Ep 29: Our First Guest, Reggie Washington

[00:00:00] 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.

[00:00:33] Thanks for spending time with us today. Now here are your hosts, Ron and Tom.

[00:00:38] Hello, everyone, and welcome to this special edition of the RC Plane Lab podcast. Tom and I haven't been able to talk to you for a couple weeks since our wives took over the microphone last week.

[00:00:46] If you haven't had a chance to hear our last episode yet, you should definitely listen after you're finished with this one. Crystal and Lori did a great job hosting and had some interesting perspectives, to say the least.

[00:00:55] This week, Tom and I are excited to bring you not only our first guest, but a great friend of ours, Reggie Washington.

[00:01:01] Yeah, folks, you’re in for a real treat, because he’s an avid RC airplane pilot, like us, and he has some pretty good stories up his sleeve.

[00:01:07] Reggie and I started flying within a month or so of each other back in 2012. He flies any chance he gets, and in the last eight years, he probably has had more stick time than Tom and I combined, and he's also probably bought more airplanes than Tom and I combined. That's definitely true.

[00:01:21] And without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, joining us in person from the RC Plane Lab studio, please welcome Reggie Washington.

[00:01:31] Hello, hello. How are you doing, dear? Hi, Reggie.

[00:01:34] Reggie, welcome, and thanks for joining us today. Like I said earlier, we both started at the same time in the hobby, and we both started with the same airplane, the Hobby Zone Super Cub. What did you think of that airplane, and do you still have yours?

[00:01:47] I love that little plane and it is totally gone. I sold it years ago, actually, to somebody that was supposedly going to start as well in the hobby.

[00:01:58] And what, like how long, how long did you go with that plane before you got rid of it? Like how long did you have it?

[00:02:06] Oh, I guess I'm probably about three years, three, four years, maybe. But that wasn't the only plane you had in that time, either. That was not the only plane I had at that time. Right. But I just figured, keeping it around, it was also a good little go-to plane, when I was bored or something, and just went to try flying it again. And sure enough, it flew great.

[00:02:24] Was that the only three-channel plane you had?

[00:02:27] That is the only three-channel plane I’ve ever had.

[00:02:29] I had a problem going from that plane to a four-channel plane with the rudder being on different sticks and all that. Did you have any issues? Kind of graduating, I guess, to a four-channel airplane?

[00:02:40] Maybe the first couple, three or four flights, yes. It was weird trying to grab the wrong stick to do the wrong thing with. It didn't destroy anything, but really quickly you'd figured it out and straightened it out.

[00:02:53] For me, it was on the ground. The ground is where I had all the problems because you had no control on the ground. And, when you're taxiing and trying to take off because you were moving the wrong stick, going from a three to a four-channel. Exactly.

[00:03:05] Reggie, do you remember your first flight with that airplane?

[00:03:07] Yes, I did. I had rushed all the way back from the East Coast to get back to fly this thing, knowing that I was running out of time, daylight, and just trying to find someplace to fly it. But, which at that time, I don't recall belonging to the AMA sanction or the local club, whatever.

[00:03:26] Yeah, it took me a little while to join up to. Right.

[00:03:29] So, at that point, I had made it all the way back. I had found a church that I was aware of. And, at this point in time, getting it together, getting out there, batteries in, making sure everything was ready to go. The sun was basically gone. And I got it up. She started flying perfectly well. And I was as happy as can be. And only at this time, I realized there was no sun. And she was about maybe two or three feet above fully grown corn.

[00:03:56] Oh boy.

[00:03:58] And it disappeared.

[00:03:59] It's not easy to find a downed airplane in the corn in the dark, by the way. No. Just throw that out. It's not easy to do it in the light.

[00:04:06] That is miserable.

[00:04:07] Let alone the dark.

[00:04:09] We’ve all been there.

[00:04:10] Oh yeah.

[00:04:11] Nonetheless, that little motor is a little geared motor, so you can hear the whining sound of it. And that's how I found it. Literally, I could hear it still going, so I just kept doing what I thought was turning. And sure enough, it came back from over the corn.

[00:04:26] Oh, it was still flying. It was still flying. Oh.

[00:04:28] I was about a foot over the corn at that point.

[00:04:30] I thought you crashed it in the corn.

[00:04:31] No, no. She was still going. She crashed when I realized it was going toward the church van in the parking lot. And then trying to save it, barrel rolled it into the ground, and I had three different pieces of plane laying there eventually.

[00:04:44] Nice thing about that airplane. Back in the day that was an easy airplane to repair.

[00:04:49] It was. Yeah. It was.

[00:04:50] Big chunks.

[00:04:51] I was still not familiar with any of this. Oh, right. I mean, just literally, I put it together. That was all I knew.

[00:04:59] Yeah.

[00:04:59] So it was a.

[00:05:01] So, that was your first flight. It was semi-successful. Yes. It was a successful takeoff flight, and so two-thirds. Two out of three.

[00:05:11] That's a good average. That's still passing, right?

[00:05:14] It was good. When you went into the hobby shop to buy, well, when you bought that airplane that day, when you went into the hobby shop, was that what you were going in there to buy?

[00:05:24] No, sir, I was going in there to buy a helicopter that I was nowhere near qualified whatsoever to even think about trying to start, let alone fly.

[00:05:31] Right, right. So, I have the benefit of a little back story. I actually worked at the hobby shop, as you remember, when you came in to buy it that day. So, it's one of my, it's a good memory I have, too, because I felt good about what I did that day.

[00:05:45] Well, that was the first time you guys met each other, right? It is. Yes. Yes.

[00:05:48] Yeah. Reggie came into the shop, and he was interested, like he said, in buying this really cool, it was a Raptor 50, I think it was a Raptor 50, maybe a 30 size, either way, really nice helicopter. And Reggie and I got to talk, and I was like, I asked him, I was like, so do you have any RC airplane experience? And he was like, well, no, I've seen them fly, or they just look really, really cool. I'm not even sure.

[00:06:11] I think I asked you what prompted you to come in and I think you said you had seen somebody fly something.

[00:06:17] I had seen somebody fly something, but it had been years ago, and just for whatever reason, it just, it still had the want, need to get into the RC hobby. And, I don't even remember how I even found you. It might have been phone book or something. I don't remember what it was.

[00:06:33] Yeah, back then it probably would have been the phone book.

[00:06:35] Oh, my God. But, I eventually just wondered. Internet was around, by the way, in 2012. I'm not a big technology person. Even if I get my phone in hand, I'm just lost sometimes. But now, it's not so bad.

[00:06:47] You guys are like kept from the same cloth, I swear.

[00:06:50] It’s not true.

[00:06:51] Yeah, maybe so.

[00:06:51] Anyway, yeah, so Reggie came in and was asking about this big fancy helicopter and no RC experience whatsoever.

[00:06:59] Well, and that's not true. He did have the Air Hogs, right? Oh, that's right.

[00:07:03] I was doing a little Kmart job, Walmart jobs.

[00:07:05] That’s right, I forgot about that.

[00:07:06] And, I thought that was pretty much the same lineup. I can fly an Air Hog.

[00:07:10] I can fly anything now.

[00:07:12] And I found out real quickly that this little toy that I’ve been playing with will not be not kill me like the one that I picked up off that you guys had been hanging off the ceiling, if I remember right.

[00:07:20] And that was my biggest concern, was not the fact that you were going to spend a lot of money and probably get discouraged and get out of the hobby, which I didn't want that to happen either, because that was sort of my second income at that time. So I didn't want somebody to get in the hobby and then get out of the hobby because they're discouraged.

[00:07:37] And I’m- and I’m not making anything on sales after that. But I mostly was concerned about your safety, because a big helicopter like that in the wrong hands or the hands of an inexperienced pilot can really hurt somebody.

[00:07:51] So what did we do? We watched you put that back up on the hook and then discussed how I should go about learning how to fly, in which case we had got a Phoenix 3.5 simulator with a controller and I wasn't moments after that, I think I talked myself into also getting the Horizon Hobby Super Cup to have on hand. So after I've had my lessons, which I think went for a whole three weeks.

[00:08:22] Listening to the story now sounds really condescending. Like I've talked Reggie out of this big purchase because I'm such an expert. That's really not what it was about. I was, I really was, because with zero experience, these helicopters can be dangerous.

[00:08:35] Oh, helicopters are kind of scary to me. I know people do it, but the couple I've flown, it's, you can get them off the ground, you can do some stuff. And then like, I haven't spent enough time to learn the controls very well. And it's like, if it starts going one way, I just get confused and I can do planes, no problem. But helicopters are so much different and it's difficult for me.

