Ep 103: Steve Hersh

[0:00] Ron: It seems as though we're having some audio issues it sounds like it's playing back at like three times the speed yeah. I'm sorry that's hilarious…… But that is not like that's not going to work I cannot make out anything you are saying hello everyone welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast I'm Ron and I'm Tom…… So today we're sitting down and talking to Steve Hersh hey Steve how excited.

[0:48] Tom: Are we super excited I'm very excited I love this part of the show the every other week with the with the guests hearing different stories and different ways they accomplish their activities and the hobby and have fun with model airplanes like we do…… So yeah. It's.

[1:05] Ron: Awesome to talk to new people because you learn a lot by doing that so Steve how you doing say hi.

[1:12] Steve Hersh: Hi everybody I'm doing great I've been really looking forward to this is this is going to be a lot of fun I kind of knew that going in from listening to the podcast you guys are really enjoyable to listen to you guys have a great chemistry between you guys…… Well thank you yeah.

[1:28] Ron: I appreciate that we've been friends for several years so quite a few that's a long time yeah. So.

[1:34] Tom: Steve tell us if you don't mind just to give us a quick little kind of rundown about yourselves and…… So the listeners have something to reference when we get into it I got back into.

[1:46] Steve Hersh: The RC plane stuff oh a little over a year ago after having probably not touched it since oh I'm gonna guess the early 1990s oh wow okay. Maybe mid-1990s just due to family and all that good stuff a lot of it was kind of coveted driven I had been doing competitive drag racing for about a decade that sounds fun and just due to some health things that I have to watch out for I kind of had to stop doing that and I just said I need something else to do that keeps me.

[2:21] Steve Hersh: Interested in something technical and I just decided oh I'll just get back into RC plane…… So I got on Horizon hobby bought a turbo timber I had picked up some radio gear and charger gear stuff from the local craigslist went out to the local business bar probably got 10 or 12 flights in crashed it pretty good and said I don't really like this plane and stripped out the parts on it that I thought were decent and said okay. I gotta figure if I'm gonna do this I need to do this right. And I did some research and found out that there was a club fairly close by and went down and.

[2:57] Steve Hersh: Checked them out a couple times but well these guys are pretty low-key I don't I don't sense there's going to be any intolerable drama from the club situation…… So I joined the club last summer and talked to the guy that they paired me up with who was going to be my instructor and I got on SIG's website and I ordered up one of the SIG cadet lt 40 arts and I already had some parts that I collected for a kit that another guy in norcal had given me and I put all that stuff together in the lt 40.

[3:34] Steve Hersh: And I went out with the buddy box set up and I had to relearn how to fly after 35 plus years I really sucked at it…… So it's not like riding a bike it was not like riding a bike like I thought it would be and having the instructor and the buddy box and all that I did pick it back up pretty quick and started soloing I think after I think the fourth or fifth time the one the one guy that.

[4:06] Steve Hersh: I was working with he went on vacation and so they turned me over to another guy we buddy boxed one time and he's like ah you're ready go for it and show me that you can take off and land and I did he goes okay. You're good you're on your own now I think my third flight after that one of the other much older people in the club than I apparently very hard of hearing didn't hear that I called out landing walked out on the runway as I'm landing and I smacked right. Into the guy's legs oh fortunately.

[4:37] Steve Hersh: He was not injured I had already the throttle was already off so there was no spinning propeller that's good…… But that was required the cadet to come back home and go under some surgery to repair the weighing and yeah. The fuselage and other stuff…… But nothing that major that I couldn't fix and whatnot but that was my first experience of realizing that I needed to be more situationally aware when I'm out of the flying field…… But just calling out landing is not good.

[5:07] Ron: Enough yeah. That's hard because at the same time you don't want to take your eyes off the airplane.

[5:12] Steve Hersh: To see what's going on yeah. So yeah. But I was really tunnel visioned at that point because I'm just starting to figure back out again and you guys have been doing this while it's it's something that I had coordination really good 40 years ago is not as good now oh yeah.

[5:33] Tom: Oh I absolutely understand what you're what you're talking about and I would say the difference between.

[5:39] Steve Hersh: Where I'm flying now and when I did it when I was younger is we used to go out to a college campus and we had a huge big grass field…… So there really wasn't any defined runway or we I was in southern California or we got to the mojave desert on a dry lake bed you really couldn't miss the runway in those situations yeah. Our little field has a fence around it a fence on both ends and it's that geomat runway okay. You really got to be on your game to hit the runway.

[6:11] Ron: And it's usually a crosswind yeah. That's unfortunate but at least they have a geomat that's one thing that I've ever or never actually flown off of or landed on it is really nice yeah.

[6:23] Tom: Especially with the lighter airplanes and smaller ones yeah. That's yeah. But it's a great.

[6:27] Steve Hersh: It's a really great group of people that are in the club really low-key it's just if you're not flying and you just you're hanging out and talking or looking at each other's planes and helping each other out yeah. It's it's it's exactly the type of club that I'm comfortable with nobody's saying oh you got to do this or that or yeah. Whatnot they're just.

[6:49] Tom: Everybody's just out there to fly just for reference what part of the country do you fly.

[6:54] Steve Hersh: In I am in I live in placerville you don't have to give it that's okay. I live in placerville California…… So I am flying in northern California just east of sacramento okay. So you don't have 12.

