Your first Control Line model

What was your first Control Line model..?

Mine, a Keil Kraft Champ with a Frog 1.5cc Diesel, and terylene lines..!!

One fondest memory was the look on my Mothers face when I fired up the Frog in the kitchen, and my Father trying to keep a straight face while mum was going ape......
Oh happy days........

Good Flying

My first C/L model was a Scientific Mustang/ Cox Babe Bee '1972, I was 12 years old.

My first control line model was an Airsail Showman when I was about 11
(35 very fast years ago) It's still available and I just built the one below to teach my 8 year old twin daughters to fly. It's covered in white lightweight modelspan, with colour tissue trim.

http://airsailmodels.co.nz/

An 0.049 Wen Mac Aeromite (Plastic - ARF!) about 1949 or so.

>An 0.049 Wen Mac Aeromite (Plastic - ARF!) about 1949 or so.
>
>Paul
Hey, so was mine! Never did get that damm engine to run and maybe thats why I still have the original prop hanging on the wall in the shop. My first real sucess came with a Ring Master and a Fox .29

>>An 0.049 Wen Mac Aeromite (Plastic - ARF!) about 1949 or so.
>>
>>Paul
>Hey, so was mine! Never did get that damm engine to run and
>maybe thats why I still have the original prop hanging on
>the wall in the shop. My first real sucess came with a Ring
>Master and a Fox .29
>
>Rich_I

Was this the one with the pull string starter? I acquired one of these as a tot but that was the late 60's. It was quite grimy but in one piece. And I couldnt get the friggin Wen Mac to do more than Pop!
John Sunderland

First C/L plane I flew: A Cox RTF Mustang (the green one).
First C/L plane I built: A Ringmaster Jr. (in 1968-69), but I never flew it.
First C/L plane I built and flew: A scratch-built Skyray (in 2000-2001)

Tim

Cox PT-19 back in 1968-9.
First CL I built was Ringmaster back in 84, I didn't know about the Topeka CL club even though I lived about blocks from one of the groups main ramrods.

Started your frog indoors and bothered the Mother while the Father was laughing? Should have seen my Father when I spray painted my first airplane in garage with the exhaust fan running and his new motorcycle under the exhaust fan. The motor cycle, I might add, that my Mother didn't want my Father to have. It was pretty much the same thing the other way around. Luckily I'm tough and child abuse laws were differnt back then. Course I wouldn't have reported him then anyways, he'dda really let me have it!

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-04 AT 09:22 AM (CDT)
 
AJ Firebaby with a Baby Spitfire, I was 6 when Dad taught me to fly while on his shoulders. 1956

A Sterling P-40 (a rare kit now, along with its even rarer cousin, the ME-109) with a Teardrop Exhaust Enya 19. NO LG; you hand launched it.

Top Flite LANCER ($1.95 from America's Hobby Center)
with a COX BABE BEE 049 ($3.33 AHC)
in 1967
My brother and I both learned to fly with the LANCER, flying it over tall grass.

Mike G

Scientific Little Ace team racer with a Cub .049, Tornado 5/3 plasticote prop, Nitro X fuel. The year was 1953 and I was 13 years old..................Oh, happy days!.......T.Durrill

My first Control Line model was a Keil Kraft Talon with a PAW .19 diesel, I've still got the engine, and still fly it.
Trickymicky.

1st: Wen Mac Bonanza..... never tried to fly it
2nd: Cox red P-51B Got it to "fly"

Bill <><

Berkeley Mini-Zilch, Cub .049.

Keil Kraft Phantom Mite with DC Wasp, still got the Wasp I am planning on giving it a run on the bench this weekend.

In 1951 I received a Monogram Piper Cub powered with a glow Ohlsson & Rice .23 for Christmas. I was 8 years old.

I think I "flew" that same Monogram Piper Cub, also with an O&R glow engine. I crashed it on first flight. I then used the solid balsa wing, and used it on a make shift profile body with an elevator that was very narrow, and had "stops" on it so I couldn't over control it. Time line around 1950 or so. Eventually graduated to a Fox 35 with Ringmaster....a half dozen of us kids flew the same combination, often two or three of us flying at once, to "show off". This was in southern New Jersey.
Dave

Firebaby with OK Cub .049B
Christmas 1955

Sterling profile Mustang. Fox .19 (cheaper than .35) 1953 Kit was $2.95 Motor was $11.95 (I think) Two bottles of Aero Gloss paint. At ll years old and no one around to show me, I didn't put any center sheating on it so it wasn't real tough. Took two years for me to finally get hooked up with a guy who knew what he was doing. When I finally took off and landed in one piece the Mustang had shrunk from it's original 38 inch span to 30 inches. Probably weighed in the neighborhood of 10 pounds due to all the repair,glue, oil,additional paint and added center planking.