[00:08:57] And so I can see how, if it’s something big and it starts coming at you, you’re going to run and duck and scream.

[00:09:02] I’m not giving up on the idea yet of flying yet. I mean they’ve got a lot of new trainer choppers out.

[00:09:07] Oh yeah.

[00:09:07] Oh, do they? Oh, sure. There's really nice ones out there that, just like there are airplanes now that will almost fly, there are helicopters out there now that will almost fly themselves, which is cool.

[00:09:17] Oh, I can only imagine, like with the quads and stuff now that literally fly themselves. I'm sure that's kind of all coming over to helicopters too. Exactly right.

[00:09:24] So what was, what was the prompt? Like what actually that day made you decide to go into that hobby shop?

[00:09:31] Oh, I had a pocket full of cash, tax returns and I can't remember what else came in, but I said, I've been wanting to do something for a long time to do something different. And this is the one thing I haven't done.

[00:09:44] And you had been flying the Air Hogs.

[00:09:46] Yep.

[00:09:46] Successfully.

[00:09:47] I decided I was going to upgrade. I mean, you can go into like malls and stuff and you see all those little kiosks with the choppers and stuff. And I just kind of felt those though, those were kind of generic. So I want to have an actual real RC toy.

[00:10:02] Those things weren't really a step up in my opinion from Air Hogs. those things you buy at the kiosks or whatever in the malls.

[00:10:08] And then once they break, you're out. There's no getting parts or anything. So sweet. I decided to look you guys up and, I came there and that's where this whole,

[00:10:17] And I’m glad you did. I mean, that was 2012 and here you are still, still flying RC airplanes today, still enjoying the hobby, which is, I think, great.

[00:10:25] Yeah. Like all of us still learning, still growing as a pilot, still having fun.

[00:10:29] Do you think if you had knowing now what now, would you have gotten in the hobby the same way?

[00:10:37] Yes.

[00:10:37] Okay. Yes, definitely. I mean, starting with the cub, I mean, and then working away. Okay, good.

[00:10:44] I mean, I, I don't think I would have changed much. Maybe some decisions on where I was flying. Maybe it might be different, but yeah, everything else I probably would, probably would stay around. Sure. Excellent.

[00:10:54] Sounds like there's a story behind that. Where, what do you mean where you were flying?

[00:11:00] I drive a truck for a living, so I pretty much am everywhere. Okay. And once I see some places that look pretty, let's just say vulnerable for an airplane to be in the air, I'm pretty much up and I'll, I'll fly as much as I possibly can and tell you that something happens or I've had my fulfillment and then I move on. no matter where that is, no matter where that is, but that has led to some stories that has gotten around over the years.

[00:11:29] And so it kind of, let's just put it this way. I think I might own a sign or two somewhere. I'm surprised I don't own a Taco Bell sign, but I definitely, there's a, a Jack in the box sign that's got my name and Mark on it from Missouri.

[00:11:47] So a Jack in the box sign. I, I, our listeners would love to hear that story.

[00:11:53] Flying at a truck stop with a plane that had no landing gear. Oh, the Wildcat.

[00:11:58] Was it the Wildcat?

[00:11:59] It was the Wildcat. It was the, 4F Wildcat. I think that's what it is. But,.

[00:12:03] A little like foamy. Like how big was it foamy, though?

[00:12:06] About 40 inches.

[00:12:07] That's a foamy. Or E-Flight or Hobby Zone or whatever. I think it was E-Flight. Okay. Okay. So a small one with the no gear. Yep.

[00:12:13] I thought my landing skills were pretty good. So I figured that little strip for grass that was maybe as wide as this table and about 10 feet long would have been enough. So our table is about four feet wide, folks.

[00:12:24] Give or take.

[00:12:24] Give or take. So I figured I was going to fly. It was a beautiful day. It was no wind and I flung it. She was up in the air and I was having a blast. But of course I was beside the interstate, beside a highway, flying over a brand new car lot.

[00:12:39] Okay, listeners. Take a note of all the things you shouldn't be doing.

[00:12:44] Exactly. These are all no-nos. And I was using this sign, Jack in the Box, is my point. I'd see the shadow of it as soon as I flew over it and then I would start diving down and come across the parking lot really low.

[00:13:00] Oh, that was your point of reference, the sign. Thank you. The shadow of the sign. I got you. Okay.

[00:13:04] So,

[00:13:04] Hold on. The shadow of the sign on the ground or the shadow of the airplane going over the sign?

[00:13:09] Right.

[00:13:09] I'm sorry. In relation to the sign. Yeah. Okay.

[00:13:11] This is an interstate sign, so it's pretty well up there. I can't give you feet, but it's way up there. And when I come over top of it, I'm generally about five, six feet above it and then I would just start dropping down. Well, being as far away as it is, which I seem to fly a long ways away, I thought I had cleared it, but I had not quite cleared it because apparently it disappeared behind the sign. Oh, dear.

[00:13:38] I kind of had one of those oh no and went to pull up to see pieces come flying around the sign into the drive-thru down below it.

[00:13:46] Oh, my God.

[00:13:46] It landed in the drive-thru? Pretty much. Most of it did. The motor was out on the highway, so it.

[00:13:51] Oh, my gosh. Oh.

[00:13:52] I was just happy not to see no plastic from that sign falling. Yeah, no kidding. Because I think I would have had to leave at that point. Oh, gosh. I can't imagine what one of those signs cost.

[00:14:01] So, did it sound like a drum? I mean, was there any, like. Yeah, there's got to be a sound that it made.

[00:14:05] Like foam hitting plastic at a really high speed is what it sounded like.

[00:14:10] I can imagine what that sounds like. I thought maybe there'd be some echo, like a, like a dome. Yeah, that would have been. It was a possibility. I was a little too far away to hear it.

[00:14:18] I just really it was. Well, he did mention he flies far away.

[00:14:21] That is true. Yeah.

[00:14:22] I just know it was not a good day. Did you recover all the pieces? Yes. You said the motor landed on the road, or.

[00:14:30] Yeah, it was about almost 100 feet out into the highway there. It was lying against the guardrail, so I went and picked that up and just slowly walked back to my truck. Did the walk of shame? Oh, yeah. It was a long walk. It was a very long walk.

[00:14:43] Okay, so for our listeners, we're laughing about this, but don't ever do that. Yeah. Like, I mean, we have to be honest here. That's dangerous. You don't want to hit a car. You don't want to hit a person. Right. You don't want to hit somebody getting a hamburger at Jack and the Box. Right, right, right.

[00:14:58] Somebody in the drive-through.

[00:15:00] I mean, you don't want to, like, reach your hand out to grab your sack of hamburgers and fries and then have, like, a motor fall on your hand. Yeah. So let's not do that to people.

[00:15:07] Yeah. Unexpectedly now have to buy a new car because you hit it with an airplane. Yeah.

[00:15:13] Or a windshield or side window glass.

[00:15:16] I can say that in my time of flying I’ve only hit two cars that I can think of. Oh dear.

[00:15:21] This is news.

[00:15:23] I didn't know that. You've hit two cars? I've hit two cars. Once in a Walmart parking lot. In my takeoff zone, somebody went over and parked at all the parking lot. They decided to park over there. In your takeoff zone. In my takeoff zone.

[00:15:38] I caught that. Yeah, I caught that.

[00:15:39] And sure enough, it was windy and the wind got underneath it and it rolled it over. I went to go save it and ricocheted it off his windshield. Whoops.

[00:15:47] Oh no.

[00:15:48] And in actually another Walmart parking lot, I was coming in for landing and I was coming in way too hot and thought I had it down. But sure enough, she floated right back up into a parked car that I didn't realize had parked there. Whoops. And she was still in the car. Oh, dear. She was still in the car. But she was so irate with whoever she was talking to on the cell phone. I told her I hit her car. She said, okay, bye. And that was end of it.

[00:16:11] I just picked my plane up and walked away.

[00:16:13] Wow.

[00:16:14] Okay. Mental note. If you're flying in a Walmart parking lot. Not a good idea. Not a good idea.

[00:16:20] Yeah.

[00:16:21] Try to hit the car where the lady’s talking madly on a cell phone.

[00:16:25] That way she doesn't get it. Mental note. Don't fly in a Walmart parking lot. Yeah.

[00:16:28] I would say: do that.

[00:16:31] That's much better. Oh, my.

[00:16:33] It was just the urge to fly was just overwhelming. I enjoy it. It's my time off. It's my relaxation. I'm in a semi truck all day. Yeah. I'm looking for a break from traffic. And once I'm in the air, all is gone.

[00:16:47] Yeah.

