My journey into RC airplanes started as a teenager, having received a used Control Line P-54 Mustang. Having never flown before, the flight was short lived - all of about 15 seconds. Enough time to go around twice, up, and then straight down into a category 5 failure of several thousand pieces. A couple decades passed before I was able to re-enter the hobby, as I was given a 48" wingspan RC Spitfire that a gentleman in the community had started, but had died before completing it.
I was able to finish the model, took it to the local RC club, and asked if someone might help me fly it. Rick Brantley asked me if I had ever flown before, and as I gave my earlier account, he promptly invited me to begin working on a trainer that would properly get me into the hobby without further disappointment. He helped me get an Eagle 2 trainer, and I went to work on it on my dining room table at home. Not long afterwards, I was hooked on flying. I became a member of the Reedsburg Area Flyers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, and I learned one great lesson very early.
If you don't want to crash your plane, hang it. Gravity works very well, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I learned quickly how to repair broken airplanes. Throughout the years, I have had the great delight in building many planes from kits, seeing them develop from wooden strips to flyable airplanes. I flew mostly nitro-methane small scale planes (.40-.91 size), building several trainers, an Ultimate Bipelane, a T-34 Mentor, and a Cessna 182 from kits. Man, I love those planes!
I have recently moved up into a bit larger sized planes. My kids gave me an Antonov AN-2 ARF 101" wingspan plane for Christmas a year ago, so I've completed it. Having built all my planes from kits, this one felt like cheating, being delivered in large pieces ready to assemble. It was fun putting together, however.
But when I was a member of the Marinette, Wisconsin/Menominee, Michigan RC club, back in 2011, Mark Enderby, from Balsa USA, had gifted me a set of Dick Barron plans for a 110" wingspan SR-9 Stinson Reliant, as well as the bare-bones fuselage, wings, and tail feathers of the airplane that a friend had begun building from those plans in 1979, but had lost interest or got over his head. It's taking a while for me to learn how to build from plans, and from scratch (a lot of head scratching), but I am nearly finished with it. I hope to complete it soon (see picture).
I have enjoyed the hobby of RC airplanes, and hope to do more of it in my retirement that is coming soon.
Warren Waddell
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
