Ep 28: The Wives Take Over the Studio!

[00:00:14] We’ll be right back.

[00:00:36] Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It's not Ron and Tom this time. It's Crystal. And Lori. And this is the Wives episode. Ron and Tom have left the building and we are all on our own. I guess we should start off in true RC Plane Lab fashion. So, hello everyone and welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Crystal. And I'm Lori. Today's episode will be from the wives' perspective.

[00:00:59] Crystal, what did you think when Tom suggested that we do this?

[00:01:03] Oh s***.

[00:01:04] Yeah. I was just like, okay, what in the world do I talk about? When he suggested it, I was all in without even knowing what we were going to talk about. Isn't that funny? I was gung ho. And then we started talking about all kinds of different things that we could talk about. But you still weren't convinced. No, I wasn't.

[00:01:26] Ron's in this hobby. Yeah. And he has fun with it. I enjoy watching him have fun with it. But for me, you just-

[00:01:34] You prefer to be in the background.

[00:01:35] Yeah.

[00:01:35] A support role.

[00:01:36] Exactly.

[00:01:37] Has he ever approached you and said, Crystal, I really would like for you to build an airplane with me?

[00:01:42] He has not. No? He might be too scared.

[00:01:47] No. Tom has asked me several times over the years. And every time it's no. Like I have no desire. He always asks me if I want to go fly with him too. And I think he really wants me to be involved in it only because he likes to spend time together. And occasionally I will go out to the field with him and watch him. But he's been in it a long time. So I'm kind of over the whole thing. Yeah. So we're talking, I don't know, what was he, eight years old? He'll be 50 this year.

[00:02:19] So that's a long time. 42 years? That is a long time. Right. And we've been together 30. So after 30 years of him being in the hobby, it's just kind of, I'll pass.

[00:02:31] See, I don't mind going out to the field. Of course, right now I don't go out as much as we used to. Right. You have a toddler. Yeah, exactly. But when I did, I don't know. I had fun just watching. I mean, it's not like I was flying planes and doing all that stuff. Just, I just watched and I did have fun.

[00:02:51] Yeah. He gets really excited when I do go out with him and watch. I think I've been out twice this year with him. And I think he's just over the moon about it because I know, oh, you're going to go?

[00:03:03] Yeah, I’ll go.

[00:03:04] Are you sure? Yeah, I'm sure. But then I kind of feel like too, that when I'm there, he's more concerned with how long he's been there. And if I'm bored and so I would just prefer to not go so that he can fully enjoy his time at the field and not have to worry about if I'm okay or if I'm bored or if he's spending too much time or fill in the blank.

[00:03:32] Yeah, I can see that. But I do see sometimes it is good for you to go. Well, even if you take two cars.

[00:03:39] Yeah. And we've done that too. So he'll go out there and sometimes I'll just pop in at the field and say, hey. And he likes that. I think he appreciates me taking an interest in his hobby sometimes because it is so much of who he is. Yeah. Because like I said, we've been together almost 30 years, married almost 27. He was in the hobby when I met him. So there was no telling him no. There was no curbing it. There was no, I don't think this is a good idea.

[00:04:10] It was he brought it into our relationship.

[00:04:13] Did how much he was in the hobby when you met him.

[00:04:16] No, no. We met, he was in college and he had a plane hanging in his dorm room. And I thought it was just hanging there. I didn't know it was something you could actually fly.

[00:04:26] Yeah. It was kind of like just decor.

[00:04:28] Well, and he was going to school to be a pilot at the time. So that's not what he ended up doing, but that's what he was going to school for at the time. And so I thought, oh, he likes airplanes. What a cute model hanging up in his dorm room. I thought it was decor.

[00:04:41] Yeah.

[00:04:42] And when he told me he actually flies them, then I was like, okay, really? And next to his dorm room was this big open field. And so he would fly him there and yeah, it was interesting to see, but I didn't realize one, that he built it himself. And what I mean, built it, this was back in 1990 when we met. So when he built it, he built it from scratch. We're talking like gluing everything together and all that stuff. I didn't know all of that stuff.

[00:05:11] Like I only saw the finished plane. I didn't see all the backend work he put into it at that time. And it wasn't until we moved in together that I saw the amount of stuff that he came with. And storage, is always at a premium. Well, of course. Right. So like I said, he has always occasionally asked me to build, but then I keep reminding him, do you remember the dollhouse? And then he says, yes, I do. Okay. Nevermind.

