No, I never messed with model planes. When I was a kid, we were dirt poor. The cheapest thing you could get back in the late 1950's to play with was a model A Ford!!! Everybody had one out in the back field, up on blocks. They hadn't quit running---people had just grown tired of them and bought a newer model car, as the economy picked up after world war 2. People gave them away just to get them off the property!!! I had my first model A when I was 13 years old. It was given to me. All it had was an engine, a chassis, and a seat, ---no body. But it ran, and ran good. I learned to drive with it. I could never understand kids who built models. Hell, all you could do after they were built was set them up on a shelf and look at them. I wanted to play with things that were mechanical, and had some practical purpose in the world.---I also messed around with paddle wheel driven boats. We lived near a big lake, and the first boat I built was powered by twin side paddle wheels driven by an old bicycle frame and pedals I had mounted on it. I later upgraded that to a stern wheeler driven by an old gasoline washing machine engine.---Yes, I said washing machine engine. There was no hydro where I grew up, and all the washing machines were driven by a one cylinder gasoline engine with a kick starter, no less. After the hydro came through our area when I was about 12 years old, people gave these gasoline powered washing machines away to any kid that would drag them away.