Wow, I am now 81 years old and started when I was 7. I loved airplanes and would spend hours in front of the windows at the local hobby shop. I asked my dad to buy me a simple kit, which he did not. Instead, he purchased a propeller and 1/8" sticks, some glue, and tissue, saying that if I build a plane that flies 10 feet, he'll buy me a kit.
I tried to copy a Pacific Ace, but mine was so crude with flat wings and glued struts, so they would not warp. I tied together rubber bands, wound the propeller, and checked a balance. It flew 14 feet and crashed into the ground, breaking in a zillion pieces, but I got my first kit—a Mercury 049 U-Control kit. That was my beginning. Later, it was larger airplanes and Free Flight.
At age 11, I won my first Free Flight contest with my own design that I still have, and then came RC, starting with a Jensen Ugly Stick that I learned to fly with and still have. From there, I went to fly pattern and hone my skills in Scale, participating in the Nats in Lake Charles and winning Sport Scale with a Tiger Moth, which I also still have.
In my later years, I slowed down due to the difficulty of understanding radios and the high cost of the hobby. From my shop roof hangs a scale project that I was planning for world competition, but now it is outdated. I have many kits that are unbuilt, and I guess if I go back to building, it will have to be Free Flight.