My dad had no interest in planes but did insist on "test flying" for me. I had the rudder offset to the inside (throws it out, right?)

Dad signaled for me to let go and it went about 1/2 lap before rolling to inside and meeting Mother earth. Never got more than 6-8 feet off the ground and wasn't real fast so was not totally destroyed. He told me he never had control and I'll bet he was right. That was Dad's one and only attempt to fly a model plane.

I did build many of these over the years and flew them in Stunt and Combat as a Junior. Used them in Slow Combat in the 70s. Couldn't possibly tell you how many I've built over the years. Have one hanging on the wall now in the original colors of that first plane but have a Johnson .35 Combat Special on it. Love it! It also has center section planking.

Some no name russian kit with an elevator on one side of the stab powered by MK-17 diesel. The kit had spruce fuse, spruce plywood sheet for a wing,stab and rudder.
The smell of diesel fuel still brings sweet memories of bleeding fingers and flying at sub zero temperatures.

A Guillow's Profile Trainer #2 with a K&B Torp.19 for power. Red white and blue. Loved those colors even back then. Learned to fly it at Borger, Texas Muni Airport in 1957. This model launched my model and full size aviation career. I do have another example in the basement missing only the elevator control horn and I still have the Torp.19. And, after 47 years I still haven't gone faster than the speed of sound!

FLY SAFE John

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-04 AT 09:08 AM (CDT)
 
I was about 10 and received a plastic Corsair with a Wen Mac engine for Christmas. It was one of those planes that was never flown, although I did get the engine to run some , until I broke the needle valve and the rotomatic starter failed. If it had flown, I would have promptly crashed and destroyed it! I am always amazed that anyone ever tries to fly again after such a disappointing experience. I didn't try again until I was 28 years old, that time with a Cox PT19.

Either a Goldberg Little Toot or Stuntman, had'em both, but starting an .049 in my bedroom is a vivid memory. Don

My first plane?

I can barely remember a Cox blue/yellow PT-19 that my Dad and I spend a lot of time trying to start. Cold, sputtering Baby Bee. Nitromethane in the finger cuts. Dacron lines, rubber bands holding the thing together. I don't recall we ever got it running, much less airborne.

Years later in Jr High school, I started over with a series of Guillows stick and tissue models with .049 engines. First was an Me 109, then a Mustang, then a Spitfire. All got airborne long enough to go into a divergent sinesoidal pitch cycle concluding with a sudden impact. The second Spit was about to hit the ground in the same manner when I jerked hard on the lines and somehow popped it around to face me. Without the assistance of a panic stricken novice pilot on a set of wildely overgeared controls, the little Spit flew across the circle perfectly fine, dragging the control lines behind it, went over my head and out to the other side all on it's own. When I regained the excessive control I had built into the airplane, I promptly crashed it.

That began an investigation into how other people set up their planes.

The first airplane I can remember really enjoying was a Flight Streak with a Fox .35.

THAT was fun.

Cy.

Plastic fuse Firebaby powered with a Babe Bee (around 1957, I think). I bought both items at Mac's Hobby Shop in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Like most, that hobby shop is long gone.

I learned to fly and basic stunts with that plane....fond memories. That Babe Bee was run a few times in our basement. My mom loved that, especially the noise and the fumes drifting upstairs. I just stood in the castor cloud, breathing in the perfume!

Fred

Mom and Dad weren't home the day my first BIG engine arrived in the mail (a FOX 35 STUNT of course) so I started it up in the basement. Talk about a "castor cloud"!
Ahh the good old days - the fumes - the fog - 3 sisters screaming "I'm gonna tell Mom" - the stupidity - the FUN!!!

1971; Top Flite Flite Streak, McCoy 29 Redhead. Built it with my father's help. Flew it halfway around a paved circle and crashed. Didn't fly again until...

2003; Brodak Flite Streak Trainer, Fox 19 (club trainer)

Regards,

LAST EDITED ON Mar-11-04 AT 07:57 AM (CDT)
 
Little Bonanza, Wen Mac .049 ~1960..