[00:05:42] So years ago he worked at a hobby shop and they had those dollhouses that you could buy and put together. So you had to glue them together piece by piece. And I thought, well, that looks like a lot of fun. I want to do that. Well, I started to put it together. And of course, Tom has this keen eye for detail and precision. It's one of the things I really do admire about him.

[00:06:06] As I'm putting it together, I see him just critically looking at it and I'm like, what are you talking, what's wrong with it? And he would say, this piece is crooked. And I'm like, oh, it'll be fine. And he's like, no, it won't be. And I'm like, it will be. Well, it wasn't fine because the whole house looked like something that you made out of popsicle sticks, like in kindergarten.

[00:06:26] Oh no.

[00:06:27] And everything was just ever so slightly off. So every time he says, hey, do you want to, do you think you want to build a plane? I'll just say dollhouse. Yeah. And he'll say, got it.

[00:06:38] Yeah, I, I. I don’t think your plane would take off very well.

[00:06:42] I think it would probably crash. It would be a good story.

[00:06:46] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, sometimes they need to get up off the ground. Right. To make a good story, but.

[00:06:51] Or maybe mine could just be a good piece of decor.

[00:06:55] Now, have you ever flown?

[00:06:57] No. Okay.

[00:06:59] Would you do it on the buddy box?

[00:07:00] No. Okay. I just, I just have no desire to do it.

[00:07:05] Yeah.

[00:07:05] It's not something that. I think I would be so nervous that I would crash it, that that's probably the biggest part is the fear. Plus it's not something that I'm passionate about. So I try not to do things that I'm not really passionate about because then I just put in a happy effort. Yeah. So what about you? Have you ever wanted to fly a plane or build one?

[00:07:27] I might one day. Yeah. As for building, probably not. I could get into it in the beginning, but then it just gets old to me.

[00:07:36] I mean, there are the ARFs. Do what an ARF is? I do not. What's an ARF? I think it's almost ready to fly.

[00:07:45] Honestly. Yeah. I think that's what it is. Doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:49] So there's no building involved. So, I mean, we really can't use that excuse that we don't want to build one. But I flat out just, I just, I'll watch them.

[00:07:59] I think it would be interesting in the beginning to start building, to cut out the little pieces, to start gluing them together. But with a plane, just, there's way too many pieces. I don't have the patience for all of it. And then to me, I think if it's something that you have to leave somewhere for a certain amount of like weeks or months, that's just too long for me. Oh, you mean weeks or months until it's done? Yeah.

[00:08:23] Yeah.

[00:08:24] Because it's like, okay, is someone else going to mess with it? You're going to lose a piece, forget where a piece goes. Or you never get back to it and it just sits there. Yeah, exactly. That would be me.

[00:08:37] Honestly, I don't think I finished the dollhouse though. Because I think it just got so out of whack. I was just like, meh, I just don't have the attention for it.

[00:08:46] Yeah. Ron hasn't really asked me to fly that I can remember. Do I want to fly? Not necessarily. it's not something that I'm like, oh, I really want to do this. I want to learn. I just feel like I have so many other things under my belt already that I need to fine tune. Right.

[00:09:08] Don’t we all?

[00:09:10] Yeah.

[00:09:11] Right.

[00:09:12] But one of these days I might, I might on the buddy box, but to actually fly a plane and be scared that it's going to crash. It's like, oh, no.

[00:09:21] Yeah, I think that’s one of the main reasons why I don’t want to either. I don’t want to be responsible for crashing a plane.

[00:09:27] Well, especially if you build one from scratch. Right. And then take it up and then crash it the first time. It's like, oh, okay. I just spent how many months building that?

[00:09:38] And I can only imagine the sinking feeling in their gut because I know it’s happened to both of them.

[00:09:43] Yeah.

[00:09:43] I think Ron showed us a video. It was a plane that he got from Tom. He was flying it and you were recording it. Oh, my gosh. Yes. You remember?

[00:09:52] Yes. And I walked with him, a little walk of shame. Right. And he's like, why are you still recording? Yeah.

[00:09:59] But when it crashed, what did you say?

[00:10:01] You said, oh. Well, I mean, it's kind of satisfying for some odd reason. To watch it crash? To watch things crash? Because it's like, oh. Yeah. I mean, it's not.

[00:10:17] I don’t know if satisfying is the right word, Right.

[00:10:20] Because it's not necessarily satisfying, but it's like, oh, my gosh. it's like, ah. And now you have to redo the whole thing.

