How did you learn to build?

I started in the 50's with plastic car models...remember the ones where you had to melt the axles to hold the wheels on. Then went to the hybrid solid models, part balsa, part plastic, various gliders etc., and finally to CL Scientific models. All through that time I was on my own, discovering things like primer and sandpaper. My Scientific models were smooth but not well sanded. My first Scientific (not including the Little Bipe I traded my BB gun for) was a Little Devil painted with enamels...sooo, I then discovered Comet "Hot Fuel Proofer".
The essence of this is that I learned on my own "the hard way" and could fly before I discovered anyone else who flew. If you have someone to teach you, or if you can watch someone else build, the learning curve should be much steeper. And we can probably pick up a tip or two or a different way of doing things forever.
This and other forums can provide a wealth of information...and you usually learn more than one way of solving a problem.

What has been your experience?

We lived about 18 miles from Stewart Field in upstate New York and used to lay on the front lawn and watch hundreds of airplanes fly over us during WW-II. I became very interested in aircraft of all types and began building ten and twenty-five cent solid models.

Then came the stick models with rubber band power and they would actually fly.

Christmas 1950 found a copy of Model Airplane News rolled up in my stocking. I wore that magazine out looking at the models and then noticed ads for miniature engines. I showed them to my older brother and he said "Sure, a lot of my friends have them." Can you imagine that? They made engines and he never told me!

My brother told me his friend Ray had some engines so I hopped on my bicycle and took off for Ray's house. Just before I got there I heard a strange noise, like really big bee. When I arrived at Ray's house he was running an OK Cub .039 in a test stand. I watched in awe as that little engine spun the propeller so fast you couldn't see it.

When I went to school after the Christmas break I told anothe airplane lover about the engine. He said "Sure, my brothers have a lot of them, I have a few too." I mentioned seeing a Wasp .049 in my magazine and he said he had one. He said he would sell it to me for four dollars. Next day I was the proud owner of a Wasp .049 in brand new condion.

OK, I had the engine, now I needed an airplane. I found out the local hardware store had some kits so I selected an Enterprise "Super Knockout" for .039 to .099 engines. After applying one of my solid model finishes (heavy) I took it up to the local school basketball court for a test flight. After several laps at taxi it never did get into the air.

My second engine was an OK Cub .099 and it did get it in the air.

Ron B.
F4Fguy

My mother used to tell me I built my first model airplane when I was four years old.She said I built it using the wood from an empty strawberry box.I can neither "confirm or deny",as I don't remember.This would be 1938.
I do know that from there it was a succession of penny solids,five and ten cent rubber models,and,eventually,powered free flight.After WWII,CL became very popular in Pittsburgh and there were meets in parking lots in the middle of downtown Pgh.Pa.!!!
Most of the building skills aquired in these years were evolved through"shared mistakes".Modeling was popular, there were about twenty kids in my neighborhood,but except for magazines,which we couldn't afford (we'd rather spend it on models)there was very little knowlege of building or designing.This was more of a challenge than a deterrent however.If you want to fly a speed model(speed was what it was all about in those days)with an ignition O.K.60 trying to escape by shaking off the nose,you'd better learn how to keep it reined in.
The advent of the mysterious device ,the glow plug,brought with it"hot"fuels .All of a sudden glues didn't stay glued and dope washed off the airplane,another set of skills to be learned,materials compatibility and fuel proofing.
Glow plugs also brought gobs more power and increased speeds.Slick finishes,which used to be merely point of pride,became necessities.Enter 600 sand paper and rubbing compound.
Somewhere around 1946-47 I traded with a friend,my Ohllson 60 for a brand new kind of airplane and engine.A(I think)Dronette and a Drone 29(which I still have).No fuel proofing!!.Yeah,Right!the advantage ended right there.Back to the shakes!BUT!I learned more about building,and I learned there was more than just going fast.This airplane could LOOP!,and fly upsidedown,I couldn't but it could.More skills.I had to learn to build light,as well as strong.
During this entire period,scratch building was the name of the game.Original was the watchword. Even when you started with a kit,it was "bad form"to build it as shown.There were always"improvements"to be made.
It's been quite a trip.I wouldn't trade it for anything and I hope I'm still learning.
I must say in closing , I find it highly ironic that,when so much of what we had to learn empirically is readily available to anyone,there are people so lazy they'd rather buy an ARF.

I started with a Strombecker Piper Super Cruiser. I learned shaping and finishing techniques from my father, a WWII Marine Corps pilot (SBD's{Has anybody seen the Tom Selleck film Folks. The final flying scenes really get to me.}) and carpenter/cabinet maker. I built several of the Strombecker kits, learning and improving with each one. I di use the glue that came with them. It worked fairly well.

First flying(?) model was a Monogram Speedee Built P-40. Those props looked good but didn't provide much thrust!

