Stuka Stunt Main Forum · 7 of 7 known posts recovered
Wow. I may actually have some info on the plane you are asking about. I will have to pull out the kit box to be sure, but here is what I recall about MY kit:
1. It came in a yellow or cream colored box.
2. Zero-sen(Oscar?)for .09 to .19 engines(?). I installed a K&B GH .09 that I never did get to run very well. I must have bought it from another kid--it was missing the needle valve, and no one seemed to have a replacement. I do remember that I flew it a few times, though.
3. Plans were in Japanese, with a really comical translation sheet. "Mix powdered bones..."
4. The plane was completely planked with balsa. Never having planked anything, much less compound curves of both the fuselage and the semi-symmetrical wing, let's just say it was a challenge for a kid with just a tube of Ambroid. I thought the kit was a little unfair--all the planking material was soft and kinda lightweight. If a kid spends all of his allowance, shouldn't he get some strong, heavier, REAL wood?
5. I remember buying several big jars of sanding sealer, trying to make that plane my best ever. And then, a whole CAN of green dope and desperately trying to finish it before my family left on vacation one summer. Not sure now why this was so important, but who knows what drives kids?
6. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do with the red paper circles in the kit. They weren't decals....
7. Mine had a spun aluminum cowling (nice!); a spun aluminum spinner cone, but no way to attach it and no instructions; a clear plastic fuel tank (All the tanks I had ever seen were metal. How was that going to work?); hard rubber wheels for a wing mounted landing gear, etc. One of the reasons this kit intrigued a little kid was that it was so complete. For the price clearly labeled on end of the box, there was a good chance I could assemble it all. No standing inside the hobby shop dreaming about saving enough allowance to get the wheels, get the tank, get the.... I remember I bought the kit from an "old timey" hobby shop in Arlington (Riverside) California. The shop was old fashioned back then, and that was probably around 1970. The kit might have been up on the shelf with all the other control line planes a long time before a ten year old came along with a bad case of "I Wants." I remember staring up at that shelf behind the glass counter a lot. A couple of years later, a red and white checkered box containing a Smoothie came down off that shelf and found it's way under my family's Christmas tree. Maybe my best Christmas ever....
I'll try to pull out the box tonight. Thanks for a trip down memory lane!
Dave
LA_Flyer
Bill
I build more planes than I fly, collect more kits than I build. That about says it, right?
Arcade Hobbies sounds about right, but I'm not really sure now.... It was the end shop on what we would now call a strip mall (a pretty grandiose title for what I remember!) on Magnolia Ave. The proprieter was a big guy (of course, I was a little kid) who smoked a pipe all the time. I didn't know anyone else who had a pipe.... He had a slow way of talking, mebbe even a drawl. His shop was a short bike ride from my middle school that was then named Chemawa (now that's not PC, I suppose) and just across the street from the Sherman Indian school.
The one plane that I definitely remember from that shop was a red biplane hanging from the ceiling over by the trains. The wings didn't seem very big for such a macho pot bellied thing with (presumably) a big engine under the cowl. I still have a thing for biplanes, and when I stop crashing so much, I'm gonna build me one!
As an airplane crazed kid, I simply couldn't understand why they would bother with aisles of beads and leather kits and other stuff that wasn't airplane stuff. After all, this was a HOBBY SHOP!
Later on, I spent more time on the other side of town at the Brockton Arcade hobby shop. The owners tolerated me because I might stand there and look at stuff for hours, but I never touched anything because it all cost more than I had in my pocket, and you could never tell if something might fall off the rack and break. The owners son's name was Sandy, maybe Sandy Nelson? His mom was always real nice to me. Seems like a bunch of little nudges from a lot of nice folks creates kids with a lifetime hobby. How can you ever thank them all....
Dave
LA_Flyer
I found my old kit box, plans and instruction sheet. I'm betting you have a kit with a label name of "U-CONTROL" that was either manufactured or marketed by the Kyosho Corporation. The phone number given on the instructions is 201-0505,0606. Be sure to call during Tokyo business hours! The Japanese Navy Fighter, Zeke 52 (Zero) was kit number 104. The kit I had was the Japanese Army Fighter, Oscar 3, kit number 106. The wingspan is 600mm or about 24 inches. The box art listed kits from 101 thru 110. The price penciled in on my box was $4.95.
There is no date (in english) on my box, plans, or assembly instruction sheet. I guess that would be too easy. The plans are printed on both sides. On the back, in the lower right corner is what appears to be a logo. It looks like it says "H Models."
The plans show the leadouts on the left wing for CCW flight, but there is a little artwork silhouette that shows someone flying CW. Not sure which direction was/is more common along the asian rim....
Just for fun, here are a few excerpts from the one page assembly instructions (exactly duplicated):
"Fix rudder main spareair shaft after you stretch the airplane."
"Prepare podwerd bones, racker, water paper #180 and paste...(then) coat."
"...please bent the rudder 15-20 degrees to out side to make the operator to be pulled to opposite side of the operator...."
Since I sometimes don't speaka da english very well, I'm amazed anyone can understand japanese...much less translate it. The plans actually have a fair amount of english on them and the parts list has both.
Good luck with your kit, whether you build or sell it.
Dave
LA_Flyer