[photo not recovered: 404fdba706f7e57d.jpg]
14" wingspan, look at the trike gear!

[photo not recovered: 404fdbeb07386c5d.jpg]
More typical view..

(Oh, did you mean the first model we successfully FLEW? )

[photo not recovered: 3e69bb3870f12ad5.jpg]

"We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually produce a masterpiece. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true." -Eyler Coates

>Little Bonanza, Wen Mac .049 ~1960..
>
>(Oh, did you mean the first model we successfully FLEW? )
>
>[photo not recovered: 3e69bb3870f12ad5.jpg]
>
>"We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million
>typewriters will eventually produce a masterpiece. Now,
>thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true." -Eyler
>Coates

I wondered about that too...

Jake

Testors Freshman 29 - Club Trainer - with a Mohawk 29 Glow in it. About 1950 - in Wallingford CT.

Well,

I have to admit this I guess. Mine was the ubiquitous (sp?)
COX PT-19. That was also the first airplane I ever did a loop with too!

The first control plane that I ever built was a Veco Little T-Bird. Got it finished, but with a warped wing. Never flew it, though, which was probably a good thing.

The first plane I built and flew was a Baby flight Streak with a Cox Black Widow Engine. It Flew great. We covered it with Monocote, and flew over tall grass. the fuse would break in half right behind the wing, so we'd fix it with 5 minute epoxy and be right back in the air.

Jim A.

Early 40s a Stanzel V Shark. Sparkie O & R 60, "G" line control. Later converted to U Control.
Not the "good old days".

Bigiron

1952, an all balsa pre-built, silver painted airplane with swept back wings, looked kinda like a F-86, it had a Spitzy .045 engine.
They were advertised on the TV (Los Angeles area),the larger prebuilt airplane with trike gear and with the Spitfire .065 was flown in one of the Abbot and Costello movies about 1953, Where they were going to Venus.

Hothandle

1962 Firebaby.....I still have the plane and still fly it once a year

I had the same Spitzy powered airplane, but could never get the engine to run long enough to fly. Something about fuel draw from the tank below the engine I think. I could never afford the bigger airplane with the .065, but always wanted one. I now have one, new in the box, with a new Royal Spitfire to power it. Still a pretty slick looking airplane. The engine mount worries me though. It is a metal clip that glues into the fuselage and hooks over the beam mounts. There is a spring behind the engine/tank that hold it in place. I may never build it, but it is a really early ARF. My first real model was a PDQ Circus King with a McCoy SS 29. I have the same combination now, so will be able to revisit my early years. I wonder if it will fly as well now as it did in 1954?
Steve

>
> 1952, an all balsa pre-built, silver painted airplane with
>swept back wings, looked kinda like a F-86, it had a Spitzy
>.045 engine.
>They were advertised on the TV (Los Angeles area),the larger
>prebuilt airplane with trike gear and with the Spitfire .065
>was flown in one of the Abbot and Costello movies about
>1953, Where they were going to Venus.
>
>Hothandle
That plane was one of the series that Mel anderson put out with his motors in the early 50's. You want to talk about some rare stuff those are right at the top of the list.
Wish that I could remember my first plane but I flew my brothers first and remember a Jubilee and a Guillow ugly diamond shaped fuse stunt ship that was a winner in 49 for Lou Andrews
The year was 1954 and I was 9

I had flown or tried to fly two or three of the Cox/Testers plastic airplanes without much success. The engines were a huge pain to get started and none of the airplanes really flew very well. Then I built, with a lot of help from dad, a Sterling sheet balsa Zero. My uncle gave me a Baby Bee Cox engine and the Zero was off and flying. That model flew great, or at least much better than any of the plastic stuff you could buy at the stores, and the Baby Bee engine started much easier and ran better than the motors in the store bought plastic models. I was about ten or eleven years old at the time so that has been 27+ years.

My first C/L model and first model I flew was a Flite Streak Trainer powered with an Enya .15 mid-1960's. No experienced help to build, finish or fly the thing and it's maiden flight was perfect! Several kids flew this model and I don't recall it ever crashing. I still think it's the best trainer ever desinged! Andy

my first was the old /2 a palnes of the 60s 70s all balsa and we did not paint them they didnt last that long. we flew holding the lines in each hand we didnt know about control handels. then my first plane other then 1/2 a was a carrier plane sterling made dont rember what the name was but it was the cheapest one the hobby shop had that was bigger then 049. built it coverd with silk and white glue thin down with water didnt know anybetter. put a fox 19 on it and coldnt get it started carryed the motor back to the hobby shop and they hooked me up with the salisbury hawks c/l club and bob reeves and lloyd gregory and jim col got me started. man those were the days jim taught me how to fly with a handel.

