Thanks Herman!
https://mode-zero.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1814

Thanks Boatshed!

Stuart Mackay
Just found this on Facebook Thought you might be interested
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/491021083006882/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks

Isaac: Yes I think the Gullwing wingspan is 8', disassembled barely fit in in my automobile. I converted (I did, back then, a little metal work too) a Ryobi weedwhacker for the engine. Never flew it, donated to the Piper Museum, Lock Haven, PA. As for old radios, pic is of some old junk I just can't seem to get rid of 😉

jbkiwi: Thank you, the Stinson has been residing at the Piper Museum, Lock Haven, PA for several years now. It was actually my last model Airplane. The radio was something called Avenger (I think), nothing memorable anyway as the Stinson never flew.😔

hermank: Yes, mostly it's was model aviation but sporadically I deviate. I've gotta get myself in gear and finish up my Bunker Boat (see earlier pics). What with the planes hanging from the ceiling I must have been attempting to recreate the old hobby shops of so long ago (sniff, sniff) 😂

Hey-you a good morning
When I see your “hobby room” I must say that look more as a model plane airport!!!!

Hey-Y, nice shop and great looking Stinson👍👍 What radio do you use with that?

JB

Love the Stinson Gullwing. It is huge!

I had a 0.60 powered Fairchild F-24 ( ranger engine version ) it was about 7 ft wing span with flaps no less back in the early 1980's . It was too big for my cars back then and I ended up selling it along with the Top Flight P-51 red racer.

And I used the brown metal cased Futaba radios ( 4 and 6 channels ). I loved those radios.👍😎

Isaac

Thank you DW 😌

Hey-You,
Very impressive shop.
I am officially green with envy .....
Dave B

Then: University, sometime 1954 -> 1958 Now: not too long ago

Great collection Stuart, used to see most of those in magazines years ago, also saw guys flying reed radios when I was young, and have never forgotten a guy flying a large model inverted 2ft off the ground using one, didn't find out till much later how difficult that would have been! even had a pilot with a moving joystick. I've seen a few guys here who have fitted the guts of a 2.4 radio into vintage radio boxes, like yours, the aerial gives them away.

This is a progressive collection of all the TXs I've used from the late 60s to now (sold the OS Cougar in the 70s) and they are all still working 100%. I changed the batteries in the Conquest TXs to LiFe 3s and they lasted for months. The 2 silver HK 6ch 2.4 TXs now use NiMH cells as does the small 6X 2.4 6ch, which last longer than dry cells. The Futaba 6EX still has its' original NiCad pack, (12yrs) but I have the special LiPo low C replacement to go in if it dies. It can bind to any number of FAAST RXs, (I use Orange, Futaba and Corona) I did strap a larger capacity car NiCad to the back of the Futaba 6ch brown box before I stopped using it, which improved flying times a lot.

The Acoms 4ch was modified with a pot on top for flaps on a 3ch plane, which ran off the LH rudder stick pot lead, and they could be swapped by using plugs which I'd fitted. The TGY (flySky) 9x is the early version, which allowed you to bind as many RXs as you needed (up to 10 from memory) which was really handy, but the new version HK sells, only binds one at a time, so you need to re-bind it for each RX/model - sort of destroys the 9 model memory idea! The 9XR uses a JR module with Vv8FR -II HV RXs which can all be bound the same. Uses a 3s 1500mah LiFe battery which lasts forever.

So many great radios out there today with infinite functions, just depends on what you want to spend, and if you have any use for all the functions. I remember watching a guy fly a number of years ago, and he told me that the lights flashing on the plane were done by the Futaba TX, not a module in the plane. I was a bit doubtful, but now I know, as I've done similar things with the 9XR, (servo stepping etc) Just have to remember what you put where (gets harder with age) 😐

JB

@BOATSHED

The 1955 is a bit of a red herring - I was born in 1950 too.
.............. or the "Good old Days" as they are known 🤣

I cut my teeth on Aerokits stuff, Sea Urchin, Sea Scout and Sea Commander. The latter with a Frog 349 diesel and others with early Mabuchi motors powered by dry cells. S - l - o - w!
My first boats were a pond yacht and then a small balsa cabin cruiser that my Dad built for me .............. a Yeoman "Mite". The superstructure was crushed at some stage but I still have the hull.

Hi Isaac, re different TXs,- I used a couple of Futaba Conquest 5ch FM Heli TXs I bought from a club member which were both set up with the same crystals as all the RXs in the planes. The Heli TXs were good, as you could use some of the Heli features with the planes, (such as throttle cut - stick back full to idle and flick a switch to stop) etc for a bit of extra fun. They also had servo reversing and adjustment switches in the battery compartment which was very handy.

Could never be bothered changing crystals constantly, as there were always people hogging certain frequencies, and you would have needed a box full of them to get a turn at flying. Just used to wait till someone finished and grab the peg. 2.4 was just a whole new dimension when it came out and made life more enjoyable.

JB

Stuart -Re the truck, it's actually an amphibious truck of my own design (some details in the blog section- Amphitruck) -geared brushed drive motor and 2 brushless O/R swim motors, pressurised diffs, engine sound etc, . Thought I'd give it a crack and it's worked out ok.

