I miss combat CL flying

fredvon4 wrote:Found this web searching for Jeff Dawson who is reported to sell airplanes in RCG

http://flyinglines.org/BG.2012.html

Jeff makes and sells his Sonic Chicken in the $50 range if I've been given good info. Bare told me about it, so... well, if you know Bare...
I didn't see any of Jeff's prices listed, just his contact info.

Fred:

If you haven't flown combat since the early seventies, you'll find combat planes are a whole lot quicker and more more manuverable than you might remember.

I believe that you know the reason why. Que up some "BeeGee's" and think about it.

Jeff is a personal friend of mine. I can attest to the quality of his planes as I own many. Jeff and myself have worked together to have aluminum mounts made available for both 1/2A, speed limit, and fast mounts. I have many mounts and if anyone is interested in these please contact me. The 1/2A mounts to date, are designed for the Cyclon, Profi, Fora. I will have some available for Tee Dee's, VA's, Stels, AP's and Norvel engines. These are still being made. Phil Cartier has a terrific setup which is the Gotcha SL and it uses a LA.25 for power. I fly the plane with a Magnum.25 no intake, 52' lines and a 8x5 prop and it will go 105+ all day long. Ken

Ron, The Tulsa Gluedobbers are a very active control line club in Tulsa Oklahoma. I've met several members at Brodak's and combat does exist in that neck of the woods. Something to look up that's for sure. Ken

Ken you continue to surprise me at how imbedded you are into the control line hobby and sport. We are lucky to have you as a resource here at CEF. My planes are better with the help and pointers that you and our other valued members take the time to give me when I'm clueless. In the spirit of the holidays(and Jack Daniels), thanks for your freely given expertise.

Hello Rusty, I want to thank you for that compliment . I've met lots of people in this hobby. It really is quite amazing on how close knit we all are due to the small group we have. I think all of us this stuff is just fascinating and I never want that feeling to leave. Ken

Here in the Northwest there's alot of combat. Some of the guys cut foam and sell it. You have to build them. Their not hard to put together. Go to flyinglines.org and then the combat page, lots of info there. And these guys love to help.

Foam models are certainly a different animal. They really take a beating, they're enjoyable to fly and I highly recommend them. They do require a different learning curve on how to build them. Many of the fellows from the northwest have given me advice and suggestions. I've since progressed into cutting my own foam which is really an experience all in itself. All of this requires practice and time. Time is something that not many of us have an abundance of. One thing I can say for certain is that I've seen beginner pilots go from hardly being able to fly a Ringmaster to flying a combat match. There really just isn't that much to break on a foam wing. On the other side, if two of them hit, carnage is a direct result and it can be pretty catastrophic. For those that indeed would like to try this aspect of the hobby, I have some pretty good advice. Rule:1, don't fall in love with your airplane. Rule:2 see rule number1. Ken

Ken:

I would also add "don't fall in love with your engine' because they are sometimes expensive casualties in hard crash.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday with your family!

We have seen alot of foam turned to dust, but what away to go. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Thanks all for the responses

I have been carousing the various combat and C/L sites and club pages and am quite aware thak my heavy balsa, ply, silk n dope Mathis Mongooses with a enimic fox 35 or fairly hot enya 35 at 85 to 99mph are not competitive for compitition. For a brief period when I WAS competitive it was with a foam wing version of the Mongoose and Clearence Lee warmed up engine

That all said...as I watch this site and the learning curve I see some are having with the 1/2a C/L learning I am reminded of my first flight with a Fox 35 and ringmaster.....WOW why on earth did I have to smoke so many plastic Cox planes into the ground trying to do simple acrobat manuvers.

If I had it to relive I would probably start at .25 or .35 sized foam symetrical wings and 50 60 foot lines... the line tension, stability of the aircraft makes for every easy learning curve and so much more forgiving to a tad bit of wind

I wonder how many kids got a cox for Xmas or birthday, crashed, and moved on to some other hobby

Not to worry here on this forum are many of us older gents workig towards reliving the past fun and some seni younger trying for first time

I have a sneaky suspicion many of you were at flying field same time as me in the 60s and 70s....unfortunatly 30+ years of moving all over ther world and knowing literally thousands of people I can not drag any of your names into my memory from those days in the califorina bay area or western Washington

BlackHawk has a remake of the Mongoose I am going to build...I still have a few Enya 35s with all the venturi inserts
New stooge in works this winter and I plan to relearn on big plane and save the BFS, Skyray, Lil combats, and voodoo for when I think I can deal with their twitchy quirks

Texas actually has a large C/L and combat following just not here in my immediate area

fredvon4 wrote:
I have a sneaky suspicion many of you were at flying field same time as me in the 60s and 70s....

Or the 50's ...............

I am keenly aware there are several here who may well have been my mentors and inspiration

And it is heart warming to know many are still alive, willing, and able to continue helping us youngsters...grin