One of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3180295048&category=30

My dad crashed it first flight!

Tony

Baby Flightstreak, cox redback .049. 1969

It was a Buster in 1967 with a Fox 35 I was 10. Dad had held my hand on several flights before turning me loose. Lost dad several years ago but still have many fond memories.

Joe Gilbert

Mine was the Sterling F4U the one for carrier events with a McCoy SS 29. I had enough sense to remove the engine tank and use a different one but it probably held about the same amount of fuel. That was probably why I didn't get dizzy - there wasn't enough fuel left. Especially when I used up some flying time letting out the wires on the U reely once the engine was running. Sandpaper was only used to fit the sheeting together and remove bumps in the finish where the glue didn't smooth out enough where it held the silkspan on the wing. It will get slick enough if I add a few more coats of dope.

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-04 AT 02:17 PM (CDT)
 
A piece of c&*% Testors Cosmic Wind. After millions of flips to start, it was like flying a brick.

What hooked me was a Goldberg Lil Satan.

>A piece of c&*% Testors Cosmic Wind. After millions of
>flips to start, it was like flying a brick.
>
>What hooked me was a Goldberg Lil Satan.
>
>Chris

That was mine too, but the nose broke off and we glued a big thick chunk of plywood (with contact cement) and put in a Cox baby bee that was left over from a Free fligt airplane. It stayed together long enough to teach my brother, myself and a few neighborhood kids, about 4 pints of fuel We could fly it on like 15 foot lines in our back yard.

First plane I built: Scientific American Boy Stunt Trainer/Babe Bee, 1956
First plan I built & flew: Scientifis Golden Hawk/ Cub 049A, 1958. Took about a dozen crashes to get the hang of it.
My brother's first plane (Wright Brother!)Comet RTF Mustang/Cub 049S (pull Starter)1957, not enough power to fly.

My first was a Cox Piper which lasted two flights. My dad showed me how to fly it then I showed him how to crash it.

My first real C/L plane was a Ring Master Jr. with an OS Max .15fp. Learned wing-overs and straight flight before completely trashing this one in a move. Took me 10 years to get back into the hobby.

LAST EDITED ON Mar-11-04 AT 05:36 PM (CDT)
 
My first was some type of plastic thing that my Dad bought for me with an .049 engine it flew by centrifical force after about 3 laps it would get up enough speed to stay about 3 ft. off the ground. My first real CL airplane that really flew was the Swordsman 18 with a Baby Bee .049 engine. Solid balsa wing and fuselage. I put it together all by myself. I worked on it every day after school I was in 8th grade about 13 years old. I flew it all by myself too.

First c/l plane I built: Scientific Red Devil/Baby Bee, 1973 or 1974, dad flew it once, sort of... Dad got it for me since it was his first c/l model also.

First c/l plane built and flown: Dumas A-7 Corsair II/Fox 35, 1978 or so.

My son's first flown was a Baby Ring/Baby Bee on my shoulders at 3.
Helped to build and flew solo a Sterling Beginners Zero/Black Widow at 6.

Kind of neat to see who built first, and who flew first. Notice not many built AND flew their first!

Tools

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-04 AT 03:24 PM (CDT)
 
An AJ Firebaby, with a Spitfire engine (I think). Second was a two for one kit by Scientific, the P51 and F86 profiles with OK Cub.049B engine. Then the Barnstormer, McCoy .29. On the Firebaby, first three attempts were glorious figure 9s. Then I flew three level laps and was in heaven. The fuel was the stuff that "chemist" sold, Francisco fuels with the secret ingredients. We flew off the front lawn of the high school. My aunts uncle was the head janitor so no problems. He even mowed the lawn so we could fly. Did this all summer, 1951, age 10. Before that it was all rubber powered free flight planes by Megow and Comet.

