RC planes and helis in the pre-drone era (35 years ago)

[@003sfd]

I don't believe it!!! I had that magazine in Ireland. I'll never forget that cover.

[@plemli]

My first rc gear was an older AM type from Fleet Control Systems. I saw it in RCME and bought it directly from the manufacturer before international shopping was common. The tx is now in the collection of a friend modeler.

[@FlyingFun.]

I think it was a lot more involved back then with the actual aircraft building and design and setting up, I learned a lot back then in a very short time. Expensive too so you made sure to get everything right first time if you could. Lots of memories and I can still smell the nitro fuel and fumes and those noisy engines!!!

[@simoncycling6685]

Oundle near Peterborough UK ..still as Geoff Stubbs model shop he's been there since the 60s ..a great model builder too .my first model shop .who remembers keil Kraft balsa kits tissue and dope ..

[@sr71afan]

Hi there Bruce! Thanks for the flashback! In 1984 I had just been transferred (USAF) from the U.S. to an RAF base in the U.K. I took my Saito .45 four-stroke with me, put it in a Sweet-N-Low Stik, and had a blast. While TDY in Germany, I picked-up a brushed motor in a gearbox, installed it in a Silent Squire slope soarer, and had quite the fun! Great memories. Thanks again!!! Gary

[@raifshammas8099]

This the time I was so active in rc flying, I still have many gadgets of that Era. Thank you Mr Bruce. Fantastic video

[@GadgetMart]

Many of us still fly like this in the U.K. you know. The traditional side of the hobby including building and IC is still alive and strong.

[@richardgreen4611]

Chas Gardiner who wrote the "Slope Special" article in the magazine is alive and well and an active member of the Model Flying Club that I belong to here in the UK.

[@jamesberna6099]

Thanks for the look back Bruce. I found a 1975 Orbit single stick (my first radio) and a 1980 Kraft 2 stick transmitter on e bay. Having them converted to 2.4. Gotta keep the old days alive.

[@DianneCanada]

Thanks for the memories Xjet! I started flying R/C heli in the early 1980s with a Bell 47 kit from the UK - it still hangs in my living room! Before gyros, it took me a whole summer just to do a stable hover! The following year, with a yaw gyro, I actually got to fly a bit. I remember the INTENSE concentration required and being soaked with sweat after 10 minutes in the air! Now, pushing 70, I fly a Phantom 4 and can leave it hovering in the yard while I slip inside to fill my coffee cup - WHAT A CHANGE! LOL!

[@johnusjohnson8972]

Thank you for the trip down memory lane , I had the pleasure of flying a Morley Maverick helicopter ,what an experience that was :-)

[@Burn377]

I grew up in the 90's but my elder next door neighbour a retired electrical engineer was heavily invested in model aircraft. You remind me alot of him and this was a good trip down memory lane :)

[@johnhubbard3399]

Thanks Bruce brings back allot of memories especially learning how to fly a heli with no gyro back in 1978 and 79 build fly crash rebuild fly crash repeat.

[@paulriggs42]

Happy Days ! Avicraft in Bickley (SE London) was my local model shop and last time I was back in the UK I dropped by and they are still in business, amazing ! Thanks for the walk down memory lane !

[@hanger9uk]

Ahh Avicraft, I remember happy times spent there, you go to buy something then spend hours chatting, it was like a social club! Dam internet!

[@paulriggs42]

hanger9uk it was just like that 2 yrs ago when I popped in, I was there for 1hr 30mins..... Happy Days !

[@DFDuck55]

My first aerial photography setup was an Estes rocket with a tiny camera in the nose cone. When the rocket flipped over and started heading back to Earth it triggered the shutter and it took a single photograph. I can't remember for sure when that was... in the mid 1960's I think. My first R/C truck I got I think in 1984. It was 4-wheel drive and the inside was mostly circuit boards. Mid '86 a friend wanted to try it. I let him, telling him to stay away from the one tiny puddle of water. Straight away he drive it right into the puddle, and it never worked again. He didn't offer to replace it, and he was no longer my friend. Of all the brand names in the magazine Cox is the one that stood out to me. In the early 1960's I flew line controlled airplanes, and Cox was the big name for engines here in the U.S.