[00:16:47] It’s just me, the plane, the air.

[00:16:49] It's very relaxing. No, I totally get it. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a great hobby. I mean, obviously, that's why we're in it. Right. And are there any other? I didn't know anything about those.

[00:17:01] Yeah, no, no. Those were kept in the vault, but I apparently have now released the hell upon myself for this. There's probably quite a few stories, but we don't have that kind of time.

[00:17:14] No, we have time.

[00:17:16] No.

[00:17:17] Ron likes to relive your stories. I do too. But really what I want to know is like, do you have a preference? Like now that you've been in the hobby for quite a few years, do you have a preference? Like, do you prefer foamies over nitro? Do you prefer nitro? Like, what's your preference?

[00:17:31] I like all. Like them all. As long as I can fly it, I can tune it, I can fix it, I'm going to fly it. I don't care which one it is.

[00:17:38] Okay, so you don't have a preference. Which, like of the different types of airplanes, electric, foamies, nitros, gassers, which type of airplane would you say gives you the most amount of frustration?

[00:17:51] At this point in time, I would have to say probably nitro because of the tuning. I would agree with that because that gives me frustration too. Even though I love them. I do love them. It's just, if something's off, you don't catch a little something. I can't remember. We were working on one plane for a while one day at the field. I don't remember what it was. It was just something simply, simply, simple, simple.

[00:18:15] Yeah.

[00:18:15] And we missed the whole thing. So what he's saying is it's something simple.

[00:18:18] Pretty easy.

[00:18:19] And we spent over an hour plus trying to get this thing running. It was just, it was stupid simple. Yep. And we missed it. I mean, I had no clue.

[00:18:26] It's, it's, it shouldn't be surprising, but it's usually always something simple. Yeah. And once it was fixed, the plane wasn't there. Which is why the Telemaster was so frustrating to me because it wasn't simple.

[00:18:37] Yeah.

[00:18:38] Anyway.

[00:18:39] It was. It was just one of the things.

[00:18:40] So the nitro, you would say, is what gives you the most frustration. And me too.

[00:18:44] What was wrong with the plane at the field that you, I don't remember what it was. Oh, okay.

[00:18:48] I can’t remember. It was a. Was it hose off, or was it a screw or something?

[00:18:52] I think I remember, I think I know it was a four stroke, wasn’t it?

[00:18:55] Yes. Yeah. I think it was a fuel line either. We didn't have it plugged into the exhaust or it had a, I think it actually had a pinhole on the line right at the, coming from the tank. And we finally saw air, I think in the line while it was running. We're like, oh.

[00:19:07] And that's the problem with some of those airplanes where it's all cowled in. You can't see it. I mean, it's easy on a trainer. You see the, the lines coming out, you can tell if there's air in it, but on some of these it's hidden. It's, it's hard to diagnose.

[00:19:18] On a, on a two stroke that, not to get too far off topic, but on a two stroke, it's, it's a little easier. Like, especially if it's cowled in a two stroke, because everything happens at such a higher RPM than a four stroke, when there's air in the line or whatever, it'll lean, rich, lean, rich, and it happens pretty quick. So you can actually tell, oh, it's leaning and then it's getting rich. And on a four stroke, it, it tends to not happen as quickly.

[00:19:45] So the telltale signs aren't as easy to read. Yeah.

[00:19:48] That's what I'm going through right now. Yeah. On one of them. I think it was an escapade. You can actually see the bubbles coming through the line and you can hear it. And eventually after so long, it will shut itself off. Yeah. Right.

[00:19:59] Yeah. So you're not flying it like that though, right? No, no, no, no. No, he's learned his lessons. That's good.

[00:20:05] It’s, it’s down until I get a piece of- I think it was that- rubber foam underneath the fuel tank. I think that’s what’s causing it, but I might check that line too.

[00:20:13] Bubbling up, foaming up. Yeah. Yeah. That happens.

[00:20:16] Yep. So I'd like to ask, so something had to have, have sparked your interest in RC airplanes. Like there has to be, there has to be like a defining moment, like when you were young or whatever and you, like in my case, my neighbor had RC airplanes and that's what sparked, what sparked your interest?

[00:20:33] I actually saw somebody flying one back in like, I want to say early nineties when I was living around Danville, Illinois and, it was over by Kickapoo park. I believe it was somewhere over in that way. And, I kept seeing it and it was like, that is a really small airplane that doesn't even look right. And sure enough, got a good look. I was like, okay, that's not a real thing. I went over to him and watched him land a couple of times.

[00:20:59] And when he finally was on the ground, I started talking to him and he started giving me these stories and he started showing me everything. And at that point on it was on. It was about when would you say that was? Oh, I'm guessing maybe 95 ish.

[00:21:12] Oh, okay. 94 or five, somewhere in there. So that's a good long time ago. It was. And I just never left me.

[00:21:18] I just I’ve always remembered it. Of course, when you go into stores nowadays and you see these little toys, you see that it’s flyable, whatever, whatever. I eventually picked one of those up and had fun in the house, and that just kept growing and growing. And now and now I’m actually an RC pilot. Now Look at me go.

[00:21:37] Look at you go. Yeah. How many planes have you amassed over the years?

[00:21:43] Including the one I just got two weeks ago, I'd say about 34. Wow. 34 or five, somewhere in there.

[00:21:50] Yeah. You got me beat. I don't, I don't have that much room.

[00:21:53] I don’t either. I don’t either.

[00:21:57] Well, that is true. You're, you're, you're resting at the seam.

[00:22:01] Reggie’s space is airplanes and a TV.

[00:22:04] That is it. Laundry has to be done somewhere else. I have to go to the laundry mat now because I decided to make my laundry room a plane room. So it's really, no, not really, no, I was going to say, hold on, that's news.

[00:22:16] I’ve seen your place. I don’t remember there being a laundry room, but no, not really.

[00:22:19] But if you had a laundry room, it would probably have airplanes. Oh, I have a laundry room. I just, no, I'm not putting planes in here. Oh, really? Yep. Well, good for you. I had to put my foot down with myself somewhere. Yeah.

[00:22:29] Exactly. Yeah. Kitchen's okay.

[00:22:32] Laundry room is not okay. Kitchen is a good building place.

[00:22:35] That's all. Well, in Reggie's defense, he doesn't spend a lot of time at home because he's on the road all the time. So a kitchen and dining room doesn't really do you a lot of good except for a hanger space. Exactly.

[00:22:45] Of course, when I’m home and we’ve got company over or whatever, all that’s got to come out of there and it’s back to normal within maybe a half an hour or so.

[00:22:54] Yeah. That's why you just never have people over. Who wants to put airplanes away, right? True. I'd rather be a loner. I'm okay with that.

[00:23:01] Well, yeah. I mean, luckily, Ron is in a position where he can just close the door and no one goes down space.

[00:23:10] I said I would be okay with it. So we'll see. No.

[00:23:13] So tying into the how many airplanes you have, how many would you say you buy in a month? Well, on average, I mean, but in the last, so many years, I mean, you said 35 is the number, but I mean, some have come and some have gone, right? You've sold some and some have.

[00:23:30] Oh, in the beginning, it seemed like me and Ron was in a race. It seemed like we was getting two or three in a month at one point, but. Oh, yeah.

[00:23:37] Yeah, easily, if not three or four, to be honest. It was quick.

[00:23:41] But that's all calmed down. If I'm getting one now, it's because it's something that I really, really liked or I've gotten rid of one or two or destroyed more than three or four or whatever. And I eventually replace something.

[00:23:55] Yeah.

[00:23:55] But lately, it's calmed down a lot. I maybe might get one or two or three in a year. That's about it. Oh, really? Okay. Well, that's a lot less than I thought. That's a low.

[00:24:06] I thought it was based on recent experience. I thought it would be higher than that, But yeah, over the average and over the last year, I guess the last couple of years, I could see that.

[00:24:14] Yeah, because we ended up, the group of us took a trip to a hobby shop that was a couple hours away yesterday. And I fully thought, Reggie, if you would have brought your other vehicle, you were going home with one, if not two airplanes.

[00:24:28] As much stuff that we looked at. There were several that I wanted. I just I got no more room. I mean I’m literally out of room.

[00:24:38] Well. your limits. Bring some over here. Give me some. I'll take them off your hands. Then you can get something new, something exciting.

[00:24:44] By the way, Ron is always up for receiving someone else's airplanes. I don't know if you knew that. Oh, absolutely. Yes. He's always,.

[00:24:52] I mean Tom’s going to give me like two or three of them for what we’ve talked about before.

