[wingtipper]

how did you get hooked on RC AIRCRAFT MODELLING /FLYING ?
For me i was 4 or 5 years old , mum and dad used to take me to richmond airport to watch the jets take off 39 years ago . one particular time , i think it was there , i seen these mini airplanes , my jaw dropped , i was hooked , people were flying mini aeroplanes controlling them by remote control with boxes in thier hands . i rember seeing a BI PLANE doing a slow roll . MY NEXT WORDS WERE " CAN SANTA BRING ME ONE OF THOSE FOR CHRISTMAS " . santa never did . but i swore to myself back then , i just had to do this one day .

[kizza42]

I stumbled across this video back in 2006.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nygcxd954Y

After 15 seconds I had to have one! I went and got a RTF model and crashed it within 5 mins in the middle of Parra park, Thats 5 mins of frantic flying while I wrestled with Mode 1 (All my research had led me to believe everyone was Mode2).

I bought another RTF kit & tried to find a local club but no one at Blacktown Aeromodellers or the old PRCAC website answered emails so I worked out where the club was and ran into Darren one arvo. The rest is history!

[samste]

I Still Love the Old Stryker Frame Stock Setup, Its Cool and Yes Kieran Hooked me on to the Delta Fliers with His Stryker 27c he had.
I was only Flying in parks on and off for about a year before i joined the club.
I always had a facisnation with rc Planes and i started out with my Venom Island Hopper which they still sell Today, so i got Told at Hobbies in the Hills by Smuzz.

Steve

[secant0give]

I've had an interest in model aircraft since I was nine or ten. A good friend of mine's father is an aviation enthusiast, a keen modeller and full size aircraft builder.
He introduced us as kids to the art building and trimming free flight rubber powered, models and gliders. We grew up in Coober Pedy in central South Australia where there was no television and plenty of wide open spaces. This kind of activity was a big thing for us as kids, it was a formative influence on me and I can remember it occupied us for countless enjoyable hours. I've always liked building things, my father ran an engineering business for many years and I guess It stuck because I too followed this path.

Some time after I moved to Sydney I became interested in "Radio Control" initially with model boats. During my apprenticeship at AWA as a toolmaker I'd built a couple of model marine steam engines and flash boilers, I also built plywood hulls for them and used to run them out at SSME Lunenham. I also built a small fast foam/glass sandwich hull and fitted it with a K & B 40.

A little later, the mid 90s Frank (AKA Wingtipper) invited me to have a go at flying on UMAC's field at Erskine park. I learned to fly RC there and became a member for a year or two. I got to the stage where I could fly moderately fast hand launched .15 powered flying wings "little bits" that Frank and I co-built from plans in RCM&E. I also flew a .60 size ugly stick which I still have and is now electric powered. I never did any of the MAAA wings tests in those days tho'.
Around that time I began working for CSIRO at Lindfield. Some of my co-workers were a great bunch of guys who did a bit of slope soaring in the afternoons, mainly on the northern beaches. I tagged along, began slope soaring and built and flew gliders, both traditional plan form and many flying wings.

Interesting thread Thanks for starting it Wingtipper!!

[Flying fisho]

I have vague memories of building a Cessna style balsa/tissue/dope rubberband powered airplane when I was 10ish. My interest died as quickly as the plane did after many hours of building. Didn't give model planes another thought since then and didnt know remote control planes existed until Australia Day 2011 (must have been hiding under a rock) when I saw the guys at Parramatta Park showing all who attended just what remote control planes can do. I was instantly enthralled with the hobby and kicked off from there.

[paulj]

About 56 years ago I started makng my first planes.
In the UK Keil Kraft balsa and tissue covered models.
My first one was a Hurricane which was powered by winding a rubber band
attached to the prop.
My second was a F86 Sabre jet which was powered by lighting a solid fuel cartridge contained
inside a small JetX motor.
Think maximum flying time was about 45 seconds
I later moved on to control line flying and had a semi scale Focke Wulf FW190 which used a small
IC engine.
After coming to Australia I never had any money to persue the hobby until about 27 years ago
when I bought an AirFlite Hustler kit and a Sanwa Excellence Series EX6 6channel digital proportional system (which I still have today complete with servos etc)
That radio has never been used except in a static model as I was too scared to fly by myself.
I built the Hustler and gave it away.
In 1997 I was on holidays in Norfolk Island and caught the bug again and bought a Great Planes Super Sports 40 but on returning home work and life's other chores again interfered and I never got around to building that model.
I endured a few years of mates and family having a go at me about I would never fly until one day I found Kieran on rcgroups who told me about PRCAC and invited me down to have a look at what I was missing.
The rest is history as they say, bought a foam Cessna and 2.4Ghz Radio and gave the Super Sports to my son Kev who ended up building and flying it as his first plane.

[Stuka]

It was fascination with Flying Objects that got me hooked
Growing up in Malta in the mid 40's we had plenty of Flying Objects to look at: Hurricanes, Spitfires, Beaufighters, Wellingtons, stationed there just after the war to be followed by Meteors, Vampires, Canberras, Vulcans and Handley Page Victors.
We invariable looked up and soon became very adept at identifying each and every one. We even had the odd Mirage come over.
Never missed an airshow either. Plenty of planes to look at, formation flying, target bombing etc.
The only "Model" I remember having had was a balsa one that looked like a "Spit" with a hook at the bottom. It was launched by attaching it to a rubber band on a stick. Spent hours letting loose until one time it finished up in the sea.
Some 4 years ago just happened to be talking with John Pellicano and the subject of RC flying came up. Somehow he made contact with Darren. Bought a Cub each and started from there. Then Kieran, Chris, Paul and the rest came. I'm proud to say that joining PRCAC has been one of the best decisions I have ever made in relation to my spare time activities.

[brotherblonde]

Back in the mid 70's my brother had a control line model & I got interested too. A couple of mates got them & we sort of "evolved" into RC. It was interesting to note that the "Hobby King" of the '70's was in Norfolk Island. We used to get a lot of stuff from there. It took a while with snail mail being the only way to order. My first RC aircraft was a 3ch, 7cc, high wing trainer with rubber bands holding on the wings. Not enough, as it turned out, fatefully on it's maiden. My instructor felt so bad for me, as he was flying it at the time it took its death dive, that he gave me one of his own. I had this plane for over 2 years without scratching it....too much.

My interest in RC led me to a career flying the real one's, which I still do today, and love it just as I did on day one. I continued flying fixed wing RC for several years, all Mode 1, IC engined aircraft ranging from biplanes to a Dago Red Reno racer to a 1/6 scale Spitfire. About 17 years ago, Marriage, kids & mortgage put the planes on hold until 2 years ago. I decided to get back into the hobby with Helis and......Mode 2. Flying the real ones showed me that elevator & ailerons are on the same stick. So, after getting a Blade 400 (not the easiest to learn on, but it was all I knew so I jsu did what I had to do to fly it), then a 500 & eventually a 600 sized heli, my hobby came full circle with another Spitfire!

I need to echo Victor's final comment regarding PRCAC. I have never been involved in such a wonderful, fun loving, friendly, helpful & non political model RC club in my life. I think that is a great testament to the calibre of guys (we need some girls) in the club.