[@loc4725]

I remember those rockets. They had an 110mm camera, triggered by the parachute eject charge in the motor. There was no way of guaranteeing the direction of the camera (or at least not on mine) and so it was hit & miss as to whether you'd get a slightly blurry picture of the ground or sky. And it was a bit of a pain as you'd have to develop the whole film just to see one, most likely uninspiring, picture. And on a plane related note I also nearly hit a microlight with one of my smaller models. I was out in a field and the morning fog had lifted but not yet dispersed. I could hear the sound of an aircraft engine but thanks to the fog couldn't see anything but it didn't sound _that_ close so I launched. As the rocket approached what was left of the fog a microlight suddenly appeared. I held my breath as the rocket shot up in front if him. Must have missed by about 40-50 feet; I could see him rocking side to side as it shot past. He probably thought it was a firework. Needless to say when it came down I recovered the rocket and legged it. ☺

[@DFDuck55]

Yep, that's the one. 110 film and blurry photos at best. I had a little b/w dark room in my closet so developed my own film. All in all though, for the time it was pretty awesome to be able to get any kind of aerial photos like that.

[@stealthkiwi1869]

I still use New Zealand Teletrol Radio control set, Blue with chrome sticks, Airsail for Balsa in Penrose and Steves model shop in Auckland as well as Modelair and I was 14 when this magazine came out!

[@kevalinopicks5555]

Enjoyed that Bruce. I’m old but young to the hobby. I couldn’t afford to be flying in the 80’s!

[@rickjones2303]

Thanks for making me feel old. Remember all this.

[@sheldonholy5047]

Micro Mold (with the gyrocopter) was run by the Scott family who later started Sussex Model Centre. Still around today and I worked there at one point. Great video!

[@jimh.5286]

I built (in USA) my first RC plane in about 1964, a Carl Goldberg balsa kit, ~30" span, with a Cox .020 glow engine. I had a World Engines transmitter, single-channel, rudder-only, and non-proportional. For control the Tx had a single on/off button you pushed for rudder - you got full rudder or nothing. No servo, just a wound-up rubber band driving a self-neutralizing (not compound) Bonner escapement. I didn't have any of that super fancy, modern stuff that you just showed in that magazine from the '80s!

[@SimRacer101]

One of my most prized RC possessions is the Getting Started with RC Helicopters book I got in the 80s. I read that for almost 30 years before I actually flew one. It included the how to use a mechanical gyro if you can afford one.

[@frankbarajas]

My first heli was a Hirobo Shuttle and it has one of those Gyros. You had to wait for it to spin up to full speed or you would get jitters on that servo. Last flew it in '87, repaired it (always ended the day with a crash which meant losing the tail boom and main rotors) and then along came the first of five kids, so she never flew again. I still own the Shuttle and she's still gathering dust in my attic...lol

[@SimRacer101]

Frank Barajas that is why I got out of helis. The mechanics and flight are fun. But having to spend 2 hours+ fixing it after every flight just got old.

[@daveday5507]

Would that be ;Flying Model Helicopters' by any chance?

[@frankbarajas]

DroneRacer101 Two hours? That would have been nice back in the early days, try 8 to 10 hours. One of the reasons I stopped was that I didn’t own the tools necessary to recalibrate the collective pitch assembly anymore. Use to be the club owned the tools, gauges, etc. and you checked them out, but when I moved I lost that access and my new location no club existed at the time.

[@martiny1804]

@@frankbarajas Same for me there Frank had the Shuttle but no gyro at first. Made a mechanical mix from Rotor pitch to tail linkage. Worked like a charm then got a gyro after a year or so. Converted the shuttle with a home made video tx and modded camera to my first FPV setup and that was in 1990. Still have video's of first test flights.

[@anthonyquarrell9068]

Oh man this takes me right back like it was yesterday. I was in the RC scene late 80's through mid 90's, first models were Pee Wee control lines (scary for a kid), then onto a 3 Channel AM high wing with an OS 40, all were hand built balsa with silk or tissue. Early to mid 90's saw FM Radios and balsa/ply with plastic wrap, bigger engines like OS 61, Rossi, etc. Fun fact the old schoolers may remember having to get your radios certified annually to maintain your club membership, frequency crystals, and frequency keys on the board while flying to avoid you know what from happening haha.

[@Extra300goldberg]

Awesome video!!! My first Tower Hobbies catalog was from 1981!

[@warp65]

That all looks very familiar. I was an 18 year old apprentice , I used to borrow that mag as our local library subscribed as well as many others. I could then afford to fill my bike and go to Modelair at Newmarket in the days they cut and boxed kits out the back. Thanks Bruce.