[00:24:55] I’ve heard on the podcast, yes,

[00:24:57] Yeah, see, it's actually out there. So we've got a couple coming my way. Oh, Tom's looking at the sky like, I don't know what you're talking about. What's up in the ceiling, Tom? What are you looking at?

[00:25:06] Yeah, what? Well, I'm trying to, I'm trying to remember which ones they were.

[00:25:10] Well, it was the do list. You were going to give me everything to make that. Although I've bought stuff for that already, which is fine. I'm not complaining. There's a box of balsa out in your garage. I know. You're right.

[00:25:18] I’m just waiting for you to cut And engines. If you decide you want engines on it, like real engines on it.

[00:25:24] I go back and forth on that. I really want- like I do really want electric. I think that would be a good electric airplane And I like the idea.

[00:25:32] I’m not going to help you with that.

[00:25:33] I like the idea of us doing something different, but I do think a couple nitros would sound cool on an airplane. So I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I go back and forth. And I probably honestly won't know until I have it built and I'm ready to mount something. I'm like, all right, now I'm doing it. Because there's not a lot of differences between electric and nitro, building the wing, building the fuselage. It's going to be kind of standard how we do it.

[00:25:59] So I don't have to make that decision yet. So I'm going to push it off. The other one though, I remember was the T-34. If we can get, if we get the spare one and get the canopy made. okay, maybe it was just two.

[00:26:13] I think it was, well, I was going to give you an airplane a day. Was it an airplane a day or an airplane a week? Or I forget what that was.

[00:26:19] It was an airplane a day after the first of January. however, let's get into it now. We'll talk about it again next week. But you did try to order your Clarence Lee.

[00:26:29] I actually tried to contact, Clarence Lee. I talked to his lovely wife, on the phone and he's no longer doing, engines, custom engines. Mm-hmm. Not because he can't physically. It's because, the parts are getting hard to get from, KMB or Makoa. So I tried, I called and I had my debit card in my hand. I was ready to place the order and I can't place the order because it doesn't make them anymore.

[00:26:54] But anyway, I still think just send one of your engines to him and just be like, here, hold this, just look at it, do something with it and then go ahead and write me a letter back saying, Hey, I, I held this while I was, I held it while I was pooping. I held it while I was doing something weird, and then just be like there and hang that up. And then there's your Clarence Lee engine. I mean, right.

[00:27:16] Or just stamp a CF on the engine mounting log and we'll call it even. And thank you very much. And I'll pay you for it.

[00:27:22] Oh, is that what he did? He'd always stamp them?

[00:27:24] Yeah, he would have a stamp on the engine log.

[00:27:27] Yeah. I always wondered that. How did if it was a Clarence Lee or, or if it was a regular one? Not to get too deep in it. Sorry.

[00:27:33] Yeah. You could, he would stamp his name on the, on the lug with, I think he had it even serial numbered. Oh, nice. And you could also open, pull the piston down, look in the exhaust port and see if you did this port work on the liner.

[00:27:45] Oh, okay.

[00:27:45] That’d be the other way to tell.

[00:27:46] But anyway. Yeah. So that's kind of sad. It's not going to happen. However, I don't know how we worded that. I might still be getting a plane a day. After January 1st, because it was, if you ordered it or not, and you haven't ordered it. But I tried to order it.

[00:28:00] That sounds like a technical loophole right here.

[00:28:02] It does sound like a technical loophole.

[00:28:04] I mean you might be getting a paper airplane every day for the rest of the life.

[00:28:08] It's a stack. And not only that. We didn't determine the type of airplane. Not only that, but it won't be folded yet. So you're going to give me like a ream of paper a year.

[00:28:15] Yes. Exactly.

[00:28:16] Or something like that.

[00:28:18] So yeah, a little off topic there. But we're talking about Reggie and how many planes he has and how many he buys in a month. Kind of tied into that. Sometimes the impetus for buying a new airplane is getting rid of an old airplane. Either trading it or selling it or unfortunately crashing it. We all love a good crash story. And my favorite crash story of mine is, of course, the Duelist.

[00:28:42] Failure to do a pre-flight run has his favorite crash story, which is: I don’t remember what your favorite crash story is.

[00:28:50] Mine has to be the Katana.

[00:28:52] Oh, that is a good one. Because I crashed it twice in two days. Yeah.

[00:28:56] The first time, perfect. it wasn't all that bad, even though it looks terrible. It did look terrible. It did look bad, but it went back together. And yeah, second day, crashed it again. Then it just didn't work. Yeah. But yeah, so that's my favorite one.

[00:29:08] So Reggie, do you have a favorite crash story? Besides, I mean, you were nice enough to tell us about the Jack in the Box sign. Is that your favorite one?

[00:29:16] I don’t know. Crash is a favorite of mine that I can think of. Well, that’s a good point.

[00:29:21] No, but the story. Looking back, you can laugh at things. Like the second time I crashed the Katana. Completely on me for not checking the battery. I assumed the battery would be okay after flying for five minutes. And then the next day going out and it would be still okay without recharging it. That's, that wasn't the case. So I learned from it. Maybe not necessarily a favorite crash story as much as an entertaining crash story that you learned a lesson from.

[00:29:44] Or yeah, maybe something that really taught you something, taught you a lesson.

[00:29:48] Oh man.

[00:29:50] I can picture in Reggie's mind now, it's like a Rolodex. Oh, yeah. He's got all the cards and he's flipping through all the crashes he's had.

[00:29:59] I would say probably That’s fine, I agree.

[00:30:03] If I had to go back, I would say probably when Old Blue went down.

[00:30:07] Old Blue. Old Blue. Okay. So for our listeners, Old Blue was a very similar to like a Hangar 9 Alpha trainer. It's a big 60 size. Great flying trainer. I mean, for trainers, I mean, it flew great. Awesome. And it was blue and white. So it was called Old Blue.

[00:30:23] And it, oh, that plane was just so, such a big baby. It was, it was, it was.

[00:30:29] It was a great airplane.

[00:30:30] It was, but I had it out one day and I was just doing crazy stunts with it. And it was just, it, it's only going to take so much. It's a trainer. And I didn't know, I was just, okay, well, I.

[00:30:41] Yeah, that was still fairly early on in your RC piloting career.

[00:30:45] That was actually the second plane that I actually bought.

[00:30:48] Okay. Yeah.

[00:30:48] That sounds about right. And again, someplace I shouldn't have been flying and I had it. I see a theme. Yeah, it, it, yeah, definitely. It was out doing just, regular barrel rolls and corkscrews and stuff. And then I decided to escalate this and eventually started taking it up as high as I could go and doing like something, I guess what would be known as a hammerhead. And that was just adding on, each time.

[00:31:12] And eventually, on one of these hammerhead drops, I decided to do a corkscrew coming down, but I was wide open on the throttle.

[00:31:21] Oh dear.

[00:31:22] And just as I start to pull back up, that's when the wings decided to let go of the plane. Yeah. Not designed for that sort of stress.

[00:31:30] No, that’s a lot of pressure on them.

[00:31:31] And it literally pulled the bands off. It snapped the wings in half. It didn't actually pull out the, out the, rod, I don't believe. No, I think it did pull off the rubber. One of them had to pull off, but nonetheless, plane pretty much lawn darted across the street in a soybean field. And about two minutes later, here comes the wings floating down, twirling.

[00:31:52] So did the wings fold before it came apart or did it come off? Oh, oh, so you're pulling too many G's for it. Way to me. I thought you meant like the rubber bands broke on top of it.

[00:32:02] I think they had to have one or the other, cause it, when it came off, it came off. Well, the bands probably came off after the wing broke, yeah. I can't remember if that plane actually had a rod running through that. No, it didn't. It only had those little, those little pieces of plywood in it, the joiner.

[00:32:15] Yeah.

[00:32:16] That’s what broke.

[00:32:17] Yep. Yeah. That's, that's, those are not made for that kind of, of G force. That's why there's not rods and carbon fiber tubes.

[00:32:25] They’re designed for teaching someone to fly, not teaching someone high G aerobatics.

[00:32:30] In my defense, I did not know. I mean, it just flying and I thought I had everything down. Of course, you kind of get that big head after a period of time.

[00:32:39] Oh, I know this, I know that.

[00:32:40] You only have 15 minutes of flying in. You think everything. I can fly an air hog.

[00:32:45] I can fly a helicopter. Right? Exactly. I've done it on a simulator. I can do this in real life. Exactly.

[00:32:50] Let me just put, there's no button here. Wait a minute.

[00:32:52] I can’t reset.

[00:32:54] Nope. Yeah.

[00:32:55] So where were you that happened though.

