I used to get the little blue jet in the middle. I would hit the construction sites, great place to find bottles, on my way to town. Cash them in, $.02 each for 8oz., $.03 each for 12 and 16 oz & on a really good day you find the ever elusive quart bottle, them things got you a nickle, and spend the rest of the day hanging out at the Hobby Shop. What a great post, thanks...............
I had many of the Testor's. It only took a couple of nose dive landings to break the balsa around the crimped nose weight. Once it broke loose it was useless. I must admit I learned a lot of automotive terminology from assembling model cars. I got hooked on model cars before getting too involved with flying aircraft but every spring the local convenience store (long before they were called that) got a supply of dime gliders. As soon as they came in I made a mad dash for the washing machine where my mom put the loose coins from my dads pants. I remember the interceptor as being a technological break through. It was such an advance over the dime gliders that we were used to. It was soooo cool to watch the wings flop open and gently glide back to the earth from altitudes unreachable before. That is the first thing that I thought of when I read your title.
Fwiw, the rocket flying club meets at the dry lake 1st Sunday - maybe Saturday - of the month. Some of the rockets are 6' plus.
I used to ut the sleek streak for the kids and my self. I would buy each of us one apeace and we would have a contest to see who would last the longest. If you flew them over the pond you could loose yours and the pine woods surronding our yard may still have one or two in the branches. Our other pastime was our croket games, our year is in the shape of a bowl towards the pond, you had to run quick if the ball went amuck. Thanks for the post, it shook loose some great memories, the youngest is almost 21 now, so it has been awhile. jim h
In the middle 50's we had a lady next door that could not get out to the grocery. I would take her list to the store and get one of the Testors in the middle of that photo for my troubles. I was king of the walk. They cost a quarter as I remember. A PRINCELY sum in our neighborhood. And FLY??? Boy could we get them to fly. They lasted about a week, and by then she was ready for my next trip. THANKS for the reminder!
I remember those! I also remember the GIANT styrofoam monsters...usually good for about anafternoon before they destroyed themselves,and any type of trimming was out of the question...You got a loooong, straight flight if You flew it with the wind, and a big, lazy loop if You flew it into the wind. but for a couple of bucks, it was hard to beat.
Thanks C9. great story. I did all of what you were talking about,and still do. Instead of balsa, I now use meat trays. Lost one of my favorites with over 500 flights on it. Rubber has gone out of sight.
Thanks for the post. It brought back lots of good memories from my childhood and from the years that I was a junior high shop teacher. As a teacher I had the students build lots of things that would fly. These included gliders, rubber band powered planes, rockets, kites and boomerangs. Watching a kid fly something they had built theirself was as much fun for me as it was for them. John
I also built some model yachts, of Liberty and Australia II. I have the plans to build a BIG Battle Class Destroyer. I dont suppose anyone has heard of a novelist by the name of J E Macdonnel? Aussy guy that served in WWII, I collected all 300+ of his books and want a model of the HMAS Jackal, Dutchy Hollands ship in the books...... I need way more hours in a day. I also dragged out the RC car after this, had a lot of them too. Recently sold what was believed to be the fastest 12 size powered all wheel drive nitro car in Oz. It started of as an Ofna OB6, dang that thing cost some serious $$. I kinda wish I spent all that money on real cars but had nowhere to do that in the Army, and I had huge hardstandings to drive them on during the down time when we were jumping free fall! Doc.
By the time the 70's rolled around... they had put plastic propellers and rubber bands to them... we used to walk to the corner store near my grandmas and buy them. We'd usually get a push-up and a plane... They'd last a day or so before we busted them into little pieces... not on purpose. They still sell them at the hobby shop... my kids love 'em. Sam
Cool, I have a box full at the airport (my place of employ). I give them to kids that come along with customers...and of course I have one!!!
My local ACE hardware has a box of those balsa gliders and rubber band powered planes at the register... I'm sure they are still on the list that comes from the warehouse, just ask 'em to order some.
Man, what an enjoyable read! Thanks C9 and everyone for the memories! I'm 43 years old and had some of these as well. Don't remember any particular stories, but I know I had plenty of various gliders.
A few era correct pics of the aircraft under discussion. The fore runner to the Dime Glider, the Nickel Glider: They called it the AJ Bomber, but the design appears to have been taken from a long canopy trainer built by Vultee - which soon gained the nickname "Vultee Vibrator." Here's the Dime Glider we flew: Note the lack of a visible nose weight. Instead of a crimped on weight like other competitors used - which soon came off - it had a hole drilled into the fuelage nose, near the bottom at about a 30* angle and the weight was a force fit. They seldom came out, but when they did, a toothpick or touch of glue took care of the problem. This is the best picture I could find of an early Hornet. It's a museum display and has a metal prop mount/bearing. Later ones had a plastic bearing. Shown here is an early Interceptor which took its styling cues from the P-39 mid engine, cannon through the nose cone, prop driveshaft between the pilots legs fighter. A later Interceptor with styling taken from the P-80. Y'all may be wondering what this has to do with hot rods. Simple, learn to fly these balsa wonders as well as modify them and when you got old enough you had a good mindset and a lack of fear about automobiles, driving them, fixing them and eventually modifying them. We learned a lot of complex and valuable skills from these airplanes, but most importantly we learned a lot of science. Hands on stuff being the best way to learn any subject. Mistakes were made - more than a few of us converted a Hornet to twin prop, twin fuselage with a hand carved left hand turning prop which was an easy project. Glide tests - albeit with a higher sink rate - went well, but like the overwound single prop Hornets, torque and lack of sufficient trim was the problem because seldom did the prop pitches match and the hand carved props of balsa usually turned faster than the plastic one. We had to leave so many knots off the wind as compared to a full wind that a two prop Hornet couldn't compete with a well trimmed single prop. Not to mention the lack of wing area to carry the additional weight. A few - usually one for each owner - canard flights were attempted, but the canard wing was overly small and the main wing was overly large. CG was a problem as well. In the end, what we did learn about flying was quite a bit. For those of us who went on to be pilots, the aerodynamic areas of the training regimen were easily understood. In any event, no matter how you look at it, I see that even today, the guys who flew these aircraft and are now in the hot rod hobby are the ones who seem to understand the technicalities the best. The again, perhaps I should have studied art. Some of the very best hot rods are built by those with an artistic bent and one helluva eye for three dimensional shapes in metal. Just part of life I suppose, and . . . just a step along the way, but so far, it's been interesting....
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