During my stay in Kapuskasing I managed to enjoy some radio controlled planes. I was able to evangelize and get some of my friends interested. In fact I kept an inventory of parts in my parents basement in case my friends or I needed them. this made it easier for everyone since almost everything was mail order in those days!
Our family did a 2 year stint in Northern Ontario. Kapuskasing to be specific.
This was a pretty big boon for me. Imagine moving from a community of 290 people to a town of about 14,000 including surroundings! 🙂
Kap did not have a very active model airplanes scene. I managed to promote it at school and get a few kids interested.
Perry Pogany and Steve Pogany were in this group. I was friends with both those brothers. Steve in my class at school and Perry a year ahead of me. I remember Andy Spaciek as well.
I had hoped up our family lawn mower and we went to a field out on the highway across from Groleau Diamond drilling and we used it to cut and level a huge landing strip for our airplanes. I remember I was dating Susanne from the Groleau family at the time. Her parents, who were very nice, thought I was a bit eccentric bringing groups of people the the vacant field with a lawn mower and running all these crazy creations down the runway and buzzing around.
I also kept an inventory of parts so that my friends’ projects and my projects would not be held up by mail order.
I completed many fun projects such as a Sig Kiwi, a second Kavalier, cox S-Tee, a couple of Sig Kadets which I sold and many more.
Kapuskasing was a great experience (minus the mosquitoes).
My parents returned to Saskatchewan after two years. I elected to stay and finish high school by myself since the school systems were incompatible and I had figured out that it could be academically costly for me to make the move. I lived in a room at the Lafleur residence near the famous “Circle” and eventually got a basement with the Weighenger residence on Avenue Road.
From there, I did not return home except for a summer visit before I went to Ottawa for more school. I studied physics and computer science for the first couple of years then just switched to physics. Turned out to all be good choices.
No more model planes for me for a while as school proved to be a full time occupation.
We moved back to Saskatchewan when I was around 12. By this time I was getting pretty technical and had been through every science kit you could think of (aeronautics, optics, electronics, chemistry). Being in a small community where there was no hobby store, I had to get creative to get parts for my projects and experiments. I was visiting the dump regularly and was pulling parts out of appliances, televisions and you name it.
In retrospect I had shifted away from the less technical stuff (painting, macrame, drawing and such) and more into Meccano, flight, kite flying, motorcycles, paper planes and such.
I went through a phase of various model airplane experiments. I was pretty good at making things but flight has a lot of subtleties to it. I remember a reasonably successful ornithology project. I remember cutting the outline of a plane out of parts of 1/4 inch wood (that was fairly light) and mounting an .049 engine on it. In retrospect it was out of balance and had a 0-0-0 configuration so obviously it could not work.
I had been asking my parents for a remote control plane for quite some time. In those days that was a pretty expensive endeavor.
One day when we were in Handicraft Supplies (in Saskatoon an hour away), I managed to coax my dad into buying a balsa model plane kit. I seem to remember it being 20 or 40 dollars. Or it was 40 and my dad got it for 20 since it was so old.
It was very old. In fact, in the plans it showed a galloping ghost escapement mechanism (what they used before proportional radio control that is now popular). But I knew I would some day have a radio control system and could figure out how to convert the plane to accept the digital proportional system.
It required at least an 0.49 engine which I actually had on hand!
Words cannot describe how excited I was about this project.
It took many evenings to get this plane together. Being my first serious project I had a lot of learning, studying and I had to figure out some more advanced techniques of building.
Of course my room became a pile of sawdust as I worked my way through this project.
I used silk-span and dope to finish the surface to be entirely red.
The plane had a 42″ wingspan and had a build up horizontal stabilizer. Tail drag style landing gear.
I eventually had my Cox Baby Bee 0.49 engine installed.
The radio control system was still just a dream as I still had not managed to procure that.
The plane sat around a bit while I worked on that problem and also on other projects.
One day, the curiosity of seeing the plane fly became overwhelming and I made a decision to fly it free flight! That is, with no control system. I theorized that if I did it right, it would fly on the engine for a while and then eventually land and I could simply chase after it.
I brought it out to a small field and started the engine. By the way, typical glow engine such as a Cox glow engine is a tricky business to start. Thankfully by then I’d tinkered with them quite a bit (since I had figured out how to convert these airplane engines into car engines and make model cars out of my meccano set using them). So I was able to get the engine going no sweat.
I hand launched the plane and it want to what a recall as about 40 feet, then stalled and came nearly straight down and didn’t quite recover before piling into the ground. One one hand I was so excited to see if fly but on the other it appeared totaled.
