Yes, another old flyer who has been away from the hobby/sport and found my way back. I started flying R/C in 1970 after some time in the Air Force and stayed with it until 1998. A career change took up most of my free time then a move to a new home took precedence over my hobbies and the planes took a back seat. The years roll by pretty fast when you reach my age and they have a way of getting ahead of you. I had kept most of my planes and gear albeit they had some age on them but recently I began dragging stuff out and to my surprise everything still works. I have no intention of flying with my old radios/batteries and I'm currently in the market for some new gear. The technology today astounds me; radios that talk to you? Telemetry? Holy Moly. But I've been reading, joining a couple of forums and trying to do it right before heading to the flying field with a plane.

I figure that with the years I've been away from the sticks I should start out with something docile and easy to fly. I have a Sig Kadet (spelling?) that I had been using as a camera platform. Big and slow enough and probably forgiving of these old hands. It has a Saito 91 4 stroke that I have just bench tested and it still runs perfectly.  There's a 100" Jack Stafford Cessna 140 hanging in my garage that I'd dearly love to see in the air again but it's going to wait until my confidence level builds a little. 

Thank you for allowing me to join. Scale was always my cup of tea and I'm looking at the possibilities available to the serious builder today. I just happen to have two Weedeater 25cc engines that would be just about right for a DC3 or something a little more rare like a Fairchild C-123 Provider. I found some Palmer plans for one last night. Hmmmm. Any thoughts? I'm open to suggestions.

Again, thanks for having me along for the ride and I'm deeply impressed with the quality of this forum.

Tom

Mike - at least some of what you are looking for is dependent on the brand you choose.

Analogue servos you are familiar with, they have been around for decades.  Digitals are stronger and are programmable themselves.  Unlike analogues they will fight to hold a position - but all that is at the cost of power consumption (need for a higher capacity battery)

There are bus-systems that I do not fully understand myself but offer great advantages in certain situations.

Oh - most 2.4 radio systems have their own discrete signal pattern, meaning you can no longer use a Hitec Rx with a Futaba Tx - they are brand-dependent.

I recommend to both of you to find a local club and join, or at least hang out and talk, they can answer specific questions but you will still need to do research.

Lastly - take a look at the site supporter program (LINK) - the small investment far outweighs the benefits!

Thanks for the welcome and the kind words of encouragement. You make me feel comfortable here.

 

There is a very fine club that flies at the field near me. They are the Jeffco Aeromodelers and they seem to be a good bunch. I've been planning on going to talk to a few of them but we've been having a lot of high wind days lately and I'm going to wait until it settles down a tad.  I've flown at that field and it is an excellent flying field with opposed paved runways, taxiways and ample pit area. My AMA was recently renewed and I'm waiting on the FCC license to show up in the mail. I suppose I'll also comply with the new FAA regs and register with them too. I don't know if the local guys are requiring it yet but I'll be legal one way or the other.

Sparky, thanks for the advice regarding twins but I've built several in my time and I have a few hours in full scale multi-engine planes so I'm aware of the challenges involved :)  Along with the plans to build a giant scale twin I also have a Royal/Murataka Cessna Skymaster kit that I bought back in 95 but never started.  I'm currently researching info on retracts for it and have found some excellent discussions here. Also stumbled on a name out of the past. I young man who I used to fly with, and competed against in scale, back in Miami in the 70s. I'm hoping to hook up with him through this forum. I gather he's a member here but I don't know his username yet. 

Thanks again.

Tom