[7:09] Tom: Months of flying season you have about what 10. Well actually you can pretty much fly year round oh nice year round I love it yeah. Year round flying would be nice I think I'm pretty much most of the.

[7:22] Ron: Time I'm able to go at least once a week that's awesome yeah. We have the building season here in the midwest because october to I don't know february or march is just april…… Well yeah. It's going now off april of course late april it's just it's so bad out that you can't you can't it's.

[7:41] Tom: Either too cold or too windy too rainy or rainy yeah. So we have a so we have a building season and a flying season here in the midwest…… So it would be kind of cool to have a flying season that's.

[7:52] Steve Hersh: Year-round yeah. Nice I was going to say as much as people say what they want to say about California and all that stuff you live here for the weather yeah. Oh I hear you yeah. That's.

[8:04] Ron: Definitely so before we get too or too much further on Steve I just I wanted to say thank you by the way because you have been very helpful to me with the pilotist pc6 that I got that was crashed it is because of you and the pictures you sent that I was able to get that put back together and the parts design and stuff because it's it's hard when you don't have something to go off of to see how it's actually supposed to go back together when you just have pieces that are not whole pieces right…… So thank you for the pictures and all that stuff I greatly appreciate.

[8:36] Steve Hersh: All the help you gave me on that oh you're you're welcome Ron I can't wait to hear how yours flies and.

[8:41] Ron: What not how you deal with it yeah. I that's but it's one of the things that we need to get together soon we were going to do a video on it…… But I don't think like I think I've changed my mind on that and I just want to get it put back together and fly it yeah. I'm with you on that…… So well there you go we made the decision I'm just going to put it together just like that…… So but yeah. Like I said.

[9:00] Steve Hersh: That was awesome and I appreciate it thank you very much no my pleasure it's just got to be one of the coolest looking model airplanes I've seen I know it is I absolutely love that yep it's if only.

[9:12] Ron: It were nitro powered no see I it's perfect that electric well you can buy bigger ones that are nitro…… But I just really like yeah. I like the size of this one yeah. It is a good size it's not too big…… But it's very light for the size that it is so it's extremely light I don't know if you've heard or listened or not…… But we have or I just picked up the flight work shiny in toledo yeah. And so that's my second plane from that same company flight workers who makes that pilotist too what a cool airplane this is too it I love the lights on it's kind of neat…… But anyway so they are hard to find.

[9:48] Ron: Anything really by that company let alone replacement parts or anything like that or the full diagrams on how it was put together…… So I'm very like I said thankful for you sending me the pictures of yours that was not crashed…… So I get to see oh how are they supposed to go together.

[10:07] Steve Hersh: Yeah. Well and vice versa Ron on the landing gear blocks because I don't think I would have been able to reproduce some usable blocks without the pictures and measurements that you sent me yeah.

[10:19] Ron: Well that's awesome I'm I'm glad it helped out so yeah. So mine was crashed and he had to send me the picture of that and…… Then the one he has was not crashed it was never assembled right. No it was.

[10:31] Steve Hersh: Never assembled and it was missing two parts the landing gear blocks okay. And those of course are the.

[10:37] Ron: Most difficult blocks to make because it's not just a simple strap it's it's a weird setup on that pilotist where it actually screws into the bottom of the airplane and…… Then the gear so in here from the side yeah. Okay. So yeah. I was able to take pictures of the ones that I had on mine and sent them to him with some measurements…… So he was able to make that for his so good deal have you flown yours yet I did I.

[11:00] Steve Hersh: I've got three flights on it nice it still needs some work I haven't gone back out with it because one thing I found especially on my third flight was even a little bit of a breeze and it becomes a.

[11:13] Ron: Lot to handle it's so light it's so light yeah. I'm sure. So the guy that had the guy that had it before me said that's exactly what happened to him it was a little bit breezy and he was taking off next to a car I guess it was blocking the wind and as he got to the back of the car where the wind stopped or started blowing it just flipped it right. Over…… So it's a very light airplane yeah. It's so light.

[11:37] Steve Hersh: And I think the reason it's so light is because the landing gear is so heavy.

[11:42] Ron: It could very well be that's a very over-engineered landing gear on the airplane.

[11:46] Tom: Yeah. From what I've seen on yours Ron it is yeah. The landing gear looks heavy.

[11:51] Steve Hersh: So they had to make the airframe light to compensate yeah. One of the changes I and I haven't tried it yet was the springs are way too stiff on the struts I thought that by looking at them and when I came in on that third flight landing and I and I was not landing this thing pretty at all it's the biggest thing I look at is you want to get good at landing…… But you may not look good those first few times right. Oh yeah. It bounced more than I would have.

[12:22] Steve Hersh: Expected it to mostly probably my fault but I was dealing with a lot of crosswind and breeze stuff and I was just happy to get it on the ground in one piece at that point…… So I've switched to some softer springs on the struts but I've yet to try them out oh okay. Yeah. That'll be interesting to hear.

[12:38] Ron: How that turns out because I noticed that too with just like setting mine down and stuff there's just no give to where it almost seemed like the spring was there for show and not to actually do.

[12:47] Steve Hersh: Anything yeah. It's and when I had it up on the on the table at the field every the landing gear is like a shiny penny everybody goes right. To it and the first thing they got to do whether I say it's okay. Or not is push on the plane to see if it actually compresses yeah.

