Oh I love how my mom used to pick out my clothes.

Scigs30, I'll up you on that

I was twelve in 1975 and flying this:



Well, atleast I was trying. I had several Cox airplanes before the Stuka. The only Cox airplane I have today is the Stuka which IMHO was Cox's best.

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Leo

My rocket fleet and more @ Leo's Leisure Site and on YouTube - My latest project: ALTDuino

I was 10 in 1974, and my mother thought I was too old for an Easter basket, she got me the Centuri Screaming Eagle launch set instead!!

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Shrox

Master of the Dark Art of Model Rocketry

www.shrox.com

Planes are still available from Sig Mfg co.

http://www.sigmfg.com/

Hey Leo

Check out the Messerschmitt BF-109 on the SIG site listed above

RD

EXACTLY why I never could get into RC.... ol' farmboys couldn't afford it! OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

I was 13 in 1973, and I had not seen my Dad all day long on my birthday. He was up early for work, and I had to go to school. So there I sat on the stoop waiting for him to come home. You see, he always gave me something special on my birthdays; perhaps this day would be different, or so I was lamenting.
Finally he came home. and in his hand was BIG bag from Snipes Toys and Hobbies, which I knew well next to the Baptist Hospital. I could hardly stand it! When I opened the bag, I nearly fainted with excitement: a Cox PT-19 trainer, and it had one of the biggest engines I had ever seen!
I spent the rest of that afternoon learning what I could, cutting the control lines, fueling up the motor, etc. Dad helped me start it the first time; after that, I pretty much knew it all!
Many an afternoon I flew that plane and even got a few friends to get one. From there I had the Mustang, Corsair, Stuka, and the P-40. I loved all of those. They did not loop too well, though! I really should thank Estes and Cox for providing me with the things I loved to 'play' with back then; surely had to have kept me out of more trouble than I was able to find otherwise!
Not until I was 16 did I build a Ringmaster and discover what a REAL airfoil was like to fly!
Man, those were the days!!!
I still have my old PT-19, though parts got replaced now and then.
Have you folks seen what these planes go for now on Ebay?
Amazing!
I'd love to have those other planes back someday. Need to hit a lottery first!
Allen

When I bought my first basic 5-channel radio setup (4 servos & full nicads) in 1971 it was $250 which is $1300+ in todays dollars so you can see that the cost of electronics had already dropped considerably by 1978. And that was the cheap set. A Kraft radio cost about $400.

But I had a good job as a mainframe computer operator, working tons of overtime, and still living with my parents so my expenses were low.

I bought a 6 channel set from Tower Hobbies sometime in the late 80's right after that high inflationary period and it was about the same $200 but it would have been $105 in 1978 dollars.

My first Control Line airplane was the Cox P-40. One of my brothers bought a PT-19 and the other one bought a Wen Mac Dauntless Dive bomber.

What a piece of garbage the Wen Mac was. The props that came with them were totally useless and even with a good prop you could barely get it in the air.

We all flew the PT-19 first because the P-40's engine put out a lot more power.

Eventually, we broke them all and my brothers lost interest and gave me their planes. I would buy balsa planes from Sterling, Scientific and Carl Goldberg and keep using the engines over and over.

The Scientific planes were a carved balsa block body hollowed out with a slab wing and tail surfaces and flew like crap but they were cheap and easy to build. I think the first plane I built with a built up wing was a Goldberg kit. I was amazed at how much better they flew.

Amazing what a REAL AIRFOIL will do for a wing huh ???

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !