RC catalogs were the BEANS. It was always fun discovering what new planes and products were getting released. I’d day dream about which I’d buy first all the time

A part of me really misses those days. Something about the sound and smell of glow fuel (when it was not super pricy) and long flight times is a time that almost does not exist anymore.

The Tower Hobbies catalog was great but even better were RCM and Model Airplane News magazines! They also had kick ass Tower ads that went on for pages. I had memorized the delivery day for each magazine to the stores. And I was a grown ass adult at the time. Would rush home and read them cover to cover. Clarence Lee and Duke Fox were gods!

This was a massive trip down memory lane

We had 27MHz for cars, 35MHz for Aircraft and 40MHz for boats in Germany. Never heard about 50 or 72MHz 😂

One that he didn’t mention was balsa builds. It’s super hard now to find real kits for balsa birds now due to everyone buying ARFs

My dad when in college got into building balsa models and 15 years later when I became old enough he bought a foam trainer to fly with me (he had never seen one before and is a compulsive buyer) and the most ironic part to me now looking back at it is although he built 2 balsa models installed the gas engines and all he was too afraid to ever fly them so when he got that trainer 15 years later it was the first time he ever flew

I will add a few that a few OG's will remember but don't probably miss all too much: NiCD batteries, NiMH batteries, Gremlins, Idle bar plugs, die cut, Quadra, servo lead chokes, plastic servo gears, power panels and last but not least....range checks.

Oh memories! The slimy rubber bands, forgetting to charge the G.D. Glow igniter, and bashing a Tower Trainer making a tail dragging, trexler rolling cluster with a .46 O.S. Max swinging a 11x5…

Tower Hobbies and the Sears catalogs....YEAH BABY!

Well done. Sadly, I'm old enough to remember all items mentioned. I did not know the Byron story. Interesting... I just donated my Wemac 049 and Green head Torpedo 19 to the AMA museum. Both had never been run. Have a great weekend THP!

The tower hobbies catalog hits hard😢😢 miss those days.

I got the complete Model Builder magazine collection and read every one. In the one where glow ducted fans were just out on the market, the user was instructed to start the engine and let the fan and duct wear into each other.

We had a club member pass away decades ago that designed the ducted fans for BVM. I bought a OK Models SupraFly 45 that he owned and it had so many custom parts he had made.

Wonderful look back at my teenage modeling years. Thank you...

I came into the hobby in 2012. I still remember the puzzled look on my face when the hobbyking skipper I ordered came with a balloon and no instructions. Receiver balloons are not dead. I still use them, especially on those planes that I know are gonna end up ground(water) looping

So many old things that disappeared, like frequency pins, hobby shops, missle like pattern airplanes, Ambroid glue, wire antennas, the shouts of “I don’t have it”, the ever present spray cleaner and paper towels. We have also lost some good things like the great airplanes like the Kaos and the Ugly Stik that actually flew instead of flopping around the sky like the styrofoam toys today.

First time I've seen someone call control line, RC. haha

I loved those tower catalogs! I prefer my field box with a gallon of nitro and my power panel then a giant bag full of hundreds and hundreds of dollars of batteries and I still have my Zagi!!!

You just made me cry, on a good way.. Thanks for the memories

This brought back some memories, im 53 yrs old and from the age of 6 I was raised on an RC field, usually running around with an old 049 in my hand, my dad started flying at a young age, started with U control, dad built everything in those days, built some beautiful planes that are still hanging in the basement, still has a lot of his old radio too, that yellow Kraft, couple of them he still has, my first plane was a Piece of Cake, they called it, giant bent wing glider with and an 049..... Always getting that Tower Hobbies catalog in the mail..... miss those days....

this channel deserves way more than 47k subs

My first plane was a Goldberg Gentle Lady with a Goldberg power pod and a Cox .049 glow engine. The radio was a 72mhz JR 4ch FM radio. Good days!

The Tower Hobbies catalog was the best. Then HH bought them out and killed Great Planes

For modern Zagi wings I would very much recommend Crash Test Hobbies and specifically the Assassin. Lots of fun and inexpensive. Not for beginners.

I got into RC in the late 90's and fondly remember getting the Tower Hobbies catalog. I still have my old Tower Hobbies Trainer with it's .40 ABC Tower Hobbies Engine in it. I remember learning to fly with a trainer cable hooked up to someone elses remote. I got back into the hobby recently and am surprised to see how far electrics have come and how easy it is to fly some of these models now.

Power panels and fuel pumps were usually attached to car battery powered field boxes, which were probably the heaviest items we regularly managed to forget on our way to the field - unless spouses count. I do miss those days, but I'm in no hurry to repeat them.

