how I got started in gas powered models

chevyiron420 Thu May 07, 2015 7:30 pm

I will be 58 in Dec. but must have been about 9 years old when I got one of these for Christmas. I figured out how to start and run it, and I really loved it. The car was stolen from me and by the time I got it back it was ruined. I always wanted another one and about 10 years ago I found one. I liked the car so much I bought a 57 chevy when I was 16 and fixed it up like the model. I drove that car for over 20 years. I miss that car too and have bought another one, if I can ever get it on the road.This probably explains why I love my wen mac as much as my cox engines.
Phil
how I got started in gas powered models Img_0225

how I got started in gas powered models Img_0225

how I got started in gas powered models Img_0226

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how I got started in gas powered models Img_0229

Sig Skyray Thu May 07, 2015 8:29 pm

Great looking model Phil. I got into gas engine modeling in a similar way. My first was a Cox dune buggy at about 10 or 11. I still can't believe how much fun that thing provided me and my friends. I played and played with that thing. Might have something to do with my hearing loss now.

Soon after, some neighborhood kids got a Cox dragster, then a Cox Shrike. The Shrike's had pusher props on the back and ran tethered, or not. Since we were now into props, the next logical move was into CL flying. The Cox plastic CL plane my aunt brought me for my birthday one year was crashed by my well-meaning father a couple times and discarded before I had a chance to fly it, but that didn't thwart my entry to the hobby a bit later.

I loved that dune buggy, but not so much that it was my first car. A '68 Mustang was my vehicle of choice back then.

Now I'm returning to the sport of CL with my 9 year old son and really looking forward to it! Building a couple balsa 1/2a kits now and will post when we make some good progress. I miss that Mustang and pine for another, but I can relive my Lil' Wizard experience again... now.
Greg

chevyiron420 Fri May 08, 2015 7:31 pm

Great story Skyray. One of my friends got a cox dune buggy. That thing was a blast. I somehow traded him out of it later and had a ball with it myself.

akjgardner Sat May 09, 2015 7:11 pm

I used to help my Uncle remodle houses,One day for a bonus he bought me a shoestring kit and tought me how to build and apply the silkspan and dope.I never had the money to buy an engine so I never did get to fly it.I did however start to buy and fly cox airplanes.I wish I still had them.I think I had 3 p-40s and 2 stuka's and some fle market ones that I can't remeember what they where.My Uncle is 78 now and is absolutely the best Uncle anyone could ever have.I'm trying to get him back into the hobby,but he says he is to old now.

roddie Sun May 10, 2015 9:59 am

My Mom's Father, her Brother and my Dad (his in-laws) were all building and flying C/L models by the time I was born in 1960. They flew at the local school yards with a couple of other guys. Control Line was big then.. Fox and McCoy engines, Ambroid glue, Veco/Sterling kits.. and Perfect-brand fuel tanks/hardware were plentiful at the local hobby shops. Solid-state radios hadn't even been invented yet!

My first Cox model was a Sopwith Camel like this one below.. probably around 1968.

how I got started in gas powered models Cox-so10

how I got started in gas powered models Cox-so10

My dad built me Carl Goldberg "Swordsman" (18") and "Stuntman" (23") models that we flew back around that same time.. but I became interested in girls... and didn't get seriously involved in the hobby until probably 20 years later.

Ken Cook Sun May 10, 2015 10:22 am

I was a young boy when my dad's friend returned from Vietnam. His friend was a Huey pilot who get hit in the heel with a phosphorous tracer round. He was hospitalized for almost a year and returned home the summer of 1970. The injury resulted in a amputation of the leg almost to the hip. His morale was way down but my father got him building models control line and r/c. This became a weekly event and he received a prosthetic leg which looked like it came from Terminator. He just loved it especially 1/2A. I think there's a connection due to my liking of it equally. I would assist him holding onto him or I should say he used me for balance. I often wonder if he ever continued the hobby as I lost touch with him when I was a teenager. Somewhere I have a picture of him holding a Cessna Bird Dog which was Cox .049 powered.

**RknRusty** Sun May 10, 2015 3:37 pm

chevyiron420 wrote:I will be 58 in Dec. but must have been about 9 years old when I got one of these for Christmas. I figured out how to start and run it, and I really loved it. The car was stolen from me and by the time I got it back it was ruined. I always wanted another one and about 10 years ago I found one. I liked the car so much I bought a 57 chevy when I was 16 and fixed it up like the model. I drove that car for over 20 years. I miss that car too and have bought another one, if I can ever get it on the road.This probably explains why I love my wen mac as much as my cox engines.
Phil

Iron Man, you remind me of this. But it's a '56, not a '57

Blew by You... and I don't mean Linda Ronstadt!
https://youtu.be/G2Nyv8WB8tQ

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