Episode 50 · Originally released January 1, 2021 · Hosts: Ron, Tom, Crystal, and Lori
Crystal and Lori join Ron and Tom for Episode 50 to look back at the podcast's first year, answer listener questions, and discuss plans for 2021.
In this episode
Episode Topics
Connect with RC Plane Lab
Chapters
00:38 — The wives return for Episode 50
09:18 — Did the hosts expect to reach fifty episodes?
18:37 — Listener questions about the podcast
27:56 — Highs and lows from 2020
37:14 — Crystal and Lori share their perspectives
46:32 — Plans and goals for 2021
Episode Topics
The wives return for Episode 50
Did the hosts expect to reach fifty episodes?
Listener questions about the podcast
Highs and lows from 2020
Crystal and Lori share their perspectives
Plans and goals for 2021
Key Takeaways
The episode combines practical RC airplane experience with firsthand workshop discussion.
The hosts explain not only what they did, but the reasoning and lessons behind it.
Listeners can use the chapter list to jump directly to the subjects that interest them.
Episode 50 Transcript
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability. Timestamps are retained.
Read the full transcript
[0:00] Hello and welcome to RC Plane Lab, a podcast for anyone interested in RC airplanes. We'll share tips and tricks on how to build models and talk about successful flights, epic crashes, and everything in between. Visit us at rcplanelab.com to sign up for our email list and to ask us questions. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please help us out by rating and reviewing us in your favorite podcast app. Thanks for spending time with us today.
[0:35] Now here are your hosts, Ron and Tom. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Ron. And I'm Tom. I'm Lori. And I'm Crystal. Last week, we talked about the Brian episode, and we went up there and we got airplanes. Yeah, we said we got seven airplanes, but we actually came home with eight. How did we miscount? I don't know. Apparently, we don't know how to count to eight. So, yeah, once recounting, yeah, we actually came home with eight airplanes. What did we miss?
[1:02] I think we counted the little chipmunks as one even though we got two of them oh that makes sense yeah yeah cool yeah well eight airplanes eight airplanes eight airplanes well we need to do that again get more up there and get more yeah yeah i agree oh well you never have too many technically though it was seven air seven different airplanes It was seven different airplanes. So you weren't completely wrong. True. She's right.
[1:32] There's seven different airframes, but there were eight airplanes. Eight physical airplanes. Like if you're into the numbers. I don't like to be wrong. So we got eight airplanes. Yes, exactly. Awesome. Okay. Yeah, so our 50th episode, Happy New Year, everyone. Happy New Year. So this episode is going to be just kind of a background on the podcast up to this point, a little recap. I'm going to answer some questions that were sent in by listeners.
[1:58] So forgive me, I'm not going to call out the listeners' names because a lot of questions came from multiple listeners. Like the same question was asked by multiple listeners. So if you hear your question and I don't say who it was, please don't be offended by that because someone else may have asked the same question. Yeah. All right. Well, welcome to your 50th episode, gentlemen. Thanks. Yeah. So did you think that you would make it to 50 episodes?
[2:23] So, did you think that you would make it to 50 episodes? Ron? I didn't think about it. Like, I don't think numbers in that regard, and I don't think when we started I had any idea of what to expect. Which is weird to me, because you're all about the numbers. For certain things, yes. For planning and future purposes, nah. Yeah. I'll be honest, I didn't think we'd make it past 20. Really? To be honest, yeah, because I thought we would run out of material.
[2:50] I think it's just always been after we finish one, it turns into what's next. Yeah, well, I could see that. But yeah, I honestly believe that we would run out of stuff to talk about, and people would get bored just listening to us ramble about airplanes. Well, they might be bored. Well, that's true. I'm not saying they're not. I always find it entertaining. Well, they might be bored. Well, that's true. I'm not saying they're not, but… I always find it entertaining. Crystal, do you? Yeah.
[3:12] Yeah, I've listened to a few, yes. 50, I mean, that's a lot. That is a lot. It is a lot. It doesn't seem like we should be at 50. It doesn't. I mean, it's weird. It's like, it feels like we've been doing it for a long time, but it also at the same time doesn't feel like we've been doing it very long at all. Well, it's not even been a year. It's true. So, yeah, we're still babies. Now, are you guys still having fun with it or does it feel like work now? Is it your job? It depends. Yeah.
[3:39] Like I'm enjoying it. It really does. I still have fun with it. Overall, I would say I enjoy it and I'm having fun, but there are days when it when it does feel like work yeah like for instance we record on mondays monday nights so typically mondays at work for me are not fun so after a tough monday at work come home and then oh i gotta go out to r's so we can record. No, I get to go out to Ron's. I get to get away from my wife.
[4:11] Sometimes it feels like work, especially after a tough Monday. Well, and what you have for you that I don't have to worry about is the drive. So, yeah, it does add an hour of driving back and forth to an evening to get here and go home. That's true. 43 minutes. 43 minutes. And we know That's true. 43 minutes. 43 minutes. And we know who's counting. Yeah. But no, I think it's not that bad. Like, I mean, there's times where it does get a little bit overwhelming,
[4:34] but I'm still having fun with it or else we wouldn't be doing it. Yeah, overall, I'm still having fun, so. It's awesome. What about you guys? When Ron first started talking about the podcast, how'd you feel about that, Crystal? I don't know. I just, just like, sure. Well there we go. No, I think Tom brought it up to me and I'm always like, yes, do it. Yeah, it's like, do it. But yeah, yeah. Yeah, Laura's always the excited one about something new. Like I'm kind of an old stick
[5:03] in the mud. I don't really like change very much he is a creature of habit so yeah when when ron first brought it up to me i was initially i was hesitant i was like how much time is this gonna take and something new and different and i don't know anything about it but like i'm glad i did it yeah i'm glad i'm glad well i knew you would have fun doing it yeah and i have yeah well i know when i first asked crystal about it because i thought about it myself a little bit and i was
[5:30] like yeah sure let's let's start talking this out to actual people instead of just in my head she was all for it i mean she she's always been one that's not you heard it here folks not ron does a lot of talking to himself in his head. And I answer, too, believe it or not. He's his own best friend. No, but she's always been one to, like, she's been my biggest cheerleader for all of this kind of stuff.