The Nighflyer episode, lol. From watching Dave's' channel, I know you guys steam Aero Fly together, which is pretty wholesome, Dave seems like a lovely fella.

Flew R/C allot back in the mid 1980s as a teenager. Man it was so fun building balsa kits like the Kaos or Toppo. Flew in some pattern contests and went to the AMA Nats one year. Those were fun times!

Grew up with my dad and his buddies flying all of the things you mentioned in the video. I still have my "40 size" Eagle 63 that I built as a kid. It still has the ENYA .46 on it. I flew again 7 or 8 years ago after being in storage for 30 plus years. It still had the same Monokote covering on it that I installed when I built it as a kid. The first flights after storage quickly taught me that Monokote gets pretty brittle after sitting in the attic all that time. It's sitting in the corner of my "hobby room" right now. I'm going to recover it and put it back in the air with modern electronics and modern covering. I still what we would call the "flight box" with the battery and control panel as mentioned in the video. Everyone at the field had one back then. My Dad still flies to this day. None of his old planes are around but a few years back he built a new 60 size Ugly Stick and put a 90 four stroke on it. Most of what he flies now is electric for all the reasons you listed but he still loves (as do I) the sound, and smell, of the nitro glow engines. Once tuned properly they are extremely reliable. The modern nitro fuels and the oils they contain, are much better than the old caster oil based stuff. Many, many great memories of the planes, people, and fun Saturday or Sunday afternoons at the flying field with my Dad and his buddies.

What a surprise to see my Zagi video cited! They owned the wing market when I got into flying, the Zagi's pure toughness made it a solid trainer for me even though it wasn't the easiest thing to fly. I was out of the hobby for nearly 10 years, and when I came back EVERYTHING had changed. LiPos and Brushless motors had replaced brushed and Nicads. I took the best guess as to what Lipo/Brushless would power my rebuilt Zagi and boy did I ever miss. I totally overpowered it, and it flew like it was on meth (as seen in vid). It flapped at full throttle and I finally stopped flying it since I didn't want to destroy the plane I learned to fly on. I'm really kind of bummed they just kind of slow-faded out of RC, I really have a fondness for the company that got me into flying.

What I miss more than anything is the monthly tower sales Mags. They just made me happy.

Thanks for the videos.

Gonna catch heat for the PT-19 dis.

Remember Depron Airliners? I do and I also miss the RC nitro choppers that carried around full sized cameras before drones

I remember RCM&E 1995 issue having a custom plan for an EDF jet called a Tyto - it used an Estes D class rocket motor to enable takeoff from the ground because NiCads and brushed EDF just didnt have the guts. Five minute flghts were a good result for an electric thing in the 90s, so if you wanted a jet without a loathsome engine sticking out of the nose it was the only practical option. I do like that modern stuff has made aeromodelling more accessible. The zen of turning a box of sticks and tissue paper into a flying machine is a precious experience as well.

Love your vids ❤❤❤❤

I had a F-4 with twin glow ducted fan back in the old days. Made more noise than a full size F 104.

Great video.O started R/C back in 1980.I miss nitro engines and tuned pipes.My retracts were air operated.My first radio was a 5 channel MRC 765 which I still have in my parents attic.I also had a 2 channel Cox Sanwa radio.But I will say,that flying electric R/C planes is a much nicer experience.You charge your flight pack batteries,fly,and your finished for the day.No cleaning the oily mess off you model.

Even down here in Australia I loved my RCM magazine with the Tower Hobbies section...I miss paper. 🇦🇺

Still a sucker for glow engines, even though most of my fleet is electric now I still make sure to keep a couple glow powered planes on deck. That darn nostalgia will get ya.

I always wondered what happened to Byron Originals. Their P-51 Mustang with the gear reduction four bladed prop was the coolest thing ever when I saw it as a kid back in 1983. It's still cooler than just about anything out there today.

To start flying RC planes back in 1988 to 1993 was a magical time. At the perfect age to be part of almost everything flying to current in the hobby has ever had to date. This video is really cool to capture all of it to current. This brings back a lot of amazing memories. I have experienced all of this and still learning today. I am thankful for where we are today for the hobby because while all of this is really cool,… I’m glad we are where we are today. I wouldn’t go back.

Australia had 27mhz, the very same as the early CB radios here. Same issue, the lawn dart. Caster soaked rubber bands were kept in a jar with talcum powder in it. I started in the late 60s, wow, how things have changed now.

7:37 You could say with the rise in 3D printed designs, that plastic planes are not really a thing of the past, but rather gaining again

7:45 I still have this exact plane and motor...

