New to your forum, addicted to rc airplanes

Billwoodward

New Member
Hi all, new to the forum, old guy, all airplanes. Thanks for adding me. Started at about 9 with stick and tissue rubber. Progressed to control line and in 79 got my first rc unit. A Circus Circus JR IV. $99.00 all up. SIG Kadet MKII and learned to fly. On the suggestion of a friend, the Kadet was modified with 2 degrees dihedral, full length ailerons with full mechanical differential. Half inch spacer under the trailing edge of the wing to cut down on the float. A wore out K&B 40 that came off a Quickie 500 and both kids and I learned to fly. Currently have a one off design “Stik” I need to test fly?F75A300F-9BF1-486C-B27E-3A2B73ACB626.jpeg
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Hi Bill... welcome to the forum...

I still remember a bit of my first entries into kit airplanes but not at what age I started. My Dad had been into free flight and the initial RC planes long before I had came around. He started my sister and myself off with some fun hand launch gliders, my favorite and first "kit" ( not premade ) was called the Thermic D ( if I recall correctly ), a 16" balsa kit that we had to sand and glue together. I never built a tissue covered plane since monokote was a thing by that time I was old enough to build one but I do recall a few stories of them from my Dad.

I still recall my first flights on a RC plane, it was my Dad's 4ch Scooter with a semi or fully symmetrical wing, he took it off and landed but let me fly it to and away along with a few circles... so I was hooked. My first kit build was also a Sig Kadet, the smaller one that had a recommended engine of .25-.40... I built it as a 3 ch and got a deal on a Super Tigre .25 for that one. That would have been my early teens and it was years before I could afford to get a radio for it. I believe the radio I ended up with was a Prism 7ch with 3 model memory. By that time, I wasn't all that interested in a top wing 3ch airplane.

My second plane I built, and still have since it never saw the air, was the Sig Kobra. While I did complete it, this was about the time I also first moved out of my folks house so I never had spare funds to finish it with an engine and such. To help with my lack of funds, I sold my radio and the Kadet to my Dad but kept the Kobra for a time I could afford to get back into the hobby which took a lot longer than I'd hoped. In fact, it was a little over 10 yrs ago before I was finally able to return to the hobby.

Upon return, I first bought a FMS 58" foamy P-58D Mustang and a copy of the sim Realflight to practice up with. After about 3 months of practice on the sim, I joined a local club but every time I went out... it seemed I missed the others of the club. Getting impatient to fly again, I decided to maiden without an experienced pilot to assist me. I had probably taken off and landed about 3 times when another club member finally showed up to see me land it. Because we had a cross wind to the main runway, I'd been using the shorter one instead. The other member was pretty surprised that it was my first time out and that I'd landed it without incident. Later I was to find out it was sort of against club rules to fly before being "qualified" by an existing member... lol.

I didn't like the feel ( and still don't ) of a foamy and it wasn't long before I moved into using 3D planes as my go to airplanes. I never got good enough to 3D them but they are extremely stable and make for a great sport flyer. After about 7-8 years perhaps, life happened again and I haven't flown since. I may fly again at some point but with how the FAA is sticking it's nose into the hobby, I'm uncertain if I'll continue. I did get a reminder email that I need to re-up my FAA license but have yet to decide to do that at this time.

Here is a shot of my Kobra... if you are interested and since it's of that era....

Kobra_Top.jpg

Kobra_Bottom.jpg
 

Billwoodward

New Member
Hi Bill... welcome to the forum...

I still remember a bit of my first entries into kit airplanes but not at what age I started. My Dad had been into free flight and the initial RC planes long before I had came around. He started my sister and myself off with some fun hand launch gliders, my favorite and first "kit" ( not premade ) was called the Thermic D ( if I recall correctly ), a 16" balsa kit that we had to sand and glue together. I never built a tissue covered plane since monokote was a thing by that time I was old enough to build one but I do recall a few stories of them from my Dad.

I still recall my first flights on a RC plane, it was my Dad's 4ch Scooter with a semi or fully symmetrical wing, he took it off and landed but let me fly it to and away along with a few circles... so I was hooked. My first kit build was also a Sig Kadet, the smaller one that had a recommended engine of .25-.40... I built it as a 3 ch and got a deal on a Super Tigre .25 for that one. That would have been my early teens and it was years before I could afford to get a radio for it. I believe the radio I ended up with was a Prism 7ch with 3 model memory. By that time, I wasn't all that interested in a top wing 3ch airplane.

My second plane I built, and still have since it never saw the air, was the Sig Kobra. While I did complete it, this was about the time I also first moved out of my folks house so I never had spare funds to finish it with an engine and such. To help with my lack of funds, I sold my radio and the Kadet to my Dad but kept the Kobra for a time I could afford to get back into the hobby which took a lot longer than I'd hoped. In fact, it was a little over 10 yrs ago before I was finally able to return to the hobby.

Upon return, I first bought a FMS 58" foamy P-58D Mustang and a copy of the sim Realflight to practice up with. After about 3 months of practice on the sim, I joined a local club but every time I went out... it seemed I missed the others of the club. Getting impatient to fly again, I decided to maiden without an experienced pilot to assist me. I had probably taken off and landed about 3 times when another club member finally showed up to see me land it. Because we had a cross wind to the main runway, I'd been using the shorter one instead. The other member was pretty surprised that it was my first time out and that I'd landed it without incident. Later I was to find out it was sort of against club rules to fly before being "qualified" by an existing member... lol.