JB

I remember in the late 50's. I was still in school and I had this big, black MOPA transmitter, that set on the ground with a hand held push-button switch and a Lorenz 1AG4 vacuum tube regen receiver (did it have an early transistor 2nd stage to drive the relay?) that I built outa "Radio Row, NY" kits. I wish I had photos from then . . . heck, I wish I still had the hardware😂

JB


Nice collection of planes, boats and vehicles. Many are from a distant past. What joy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for the radios and technologies, everything gets improved or changed ( I threw away my VHS tape recorder years ago ). I would not call it lazy to have features in a radio system. For example, and you will remember, we needed a different transmitter/receiver for each airplane/boat ( unless you swapped crystals ). So if I went flying with 3 planes, I needed 3 radios. Now, I have one transmitter for as many planes ( or boats ) as I want. Granted some new radios are over the top with features and probably contribute to crashes if not fully understood, but to each his own.
Finally, I find there are many more flyers that are younger and way better than me and my 45+ plus years of flying RC.

And electric power opened up the hobby for me again.

Isaac

Thanks JBkiwi for the pics of your amazing collection!!👍
Is the military truck the one published in radio Modeller in late 60s?

Boatshed,

Your comment "I have a shed full of model boats" piqued my interest!

I'd love to see a picture of your "drydock" (aka shed), with all your boats!

As far as being "a kid again", I worked for 53 years to earn the right to be a kid again. And, I'm exercising that right! 😁
Thankfully, my wife supports my new obsession (as long as I don't question her spending on clothes and crafts .... LOL). 🤔

Let's see those boats!!!

Dave B

Razor1955,
I love your comment. ***
"You "kids" don't know you're born with all this proportional stuff"
I looked on your profile an#d you don't give your age, maybe the give away is the 1955 in your Avatar title.
If so then you are still just a bit of a kid to me I ama 1950 kid.
My first boat was an RAF Crash Tender, no radio control my parents said they couldn't afford that. So it was a case of set the boat running in a circle and either wait for it to run out of diesel fuel ao arrive at the other side of the pond. Which ever came first.
It had a ED Hunter 3.46cc diesel engine in it.
I got the boat for my nineth birthday in August 1959 and the engine for my Christmas present that year.
OH to be a kid again. My wife thinks I still am, I have a shed full of model boats, I have put some on Ebay to sell some, but I am going to keep the other Aerokit one's I still have. But I recently sold of 3 Aerokits Crash Tenders, a built 46" and a 46" kit and a 1994 34'5" Aerokits kit. It was a 50 year model release by Aerokits that I had stored in my shed unmade. But I do have a 28" scratch built Crash Tender that I made from drawing around all the parts of the 34'5" model and reducing on an Epson A3 printer.

As we are talking about old radio, somewhere in the back of my garage I have my first radios - a Simpletone, and MacGregor single channel transmitters and a Macgregor Minimac receiver. Teamed up with Ripmax MiniMite and MiniMo servos it was the only way to go on a strict budget that wouldn't run to a more modern reed set. (I only just missed the valve era!)
You "kids" don't know you're born with all this proportional stuff. 🤣

Hi Stuart, my first radio was an OS Cougar 2ch in the late 60s for boats, used that to death ! Futaba brown box 4ch and 6ch in the 70s till 27mhz became unusable, then Futaba and Acoms FM, then FlySky, Futaba, and HK 2.4 (probably FS rebadged) Favourite is a 9XR with a JR long range module which does everything you could want, (so good I bought 2)

Remember when you would set all your planes the same so you would just turn on the plane you wanted and it would need little trimming in flight. No 10 model memory and fancy end point adjustment etc. These days modern radios have encouraged some lazyness with plane settings, -but I do like them 😂 Everything in the pic is on 2.4 now and electric, or converted to electric.

JB

Yes Isaac, my main hobby is predominantly model flying! 👍😍😎

Love the photo of the Me-108 in Swiss colors and the old Kraft radio. A blast from the past for sure. 👍😎

Do you still fly RC planes ?


Isaac

I am a keen collector of old radio control sets and have a great interest in the British manufacturer Flight Link Control from Hounslow in Middlesex.

Idris Francis of FlightLink produced a 2 channel radio system for boats called the Launch Link and I am very keen to find any information or maybe even find a survivor to add to my collection.

If you have any information regarding FlightLink or RCS radio systems, please contact me on:

smackayrc@aol.com

or 07785 926158

Thanks

Stuart Mackay

I remember old radios so well. My first was a single channel Kraft just had one button you had to push quickly multiple times. It was all I could afford at the time, that was around 1966. If you wanted a better radio you needed a bank loan to purchase it. It used a giant dry cell battery that was not rechargeable. I couldn’t afford that either. That is why everyone flew control line planes.

Now you can purchase an entire nice six channel set up for $50. The same price as light lunch for two. You can get servos for $5 each.

Also R/C boats couldn’t be bought. If you wanted one you had to build it, there was no RTR boats or planes.

