After yesterdays little accident I think maybe I should stick to model trains. I was working on my Pipper Super Cub when a friend hit the throttle and I got my hand into the propeller. Big ouch!! Six slashes on my pointing finger and across the back of my hand. Nothing that required stitching but it scared the bejesus out of me, hurt and bleed a lot for a while. It will probably bruise nicely as well. arghh: Maybe just stick to kites.laugh:
Hobbies are dangerous. Ha ha. Knitting has big, sharp, pointy tools. Chasing butterflies can probably cause some injury. Watching TV? Sleeping? Argh. Might as well work on those trains.
Yah the trains never jumped up and started slashing like a Ninja. :tb-wacky: Did I mention this is my first RC plane and it's a big one. 40" wing span and a very sharp 9" prop.
I packed up my planes many years ago. Fewer places safe to fly them. I converted my R/C servos to switch machines.
I'd like to stay away from airplanes...but it was my career choice. But as its said, all real crew chiefs have aircraft bites.
Try model rockets - with practice you may be able to shoot down those finger eating planes ----------Just Kidding I know a guy who lost his left index finger due to a finger eating prop, he still flies but is crazier than ever, he now flies ducted fan jets - talk about an expensive hobby.
Not sure if trains are all that safer.....I have several scars from sharp X-Acto knives (including a spot where I almost cut a chunk out of my left thumb, which left parallel scars and no feeling in that spot); places where I had to pull off superglue that had dried on my fingers; a crushed finger or two from nailing track; splinters in my hands.......but maybe it's just my inner klutz...... Actually, I prefer trains to planes- I have a hard time watching a well-built model that I spent hours on augering into the ground, with disastrous results.
I've had a loco or two make the big dive to the concrete - that hurts too! I have had two steam locos that I set on the work bench, on the foam work surface, tip over after I left the room. They rolled off the work bench and fell to the floor. It took me an hour to find one of them. (It was right here... on the workbench... I am positive... it's not on the layout... it's not on the shelf...). Was lucky to only have a broken bell frame, repairable motor mount break, and slight crack in a plastic boiler that's not too noticeable. Mechanisms survived - thank goodness! George V. George V.
Funny you bring this up as I just got back from the Toledo Weak Signals R/C airplane trade show. I was good this year and didn't buy anything, although a 30cc Super Chipmunk was really tempting. George, what Cub are you flying? Flyzone? Hobbyzone? Watch those little electrics. I say little cause my Cub at 81" is considered small now. The new brushless motors can cut you up and worse. Unlike the nitro engines that may stop when they hit a finger or arm, brushless motors don't! I treat my little electrics with as much respect as my larger planes. One other thing if your flying a scale Cub, not a sport Cub, you need to master three controls. Rudder, rudder and more rudder. I've competed in Scale and can tell you its easier to perform a straight line with a Top Flite 60 size Mustang than a 1/5 scale Cub! Personally, I love R/C planes and it is my career choice and job. If Angela said one day that I had to choose between planes and trains however, trains would win. Here is my most favorite airplane I reviewed a while back.
Not long ago I saw an English chap who got his hand caught in a gas powered model airplane. I think it was on “ Untold ER Stories” or something like that. He lost a finger and his paw was badly messed up, but he said he would go back to flying his plains, he was just going to be more respectful of them. I think we all need to think of safety once in a while. Even in model railroads there are 1,000’s of ways we can all injure our selves. Many companies like the one I work for are now pushing safety in ways they have never before. Where I work, now if you have had a safety lecture or talk from your supervisor and you still get hurt, you can be terminated. Good old New York State, you can not sue your employer if you get hurt and they don’t need a reason to terminate you. At work they tell us, “ Take two seconds and think before you do it”! I have applied this to my home life as well, just because I don’t like getting hurt, it involves pain. I have enough of that as it is.
Jim, that's a lovely ship, what's it scale/size? I'm amazed at the progress in battery and motor technology. My dream when flying U-Control ~50 years ago was for this kind of electrical capability. I didn't like having my fingers continuously being popped by an .049, let alone the bigger O&R's.
55 years ago, trying to earn a dime for each RC plane recovered, racing on a bike to beat my competitors across empty lots and acreage in Brooklyn near the Belt Parkway (speed limit 35 MPH) and taking headers with the front wheel of a tanklike Schwinn getting caught in ruts, detritus and whatnots (no bodies) and falling off onto head, shoulders, hips and arms. Danger everywhere in that hobby. AND spinning the prop on a Fox engine was only done with a finger. Sticks or dowels were not yet then invented.
I also have r/c planes and helis along with trains. I have three Extra 300L models, a 42% (122" span & 212 cc 4 cyl engine, a 30% with a 95cc engine, and a 27% with a Moki 2.10 engine.. The worst are the gas engines big birds with carbon fiber props. I have a friend who lost 8 fingers to a 100 cc engine! I have many scars from both hobbies, x-acto knives, soldering iron burns, electrical shock, prop cuts etc. both hobbies require care to prevent injury.
Hank, the Spitfire is what we would call a 15 size in relation to the traditional naming convention of Model Airplanes. The best part is the retracts. I love taking of and hitting the retracts. I just reviewed the Great Planes F-86, a micro 15" wingspan electric ducted fan jet. I am constantly reminded that the science fiction of my childhood is now fact. BTW, U-Control is alive and well! Both Flying Models and Model Aviation cover it. As far as safety, I try to keep a healthy respect around all my hobbies. Spinning props on planes, sharp X-Acto blades with trains and heavy parts with Jeeps. With all my hobbies, my worst injury was from detailing an old Athearn GP7. I was young and foolish and rushed a procedure, resulting in a slipped chisel blade X-Acto and plunging squarely into my right hand. Both the locomotive and scar exist today. Any past time or hobby can have hidden dangers, just be aware and smart.
Thanks Jim, happy to hear that U-Control is still a viable, though dizzying hobby. Does "15" indicate 1:15 scale, or something else?
Mine is from Horizon Hobby, Inc. with Anti-Crash Technology and a Spektrum DX4e controler. I haven't even had it off the ground yet and already have the prop messed up.