[00:32:57] I was over by Lincoln Land College there off of Toronto Road over in a couple of fields there. Oh, okay. I guess in wide open fields, I was just messing around there. And as a matter of fact, that's a second Crash Zone 2 where I think it was my escapade, I believe it was, where I'd been flying and flying and flying. And this is my downfall. I get distracted. And at that point in time, the missus called me on the cell phone and like an idiot, I answered it.

[00:33:25] And I'm talking to her flying. While you're flying. While I was flying. I was on a headset. I was on a headset.

[00:33:31] Okay.

[00:33:31] Oh, well, okay then. I mean, you were on a headset. Needless to say, the conversation escalated to where I got so pissed off. I'm like, okay, I'm coming home and I'm done. And came in for landing that realized I was still pretty much at cruising speed. Yeah. And literally clipped the parking block. Ooh. Drug across the pavement. Tried to save it. It shut it back up in the air before the motor died, missing half the prop, and plunged it right back into the parking lot.

[00:33:59] Brand spanking new plane. Then his first flight, everything was great.

[00:34:03] That was a maiden.

[00:34:04] That was a maiden.

[00:34:05] Oh. Maiden at a field. Always maiden at a field.

[00:34:09] Yeah. I got to agree with you on that. If you're maidening an airplane.

[00:34:13] Yeah. Go to a club field or somewhere. Well away from parking blocks. A lot of lessons learned. But it sounds like the maiden one was learned. Just you were distracted at the end.

[00:34:22] A lot of lessons learned, Yep.

[00:34:23] So did you replace that plane with another one? Just like it?

[00:34:26] I think that one was going to replace about three different times. So you still have an escapade? You still have it. Oh, I still have it. Yeah, you still have an escapade.

[00:34:32] You just repaired it, actually. Exactly. Exactly.

[00:34:34] As a matter of fact number two,

[00:34:35] Firewall was coming off of it, which is weird. Really? Yeah, the glue joints were failing.

[00:34:39] Number two demised at my job over at XBO, over off of, was that Riverton over there? Mm-hmm. There's a cornfield.

[00:34:51] Over by the old club field. Exactly.

[00:34:53] As a matter of fact, I was literally right down the street from it. And they had a big cornfield there. And, of course, I was taking off and landing on the road, the main road there. Oh, my gosh. What road? There's a road that runs from Riverton over toward,…

[00:35:07] Yeah, the overpass is what he’s talking about.

[00:35:10] Oh, the actual….

[00:35:10] The road. I wasn't on the overpass. I was a little past the road. No, he was on the road, though. I passed the overpass, but,…

[00:35:15] Okay, but not….

[00:35:16] Between the overpass and the entrance to the old field.

[00:35:18] I know exactly where you're… See, I don't know where the old field is, but I know where you guys are talking about. Oh, okay, well, where the overpass is.

[00:35:23] It goes past the XBO entrance there and then the very next, right past that row of trees, is the old club field.

[00:35:29] Oh, that's too bad. That would have been so much closer for me than going all the way out where I have to go now.

[00:35:33] I thought you knew that’s where the old club field is.

[00:35:35] No, no, everybody’s talked about it before.

[00:35:37] The trees being there, how they had that field there like that.

[00:35:39] Well, we always flew to the south of those trees and kept the trees behind us. But yeah, I flew airplanes into those trees.

[00:35:47] And nonetheless, flying over there, and I actually kind of gained an audience. I was having a blast, on my lunch break and just going to town, and sure enough, coming out of a dive, I believe the elevator servo let go. Oh. And I couldn't get it to level back out, and I was probably still at a 10 degree angle when it hit the dirt. And when it hit, it just shredded everything.

[00:36:11] I mean it looked like an actual plane crash, the dust kicking up, parts and pieces flying in the air, and it went about a good 20 feet before it came to a stop.

[00:36:18] Well, these are scale models.

[00:36:19] Yeah. So it should crash like a model.

[00:36:21] Well, they are real airplanes, too. Well, that's true. I guess, I, I, I don't like when planes crash because of a failure like that. Yeah. I'm fully okay if I do something stupid and crash a plane because I can learn from it. Yeah. Man, it really irks me when, when you have some sort of failure that's completely out of your control. You never know when a servo is going to lock up. That's true. You never know when an engine is going to die.

[00:36:44] And, it happens at the worst times most of the time. Most of the time it does, yes. And there's just not often a lot of ways to correct that and save it.

[00:36:52] Well, this, this is what my thought is, if you didn't have a servo for a period of time and if it's gone through a crash or it's just gotten old, replace it. Just get a new servo. Get a brand new servo. It's not hard. I mean, no, it's, it's cheaper than getting used, but you have no idea if you have used servos, what they've been through. How old they actually are, where they came from,.

[00:37:15] What do you mean? It’s cheaper than getting used.

[00:37:18] I’m sorry, I said that wrong.

[00:37:19] Oh, okay.

[00:37:20] It's, well, it is cheaper because the simple fact is you're not going to lose the plane over a servo. Yeah, I think that's what he meant. Oh, I got you.

[00:37:27] It's cheaper to buy a new servo, even though it's more expensive, cheaper in the long run because you're saving an airplane and not having to buy another airplane. So, no, I understand that. I got you.

[00:37:35] Yeah, but what I’ve? I’ve had problems with new servos too.

[00:37:38] I have too.

[00:37:39] So, it's, I, I don't think there's necessarily a guarantee based on how old, unless it's really old and you can tell that it's not one that you want to use. You can, you can listen to it if there's got a little bit of noise in the gear train.

[00:37:51] No, you don't want to use that. I mean, when you get a new servo, you're listening to it. I mean, you, you, you do balance it out or shouldn't say balance, but you center it, you check it, you play with it. And if you hear something wrong, okay, you send it back or you just take it back.

[00:38:01] Yeah. How do you do that? Do you use a servo?

[00:38:03] I got one of those several servo testers that, I just plug a little, I get battery into and, let it play around itself. Just kind of see what it's going to do. And if it sounds great, then we're on. But if it sounds like it's kind of gritty or like it's hesitating or whatever, I might change batteries from that point to make sure it wasn't the battery. And if it's still doing it, then obviously the servo.

[00:38:23] That's frustrating too. And when, when, when you buy something new, like a servo and it's bad out of the package, I hate that. That's so frustrating, but to me it is, especially now since our nearest hobby shop is two hours away.

[00:38:35] Yeah. It's a day trip. It's not, I mean, it's worth, it's worth it, but it's a day trip. And like I said, though, for the used servos, they don't bother me as much. And I'm talking about name brand servos. I'm not talking about like the five gram or whatever they are, the hobby King cheap ones. Yeah. those usually it's, it's 50% are good. 50% are bad when you, when you order them.

[00:38:57] Well, I’ve had slightly better luck than that.

[00:38:59] Yeah. Yeah. I guess I have too, but that's kind of what I figure when I'm ordering it. Like if I know I'm going to have a big order. Oh, right. It doesn't matter to me at all. what two about or two bucks for a servo. Yeah. Whatever that. So even double that $4 for a servo. I'm okay. Especially for cheap airplanes. Like I said, those don't go on anything pricey.

[00:39:17] Yeah.

[00:39:18] But even some of the more price your name brands ones, when you get them, old ones can be good. Old ones can be bad. New ones can be good. New ones can be bad. So it's hit and miss. Right.

[00:39:28] And so far I've been pretty decent on buying something new, generally name brand and not having failures with it. It's just very rare.

[00:39:37] And now, I mean, I didn't really realize this until our trip yesterday, even name brand stuff. Like I, I bought, four new spectrum servos. Now they're granted there's just standard sport servos, 13 bucks each. And these are brand name metal, I mean, they may not be metal, but they're ball bearing supported shafts.

[00:39:57] I mean, they're nice servos, 13 bucks for a name brand servo that if it fails, I can send it to spectrum and, either get a new one or repair it or whatever. Yeah. I can, I can, I can, I think so. No, no, no, they're digital. Yeah, we're digital. Yeah, they're digital servos. Okay. Hey, the prices are coming down then. So I mentioned about frustrating, buying, buying something new and then having it turn up bad.

[00:40:19] Well, aside from nitro engines, what's the most frustrating part of the hobby for you, Reggie? having to buy something else after crashing something, more than likely, I would say.

[00:40:32] That is probably the biggest one.

[00:40:33] That is really frustrating. I hate having to buy new stuff when I crash stuff.

[00:40:37] Although that can be exciting too.

[00:40:39] Yeah.

[00:40:40] No. You don't like spending the money, but it's fun getting something new. It is fun.

