I just recently returned to R/C after a 30 year hiatus. In that time much has changed. The changes that impact me the most are the advancements in electric power, the use of foams in modeling, and computer radios.

My wife and son got me hooked on R/C again, when for Christmas of 2006 they gave me a Carbon Butterfly. I didn't even know that such planes were possible. I still love that little plane, although for Christmas this year they gave me a plane that's even smaller, a Micro-Butterfly.

Shortly after Christmas I started reading R/C magazines and visiting R/C web sites (like R/C Groups). It wasn't long before I bought a Hitec Optic 6, and a Slow Stick. As our skill levels increased we changed out the brushed motor and nicads for brushless motors and lipos. I even outfitted it for ariel photography.

While we flew the Slow Stick I built Gene Bond's Blue Beagle for my wife. Below is our fourth generation of the Blue Beagle. It has a larger fuselage, larger tail, and carbon fiber boom, but the main change is to a KFM3 wing. The Blue Beagle is now a great trainer, and it's not a bad soaring machine either. It has been known to thermal for a half hour over a small parking lot.