[13:07] Ron: That's annoying that's what people do I know but it's not your plane oh look at that it's.

[13:13] Tom: It's shock absorbing here let's see if it oh yeah. No I've a couple of the guys asked first.

[13:19] Steve Hersh: But some guys just walked right. Up and checked it and it's like wait a second dude yeah. And you slap.

[13:26] Tom: Their hand you gotta ask first yeah. So listen I worked in a hobby shop quite a few years ago and one of the most annoying things and if you're listening customers one of the most annoying things that people used to come in and do is when we sold RC cars especially monster trucks that had the big squishy tires they would come in and the first thing they would do is they'd grab the tire and give it a squeeze and it would make this horrific whistling noise that went straight to my brain and yeah…… So I yeah. Shiny object push on I get it yeah. So it's been a little bit it's a.

[14:02] Steve Hersh: It's kind of an odd one because I really like the way this plane looks and so I'm almost shy about when I'm gonna fly it yeah. I'm like I'm like I think I'm gonna wait till I consider it to be perfect conditions and listen there's nothing at all wrong with that it's exact opposite how I feel about the cadet when I go out I have a few planes in the van and the conditions aren't that great the cadet comes out and that thing flies in all conditions just fine yeah. That's one you're.

[14:31] Ron: Comfortable with so you're absolutely happy with that too yeah. I understand that has a lot to do…… So let's let's go over a couple things then we've we're curious first off it's it's very common for everybody here what's your number Ron just getting straight we're going right. Into it.

[14:51] Steve Hersh: Yeah. Wow okay. Right. To it okay. And I had to make a list because I knew you were going to ask six that are flyable nice that's a good number four kits I have not started okay. Yeah. And I'll consider I consider two under construction and two under repair restoration awesome yeah. Mostly I always take the cadet I found that if when I don't take the cadet I kind of like yeah. I just want to relax and fly the cadet is that plane because it's just…… So easy to I call it go out.

[15:27] Steve Hersh: And fly around like a cessna that's just fine by me an airplane like that is just fun to take out and.

[15:32] Tom: Land and take off and land and take off and it just makes you that type of flying makes you a better pilot yeah…… But that airplane lends itself well to that too yeah. You nailed it Tom.

[15:44] Steve Hersh: That's exactly it and then I the other plane that I think I really get a gas from because I can fly it across the road from my property in my neighbor's field is I've got one of those twisted hobby like 33 inch wingspan crack yaks oh okay. That thing is just a food to fly it's like you cannot.

[16:07] Tom: Hurt that plane twisted hobby I'm writing that down because that sounds really interesting have you.

[16:12] Ron: Not heard of that before -that's the that's the profile one right. Yeah. It's a profile foamy.

[16:18] Steve Hersh: And it's like light as a feather and if you get into trouble you just cut the throttle and let it drop.

[16:23] Ron: And you probably won't break it I think that's the was the epo foam or what I don't know what it's called…… But it's the maybe like the depron type epp is that so okay. Yeah. That might yeah. Because yeah. That stuff is very flexible it's it's you can't…… Well I shouldn't say you can't it's it's difficult to.

[16:39] Steve Hersh: Break it I'll find a way it doesn't do good in a midair I had a midair with it with an extreme hobby's edge that my buddy flies and we were I was over on one side of the field doing my thing and he was over on the other and he had a senior moment and came over into me and hit the hit my plane and I cut throttle and came down in pieces and he managed to keep his flying which I said if I.

[17:10] Steve Hersh: Had to pick which plane survived it's much better that the thousand dollar plane survives versus the hundred dollar plane yeah…… But I actually repaired it's still flying good deal yeah. His.

[17:21] Ron: Prop did a number on that phone oh I'm sure. Yeah. A knife will yeah. You can't really crash those.

[17:29] Steve Hersh: And hurt them but you can definitely cut them I can't remember if I put any pictures up of that one for you guys to look at…… But yeah. I had it was it's like I took some really thin balsa and just glued it.

[17:41] Ron: Over the holes and just went back out that's a good idea yeah. Sometimes ugly is easy and easy.

[17:47] Steve Hersh: Is the best way to do it yeah. As long as the fly is good yep it's just it's such a fun plane to fly.

[17:53] Ron: I noticed you said that you're getting back into the hobby after like 35 years off yeah…… So what has what has changed in that time from the time you left to like when you look at the new stuff you go wow that's…… So much better or so much worse than it used to be what do you think about the.

[18:12] Steve Hersh: Difference in how far it's come in 35 years well it's I think the biggest difference is I don't really recall there being a lot of choices in what I would call ARF type planes back…… Then we had obby shacks in southern California and we could buy these like really cheap 15 and 20 dollar styrofoam plane kits you could put oh four nines on and whatnot that was the closest you could come…… But we had to build our planes or if you're in a hobby shop and they had a plane hanging.

[18:43] Steve Hersh: You could buy a plane that somebody else built and I don't recall there being any electric motors at the time in airplanes the radio control cars were just starting up with the electric motors and radios were just simpler if you could if you had a radio that had the switches for reversing servos and could do like dual rates you had a badass radio yeah. I remember that and I've got a spectrum dx8 second generation the g2 and I'm just amazed by it I just can't imagine.