[00:40:44] Now, considering that it was brand new when you started and you still turn around and jacked it up. No, it's just, it's the little stupid things like, por se, after building something and it's been months, you didn't got a couple months wrapped up in this thing. You didn't get it built. Everything looks perfect. It's great. Everything's working just the way it's supposed to be. You get it to the field. Everything's ready to go. You're just hyped up.

[00:41:07] Just, you can feel that nervousness and you're ready to fly. And next thing you take off and then you realize that your ailerons are reversed and you watch it below them right into the nose and the ground.

[00:41:16] Been there, done that. Yes.

[00:41:17] That is, that's probably my top one right there. That is my top one. Just simple checking of the ailerons before you left the ground.

[00:41:26] I've done that more than once. $200 or $300 worth of plane. Once recently. And then the dualist, the original dualist, the same. Yeah, that is frustrating.

[00:41:33] So if you would carry a handy, dandy little card with you with a pre-flight check printed on it, you would catch it every time.

[00:41:40] Well, considering that there was four other planes made before that one. And I caught it every time I made sure I checked everything. I just got to that one and I was excited. I'd let myself get too far ahead of myself.

[00:41:50] It’s always the one time.

[00:41:51] It was it.

[00:41:52] I mean no, I mean like really it’s, it’s the. The best thing to do is just get into a habit. Every time before you take off, like engines running, it’s facing away from you getting ready to taxi out. I always do that check.

[00:42:03] Yeah. It's a habit we should have. I didn't. We could learn that from, yeah. I mean, for me, I think for me, one of the most frustrating things, the hobby is, like you said, you put an airplane together, you spend so much time on it, making it perfect. And then I'm getting the thing, I'm taking it out to the car and I bang it against the door on the way out to another one or bang it against, poke a hole in the car. Oh my gosh, that's frustrating.

[00:42:27] Or watch your wing blow off the table and damage it.

[00:42:29] Exactly. Something, something happening to the airplane before you get to fly the darn thing. That's, to me, that's frustrating.

[00:42:36] I'm frustrated by the amount of wind we have to where we can't go fly all the time. Right? Like lately, especially. Yeah. It's been very windy here for some reason. And that's, that's the one part of this hobby that is frustrating to me. Like very frustrating because you get everything ready to go. Like, well, like last weekend, we planned on going out. Yeah. We were ready. We had everything, everything loaded up and looked outside and all of a sudden it's windy.

[00:42:59] It's like, nope, not going to do that. 20 mile an hour wind. And that's too high for me.

[00:43:05] 20 mile an hour is, is up there. It's hard to overcome that. But even, even with a big, heavy airplane that usually handles wind pretty well. Yeah. We've done it though. I know we have. I know. I'm not sure if all of us has been up at that speed. Have you been up that speed, Ron?

[00:43:20] I probably have, but not like I don’t know.

[00:43:23] Ron is the most cautious, I think, of all of us. So I would doubt that you've been in 20 mile an hour wind. Maybe though.

[00:43:29] Maybe guess. I don't know. But usually if it's 10, 10 is usually my cutoff. If, like, if I see a bunch of trees moving and the sock is sticking straight out, it's not worth doing it. Okay.

[00:43:40] So we mentioned, lessons that we've learned. What's the toughest lesson you've learned, Reggie?

[00:43:46] Not to just fly anywhere. Just.

[00:43:49] That’s a hard habit to get over.

[00:43:50] Yeah, it's, it's. Because the urge to fly is so strong. Overwhelming. Yeah. No, I get it. So, if I get out somewhere, like on a farm or somewhere, and definitely have gotten permission, I will fly out there. Okay. Or, over, like an oversized business that's pretty much got acreages all around it. And, and hey, can I, is it okay if I fly out here? Mm-hmm. Knock yourself out.

[00:44:15] Yeah.

[00:44:15] There you go. I'll have all that. It's all mine.

[00:44:18] So that, yeah, that helps the frustration, but yeah. yeah. Got it.

[00:44:23] That's probably, I think, my biggest one. Just, just maintaining where I'm supposed to be and where I'm not supposed to be. And if I'm where I'm not supposed to be, if I ain't got no permission or just does not look right as far as vehicles, buildings, cars, whatever. Just.

[00:44:37] Yeah. Not to do. Well, and since you're a member of the AMA, the AMA and their bylaws tells you exactly where you can and can't fly. So that helps having that, that guide.

[00:44:47] So, of all the airplanes you have, what’s your favorite?

[00:44:51] I've heard stories of that by naming off a favorite. You generally don't keep it very long after that. So I would just say probably I have no favorite favorite. I like all my planes.

[00:45:02] Okay. Yeah. I just, I like all my, I don't have a favorite. I just like them all.

[00:45:06] Okay.

[00:45:07] What? Okay. I've never heard that. yeah. That before.

[00:45:11] I can see. Yeah, There’s no such thing as a perfect airplane.

[00:45:16] No. That's a, that's another one that's out there. Yeah. Every plane has a, has a number. Has something. Yeah. Has an end date to it.

[00:45:23] So no favorite. You're just going to say you like them. I like all of them.

[00:45:26] So which one do you like? Which one do you like? I know. I thought of that.

[00:45:31] I hope not, but.

[00:45:33] So which one do you like the most? Not your favorite, but which one do you like more than that?

[00:45:38] Which one? How about this? Which one do you find yourself flying the most often?

[00:45:42] My go-to is the Park Zone T28. The basic standard one. that's. Still?

[00:45:49] Still. You have flown one of the. It's a good flying airplane. No, but he has flown one of those.

[00:45:52] I know.

[00:45:53] Forever,

[00:45:53] An awesome little plane. I mean, that's, once it's trimmed out right, you can just walk away. You just put the controller down and walk away.

[00:46:00] But we don’t do that.

[00:46:01] No, we don't do that. We don't do that, by the way. Do not do that.

[00:46:04] Please do not set your controller down while you're flying. No.

[00:46:08] No, we're not doing that. I'm just saying it flies that well. It's, for a little foamy plane that's really basically nothing to it. Yeah. and you can always overpower it easily enough. we'll put more power to it.

[00:46:19] A little more juice.

[00:46:20] Just.

[00:46:21] What was it that we used to put them? The Power 25s, I think. Oh, yeah. That we put in them. Oh, yeah. 25? Yeah, they were awesome. Nice little.

[00:46:27] What do you take off at quarter to throttle?

[00:46:29] No, you take off at full throttle.

[00:46:31] Oh. It would just take off in about three feet or less or less, yeah. Unlimited vertical.

[00:46:36] I saw somebody- I forget who it was and even if I remember it, I wouldn’t say the name- probably, but took off one of the tables at the field.

[00:46:47] He had put the Power 25 in his T-28.

[00:46:49] Really? Put his airplane on the table and right off the table. It was awesome. How did that sound? I'm not going to do that again.

[00:46:56] There was one guy out there, I think it was the first year we was out there. He had taken one of those, and he somehow, I don't remember what that was he put in it. All I know is he had retracts put into it, and he had that thing so beefed up. Are you sure it was a Park Zone T-28? Yeah. Wow.

[00:47:13] Yeah.

[00:47:14] It was just like the basic one. That's awesome. He actually, I think it was before even the Park Zone brought up the T-28 later with the retracts and flaps. With the retracts, yeah. He had dubbed this thing up so much that he had to spar the wings. Oh, yeah. He put the retracts in it, and I don't know if he had a four or six cell, whatever he put in that thing. It was just, it was unbelievable fast. Cool.

[00:47:37] So that's your go-to, the T-28? That's my go-to. So that's the one you find yourself flying with. So I would say that's probably, since it's so easy to take to the field and to fly, I got to say that's probably, I would call that your favorite. Yeah. I hope I haven't just doomed your airplane.

[00:47:52] Oh, it's already doomed. It's still sitting at home without the cracked firewall, so I haven't flown it in a while.

[00:47:56] Oh, so then that's okay. Well, yeah. So it'll get fixed. It'll get fixed. A bit moved on. So Reggie, oh, go ahead. No, have at it.

[00:48:03] I got to ask, like, so the hobby can be full of frustrations, and annoyances, and crashes sometimes. What keeps you coming back to the hobby? Like, what keeps you really, really jazzed about flying RC planes?

[00:48:19] I love to tinker. I find myself wanting to do better, wanting to change something, modify, make it my own. like that T-28, it's just a basic red and white plane, if I recall right. Red, white, and black on the cowl. I like, doing my own thing. I'll take decals, put on it, I'll put MonoKote on it, and stick it all over and make it totally different. You wouldn't even know it's a T-28. just little things like that.