[5:55] Really, she's been pushing me to do more than I would do just on my own when it comes to purchasing things, equipment, cameras, all that kind of stuff. I'm usually the one that at first I'm like, yeah, let it and i think about it a little bit and i'm like i don't know about that and then she just completely is the opposite at first she's like well let me think about it and she's like just do it you have to don't convince don't worry about it yeah yeah
[6:18] okay so once you decided i'm going to talk to tom about it. What was your next, like, what made you say, okay, yes, we're going to do it. Like, let's do it. Yeah, what made you bite the bullet to actually do the podcast? Because he said he wanted to do it. No, it was actually the night you guys were over when we talked about it. I went in and ordered the stuff to record. Yeah, that's true. And then we started pretty close right after that.
[6:43] Yeah. And then COVID happened. And then we started pretty close right after that. Yeah. And then COVID happened. And then COVID happened. Yeah. That made it a little bit more, that was challenging, I guess. It was. But, it really, like, when that happened, the only difference was we had to learn how to record separate. And we hadn't really learned how to record together. Yeah. So it wasn't that big of a difference as much as just more
[7:05] technicality things that we had to figure out well trying to yeah recording separately via phone is how we ended up doing it remember i would call you like what we found out worked was me calling you and then doing it that way it took us a while to get to that point to where it actually sounded okay well we we tried a lot of the online things first, but my internet out here in the country is so terrible that we're limited with what we can do.
[7:33] So what normally would probably have worked better if we had better internet just did not work for us at all. Right. So the phone call route worked out, I think, as good as can be expected. Yeah, I think so. It seemed like it was pretty difficult to sync the audio initially. But yeah, once you got that sorted out, I think it sounded, like you said, as good as it could have. Yeah, it was just more difficult not having the in-person. Right. I was going to say the chemistry.
[8:01] Being able to make eye contact. Being able to read each other's faces on, well, I'm almost done talking, so now I'm getting ready to say something, as opposed to just listening to somebody on the phone. Yeah. I think you guys have way better chemistry when you're in person. Well, it's more fun in person. Yeah. It is. And just like you said, we can read each other's cues, body language. We speak more with our body language sometimes, I think, than with our words.
[8:23] Yeah, I agree. So you talked about how like you guys record here at your house. How has it affected your household overall? It has overran our house. No, you think so? I don't know. We're in your dining room a little bit, I guess. Ron, we're recording this episode in the dining room of your house. Where else are we going to record it i mean normally so in case anyone doesn't know normally we record in your basement we have a little area
[8:52] down there that crystal is gracious enough to let us kind of commandeer but yeah we're recording this episode in the upstairs dining room so well it makes sense i I mean,. We're more comfortable here. Right. There's more room. We can kind of stretch out. And it's not permanent, right? No. It'll get taken down in the next couple weeks. Semi-permanent? Well, and I think for you guys, it's a little different, too, because you have Piper here.
[9:20] And so when the guys record, it's kind of like. Yes. It's downstairs. We put a movie on so she doesn't put her powder everywhere. Yeah. Yes, those feet can be loud when she's running from one room to another. Yes. Ron has done a lot of editing out of little footprints and footsteps upstairs. Oh, I'm sure it's made it through. And that's okay. I mean, we're all human.
[9:43] It just means it's real. Yeah, we're not in a professional studio or anything. So it's made it through and that's okay and that's yeah i mean we're all human it's just it's it just means it's real yeah we're not in a professional studio or anything so it's cool so i've got a question here was sent in by by one of the listeners it says have you noticed a financial impact with doing the podcast so i'll start i mean for me personally it's been a it's been a
[10:01] fairly small financial impact compared to Ron's. Until the dualist started. Well, compared to Ron's. That's true. Like I didn't sheepishly, I admit, I did not outlay any cash for the recording equipment. That's true. And Ron took care of all that. So initially for me, it was small. Your time. And I was getting ready to say, you, time has been my biggest… And your knowledge. Well, that doesn't cost anything. Yes. Oh, it does in the long run. But Ron can probably talk
[10:37] a little bit more about the financial side of it. I don't know if I want to answer that. Not with Crystal sitting over there. Oh, she knows. She knows everything. She knows. No, I'm kidding. No, we've spent several thousand dollars on equipment and all that kind of stuff. And that's, we talked about it too. That was one reason that we wanted to start with the Patreon thing. Just to those that want to help support us, we wanted to give them a way to do it.
[11:01] And we really appreciate any little bit helps. So we wanted to give them a way to do it. And we really appreciate any little bit helps. Exactly. And anything that we have ever received and will receive, as far as I can tell in the future, will go back into the show. Oh, absolutely. So we're still in the red. Way. Way. Which is okay. I can't even see black from here. We did this because Ron wanted to. Yeah, I did, I guess. And Tom begrudgingly said, yeah, let's try this.
[11:32] But yeah, we do appreciate the support that we do get. And just like you said, it 100% goes back into the podcast. Like all the stuff that I've purchased for the Duelist project up to this point has been all from household. That's true. Lori has allowed me to spend. But it's not been, like the Duelist is not a podcast related item. True. It's used for content and stuff. However, if this ever ends, when this ends, you're still going to have your Duelist. That's absolutely true. Hopefully.
[12:05] Well, yeah. That's absolutely true. Hopefully. Well, yeah. That's the goal crash. Yeah. So the financial part, has that been the scariest part of the podcast? Oh, boy. Not for me. I mean, like one moment just pops right to the top of that list for me. I don't know if it's the same one for you, Ron. I think I probably know what you're talking about. Go on. Yeah, so recording the episode with Brian Burkhardt. I don't think we've talked about it, have we? What happened?
