R/C Airplanes
 

Hey, I'm thinking of taking up R/C Airplanes again - Dad and I used to do it when I was a kid and it was an absolute blast.

Was just wondering if anyone in the Socal Area knew of any gas powered flying fields?

Go electric.. just as much fun, no messy fuel, able to fly in parks etc, some very powerfull motors out there these days.

I think they still fly out near the 210/605 junction. The dam/lake is on the east side of the 605, and there is a runway and open area on the west side, just south of the 210.

I used to fly every Sunday down at San Diego Stadium with my dad back in the mid-late 70's.

I switched to electric. They've come a long way in the past decade - and the motors and batteries are amazing (thank laptop development for the little devils).

I've got this cool little (40") "Zagi" that will fly in a park!

Hanson Dam, (junction NW corner) of the 405 and the 101.

A buddy of mine back inthe 60s had a radio controlled monster MIG 15(?) with a ramjet type of engine. If I recall, that thing was a bit over four feet tip to tail.

been flying sailplanes for quite a few years now. left the gas world behind and never looked back. I love the challenge.

here's my favorite bird, the Graupner 4m Discus

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1092385899.jpg

i have a few planes, haven't flown them in many years though.
i had an engine stall after takeoff that damaged my 60" sport plane, kinda parked them after that......took forever to build that thing then CRASH :D

I've been doing some reading and I see that electric has come a long way especially with Litium Ion batteries but - I like 4-stroke engines.

I know back in the '80s and '90s when I was doing this there was a lot of problems with local neighborhoods and airplanes that were too loud. My Dad and I had always gone to great lenghts to muffle our engines as much as possible and in reality we never suffered in performance for doing so. Almost always the added backpressure helped.

Has there been any developments in the past 18 months on electric ducted fans? I have a larger hovercraft design that was put on the back burner four years ago that I would love to get started again. 2-1/2 inch or 5 inch diameter fan, will need four of them so the cost adds up quickly.

Get an instructor and a simulator. I crashed about 4 times before I decided that it was more difficult than it looked. Just about every flying field has a couple of guys who will be happy to hook you up.

You basically hook your transmitter to their's with a cord. Then they get the plane airborne and level, flip a switch and transfer control to you. If you start to get out of control, they can switch back and level out the plane and then land it.

A simulator is a must i feel. You can practice your take offs, inverted flying, landings, and hanging on the prop moves w/o fear of wrecking your high dollar plane.

Get a FREE copy of "FMS"

This is a great PC-based simulator. It's free and works well with a joystick. It is pretty good to get your flying reflexes back...

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

I've been an instructor in the past; I stopped flying in 2000 when I moved from FL to CA.

Wow brings back memories of the old C-Control days (pressurized fuel bladders and all) and my Helistar RC helicopter.

Interesting that battery technology is viable for this hobby. What to do with all those Fox and OS engines?

I've got to find myself a good trainer that will transition well to an average flyer.

I've always enjoyed flight simulators and spend tons of time in NovaLogic's various simulators as well as MS Flight Simulator.

I've been fascinated with aircraft since I was born just like my dad who was in the Airforce for 20 years (flight crew on C130s and KC10s).

I've been into the local "hobby people" stores here in Socal and I know they used to be "Hobby Shack" when I was a kid living in Moreno Valley in the '80s and early '90s; Dad was stationed at March AFB then. Hobby Shack was cool then but this new Hobby People is like a comic book store - lame.

Tower Hobbies here I come I suppose. I need to go by the B&N to pick up a few magazines and see where to order some stuff.

Mike, try this web site. You can pick up all manner of RC planes, engines, tX and RX for cheap. They have a great sort feature also.


http://www.rcuniverse.com/index.cfm

Wow...that site is cool as all get out.

It really is. You can sort by area also which comes in handy because the planes are hard to ship. I've bought several planes off the site. the people that deal on there are pretty decent.

mikester, I've been flying model air planes all my life and r/c sense the early 60's . The best thing you can do is to check out a coupla of hobby shops to really get the low down of whats going on in your locale. The really good news is that there is a tremondus amount of prefabracation in kits out of asia these days.I have gone from single channel to pure jet (not duct fans) in the last 40 or so years. If you love things that fly you are looking in the right direction. If you would like give me a PM with your phone # I'll get back to you.I dont know it all but my AMA # is 16732. That # was issued to me in 1954. I feel that I can steer you in the right direction. Happy landings Randy

I'd second that. Excellent site on par with the caliber of Pelican members... great advice and genuine concern for novices.

Thanks man, there's a local run shop over in Santa Monica off of Ocean Park - I used to live right next to it. It's the kind of shop I worked at when I was a kid (building airplanes for guys who didn't have time - Before the ARF craze). I'll have to head over there this weekend.

Mike ,you seem to be headed in the right direction. You will be surprised in how easy it will be to get your two lefts back together. I will take 3 or 4 years off at a time(other projects) and never have a problem flying. By the way I hope to be ordering some graphis from you soon . Randy

I think you've got the wrong mike as far as the graphics are concerned...I think that's MikeZ - I don't show my a$$ as much as him. =-)

Dhaa, Randy

Man...the wife's going to hate the bill for these toys...