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AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
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AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Sat Dec 06, 2014 5:10 pm
As illustrated by my previous post, I seem to have a surplus of "Brain Energy" this evening, with no clear target to aim it at, and have been cruising the threads over on Stunt Hangar.
On the thread about Hobby Shops, I picked up another sideways slur about AHC, and seem to remember some here and on R.C.Groups, and was wondering if it was simply their competing against the LHS's or if they really did rip off a lot of their customers as the poster inferred.
Living in a small town, fairly isolated from any hobby store, the occasional AHC mail order I could swing was always a big deal when it showed up. My first Babe Bee came from there, along with lots of other "little stuff" that fit in my budget...and later on, several kits.
Anyway any thoughts? Did anyone here get less than what they paid for from AHC?
On the thread about Hobby Shops, I picked up another sideways slur about AHC, and seem to remember some here and on R.C.Groups, and was wondering if it was simply their competing against the LHS's or if they really did rip off a lot of their customers as the poster inferred.
Living in a small town, fairly isolated from any hobby store, the occasional AHC mail order I could swing was always a big deal when it showed up. My first Babe Bee came from there, along with lots of other "little stuff" that fit in my budget...and later on, several kits.
Anyway any thoughts? Did anyone here get less than what they paid for from AHC?
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Ken Cook Sat Dec 06, 2014 5:19 pm
I made many kit purchases from AHC. I loved the adds and I would always take the time to check out the specials. I never purchased engines, but many tanks, wheels etc. I delivered many papers in order to purchase that Flite Streak and Fox .35 combo. I believe the add was originally for a Mccoy red head but for a few dollars more the Fox could be purchased. That Flite Streak still hangs on my wall to this day. Ken
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
andrew Sat Dec 06, 2014 9:21 pm
Ken Cook wrote:I loved the adds and I would always take the time to check out the specials............
I loved the ads, too. As a boy, I didn't live in the middle of nowhere, but I could see it from the back porch. Being buried out in the country with hardly any money, model magazines were the things dreams were made of. AHC usually had at least two pages and lots of pictures -- wow, what memories.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Sat Dec 06, 2014 9:44 pm
Yeah,
As with Ken, the images in those ads put a lot of power to my paper routes and other money-making "kid jobs".
I never got one of their catalogs until much later...in 1984 or so...and it has an odd blend of old stuff, mixed with new ducted fan jets and R/C helicopters.
As with Ken, the images in those ads put a lot of power to my paper routes and other money-making "kid jobs".
I never got one of their catalogs until much later...in 1984 or so...and it has an odd blend of old stuff, mixed with new ducted fan jets and R/C helicopters.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Mark Boesen Sat Dec 06, 2014 10:41 pm
jez...you don't realize (or maybe you do :^) how much time i spent drooling on those ads as a kid! This ad was from 1969, i was 11.
(p.s. i just noticed they were still trying to sell Aurora RTF Bonzos, for about half of what the .020 Cox (limegreen) Mini Stunt was bringing, The Aurora model had been out of production for several years '63-'64)
(p.s. i just noticed they were still trying to sell Aurora RTF Bonzos, for about half of what the .020 Cox (limegreen) Mini Stunt was bringing, The Aurora model had been out of production for several years '63-'64)
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Marleysky Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:49 pm
After having been "burned" by the mail ordered purchase of the Sea Monkeys from the ads in the back of Archie & Jughead comics, I never was excited to spend my paper route money anywhere other than the LHS(s) Yes, back then there were multiple hobby stores with in bike riding distance. Those ads did get the adrenalin and drool flowing for a large variety of model cars and planes. But I always found what I wanted on the shelf at the LHS. Unfortunately that is no longer true. Thanks to Amazon and now Bernie 
every thing ( well, almost everything) I want or need , is available at the click of a mouse.
every thing ( well, almost everything) I want or need , is available at the click of a mouse. 
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
batjac Mon Dec 08, 2014 12:55 am
AHC was where I got my first R/C airplane and radio. A Papillon motor glider for .049, and a two channel Futaba radio to fly it. Crashed, and crashed, and crashed some more. I loved that thing...
The Beginner Mark
The Beginner Mark
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:58 am
Same case for me. I'd used a buddy's MK I Kadet to learn to fly, so my first proportional plane had a much easier life. I ordered my "Dream Plane" at the time from AHC, a Jetco 'Navigator' and an EK Logitrol Champion 5 Channel radio. A HUGE chunk of cash from my frail budget, but it turned out to be some of the best money I ever spent.
The plane is an elegant, graceful flyer, and my favorite 'stunt' was a hammerhead, with the Navigator rotating perfectly at it's stall, thanks to it's engine's thrust on the rudder, and coming straight back down it's original track. Not a big deal today, but it was a thrill back then.