The Zagi! My first RC and build! Also the crystal swap! love it!

Yes!!! been waiting all day to watch it!!!!

If you do this again EZ aircraft would be a interesting one. An early ARTF range and they came from japan's OK model company. Basically wood covered in depron covered in vinyl. They were great (now collectable) with a large range but prices were very high, even back then.

Yep. I'm old. I still have everything talked about!! Not all is used but I'm only 41!! I still buy and fly all this old stuff. Because people sell them super super cheap!! And then I get rid of rhe old fm transmitters and servos and still fly them. I have a collection of over 150 nitro engines. Just sitting on acshelf, and about a dozen flyable planes and duckted fans. I get that with today's stuff, no one really wants them. But I grew up on them so I still play with them.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Seems to me at one time I had a "throttle collar" for both a cox.049 and a Cox .09. Ran the .09 a Sig Colt. 3 channel failure at it's best. One other thing you forgot to mention was the RC magazines of the day. 200 pages of magazine, 176 pages of ads...........

Still has a glow ducted fan in the box, and it's kit, a bunch of hobby king lsd nicad batteries, etc. These are good old days for most of us still keeping kyosho pt19 balsa arf model in its box for my kids.

I drive by a local RC field once every two weeks on a Sunday. There’s never anyone there no matter how beautiful the weather is. It’s so depressing

Another fantastic installment guys I still remember these trends! BTW Will you guys be doing that video on the Micro Drago soon???

Great content Zack. Thanks for the shout outs. And btw, I do love my nitro helis. 😊Hope to fly with you again Thursday night. Fly easy. ~ Dave. NightFlyyer

The GRAUPNER katalogue was my bible back in the 70s and 80s in Denmark. That and the Marklin model train katalogue. I worked all summer vacation and bought the black Graupner Varioprop 14S 40MHz radio and Graupner's first 1/8 scale glow race car with the HB.21 engine. I didn't leave money for repairs so it was a short lived pleasure.

Don’t miss most of those, RC hobby is now better than ever. Cheaper and better radio systems, better planes and electronics, etc. What’s going down is that there is not enough young people in flying clubs !

This was nostalgic AF

I still use rubber bands on my wings (Flite Test high wings), and remember a glow-powered EDF that just taxied. It couldn't get off the grass. I do miss the catalogues! I held on to a few. Had a Cox .049 motor on a control line plastic Cosmo plane when I was too young to use it. The Flite Test Arrows mimic the Zagi wings. Crystals were expensive! I still use a balloon on my water planes. Sucks losing power and control when the plane flips. I still swap props with my buddies and we bring 6 by 3's, 9 by 6's and 10 by 4.5's to the field.

Dang this makes me feel like a fossil🤣

Good memories. I still recall that the trend of sharing props changed a bit into trading props, because itvwas cheaper to buy in bulk and sometimes you had too many of those GWS props of a certain size. Folks at the park often used 8x4", 8x4.3", 8x6", 9x4.7", 9x5", 9x7", 10x4.7".

My catalogs were usually in the guest bathroom with my gun magazines. When guests are gone guess which I found laying out the most.

Ohhh. Belive me this was funny days with allot testing this and that😊

How I hated breaking propellers every time a landing wasn't butter.

Just started rc planes, really fun!

Awww man I've been thinking about those Zagi wings for a few weeks now! Back in 98 there was a bunch of guys that flew them off 80amp brushed motors and 10s nimh they were surprisingly fast!

Ahaaa my dad had a home made HAM band transmitter when I was a kid. Two channels! It was for a glider that he crashed before I was born, and it got repurposed for a Tamiya buggy with the old mechanical servo throttle. Had them NiCad batteries too. Both the transmitter and the car.

Here's one: building models from plans enlarged on the office copier from magazines.

Yeah I miss all of those. I have a unbuilt Combat Models Falcon sitting in my attic haunting me and yet it's seems pointless to even attempt to build it with all the options out there.

PCbway. I quoted them for a small, simple steel adapter sleeve with flange. Basically 3 tool changes and maybe 30 seconds of machine time... 80 euros. I think I'll ask a friend with an ancient manual lathe to make one for me for half that and I'll even get the tolerance right for the interference fit.

Banger video. Thank you

You left out the old guy in the club who couldn't hear and thought that Zagi wings were called "Ziggys". I don't miss nitro at all. LiPos are a PITA sometimes but I don't miss cleaning all that crap off my planes, or worse the damn paper towel holder bottle thingy tipping over and the precious 409 leaking into your van's carpet.