[@KenKneknaneek]

That was a nice trip back into the past. I got posted with the Royal Canadian Air Force over to Ramstein, Germany, from 1969-1972, a huge American Airbase and that is where I got hooked on flying model aircraft. The American lads had models strung out on a couple of wires about 60 feet long and went round and round LOL.. It was called "U" Control flying. We used little gas engines placed on a slight angle to make them pull to one side, and wires from the handle moved the elevator up and down. Always had a buddy with you to hold the aircraft which you had started until you got back to the centre of the circle and picked up the "U" control, and he would let the aircraft go and with a little up on the elevator you circled round and round. To stop from getting dizzy you stood in one place and did figure eights. We also did combat too with two guys out there together omg , it was hairy, and with long streamers had to cut the other guys streamer tail off. Most times we would get the wires tangled and had to either crash or wait until the fuel ran out so we could stop flying.. Those were the days. Then finally we flew gliders and launched them with 1000 feet of line and 50 feet of surgical tubing, to get them up in the air and hoped like heck for a thermal so you could stay up for a little while lol..Happy flying

[@KenKneknaneek]

@Graham Stewart ha ha yes .. we got used to it but it was so much better when we did figure eights in one place lol gave you a break from going in circles lol

[@SOLARFPV]

Nice, I have heard about the wire planes, but have never heard anyone who flew them. You guys were pioneers. I can not even start to comprehend combat manouvers with wires, it must have been really hard to do. Thank you for sharing your story, it was a dizzy read ;-)

[@DeDeNoM]

These days they flight very different Drones in Ramstein

[@gryfandjane]

There's still a pretty good following for control line flying out there, but RC definitely dominates.

[@btbplanevids]

I still get RCM&E magazine every month :-) I started flying r/c in 1975 so lots of very familiar stuff in there - models, radio and engines that I owned. I was heavily into two specific areas you mentioned - aerial photography and 'micro' models. For AP I started with 110 cartridge cameras strapped to normal models and ended up with Olympus SLR systems in custom built airframes. I had a scary amount of money tied up in Fleet micro receivers and servos - I used Cox TD 010 and 020 motors plus (my favourite) PAW .55 diesels, which were throttled and silenced. In the early '90s we used to fly these models indoors at the annual Model Engineer Exhibition in London - I designed a pylon racer called the Bandit for the TD020 and 2 channel r/c (RCM&E published the plan) and we raced these 4 at a time every year up till 1999 when the show stopped.

[@Timsfpvshow]

this is an awesome video bud. thanks for sharing this. i was just a kid back then but i wanted to fly rc planes from the time i can remember because i was lucky enough to at least get to spend a little time around some models because i had a older cousin in the hobby. but my parents couldnt afford for me to have any planes. so i was 16 before i got my first kit and that was around 1995. still brings back some great memories from a time when the world made a lot more sense. good day ol buddy

[@tjeffpowellful]

Thanks Bruce. A nice trip down memory lane but made me feel very old! I had a Fleet r/c set and thought it was advanced at the time. Incidentally I flew an electric plane in the ‘70s built from a kit by Astro of the USA and fitted with one of their motors. The battery was a 500 x 6 cell Nicad in addition it carried the receiver battery. No esc just switch on and fly until the battery went dead.

[@jdd1777]

Tamiya frog was my first introduction into the wonderful world of rc, complete with a futaba radio. I remember going out of range and the thing just kept going full speed ahead.

[@johncarold]

Hi Bruce Great video and I remember several of those models, I had cox . 049, and the bumble .051, and I still have the plans for a Grasshopper. I started with a 3 way switch for straight and left or right, and my first real RC Radio was a kraft. and my biggest motor is a MOKI 180. Thanks again for the memories.

[@emh2017]

Thanks for "time travel"! & show more old magazines's review!

[@donaldmason4959]

I'm 75 now and started "flying" in the 60's with a control line ready made Stuka. Made me so giddy and a final crash into the ground took me onto a second hand Cessna Skyvan with O.S.60 and a Mcgregor 2 function radio on 27 mhz. Still in a club but things are slower now!

[@TA-pp9jk]

I go back to 1965. Proportional radio just hit this scene the Taurus airplane was introduced by Ed kazmierski. A greate time for me. Everything new several radios on the market. No ARFs. Same silk coverings and smelly dope. Many people reading were never born or in their 50s. Flying fields all over. Those were best Times to get into the hobby of radio control aircraft.

[@greyraven2636]

Thanks Bruce for that trip down memory lane. I first got into model aircraft in the fifties. I didn't have RC I had control line in those days. When I look at what we have today we are spoilt. And how RC electronics have moved forward is practically science fiction. Thanks once again Bruce and happy landings from OZ.

[@markbass9393]

Now I feel old having recognised the cover. Dave Smith Models is in my home town. I bought my first RC equipment and model (DB Rookie 68" Glider and JR gear) from his shop. Alas the shop and the precinct it was in are no more. Incidentally, Dave was a big aerobatics man and a former champion. He flew some of the models used In Empire Of The Sun, namely the Mustangs. Ken Binks flew the B-29 I believe. He was asked by Spielberg to teach him how to fly. Good memories!

[@jamesford3549]

Great to see. Although I’m young I do a fair bit of retro modelling, the thing I can’t get my head around is how many model shops and independent manufacturers and mail order businesses there were!