Top Flite, Flight Streak Trainer w/ McCoy .19 as an eight year old in 1966. Moved up to a Super Combat Streak w/ a Webra .15 deisel.Complete with bubble canopy and wire landing gear. I believe I hold the dubious honor of wrecking more Flight Streaks than anyone on this planet. Larry, NorCal Circle Jerks;-)

A Baby V Shark with an Ohlsson 23, then a Baby Miss Behave.
Can't believe how many of you started with 1/2A stuff that a world champ would have difficulty flying. Ya'll must have had great intestinal fortitude! Or is the flying bug just part of our makeup?

Either a Keil Kraft Champ with a Mills P75 (049) diesel or a neat looking "Ready to Fly" all red plastic Keil Kraft Hurricane with a Wen Mac 049 that was reluctant to get off the ground. Can't remember which came first. I know I used to try flying the Hurricane off a local cricket pitch by myself. I'd wait for hours at our local playing field for someone to turn up and give me a launch. In the end I'd try starting the motor, let go of the model, then dash back to the handle and try and pick it up before the model took off. Can't remember if I ever got the Hurricane to fly but do remember that the Champ flew very well.

Jr. Ringmaster with a Fox 15. A long, long, long time ago.

Let's see,,,,, The year would have been,, 1950 The engine was a brand new Atwood Wasp .049. The plane was called "The Duke" don't remember the company that made it. I do remember that it was toughted as a "full stunt" model. Built up fuse and wing, kinda like a Zilch. Took weeks to build and dope. Maroon and yellow, loved that plane, loved that sound,, to bad it was so heavy that the best it could do was half a wingover....heart broken, I was ready to quit when I got a chance to fly a "Freshman" with a Mac 19,,, fun,, wasn't mine, so I built a "Papoose" with a "Torp 23" about 1951 REALLY FUN...So by 1952 I bought my first FOX 29 and "Sterling" profile. By the way, that same Fox 29 flew again last year.

Aeroflyte Typhoon

Never did fly it successfully, did not know anything in those days and with a way too rearward CG and short tail, small tailplane etc the darn thing was unstable. Many very short wobbly flights and repairs. Once it circled in on the lines and nearly hit me. I think the lines cought on some weeds. In those days, we used nylon props that bounced back most times but it was not unusual to find crash debri in any park or sporting field. I eventually gave the plane a Viking funeral.

My 1st was a Scientific Super Sabre (balsa dugout canoe fuse) with an OK Cub .049B. Took weeks & weeks to build & finish, months to get up the nerve to risk all that money and fly it. Went through the 1st yellow can of OK Cub fuel just running the engine for anyone that would listen. (Funny, the one I bought recently will hardly run) Man, was I a lucky kid! My mother was so proud of me, she thought it was fantastic that I was interested in model airplanes.

The 1st flight was the obligatory figure 9 and death. I then gave up on u/c and did Jetco towline Thermic 50's 'til I couldn't afford to watch them go O.O.S. anymore. (What's a DT?)

Fell in love with a quarter page plan for a simple little built-up 1/2A "Combat" plane in M.A.N.; built one, put a Babe Bee on it and must've flown a gallon's worth of the little blue Thimble Drome 1/2 pint cans through it that summer. Geez, must've been 1958 or 59.

After that, all my neighborhood buddies looked up to me as the "expert" so I got the maiden flights on ALL their stuff and taught them all to fly. What euphoria!

1st one was a Cox green P-51, Christmas 1969 or 70, 1/2 lap- wingover into the ground. Then a silver Testors Cosmic Wind, flying brick. Flew my friends Cox PT-19s thet summer, and we used the engine from the Mustang and a crashed PT-19 to build a couple Sterling 1/2A warbirds. When we crashed those too much to repair we used to fill the Babe Bees up, start them and let them fly out of our hands- then run like heck to keep from getting hit! Fun Stuff

As I remember it.......Firebaby with OK Cub .049B.

It lasted about as long as a Jenifer Lopez engagment!

Guillow's trainer II with a K&B green head .29. Kind of like an early rat racer. It also flew my first loop.

My first control line plane, I don't know the model. It's a solid balsa wing with a carved fuselage in an oval shape. Powered by a OK cub .049 c. 1957. It now sits in a Guillow's Curtis Robin box in the laundry room. Need to get round to it making another one with the new poly goup stuff so it will be able to stand up to the fuel soaking. Erich

Erich

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-04 AT 08:26 PM (CDT)
 
First plane was a Guillow's P40. Built with Ambroid, covered one of the new (at the time) plastic shrink films!!! Wow....