[00:10:28] A surprise. Yeah. Well, yeah. Because you weren't anticipating it. Yeah. At all. But it was just funny when he was showing us that video because you're recording and all of a sudden you see his plane just nosedive straight into the ground. And all we hear is your voice going, oh. And then you walk out there recording the entire time. Well, you have to get the video. I mean. You got to see the wreckage. Yeah.

[00:10:57] Yeah.

[00:10:57] No we.

[00:10:58] Otherwise, you're just left hanging. It's like, oh, what happened to it? is it okay? Is it in a million pieces?

[00:11:04] It wasn't a million pieces. Yeah. It was not okay. But what's funny because I came across a picture of that airplane. I think it was on TimeHop or something. It came up on my phone. And I showed Tom. It was from like six or seven years ago. I'm like, hey, do you still have that plane? He said, no. Don't you remember the video we watched at Ron and Crystal's? That was the plane. And I was like, oh. Well, at least we have a picture of you with it.

[00:11:28] Yeah. Plan's no longer. For posterity.

[00:11:31] So we've talked about us getting into the hobby or not. We both have kids. Cody was involved when he was younger, right? When Ron first got into it.

[00:11:42] Yeah, he was. He actually really enjoyed it. they would go out to the flying field and fly their little planes. And we've got pictures hanging on the wall of them. They just look so happy. And that's when I would go out too quite a bit. And sometimes it was really cold.

[00:11:59] Yeah. I know. Well, the picture that I see on the wall, there is snow on the ground. Yes. Yeah.

[00:12:05] Yes. There's many times that there was snow on the ground. How old was he?

[00:12:09] How old was Cody?

[00:12:10] Oh, gosh. I think it was back in 2012. So.

[00:12:14] Eight years. So he was eight.

[00:12:16] Something around there. Oh, my gosh. Lori, come on. I know. Don't make me do the math. I know.

[00:12:21] Math is hard. Math is real hard.

[00:12:24] Yeah. Is he still interested in it? He got out of it for a while. He likes the RC cars and RC trucks better.

[00:12:32] Right.

[00:12:34] But lately, a friend of his has kind of gotten interested in maybe doing the planes, too. So he's kind of coming back a little bit.

[00:12:42] Right.

[00:12:43] So the other day, Cody and Ron were talking about maybe building a foamy for Cody and his friend to build a foamy.

[00:12:52] Low investment. Yeah.

[00:12:54] Because, looking for something cheap, you don’t want to invest a whole bunch of money.

[00:12:58] Two dollars.

[00:12:59] Exactly. And so Ron, I think right away, went ahead and bought the electronics that go with it. Right. So that'll be nice. Whenever that gets here, they'll be able to get together and build some.

[00:13:10] Well, that'll be fun. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Our kids never wanted to be any part of it.

[00:13:15] No.

[00:13:15] No. No. Not for lack of trying, because he would take them to the field and they would just get bored.

[00:13:20] Yeah.

[00:13:21] Yeah. Some kids take to it. Some kids don't.

[00:13:24] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:25] Our kids were never, we have two boys and a girl, so Hannah was never into it at all. But the boys, you really have to have that hands-on and want to dig in. And they, it just wasn't, they weren't those type of kids.

[00:13:41] Yeah.

[00:13:42] Which is fine. Like Casey played soccer and Jake is not very coordinated, but, he was interested in other things, but they were just never interested in that, in that hobby.

[00:13:53] Another thing that Cody has done with airplanes, he's actually programmed and 3D printed a cowl.

[00:14:02] Mm-hmm.

[00:14:03] The thing is, he started to actually, I mean, to program a freaking thing, to me anyway. Right. to actually program something that's pretty awesome.

[00:14:14] Right, I wouldn’t know. The first thing.

[00:14:15] But yeah, I thought that was pretty cool.

[00:14:17] I think so. I think I saw the Cowley made.

[00:14:20] Yeah.

[00:14:20] Yeah. And it was a little heavy, but I was super impressed with it because I wouldn't know how to do that at all. Yeah.

[00:14:27] And then I think there was a few other things, like a couple of years ago, that they 3D printed. I don’t know if it was the hinges or whatever, but

[00:14:37] I think they were recently, maybe a few weeks ago or a few months ago, I don't know, they all run together. They were 3D printing ribs for the Duelist project.

[00:14:47] Yes. Yes. I remember that. Well, I know a couple of years ago, though.