The Navigator still exits, and is on the restoration back-burner, and I still have the Champion Radio, but it gave up it's ghost back in the early 1990's or so.
The plane is an elegant, graceful flyer, and my favorite 'stunt' was a hammerhead, with the Navigator rotating perfectly at it's stall, thanks to it's engine's thrust on the rudder, and coming straight back down it's original track. Not a big deal today, but it was a thrill back then.
The Navigator still exits, and is on the restoration back-burner, and I still have the Champion Radio, but it gave up it's ghost back in the early 1990's or so.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
getback Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:50 am
Ken you R a pod man that's for sure was that a medallion on there?? Looks like it sure got a lot of air time is that the rebuild Jetco 'Navigator' Nice 
Eric
Eric 
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Mon Dec 08, 2014 8:02 am
getback wrote:Ken you R a pod man that's for sure was that a medallion on there?? Looks like it sure got a lot of air time is that the rebuild Jetco 'Navigator' Nice
Thanks Eric!
Yeah, it's a Medallion .09 (that I still have) with a throttle band that I was assured "would never work". Luckily for me the .09 didn't know it couldn't throttle, and did so, very dependably...you just had to give it a gentle lead when coming on with the power. Navigator won first place in one of the few Fun-Flys I ever attended...shamelessly beating out everyone in the "Limbo Event". Low flying was our specialty, and I still have the little medal we won.
For a long time, Navigator was my only R/C plane, and got flown a LOT, even playing the part of a trainer with a few guys I trusted. Yeah, the rebuild is in the photo, and like so many others, is waiting for my attention.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
andrew Mon Dec 08, 2014 1:08 pm
Nothing like a floatplane for a land-locked flatlander!!!
The restoration looks good, so far.
The restoration looks good, so far.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Mon Dec 08, 2014 1:13 pm
Thanks !
But any old puddle will do!
Ironically, my Navigator never saw water, though it DID do a lot of snow flying. It was designed for Free flight or simple (light) R/C, and the first time I float-tested it with that .09 and it's brick-heavy EK radio (3 channels) it sank up to the cabin windows!
I plan to fix that when I get it flying again (whenever that happens), using the new super-light radios available today.
But any old puddle will do!
Ironically, my Navigator never saw water, though it DID do a lot of snow flying. It was designed for Free flight or simple (light) R/C, and the first time I float-tested it with that .09 and it's brick-heavy EK radio (3 channels) it sank up to the cabin windows!
I plan to fix that when I get it flying again (whenever that happens), using the new super-light radios available today.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
RknRusty Mon Dec 08, 2014 2:48 pm
Kim I like how your avatar is a slideshow documentary of The Life and Adventures of Kim.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
roddie Mon Dec 08, 2014 2:54 pm
Is that a wing-float I see in the rebuild photo? Did the original kit include them?
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Mon Dec 08, 2014 4:09 pm
RknRusty wrote:Kim I like how your avatar is a slideshow documentary of The Life and Adventures of Kim.
Thanks Rusty...hope it doesn't get to be too much...just got a TON of photos !!
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Mon Dec 08, 2014 4:21 pm
roddie wrote:Is that a wing-float I see in the rebuild photo? Did the original kit include them?
Yeah, they included balsa blocks that were cut pretty closely to shape, with ancient, dark ply struts. I shaped the strut ends to hook around a dowel peg up in the wing, with a ply post sticking down in front to take a rubber band that wrapped around them. This gave them some give, and allowed them to totally unhook if they were hit really hard.
I'll be using the originals if I get it to fly off water.
The kit also included a steerable water rudder, which I removed when the it became obvious that plane was gonna spend a lot of time as a Pasture Slider !
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Mark Boesen Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:52 pm
batjac wrote:AHC was where I got my first R/C airplane and radio. A Papillon motor glider for .049, and a two channel Futaba radio to fly it. Crashed, and crashed, and crashed some more. I loved that thing...
The Beginner Mark
OMG, (wow), LOL (hahaha) My first R/C job, was also Papillon, powered with a Golden Bee and Futaba radio! I pretty sure i order it thru Hobby Shack, I ordered a from them many times, Thunder Tiger, Fuji engines, etc. I later added the Fuji (.099) w/ landing gear and third servo for throttle to the Pappilion.
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Mark Boesen Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:53 pm
Kim, I gotta say that's one really cool airplane congrats!
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Re: AHC...America's Hobby Center...Good, Bad, or Indifferent ?
Kim Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:03 am
Mark Boesen wrote:Kim, I gotta say that's one really cool airplane congrats!
Thanks Mark...just got to get to it and bring it back to life.
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