[19:21] Steve Hersh: Ever needing any more radio than that right. I know a lot of people are going for the ones that have the like the android operating system and stuff on and I'm just like I would never use it I just I just like what I can do with that dxa it's got all kinds of different programming stuff you can do just right. Within it that seem to be more than it up to me…… But again I'm probably not the not the guy to measure it against because I just want.

[19:54] Steve Hersh: To go out and fly my laps and stuff and I'm trying to learn to do some of the harder stuff with the plane…… But man my eye hand coordination is just not coming around that quick it's.

[20:07] Ron: Funny you talk about the dx8 and gen 2 and stuff so I went from and actually Tom did the same thing a dx8 generation one and…… Then we both now use the ix12 with the android system and all that kind of stuff I can see where the simplicity of a dx8 would be awesome…… But the one thing that I really did not like well I guess found to be limiting with the dx8 gen one I don't know how gen 2 is…… But the 30 model memory being the limit without having to move things back and forth off of the off of the.

[20:41] Steve Hersh: Card yeah. No limit on the gen 2 it's 256 model memory oh there you go I don't think I'll ever hit.

[20:48] Ron: 256. Don't say never I don't think I will ever hit yeah. I don't know rod you have that shop building out back of you could do it I maybe that's good he totally could…… Well I could but I don't know if I want I don't know you want to don't say I don't know if I want to you want to maybe we'll see if you can fill that thing with I guess I don't I guess I can't say that because I don't know what 10 years is going to bring from now who knows Steve you brought up a good point like.

[21:18] Tom: Since we're not spring chickens anymore you and I or me you said that your skills aren't where they used to be in the hand-eye coordination and that's something I've discovered over time when I say over time like the last few years is that it's for me it's it's not…… So much about learning new things anymore it's about trying to maintain the things that I can do what oh yeah. I totally know what you mean Tom so.

[21:46] Steve Hersh: And I think the other aspect and I know you guys will bring up is there's the building and maintaining of the models that's that's changed from when I did it originally back in my early 20s and whatnot because we built our planes the first plane I had admittedly with the glider hanging in the hobby shop that the owner of the hobby shop sold me one sold my buddy another one to get us going…… But we both built our first trainers and basically.

[22:18] Steve Hersh: Aircraft after that were just planes that we built there was there's so many pre-fab airplanes I see it…… So many from Horizon fms arrows and stuff that the guys bring out everybody's having fun…… So there's absolutely nothing wrong with it right. My take is as long as you're having fun you're doing good yeah…… But I think my skills as a builder and maintainer are leaps and bounds.

[22:50] Steve Hersh: Beyond what they were when I first started out years ago because of just my experience in the time in between yeah. It's I love sitting down at the bench and building stuff right. If I if I really crashed something bad making the parts and rebuilding the parts that broke and scraps and putting it back together without having the plans and all that now I have those skills now.

[23:15] Tom: But I didn't have that right. And the patience I think as we get older we get more patient too god I know I hope…… So because I need more patience well I've noticed just with myself the build quality over the years like when I was younger and I built my first airplane from what I recall it wasn't a very pretty airplane when it was done…… But like now even with rfs I take that extra time to make it the best that I can whereas when I was younger maybe the focus was on getting.

[23:47] Tom: It done to go fly well now I want it to look more I want it to look good more maybe than I want it to fly yeah. Sooner does that make sense what I'm trying to say yeah. I think I understand oh 100 because I'm just more patient now I just I just have the time and patience…… So something else that.

[24:06] Steve Hersh: Comes with age Ron patience now that I'm into this getting into the second year of this I've come to an understanding of the to understand that at the price point for a lot of the foam type aircraft and whatnot and how they do all the control services and connections it's not the same as what I would do if I built something…… So you just have to accept that's the value you get at that price point because right. You can't put it you can't put a dollar.

[24:39] Steve Hersh: Value probably a lot of time you'll spend building something that is true you really can't yeah. That's.

[24:45] Ron: Absolutely true and sometimes you just want to go fly and get a new airplane and enjoy it which there's.

[24:51] Steve Hersh: Nothing wrong with that nope yeah. I think my list represents that yeah. You did send us your list so.

[24:56] Ron: I'm going to go ahead and read through these really quick and we can talk about some different ones as we go through…… So it looks like we have the flightworks pilotist pc6 that we already talked about the SIG cadet lt40r for the 70 inch version the hk wargo signature edge 540t 15e balsa epp foam 3d.

[25:17] Steve Hersh: Airplane what is that one so that is a that is a hobby king's version of the future hobbies edge 540 and that's a just it's like one step up from the twisted hobby plane and it's just it's a really is it is a gas to fly it's it flies it's got traditional aeropholes…… But it's an interesting combination of the epp foam with some balsa here and there oh that's interesting yeah…… So it's kind.

[25:52] Steve Hersh: Of like yeah. A hybrid yeah. And yeah. If you put it in if you put it in the hands of one of my club mates who actually knows how to fly one of these it flies amazing right. Now I'm just practicing.

[26:05] Tom: Making sure. I can land it one piece yeah. Pretty small it looks like from the size of the servos and the.

[26:12] Steve Hersh: Battery yeah. It's a small it's a small plane another one that once I get a little bit better at I should be able to fly in the field across the street from the house it actually flies really…… Well it's just when you fly these that type of a 3d plane I call them they're really twitchy they you touch the stick and it moves yeah. The control surfaces are huge on those I call them crazy planes they're huge the thing that I like about.

