Hello Everyone,

I just want to say hello to all the rcmodel airplane crowd. I know how hard it is to find a good site that has plenty of good content about Models. I have been in the Model business for over 10 years and I have to say that I Love it. There is nothing out there that can give you the thrill that you will get when you first fly Solo.

Lets go way back when I was a lets say much younger man…LOL!! I started out by flying Control Line. That got boring because it made me drunk from going around and around. One Sunday evening I was flying my P-51 Mustang and a friend of mine (Billy) came by to see me. He told me that he just got started with rcmodel airplanes…the kind that you stand in one place and take it off and fly it around. I likna fell on the dirt…I have never heard of anything like that…this was the first.

Later on that afternoon after we finished flying for the day and I put things up Billy came by the house and we talked about this new thing…Flying airplanes with out a string. They were called rcmodel airplanes. WOW…This was Big News for me!! He even brought some books from Tower Hobbies for me to look at….Man…I was so excited that we picked out my first airplane right away. I will never forget it…it was the 25 size Eaglet made by Carl Goldberg. I got that thing on its way that Monday evening when I got home from work.

I was so excited all week waiting for the kit and OS 25 engine that I ordered. I thought for sure it would be here by Friday….here I am waiting and waiting..just like a Kid in a Candy Store. Needless to say it didn't get here until that Next Monday.

Boy, when my wife called me and told me that the UPS Man had left a package at the door for me I couldn't wait until I got off work. When I finally got off work I rushed off to see what I had waiting on me at home. I got there in plenty of time to open that thing and start looking through every piece of it. I didn't know that I had to build it…LOL!! I thought it was pretty much ready to go…Boy…was I wrong.

After I took several days to look through the kit and read the instruction book I called Billy and asked him to come over and give me some pointers about how all this stuff goes together. He came over the next evening and we looked through the kit and labeled everything . After that he told me how to get set up to build the wing and to make sure that I got an old door that was straight to build the wing on…I spend a couple of days looking around until I found the perfect one to build the wings on.

It took me 3 nights to build the 2 wing panels and I called Billy again and we set up a night when he could come over and help me glue the 2 wing halves together. He came over on a Friday night and we took care of that…he also gave me some good ideas on how to build the fuselodge and the stabilizer. WE spent the rest of the night messing with that and boy was I excited….I was ready to fly it…LOL!!

Anyway to shorten up the story It took me about 3 weeks to get the plane ready to fly. Billy came over several more times and helped me get everything just right. The night we finished putting in the radio and balancing it. That really made me a Happy Camper! It was finally ready to go and fly. This was on a Thursday night. I had to wait until Saturday and hope that the wind was not blowing that much for us to try it.

Saturday finally got here and we waited until late that evening for the wind to slow down. Billy and I finally made it to the field…it was time to put the Eaglet into the air. I was so excited about taking it off and to see how it would fly. I forgot that I have never flown one of these things before…I cranked it up with Billy's help and guidance. I tried to taxi it around..man this was no easy task to make it go in a straight line…anyway I did run the first tank of gas out running it around at the field. We cut it off and let it cool and I asked Billy if he would take it off for me and trim it out for me. He said sure thing…he would be glad to help me…so, I gave him the controls and we fired it up…took 2 flips of the prop and it was purring like a kitten.

Boy…this was my big moment….would it fly or crash? Would all that money that I had spent be torn to little pieces on the first flight? I got scared…by that time Billy was at the end of the runway turning around ready to head back toward us into the wind…he gives it a 1/4 throttle and here it comes getting faster and faster…by the time it gets right in front of us he pulls up and it goes airborne…whoa…amazing…it took off right in front of my eyes. In just a few minutes it was at the other end of the runway still gaining speed and altitude.

Billy said it needed 2 clicks up in the elevator and 3 clicks of right aileron trim to make it fly perfect…wow..my first RC model airplane flying in the air on its maiden voyage. Billy slowed it back down to about 1/4 throttle and gave it to me to fly…told me to keep it high and if I got into trouble just hand it right back to him…I flew it for about 5 minuets around and around in big circles doing what he said to do…man this was way cool…here I am flying my first airplane that I built….

You don't know the feeling to know that I spent 3 weeks building this kit and took it out there and it flew good right off the bat..Man it don't get any better that that….If you ever get a chance to go to a RC model airplane field or banana hobby be sure and take your kids…this is a great way to spend time with them and to teach them a hobby.

I really do enjoy the RC model hobbies…please take a look at both of my websites and there you will be able to keep up on the latest videos and written content from around the world. If you like what you see please be sure and pass the url's on to all of your flying and train buddies.

Thanks again for reading,

Gerry McConnell