[00:14:50] Oh, they were doing that too.

[00:14:52] Yeah. Doing something.

[00:14:53] And even, like you mentioned, when Cody was interested in RC cars, Ron and Tom both did that as well.

[00:15:00] Yes. Ron and our neighbor, they put a track in the field right next to our driveway.

[00:15:07] I vaguely remember.

[00:15:08] And it had a straightaway. It was about 175 feet. And it was this tri-oval track with some ramps that they would fly over, try to do flips. And I think they were out there at least four or five nights out of the week. Because, I mean, seriously, you don't have to go anywhere. No. It's right outside your door. You really do have the perfect setup here.

[00:15:30] You had the little track over there. And then you're, I mean, you have a lot of property here. You guys can fly planes off this property.

[00:15:37] Yeah.

[00:15:37] So you really have the perfect setup. So this whole COVID thing is really, you guys have done well with that.

[00:15:42] Yes. Yes. Well, we're introverts anyway. Right.

[00:15:45] Yeah. But Ron and Tom, they did do the RC cars for a long time. Well, Tom did anyway. He got away from planes for a little bit, got into the cars. But he's always come back to the planes. It's always been a bigger passion of his. Plus with the cars, every time you go out to race, you break something.

[00:16:02] Yeah. And now there's advantages and disadvantages to both. with the planes, it's like, okay, we built this plane. Let's give it a run. And if it, crashes, then you're out, a whole bunch. Right. But with cars, it seemed like every time they went to run them, there would be at least one person that had to pull off and either connect something back together or get a replacement part for something. Right. But it was fun.

[00:16:31] Of course, cars and trucks crash into each other and you do flips and it's a lot easier to break something. Right.

[00:16:36] And those are faster. So I can see why kids would like those better over airplanes.

[00:16:40] Yeah. And I think that's where Cody, his interest was drawn because he liked to go fast and flip and do stuff like that.

[00:16:48] Yeah. Yep.

[00:16:49] So when you and Tom moved in together, how did you feel? What was your reaction when he's hauling all this RC airplane stuff in?

[00:16:58] Well, there wasn't a whole lot at first because a lot of it was still at his dad's house. So it came in a little bit at a time, a little bit at a time and a little bit at a time. Plus, we had just had a baby. So he really didn't have a whole lot of time to build then. And we just had a tiny two bedroom apartment. So there were airplanes in the apartment, but it wasn't the big collection.

[00:17:21] Not that he had a big collection back then anyway, but it wasn't a as big of a collection as he has now. But when we moved into a home, like a house, that's when I saw the extent of it because we moved closer to his dad. And he also had a friend, an older gentleman named Harold, who also flew. He was not very good at building. So Tom would help him build. And Harold really liked cubs. That's what I remember. They were the big yellow ones and he liked them in all sizes.

[00:17:58] So Tom would help Harold build the Cub airplanes. And then that got Tom sparked again to build. And so when we moved into the house, that's when the building table showed up. That's when all of the RC airplane kits showed up. That's when space really became a premium at that point. At one time, he commandeered the kitchen table, which was in a dining room area. His building table was on top.

[00:18:28] And his building table is what.

[00:18:30] It’s a hollow core interior door.

[00:18:34] Whatever works.

[00:18:35] Whatever works. But it's not just this little, fold up table. I mean, it's as big as an interior door.

[00:18:42] Because it is one.

[00:18:43] Because it is one. And so when you think about that on top of a kitchen table in this tiny two-bedroom house, because that's what we could afford back then, it really didn't bother me. Because he was happy doing it. And that made me happy.

[00:18:59] Yeah, I can see that.

[00:19:00] I feel like everybody has to have an outlet for something. And that was his. And he, I got him and he already had the hobby. So at that point, I couldn't just say no. But I will say a lot of the building materials that he used was in Harold's basement because Harold had the space. So he and Harold would spend a lot of time together. Sometimes Casey and I would go there. I think Casey was maybe two years old at the time. Would go there and visit for a little bit.

[00:19:29] And Harold had a lot of property in the town that we lived in, similar to what you have. And so they were able to fly the planes off Harold's property also.

[00:19:38] And so sometimes they would do that too.

[00:19:39] And then when you move into bigger places, that’s when you fill the space you’re in right.

[00:19:45] Exactly.