[@davidrussell8689]

Lovely stroll down memory lane..... model shops were magical places . The problem back then was the cost of equipment but perhaps that made you value more what you had . When I initiated my sons in the hobby I emphasized the build part of flying . Having fun preparing and not just flying ( or repairing better said )😂

[@evo-labs]

I had this exact edition on my shelf...brings back memories...

[@M0rdH0rst]

I started in 1976 together with my father and a 35 MHz AM transmitter. You could here its noise in every AM radio and even hear, which channel has been used :D My father also stored all magazines of that time and did have a lot of magazines from when he started in the 50ies :) I still have a Simprop Curare from that time laying around...

[@dougd8866]

For my first aerial video I mounted my digital pocket camera from the bottom of my Phantom 1, hit record and hoped for the best. Was very happy with the result. That was only 4 years ago! Thank God for action cams and gimbals. I now put an action cam on most anything I fly. Thanks Bruce

[@Peter195267]

I remember those years like it was yesterday, I purchased all my models in kit form and nitro engines when I lived in Berlin in the 1974 and moved to Australia bring all the parts with me. Wasn't sure if I could buy them in Australia at the time we moved. I built and flew them,still have bits and peices of them, I then moved onto flying jet airplanes for EastWest Airlines. The best years of my life. I'm now retired from commercial aviation and looking at model flying with nitro engines.

[@kermets]

I remember this Mag...my uncle had this issue....also I still have the Micron 40Mhz Rx kits circuit boards and case, loved building them and tuning

[@sputniksam]

A great trip down memory lane. The 1/3 page advert for Beaties put a smile on my face. As a kid taking a trip to Beaties in Leeds was akin to a trip to Disney Land. Unfortunately I can’t help but draw parallels between your 1984 publication and the latest issue of the BMFA magazine. The technology in the hobby may have evolved to being light years ahead of what was offered in your magazine but unfortunately that can’t be said of our representative body in the UK. If the BMFA magazine was a Fashion Journal it would be espousing the wonders of Nylon, A-Line Flares with pockets in the knees, and corduroy. Regards Nidge.

[@RCTanksTrucks247]

Great video Bruce. I enjoy looking back at how the hobby has evolved.

[@damienmilk3025]

Great memories Bruce, i started aeromodeling in the very early 70s, i still have #2 edition of Airborne magazine, and flick through it for a look into the truly great time in modeling.

[@helalmiah6039]

Memories. Some of these model shops are still around such as Slough RC, now my nearest as Hobby Stores here in the UK has gone online.

[@billw2755]

great vid. i grew up starting with excapment then advanced to reeds and finally to orbit proportional. i still have a brand new gmp cobra heli with an os fsr 50 on it. saving it for when i retire i am 64

[@Frank-rh7vh]

Very nice Journey to the past ! Thank You !!!

[@roadhogrc]

I remember flying my dad's Carl Goldberg falcon 56 in 1984. I was 7. It had a Kraft radio and it was heavy!

[@SOLARFPV]

That was a fun blast to the past. I had just about learned how to ride a bicycle back then. (I was 4) but I got my first RC car in 1988, and it was a great little model, and computers had come a bit further by then, and the radio, was the same type as used today, for RC cars. Oh and no laws back then even thought things were more unstable and potentially more dangerous, I would think. Love the retro radio from Futaba, it really shines of the 80's. Thanks for sharing this history. 👍 The comments here are amazing, and really inspirering to read. So many pioneers, each with great stories of how and when they started, which is way before I was even thought of. Great to hear that most of them are still in the hobby, after so many years.

[@BMSWEB]

I've got this Issue 😍 Love these

[@toddspeck9415]

Fun looking back in time. I watched my Dad build a Heath kit setup. You had to build everything. servo's trans. rec. So cool to see this old school mag.

[@dcsmith5839]

Flew control line and free flte glider back in early 60's,RC for me was only in the magazines. Now I'm retired and a noob,having fun learning all over again.Keep up the good work. By the way,first couple of Cox planes with the .049 could be gotten by selling greeting cards door to door.

[@frankbarajas]

Wow, does that bring back a lot of memories...I was into Gliders at the time and would have been flying one of my two Goldberg Gentle Ladies or a Sagitta 6 with an Airtronics 72 MHz radio when that magazine was published. A six months later I would be running the Tamiya Frog that was shown on the back cover with a Futaba 2 channel on 75 Mhz.

[@Dronesteve-72]

When I first got into the hobby back in the 70s a radio set futaba was a weeks wages for me . I built the plane put in the engine and had to leave it and it never flew . Times have changed thank god

[@davidwalle5025]

Great video. My first radio was a kraft bicennal series (1976). On 72 mhz.

[@yodayedi2325]

Really great look in the past, thanks a lot.

