Doing It My Own Way. Building a Cinderblock to fly in circles.

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to be cynical, negative, or unappreciative, but to many, it will be viewed in that light. So be it.

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I brought my partially built B-10 Bomber with me to the recent Brodak Fly-In and had it on display in my FlyBoyz Store booth during the week. It caught a lot of attention which resulted in many positive comments and discussions about the B-10 and the model of it that I am building. All these interactions were greatly appreciated and got me even more motivated to complete the model and have it ready for flight at next year’s Brodak event.

(Click on the graphic for a full-size image)

However, there were a handful of comments that were critical of my approach to this build. I pondered those comments during the 6.5-hour drive back home and debated whether or not to say anything about them. Then, a couple days later, I watched a YouTube video (You Can Do Whatever You Want) by a much-respected model train builder who devoted his video to virtually the same exact issue I had been pondering. Specifically, he addressed the issue of model railroad ‘Rivet Counters’, which is a reference to people in that hobby who are critical of other builders because they don’t build their railroads the same way as the ‘Rivet Counter’. I am sure that I won’t be as polite or diplomatic as this video presenter was but watching that video convinced me to publish this post.

First, let me start by stating what my intent is with building the B-10 Bomber. In this hobby, I consider myself to be more of a builder than a flyer (and anyone who has witnessed my control line flying will heartily attest to this statement!). I really enjoy the building aspects of the hobby with the flying aspects being considered a side benefit. When I first saw the plans for the B-10, I thought that as a plane it was so ugly that it was beautiful and it would make a great building subject. As my first scratch-built plane and my first twin-engine plane, I felt it would be challenging for me to build. So, I committed to building a model that was reasonably authentic to the real plane, one that displayed some reasonable model-building skills, and one which I could fly in straight and level flights. The building, rather than the flying, was to be the main objective of this model build. Thus, I commenced with the build.

Within the model plane building and flying hobby, there is a very obvious and valid concern with the final flying weight of a plane. This concern is very prevalent within the Control Line Stunt world where saving ounces and even grams of weight can often be critical to the final competition performance of a plane. I fully understand this and take weight into consideration with any plane I build, including the B-10. However, my B-10 will not be flying any stunt maneuvers so I am not obsessing over grams and ounces. I am making sure that I don’t add unnecessary weight and I intend to keep the final weight of the plane within the parameters called for on the building plan. In other words, I don’t plan to build and fly a concrete cinderblock.

One of the discussions directed my way at Brodak concerned this weight topic. During the discussion, I was lectured on the need to maintain a minimum weight with the B-10. After I outlined my thoughts, as I discussed above, and stated that I was not overly concerned about weight, the person looked at me with a patronizing look as if to say ‘Oh, you poor unenlightened deplorable’. In other words, since my approach to the weight issue was different than theirs, I was wrong.

The next couple of conversations had to do with the possibility of entering the B-10 into the Brodak Scale Competition. As I contemplated this build and started working on it, I wondered about the possibility of entering it into a Control Line scale competition. I am pretty unfamiliar with the requirements for this so last year at Brodak, I asked some questions about the competition requirements. One of the considerations was engine throttles. I was told that throttling the engines was a ‘nice to have’ but not a requirement. The same applied with retractable landing gear, operating flaps, and other operating features of the plane. I didn’t want to get into all that during my build so I planned to build the plane as designed and just fly ‘in circles’ during any competition. I was not building it for competition but thought that it might be interesting to see how the plane I end up building fares in a competition. If the plane didn’t gain any extra ‘operating points’ due to a lack of operating features then so be it.

This time around, I was told something different at Brodak. I had a couple conversations on this topic and I was told that operating throttles are absolutely a flying requirement in the scale event. In the case of the B-10, that would mean either adding a third line with throttle linkages in the wing or adding a remote-control option for operating electrical throttles. Either case would mean tearing into my wing for a third time and also tearing into the now fully sheeted fuselage. There is no way I intend to do any of that.

The folks I talked with insisted that tearing my plane apart was not an issue and that I should do it. I insisted that I did not want to go this route nor did I want to deal with radio control options for my Control Line plane. The parties were fairly animated that I ‘should’ do this (add throttles) and one individual went so far as to declare that I ‘must’ do this since the only reason to build any plane is to enter it into competition, otherwise, ‘if you don’t fly in competition, then all you’re doing is flying in circles.’ Bingo! That’s all I wanted to do in the first place!

I did respond to this individual that I would never consider telling anyone else how they ‘must’ or ‘should’ build their models. I stated that this hobby is all about having fun and in my mind having fun is doing it my own way, no matter what anyone else said. If along the way, I ask a question, then by all means I will accept any and all answers. But I will not accept anyone telling me what I ‘must’ or ‘should’ do, or treating me in a pandering way because I choose a different route than what they would do. It’s all about having fun and in this case, I get to determine what I consider to be fun.

When all was said and done, I determined that I would drop the scale ‘competition’ option and focus on my initial intent with the B-10 and that is building a model that is reasonably authentic to the real plane, one that displays some reasonable model building skills, and one which I can fly in straight and level flights. That is MY definition of ‘Fun’ with this build and that is what I intend to do.

So please remember that everyone gets to determine their own definition of fun. And rather than criticizing their definition if it is different than yours, support their ability to define their own fun.

Finally, next year, come out and watch me as I fly my cinderblock in circles. It is all about having fun and in my mind that’s exactly what I’ll be doing…having fun doing it my own way!