[12:36] I don't think so either. Ron has PTSD. It's embarrassing, so I don't bring that up. But yeah, we went up to Dynamic Balls and had our interview with Brian, which was great. Made for a great episode. It was fun. You did a great job with the editing, I have to say, again. Okay. But it almost didn't. Didn't happen. Yeah. So we recorded, however many hours worth of audio that you edited down to the show.
[13:03] We only took out, like honestly though, so I don't want to make it sound like we took like half of the episode out. We only lost about three or four minutes worth of stuff to edit. Oh, that's a lot less than I would have anticipated. Yeah, just the random cough here, cough there kind of thing is all we took out. And my fidgeting. A couple sentences where we wanted to clarify something is all. So yeah, it was good.
[13:29] Once we were done recording, you went to hit save or whatever it is you do at the end. Yeah. And what happened? I don't actually know what happened other than there was a big error that popped up and said something about files being encrypted and all that kind of stuff. And I just sank. I mean, like my heart just dropped. Yeah.
[13:45] So like a little background, it takes us nearly two hours to get there because it's it's not a local i mean it's a local hobby shop it's as local as we can get as local as we can get yeah yeah so it's two hour drive there two hour drive back so there's four hours of the day plus the let's just say two hours of of the actual sit down conversation plus let's say an hour of prep there was was no time to re-record the interview. And something we've discovered from experience,
[14:12] the second go-around is never really the same or maybe as good as the first go-around. So it scared me. I thought for sure that we had lost that entire interview. But luckily… Thanks to Google and figuring out how to recover files and that kind of stuff, we were able to save it. Yeah, I remember him coming home and he was just devastated. It's like, oh my gosh, well, what do we do next? He was up most of the night and finally figured it out. It was like 2 o'clock in the morning.
[14:43] I'm like, hey, I can hear audio coming through these. We're good. I'm kind of dead. I actually got the text, I think, whenever it happened. I thought to myself, he might be sleeping, but I don't care. That was fine. I don't mind being woken up for that sort of news. I kind of figured you would want to know that anyway. For me, that was probably the scariest moment so far how about you i would agree if if that's the if that's the route
[15:10] we're taking i would agree that's the most serious that we've had but also not tarp on it but yeah putting so much money out for stuff is yeah never not because there's no guarantee well not being sure of what yeah we're even doing doing and sinking that much money into it. That's like diving into a pool and not knowing if there's water in there. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Or ice, maybe, because it's cold out here. It's been very cold. And windy. Yeah, cold and windy.
[15:41] Poor Crystal. She goes outside like three or four times a day now with the… Oh, come on. It's just the bird bath. The bird bath. She goes outside with boiling water now like three or four times a day to make the bird bath melt. Yeah, to melt. And then I make sure it's not hot water that stays in there. Isn't there a pond around here they could visit? Well, it's not frozen yeah also but no thankfully we just ordered a little de-icer for the bird bath yes thankfully
[16:11] you care way more about your birds than i care about mine hey i just started it this year so it's fun to look outside of the windows and see them eating and playing in that but anyway yeah so that that's that me and my bird back so ron what would you say the most like maybe not the scariest but the most daunting thing like the thing you've maybe dreaded doing the most with the podcast oh dreaded i don't think i've dreaded anything
[16:42] because i don't think i'm smart enough to know what to dread i mean really you don't think I've dreaded anything because I don't think I'm smart enough to know what to dread. I mean, really. You don't know what you don't know. Right. And that's probably been the most difficult thing, maybe. The most daunting thing is not knowing what I'm doing. But, I'm okay being the behind the scenes trying to do the technical side of things. I don't have to have the answers.
[17:08] Yeah. to have the answers yeah so for me it's like it's daunting to try to explain a concept or a
[17:17] procedure in a way that i can convey the the subject get the gist across yeah without confusing folks i can't for me that's daunting because i'm not very good with words yeah just as lori or concur. Or anybody. Or anyone. No, I'm kidding. But yeah, putting a cohesive thought into words is difficult for me. So sometimes trying to explain a technical subject is daunting for me. So videos will be helpful, right? Yeah, because I can use my hands.
[17:49] And this piece here. I'm pointing to this thing, and you glue it to that thing, and hold it with this thing, and yeah. So let's switch gears. So instead of it being the scariest, what is your favorite thing, Ben, about doing the podcast? Oh, I love how I can buy an airplane or anything rc related and call it show prep i mean that's what i did when we walked in last week with the the trunk full of airplanes crystal's like what did you do by the way yeah eight now not seven crystal's
[18:18] like what did you get and i'm like show prep i mean it's for the podcast, I promise. Yes, and now it's downstairs and all over. Right, but that's okay. We'll get it. No, we won't get it cleaned up. It's probably going to be a kiss your basement goodbye. I like that you're a realist. Yeah, I definitely, yeah, realism works well. I know I'm not going to clean. Yeah. I love that the podcast is keeping me like plugged in to the hobby.
[18:46] Like we talked about, I think on the last episode or maybe the one before that, the peaks and valleys of my involvement in the hobby. Yeah. The podcast has definitely kept me, really kind of plugged in and involved in the hobby. This is your longest flow. Quite a long time. That's flowing? Okay. This is his longest flow. So it's not eb. That's flowing? Okay, I didn't know This is his longest flow. So it's not ebbing, it's flowing. It's flowing, yeah.
[19:08] So this is my longest flow in quite a while. His longest flow. It's your flow. You're definitely flowing. Good for you. And glowing. Oh, Laura says I'm glowing. Okay. I don't know about that. Because you're so happy. Now, do you guys have any favorite episodes? I do. I still love the electric motor episode. Really? Even though my involvement was small with that, I learned so much from your research and how you explained everything.