[26:47] Steve Hersh: It is that I feel like it's an excellent workout for my brain and my hand coordination…… So it's something I look at it as therapy in that sense so I may not be making it look the prettiest flying it…… But if I can take it off mess around with it and land it in one piece I get a.

[27:06] Ron: Good workout yeah. Look at that okay. So next you have the UMX turbo timber and then you have a free wing fa18 high performance edf jet the royal maces yeah. The turbo timber that's a good fun little.

[27:21] Steve Hersh: Airplane yeah. That plane's awesome I definitely exceeded my expectations tenfold it's amazing.

[27:29] Ron: We hear that so often with the UMX airplanes they really like they just fly really well for what they are which surprises me and they're a lot of fun for not a lot of money yeah. They're very.

[27:42] Steve Hersh: Very well done a lot of fun yeah. And I picked I picked it up when they had it's like the lowest price I'd seen it at in a couple years it's like 111 bucks how could I go wrong oh no kidding.

[27:54] Ron: That's like nothing for those yeah. That what's the how's the free we or free wing fa18 fly do you like that one too scared to fly okay. I was actually wondering about that I let I let one I okay. So.

[28:09] Steve Hersh: There's always a story right. So I was out at the field one day and we had what I would almost call it impromptu swap meet several guys had brought out several planes and they just were walked around going hey does anybody want to buy any of my planes and I walked over to this one guy's table we had that f18 sitting there how much you want for that one he goes 40.

[28:33] Ron: Bucks I'm like sold oh my goodness yeah. That's like an automatic buy that's a no-brainer yeah. Basically.

[28:40] Steve Hersh: Separate me from some of the money I had my wallet which I happened to have with me that day yeah. And I took it home got it got it all dialed in took it back out had one of the jet guys make a few flights with it they we got it pretty…… Well dialed in and whatnot and I have not flown it myself yet does that one have retractable gear no it's here it's fast and I'm just not sure. I'm I think I could take it off and fly it around…… But I'm pretty sure. I'd crash it.

[29:10] Ron: Well that's a future plane then at least you have something for a next step that's always good to.

[29:14] Steve Hersh: Have a goal so well the other way I looked at it too is it's got an ar631 in it's that's worth more than the whole plane right. There I always figure if I'm buying something.

[29:25] Ron: At a at a swap meet or something like that if I can pick one component that's more expensive than I'm paying for the entire plane I can't go wrong right. You can't go wrong yeah…… So under construction I see you have a carl or a carl goldberg gentle lady balsa kit the 78 inch version how's that going.

[29:44] Steve Hersh: I haven't glued one stick on it yet I'm waiting for the weather to warm up and up so that I can glue my quarter inch cork on top of my two inch purple foam insulation that.

[29:54] Ron: Get the building that's that's one that I would like to put on my list in the future build category because I've heard a lot of good thing about the or good things about the gentle lady…… But I have never flown one or built one or done anything with one so they were they were in production from goldberg for.

[30:11] Tom: Many years and they don't they don't stand that test of time if they're not good flyers yeah. You.

[30:18] Steve Hersh: Know what so and the plan the plans are out there you can go on like.

[30:24] Steve Hersh: Powder zone and there's guys that have digitized all the rib stuff so guys like Ron with a laser cutter could cut the parts nice that'd be a really easy plane to build the guy who has the what is it the balsa workbench he has parts you can buy them from him too rob…… So yeah. Rob it was my first plane oh that was your first gentlelady was your first plane that was the first plane I learned to fly on back in what is it probably like in 1980.

[30:56] Steve Hersh: That's awesome and the way we learned yeah. The way we learned to fly was my buddy and I went into a hobby shop we looked at the badass looking plane said we each want one of those and the lady goes no boys you don't want those she pointed up to the two glider thing from the scene and says you boys each buy one of those and here's the radios you need and you go over to the college with those and you get on your knees and you throw them and you land them when you can do that really good you come back and talk to me…… So we bought them set them up went out to the college through a whole.

[31:33] Steve Hersh: Bunch until we could land them went back and then we got a new assignment this went on until she did work as all the way up the side of this slope…… So we go to the top of the slope and throw it and land it come back and talk to me and then she gave us 049 motor pots yes okay. She basically just kept giving us the incremental steps instructions and in the meantime we each bought our trainer kits I think I bought a goldberg eaglet 50 and my buddy had a similar size I think it was a.

[32:04] Steve Hersh: A SIG senorita that we worked on while we were practicing with the gliders yeah. Did you say you had a goldberg eagle I had an eaglet 50 the 50 inch version of the eagle…… So you basically learned to fly with a with a hand launch glider yeah. She was great yeah. We just kept going back when we got good whatever she told us we would go back and we would get our new assignment and…… Then when we when we went out and we flew the trainers for the first time that was just I don't know why I like there.

[32:37] Steve Hersh: Were probably clubs around we just weren't smart enough to go find them but yeah. I almost crashed the eaglet into a little league game that was going on oh I pulled up just in the nick of time yikes and getting that plane on the ground packing it all up and going home that day I.

[32:55] Ron: Didn't want to fly again yeah. Once bitten twice shy I don't blame you so would you say you got the.

[33:00] Tom: Gentlelady more for nostalgia or because you truly just wanted to have another one because it flies so.

