Anyone Fly RC Planes?

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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I did for years as a teen. I have a couple kits I dug out of the attic and I am looking to finish them but transmitter tech has changed a lot it seems since the Days of the Futaba Attack 4 and later FM models.
I see transmitters all over the map and have no idea what I am looking at / for. Ideally, I would like a transmitter that can talk to a few different models.

In the old days we had to move a crystal or receiver but it seems now you can tell a transmitter to talk to model 1, 2, 3, etc. Ultimately, I need a transmitter and a receiver or 2 but I am at a loss as to what is a decent choice.

What's the go to these days for a solid radio?
 
My info is a bit dated, but I can bring you up to speed on what happened from 72MHz to 2.4 GHz, because I was flying a lot of RC when that happened. Just before 2.4 became popular, I bought a 72 MHz Hitec radio that had a module that was synthesized - you could select any of the 72 MHz frequencies, no crystals required. That radio would also take Futaba modules, which had the advantage of letting me get a 50 MHz module, which required a crystal, and the ham license I already had. That let me fly with very little risk of conflict with other pilots...some of which weren't great about announcing what frequency they were using before turning on their radio. The other thing that Hitec had was PCM encoding as well as the standard PPM. PCM is a bit more resistant to errors, and the receivers would hold a position on servos instead of going nuts when they lost a signal.

Roughly when I had that all sorted out, a company called Spektrum came out with a very reliable 2.4 GHz channel hopping system, that once paired up pretty much eliminated the random guy with the radio crashing your plane problem. I still have mine, believe a DX6, and it was very popular with the electric RC crowd here. At the time the interference problems were so low that I think they stopped doing the radio holding things at events, that were in place to reduce the problems with interference. Range was very good, especially with the longer range receivers with multiple antennas.

Oh, and not to start a thing on this, but you really want to fly electric unless you're flying large scale or something. The performance of Lipo batteries and brushless motors is incredible. At least half of the guys I flew with used to fly gas/nitro, and would never go back.

I'll let others on here talk about what's current...my info is probably 10+ years old.
 
I'm just starting to get back into it. I have a Futaba 4-channel and a JR 7-channel from back in the day. Not even sure those are legal any more! And yeah, I had O.S. .25 and .40 engines, glow fuel, and all that stuff.

No more! Now everything is electric, and radios are way different. Here's what I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z9YNP7S?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

$52 for a thing that has more features than the top of the line one that was $1000 in late-80s dollars!

Spektrum seems to be very popular these days, but more expensive of course.

Also, if you're interested in RC, it's well worth going on YouTube and subscribing to Flite Test. Those guys have an awful lot of fun building a lot of cool stuff, and when they're not going all out and doing a 1/4 scale B-17, they make a lot of really affordable, fun things and they sell a lot on their store.

Keep us up to date with what you're doing!
 
Albany Tom said:
My info is a bit dated, but I can bring you up to speed on what happened from 72MHz to 2.4 GHz, because I was flying a lot of RC when that happened. Just before 2.4 became popular, I bought a 72 MHz Hitec radio that had a module that was synthesized - you could select any of the 72 MHz frequencies, no crystals required. That radio would also take Futaba modules, which had the advantage of letting me get a 50 MHz module, which required a crystal, and the ham license I already had. That let me fly with very little risk of conflict with other pilots...some of which weren't great about announcing what frequency they were using before turning on their radio. The other thing that Hitec had was PCM encoding as well as the standard PPM. PCM is a bit more resistant to errors, and the receivers would hold a position on servos instead of going nuts when they lost a signal.

Roughly when I had that all sorted out, a company called Spektrum came out with a very reliable 2.4 GHz channel hopping system, that once paired up pretty much eliminated the random guy with the radio crashing your plane problem. I still have mine, believe a DX6, and it was very popular with the electric RC crowd here. At the time the interference problems were so low that I think they stopped doing the radio holding things at events, that were in place to reduce the problems with interference. Range was very good, especially with the longer range receivers with multiple antennas.

Oh, and not to start a thing on this, but you really want to fly electric unless you're flying large scale or something. The performance of Lipo batteries and brushless motors is incredible. At least half of the guys I flew with used to fly gas/nitro, and would never go back.

I'll let others on here talk about what's current...my info is probably 10+ years old.
Click to expand...

I am going to struggle with electric or foam. Those seem to be the trend but I like the slightly more realistic weight of larger balsa models and the satisfaction of a nitro engine kicking to life. plus the smell of nitro fuel was a huge part of my youth. As a kid I was jealous of anyone that had a 4 stroke because it sounded so real.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I'm just starting to get back into it. I have a Futaba 4-channel and a JR 7-channel from back in the day. Not even sure those are legal any more! And yeah, I had O.S. .25 and .40 engines, glow fuel, and all that stuff.