[00:19:46] Right. So when we bought our first home, it's coincidentally the home we're still in. We had a big finished basement. Well, half of it was finished and half of it wasn't. So he took the laundry room side as his office. And I say that in quotation marks because that's what we called it. That was his office. And so that's where he did a lot of his building, his tinkering with his cars, all that stuff. Now we've been in that home for 18 years.

[00:20:13] When you walk into that basement, he has now spilled out into the family room area from his office. Just because mostly the planes that he has now are much bigger than the ones he used to fly. At first, I was a little like upset that he took over that space because in his eyes, he really didn't take over the space because the table he was using was a folding table. And so therefore…

[00:20:38] So it’s temporary.

[00:20:39] It's temporary, even though it was there for a year. But, it's fine. It makes him happy. It really doesn't bother me that much. Now, there were times when the kids were little and he would say, I'm going to go fly. That was difficult sometimes, but I knew he needed that outlet, that he needed to go do something he really enjoyed doing versus telling him, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:21:03] Yeah.

[00:21:04] And he was restricted also with how much he could spend, because we had little kids too.

[00:21:09] Yeah. And that can be difficult. It can be. Because some of the airplane stuff is pretty pricey.

[00:21:14] It is. It can be. And Tom's an all or nothing guy sometimes. Like if I can't have it now, then I'm never going to have it.

[00:21:20] Well, it's nice to have all the tools right by whatever you need. Right.

[00:21:25] Right. And the nice stuff, not just what you can afford, but stuff that you want.

[00:21:30] Yeah.

[00:21:30] That makes a difference too. But I always told him, if you wait till the kids are grown, you will have so much more money to spend because kids are expensive. And so we were talking about that. And he actually said, yeah, you're right. Now that the kids are grown, we do have more disposable income. And so he's able to spend what he, not really what he wants, but he buys a little bit more, than normal.

[00:21:56] And he did, we don't have to pinch our pennies as much because we're not raising three little kids anymore. Because our youngest will be 21 in October.

[00:22:05] Oh my gosh. Already?

[00:22:06] I know. Can you believe that? And she just moved out. And I'm thrilled. We just have one kid left at home.

[00:22:13] Well, that's why Tom can move a little bit more out in the basement. Right.

[00:22:17] Well, and also because the basement too. When we moved in the house, the family room, that’s where we put all their toys, so that they weren’t clogging up their bedrooms.

[00:22:24] Yes.

[00:22:25] So we hung out there a lot. So we really needed that space. And so now that he's, nobody ever goes down there anymore, like the kids are grown when they were teenagers, them and their friends, they would hang out down there. But the only person who hangs out down there is our middle kid, Jake. And that's because his bedroom is down there. His computer desk is down there and that's it.

[00:22:49] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:50] I mean, I think there's still a couch there, which if Jake ever moves out, I'll just tell him to take that couch with him. And then Tom can have the whole basement. And I would be fine with that.

[00:22:59] Yeah.

[00:22:59] It wouldn't matter to me. What about storage for you? Is that a problem?

[00:23:03] And not too bad. Every once in a while, Ron will have a plane out somewhere, but it's usually not there for a long time.

[00:23:12] Well, no, because you have little hands. Yeah. We do.

[00:23:15] You have Piper.

[00:23:16] Yeah.

[00:23:17] No, he's got, let's see, upstairs, he really doesn't have much. He just has, of course, his wall decor. Right.

[00:23:26] Explain the wall decor real quick.

[00:23:28] Well, it’s a plane. I couldn’t tell you what kind of plane, but it’s one that he crashed.

[00:23:33] It’s red.

[00:23:34] It's red. Yes. And it kind of split in half. So he cut it down a little bit so it would fit well in the corner of the wall.

[00:23:44] Right. And so when you're looking at it, it looks like the plane is going through the wall.

[00:23:48] Yes.

[00:23:48] Yeah. So just the tail is sticking.

[00:23:50] When he put it up there, it's kind of like, oh, what is he going to do? But it grows on you. It grows on you. Did you think he was going to add more? I did. I think he was talking about it, too. Was it going to be the airplane graveyard? Maybe. He wanted a full airplane, like hanging in the middle of our bedroom and all the stuff. And it's like, oh, my gosh.

[00:24:11] No. I mean, it's bad enough. Like when you go into Tom's office, you have to watch your head.

[00:24:17] Yeah.

[00:24:17] Because he's got them hanging from the rafters in the basement. Mm-hmm.

[00:24:21] Yeah. Ron has some stored in the rafters in the basement, but it's not too bad. There's a little spot by the laundry room that he has, his work bench. He's got a bookshelf that he has all organized. And it's got like the shoebox tote container things. And he's got a whole bunch of stuff in him. I couldn't even tell you what's in them all.

[00:24:45] But so with Ron getting into the RC planes, I really didn't think much about it because he already was into the RC cars and RC trucks. And so it was more like, oh, here's just another thing that he can tinker with and, be happy with.

[00:25:00] And evolution of sorts.

[00:25:02] Yeah. Yeah.. And so, yeah, I didn't really think too much about it.

[00:25:07] Did you think it would consume him like this?

[00:25:10] I don’t think so.

[00:25:11] No.

[00:25:11] No. Because he ended up wanting to do this podcast. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that kind of, I was like, really? I know. That would be freaking awesome. I think so. Yeah. So, he talked about it a little bit with me. And then right away, he's like, what? He asked Tom if he would be interested. And he's like, yeah. Yeah. And right after Tom said yes, he went out, bought all the equipment he needed.

[00:25:37] The microphone, soundboard, earphones, whatever.

[00:25:41] I do, however, over the 30 years of knowing him, have picked up a few things like I’ve learned. The words are weird, but I have learned what they are.

[00:25:51] Oh, gosh. I think with me, the words just go in and out. Really? I've heard them so many times, but I really don't know what they do.

[00:25:57] Okay. So, what is MonoKote, Crystal?

[00:26:00] I don’t know exactly, but it sounds like it’s a coat of something that you put on the plane.

[00:26:05] Correct.

[00:26:06] You are correct. Yeah.

[00:26:07] It's that shiny stuff that they iron on. That MonoKote is like the brand name, so it's MonoKote or UltraCote. They put it on with the iron.

[00:26:16] Okay. Okay. Yeah. So, it's just like the fabric or not the fabric. It's plastic.

[00:26:20] Yeah. It's plastic. But they just iron it on and then it shrinks up like shrinky dinks.

[00:26:24] Yeah.

[00:26:25] And then it just adheres to the sides of the wood. Nice. With the heat. Yeah. Okay. Do you know what a servo is?

[00:26:31] Servo. Yeah. Is that the controller thingy? Yeah. You're close. You're so close.

[00:26:38] Yes. It is the electronics that go in the plane that help move the surface areas. Nice. Yeah. Do you know what a pushrod is?

[00:26:46] It pushes.

[00:26:46] It does push. It attaches to the servo. And then that attaches to the surface areas of the plane that move. Nice. Yeah. We both know what balsa wood is.

[00:26:58] Yes, we do. Yes, we do.

[00:27:00] We looked it up.

[00:27:01] Well, I remember with balsa, I mean, there's lots of things you can do with that. Oh, yeah. Because when we started doing the basement years ago, I was going to make an, or I wanted an entertainment center down here that went in our little cutout. And I was going to build it out of balsa. Like not the actual entertainment, but just like a little model of it.

[00:27:24] Oh, yeah, yeah. I was going to say, Crystal, I don't think that would hold the TV.

[00:27:28] Not really. Maybe if I had enough balsa pieces. And you would use a lot of CA.

[00:27:32] Do what CA is? CA? No. It's the glue.

[00:27:36] Oh.

[00:27:37] Yeah. I don't know what CA stands for, but I know it's the glue. So we've talked about their hobbies and how we feel about it. Do you have any hobbies that compare to Ron's passion for RC planes or RC anything in general, it sounds like?

[00:27:50] All I could say is probably gardening.

[00:27:52] You really do have a green thumb.

[00:27:53] I try.

[00:27:54] Well, and Ron did make you that awesome trellis.

[00:27:57] He did. And his little Dr. Seuss-y type whimsical trellis.

[00:28:01] It was very whimsical. It's very cute. Yeah. I liked it a lot.

[00:28:04] But right now I have these beans that grow. They’re like a pole bean and they grow like 14 to 30 inches long and you cook them up just like regular beans.

[00:28:17] Do they taste like regular green beans?

[00:28:18] Yeah, pretty much. But you can either saute them up or boil them or put them in the oven. You can cut them down to size because of course, 14 to 30, here, here's a serving. That's like spaghetti beans.

[00:28:32] Yeah. You each get one bean.

[00:28:34] That's it. But it's awesome. Right. I like to plant different things. Right. And then I have spaghetti squash on it also.

[00:28:42] Yeah. Spaghetti squash is good. I used to scrapbook when the kids were little. That was fun.