[33:04] Steve Hersh: Good but both actually nostalgia because I thought it would be really fun to build the kit of the first one and if you keep your eyes open locally you'll be amazed at some of the deals that show up on my craigslist and Facebook sometimes yes that was one of those deals okay. It was I just couldn't pass it up it was…… So cheap and it turns out it was one of the last production runs of those kits from when venere had bought goldberg and…… So at that point venere was laser cutting everything.

[33:37] Steve Hersh: Yeah. That was before great planes picked them up yeah. The quality of the parts is way higher than the die cut yeah. Ones that I was accustomed to…… So yeah. So it just and we've got a really accomplished lighter guy in our club sailplane guy in the club and…… So he hooked me up with the power system and whatnot for it as I'm going along he's going to give me the tips I need just to do a really solid electric power and sailplane build with it yeah. We're trying to start.

[34:08] Ron: Getting into to sail planes a little bit so more to come on that yeah. You should ask me about the tower vista grande that's that was that was the next thing I was going to bring up and I was waiting to do that because that's the next thing on your list is a tower vista grande epr of 100 inch…… So I looked that one up and I'm actually really impressed first off with the price on it's not all that expensive I think it's 199…… But it comes with the motor installed and the esc which is an.

[34:40] Ron: ARF that has that installed I've never seen it before yeah. Rob that comes under the.

[34:45] Steve Hersh: Category of basically you pay for the motor and esc and they gave you a plane with it that's kind of.

[34:52] Ron: What I'm thinking actually that's that's one that I'm trying not to buy because I don't need to.

[34:59] Steve Hersh: Buy another one but I don't buy it till they do one of those tower sales because that's how I got sucked in it was on sale for 139 dollars oh like three days yeah. That's I hate missing.

[35:12] Ron: Those but I'll definitely have to look into that and put that on a I don't know if there's something I can do to where to let me know if it's on sale again…… But I yeah. I definitely at that price would order it without even thinking about it that's actually a pretty good deal even at the non-sale price that's what I was thinking like that's a good looking airplane and a good looking motor good motor that comes with it and speaking quality components yeah. Gotta be overkill…… Well yeah 70 amp that is actually kind of high for that size.

[35:45] Tom: That thing's 100 inches that's that's a big airplane well it is but that's I.

[35:49] Steve Hersh: Understand it's gonna be light but I bet it would I bet a really small motor esc combo would get it up to.

[35:55] Tom: Altitude no problem I would think so well but you can looks like you can run it up to six cells.

[36:05] Steve Hersh: They recommend they recommend four cell 2200 to like 3200 and I'll know more once I get it together and I'm looking how's it balancing some people said even with the four cell batteries they've had to add weight to the front of them and I'm like really we'll see we'll see once I get to the point where I'm I'm setting that part up yeah…… So I've got the steven.

[36:33] Ron: Zero he me2 that we picked up in toledo and that actually and that's what do you think that is about a 90 ish yeah. That's probably about a 90 inch wingspan give or take a little bit and that flies on a two cell 2200 yeah. And to me that felt like it had plenty of power…… So I can't imagine that thing is probably gonna be a rocket that might be kind of fun though yeah. All right…… So moving on your list you've got repair and restorations down you've got a yak 54 ep 3dr for the 41 inch version.

[37:04] Steve Hersh: What's the matter with that one it just it just needs love it was it's one of the great planes arfs balsa arfs it's got like really neat like clear translucent covering scheme on it and it just was set up really poorly servos weren't centered a bunch of stuff like that and.

[37:23] Ron: Just need some bench time and then it should be good to go yeah. Nice and then right. Up my alley you have a great plane super sportster ep the 48 inch version which I also have yeah. Those fly.

[37:38] Steve Hersh: Great by the way except for in my hands so yeah. I've crashed that plane twice now oh and both times had to do with landing…… So yeah. They do fly great when they're in the air but apparently in my hands I have a bad habit of coming in too slow I think they flow pretty…… Well but you do.

[38:05] Ron: Have to have a little speed with them I know I ended up crashing mine that I got my first one because I was coming in a little too fast the opposite of you and I couldn't quite get it down to the ground in time and it ended up where I was flying was at home and this is back before we bought the acreage next to us…… So I didn't have the runway where I wanted it so I had about 80 ish feet to land in where I had to land and be stopped and this is this is a good size airplane…… So I.

[38:35] Ron: Ended up landing and then it took a little bit of a bounce because I was going too far or too fast and that hit the driveway which comes up a little bit which made it go airborne again and launched it right. Into the pine trees on the other side of the driveway…… So unfortunately the wings came off and folded in half and actually I think the fuselage folded in half too…… But this is back when I could still buy the ARF so I bought a new ARF and took all the electronics out of that one that I crashed and put it in the new one I still have that one…… So yeah. It's a great airplane I love that one.

[39:09] Steve Hersh: Yeah. And I destroyed the wing on the first crash I was coming in and we always have a crosswind which is it's good and it's bad if you if you learn how to deal with the crosswind you're a good pilot if you don't it's bad and you crash and yeah. I came in I was coming in a little bit in this case I don't think it was yeah. I think I got a little bit slow and it started drifting over towards the pits and I was trying to give it some gas…… But it kept going towards the pits so now.

[39:40] Steve Hersh: I'm going too fast and I put it down because I didn't want to go into the pits because there are people in the pits and it got on the ground it was going too fast and I thought I would hit our net fence and I managed to hit one of the metal poles that holds the net fence up…… So ouch yeah. So pretty much split the wing in half and I went through a big process of rebuilding it brand new basically rebuilt half the wing covered it had it looking just great went out for three flights and was coming in and I think it was a combination of my pilot error too slow and I went to try and.

[40:17] Steve Hersh: Recover it and I think at the same time one of the aileron servos failed and so it rolled over upside down went this time over the pits into the parking lot and crashed into another fence and didn't do as much damage as the first crash…… But I lost interest in it at that point and said this is going to have to wait for another day for me to want to spend any more time fixing it…… But I'm not giving up on it I just set it aside for right. Now yep yeah. And sometimes that's the.

[40:45] Tom: Smartest thing to do is just set it aside and someday you'll probably feel like it's it's worthwhile yeah. It's been sitting long enough I can go ahead and go through the process.

[40:55] Steve Hersh: To fix this one again back in my early days I built the super sportster 40 from a kit and I think I had an os four stroke kit and I can't remember which one and I did fine with that one yeah…… But yeah. Age in this case the old eye hand coordination bit me pretty good there I agree it's it's one of the best looking airplanes out there as far as I'm concerned with the old.

[41:19] Tom: School ones so yeah. It's just a very classic looking RC airplane like when you think like yeah. Of old school RC airplane like from the from the 80s that's that's one of the images yeah. The super sportster and the super chaos is and oh yeah. I know what you mean yeah. They're just.

[41:38] Steve Hersh: They're they're so it's just such a good looking airplane so yeah. But one of these days I'll get it back out of storage and get it back up in the air there's there's nothing that'll stop me from doing that other than I just thought for right. Now let me move on to some other things and maybe I'm just trying to progress too fast probably you're right. Not to give up on it…… So it'll be good.

[42:01] Ron: To get that back in the air so all right. I agree and then I see you have three kits that you plan on doing you have a six something extra the 51 and a half inch version yeah. You have an old school model work sunday fighter the bristol spadport biplane 46 and a half inch biplane that's right. Up Tom's valley oh yeah. And…… Then the top flight and then the top flight cessna sky lane 182. So I just.

[42:26] Tom: Want to make a comment about this last one you have undecided as far as power goes but leaning electric and that brings me to like my overall like view of your list there's no nitro or gas.

[42:41] Steve Hersh: Power to anything on your list Steve I know which is pretty sad for a guy who's a gearhead.

[42:49] Tom: Yeah. Well I wasn't going to say that but a drag racer ought to have at least one nitro motor in.

[42:56] Steve Hersh: His collection or gasoline tell that to the guy with the tesla who came out and kicked all our asses.

[43:02] Ron: I don't know how to take that because I have one but that's that's I like tesla so no there's a.

[43:07] Steve Hersh: There's a guy who figured it out for racing but we won't talk about that I think if I was going to go with fuel Tom I would go gas I wouldn't I don't think I'll ever touch nitro again because I don't miss the mess and I think that's why you see…… So much electric is that yeah. I really like that there's nothing to clean up when I get that other than the pieces of a crash.

[43:31] Tom: You had to add the pieces of the crash at the end no I hear you and I say it over and over yes it totally makes sense the electric and gas there's less mass they're easier to operate…… But I in my brain I still I still always have a soft spot for nitro and.

[43:51] Ron: I always suspect I always will well and I've said it before too a lot I like nitro I don't want to own nitro…… So I love the fact that you have it and I don't have to deal with it right. The smell the sound yeah. Everything is cool about nitro…… But I just can't justify the expense so Steve are you.

[44:08] Tom: Going to go gas then you think maybe on the on the cessna I don't know Tom because you bring up a good.

[44:14] Steve Hersh: Point that is a large enough aircraft and the way it was designed and engineered it would it's not going to be that easy to convert to electric not that I'm confident I could do it oh sure. Yeah…… But it's going to require a pretty good size electric system right. For that one because it's not a light plane at all no one it's a scale airplane too…… So it needs to make it is I think well can I just put one of.

[44:42] Tom: Those electric sound systems yeah. You can but have you ever heard one of those up close they're pretty.

[44:47] Steve Hersh: Lame no I can only imagine if I'm honest they're pretty lame no you're right. You should you should skip to plane number four because that's that's going to come up real soon because that is.

[44:58] Ron: One really cool kit the chin model aircraft cessna 33702 skymaster 52 inch that came off ebay from.

[45:07] Steve Hersh: Thailand and I had my eye on that for months and months and there's a guy who down in southern California who did a really nice build thread on RC groups on it and flying it and the more I looked at his thread and saw the plane it's just it's a plane that I really like the look of I decided to go ahead and spend the money and get the kit here and I'm not disappointed the quality of this kit is top notch yeah. It's it's very complete it has everything…… But the electrics in it has all the.

[45:41] Steve Hersh: Landing gear all the push rods everything you need you just need to add your servos and a power system and it's designed for the twin electric setup and the quality of the laser and cnc cutting.

[45:56] Tom: On it is just top notch yeah. I'm a fan of the 337 and we have a nickname that we call them like in the…… Well in the in the circles we call them suck and blows because they have an engine up front that sucks and one in the back that blows right…… So they call them second blows yeah. My uncle had.