[19:37] That's certainly one of my favorite episodes, if not my favorite. That's a nice one. I enjoyed that one. But I think my favorite one is probably the batteries episode. Okay. The batteries episode was fun because I knew a lot of that stuff. So I didn't have to like learn a lot of new things or go, start from scratch and make sure that everything I knew was right. Yeah. Like with the electric motors, there's a lot more that went
[19:58] into it. Just kind of verify what I thought I knew. Yeah. You did a lot of research. It shows. Well, it's a great episode, I think. With batteries and with LiPos and stuff, they're just so fun to use and to figure out, sizing and all that kind of stuff that I enjoyed that episode. That didn't seem stressful. That just seemed fun. Yeah. For you, a lot of the episodes are stressful. Well, I don't know about stressful. Well, usually when we're done recording,
[20:23] you say the same thing almost every time. This one's terrible. I don't know about stressful. Usually when we're done recording, you say the same thing almost every time. This one's terrible. I don't know how I feel about this one. I don't think this one's very good. And they always end up being at least okay. That's what we strive for. We aim for okay here. They aim for mediocre. I'll tell you, another one of my favorite episodes was the propeller episode. I like that one too.
[20:41] Yeah, you would because there was a lot of propeller talk. Yeah. Air screws. Air screws. I was that one too. Yeah, you would because there's a lot of propeller talk. Air screws. Air screws. I was going to say air screws. Ron's trying to bring back air screws. Bring back air screwing. That's the best. Air screwing. And if they're on a boat, they're called propellers? Water screws. I was going to say boat screws.
[21:08] Nice. Boat screws. I was going to say boat screws. Nice. Boat screws. You heard it here first. I'm bringing back boat screws. Yeah. So here's a question from one of the listeners. So what has been the most challenging episode? Oh, motors. Yeah. I mean, that's… Because of the research and stuff that you had to do. A lot of technical jargon and stuff that went into that one. So for me, that was the most difficult.
[21:27] Physically challenging for me, I would have to go with taking the show on the road up to Brian. That was a challenge. I don't think that was. Because the setup was a different location. And yeah, physically it was the most challenging. But yeah, I would have to agree with you. The motor episode was probably the most challenging because I knew nothing about that one. Yeah, I'll go along with that. So, yeah. Is it hard to edit them? It can be. Like, it can be.
[21:56] You guys, when you had your wife's episode, come to it. Oh, come on. That was an awesome episode, right? It was. No, it was a good episode. It was so awesome. But you would be surprised how long it takes to learn, like, how to bleep cuss words. Oh, come on. That was an awesome episode, right? It was. No, it wasn't. It was still awesome. But you would be surprised how long it takes to learn how to bleep cuss words. Those are sentence enhancers. Sentence enhancers.
[22:15] I had to learn that just because of you. But yeah. No, other than that, that's, no, actually, that's completely one of the most difficult ones to edit. Yeah. I mean, even so, like our very first one that was pretty bad, that one was even worse. So how about this? What has been the most time-consuming episode? Like maybe not difficult to edit, but the time-consuming? Like I mean, I'll just say, I'll say to date, our longest single episode has been the propepeller episode. Oh, really?
[22:47] And that was an hour and 56 minutes, I think. I know. But do you remember, do you have one that sticks out in your head since you do all the editing? Was there one that was just… This is a hot mess. Yeah, so the research, the editing, the actual… I think the first one was probably the hardest one. And because while there wasn't as many edits as, you guys, there was the whole learning to do everything because I had no clue how to use the software.
[23:17] And so that took a lot of time. Yeah, so I think that would be the most time-consuming type one. And that first one, I don't know. I'm still embarrassed by it. Like, I want to redo it. Hey, listen, you have to start somewhere. That's right. No, you're right. I don't want to redo it. I would like to keep it just like it is so we know, so we can go back and listen to it and be like, hey, remember when we used to sound like this?
[23:43] And then compare it to now and show growth. That's why I ultimately decided I didn't even want to bring up redoing it because I don't want somebody to listen to the first episode and then be disappointed by the second one. By the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and so on. Keep it consistent. Right. So I don't want to have like a decent one and then go back to like the pre-decent levels. So yeah, we're going to leave it as is. And if people listen
[24:06] to the first one and think hey this is okay to listen to well it gets better well i think i think over time your chemistry has really solidified i think in the beginning you guys were just kind of like stiff it's very awkward to do this it is. Yeah. It takes a while to get comfortable with it. Yeah. Because this is not a normal conversation. No. I mean, it is, but there's so much other stuff around that it's just… Well, and there's all this recording equipment so that if you
[24:36] have stage fright, you get somewhat intimidated by the microphone sitting right in front of your face and wearing the headphones or, and then you looking at the computer the whole time making sure everything's recording the way it should and the levels are airing out and not airing out yeah so i mean yeah yeah so what have you learned since then honestly i i didn't know how much time and effort it was going to take to do this.
[25:05] I remember when we first started talking about it, I told Tom, it should take us about a half hour a week. Yeah, I remember that. It's like, oh, that's perfect,? Not much time out of your day. And obviously you didn't do math because you said you wanted your episodes to be an hour, but it's only going to take a half an hour to record it? She's got a point. We didn't really aim for an actual time frame at first. I mean, an hour is kind of what we settled into.
[25:34] But I think that's more like I don't want them to be longer than they need to be, and I don't want them to be short just to be short. So whenever we stop with our conversation and get to the end of something is how long the episode is yeah yeah we don't we don't intentionally try to to pull them longer or shorten them up which is just yeah you don't want to add just little fluff yeah when they're when they're done they're done and usually it's it's weird they
[26:02] always seem to end up right around just shy of an hour. Yeah, 45 to an hour 15 is probably pretty close to what we always do. And it's funny, though, because if I remember right, I think I told you when we first started talking about doing this, too, that we could do like four in a day. Yeah, I do remember that. what? Just come out for the day and we'll just knock them all out. We'll knock out a whole month's worth in a day. Yeah, come out on a Saturday. We'll get it all done.
[26:25] Then you don't have to come out for another month. A lot of promises I made that I haven't come through on. Man, I don't get it. Would you say that's the most surprising thing? No, I don't think that's the most surprising thing. To me, I'm surprised more by the reach we've had. me, I'm surprised more by the reach we've had. Like honestly, we've been downloaded and listened to in 49 states, which does not include Alaska. That's the one we've missed.