I spent so much time looking at Rc catalogs they might as well have been triple x

Still have a couple Byron glow fans. Love the flight times compared to EDFs. Refuel and go again as well... F-86D with Rossi 91 and Mig 15 with OS77

I REALLY MISS the catalogs

I still have and fly my Byron BD5J and Rossi 90 which I bought during a visit to the factory in 1988, then carried home to Oz as hand luggage. I still use nicad's and will not allow Lipo's in my workshop. All my planes are Glow or petrol, No ARF's and no foamies. I love to build and love the smell of methanol in the morning.

It's interesting how many "obsolete" parts of the hobby still retain some nostalgia, like control-line flying, and nitro engines in general, but nitro ducted fans were a thoroughly dead branch once lipos got under $1/watt-hour and brushless EDF's could outperform them in both endurance and power. They were all compromise, no benefit. Cox "released" a .049 TD just a few weeks ago though, I wouldn't say they're entirely gone.

GWS. They were the first to come up with inexpensive brushless motors, as well as the Slow Stick and many other products.

I see that Aerostar 40. Outstanding flyer. I had the ARF version before it rekitted itself.

I love the catalogs

Good ole days, my first trainer was a Hobbico Avistar. Flew that thing 3 times and then I discovered cars…the rest is history.

I miss catalogs. They had their own smell - like fresh ink and pulpwood.

I love how horizon hobby convinced a whole generation of pilots that nitro is hard to tune

Uuuu that was me on this video obout cox engines 😂😂😂

Was glad to see this video😅i love the past... since I am old😢

Talk about bringing back memories and the catalogs tell me i am not the only one who used to flip pages till they were out

The models shown in 15 were Control Line (C/L) NOT RC (Radio Control) and introduced a generation to the joys of model airplane flying with their low cost and being harder to break than balsa models.

Despite flying FPV, electric, automated drones and otherwise keeping up with technology, I somehow still fly my nitro planes on NiMh. I feel like I missed a memo.

They forgot the hearing loss associated with the Cox .049's! :)

You don’t go far enuf back, reed sets, OS Pixie RC set, push button once for left rudder twice for right rudder, single Chanel was exciting😂

Add nitro profile planes and wing and Stick Fun fly planes

I still fly nitro ducted fans. Best thing there is and cheaper than gas turbines.

I never did the crystal swap but I never had more than one plane at a time. Also, what about the radio boards at flying fields where you had to put your radio in while at the flying field and if you took the radio out, you had to pin your radio channel on to the channel board to everyone know what channels are being used.

Ohhhhh. I’ve been really confused why the F-86 sounds like an OS prop engine. Thanks for solving a 20 year mystery

I got a mousse can pipe with a Macs header for my 25FX nitro conversion in my eflite 1.1M ultra stick. $10 off eBay because nobody knows what that stuff is, then $15 for a pipe because again nobody knows what that stuff is.

We might have been a different here in OZ, but most of our early RC gear was 27mhz. Later we played with 36mhz and I think 40mhz, before we too developed to 2.4Ghz. You also mention Cox aircraft, and how many had plastic Cox 'RC' planes, where I think you mean 'UC' planes, better known (as you said) as 'control line' planes. The term UC is from 'You Control', which I think was a trade name for one of the early model kit producers.

I still have a couple of Zagi's around here someplace.

Heliproz….. the T-shirt!

All my electrics were built around seven-cell nicad packs normally used for RC race cars. You would take 3 to 4 packs out for a session, all charged, then, you would have one cooling off, one on the charger, and one in the plane flying, meant you could fly nearly continuously. I find that lipos are better and lighter but way more expensive too, so I couldn't afford that many lipo packs, I had to wait longer between sorties. Some trade-offs are not as good as others. Rubber bands are still just fine for gliders and electrics, where the greasy goo doesn't affect them.

Excellent radio gear is so cheap nowadays that I don't think peeps new to the hobby can appreciate just how big a deal it used to be to 'get into RC'. Expense-wise, it was pretty much the same as buying a second-hand car. As a kid, it meant saving, saving, then saving some more to get into the air. Servos were hideously expensive, so a first model would be rudder only or, if you were lucky, rudder and elevator. It's incredibly sad - and ironic - that getting into RC has never been cheaper or easier, but that our wonderful hobby has been ruined for newcomers by the frenzied introduction of new 'drone' legislation - pilot registration, new taxes, fees, limitations, mandatory memberships, examinations, regulations, and all the rest of the unnecessary (and just plain wrong) nonsense that bureaucrats with no knowledge of or interest in aeromodelling are rushing to impose. [Disclosure: I'm English, based in the UK, and currently only involved with sub-250g models.]