[@cvonp]

Great nostalgia, piece, Bruce =) I had a 72MHz Hobby Lobby radio. Can't recall the channel but the ribbons were purple and white

[@Wonky4925]

Bloody hell... you were posh! Did you have a butler and maid.? Only rich people has UHF.

[@cvonp]

@@Wonky4925 Naw, just the maid. Had to let the butler go to pay for the radio 😉

[@Fur8002]

Hello Bruce, I still have that edition of RCM&E and a 1964 Futaba 6 channel combo. I have actually got the 1st edition of RCM&E too and have been building and flying on & off since the early 1960's.

[@HummingbirdUAV]

I have a few old magazines like yours. I actually build my 1st 5 channel RC system from a kit in the mid 70s. Imagine soldering all the components in the receiver and servos. There wasn't a single IC in the thing. Also build a Kavan Jet Ranger back in 78 that used one of those Super Tiger Nitro engines and a Kraft 5 channel radio system. All mechanical control mixing and no gyros.

[@thebeardfpv162]

I had so many RC magazines from the 80's and 90's at my Mom's house, it took a dumpster to throw them all away... Miss those days.

[@chrissofpv3017]

1966...Epsom Downs,P47 Thunderbolt,freeflight,enlarged from a Profile magazine,..Webra Piccolo diesel,flew like a dream,I was covered in diesel,knackered from running along following it's huge upward spirals...lovely memories!

[@xjet]

I had a Webra Piccolo -- 0.8cc diesel -- yay!

[@maxeisenstadt1459]

I got introduced to the hobby with foam board, hot glue and hobby king but my first working build has been a 60" balsa sailplane covered in SIG Koverall and dope! I bet the hobby shop had forgotten they had that stuff there. I'm even trying to restore an ASP four stroke, lol.

[@MicheleBoland]

I have R/C Modeler from their first issues, also flying models back to early 60's and some other model magazines back from the late 50's my dad had. I remember when FM was the future, my first radios were AM and my dad's first radio didn't even have a crystal! I love the old stuff!

[@morgidvmw0mdv]

O BOY. This one brings back memories. I can remember getting that very R.C.M & E. magazine and falling in love with both models on the front cover if you know what I mean! O yes.

[@sweetcorn1968]

The memories came flooding back. I remember my dad and his friend decided to mount a camcorder on a plane. It was about 1990 and my dad’s words to me were. “For Christ’s sake don’t say a word to your mother, she’ll bloody kill me.” As it was the thing never flew because they couldn’t get an engine with enough power to overcome the weight of the camcorder. I remember cycling 3miles to the field with my glider attached to my bike, nobody there with the bungee to launch it. Cycling the 3 miles home again and breaking the whole tail off it when I was getting off my bike. Never even flew and spent most of the weekday evening repairing it so I colugo again next weekend. Thank you Bruce.

[@davewilshere]

Micro model with Tx and Tiggy are my models, flew really well with Dad’s micro Talisman radio. I still have and fly the twin version with 2 x TD 020

[@thedok7333]

I Bloody loved that..!!! All the adverts came flooding back, i remember drooling over things i could never afford, until i saved up enough paper round money,to get my chris foss middle phase 2 and my futaba attack 2ch radio ;-)

[@tamandua-rj7147]

Who is 50 years old ,or more, and is viewing it today? Me? Just 58 years old .....

[@xeriamaned]

62 still going strong, although the new technology scrambles the grey cells a little at times. thank goodness for Bruce and the other KZbinrs.

[@robinbennett5994]

About 90% of our club

[@tamandua-rj7147]

same here at Brazil. After 50 is the time we have more money and have more time for our self. Espouse don't nag us as much as before. We have more patience and being in the sun with friends is what really matter at the end of the day.

[@Shortsircut1]

I am 61 and have been modeling since I was 8 and my brother was 10. We made UC models and free flight, we could not afford those hi-tech single channel pulse rudder only planes! We used to build Guillows stick and paper models and stick a Cox Baby Bee .049, or the TeeDee .020 engines on them, what a BLAST!!!

[@tamandua-rj7147]

@@Shortsircut1I also began flying UC. RC was too expensive at the time. And worse than that, people flying RC where full of thyself. They would not even speak to you, let alone explain something about the hobby. And some would keep secret of how to do things. Thanks to the Internet today you can get all kind of information for free.

[@wordreet]

Heh, 1984 was only a few years before the time I started racing 1/10th off roaders at the Canterbury Model Racing Club with a Tamiya Wild One. And like you said, I bought it from a local model shop with a Futaba radio and some Nicad battery packs. Ah Nicads! How well I remember charging them till they were too hot to touch, then letting them cool down a bit before each race. Then seeing the heatshrink melt off them at the end!!!!