[26:52] So if any of you guys know somebody in Alaska, have family or friends, tell them, hey, download there. I want to hit all 50. I know no one in Alaska. I don't either. I'm talking to our listeners. I'm a listener. Well, true. That's true. Crystal, are you? Me. You said a few, occasionally. But we've also, we've almost 60 countries we've been listening to. That's incredible. And that, I don't understand that. That's incredible. Like that's nuts. Yeah, when this first started,
[27:18] I didn't even think about outside of the United States. Yeah, me neither. Yeah, I didn't really either. Well, of course I didn't really think about much of anything because I had no clue what I was in it for. Well, same with me. So everything's been a pleasant surprise. Yeah, I tell you what really surprises me is the number of people who download our episodes, listen to it, and then download the following week's episode. Yeah. what I'm saying? Like we're not turning people off.
[27:41] Like, I wanna keep listening. I mean, I'm sure that that's probably happening. there probably are some folks that are listening and be like, oh, these guys,. This Tom guy, he's terrible. Yeah, he's a jerk or whatever. This Ron guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Tom's the star of the show. I've said that before. I don't know what I'm talking about, but it's okay.
[27:58] What does surprise me is the number of people who are repeat or downloaders. Downloaders? Is that the correct term? How many actual listeners you mean? Is that what we're talking about? Yeah, that keep coming back. That's what really surprises me. So here's a question that, I'm sorry, I don't want to interrupt anybody. No, you're fine. Here's a question that was submitted, I'm assuming by maybe wives. It says, how do you support your husband in the hobby? Lori? Do they mean financially?
[28:31] Well, I don't know. They didn't specify. I would assume that they are wanting to know how you make it so that I can stay in the hobby. So it's manageable for both of you. Yes. Yes. That's a hard question. Well, I think for you, you own most of the stuff already. So it's not like a huge financial impact. Now, when you said, Lori, we're doing the dualist, I was like, do it. Because you've talked about it for so long. So I was just like, whatever, it's fine. To me, it's more than that.
[29:08] You allow or you understand that it takes time. Yes. And this is sort of kind of my therapy. Yes. And you understand that I need that time and you are pretty gracious with giving it to me. We'll see. You answered your own question. I mean, to me, that's what it means. No, it is. That's exactly what it is. I mean, you guys have a passion to do this. So it's not like you just came home one day and, Hey, here's a plane or, Or, Hey, I'm doing a podcast about what? Yeah. Yeah.
[29:39] And you had no knowledge. It's like, no, you have the knowledge, you have the passion and we like to support you in that the knowledge, you have the passion, and we like to support you in that. Well, and I think too, I mean, it's always been a part of our relationship. It absolutely has. 100%. Yeah, because I was already involved in the hobby when you and I met. That's correct. And so it's always been a part of it. And so it wasn't a foreign concept.
[30:02] And, we don't have small children at home anymore so there's not a whole lot of things demanding it makes a huge difference huge difference huge difference so it makes you happy and if it makes you happy it makes me happy oh now what do you really mean that's what i really mean we hate We haven't been married 27 years for nothing. That's true. Yeah.
[30:26] Well, and that's, with Crystal and her support too, like, I don't know how really at this point, this is probably the worst time for us to have done this. Like, to be 100% honest. I could not agree with you. I would agree with you. We have, a three-year-old at this point. You're going back to school, which you have another year and a half or however long it's going to be in that. Straight A's, by the way. Very good. Thank you.
[30:50] Last test and all that stuff, straight A's and all that. Very stressful. Very stressful for everybody involved, but that's okay. We got through it. You did. But, yeah, you still find the time to give me time to do this and to give us time to enjoy what we do with these little toy airplanes that we just kind of build and fly and crash. Build again. You got to take a step back and really realize this is a hobby. This is just something we do for fun.
[31:17] And you do a very good job of giving me the time to do that. And thank you very much. I do appreciate it. You're welcome. I think it's a give and take though. Yes, it is. Yeah. But she's not taken very much right now. Well, but you take care of Piper when she needs to study. Well, that, I mean, like, you're not taking a lot of, like you don't get a lot of you time for things that, your school doesn't give you the same feeling that doing this does for us. Exactly. Yeah.
[31:43] It's a necessary evil for you at this point where you have to do it. Exactly. That's what I was going to say. The school and that and being a mom, that is really something, yeah, you kind of want to do, but it also is something you have to do. So it requires. Yeah. It doesn't recharge your batteries. It's just something we want to do because it's fun. Yeah. So it really is more of a, I think it's more of an investment on your guys' part than it is for us, if that makes sense.
[32:10] I think I'm in the mindset of, this is what he needs to do right now, and I'm fully here to support him. I know in the future, it'll get easier. Yeah. Yeah. Which is good. I mean, I'm glad we're looking forward to something easier instead of something more difficult. Yes. Yes. I mean, really. Yeah. Well, I mean, you have teenage years with a daughter to look forward to, so good luck with that. Good luck. We're done with that. So here's a follow on.
[32:39] What are some of the ways that you share the hobby with your spouse or with each other? But I'm assuming they want to know spouse. So like, what do you mean share? Well, like, I mean, I don't want to read too much into the question, but I would say, Lori and I don't really share the same hobbies, so she's not into RC airplanes and well, but what I'm saying is like you don't go flying and you don't build airplanes and stuff.
[33:10] But occasionally I do seek your advice on color combinations for trim schemes. Yes. And I do ask you how your projects are going. You do. Because it's important to you. It would be, while it would be fun, I think, to like if you got into airplanes and wanted to fly. I don't know that you would think that would be very fun. I think everything else would be good together as fun. I don't know. I have a feeling like if I ever flew, he would be so, or like such a nervous wreck.