No more! Now everything is electric, and radios are way different. Here's what I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z9YNP7S?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

$52 for a thing that has more features than the top of the line one that was $1000 in late-80s dollars!

Spektrum seems to be very popular these days, but more expensive of course.

Also, if you're interested in RC, it's well worth going on YouTube and subscribing to Flite Test. Those guys have an awful lot of fun building a lot of cool stuff, and when they're not going all out and doing a 1/4 scale B-17, they make a lot of really affordable, fun things and they sell a lot on their store.

Keep us up to date with what you're doing!
Click to expand...
I LOVE FLITETEST!!!

So the 2 models I had in my attic as kits are the gentle lady glider and Guillows Piper Tomahawk. Both little but digging them out has me wanting to get back to what I was doing in my teens which was mostly 40-60 sized glow models.


Also I cannot believe a sun $300 transmitter would be any good. I saw that on Amazon and assumed it was trash.
 
B4CA1319-29B6-41BA-938A-D73B96FFFB69.jpeg

Did you mean to say u/c? Ya!!

Ok fine… reliving my youth by building all the models I built as a kid! Points for anyone who recognizes any of these!

Back to your regularly scheduled thread…

Tools
Spinning round in circles
 
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SixPapaCharlie said:
I LOVE FLITETEST!!!
Click to expand...
Likewise! I was sad that they weren't at OSH this year, we saw them there last year and bought some stuff, including a foam freighter that my kid put in the neighbors' tree in about 30 seconds and didn't come down until just a couple of weeks ago. :rofl:

Was planning to go to Flite Fest this year, but then my better half didn't believe the entry I'd put in our shared calendar and scheduled us to go camping with the in-laws instead... And then that didn't happen due to terrible weather. Definitely hoping to go next year. Would love to see you there, since I never seem to manage to catch you at OSH any more!
SixPapaCharlie said:
Also I cannot believe a sun $300 transmitter would be any good. I saw that on Amazon and assumed it was trash.
Click to expand...
You'd think, but really the only issue is that the instruction manual is... Well, maybe it was Google translated from Chinese but I think Google would have done better. And it's definitely not comprehensive. Learned a lot about it from YouTube though. I haven't really done a lot with it yet though since I suck at building.

Speaking of which, there are quite a few companies that sell files for you to 3D print airplanes from, so when you crash you can just print new parts and get back to flying. That's what got me interested in 3D printing. You've probably noticed that Flite Test has about a half dozen Bambu X1 Carbons in their shop now, and while they rarely do a full airplane, they definitely make some parts that way.

First one I'm building is the Eclipson Model A (it was free at the time). I think the second is going to be this:

f2f22d_28415c240c0c4b7db8fbc084474bad8d~mv2.jpg
 
Dad and I were big into R/C during my teenage years. He kept with it until he died, my R/C flying took a back burner to the real thing... but I still have a garage full of models, engines from .010 to Quadra, and 72mhz radios. One day I'll dust them off, but I guess the radios aren't legal any more? And the FAA rules nowadays that make it difficult unless you're flying at a designated flying field...

But I'm tempted to build an old school U-control like a Nobler or Ringmaster.
 
 
I was in the hobby pretty seriously in my 30s, then sold off everything when kids arrived. Picked up some eflite stuff to bash around a few years ago. Nowadays, I think people have moved on to the open source radios. Heard good things about flitetest. You can get 250 gram brushless fpv quadrotors for like $100. I still want to pick up another trex 450, even if only to keep on the shelf...
 
Tools said:
Ok fine… reliving my youth by building all the models I built as a kid! Points for anyone who recognizes any of these!
Click to expand...
Unless I see a Nobler I can't take you seriously. :p

I've dipped my toes back into days of my youth with foam and electric but stuck with those I can fly at the local park. I do regard building as integral to the process though and think this winter i might buy a kit again. Mt Dad, at 86, still flies R/C 3X a week and is slowly transitioning from nitro to electric.
 
I used to fly RC but with all the increased regs in recent years, I’ve gotten out of the hobby. I never bought any of the expensive Futaba stuff. Always used cheap Chinese 72 hz - 2.4 G stuff. They used to be unreliable but the stuff today is pretty solid.
IMG_2124.jpeg
IMG_2352.jpeg
IMG_2348.jpeg
 
Back in high school, I flew control line airplanes powered by fuel-driven glow plug engines.

Forty years later, one of my co-workers got me into electric-powered RC. It was an incredible improvement...just plug in the battery and go. There was a vacant lot next to where we worked, and we'd go out at lunchtime.