In 1956, while Dad was the Base Commander (flying again, but now it was F-86's) at Kulis ANGB near Anchorage, I got the hankering for a gas powered flying model. I built a Scientific Piper Cub with a Cox .049. Dad was the real pilot so he had the honor of the first flight. We attached the two spools of dacron lines (50± feet each)to the plane and handle and started the engine with some difficulty. I launched the little plane into the wind as instructed. (Every pilot knows that's the way it's done, right?) The model lifted off, immediately stalled, dropped the inboard wing and flew right at the hapless pilot, chasing him out of the circle. It self-destructed against a curb a few seconds later, but I was hooked, nonetheless. Dad never flew another model until my brother finally got a Cox PT-19 for Christmas a few years later.

With some help from Tom Vitt at the local hobby shop, I built and successfully flew a few other Scientific planes with the same engine. I also started to build the Berkeley 1" to the foot scale kits and tried to fly them with that engine. Man, were they slow.

My first stuntable plane was a Berkeley Interceptor 35 powered by a K&B/Allyn Torpedo .29GH. The engine was a gift from my Scoutmaster, an excellent builder of mostly free flight planes. We never could get that engine to run well at any speed other than flat out. However, I did my first loops and eights flying in his back yard. I used a JW U-Reely so that I could adjust the lines to just the right length to clear the raspberry bushes and a couple of big burch trees, placed at strategic spots. The lines probably ended up about 45 feet long on most days.

I really haven't tried to do much with ½A's since, with the exception of a few planes.

I basically learned the basics of building, finishing, and trim from the Dad and my SM, as well as a lot of other good qualities.

Is this more than you bargained for, George? I'll try not to retell any of this again.

I spent time before memory under my Dad's model airplane bench collecting scraps and making airplanes. Mom has one of those "Baby's First" books for each of the kids, mine says "airplanes from the very begining". When Dad saw my genuine interest he began financing my activities by supplying Top Flite rubber kits and glue and spent lots of time with me at the bench too. He never built anything for me, his help was in the form of instruction and encouragement. I must have built the Top Flite Jigtime series several times over when I decided I wanted to try stick & tissue. A Comet Phantom Fury was the subject. The first one wasn't so successful but on the 3rd try I flew my stick & tissue model. Dad was an all-round modeler who gravitated toward RC but really enjoyed it all. My first CL model was an AJ Firebaby (the balsa fuse one). Dad put me on his shoulders and had my older brother launch. I soloed that day at the age of 6. This could become an autobiography so I'll stop here. Dad's still with us and we're still flying buddies. He's more interested in Vintage RC these days so I play with that, but our most common love is free flight old & new.

What a fun thread.

I sort of learned to build from my older cousin. I had gotten into some trouble when I was an early teenager and my mother thought it would be a good idea to get me interested in something (and to keep her from killing me...it was a LOT of trouble). I had flown a Cox RTF that my folks gave me for christmas or some such when I was younger. A silver P-39. While I liked that, I never really got hooked on the idea. But it turned out that my cousin (must have been in his late 20s at the time) flew CL planes and at my mother's pleading and my Aunt's threatening, started taking me to Whittier Narrows on the weekends with him to fly. First time I saw him fly a Thunderbird, I was pretty much a gonner. I spent many hours in his shop with him, learning by watching him. For those of you that flew at Whittier Narrows in the late 60s and early 70s, you might remember my cousin, Bill Mayo. He flew a green and white Thunderbird until the controls finally gave up (with some 1500 flights on it) and also flew a maroon and cream Jim Van Loo original Chipmunk and a black and red original design he called the Raven (wish I had the plans for that plane). There were certainly other planes, but those are the ones I remember fondly. Anybody remember the Trophy Trainer?

I built my first plane with some limited direction from Bill. A Jr. Ringmaster. Not sure it even flew. It was pretty sad. The second, with a lot more help for the cuz, was a two tone blue Flying Clown with an Enya 19 and no gear. Gotta love hand launch when you're learning to fly (I still have the engine). Bill made me not rush and make sure it was straight. Probably the best lesson I could have learned at the time. He then helped my parents to purchase the materials and engine and such to build a Dick Mathis Coyote. I learned to fly the pattern on that plane. Scratch built, I was in way over my head, but Bill did give some advice and helped with some parts of it. He was a firm beliver in "learn by doing...however it came out". In the end it flew OK. And I flew the wings off of it. I probably learned the most, though, from reading Flying Models pretty much religiously. There was a time that I thought all CL originated with Jack Sheeks. I would read his stuff and others over and over, trying to learn all I could. While my cousin tried hard, he wasn't much of a teacher. But he absolutely believed that a pilot had to learn the skills to build and fly his own planes and was determined I would learn.

Bill died a couple of years ago and I miss him. He was a good guy and in the end I suppose he taught me a lot. Mostly by example. Always available for critique and comment (scathing sometimes...Danny Dirt would have liked him). The man had a brutal sense of humor but a good heart. I wish I could get all those photo albums he kept from the period. He was also an amateur photographer and took many, many pictures at the field. But, they have disappeared with time.