[@awuma]

Re model shops ... still to be found in Canada, the UK and Poland. Of course, most of them also sell via the Internet, and in Europe parcel delivery is relatively inexpensive. As for magazines, I still have a few favourite issues going back to 1959. The plans and articles from those old magazines can be found on Aerofred and Outerzone. As for radio gear, my old Kraft 3-channel unit, bought second-hand in 1974, lasted me very well into the late 80's, when the old sets were obsoleted by new narrower frequency band requirements. I used AA alkaline cells in the aircraft, never had a problem, while the Tx used a 9 volt dry cell. When that went out of production, I made my own harness of several 9-volt alkaline cells in parallel. These set ups lasted for many hours of flying.

[@AlanEvans789]

Galaxy Models, one of the full page adverts, is sort of still going, and still at 88 Catton Grove Rd Norwich. The shop is now known a Pegasus Models, but they still sell the full range of Galaxy Models branded kits. I was surprised to not spot a Radio Active Models advert, they were my local shop growing up, and also a very big supplier of all sorts of model hardware, most model shops would have Radio Active stuff on the shelves.

[@seanicky]

Balsa Cabin still going! (Advert towards the rear).

[@MoiraOBrien]

I flew slope soarers in the 80's. I bought a couple of kits but then got into designing and building my own. I had two successful fully aerobatic V-tail planes and then got into light weight "chuck" gliders - my last one weighed in at 13oz. I once bungee launched it on a high thermal day and nearly lost it in a brewing thunderstorm - finally getting control back at about 1000 ft! Happy days :)

[@andrewroozen9151]

I bought my Futaba FP4L in 1981 I think, was about $300, saved up by working at a shop after school. It was 35Mhz.

[@propwashrc5243]

Blast from the past but I go back 20 years before that magazine. In 1964 I was flying single channel Controlair single channel radio that I built from a kit. I had to send it to them to be tuned but it worked. I had it in a goldberg Jr falcon with a cox .049 and rudder only control powerd by an escapmment. The transmitter had a power switch and a single push button. One press for left two for right. I still have a 5 channel MRC radio that came in an MRC Cessna. It was a beautiful plane till it crashed but one of the most interesting things is this was one of the very first ARF airplanes on the market. In 1976 I opened a full service hobby shop that I had for about 5 years but as you said Tower Hobbies was selling things for what I paid for them. I raced boats and cars which was the thing I liked the most hands down. I was into helicopters from the moment I saw them. I had Schluter .40 size. A couple of years ago I got back into helicopters. Than some guys on a forum convinced me to try a quad and I was sold. My latest is a DJI Spark. My point of this long winded story is this. This hobby has given me pleasure for moe than 50 years and I hope people reading this get as much enjoyment out of this as I have.

[@xjet]

Was that a Controlaire Mule -- with the absolutely gorgeous aluminum case? I had a friend who had a set of that and I was very jealous.

[@propwashrc5243]

@@xjet Yep brushed aluminum Mule Mk Ii I believe.

[@propwashrc5243]

@@xjet Here you go Bruce. www.rcuniverse.com/forum/market/11649652

[@propwashrc5243]

This was my next radio powered by a Rand LR3 actuator. It gave you 3 channel functionality in a single channel radio. I never could get it to work right but was all a 14 year old kid could afford. Pulse proportional was just too expensive. I had the Min-X. www.calorr.com/galloping-ghost.html You've probably heard of Nick Ziroli, he taught me how to fly. This was on Long Island NY.. Sorry about the long winded responses but your video brought back so many great memories. That some of the history of RC. Really my interest started about 10 years before 1964 when my older Brother came home with probably the first airplane with an RC setup. Sadly he passed away about a year later.

[@caseygray6028]

We are the last generation of traditional RC flying machines.

[@richardbowden4819]

Hi you Just brought back a load of memories .tried the camera one it worked .l still build models at the moment I’m building a scale Fw 190 buy Brain Taylor. Plan dated 1975. Don’t use things like expo. Learned to fly. Use The sticks. Thanks PS maybe I should get my Mags out of the attic.

[@carrboro_chapelhillfpv2442]

That was around when I got my first RC!

[@carrboro_chapelhillfpv2442]

yeah, I had a pcm futaba for my RC car. it was dual stick as the pistol grip had not caught on yet. I remember the crystals were fragile too.

[@kr6dr]

Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane. Remember the smell of Balsa when you walked into a Hobby Shop?