Looking more closely at the photographs, I recall those push-pull servos, very useful in some applications.
And secondly, I realise that the plugs on some of that gear would weigh more than a modern receiver - in fact probably as much as some servos!
Makes you wonder at the future of radio control. The development of the technology is staggering. I must admit to being "way behind the curve" - rudder and throttle/sail control and I'm happy 😊

Stuart
Are you opening a museum shortly?
😂😂😂

Superb collection of Kraft radios. Really superb, quality equipment and a credit to Phil Kraft.

Herman, Here are some of my Krafts through the years!😍

They look like KRAFT
That is bringing memories again 😂😂

Zooma, Here are some Skyleaders for you !😜

That picture rings some bells Stuart .

I think the top left Futaba DigiMax 4 was the first type that I remember seeing - not too long after I spent all my "hard earned" on my Launch Link radio set.

Incidentally, the major competitor for Flight Link back then was Skyleader - but unfortunately they never made a marine dedicated 2 channel radio for us model boat types.

I remember going to several of the "Nationals" events at RAF Cosford in those early years when almost everyone used Syleader - up until my last visit in 1972.

Isaac,here are some early Futaba that I have in the Collection 😎

speaking of old radios......


My first RC unit was a Mattel single channel pulse controller for model aircraft. The theory was in neutral, the rudder controller would vibrate back an forth. However, when you move the stick to either side, the controller would force a full left or right. Needless to say, it never worked right and I never installed it in an airplane. I trashed it. That was back in 1972 or so. I just found a unit for sale on EBay. Picture attached. I had the same exact unit on 27 MHz.

Then Heathkit came out with a kit to build a transmitter and receiver. I was excited, but doubted my capabilities. So I got a kit for an AM/FM radio. It never worked. So the idea of building my own radio was dashed.

finally......

My first proportional and useful radio was a Futaba 4 channel radio with a metallic light brown body with black sides. That was in 1975. I loved it.


Lots of fun with old technology and good memories.


Isaac

That looks good, but not knowing anything about electronics and to be honest they scare me when it comes to messing with them I wouldn't know where to start. I want to chop the case about too much, i would want to keep it looking as near to original as possible a except for the ariel, I know that would have to be different.
I have a full set I was going to see if I could get MacGregor just to service it and keep it as 27am. It does work but one of the servo's is faulty and the motor works inside but the arm on top doesn't move.
I want to put it into an Aerokits Sea Queen with a Taycol Supermarine Double Special Motor. I'm just having troubles on finding out how to get it to reverse. Once again it's all down to electronics that I'm lost with, and I don't really understand the electronic diagrams. I'll get there somehow though.

Oh right, I was just curious as I only use mainly 2 channel. I have a MacGregor Digimax 2 Transmitter that I was thinking of maybe trying to get converted.

I do them myself using Arduino based encoders (with servo reversing/single channel feature/throttle warning), new 2.4GHz DSMP (Spektrum compatible modules) and new batteries. I convert them for other modellers and the price is around £200 for a 4 channel system with a 6 channel lemonRx DSMX receiver with customer supplying the transmitter he wants converting, or I do have some old txs in stock that can be bought.

Where did you get them changed to 2.4 GHz and how much did it cost, also did you get the original receiver changed over to 2.4 GHz as well ?Please.

The golden days of folded aluminium transmitter cases! A friend had an OS Cougar and I can still remember the feel of those sticks. Solid performance too - just a tad bigger and heavier than modern gear - by some magnitude.
Good to see them being put to good use

here are some photos of my OS Cougars, one of which now operates on 2.4 GHz

Not long afterwards Futaba launched their new 4 channel radio control system into the UK and it looked much more attractive and modern and came with 17M servos.
This was soon followed by another slightly less "modern" looking radio from Japan - the OS Cougar outfit, again 4 channels with a lot more features for about the same cash as I had paid for my Launch Link.
At the time I was disappointed as they both made my treasured Launch Link radio look antiquated overnight!

My first ever radio control system was a Launch Link that I bought from Cyril Howes model shop in Bath in 1967 when I was aged 17.

I bought this set brand new with my apprenticeship wages to use in my Aerokits Swordsman that I was completing at the time.

This was a very expensive purchase for me at around £100 when I was only earning seven pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence per week, but I liked the black metal transmitter box/case and wanted something British made.

I was pleased with the set and used it with the Swordsman to enter one of the first organised British off-shore races from Torquay where the radio and the boat performed well enough to complete both rounds without incident.

Stuart Mackay
I still have the first radio control system I bought when I was 15 (now 73)
Namely a grundig variophon 2channel
With a kinematic
If there is an intrest let me know
Regards

I certainly remember Launch Link although at the time it was way more expensive than my budget allowed.
My first proportional radio was a Micron 4 channel set, which I self assembled from a kit supplied by Terry Tippett. At the time I lived in Sheffield and Terry lived just a few miles down the road, so once completed, I took it to him where he set it all up and corrected one or two bits of my clumsy soldering. The first installation was in one of the very first Mardave RC cars - another story for another day maybe.
Happy pioneer days.