I brought it home and put it on my shelf above my workbench and continued with other projects while I thought about how to solve the issue of getting a radio control system.
A couple of weeks later my dad had his friend Bruce Sanborn over for a beer.
Of course I was too busy in my room with projects to bother with my parents’ guests but my dad called me to introduce me to his friend.
After that he asked me to go and get the big red plane from my room and show it. I was actually embarrassed because it was a disaster. I said it could take a month to figure out how to fix it and I could show it then. My dad insisted that I go get it now. So I went off to get it.
Mr. Sanborn explained to me that he had a Heath Kit six channel radio control system and he didn’t have an airplane. We talked about using his radio in my plane. Wow! The issue of a lack of a radio control system was now solved!!! I bet my parents and Mr. Sanborn must have been very amused at how excited I was!
Needless to say, the Lil’ Esquire project got moved to the top of my priorities! I forgot exactly how long it took to get the plane back together but I think it was a week. After a series of visits to Mr. Sanborn’s home, the radio was installed and everything was ready to go!
Mr. Sanborn suggested that I might be able to learn to fly the plane faster than him so we should get me up to speed and then I could show/help him. I didn’t mind and I thought it was a great plan.
I recall my knees actually shaking just before the first flight.
Here is an excerpt from my diary from this time period.
As you can see it was a pretty fun time. We were able to figure out how to fly RC planes on our own.
Brian Wattie arrived on the scene just after we had figured out basic flying. With the progress that we made plus the new guy on the block that was already into model planes my parents bought me a Sig Kavalier which is an intermediate level plane. Brian Wattie showed me how to fly it “properly”. He showed me the right procedures for operating a model aircraft at a club, procedures for landing. He also showed me basic pattern. Loops, cuban eights, split-S turns, rolls and more advanced stuff.
Mr. Wattie also gave me a printout of a design called Hangar Rat rubber power plane. He also gave one to Mr. Sanborn. We all made Hanger rats and he gave us all some sample 1/8th inch rubber and taught us all about the correct way of winding and trimming a rubber-power plane. I must say we had a lot of fun in the gym with our hangar rats.
Mr. Wattie taught us all about cyanoacrylate glues, dremel moto tools. He showed me how to use a sanding block and much more. At times I would drop into his house and just hang out in his workshop as he worked on various projects so I’d absorb stuff like crazy.
He also encouraged other people in the community to try rubber-power and RC aircraft. The picture at the right shows a flying demonstration that he organized. He invited people from Saskatoon to show off pattern planes, 1/2A, 1/4 scale and many other exciting projects.
The unknown bearded man that I often saw at Handycraft supplies appears in the far right of the photo.
The plane being held upside down on the left by three men was a pattern plane. In those days pattern planes had tuned pipes and were pretty fast. With all the noise it was pretty exciting for a teenager!
What a huge spectacle for a community of less than 300 people!
Needless to say, this time of my life was very fruitful with model airplanes and other projects!
This time period had so many other projects not mentioned or detailed here. A hang glider to be towed behind a motorbike, DIY 2 speed transmissions for model cars, clutches, tree houses, motorcycles, electronics projects, camping, chasing girls and much more.
Sadly, the picture at the right is a picture of this gymnasium.
The town was actually a ghost town for some years before it became a buffalo ranch. Sagehill Buffalo Ranch may still be in operation but the Joseph Saxsinger the rancher and last occupant of Sagehill died a few years ago in his late 80s. He died in the hospital from injuries caused by a bisson (what they actually raise on a ranch like this).
Many of the buildings are still standing but they are deteriorating fast.
In the gym at the right I played floor hockey, badminton, volleyball, had school dances, flew model planes and more.
When I was about 9 years old our family did a three year stint living at the mouth of the Moisie River.
At one point, my dad had to go away for 2 weeks (may have been a week) for a course.
I was pretty busy with my projects which included my Meccano set, macramé, , kite flying, acrylic painting (was taking courses on that), drawing, chasing girls, motorcycles (we had a Honda CT70 minibike!), playing with my dog Charlie, making my own inventions out of junk, imagining my own inventions that I could not make and much more.
But my dad felt he should get an extra project for me for while he was gone.
It was two model airplane kits. These were of high complexity using balsa and silk-span. He spent an evening or two sitting with me showing how to assemble balsa parts including cutting with a hobby knife, gluing, attachment of silk, shrinking of silk, doping, sanding and other finishing.