[33:41] Well, he's a nervous wreck when Cody flies with someone else. I'm a nervous wreck well he's a nervous wreck when yeah when cody flies with someone else yeah you don't fly unless you can land well that's pretty much what everybody should do but should i think i think me flying would be the equivalent of me driving with you in the car yeah okay yeah is it that bad? He thinks it is. Really? I can ride with Crystal, no problem. Tom can ride with me as long as he's asleep.
[34:12] He does not like to be awake while I'm driving. I think it's a control thing. I think so. Yeah. I mean, like, I don't consider myself, like, a control freak kind of person, but something about driving and, yeah. I think it would be the same for fun. Like, I can ride with Ron, no problem. Well, that's because I'm a good driver. I'm a good driver. But I think the flying would be the same. I think you would, I would feel that you would be critiquing every little thing that I did.
[34:37] And I don't need that kind of stress in my life. Okay. Well, back to the original, the question of sharing. What was it? Something about sharing the hobby or something? How do you share it with Crystal? Like with Crystal, I think it's more, well, first off, look around the house. We share a lot of the hobby with her. Almost every room of your house. Is it share with or force upon? I think it's kind of force upon. Well, at this point, she's a willing partner. Yeah. So,
[35:03] she knows what she's into now. So, it's sharing. Willing. Well, at this point, she's a willing partner. Yeah. So she knows what she's into now. So it's sharing. Willing. Yeah. To a certain extent. No, but a lot of times, like when we do the fly-ins and that kind of stuff, she'll come out to the field and she has fun with that. I do. Would you like to say more? Crystal, what is it about the fly-ins that you like? I don't know. Just everybody gathering around and watching all the planes.
[35:27] And I don't know, I like the color scheme of all of them and how they fly. And see, you make me feel like a bad hobby wife whenever you go out there. Because it sounds like Crystal came and I'm like, oh, shoot. Well, come on with me. We can… Well, I have some… If the weather is good and there's no bugs… No pugs. Oh, my gosh. Then I'm good. Get some bug spray. We do. Yeah. This year was bad, especially with the little sweat bees. Yeah. Yeah. That was terrible. Yeah.
[35:58] But, I mean, like, that's the biggest thing. She likes to come out and not as much now since Piper's been, around. Yeah. I think this is the first year though that it's like okay she's three she can come with me we can do more stuff together and then of course this is here we have covet hit and yeah yeah all that kind of stuff so it's not been nearly as fun this year for that kind of stuff as it has before but right
[36:22] we'll get back to it once again it's going to get easier as time goes on. Yeah, I'm excited for the years to come. Me too. That's so funny because… I know, they don't know what they're getting into. Why, because the best years of your life are behind you? Is that what you're saying? You have teenage years with a daughter coming, so… It's going to be rosy. I mean, it's going to be so perfect. You heard it here everyone
[36:52] mark this point in time yeah i'm gonna regret that later 10 years from now we're going to revisit this topic yeah okay mark it down put it on your calendar you've got a google calendar put it on there 10 years from now there you go how do you like living with a teenage daughter so ron what would you say we've learned from each other for this whole this whole experience so not to offend you i gotta start that way no if you have to start it with not to offend you're
[37:20] probably going to offend well but that's that's a way to make it okay no one has a way of making this so that i don't get mad well most of the time i've learned a lot obviously about the hobby from you but i think one thing especially after doing this duelist like i've said before how like i was embarrassed to have you look at some of the things
[37:40] i've done on how you're like no it's it's fine. And all that stuff. And I really thought you were just like making me feel better and placating me and all that kind of stuff. This is where I'm not trying to offend you. But when I went over to your house and saw your do list, I realized that you weren't wrong. Like it's not, Lori's looking at me like, how dare you? No, but it's perfect. What are you talking about? It's not.
[38:03] Well, but like looking at it's like when you covered your nose, like when I did mine, there's not a lot of perfect lines and that kind of stuff. I had to do it multiple pieces and I was like, I don't even want him to see this because I don't know how else to do it. And then I saw yours and I was like, you did it the same way that I did mine. So maybe it's okay. It absolutely is okay. it goes back. So it was okay. it goes back, I remember my neighbor,
[38:24] a long time ago before he moved away when we were working on stuff out in the shop, would always tell me, because apparently I'm sometimes like a perfectionist with stuff. He told me, like I said, a lot of times, we're not building a church. And it's like, okay, that's what I kind of try and keep, putting in the back of my mind, is it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be good. Well, here's the thing. I mean, it's your airplane.
[38:48] If you're satisfied with it, that's really all that matters. Well, but a lot of times I don't know if I'm satisfied with it or not. Like, I don't know if I should be satisfied with it. So like when you saw how I was doing the fuselage to begin with, I started on the top and I went down. And you're like, what? You started on the top, you didn't start on the bottom? That's not how I say it. Sometimes I think he does that just to mess with you. Well, sometimes I do.
[39:11] Just to watch the panic on your face. In that particular case. No, what I'm thinking when I say stuff like that is I'm thinking, oh, I probably should have told Ron to do it this way and tell him why. But the reason behind going from the bottom to the top doesn't affect me because i'm not doing nitro yeah so the reason obviously for that now i know is that if fuel gets on it you want it to not actually sink down behind the covering that's
[39:37] on there just like shingles on a house you have the water to run off not right so so that's the that's my takeaway on that now is I build electric so it doesn't matter. Yeah. And it really does. And it looks fantastic. I love how it's looking. It looks pretty good. But yeah, either way, more often than not, when I ask you, why did you do it this way? It's me internally, I'm saying, I should have told Ron, maybe do it this way because, and
[40:04] why? So like what I would say I've learned from you is I've learned a great deal from I should have told Ron maybe do it this way because and why. So like what I would say I've learned from you is I've learned a great deal from the electric motor episode. And I've said that before. And I've also learned that you're actually, I mean, I always knew you were pretty good with technology and stuff like that. But you're like really good with it. I mean, like. You're smart, Ron.