[00:28:47] Yeah.

[00:28:47] And then it stopped being fun because the kids stopped letting me take their pictures.

[00:28:52] Oh, I know how that is. Yeah.

[00:28:53] You kind of have to have material in order to scrapbook.

[00:28:56] Yeah.

[00:28:58] And my children no longer wanted to be the material.

[00:29:02] I always hoped that I could scrapbook, but I would buy some of the supplies and then I go to do it. I’m like, no, this just isn’t turning out well.

[00:29:12] I had a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time with friends and got to know other people. And it was fun for a while and it was a good getaway to get away from the kids. Tom traveled a lot when they were younger. And so the kids and I spent a lot of time together. So it was nice when he was home that I could get away for a few days. So that was nice. But then as they got older, priorities change, things change. Of course.

[00:29:37] The scrapbooking went to the wayside and then Tom and I decided to get healthy and lose a bunch of weight and start running. So I guess that's kind of our hobby now.

[00:29:46] And that's kind of when I met you. Yes. I've seen some of your scrapbooking. Yes. And oh my God, I love it. Thank you. But yeah, we started running together.

[00:29:55] Yes. Yeah. We did that for a while. Well, I remember the first time I talked to you into it, it was more, hey, you want to

[00:30:02] Do this 5K this weekend or, a couple weekends or whatever. And it's like, sure. Right. And then next time I saw you, it's like, hey, you want to do this 10K? I'm doing a 10K.

[00:30:11] You want to run it with me?

[00:30:12] Sure.

[00:30:13] Yeah.

[00:30:13] And then it's like, we worked up to the half marathon. Right. We ran the half marathon together.

[00:30:19] Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot of fun.

[00:30:21] Yeah. Yeah. For some reason, a lot of people are like half marathon. Why wouldn't, why in the world would you want to run a half marathon? Why not? Exactly. And I actually will tell you, I would love to do another one.

[00:30:35] Well, and you'll get back there someday. Yes.

[00:30:37] I’m not sure about a full marathon, but

[00:30:41] Oh, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking about it. You are? Oh my God. Yes.

[00:30:45] Oh my gosh.

[00:30:46] I’m putting it out there in the universe.

[00:30:47] I seriously am thinking about it.

[00:30:49] Years ago, you're like, no, I would never do that. Because the dedication it takes to the training.

[00:30:55] Like it’s a lot.

[00:30:56] It's a lot. Tom has ran three marathons and the last one he ran, like he really wanted to nail his time. Like he wanted to come in at 345, three hours and 45 minutes. He trained for months and months. I mean, that was pretty much his part-time job was training.

[00:31:14] Oh it would be. I mean seriously to run that much.

[00:31:17] One thing about, one thing about Tom is like, he is one of the most determined, dedicated people I know. If he gets his mind set on something, then, then he's doing it. And I'm just not that dedicated.

[00:31:29] No, I’m not, I’m really not.

[00:31:31] Like man.

[00:31:33] My exercising app just said, Hey, it's been nine days since you last exercised.

[00:31:38] Or my garden's like, Hey lady, move. But I'm thinking about it, but I, I put on like the COVID-19 because, chaos ensued with work and everything. So I need to get that weight off before I can even think about training for a marathon, but it probably won't even be until 21 or 22 because I don't even think like all the races we have planned this year have been canceled.

[00:32:08] Yeah.

[00:32:08] All of them. So we're just kind of hanging out here in la la land, not knowing what to do. And without anything to train for, you're, you just, you lose that drive to just go run. Exactly.

[00:32:19] You guys were doing race after race after race.

[00:32:23] I know.

[00:32:23] We did all the races. And that's what keeps you right, running.

[00:32:26] Yes. You have to have that goal, that something to, to look forward to. And I'm going to bring it around circle. Do you think that's what building the plane is for them? Probably. Probably. Probably. Like the start of something and the dedication and then seeing it come to fruition and then watching it fly. It's their airplane marathon.

[00:32:45] And with the Trash Can Telemaster. Oh my gosh. They are still really hoping to fly that and have it go well.

[00:32:52] I really hope they do, Otherwise it will be in the trash can again, I think.

[00:32:56] Yeah.

[00:32:56] A hundred percent.

[00:32:57] Their hope is to fly Sunday. So we'll see. We'll see how it goes.