Other than models receive as gifts, I designed and built all my own airplanes. Was part of the fun. Very cheap, too, once a transmitter was bought. Depron foam is cheap, and the planes built from it are remarkably resilient.

My buddy's name is Ron, also, and we posted videos to a "TwoRonsRC" youtube page. Our motto: "Two Rons Don't Make a Wright".

This is my favorite video... we're circling, trying to do formation landings, and I crash every time.


Ron Wanttaja
 
I flew a few years before going full scale. Get a Horizon Hobby electric park flyer to start. Join a local flying club and buy used equipment from guys needing to unload. Saves alot of $$$.

When the lipo batts came out, I bought guys old nitro planes for cheap and had alot of fun with them. Got a used Spektrim DX7 controller from a guy for more than half off. Did sport, scale, and nitro helis. Tons of fun.
 

I've dabbled with .40 size RC ARF models in the past. The first one met its demise with a light pole in an industrial circle under construction. I got a good two dozen flights out of the second one on an ag strip in rice country before it met its end with an overhead power line (I was too low on the approach.)

To me, having a gas engine in a balsa plane is part of the RC flying experience. I enjoy watching scale four stroke radials and opposed piston engines, and gas turbine engines. And real jet engines.

But I do get the electric thing. Above is probably the largest hobby RC plane in existence, and it is electric powered, so, there are no lengthy startup periods and engine warmups, and runups, which is certainly advantageous when you have two or more engines. And they seem to get the job done.

I built an RC boat when I was in high school, a big massive Dumas offshore rig tender powered by two electric motors. I remembered having to get a radio license for the transmitter. The forms came with the radio, and you sent them and a check to the FCC, and you got back a license that even had a station identifier - never mind that it can't broadcast a station ID.
 
Sac Arrow said:

I've dabbled with .40 size RC ARF models in the past. The first one met its demise with a light pole in an industrial circle under construction. I got a good two dozen flights out of the second one on an ag strip in rice country before it met its end with an overhead power line (I was too low on the approach.)

To me, having a gas engine in a balsa plane is part of the RC flying experience. I enjoy watching scale four stroke radials and opposed piston engines, and gas turbine engines. And real jet engines.

But I do get the electric thing. Above is probably the largest hobby RC plane in existence, and it is electric powered, so, there are no lengthy startup periods and engine warmups, and runups, which is certainly advantageous when you have two or more engines. And they seem to get the job done.

I built an RC boat when I was in high school, a big massive Dumas offshore rig tender powered by two electric motors. I remembered having to get a radio license for the transmitter. The forms came with the radio, and you sent them and a check to the FCC, and you got back a license that even had a station identifier - never mind that it can't broadcast a station ID.
Click to expand...
https://www.facebook.com/reel/979184013688495?locale=is_IS

Now that needs one of these.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I LOVE FLITETEST!!!

So the 2 models I had in my attic as kits are the gentle lady glider and Guillows Piper Tomahawk. Both little but digging them out has me wanting to get back to what I was doing in my teens which was mostly 40-60 sized glow models.


Also I cannot believe a sun $300 transmitter would be any good. I saw that on Amazon and assumed it was trash.
Click to expand...
The once common balsa kits of old are pretty rare now. Everything is foam
 
WalterH said:
The once common balsa kits of old are pretty rare now. Everything is foam
Click to expand...

You’re not kidding. I’ve been trying to find a Kadet LT40 kit to build again and they are no more.
 
What I liked about electric was that I could keep everything in my truck, including a small plane, and just fly whenever I wanted to. You also could fly pretty much wherever you wanted to, too, including at local parks. The aircraft, especially gearless/brushless, made almost no noise, weighed just a few ounces, and were universally viewed as harmless - which they were. My favorite was a GWS Tiger Moth with about an 18" wingspan, that I had painted safety orange, and beefed up so it could take a bit of wing. It would slow down to something just over a walking pace, and run for about 20 minutes on a 700mAh 2 cell lipo pack.

In a little bit of wind you could just sort of "hover" it into the wind if you were careful. Once in a while people would ask if it was stuck in the air.

So many advantages of electric over gas. For one, even the little ones you can have a greater than 1:1 thrust. For another, you can stop the motor in flight, and restart without any issue. No smell, no noise. I don't want an electric car, I don't want an electric lawn mower, I love my gas stove...but no way to I ever want a gas/nitro RC plane.
 
I flew one for awhile… but then I crashed it into several trees, slingshotted it down from a few more, left it out overnight, and accidentally tore off part of the elevator. It’s currently grounded until I can figure out whether it can be salvaged or not.
 