[@xjet]

I remember spending hours picking dried balsa cement off my fingers :-)

[@TheParachaz]

I actually buy some of the old mags just for nostalgic reasons, but one that I bought was for the very first glider I built and flew, it’s called the Cheapskate! Coz that’s what I am, and it flew well......till a bush turned up as I was trying to fly it in a force nine. Going to Sandown was the annual pilgrimage, shoulder to shoulder on every stall, all mainly kits back then, you had one radio that was forever being fitted to my latest build. Unlike now, everything ready made with a complete radio setup, PNP plug and play, back then it was build and crash! Then build again.

[@scottstorer485]

I could be considered an rc model hoarder, could probably do an episode on all the relics in the garage. Been collecting a few things passed on down from old friends. The Rocket 46 was one of them along with the Kalt Gas Baron and the Mrc 2 channel just to name a few. Had a storage company not screwed up, would have still had the '64 to '67 year long subscriptions to Flying Models in binders. Started flying back in 87 on an old rebuilt Hal Debolt Llve Wire Jenny, dam was that a kick to fly. Shame it didn't last.

[@jackdaniels7913]

Year older then me 😅 grate flash back ! Surprised KZbin didn't pull the video on cout of ....

[@FlyingFun.]

That girl on the front cover was a real looked back then too loll A trip out to fly was a real effort too, had to drive about 10 miles to a car park at the event of the city, then assemble my big plane with all the nuts and bolts and wires in the wings etc, carry the plane , fuel, radio controls and a full tool kit with spares and heavy batteries for heavy starter plus cleaning fluid to clean up all those gungy exhaust mess that go all down the side of the plane on overmthe wing etc...probably for around 10 to 20 minutes in the air took a full morning lol. I think I prefere the ease of electric and the field at the bottom of the road but still the memories and friendships built up have gotta be worth quite a lot!!

[@nimbuslayer5142]

Wow, I had one of the first Schluter Champions in Florida. I went to Miniature Aircraft Supply in Orlando to buy a Superior and Futaba's first heli radio, the Gold FGH. Walt Schoonard was ease dropping while the sales guy showed me the kit. Walt interrupted and asked Tim to grab that new kit and bring it out. It was the Champion but was more expensive, which I did not have. Walt instructed the sales guy to give me the Champion for the price of the Superior. While learning to hover without a gyro. I was given a broken wireless cam that had about 100ft range. I repaired and mounted it to record, to the VCR, my hover practice until I grew the nuts to hover off of the TV. My first FPV experience in 1985. Worked for hovering around the yard but useless once I started forward flight. I didn't try FPV again until the early 2000's when the range was better. Rotor On Bruce!

[@fuyingbro]

I started into model aircraft in 86' if I remember correctly. I had no clue until your video that they did aerial photography back then.

[@dougs_trains]

My friends and I built a Gentle Lady glider from a kit in the early 80s, then another in the late 90s from the same plan, and I was surprised at how much lead was needed in the nose to balance it - because the old plan called for massive servos up front and alcaline battery (plus a chunk of lead). We started flying Cox control line planes (perhaps explain what they were), then basic AM 2-channel gliders and planes with noisy 2-stroke motors. Messy and troublesome. Electic foamies now, good clean fun :)

[@FlyingBuzzard]

great to see some old printed pages....... to bad it is still not around as it once was.

[@nejcmirtic529]

Nice trip in the past. Most of the stuff I have never had a chance to try to use. But in my opinion balsa constructed planes still win. My first scratch built plane I did in 2010 was a 2m glider full wooden frame. Spent a lot of hours building it. And from the day I finished that plane I am in love with balsa construction. Have built some foamies but never liked them so much as the wooden ones. And for some glider competitions, they were by far the fastest and lightest to build.

[@skylers1144]

I got my first Nikko rc car (which I still have) as a gift in the late 80s. RC helis are just out of the question back than as I am told by my parents that they are too expensive and dangerous. Having a number drones/quads now but should really get at least one RC Heli to try out.

[@atw98]

I still have a working 1983 Trigger with origonal everything. Found it in an old WW1 amo wooden box I kept it in and was smart enough to remove batteries after last use for RC. And guess what ? The battery even works! A rarity I am told nowdays. 😊

[@ianmcnulty3279]

Sorry Bruce but you were wrong about when electric flight came in. 1961. I was 14 and into free flight, RC was available but the TX was a box the size of a car battery that stood on the ground and had a six foot aerial (and a single valve) and was controlled by a lead with a push button and an escapement (rubber or clockwork powered) in the model. One of our flyers brought a very small approx 6 or 8 inch span built up model with an electric motor and a battery that consisted of a polythene bag about two inch square and he filled it with a salt water solution and it ran the motor for about one /one and a half minutes. The bag was then discarded and a new one fitted for the next flight. The model was very light and only flew in zero wind. It climbed to a height of around 30 - 40 feet. Thanks for all you do for modelling keep up the good work. Regards Ian.