[00:48:47] The more I build, the more I learn, the more I want to do better, the more I want to, like your planes. your planes almost, if you didn't know any better, it's been miniaturized from an actual real thing. Oh. And they look perfect. Well, so I'm not a scale modeler. I think what Reggie means is they usually look pretty nice. It's, it's, your planes.

[00:49:10] I try to keep them in good shape.

[00:49:11] Are mint. And I would like to get to that point where I build them, but they look just like that.

[00:49:18] Okay.

[00:49:19] So,

[00:49:20] What’s your first scratch build going to be?

[00:49:23] Yeah. Instead of if you're going to, yeah. What would be your first? Yeah. So you, you get a set of plans and no materials and you start from, I actually have some miniaturized

[00:49:34] Glider at home. Oh, a glider. Okay. And it's, it's an actual kit and it's been sitting in the closet. I actually have two of them. Well, hold on. It's a glider kit.

[00:49:43] Yep. Okay. What, what Ron's talking about is what is, what is your first build going to be from nothing? Like all you have is a set of plans.

[00:49:50] You have a set of plans and a few sticks of balsa that haven’t been cut.

[00:49:54] Isn't that what that is? Well, a kit is usually stuff cut for you. And you just glue it together. Okay. Okay.

[00:49:58] Well, wait, we can do kit. What's your first kit going to be then? Okay. That's fine.

[00:50:01] So the glider. It's, it's a, it's a glider of some type. I don't even know what it is. Is it like a powered glider?

[00:50:06] Does it have a motor?

[00:50:07] I don’t think it does.

[00:50:08] Oh really.

[00:50:08] So it'll be like a, it's just simply a glider. You actually have to build and skin and I guess even CG. I think I would think it. Oh yeah.

[00:50:18] If you’re, if you’re buying it.

[00:50:22] I've, I've thought about it. I've had it out. I've had it on the table two or three different times and just, I had. So it's just a box of wood then basically. Yeah. Okay, cool.

[00:50:30] Probably cut ribs. Yeah. Cut formers. About how big?

[00:50:34] About 24 inches, I think.

[00:50:35] Oh, so it’s not a very big glider.

[00:50:37] That'd be a great first project. It would. Yeah. Absolutely. That's exactly what I would. Something you could build in a small area.

[00:50:42] Go together pretty quickly.

[00:50:43] Yeah. Cool. A glider.

[00:50:45] What? What other plans do you think you might enjoy building?

[00:50:50] Man, the more I think about it. For me, that would probably take an entire year to build one of these things.

[00:50:59] Probably a trainer. Oh, that's okay. I mean, the last plane, the first plane I ever built took me five years. So, I mean, don't think you're on a time schedule here or anything.

[00:51:06] Ron and I at the exact same time. Oh, that's okay. It doesn't. Like, cause I have that sop with camel I've been working on for longer than I care to admit. So, it's okay.

[00:51:15] I would say it's probably some type of trainer, more or less. Just sure. Find trainers to be simple. Or a stick, maybe even.

[00:51:21] Yeah, that'd be a good idea. Do a stick build. Ugly stick. that's one thing. Yeah.

[00:51:26] That's one thing I haven't seen you fly a lot of. Sticks.

[00:51:29] Do you have any?

[00:51:30] No. He does not. That's probably why. I don't either.

[00:51:34] I don’t think I’ve ever had a stick. Now I think.

[00:51:36] Everybody should own at least one. I’m just saying.

[00:51:39] Well, there's a bright yellow one running around now. That's a possibility. You never know. Well, that's. No, that's gone now. That's not mine anymore. You never know. Well, no. He's the guy that's got it now. I think he's.

[00:51:49] And he doesn't sell airplanes. No, he does not.

[00:51:51] So,

[00:51:51] No. So, Tom recovered his stick. we talked about that. That was a winter project that ended up finally getting done. He has not flown it yet. However, he sold it yesterday. You haven't flown it since you recovered it.

[00:52:03] No. But why should it fly any differently than before I recovered it?

[00:52:07] Nothing else has changed. Well, it won't fly any different. Oh, okay. It just has not been flown. You haven't seen. Okay. You haven't seen the beautiful yellow covering with the decals. Beautiful decals, by the way. You haven't seen that flying through the air.

[00:52:18] Is there a picture of that on the website yet or no? Not yet. I can put a picture on.

[00:52:22] Yeah.

[00:52:23] We’ll do that.

[00:52:23] I didn’t even think of that. That’s a good idea.

[00:52:25] Yeah. But it did turn out really nice. There's not too many yellow sticks out there, yellow and white. No. It's in the traditional stick scheme. Right.

[00:52:32] It's just yellow and white. That's the very first one I've ever seen.

[00:52:35] And it turned out beautiful.

[00:52:36] I said there was one on a flight simulator.

[00:52:39] Yeah. I don't remember which flight sim it was, but I was on it and I saw a yellow stick and it's like, hey, that looks kind of familiar. Yeah. The coloring wasn't quite exactly the same, but the color or the scheme was.

[00:52:50] Oh, okay.

[00:52:51] So yeah, I thought that was kind of cool.

[00:52:53] Yep.

[00:52:55] But any thoughts on building a plane from plans? No. No?

[00:53:02] No, not really. Actually, I just was going to try that glider and see how that worked out. And, if it worked out pretty decent, then I might move up to a trainer. It still comes back to the same problem of not having nowhere to do all this. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I can leave that on my kitchen counter or table for a year.

[00:53:25] Why not? Yeah. Right.

[00:53:29] And, of course, you get into it with limited space. The next thing you didn't bump into it or whatever or something fell over on it, then you're out.

[00:53:37] Yeah. I can fully understand. That would make it a lot more difficult to try and have that much space dedicated if you don't have it to begin with. Right. So.

[00:53:46] You can always come out to your garage, I guess, and start building it out here.

[00:53:49] Well, as long as you do it, like, every day and not leave it for a year. That would not be every day.

[00:53:55] So, if someone asked you, could you name your airplanes from smallest to biggest? Or, if you can't name them all, can you just say, like, what's your smallest airplane and what's your biggest airplane? So, our listeners have an idea of, like, the gamut of the year.

[00:54:07] That’s a good. Yeah, that’s a good question.

[00:54:08] I didn’t think of that.

[00:54:09] Mini Vapor is the smallest thing I got.

[00:54:11] Yeah, me too.

[00:54:12] Yeah. And the largest thing I got would be that 36% S-Bug. Oh, that is a good one. Which is, like, a 109-inch windspan, 111 DLE on it. Which you just recently flew. Just recently flew. For the first time.

[00:54:23] Very nicely, by the way. Yes.

[00:54:25] How long have I had that? About seven years? Six, seven years?

[00:54:27] So, okay, so I'll try to briefly get into that story. So, you bought that in 2013, late 2013, and then I took that with me to a tech school that I went to, and I put that together while I was at tech school. So, it would have been delivered early 2014, and you flew it about three weeks ago for the

[00:54:49] First time.

[00:54:50] Three weeks ago, I'm like that. Well, technically not the first time, because you have flown it once before. He soloed it for the first time.

[00:54:56] But he soloed it for the first time just a few weeks ago.

[00:54:57] And soloed it well.

[00:54:59] I mean, it… Yeah. Nobody else touched the controller. No. I mean…

[00:55:03] It was a very successful… Actually, you flew it twice that day. I did. I did.

[00:55:08] And what'd you think of it? Oh, I was… It's a real sweetheart, isn't it? what? I still can't explain that. That was awesome. Yeah. That was probably the best flight I've had ever.

[00:55:17] I'm quite jealous. It's a very nice flying airplane. And it looks… It's a beautiful… I love S-Box, so…

[00:55:23] So, when did it fly? Like, I know you, Tom, flew it before he did on his own. When was the first time it flew?

[00:55:31] Do you remember that?

[00:55:31] We flew it the first time.

[00:55:32] It was in 2014..

[00:55:34] Oh, okay.

[00:55:35] Because I trimmed it after it was all done. And we went out to the field. I think it was just you and I. Mm-hmm. And there was no one else out there because we didn't want a crowd, just in case.

[00:55:43] Yeah.

[00:55:43] Thanks for the call. Yeah. But, no, we turned it out. And I think you were on the sticks briefly. you didn't take off or land that day. Yep. Just long enough to actually feel it and get too nervous and hand you back the controller. So, yeah, that was 2014. And then our schedules just never seemed to align. And, then we had to do, you bought a new transmitter in that, in between that time.

[00:56:07] And we had to figure out a time to get it dialed in with your new transmitter. But, yeah, it's, now it's ready to go. It's, you can fly it any time you want now. True. True.