TCABM said:
You’re not kidding. I’ve been trying to find a Kadet LT40 kit to build again and they are no more.
Click to expand...

That’s why I scratch build those I can’t find on eBay….

3DB6CA10-6068-4406-B066-250BFC272304.jpeg

Literally nothing but online plans and an iPad. In a hotel room…
 
I did a long time ago. I had a couple of simple planes and a helicopter (never much good with the helicopter). Then, a couple years ago, I bought my first drone hoping to get a new perspective on my landscape/seascape photography - and I did - even sold a few through my online galleries. But since I got my Ercoupe in June, that has all been put on the back burner.
 
I fly RC.. sort of.. it's actually what got me into real airplanes.

But I buy RC airplanes then gut them. I remove the receiver, install an Arduino Mega MCU and an off the shelf radio. I get a matching radio for use from the ground.

Then I've built a ground station using a tablet/laptop, and 3 axis computer joystick. It allows me to fly with a joystick instead of those handheld controllers, plus allows it to receive and display any telemetry I want to send back.

Aside from using a joystick the main benefit is adding customized features and capabilities. For instance, building out autopilots and navigation software (as it's equipped with GPS sensor and barometric altimeter). Separately you can pop in a cheap drone camera/transmitter if you want a camera feed.

Actually finishing up a project right now that's a redo of one from about 4y ago. Making it more robust moving it into a real time operating system onboard. Happy to share the code once this iteration is completed (ground station is C and onboard is C++) and wiring diagrams if anyone is interested in a similar project. Aside from the airplane frame/engine the cost is very low assuming you have a laptop handy for a ground station and a soldering iron.
 
Dad started flying R/C in the late 60s with Logictrol radios on 27 MHz. We spent a LOT of time at the flying field, and I spent a LOT of my youth wiping castor oil off of Monokote and walking through corn and bean fields looking for airplanes. I flew some, mostly sailplanes and a couple of foam trainers. There were a few kits, but a lot of what Dad flew were his own scratch built designs and they flew extremely well. Oddly, he had zero interest in flying anything full scale.

He kept up until his death in 2005, flying electric park flyers from a nearby park. I tried an RTF foamie years ago, promptly planted it, and just never got into it. Maybe some day. I’ve got a few engines around and have bolted them all to an ancient test stand and run them… so they work, but haven’t run in 20 years. A couple weeks ago I found half a can of high-nitro Cox fuel that probably dates back to the 1980s. Still smells good.

There’s a good sized RC club here with a paved strip at a lake, but to be honest they take such a regimented approach to things that I haven’t even been tempted to start with them.

I’ve thought about drones and RC and really none of it is that appealing to me.
 
I started flying long enough ago to have a 5-digit AMA number. I didn't have enough golf shirts and khakis to be a pattern flyer and wasn't anally retentive enough for thermal duration so I started flying power slope scale (slope glider models of powered airplanes) and never looked back. Almost all of my models are from scratch, and I had (have?) a reputation for odd subjects and fat fuselages.

I've posted others in the past, here's one from Cajon Pass in...2011 I think?

Avanti2.jpg
Avanti.jpg
Pete Rissman photos

Nauga,
who knows no fuse is too fat
 
Saying I fly RC airplanes would be Generous. I did fly a few in the 80's and occasionally still manage to send one up and bring it back re-useable.
My Son is much better at flying them. I think something about all those hours he spent flying the RealFlight R/C Simulator and other video games.
So I end up assembly, tuning, modifying and repair them a lot more than I fly them. I generally let him do the flying.

I have been using the Spekrum DX6 Radios, I really like the Telemetry with the sailplanes providing vario (tone) and altitude information.
But I have been running out of channels and budget for bigger Spektrum radios, so have been looking at FRSKY or I think Taranis radios, but haven't made that leap yet.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
brcase said:
Saying I fly RC airplanes would be Generous. I did fly a few in the 80's and occasionally still manage to send one up and bring it back re-useable.
My Son is much better at flying them. I think something about all those hours he spent flying the RealFlight R/C Simulator and other video games.
So I end up assembly, tuning, modifying and repair them a lot more than I fly them. I generally let him do the flying.

I have been using the Spekrum DX6 Radios, I really like the Telemetry with the sailplanes providing vario (tone) and altitude information.
But I have been running out of channels and budget for bigger Spektrum radios, so have been looking at FRSKY or I think Taranis radios, but haven't made that leap yet.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
Click to expand...
As I said above, the Taranis is awesome if you’re willing to learn it. And imo it’s easier to learn than the name brands. It’s more complicated yes, but it’s properly documented unlike the double translated nonsense you get with the brands. A poorly named feature with the long description of “this turns on and off poorly named feature”. Thanks for nothing.
 
