Friday 17 August 2012

What a great time to live in!

I was in my local hobby store the other day picking up a few bits and bobs, readying myself for when I get off my butt and order a new case of foam.  The guy was out the back for a couple of minutes so I looked around the RC section and it hit me really really hard...  We live in a really great time to get into RC planes. 

I remember being younger and dreaming of being able to afford to fly but even a basic trainer was 100's of dollars before you even looked at a radio gear, a motor, servos and whatnot.  Window shopping in hobby stores and parking outside of club fields to watch the fun used to be a couple of my favourite passtimes.  I'm not talking as a child here, this was in my 20's and 30's. 

These are passtimes that I haven't indulged in lately and haven't really thought about either, I'm now flying after all.  It gave me a trip down memory lane though.

"Back in the day" I ended up taking the cheaper option which was getting into RC cars.  It was still 100's of dollars but fewer hundreds.  They were fun days too but of course I was always dreaming of flight while I was zooming around tracks or over obstacles in offroad courses.

Then I looked at the price tags on the cars and had another flashback;  Monty Python.



How great is it that building a foam parkjet, with such high aerobatic performance in comparison to the old "cheap" 3 channel trainers, can be done for about $120?  While I truly think my experience should be envied in many ways, fond memories and wistful dreams just don't have a price tag, there are times that I would have sold a kidney to get here if I knew these days were coming.

You live in a truly great time to get into RC planes, to get your kids into RC planes.  A time when you can take an afternoon or two around a table and build a parkjet, alone or with the yard monkeys, watching it take form out of a flat sheet of 6mm foam.

Revel in the age of technological wonders you live in.  It's kind of awesome ;).

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