[40:23] I knew how much I didn't. Well, thanks. I knew how much I didn't… Well, I didn't know how much I didn't know. But what I'm saying is I knew that I was an idiot when it comes to all this electronic stuff. But, like, compared to me, you're like a genius with it. And I knew that before, but this just really confirmed it. Thank you, but low bar at all.? Ron cannot take a compliment. very well no so somebody
[40:48] asked us what is our favorite thing about the hobby i'm assuming the question is relating to the hobby and not the podcast because we've already kind of covered what our favorite thing about the podcast is oh that's a good one it is a good one you wanna to go? Sure. So, like, I've been involved in the hobby, like, a really long time. Like, according to Ron, forever. Since, like, it was… Since before airplanes were a thing. For you.
[41:13] So, like, I have a lot of favorite things about the hobby. Like, because of how long I've been in it, like, I've seen, like, the progression of technology. So, like, one of my favorite things about the hobby is is watching and trying to like maybe not predict but just wondering in amazement where the hobby's going to be in five years like 10 years ago there's no way i would have said that
[41:38] we'll never have to worry about frequencies again ever what i mean and then 2.4 yeah and then yeah dsm popped up and now i mean that's like the standard now yeah i haven't worried about a frequency in well 10 ish years which is awesome yeah so i never thought and that's like my one of my favorite things about the hobby just because i've seen those changes and it's neat to see what what's coming next yeah see i came into it without dealing with FM.
[42:06] And I don't know time frame when I would have been coming in versus when the 2.4 became a thing. Right. But seeing, because there's been a few changes since I've got into it, but not a ton when it comes to that. No big changes like that. I came in with LiPos. I came in with a 2.4 gigahertz. Actually, like you, Crystal, you knew me before I did the RC stuff. Like what, do you remember when I brought my first airplane
[42:38] home or? Not really. You already had, RC cars, trucks. So it was just another RC thing. How little did she know? No kidding. Yeah. And now it's just straight planes right now. Yeah. I still have a wall of cars. There's, I don't know, 12 or 13 of them hanging up on the wall downstairs which actually maybe i should take those down and hang airplanes there i just thought of that there you go that's another wall for that yeah that's our future bathroom by the way
[43:16] future bathroom that's not a bathroom now it could be airplane themed yeah that's a good idea as long as there's no shower in there to mess with the balsa. Yeah. Nice. See, see how much? Yeah, she knows all about the water and balsa don't mix. Been in it a long time. And you've just learned. Yeah, that's… Go on, go on. Go on. Tell on Megan. Your trailer. Yeah. My waterlogged trailer. We've spent all that time. She likes to bring that up a lot. I do too.
[43:55] I bring it up every opportunity I get. I'm just glad someone else did it this time. Well, because it invaded my garage now. What invaded your garage? The planes that were in the trailer. No. Three walls is not invasion. Three of the four walls. No, that's not invasion. Well, the fourth wall is doors. Those are the doors. Poor Tom just has a section of the basement. It's okay. It's time for him to expand. Yeah. So it wasn't really much of a transition for you when Ron got into airplanes?
[44:29] Not really. Definitely not in the beginning. Of course, now it's everywhere. But, we have the plane in the corner in the dining room. I think that's decoration now. Yeah, it's not bad. Yes, it's just a tail. But, downstairs we have planes everywhere and is that your favorite part crystal is that your favorite part about the hobby my favorite you don't have to decorate ron already did it yeah see i love how she says
[44:57] we have airplanes everywhere like that's a bad thing i'm just like yeah we do that's so cool yeah well no i guess it's not everywhere. Half the basement's planes, the other half is filled with Piper's toys. Well, see, once we get rid of Piper's toys, they have more room. That's Tom's plan. We'll get rid of one more kid. I think it's funny because Crystal said before, like, she didn't realize when I first got my big plane that not everybody didn't have big planes.
[45:26] No, I thought, hey, that's a nice big plane. I was thinking there were bigger planes and it was just normal. Well, there are bigger planes. Not very many. Just saying. That is a big plane. And yes. But getting smaller every day, though. I don't even know what that means. Well, there's like more and more bigger airplanes being produced every day. Like if you watch, Facebook or YouTube. Yeah, they're growing. That's for sure. So eventually your big plane will be.
[45:58] Just a plane. Nothing big about it. just something just occurred to me. The Duelist is kind of a big plane. I'm not sure where I'm gonna store that thing. I was thinking. I mean, it's, I mean, it's physically a big airplane doesn't have it's a one piece wing, which is uncommon these days, with airplanes that size, and then the cells have to stay on. It's kind of going to be a pain to find a place to store it. Are you sick of talking about the dualist?
[46:21] going to be a pain to find a place to store it. Are you sick of talking about the dualist? Be honest. I think it's nearing its end. We talk about it a lot. We do. I could talk about dualist for another couple months. I don't want to do that. I'll be glad when it's done and it's his redemption plane. As long as he doesn't crash. He's not because he published a, you guys published a checklist for him to follow. That's true. Well, he knew beforehand to follow that checklist. He was excited.
[46:54] I'll defend you. It's okay. He was excited. I won't. I'm not as experienced then as I am now. Good way to put it. How about that? Yeah, and I've said it before. Had you done your pre-flight back then, we wouldn't be doing this now. That's true. And we'd have no content. I don't know if that's awesome or bad. It's awesome. So what's next? What's after the do list? Oh, gosh. Well, for me, I've got to finish the Horton project. And then after that, I think it's going to be full-on tri-motor.
[47:23] Really? Yeah. I mean, that's really good. Once I finish the Horton, I don it's going to be full-on tri-motor. Really? Yeah, I mean, that's really… Once I finish the Horton, I don't really have anything. I mean, I have the Sopwith Camel, but that's a long-term… That's his life's work. Yeah, that's my life's work. Nice. I like how she puts that. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, really, and then maybe beyond the tri-motor, I printed,
[47:47] had you print the Pushy Cat plans for me or I sent them to you. I haven't had you print them yet, but. Pushy Cat? That's what it's called. It's called a Pushy Cat. I forget all about that. I'm dying. I'm dying. I was like, who names that? A guy. That's the name of it. Pushy Cat. It's an airplane that has an engine at the back and pushes instead of being a tractor type. So I understand the push. What about the cat? Yeah. Play on words, I'm sure. Play on words, I guess. Yeah.