I didn't like the feel ( and still don't ) of a foamy and it wasn't long before I moved into using 3D planes as my go to airplanes. I never got good enough to 3D them but they are extremely stable and make for a great sport flyer. After about 7-8 years perhaps, life happened again and I haven't flown since. I may fly again at some point but with how the FAA is sticking it's nose into the hobby, I'm uncertain if I'll continue. I did get a reminder email that I need to re-up my FAA license but have yet to decide to do that at this time.

Here is a shot of my Kobra... if you are interested and since it's of that era....

View attachment 23259

View attachment 23260
Hi Bill... welcome to the forum...

I still remember a bit of my first entries into kit airplanes but not at what age I started. My Dad had been into free flight and the initial RC planes long before I had came around. He started my sister and myself off with some fun hand launch gliders, my favorite and first "kit" ( not premade ) was called the Thermic D ( if I recall correctly ), a 16" balsa kit that we had to sand and glue together. I never built a tissue covered plane since monokote was a thing by that time I was old enough to build one but I do recall a few stories of them from my Dad.

I still recall my first flights on a RC plane, it was my Dad's 4ch Scooter with a semi or fully symmetrical wing, he took it off and landed but let me fly it to and away along with a few circles... so I was hooked. My first kit build was also a Sig Kadet, the smaller one that had a recommended engine of .25-.40... I built it as a 3 ch and got a deal on a Super Tigre .25 for that one. That would have been my early teens and it was years before I could afford to get a radio for it. I believe the radio I ended up with was a Prism 7ch with 3 model memory. By that time, I wasn't all that interested in a top wing 3ch airplane.

My second plane I built, and still have since it never saw the air, was the Sig Kobra. While I did complete it, this was about the time I also first moved out of my folks house so I never had spare funds to finish it with an engine and such. To help with my lack of funds, I sold my radio and the Kadet to my Dad but kept the Kobra for a time I could afford to get back into the hobby which took a lot longer than I'd hoped. In fact, it was a little over 10 yrs ago before I was finally able to return to the hobby.

Upon return, I first bought a FMS 58" foamy P-58D Mustang and a copy of the sim Realflight to practice up with. After about 3 months of practice on the sim, I joined a local club but every time I went out... it seemed I missed the others of the club. Getting impatient to fly again, I decided to maiden without an experienced pilot to assist me. I had probably taken off and landed about 3 times when another club member finally showed up to see me land it. Because we had a cross wind to the main runway, I'd been using the shorter one instead. The other member was pretty surprised that it was my first time out and that I'd landed it without incident. Later I was to find out it was sort of against club rules to fly before being "qualified" by an existing member... lol.

I didn't like the feel ( and still don't ) of a foamy and it wasn't long before I moved into using 3D planes as my go to airplanes. I never got good enough to 3D them but they are extremely stable and make for a great sport flyer. After about 7-8 years perhaps, life happened again and I haven't flown since. I may fly again at some point but with how the FAA is sticking it's nose into the hobby, I'm uncertain if I'll continue. I did get a reminder email that I need to re-up my FAA license but have yet to decide to do that at this time.

Here is a shot of my Kobra... if you are interested and since it's of that era....

View attachment 23259

View attachment 23260
Hi Randy, thanks for the reply. I know all about life happening! I went through 3 Super Sportsters, and 4 Stik’s of various manufacturers. The last Stik was my all out effort for lightness. I mounted a 1983 Enya 90, 4 stroke, moved stuff around and got just under 6 pounds dry. I learned with a lot of surface throw because there’s not many calm days in Florida. I tried one more flight and the batteries gave out. A buddy and I built a coraplast pizza box flyer, a flat bat combat and some other weird things just to have fun. There was always someone that was eager to learn so in 99 I heavily modified a Kadet Senior to carry candy, perform school yard demos and with the same Enya 90, now cleaned off!

that’s a beautiful Kobra!! I’d love to see you get that flying!! Several guys in the club had the Kouger’s, Kobra’s and King Kobra’s. Great stable flying planes!
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
The Kobra will always be a hanger queen... I'm committed to electric for one and it's built for nitro... and the monokote is brittle since it was built around 1976 give or take and I don't want to recover it
 

Billwoodward

New Member
The Kobra will always be a hanger queen... I'm committed to electric for one and it's built for nitro... and the monokote is brittle since it was built around 1976 give or take and I don't want to recover it
I can’t blame you. It’s special to have that one. When my dad was a kid, he knew he wanted to fly. He built a B-17 model he carved out of balsa. Had metal props and decals. I used to play with it when we went to visit grandparents. When my grandmother died and the three brothers were getting rid of everything, I begged for that display model. Two uncles said they would save it. I said I would drive to Tallahassee to get it. When my dad passed, his younger brother came and had no idea what happened to it. Dad finished his aeronautical engineering degree after he left the Navy flying all manner of planes. Hang on to it, there won’t be another?
 
Top Bottom