[00:56:17] Just got to make sure I still have a vehicle to put it in. Well, there's that.

[00:56:20] I thought you said you bought a trailer yesterday.

[00:56:21] I was going to buy a trailer. And so it was the plot to go buy the trailer. But now since the Suburban's having an ailment, I'm going to have to put everything toward that at the moment.

[00:56:30] Oh, okay. Well, it happens. Yeah. I mean, that's part of it.

[00:56:33] But, I mean, do you really need a trailer, though, if you have a Suburban? I mean, I feel like a Suburban, I miss my Suburban, by the way. I don't know if I've mentioned that before, but.

[00:56:40] Oh yeah, I think I have I know.

[00:56:41] No, I don't think I've heard that in the podcast. But, yeah, I feel like if you have a Suburban, do you? I don't think you really need a trailer, do you?

[00:56:48] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:56:49] I mean, the whole fact that the trailer gives the plane room. I mean, it's not laying against nothing. There's nothing bouncing into it, falling into it. There's no vibrations of seats or something against the plane. So, and you can haul more planes, too. You don't have to haul one big plane.

[00:57:05] There we go. So, what size trailer are you looking to get?

[00:57:09] Seven by 14 is what I'm looking at. Twin axle. That's a good idea. That's a good size trailer.

[00:57:13] A couple air conditioners on the top.

[00:57:15] No.

[00:57:16] God. A couple box fans inside? Yes. That's my thing. No, I want to be comfortable.

[00:57:21] Ron likes it cold. I mean, I'm wrapped up like a burrito, as per usual, and I see Reggie over here. It looks like he's shivering. A little bit. Are you really? I actually got to go to the bathroom. That's what it is. Okay. With that, let's ask the final couple of questions. Reggie, thanks for joining us on the show.

[00:57:39] No, no problem.

[00:57:40] Is there anything else you want to say? Anything else you want to talk about? No, no.

[00:57:42] Just keep the podcast going, man. I love this. This has been awesome.

[00:57:46] Okay. Before we sign off, we started a new thing with our last couple of podcasts, Tool of the Week. Yeah.

[00:57:53] Tool of the Week.

[00:57:54] So I’ll sing the little jingle.

[00:57:57] Please don't. Yeah. Okay. No. That's okay. We'll have to get a better one or something for that, because that was terrible.

[00:58:02] Well, I don’t write jingles, but you’re going to dump some of them.

[00:58:04] You don't sing them either, I'm sure. Oh, that's true.

[00:58:09] Thank God for that. Right. So, Reggie, we'll let you choose the Tool of the Week, since you're our special guest.

[00:58:15] I believe the CG machine.

[00:58:18] Ah, yes. Good choice.

[00:58:19] It is the lifesaver of aircraft. No questions asked. If you do it right, you pay attention to the instructions, you can CG your plane and have that thing flying like an arrow. No problem. However, without it, the guesting can leave you with a very bad flying plane. Here's my CG machine.

[00:58:39] I'm holding my fingers up, folks, by the way. Yeah. That's true.

[00:58:42] That's true. That's true, but none of us have all that skill like some of us do.

[00:58:46] Well, I’m not sure it’s skill. I think it’s….

[00:58:47] It’s skill and knowledge over the years of doing it. Not everybody can do that. You go finger in a plane like that and….

[00:58:54] Poking holes and covering.

[00:58:55] Before long. You think you got it because you didn’t put your fingers back way too far where it should be.

[00:59:00] Yeah.

[00:59:01] It’s not very precise, I’ll be honest.

[00:59:03] It's not. And for somebody that really wants it to be set up perfectly, that's not the way to do it. No. I mean, you can dial it in to the eighth of an inch, increments and stuff even with using the CG machine like you're talking about. So that's a good way to do it. So how do you use it?

[00:59:18] Can you describe it? Generally, in your manual, it'll tell you what the CG points are on the aircraft. Oh, okay. In the airplane manual. On the CG machine, it actually has what looks like a ruler. Actually, I guess it would be rulers that slide back and forth in the little mechanism. It has a couple of rods that are on the very front end of the ruler that is where your leading edge of your airplane would be. Oh, okay.

[00:59:40] And you just basically push it back to the leading edge. But you also look at the sides of the ruler itself and it’s in millimeters and in inches.

[00:59:48] Oh, I gotcha.

[00:59:49] And you inside the little, the mechanism itself is like a little box where it has like little nipples, like an indicator that shows you exactly where you’re pinpointed.

[00:59:58] At as far as the numbers. So if the instructions in the airplane manual say that the CG is three inches back from the leading edge, you just set these things to three inches back, you slide it on until the leading edge touches the rods and then, oh, that's really slick.

[01:00:10] And the plane is either inverted or it's, it's, upright. Sure. You generally would have your battery in it.

[01:00:16] Yeah, you want to balance it when it’s ready to fly, like as if you were just getting ready to fly at minus fuel.

[01:00:22] Yeah. Minus fuel.

[01:00:23] Minus fuel. and you make sure it's balanced if it's leaning too far forward and obviously you're a little too nose heavy, you might want to put a little bit of weight in the back. Little, little nose heavy is not bad, but a lot of nose heavy could be kind of a problem, but you can still fly that, but I wouldn't try that. I mean, you can still fly it.

[01:00:39] Ideally you'll, you'll set your airplane up so that the CG is within the recommended range. Yeah.

[01:00:44] And if it leans too far back, do not at all try to fly that. Just don't at all. That's a death of a plane. Absolutely.

[01:00:51] Yeah. Once again, nose heavy planes fly, tail heavy planes fly once. Is that what it is? Something like that. Yeah. Yep. I don't know. I always change it every time I say it because I can't remember. That's pretty close. Yeah.

[01:01:01] They’re almost impossible to get back.

[01:01:02] It conveys the message a tail heavy plane is bad. Very bad. That just kind of hangs around the problem.

[01:01:07] So the CG machine made by Great Plains, I think? I believe so. I believe that one is actually still being made by Great Plains.

[01:01:14] That's good. You can still buy that one. I have one sitting right over there and it actually belongs to you, Tom.

[01:01:19] And you're the only one that has used it. Okay. I haven't, I've never.

[01:01:22] Well, I’m going to keep it until you ask for it back.

[01:01:24] Okay. That's fine. It seems to be most of my airplane working has been here anyway. So what the heck. So cool. The Great Plains CG machine. That's our tool of the week.

[01:01:35] Very good. So do you have anything else, anybody that you want to say?

[01:01:39] No.

[01:01:40] It's been fun. Thanks for having me. No, I'm glad. I'm glad you joined us for this. It's been a good time.

[01:01:44] It has. Very enjoyable. Yeah. So until next time, thank you everyone for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed listening to this as much as we enjoyed having the conversation.

[01:01:55] Yeah.

[01:01:56] If anyone has any questions they want to ask Reggie, do you want them to email you direct or do you just want them to get in touch with us?

[01:02:01] In touch with you guys.

[01:02:02] So if you have any questions or comments for Reggie, just email either me, Ron, at rcplanelab.com or Tom.

[01:02:09] Yeah. You can email me, Tom, at rcplanelab.com.

[01:02:12] Yeah. And then we'll just make sure they get on to him. And who knows? Maybe he'll decide to come on again and we'll have him as a guest again.

[01:02:20] Don't forget, folks. I mean, we're still posting pictures up of everybody's airplanes who's sending them to us. So keep them coming.

[01:02:27] Send us airplane pics for the website. And you can see, by the way, Reggie, you need to send us some pictures to put on there.

[01:02:32] You answered our survey, but we haven’t got any pictures of airplanes.

[01:02:35] I've never seen the pictures of the, I think I've seen a couple on Facebook. Oh, we have a website too.

[01:02:40] Yeah, rcplanelab.com.

[01:02:42] And then there’s a tab on the top that says airplane pictures and that’s a listener submitted.

[01:02:45] So you just email us, email us pictures of your airplanes and tell us you want them on there. Maybe a little caption to put with them and we'll put them on there for you.

[01:02:52] Okay. Show them off.

[01:02:53] Show them off. And I'll try to remember to put a picture of the yellow stick on there.

[01:02:58] Just the reference. That's pretty, pretty good to do. So cool. all right. Anything else? Nope. That's all I got. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. that does it for this episode of the RC plane lab podcast until next time. Good night.

[01:03:10] Good night. Good night.

[01:03:13] Pee time. Gotta pee. Almost forgot to take that off.

[01:03:20] Yeah. Don't, yeah. Don't take that up there with you. I don't want to hear that.

[01:03:22] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC plane lab podcast for topics, 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.