[48:14] But it's a cool kind of a Formula One racer looking plane that's really unusual in the fact that it's a pusher instead of a tractor. So it's got a cool little detail. Pusher plane sounds nicer. Pushy cat. So is that on your list of things? Eventually. It will be another plans build. But yeah, that's maybe down the road. But yeah, definitely finish the Horton for me and then start working towards a tri-motor. What about you? Well, tri-motor obviously is coming up.
[48:45] we talked about the Elder 40 before that I want to build. And since we know somebody that bought one, since I decided I wanted to build it, I think we're going to do like a 200% scale or something. Big one. Big one. And then the first thing is probably going to be making the laser. I like how you said we're going to do a 200% scale one. Well, of course. We are are going to he's going to consult you no you can critique it i mean he can so by the time we're done with the
[49:15] which we pretty much are you are an accomplished plans builder so you'll be able to accomplish an elder plans build on your own, right? Oh, I probably will. I mean, yeah. But it's, I don't know, it's just easier to say we're going to do something. I don't know. It's semantics. Sure. Well, maybe we are going to finish the Horton then. How about that? Do you want me to? I can do it a lot quicker than you can. I probably can. He'll never ask you for help again.
[49:44] Maybe that's the plan. Yeah plan yeah all right here's one so does the relative success thank you of the podcast make you guys more legit now that you have a small following i don't even know how to answer that well does it surprise you that you have people come back and support you oh absolutely does it make you feel like what you're doing? Absolutely not. Well, for me, it kind of does because it's sort of like I'm not trying to sound like a, like a…
[50:17] You're getting ready to toot your own horn. Well, yeah. I mean, like, so I've never, I'm always the first one to downplay, how much I know. like people will say, oh, well, gosh, almost everything. I'm like, well, no, I'm no expert. And I'm not. And I really am not. People tell me I'm the smartest person they've ever met. And I'm just like, oh, no.
[50:39] But having said that, the number of requests we get through email and through, contacting us through the various ways that folks can contact us. I mean, we've reached a lot of people. And the stuff that we have said is like, validated, if you will, like how much I actually do know. Like it surprises me going back and listening to some of the episodes and some of the questions we're getting for, from listeners asking for advice to maybe elaborate on
[51:09] a point that we've made or whatever. It just, it surprises me about like how much I actually do know. Like I'm quick to say I don't know everything, which I don't, but I do know quite a bit. And it surprises me, like looking back, it's like, well, maybe I don't give myself enough credit. But I'm not surprised because the very few times that I have gone to the field with you and the number of times people have asked you for help to the point where you don't even get to fly your planes
[51:38] because you're busy helping other people, that doesn't surprise me. Yeah. helping other people that doesn't surprise me yeah i guess i guess for me what i'm what i'm really trying to say is without sounding conceited or anything it's like i mean the question is does the success of the podcast make it make you guys more legit it's like it just validity it just validifies to me that how much i actually validifies to me how much I actually… Validate. Validate. Thank you.
[52:12] Talking about knowing everything. You put solidify and validate to one word. You're so smart. You created a new word. What would you like to do in the future? And it doesn't have to be in 2021. It can be even further out. But what would you like to see happen? I don't think Ron can picture more than a couple months away. I have not given it that much thought. That's a long time past 2021. You have five minutes to think. Tom, go ahead.
[52:47] You're only giving me five minutes? Okay. Well, I mean, for me, I'd like to do big event coverage. I think that'd be fun. I think our listeners might enjoy that. I'd like to do more interviews with other knowledgeable folks in the hobby. Interviews I think are awesome. And then, maybe eventually if we can get some folks to cooperate with us, we'll do some product reviews and maybe giveaways,? Yeah, that'd be fun. That's great. That's perfect.
[53:15] See, I don't have to answer. And that wasn't five minutes. That's not true. You still have to answer. Everything he said, except for the going places in front of people. That I don't know about. No, I think that's where I would have a lot of fun. Going to the fly-in, set up a little tent area, interview people, video, selling our lovely merchandise. I will happily go and let you guys do the talking and I will do the technical part. How's that sound?
[53:44] Well, another thing that I would love for you guys, because you guys have talked about it, making custom plans. Custom planes, is that what you said? The plans for the planes. So how do you… No, you're right. That is very difficult. And that's why we haven't gone any farther than that. That's high level. We're talking about the future. That's true. That would be awesome. I could see doing that. It'd be neat to kind of have our own brand. Oh, I'd love to have mine on a kit line.
[54:17] And then produce some kind of kit or something. That would be cool. That would be fun. Yeah. So, if anybody has ideas of what they want to, if you're still listening, reach out and let us know. And how would they reach out, Ron? Oh, there's multiple ways multiple ways. I mean, I can't even count how many ways are to get a hold of us. Count 12. Well, we can't do more than eight because you can't count that high, apparently. All right. So you can… Hey, that's on you, Stu.
[54:49] It is me. Apparently, I don't know the number that comes after seven. Seven again. Seven, seven, seven, seven. So you can contact us through, go right to the RC Plane Lab website. There's a contact us form there. There's also our email addresses, tom at rcplanelab.com and ron at rcplanelab.com. We have a phone number. 818-351-9846. You can leave us a voicemail or you can text us also with that number. You can contact us through Facebook. We have a Facebook page.
[55:21] Lots of ways to contact us. All right. So is that it? Does anybody have anything else they want to talk about? Well, this was fun. It was. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Crystal, I don't think we'll be invited back. It's going to be a while. All right. Until next time, I'm Ron. I'm Tom. I'm Lori. And I'm Crystal. But it's just going to be Tom and I. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Plane Lab podcast.
[55:56] 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 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.
