Very nice, eflightray. I remember my father building a FF spitfire about that size when I was just a little kid. He used balsa and tissue and powered it with a .09 I think. It only had one flight but it was a doozy. He got the engine fired and the mixture right and then launched it. It went straight up and transitioned to a spiraling parabola that ended in a big crunch and then silence.

He built a bunch of planes and so did I. We built everything from .020 sized FF to .09 powered 2 channel RC and even towline and handlaunch gliders.

I've built a few of my own designs but they required molds and I feel myself being drawn back to balsa and tissue for the simplicity. My lost foam project is just that lost, but I do appreciate the nudge you gave it.

Ray... very nice Spitfire! There folks is a real craftsman!. There's been some good comments in here lately.. some about what the learning potential is.. and what we learn when/while building.. after 35yrs I'm still learning.. every little build session... but some of the things are learned while building is simply taken for granted.. each plane/project is experience.. you can't put a price on that.

Building ARF's can't give the same experience.. fixing ARF's can't give that experience.. I myself also like my ARFs though, and have several of those as well as customs.. I'm into building at this point though too... thats the coolest thing, is you can pick it up, then put it down.. its definately not for everyone though.

Originally Posted by DGrant

Ray... very nice Spitfire! There folks is a real craftsman!. There's been some good comments in here lately.. some about what the learning potential is.. and what we learn when/while building.. after 35yrs I'm still learning.. every little build session... but some of the things are learned while building is simply taken for granted.. each plane/project is experience.. you can't put a price on that.

Building ARF's can't give the same experience.. fixing ARF's can't give that experience.. I myself also like my ARFs though, and have several of those as well as customs.. I'm into building at this point though too... thats the coolest thing, is you can pick it up, then put it down.. its definately not for everyone though.

You're right I don't expect anyone to give up ARFs...I just want to give them the chance to enjoy building.In my case, you can't buy what I fly as an arf.

Originally Posted by DGrant

Ray... very nice Spitfire! There folks is a real craftsman!. There's been some good comments in here lately.. some about what the learning potential is.. and what we learn when/while building.. after 35yrs I'm still learning.. every little build session... but some of the things are learned while building is simply taken for granted.. each plane/project is experience.. you can't put a price on that.

Building ARF's can't give the same experience.. fixing ARF's can't give that experience.. I myself also like my ARFs though, and have several of those as well as customs.. I'm into building at this point though too... thats the coolest thing, is you can pick it up, then put it down.. its definately not for everyone though.

Its great when you fly arfs if thats what you like to do the only thing we as builders dont like is the guys telling us why we should do the same .You are not one of these guys but you can see that it would upset you if builders told you that you could not fly arfs and had to build your own . For some reason there are a couple guys that come to the builders forum and try their best just to tell us that building is dead and time to shop for a better built arf. lol joe

I've also been told many times to move to electric.. "its the wave of the future". Sort of like telling someone blondes are better than brunettes. Guess I like riding the wave I'm on - -. Kit built and nitro burning.... heaven! Though I have a couple electrics, it just seems to sanitary and nothing to tinker with in the nose. One guy was flying in his suit the other day. Electric does have its advantages!

If you want to bring back kit building.. be a builder and look for those interested. Show and Tell is a great for this at the club meetings. Most bring in their Hangar 9 whatevers and nothing wrong with that, but bring in something framed up and uncovered that's not run of the mill and here come the questions...

Hearing you guys on the "Can't buy what I fly" and "nitro burning" aspects!

I love my kits and scratchbuilts, especially those of mine that are true mind to matter jobs without prebout or even predrawn plans. Wouldn't be without building and flying them!

The nitro planes are also great... although I do like electric for the smaller jobs and for the sheer convenience of it. Try building a 2.5oz/18" flying wing with nitro! At the same time, try building a well powered 5ft Stick with electric

Cheers guys - boingk

PS: One half of the flying wing glider is done... working on the other. Then electrics. Then covering!

I fly both electrict and nitro/gas planes but i like flying nitro the best .I hate waiting for batterys to charge and having to buy six of them to fly all day .Yea i know my planes get oil on them and smell like fuel but i dont care i built them nitro proof and i can clean my hands when i get home from flying. I carry my planes in a company construction van and it has rubber mats on the floors that i can open up the back and hose it out when it starts getting bad. lol Electrict is alright but i will never sell my nitro motors . joe

Biggest problem I had with glow models was the glaring looks from the Spousal Unit when I came home covered in burnt oil and smelling funny!

By the time I'd moved to the US, lived with the above for nearly ten years and was living in a garage-free house where me and the equally stinky models had to come in via the front door and living, plus I'd figured out electrics that could fly just the same as the glow models, I Made The Decision.

Other factors included often going flying hauling gear for both fuels and that the electric-only site was much closer to home and much nicer to fly at than the oily site. I actually haul more stuff to go flying electric than glow - I was one of those oddballs who didn't need a battery driven power panel, electric starter and fuel pump, etc, to fly a glow model. Right now, living in a condo with a shared garage, not sure a gallon of glow fuel would go down well with the housing situtation...

There's one point for electrics that's hard to argue against. I was a member of a MD club that flew on a site lost to wet power because of noise complaints and had not long moved to Chicago when I found a club in Northern Illinois that had been around for years, lost its site to noise issues, then was resurrected by it's 'quiet flight' members on another patch as an electrics only club. Many of its members were too 'Proud to be Loud' and left for other, more distant clubs or packed up the hobby, but its electric lobby is doing pretty well now.

Suspect as the 'burbs spread out, that will become an ever more popular - or essential - route for some clubs.

D

Originally Posted by Dereck

Biggest problem I had with glow models was the glaring looks from the Spousal Unit when I came home covered in burnt oil and smelling funny!

By the time I'd moved to the US, lived with the above for nearly ten years and was living in a garage-free house where me and the equally stinky models had to come in via the front door and living, plus I'd figured out electrics that could fly just the same as the glow models, I Made The Decision.

Other factors included often going flying hauling gear for both fuels and that the electric-only site was much closer to home and much nicer to fly at than the oily site. I actually haul more stuff to go flying electric than glow - I was one of those oddballs who didn't need a battery driven power panel, electric starter and fuel pump, etc, to fly a glow model. Right now, living in a condo with a shared garage, not sure a gallon of glow fuel would go down well with the housing situtation...

There's one point for electrics that's hard to argue against. I was a member of a MD club that flew on a site lost to wet power because of noise complaints and had not long moved to Chicago when I found a club in Northern Illinois that had been around for years, lost its site to noise issues, then was resurrected by it's 'quiet flight' members on another patch as an electrics only club. Many of its members were too 'Proud to be Loud' and left for other, more distant clubs or packed up the hobby, but its electric lobby is doing pretty well now.

Suspect as the 'burbs spread out, that will become an ever more popular - or essential - route for some clubs.

D

Dereck lol you know me from flying together ,i smell like harley oil and greese so my nitro fuel smells like purfume to my spousal unit when i walk through the door. lmao Shhhh she is sneeking around here some where and might have a different view . I got to get back to putting her new bath floor in now bye. lol joe

Breaking in a nitro engine outside and a little too much smoke wafted into the garage.

Originally Posted by seeingeyegod

Breaking in a nitro engine outside and a little too much smoke wafted into the garage.

Did anybody ever notice that the electric guys always start out with"it's clean and quiet'?....like they have to justify it?
I like guys who fly electrics...I don't like them being missionaries,tryin' to convert me....that ticks me off.
sorry-that drifted off the fact that some of them still build their own planes and that pleases me.

Originally Posted by epoxyearl

Did anybody ever notice that the electric guys always start out with"it's clean and quiet'?....like they have to justify it?
I like guys who fly electrics...I don't like them being missionaries,tryin' to convert me....that ticks me off.
sorry-that drifted off the fact that some of them still build their own planes and that pleases me.

Iam with you brother if i wanted quiet i would ride a honda with factory pipes not my road king with straight pipes barking load. joe.

I made a statement about not being able to buy the kind/size/style of airplanes that I fly ,earlier.Now I've started a discussion and build log in Giant Scale forums
I'm doing a 1/3 size Fairchild,and enjoy the feed back of other builders.I met one guy who has the original drawings for the full scale aircraft,so we try to build wood to look like metal in places.
I actually enjoy the build challenge more,at age 70,sort of like ...okay...show me what you've learned bub,but it's NOT a call-out .It's someone wanting to challenge themselves.
I can't let an edge go unrounded,or a line not faired-in now,you reach a stage where you demand good of yourself!
and great satisfaction comes from that.

Someoine mentioned break-in smoke going into the garage. Long ago in RCM mag there was a enclosed muffler system you could make which I did. Pick up a new paint can, solder an in and out pipe through the top. The in pipe has multiple holes below the lid. Same as the out pipe. Fill with about 3 inches of cat litter and the rest with steel wool. Run an automotve hose (high heat) off your muffler into one of the tubes. Thats it' very quiet considering. You can actually tell how much noise your propeller makes at less than 1/2 throttle.

Originally Posted by epoxyearl

I made a statement about not being able to buy the kind/size/style of airplanes that I fly ,earlier.Now I've started a discussion and build log in Giant Scale forums
I'm doing a 1/3 size Fairchild,and enjoy the feed back of other builders.I met one guy who has the original drawings for the full scale aircraft,so we try to build wood to look like metal in places.
I actually enjoy the build challenge more,at age 70,sort of like ...okay...show me what you've learned bub,but it's NOT a call-out .It's someone wanting to challenge themselves.
I can't let an edge go unrounded,or a line not faired-in now,you reach a stage where you demand good of yourself!
and great satisfaction comes from that.

Epoxy earl I LIKE THAT KINDA TALK at your age of 70 ,i hope i still feel that way when my 70 comes. I have another friend (Merlyn Graves ),that is still building amazing planes in his older years and showing us younger guys up. joe