Geezer's Home

[Daddy O]

I have noticed that I and others are having a tendency to stray from the initial subject mater of the original posting and begin to ramble.(was that a run on sentence?)

I'd like to ask our gratious host to create a new catagory for the Geezers. Oh, the Pups could join in to humor us some, they might even contribute to our understanding of new technology. :bs:

Just a though, we blue hairs can find a way to communicate.

[BruceC]

Another Old Geezer here.

I figured since Andy didn't kick us off the other thread, we couldn't be too far off base, but you're right, better to have our own thread over here.

Funny though, I actually did build R/C receivers from a kit back in the old days. The transmitters we scratch built from components. Had to make our own stick assemblies from pots, scrap aluminum, springs, hacksaws, and files. those were the days.

Now it's just like in ham radio. You can't build a quality product for any where near the cost of a better commercial unit.

Bruce

[AndyKunz]

My Dad is Bill Coons.

I remember the name, and I remember the RCM Ercoupe cover. Don't have the issue, though. We have an old guy who flies a restored Ercoupe down at the Easton, PA (aka Bradens or Moyers) airport for the Young Eagles days. I think it's a neat design. I have a friend who flies a Traumahawk ;) so that's what my boys go up in, but I wouldn't mind seeing them fly in an Ercoupe. They aren't going to be airworthy forever, the Pipers will be for a while yet.

Dave Platt - still a household name! The Contender is a Top Flite kit. TF has updated it some to keep it sellable, and it still flies great from what I'm told. http://www.top-flite.com/airplanes/topa0210.html

I hope this old history isn't boring everyone. Anybody elso go back this far?

Not all is first hand for me - I wasn't born until 63 but I think I memorized all the Air Trails mags my dad had from 51-57 or so.

Andy

[BruceC]

I just emailed my Dad about this thread. Maybe he'll come over and join us. He can tell us the tall tales about his flying full size R/C F6F's over ships for target practice during WWII!!!! :)

Bruce

[George Pfeifer]

I'll check in as a moldy oldy. I will turn 60 in Sept, built my first electric boat when I was 10 (thats 1952). a little plastic mono hull with a scale Johnson outboard, running on four D cells ( wish I still had that motor!)
Built my first R/C boat in 1956, a Miss Thriftway. The radio was a single channel Babcock. I still have it and it is still functional. The original box that it came in has a price tag of $69.95 for the transmitter and $59.95 for the receiver. The servo was essentially a stepping motor and one push of the transmitter button produced a quarter turn on the servo. The antenna on the transmitter was a 36 inch piece of piano wire that you stick into a clip on the top of the unit.
Batteries to power the Miss Thriftway were Aristocraft 6 volt lead-acid. Really messy. I still have one 4 volt Aristocraft lead acid battery (brand new in the box, never been used).
In the mid to late 50's there were about 8 of us that gathered in a city park in downtown Mpls every Sunday morning and ran boats (gas, electric, & sail). 2 of the guys had 36 inch fibreglass cabin cruiser hulls with Olisen & Rice gas motors, and their idea of fun was to stand accross the lake from a fishing dock and see how many passes they could make thru the dock piers at full throttle without hitting a pier. It was amazing how much punsihment those hulls could take.
In the 5-6 years that we sailed there we only lost one boat, and that was a sail boat, never did recover that one.
2 years ago I ran into one of the guys from those days, and though he is no longer in the hobby, he still has his Sterling Chris Craft that he ran back then. Says it is on display in his den. Some where he says he also has the 8MM films that he took of us running our boats. Would love to see those.

Later;
George

[BruceC]

Originally posted by George Pfeifer
I'll check in as a moldy oldy. I will turn 60 in Sept, built my first electric boat when I was 10 (thats 1952). a little plastic mono hull with a scale Johnson outboard, running on four D cells ( wish I still had that motor!)
Built my first R/C boat in 1956, a Miss Thriftway. The radio was a single channel Babcock. I still have it and it is still functional. The original box that it came in has a price tag of $69.95 for the transmitter and $59.95 for the receiver. The servo was essentially a stepping motor and one push of the transmitter button produced a quarter turn on the servo. The antenna on the transmitter was a 36 inch piece of piano wire that you stick into a clip on the top of the unit.


Hi George,

Boy, that's getting back there even before my time. And I think it's really great that you still have some of the items from that era. What great memories they must bring back of (I think) a nicer and simpler time. I remember the Babcock escapements and the scratch built transmitters. I wish I still had some of the things from those days, but 32 years with the military, with all the attendant moves, plus my parents having divorced and both moved all over the place, all those things are long lost.

Do you remember what the skinny little tubes in the early superhet R/C receivers were called? I've been trying to remember their name, but it just won't come. They were little pentodes with all the wires just coming out of the glass base. About 3/8" diameter and about 2" long. Remember those?

Regards,
BruceC