First CL was a Goldberg Little Wizard. Also built with Ambroid, finished in clear and red dope. Black Widow powered. Never got great with it as I spent more time early on with FreeFlight and RC.... Now I am back at it with CL....

My first c/l was a RTF c*x Super Cub with baby bee 049. The year was 59 or 60. There were a string of RTF's after that one. The neatest thing I had was a bat kite kinda thing with a Gilbert motor on it. It was called Flying Thing or Wing Thing, cann't remeber which. First balsa planes were Little Satan and Little Toot, bought at the same time.

A Consolidated F4U Corsair (and I do mean ConSOLIDated)with an O.K.Cub .049. The thing would taxi at a pretty good rate of speed around the circle but would not lift off. That is where I first learned about too much weight and not enough power. My Dad finally hand-launched it and it took about a half lap to do a powered glide to a landing from which it would continue to taxi until out of gas.

My first C/L plane was a Sterling Ringmaster my Grandpa gave me for my birthday. I was probably 5 years old. I distinctly remember sitting on the front porch watching my Dad carve the wingtips one warm summer night. We had to wait a while to get an engine. I remember standing in the hobby shop talking to the owner about an engine. We ended up with McCoy .19 readhead. The first flight, my Dad did the classic divergent fugoid and busted the wing in half. We hung it on the wall. To this day, my Dad doesn't like control line models....

When I was 11 my folks gave me a book on designing and building model airplanes while I was in the hospital. I devoured it. I can still quote pages of that book 33 years later! So the first C/L plane that I built and successfully flew was a modified Keith Laumer Free Flight design scaled up from plans in the book and scratch built. Go figure. A hand-me-down Golden Bee flew it until it was fuel soaked, patched and eventually burned to the ground! We flew from a dirt playground that was just like asphalt -- when the flames were too big to blow out, you scraped the hard-pan for handfuls of fine gravel to throw at it.... so you can understand why it burned!

Still have the repaired Ringmaster. Started flying again last summer. As soon as I stop hitting the ground so often, I'm gonna fly that nearly 40 year old S-1. Been saving a new McCoy .35 Redhead especially for it!

Maybe I can't relive my past, but I can sure pick up where I left off -- and it is just as much fun now as it was back then. Thanks to all the guys who have helped me in the last year!

Time does fly!!!

LA_Flyer
Dave, "Profile Puke in Training"
from somewhere near Manhattan Beach, Ca

Circa 1953

First CL plane - Scientific Little Bipe, OK Cub (.049). Traded a Daisy BB gun for it.

First CL plane I built - Scientific Little Devil, Space Bug Jr.

Like some of you I started the Space Bug Jr. (for break-in) in the house. I remember my grandmother's lace curtains blowing around.
I only did it once.

A.J. Firebaby. Royal Spitfire that was a royal p.i.t.a. to get started. Leaking baloon tanks didn't help much, either. We broke the one that came with it and made our own by trying to duplicate the original with 5&10 baloons and some copper wire.

Top Flite Streak trainer was my first airplane but I flew first on the Cox PT19.

LAST EDITED ON Mar-11-04 AT 01:11 AM (CDT)
 
My first flying model was a Cox ME109 (found one on the bay and had to have it for sentimental reasons. see below)
crashed it right from take off, fixed it and crashed it again fixed it again and let someone else fly it to show me it can fly
went on to have over 30 balsa 1/2A's and moved right up to a 35 profile and that was a Goldberg P-40 silkspan, dope (camo paint job)
second was Sig Fokker D7 biplane
I'll find those pictures and post them

funny thing is my first flying model was an ME109 and I won first place in sport scale at the 1980 nats with an ME109 (not a 1/2A though)

A 045 Spitzy powered Peter Pan. Don't remenber the kit manufacturer. Still have the engine and its on a profile P-38 with another 045 Spitzy. The second one was a Wen Mac Aeromite and still have the engine.

Did the terylene lines work? My first C/L was electric and bulit in 1947. It consisted of a Drome rubber scale 'Lysander' kit fitted with an Electrotor, which was an early electric motor produced for models. It had nowhere near enough power and I learned to fly by whipping it round on 10' lines. My first powered model was a Skyleada 'Auster' with ED Bee. Actually built before I had the Bee and also flown by whipping round on 10' lines. the first powered flight in January 1950 was a total anticlimax. I built 5 Austers in all.