Sac Arrow said:
That's a bummer. I sort of get electrics. Sort of. Foam... no.
Click to expand...
Man… I can still smell the Styrofoam on the 4’ Nichrome wire on that hot wire wing cutter Dad made. This was back in the mid 70s. We cut a lot of wings out with that sucker. Spray glue a roll b template on each end with tic marks every so often so we could make sure the people at both ends were in the same place. Good times.
 
I started about 45 years ago and was very active until 15 or so years ago. I still have an EAA biplane and a Sig Morrisey Bravo in storage. Lately I'm flying an e-cub foamy, more out of convenience than anything. I'm hoping to get ssomthing 4 stroke glow going again. I'l have to brush up on the latest radio tech first.
 
My son just left his first AirVenture with an RC plane. Even though I’ve been flying 1:1 scale for the past 30 years, I’ve always held a degree of fascination with RC airplanes. As a matter fact, when I was in 6th or 7th grade I tried building a Carl Goldberg Eagle 63. I sort of hit a wall, probably tapped out my skill level (there was no YouTube in the mid eighties to confer with when you get stuck on a build). Finally the kit ended up in the attic (probably still there to this day), about a 1/3 of the way done.

Fast forward to today. I worked on the part 107 rule back in 2015 but vowed to never again work on anything unmanned aircraft related. IMO, my employer (along with political influence from the White House, Congress, and the various government security apparai) really went off the rails on drone regulation that sucked down RC model aircraft along with it. Between Trust testing, registration, living inside the Washington FRZ no drone/RC plane zone, having to join AMA ($85/yr) and a local RC club ($100/yr) 30 minutes away that requires you to wear a reflective vest onsite, and a $100 remote id transmitter if you don’t want to fly at an approved club, the aggravation factor necessary to comply with the rules to fly a two pound foam toy seems beyond excessive. That said, my son is airplane crazy and model RC is a great way to get him hands on and interested at this age (besides my plane is in the shop getting an overhaul), so I’ll probably suck it up as long as he’s interested. We picked up a Horizon Hobby Carbon Cub S2 which seems to be a real nice trainer.
 
Ironically… all this drone stuff made life EASIER for us control line guys. May now exclude us from all that mess when we weren’t before. Woo hoo!
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
I fly RC.. sort of.. it's actually what got me into real airplanes.

But I buy RC airplanes then gut them. I remove the receiver, install an Arduino Mega MCU and an off the shelf radio. I get a matching radio for use from the ground.

Then I've built a ground station using a tablet/laptop, and 3 axis computer joystick. It allows me to fly with a joystick instead of those handheld controllers, plus allows it to receive and display any telemetry I want to send back.

Aside from using a joystick the main benefit is adding customized features and capabilities. For instance, building out autopilots and navigation software (as it's equipped with GPS sensor and barometric altimeter). Separately you can pop in a cheap drone camera/transmitter if you want a camera feed.

Actually finishing up a project right now that's a redo of one from about 4y ago. Making it more robust moving it into a real time operating system onboard. Happy to share the code once this iteration is completed (ground station is C and onboard is C++) and wiring diagrams if anyone is interested in a similar project. Aside from the airplane frame/engine the cost is very low assuming you have a laptop handy for a ground station and a soldering iron.
Click to expand...
That's above my skill level, but cool. Closest I ever came to that was putting together a PIC microcontroller to reprogram a servo in flight. A friend built an airplane that could be switched in mid flight from forward/tractor to reverse/pusher. If I remember right the elevator worked the same either way, but he couldn't fly it with the rudder reversed. So I built a thing to let him switch rudder direction based on the settings of the flap switch. But do the whole thing from scratch? That's cooler.
 
Tools said:
Ironically… all this drone stuff made life EASIER for us control line guys. May now exclude us from all that mess when we weren’t before. Woo hoo!
Click to expand...
Don't you get dizzy going round and round like that? I'm not sure I could do it without falling over. Turns about a point? Sure, all day. Turns about a point when I'm the point? Eh....
 
Not really an issue for most until you get to overhead maneuvers.

There’s a few who simply get dizzy from the word go.

And then there’s the guy who can do an entire stunt pattern with a towel over his head with a combat ship goin 130 mph… and a little engine screaming at 30k rpm!!!
 
nauga said:
I started flying long enough ago to have a 5-digit AMA number.
Click to expand...

I did also, 27072 but my Dads been at it so long he has a 22XX #

I’ve not joined a club. Just enjoying the park flyer thing.
 
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