[46:15] Steve Hersh: One yeah. When I was growing up my uncle was a pilot he owned one and that was part of the other thing it's just kind of remembering that my uncle used to own one of those back in the day that's.

[46:26] Tom: Awesome yeah. That is really cool so at 52 inches it's not a terribly big airplane so it would probably.

[46:31] Steve Hersh: Lend itself pretty well to electric power I'd say yeah. And I've already got as you can see from the list I've already got the power system for it that'd be a good flying airplane you can put retractable gear on it nope no too small for that I think okay. As far as I think it would add too much weight yeah. You're probably thinking about adding flaps based on the recommendation of the guy who has the build thread on he said if he was going to do anything different he would add flaps to it.

[46:56] Tom: Cool that'll be a neat project yeah. Definitely send us if you don't mind send us pictures once you get started on that I know sure. No definitely I think it's a neat airplane too I think.

[47:06] Steve Hersh: I'll get some posted up but the skyline again another kit that I saw on Facebook marketplace locally is more of a project for when I'm ready for a really big challenge…… Well if that's the if.

[47:19] Tom: That's the top flight gold series kit or gold edition or whatever they're called it's a pretty easy build to be honest I've built several of their gold edition or gold series kits yeah. They're they actually go together really nicely and if you've got one of the later kits I think.

[47:34] Steve Hersh: Some of those were laser cut and those go together really nice I everything looks really high quality on that other than the empennage had been started by the person who had the kit apparently the guy who had the kit had passed away and his son was trying to get rid of all his RC stuff yeah. And I ended up having rob at the balsa workbench cut me all the parts for the empennage.

[48:05] Steve Hersh: That this guy did because he did such a bad job putting it together so rob does good work rob charged me 25 bucks with shipping with shipping yeah. And actually no he didn't know it was less than that I think you he wanted 15 bucks and I sent him 25 bucks yeah…… So rob from balsa workbench is the.

[48:26] Tom: Is the guy I got the mini cloud dancer kit from and put together and what a yeah. What a joy that was to put together everything fit beautifully…… So yep huge shout out to rob if he's listening huge.

[48:38] Steve Hersh: Shout out if you need something laser cut and whatnot he will walk you through the process of.

[48:44] Tom: What he needs to do it and super nice guy yeah. And that guy has probably forgotten more about RC than I will ever know and I feel like I know a fair amount of RC stuff…… So yeah. You seem to.

[48:59] Steve Hersh: He's a great resource you guys have both been an excellent resource for me getting back into the hobby and stuff a lot of the a lot of the tips and tricks and things that I hadn't thought of I've picked up from listening to you guys and of course listening to some others as…… Well but yeah. I like the building stuff a lot just hearing how other people do it especially some of the guys you've had on the show just picking up stuff from listening to other people you just can't beat that the sharing of the knowledge…… Well we appreciate that.

[49:29] Tom: We really do yeah. And Ron says that he echoes that sentiment every time we talk to somebody new.

[49:33] Steve Hersh: It's like we learn something every time it's good to challenge yourself exactly yeah. Get.

[49:41] Ron: Outside your comfort zone all right. Well Steve this has been fun is there anything else that.

[49:46] Steve Hersh: You want to talk about before we got off here no I can't really think of any I really get I apologize for the technical difficulties all in a day's work I guess that's okay. Ron will edit all that out of there nobody will know I figured I figured he had those skills he'll probably does probably cussing Steve's name when he learns how much time he has to spend editing all this stuff…… So but that's a that's just kind of the way it goes some days I guess it's it's a it's a great hobby and it's there's there's…… So much to it to you can learn from it and hanging.

[50:19] Steve Hersh: Out with the with a bunch of bunch of guys that are fun to hang out with and when you do have a mishap having somebody there to laugh at you about it you can't beat it yeah.

[50:31] Ron: Yeah. I couldn't agree more awesome well Steve once again thank you for joining us we will we'll have to do this again sometime that was a blast yeah. That was fun…… So yeah. Well I'll definitely keep.

[50:43] Steve Hersh: In touch with you guys online on the on the technical assistance because you guys have been great on.

[50:47] Tom: That appreciate that a ton no problem yeah. And if you if when you start that cessna 337 project definitely send us some pictures because that sounds really interesting yeah. I can't wait to see that one like if I was going to do an electric build that would probably be it.

[51:03] Steve Hersh: I could see that would be it yeah. I think so well Tom maybe you can send me send me the motor for the 182 and change my mind he's got a ton of them…… Well I have a lot of.

[51:15] Tom: Nitro motors but you said you're never going to touch a nitro again so I don't know if I can help.

[51:19] Steve Hersh: You or not don't miss it they're they're they're great and they're fun it's the mess.

[51:25] Tom: I understand yeah. And they are messy there's just there's no way around my sentiments exactly.

[51:30] Ron: Yeah. So I get it all right. Steve well thanks for joining us all right. Guys until next time I'm Ron and I'm Tom and you and I'm Steve all right. Guys bye good night we hope you enjoyed this episode.

[51:44] Announcer: Of the RC Plane Lab podcast for topic suggestions to ask questions or to give any feedback connect with us at rcplanelab.com or email us direct at either Ron at rcplanelab.com or Tom at rcplanelab.com you can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846 please subscribe rate and review us on your favorite podcast app until next time may your landings be gentle.