I'm currently flying an electric model of similar size and find lines to be a major problem. Having found some linen thread which doesn't stretch, it is far too thick.

>Did the terylene lines work? My first C/L was electric and
>bulit in 1947. It consisted of a Drome rubber scale
>'Lysander' kit fitted with an Electrotor, which was an early
>electric motor produced for models. It had nowhere near
>enough power and I learned to fly by whipping it round on
>10' lines. My first powered model was a Skyleada 'Auster'
>with ED Bee. Actually built before I had the Bee and also
>flown by whipping round on 10' lines. the first powered
>flight in January 1950 was a total anticlimax. I built 5
>Austers in all.
>
>I'm currently flying an electric model of similar size and
>find lines to be a major problem. Having found some linen
>thread which doesn't stretch, it is far too thick.

My first experience with terylene lines did not last
too long, one of the 'older boys' advised using a wire line called
Laystrate, the rest is history..!!!
When my Champ got to the stage of total dis-repair, I managed to build an OD with a 1/4 ply fuzz, a house move and meeting another CL flyer over the local park led to me joining the Feltham DMAC which took me straight into Oliver Tigers and combat models...more happy days.

Good flying

Jim Walker "Fire Baby", Wen Mac .049, aluminum prop, bladder fuel tank, 1957 (I think). I told my dad "I wanna try". History from there.

Mike H

My first was a Scientific Stuntmaster with a Baby Bee .049
I learned to fly on it. Never would stunt though, not enough power.

My very first was a Cox Corsair. How on earth that pig got off the ground, I'll never know.

But man, did it take a beating. I taught many newbies how to fly with that thing.

My first control line model was the awesome Cox Little Stinker. I flew this plane in the street in front of my house stopping traffic and driving the neighbors crazy. It was love at first flight.

Ray "Bear" Hoffman
"Bearkat"
AMA 38884:-)

A Swordsman 18 (what else?!) and a C*x Baby Bee. I still have the engine, mounted on another Swordsman. It still runs great, although the amount of fore-aft play in the main bearing is something to behold. I hate to think how much fuel my brother and I ran through that little trooper back in the '70s, not to mention the dirt!

Perhaps I'll post a picture later...

Andy

My first C/L plane was a Goldberg Buster with a K&B Greenhead .35. It was finished in Pactra Fokker Red and Cub Yellow. The Buster was pretty tough and actually lasted about 3 years. Still have the .35 and the big heavy Perfect wheels that were on the Buster. The picture was taken in 1968 before the first attempt to fly.

Mike

1962? - Cox L-19 Bird Dog, tried to fly it but couldn't do more than 1/4 lap. Dad didn't have a lot of patience. Engine had a large translucent nylon tank. I was 10?

1963? - Cox P-40. The tan one with inverted engine. Never flew.

1964 - Cox PT-19. Finally success! This one had blue wings, yellow fuse (i.e. backwards scheme).

1965 - Built and flew a Sterling Ringmaster (McCoy 35 redhead), silkspan, Aerogloss then followed with a TF Jr. Nobler. Started w/McCoy 19, then Enya 19, then Fox 19, silk, Aerogloss buffed & waxed (really!) - note the capstrips I added to the ribs. Managed to do wingovers, loops. Met it's demise on 1st outside loop attempt. Remember those Tornado yellow nylon props? Ran K&B 100 fuel I believe.

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My first one was a Veco Brave.I had an Ohlsonn 23 that would just barely pull it around.I won the kit at the local hobby shop.The contest was sponsored by the local Midwest Hobby & Supply salesman.This was in 1951.We flew in the local church parking lot.One of the preists was a flyer also.
Joe Connelly

LAST EDITED ON Mar-11-04 AT 05:43 PM (CDT)
 
First C/L kit built and flown was a Veco Little Tomahawk. This was after many frustrating "Lawn Dart" towline gliders. Power was the good ol Cox Babe Bee 049.Crashed that plane so many times that I think I was trying to invent PAA load stunt just from the weight of epoxy. Bought the kit and engine from Don's Hobby Hut in Montclaire, California. It was owned by a guy named Gil. He still owns the building but now it is the Mustang Adult Video store. He apparently is now interested in another type of models.....