[00:33:01] Stay tuned because I'm sure they'll talk about it. Yeah. I'm sure all of you are sitting on the edges of your seat wanting to know more about this Trash Can Telemaster. It really is a cool plane. And the work that they put into it is, is amazing for it to come from the trash can. And tool of the week. Okay, Crystal. And here's the tool of the week.

[00:33:29] The tool of the week. Crystal, what is your tool of the week? My tool of the week is a mini hand drill. It's called a pin vise hand drill. Oh my gosh. I love it. So Ron introduced this to me when we were trying to figure out how to water the garden. Okay. So we ended up getting a 2-liter bottle that had soda in it before, just an empty 2-liter bottle and some gallon jugs like milk jugs or water jugs, whatever.

[00:33:56] And he came up with this tool and he put a little hole in it. I'm like, what is that thing? Because he knows I love mini tools. I don't know what it is about. Do you have a mini toolbox to go with your mini tools? I do. I love mini things. And so he's putting these holes in these for me. And I'm like, I've got to get one of these things. So he directed me. He's like, I just got it off of Amazon. It's really cheap. It's like seven bucks or whatever. And I got myself one.

[00:34:26] I was so happy when it came in the mail, I’m like, oh, I was so giddy. I’m telling you,

[00:34:31] So how many 2-liters did you drill?

[00:34:34] Oh, I want to say maybe 20..

[00:34:37] That's a lot. Yeah. And a few gallon jugs. Okay. So tell me, what this watering system is? Because I just go out and I just use my hose and I spray my flowers.

[00:34:45] So you put a hole in the bottom of the jug and then you put a hole in the cap. And so when you put the cap back on, you just have this little hole and the water just drains ever so slightly out of the jug. Oh, so you don't need a sprinkler. No. Or a soaker hose or anything like that. And it takes anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, depending on what kind of jug you have.

[00:35:09] And then exactly how much water they’re getting.

[00:35:11] Yeah. And it's going straight down to the roots. It's not running off. That's brilliant.

[00:35:16] And that's why this is your hobby. Because I was like, what are you doing with that? Why are you putting them out there?

[00:35:21] Yeah. So with this tool, going back to the RC airplanes, it has a lot of uses for mounting servos or if you want to drill into the balsa. It's delicate. Yes.

[00:35:34] It's a delicate, which is amazing that you, when you glue it together, it becomes stronger than it is by itself. Yes. That's a metaphor for a lot of things. So speaking of gluing it together.

[00:35:49] Yes. What is your tool of the week?

[00:35:50] My tool of the week, if it can really be called a tool, but I'm going to call it a tool, is Zipkicker.

[00:35:56] Zipkicker. Zipkicker. I love that name. Yeah.

[00:35:58] Isn't that a fun name? So I was introduced to Zipkicker. Hey, pass me to Zipkicker. Right? I was introduced to Zipkicker, ironically, when I was building the dollhouse. Going back to the dollhouse. Going back to the dollhouse. When I was gluing it together, they wanted you to use, like, wood glue. And that stuff takes forever. Yeah. Okay. So I commandeered some of his CA glue that dries faster. Well, it wasn't drying quite fast enough.

[00:36:28] And Tom comes over here and sprays this stuff on it, and shazam, it's instantly cured. That's what Zipkicker is. Nice. So if you have glue, and you need it to set up or cure quickly, then you spray the Zipkicker on it, and voila. But Zipkicker, it's a fun name, and it's incredibly useful.

[00:36:49] Now, where can you get Zipkicker?

[00:36:52] From Tom's shop in the basement. Well, my guess is, would be your local hobby shop would have it. Yeah. I don't know. I just know when I need glue and Zipkicker, I just go to Tom's office.

[00:37:11] Well, I know.

[00:37:11] But the key is, if you put it back, he doesn’t know you used it.

[00:37:14] Yeah.

[00:37:16] But you have your own drill, so

[00:37:18] I do. Yeah. Well, I don't have anything else. Do you? I don't think so. I know. It was fun today. It was fun. Man, they make it sound easy, don't they?

[00:37:26] They do.

[00:37:26] They really do. This is not easy.

[00:37:28] This is not easy to just sit down and talk. I mean, we sit down and talk, but this is a lot of pressure. They do a great job.

[00:37:35] All right, guys. That's it. That's it. So if you have any questions about today's episode, or a previous episode, or anything you want to say, just shoot an email over to either Ron at rcplanelab.com or Tom at rcplanelab.com. Till next time, guys, don't be crashing out there. Have fun.

[00:37:54] We hope you enjoyed this episode 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.