Thomas in Niagara
Member
Yes... 1965. Keep in mind I'm a newb here but thought you builder doods would find this interesting.
Let me set this up for ya's,
The year 1965. At that time I was 12 years old and was flabbergasted by technology. So flabbergasted that if there was an electrical appliance in the house that no one used for about 40 minutes meant I had the God given right to remove all the exterior screws and dissect each and every analog circuit, vacuum tube, motor and wiring just to see how it went together and if I was real interested, how it actually worked. Well my sister had this record player and I just had to find out what the mystery was in that felt turning pad and swing arm. Oh the knobs just slid right off. The screws almost backed themselves out of the platter table. Underneath that... gloryoski! Stuff!!! Attached to the platter table was this heavy motor. It came out easy too and with a cord attached!!! When I plugged it in, it whirred to life spinning a shaft which turned the platter which spun the 45's and LPs. Well it wasn't going back together so I figured I would repurpose this heavy little motor into a helicopter. Using a nail, I popped a hole in my fathers favorite metal ruler. An aluminium thing 12 inches long. I also had a toggle switch that I added to the cord for an on/off switch.
The year 1965. I knelt on our basement floor with the toggle switch at the ready, prop settled down on the motor shaft [no nuts or fasteners for this kid that's why I was kneeling down below the airship on my fathers workbench]. I gave myself a silent countdown as I knelt there on the concrete floor, toggle ready. 3..2..1.. TOGGLE ON!!! Well you don't need to be clairvoyant to know what happened next. There was no lift off. The ruler spun like a crazy thing....... but I didn't notice. Someone had snuck up behind me and kicked me so hard in the armpit that I landed beside the furnace. I thought my dad had caught me pooching his ruler when in fact I had just been introduced to electrical current and completing a circuit. Well the ruler flew somewhere and I dimly remember it careening off the furnace ducting loud enough to bring my mom running.
The year 2015. I still can feel that kick to the armpit today. I still like to take things apart that I know I can't fix or put back together. I want to build my own quad but would still like to have someone else insert the batteries. And I still duck when my Syma X5C-1 takes flight.
Cheers and happy flying you Johnny come latelys...
Let me set this up for ya's,
The year 1965. At that time I was 12 years old and was flabbergasted by technology. So flabbergasted that if there was an electrical appliance in the house that no one used for about 40 minutes meant I had the God given right to remove all the exterior screws and dissect each and every analog circuit, vacuum tube, motor and wiring just to see how it went together and if I was real interested, how it actually worked. Well my sister had this record player and I just had to find out what the mystery was in that felt turning pad and swing arm. Oh the knobs just slid right off. The screws almost backed themselves out of the platter table. Underneath that... gloryoski! Stuff!!! Attached to the platter table was this heavy motor. It came out easy too and with a cord attached!!! When I plugged it in, it whirred to life spinning a shaft which turned the platter which spun the 45's and LPs. Well it wasn't going back together so I figured I would repurpose this heavy little motor into a helicopter. Using a nail, I popped a hole in my fathers favorite metal ruler. An aluminium thing 12 inches long. I also had a toggle switch that I added to the cord for an on/off switch.
The year 1965. I knelt on our basement floor with the toggle switch at the ready, prop settled down on the motor shaft [no nuts or fasteners for this kid that's why I was kneeling down below the airship on my fathers workbench]. I gave myself a silent countdown as I knelt there on the concrete floor, toggle ready. 3..2..1.. TOGGLE ON!!! Well you don't need to be clairvoyant to know what happened next. There was no lift off. The ruler spun like a crazy thing....... but I didn't notice. Someone had snuck up behind me and kicked me so hard in the armpit that I landed beside the furnace. I thought my dad had caught me pooching his ruler when in fact I had just been introduced to electrical current and completing a circuit. Well the ruler flew somewhere and I dimly remember it careening off the furnace ducting loud enough to bring my mom running.
The year 2015. I still can feel that kick to the armpit today. I still like to take things apart that I know I can't fix or put back together. I want to build my own quad but would still like to have someone else insert the batteries. And I still duck when my Syma X5C-1 takes flight.
Cheers and happy flying you Johnny come latelys...
