46] Tom: but the reason is because even though it uses the same battery, really, as the decathlon, the 4S 2200s or whatever it is, I like the way it flies and it has, has other things that the decathlon doesn't look like flaps.

[00:53:06] Tom: You know, I can, I can tinker with setup and experiment with, you know, the unlocking the receiver, which I've already done, but I can continue that experiment, you know, with the flaps and I can experiment with snap flaps and all this other kind of stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:53:19] And it's got fluffy tires.

[00:53:20] Tom: And it's got the fluffy tires, which are kind of cool. Bring your inflator. I know. I'll have to bring my pump. That sort of thing in my bag, baby.

[unknown speaker 00:53:31] Because that opens up more areas for you to fly.

[00:53:34] Tom: Yeah. Yeah. And it's, and that's the other thing is that the turbo timber is capable of flying in, even though it's a bigger airplane a little bit, it's capable of flying in smaller spaces. It doesn't require quite as much runway as the decathlon does.

[unknown speaker 00:53:47] Yeah. And that's what took out like the Viper and that kind of stuff in my mind.

[00:53:50] Tom: Yeah. The Viper, I mean, as soon as like the Viper crossed my mind, it was like instantly was, you know, kind of crossed off the list because it's that amount of runway they take. Yeah. Who knows where, you know.

[unknown speaker 00:54:03] Right. What's available. Yeah. What space I may or may not have available.

[00:54:07] Tom: So anyway, yeah, if I am able to take an airplane, it'll be the turbo timber. And if there's room for the turbo timber, I can throw the Ulteryx in there.

[unknown speaker 00:54:16] Yeah.

[00:54:17] Tom: Heck, I can probably throw the Ulteryx in the turbo timber's wing bag. Yeah. Not in the box, you know.

[unknown speaker 00:54:23] Well, maybe even in the box.

[00:54:25] Tom: You never know. So anyway, yeah, there you go. You guys were wrong.

[unknown speaker 00:54:28] Well, Tommy, well, I was right when I took a second guess.

[00:54:32] Tom: Yeah. After you heard what I was going to say. No.

[unknown speaker 00:54:36] Play the tapes.

[00:54:37] Tom: Did you? I'm pretty sure I was like, and you were like, oh, timber.

[unknown speaker 00:54:41] Well, you could have been going for like the.

[unknown speaker 00:54:44] I just immediately blew it off because of the size. I just tried to live in a small area that you were going to probably.

[unknown speaker 00:54:51] Well, I honestly forgot you had it, to be honest. So that's why I didn't say it. Yeah.

[00:54:56] Tom: Anyway, here you go.

[unknown speaker 00:54:57] But anyway, well, Tommy, it's been a pleasure. It's been fun. Happy, happy Christmas. Happy Easter. Happy. Yeah. Going to miss them all.

[unknown speaker 00:55:05] Now, what are we? What do we got coming up now? Cookie day.

[unknown speaker 00:55:07] Happy Halloween. Well, Halloween. Cookie day. Cookie day. Happy cookie day. You're going to miss that. Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas. Happy Christmas. Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

[unknown speaker 00:55:18] Easter. Easter's questionable depending on when it is. Yeah, I'm not sure.

[00:55:21] Tom: Yeah, it depends.

[unknown speaker 00:55:23] I think it's late again this year, but don't call me that.

[00:55:25] Tom: If it's late, I may make it back. You're going to miss VD. Valentine's Day. What? You don't shorten it? I was not going.

[unknown speaker 00:55:34] Oh, I always just yell happy VD. Doesn't it cause a lot of that? Well, it might. Hope not. But I mean, it could.

[00:55:43] Tom: So anyway, yeah, I'll miss you guys. I'll miss the podcast. If we don't figure out a way to record while I'm away, which we might.

[unknown speaker 00:55:50] Never know.

[00:55:51] Tom: So we'll try. It's the best I can do. That's fine. We'll try. Anything else. So have fun without me.

[unknown speaker 00:56:00] So we're not going to, what, a three or four week schedule now? Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

[unknown speaker 00:56:07] Maybe we'll just send all the gear with you and you can do them on your own.

[00:56:10] Tom: I don't think that would be a good idea.

[unknown speaker 00:56:12] RC Plane Lab Classic. Reruns. Oh, there you go. We don't have enough good ones for reruns.

[00:56:20] Tom: We don't have enough good ones. You could have just stopped right there. Oh.

[unknown speaker 00:56:26] Okay. Are you guys finished? Yeah, that's it for me. Everybody? Everybody? Happy? Happy? Dave? Dave looks like he's trying to think of something or he's got gas. I don't know which. That was last week. I didn't need that to be verified. No, we're good. Good. All right. Until next time. See you in April. Or for Tommy until next year. Thank you for listening. Good night. Good night. Good night. Goodbye.

[unknown speaker 00:56:51] Hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Plane Lab podcast. For topic suggestions, to ask questions, or to give anything back, 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.