[@xjet]

Yes, there were some very early electric models back then but they were expensive and had very poor performance. There was no sign of electric models in the mainstream of the hobby in the mid 1980s though. I bought an electric power system back in the early 1970s -- it was a small geared brushed motor that you fitted to the front of a tiny (previously rubber-powered) balsa model. It used 2 AA alkaline cells but I only had zinc-carbon batteries so all this "power" unit ever did was extend the glide by a few yards. Most disappointing ;-)

[@meaninglessmovies9891]

@@xjet In 1983, I bought an Astro 050 electric motor. It was a geared unit with a big Mabuchi brushed motor. Weighed a ton and had digital control--you rigged a toggle switch to a servo for on-off. I designed and built a glider around it, but never flew the thing as I pretty much quit RC after college. When I came back to it in 1996, the electric revolution was just getting up steam. But there were some electric flight systems available in the early '80s!

[@jonc67uk]

That big Jim Davis models advert brings back a few memories lol. Talk about Aladdin's cave 😁😂

[@WR3ND]

Very similar gear to when I first got into the hobby in the mid 90s, though I think it may have been more out of Japan with 4 channel FM radios like Futaba. Cheers.

[@ChrisZwolinski]

Just dug out my old Tamiya frog from 1979. It has a 3 channel 27Mhz Futaba sailing radio in it because we didn’t have car transmitters yet. Everything runs on NiCd batteries and I’m going to try to switch it over to a cheap FkySky car radio if it ever warms up. Send you a pic later.

[@Elnufo]

My Models used to have 45 Gram servos, a 50 Gram Reciever and 4,8V NiCd Batteries. And guess what, i learned flying with those Bricks!

[@vanepico]

I have a concept 30 helicopter that is older than me, all still running on the Futaba skysport 6h 35mhz transmitter! Only thing not original is some philistine has put a solid state rate gyro in it! It is a completely different experience to my modern helis but I enjoy it a lot. The 600mAh batteries on the other hand are a pain!

[@ISOSAILING]

still got 2 mfa high sierra gliders, collected all the plans out the magazines, that was the only reason i got it for the free plan haha, second model i ever built was from the free plan in radio modeller in 1994, sunbeam powered glider and put a cox texaco on it, designed by Peter Miller. built 2 off them as the first one was lost in a house fire, still got the wing of the second one but converted it to electric and the battery was to heavy and gravity got the better off it!!

[@xiaoandyfpv4189]

When I decided to get into drone flying a year ago I just thought I get my 27MHZ F-16 Radio put some Quartz pair in and waited for my drone to arrive. But how to get the PCM receiver big like a 4s lipo into the drone. so I bought A QX7:) I guess if u ever into RC you will love it I liked it when I was 10-18j and even after that many years in between I enjoy Drone Freestyle now almost 20 years later and let my kids watch. I'm sure they will enjoy it too at least they will know the hobby exists.

[@tomjoseph1444]

I recently returned to RC and was very disappointed to find that RC Modeler Magazine was no more. It was a great mag.. In the 80's I worked at McDonnell Douglas with a man named Larry Jolly who was promoting electric flight. Some of my sail planes did have electric motors (Graupner and Robbie) with nicad packs that weighed as much as the rest of the plane. I still have over 30 original motors, some never used. We made our own battery packs of which I still have some. Compare them to the modern ones and OMG what a difference.

[@meaninglessmovies9891]

RCM magazine is still sorely missed. I wrote for them for years.

[@FPVREVIEWS]

I was aero modeling about then, just learning to fly RC. we spent lots of time chasing downed models due to radio glitches, and looking for the parts in corn fields. RC models are so much safer now, but somehow the public seems to think that they are dangerous.. a flight Back then where you landed without the engine quitting, or losing control was an accomplishment, and you spent all winter building one or two planes. Anyone that had hovered a helicopter was rich, and a god. We did take aerial pictures with a disposable camera in a wooden box, held to the plane with rubber bands, and a servo to trip the shutter. Then had to drive 30 minutes and pay to develop the film, see what you got. also had to land to crank the camera for the next shot, refuel, see if you could get the engine started again, re-tune the needle valve for the engine, and the most pictures we ever got a day was about 5. no way to know what you were taking a picture of, but guessing.. some models weighed 20-40 lbs and were free flight.. no control whatsoever. the Gov would call a national emergency nowadays if they knew one of those was flying around.. it was funnn....

[@SOLARFPV]

Wow, what a great testemony. I couldn't imagine how much you had to learn just to get airborn for 20 sec. Amazing how far the hobby has come, and your totally right about the safety thing. Governments are paranoid, and didn't know about the hobby it seems, although it has been developing and progressing since the late 40s if I am correct. Thanks for sharing your story, it was a great read. Hope your still enjoying the hobby.