ARF's baby, yup, built a bunch of ARF's.

That's how I learned.

Right. Those cardbard inserts in the Nabisco Shreaded wheat boxes had a lot of indian lore on them. made many of those items described on those cards.

Bob Smiley
A Lancair 360 builder/;ilot trying to be a modeler

First planes were comet and gillows stick and paper 25 cent models. Circa 1950. The first one was a Fokker D7 painted with enamel paint. Gave it to grandma who kept it for several years then returned it to me when I was older. Still in good condition. I was about 10. No mentors, to teachers, all self directed. Mistakes and all. Then on to the 50 cent models. The first gas powered plane was a scientific half a Ryan St. But the best was the American Boy. First C plane was a Veco Tomahawk with the ubiquitous Fox 35. Onward and upward. Again no mentors. Learned the stunt pattern with a Ringmaster which was resurrected five times before retirement and pattern was learned. Circa 1955.

Bob Smiley

A Lancair 360 builder/flyer trying to be a modeler

Some quickie-type kits and a Cox Cub. A few water powered rockets. A Guillow Trainer II for basic balsa training. Later a Jr Ringmaster and then a Buster. Had one older freind who was an excelent modeler (got published in MAN) who taught me some. And my Dad was a creative maker of things. Super scrounger and adapter of things for other uses. Plenty of tools available. Started plastic models, slot cars, RC, free-flight (HLG and indoor), and one go-kart.
Sure ruined a bunch of stuff along the way. Matter of fact, still do.....

Larry,

I forgot to mention that my Dad's workmanship was top notch, he set the bar high, very high. He wasn't a competitive flyer but I am and that high standard has really paid off. I will always remember the Satuday night all nighters or the hustle to get out Friday night to a weekend contest. Dad was always there to help though he never competed himself and I think he was very proud for people to look at my models. I was once accused of "daddy-builts" and dad got a little indignant over it, he was a stickler for doing it yourself, my models were entirely my models, built under his watchful eye and expert advice. Now he talks about the student having surpassed the teacher but I'll never be able to build like he does.

>I bet my story is very different from most of you:
>
>I learned to build back in the dying days of the Soviet
>Union(mid- 80's).

My first solo flight and assembled fleet of flyable C/L models was accomplished in the Philippine Islands mid 1960's. This was on Clark Air Base - a sprawling "city" of 20,000 mostly young enlisted troops. Chuck Yeager was also there during that period. Lots and lots of C/L classic ships. I saw the PT-19, the Skylark, Ringmasters, an Ares, a Trident? (Larry Scarinzi's design) and tons of Noblers.

There were also some primative R/C efforts back then. Single channel escapement (I built and flew a Minnie Mambo) and the 10 and 12 channel reed radios. Virtually all the engines were Enya or OS Max.

The on-base hobby shop and a building area in the rear - with full time staff available for assistance. When I built my Jr. Nobler Sanchez (a trully master builder) cut up a fuel can and soldered up a fuel tank for me to put in it. It flew pretty well for only my 2nd ever kit.

Unusual story indeed, Steve.

While still in the Philippines, my dad and I built a solid balsa H/L glider. It had 1/4" sheet wings about 15" wing span (poly dihedral). First flight he launched it straight up, it did a half loop, started to circle, caught a thermal and we watched it go out of sight. Just kept getting higher and farther away.

I recall getting $.10 "allowance" when we lived at Holloman AFB, NM. My Dad was first Base Commander there, and flew UC, and before that, in HS, he flew rubber and glider FF's in Corvallis, Oregon. Anyway, the $.10 went for a solid balsa jet kit of some sort at the PX. I would have been 4 YO. My two older brothers helped me build it, but then of course insisted that we fly it. I kept at it, building a lot of Comet and Monogram kits. When I was 12, I bought a C*X Babe Bee, built a CG Blazer and TF Speedibuilt Piper Cub for it. Both pretty much flew the same, tho one a FF and the other as CL, very wild. Didn't crash either, but the Cub eventually was responsible for teaching me to fly CL in a controlled way, with a gutless OK Cub. It would barely struggle into the air, so minimal control input was required. I designed and built models steadily until my Sr. year of HS, when I entered my first contest (Misery Meet '63, B Gas FF, Ramrod 600) and my second contest, Sr. Combat at Sand Point NAS, NW CL Regionals, and placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively. About '70, I took up F1A (Nordic A-2 gliders) and did that seriously until around '85, took up bass fishin' but came back in '95 & '96 flying glider again, then went back to CL as my knees and old age got my attention. Haven't really got my building program going, but hope to soon. My flying is not up to where it was prior to 1970, not by a long shot. I never learned the pattern then, and still haven't. Maybe this is the year, but whatever, I'm having fun, and I'm not too interested in contest flying anymore. I do hope to fly in a VSC in a few years and hope to fly in an Aussie NATS. Steve