Bill

first model I built and flew was a frog Gladiator with an AM35 after many repairs I actually managed to learn to fly the thing

The ubiqitous Cox Cub (that my brother and his HS buddies did in), followed (in 1962) by a Guillows Trainer II/McCoy RH 19. Finished in red and blue Aerogloss. Kit and engine purchased from Fred Salmon's Hub Hobby in the Hub City of Lubbock, TX. Followed by a CG Buster/Fox 35 Black Head, a Veco Brave/O&R and a Jr Ringmaster/McCoy 19.

Is there an echo in here?

A.P.S "lil Zowie" powered by 1cc ED Bee, not stuntable however, the tank was the one supplied with the engine but just to make it fly level was to us then, an acheivement. Happy Days in 1948!

Ringmaster with a Torp .19!!!!!!!!

Interesting and nostalgic thread.

First CL Model : blue plastic WenMac "Night Fighter" (started, but never flown)

First CL Model Built: "Dil Bod" with aforementioned Wen Mac - DNF

First CL Model Flown: Scientific "Stuntmaster" belonging to the friend who got me started.

First CL Model Built and Flown: Scientific "Atomic" (pictured below as photographed today) flown with the same WenMac and today attesting to the shrinkage of butyrate dope since the late 1950's.

SK

Serge: Nice Atomic. It is a popular model, due to its looks, at the Musciano all-Scientific Hollow Log meet, hosted by the NVCL club. It also is one of the faster models, which makes it right for Speed or Team Race. Currell

August 1949 - Enterprise New Era, 28" Wingspan almost solid model monoplane with full fuselage, open cockpit and upright O&R .23 rotary valve engine. Wind did a figure 9 for me on first flight wiping out model. Later a friend used the wing in his own design full fuselage "Pincus." Flew nicely.

September 1949- First successful C/L model: Testors TC-2 solid profile with upright O&R .23. Nice sturdy design with strong wide landing gear and could fly well in wind.

November 1949 - Veco Warrior with K&B Glow Torp .32 First inside loop with this plane.

Ron B.
F4Fguy

Same as Hutch;Stanzel Baby V Shark,Ohllson 23ign.,some time in the forties. Same comment too,how did you guys ever learn to fly with those POS RTF 1/2 As????I never owned a 1/2 A until my McCoy .049 Diesel.Great combo with a Baby Barnstormer.

Ameco Trainer, 36inch wingspan solid balsa wing and profile
fuselage with upright engine. Powered by ignition Ohlson 60
engine with rear carb.

BurtSmith

Wow! An Aeromite plastic RTF (right!) with an Atwood Wasp. Still have the engine; the plane never flew!

First successful plane was a Scientific "Stuntmaster" with a Baby Bee.

My first CL model, circa 1962, was the usual Cox PT-19, followed by numerous Baby Bee-powered balsa planes, the names of most of which I've forgotten, except that I remember there were Baby Ringmasters and Lil' Satans among them.
First "big" plane was a Sterling Navion, the only plane my dad and I built together. I believe he flew it once, and other than that it was mine. It lasted until the late 1970s. Sometime in the early 1990s I built an exact replica of that first Navion, painted it exactly the same, and powered it with a McCoy redhead .35 just like the first one. I flew it once and since then it has hung in my shop as a tribute to my dad. Though he never flew after his one flight on the Navion, he did make room in his basement photo studio work area for my model workshop and encourage the hobby, which ended up being a lifelong activity. When I go in the shop, the plane reminds me of him.
--jt

Sterling Ringmaster with McCoy 35 in 1967. No landing gear, hand launched gave too much up performed a nice wing over leveled off and then the up line gave way.

First succesful plane was a P-39 with a Testors .049 with the plastic tank on the nose. Hit the ground several times but the plane bounced instead of breaking.

Walt Musciano likes the Stuntmaster over all his other Scientific Hollow Logs, as far as Stunt is concerned.

I like the Cyclone, and will scratch build a Bullet this Spring. I notice that the West Coast Musciano Meet had a lot of Bullets.

I think the Combat Ace would be a good one, too. I never see this one build or flown, though.

I had a Comet Mustang, Cub .049 RTF that lasted about 3/4 lap when I was about 13. Three years later I bought a Nobler with a Fox COmbat Special in it. After about three weeks of trying to get it started, not knowing much (nothing) about starting inverted engines, finally got it going then the lines caught on a weed and it did a great wingover over the weed and crashed. I bought a T-Square and installed the Fox in it. That was the one I learned to fly with. Pic on http://www.controllineplans.com
Bare

Barry Baxter