I got one of he models completed. It was quite a disaster. I remember that I could not get the center wing rib angle right for the dihedral joint. The covering was pretty sloppy. The wing root was not very strong. I had no idea about proper winding or trimming the aircraft. I remember being ready to fly the plane and my mother objecting saying that the wind was much too strong today (she was right). We all know how much this sort of thing means to kids. I insisted and went to the front lawn to try the plane. I wound it up and it did not fly. It pitched up and then fell back. I tried a couple more times and it kept pitching and falling back like a leaf. Today I know that it required a balast to get the center of gravity right. I tried it till the wing root failed. Perhaps five tries.
I was pretty pleased with this experience. I was now imagining a beautiful balsa frame with a perfect job of covering it with silk-span and imagining it could sail very high up. But of course my current project didn’t fly yet, but I intuitively knew that I would sort it out some day.
This really stuck.
My dad returned and after his assessment he produced some ready to fly catapult planes for my brother and I. We had a lot of fun with those over the next month or so.
When I was about 6 years old our family made trips to Saskatoon for shopping. I always looked forward despite the hour drive because we would often visit Handicraft Supplies!
This incredibly packed store had lots of parts for my Meccano set and model airplanes hanging in the ceiling. I remember a young kid that worked there. He may have been about 17 and for some reason the name Greg comes to mind. I also remember an old man with a large white beard. I want to say his name was Chris but I’m less sure about that.
I always saved my allowance or whatever money I had to buy Meccano parts (over and above what my parents got me).
Often the store operators agreed to watch over me while my parents did their shopping. This would prevent my parents from the constant hounding I’d give them wanting to go to Handicraft Supplies when they were at various stores. I’d hang out at the counter and the staff would entertain me. I usually had about an hour and a half of questions to ask on each visit. The staff answered every one.
“What’s the pitch of that propeller? Why does it have more pitch than the other one? What’s that? Why does the blue plane have three landing gear but the red one only has two? How does a helicopter turn? Can I have see all the gears in that Meccano Gear Set? Can I handle that gear to see how heavy it is?”
I spent a lot of time with my Meccano set and like most 6-7 year olds, money was a little sparse so I really enjoyed seeing all the stuff at Handicraft Supplies. Other activities included kites, paper planes, tree-house building, go-cart building, cubs, camping, exploring, bicycles, tobogganing and much more. I really wanted a model plane. One Christmas my dad bought a Cox .049 control-line airplane. During the summer we flew it off the baseball diamond but broke it. I remember vaguely being the pilot. I remember that I was incredibly nervous. That plane stayed in the closet after it was broken. Those Cox products are really just a legacy product. They don’t repair well since they’re made of plastic. They weren’t as beautiful as the balsa frames I was shown at Handicraft supplies on some of my visits.
From the days of Handicraft Supplies I had a lot of interest in these elusive flying models!
Note:
I’m wrote the above this morning which is about 40 years after that fact so I spent some time doing some research to check the sanity of my memory. I checked Google for “Handicraft Supplies”. Nothing much came forward. I then found the Web site of the model airplane club in Saskatoon and emailed all the contacts on the club executive asking if anybody remembers Handicraft Supplies or the white bearded man. A gentleman named Greg got back to me remembering the store and that he worked there in 1974 and 1975. He sent me a picture of the store which was in the Hutchinson Building (144 2nd Avenue South). Okay, this isn’t just a figment of my childhood memory.
Wow.
The building still exists because it was designated a heritage property August 9th, 1999! It was a hardware store till 1970, and home of Saskatoon Handicraft Supplies until 1995. With a major historic renovation the Hutchinson Building lives on continues its tradition of commercial and residential use. Current commercial tenant is CBC.
It was designed by Frank P. Martin, and built by R. J. Arrand in 1923 after a dramatic fire. The previous building was Saskatoon Hardware Ltd (Saskatoon’s largest hardware store). The new building (owned by J. L. Stanley Hutchinson) was considered a high end prairie commercial building and it had California style upper suites. It had a sprinkler system and was considered fireproof. Apparently considered evidence of recovery from the World War I economic downturn.
More just in (Jun 12, 2011):
Hello Darcy, Handicraft supplies was started by a high school art teacher, Mike Egnatoff, in the mid to late thirties. He branched out to other hobby interests as the years went by. I will try to ferret out any photos that the Hub City Radio Control Club has stored. There may also be photos of the store in the city archives. I can remember two locations for the store. My late 1950 memories are of the store on 23rd. Street between 2nd and 3rd. Avenues. The later location was on the west side of 2nd Ave. between 21st and 22nd street. I will have to enquire about the large white beard at Handicraft. — Duncan, Executive of local flying club.
