My Dad, and his FT Fleet

My dad, Roger, has been building and flying model airplanes since I was a kid. Growing up in the 90’s, our computer was in the same room that dad built his planes. I remember times when I would go to use the computer, dad warning me with something along the lines of, “Be careful of the plane on my table.” On his table would be rows of delicate wing spars, meticulously cut out of fragile balsa wood, painstakingly pinned to cardboard over top of the plans. Dad would spend hours, cutting and gluing these little bits of balsa wood together. Then use an iron to precisely apply a skin of heat shrinking MonoKote to the outside of the planes. For years, this was the predominate way that my father would build planes.

The first foam plane I ever remember seeing was this clunky looking plane, cut out of a solid block of foam, affectionately referred to as a “JAFFA”, or Just A Free Foam Airplane. I do not know who designed it, but someone in his RC Club cut all the parts out and gave them to club members because they were to be used for some dogfight event the club was holding. These things were hefty and had to be gassers to fly. But, the JAFFA was the exception, not the rule.

The next big change I remember in my fathers RC planes was the introduction to Park Flyers. This was where I started to dabble a bit into the RC Plane world. My dad really liked it. All the fun of flying, without the hassle of building. That’s not true, I don’t think dad ever thought of building as a hassle, it was just a part of the hobby, and it is safe to say that my dad loves just about every bit of the hobby, just some parts more than others.

All this leads up to about 2 years ago, when I first told my dad about this little YouTube channel where they make RC Planes out of foam-board and hot glue. My dad looked at me like I had two heads.

“Foam board?” he asked.

“Yes, like you would buy from the dollar store.” I said.

“Hot Glue?”

“Yeah dad.”

“No way, it would be too heavy.”

“No dad, I’m serious.”

“There is no way it flies with electric.”

So that’s when I pulled up the YouTube videos. I’m not sure he was convinced even with that. I think he was still suspicious. After this, I downloaded the plans for the Simple Cub for myself.  I’m not sure my build did much to convince him (please see my previous article on my disastrous Cub build). But I think it was enough to pique his interest, and he downloaded a few of the free plans and went to the Dollar Store. After a few questions on the technique, he really started to get the hang of it, and these are his first builds (plus a later build).

 The start of the FT Fleet

Christmas of 2019, I gave my dad a case of FT Foam-board. Over the course of the year, he would build a couple of planes, all the while saying, “I don’t need another airplane.” But, with the spread of COVID-19 slowing down society, my dad’s plane production ramped up, and just last week, he finished the case of foam-board. Here is the rest of his fleet. Well, most of it, I think there may be a couple more stashed somewhere that he forgot about. These planes are so fresh built, that only one of them has even had it's maiden flight.

 The rest of the FT Fleet

I find it pretty funny, for a guy who first thought it preposterous that a plane built with foam board and hot glue would fly, he now has over a dozen. I knew from the first Flite Test video I watched, that this style of plane building would really be up my dad’s alley, if he could see that they really do fly. He has so many now, that he has exhausted his supply of servos and receivers. One plane even has old technology in it, a brushed motor and an archaic FM receiver. He says of the ones he has already flown, they are great flyers, and I have no doubt that the rest will prove to be the same. My dad really enjoys these FT Planes, but he would never write this article, so I had to. I just had to share with everyone my dad and his story with these awesome planesMy dad flying a plane and me flying a kite on the dunes of Kitty Hawk, NC