CG Shoestring age

I have an old Shoestring which I'm fixing a wing and recovering right now. I'm told the model was originally built in the 60's, and probably had it's original tissue on it.

It's not really important, but I am curious if this old thing really is over 40 years old. The ribs have numbers stamped on them, rather than printed, sort of "dot matrix" stamping. Also, the spars appear to be cut to size with a circular saw, rather than sanded or sliced to size. The horiz stab also has circular saw marks on it, could be disc sanding marks, but since it's not tapered, I think the sheet stock the tail feathers were cut from were sliced from thicker stock using a table saw or something similar.

Anyone have any idea when these practices were stopped? Or if there's any other way to tell how old it is?

Hi Mike. I built my first Shoe String Stunter in 1966 or 67. I did it on board the USS Cromwell while we were in Italy!! I replaced some of the balsa with Graupner brand. Neat in that their balsa is all metric, 39" vs 36" and you know all us guys like an extra 3" or so. The wood in the early kits was rough. Later more parts appeared die cut and smoother spars. Contact me off line, I have some news for you. Ty

Hi,

I built a Buster in '64. The S'String was the first of the series so it predates that. I think the S'String dates into the late 50's. I remember the rib numbering, this was a universal feature of all the die-cut CG kits, I guess it saved a second stamping operation.

Both the Buster and the Shoestring show up in my '62 America's Hobby Center catalog. Randy is correct in stating that the Shoestring was first. Interestingly, the third of this CG trilogy, the Cosmic Wind, is not there. Currell

Hi!

I have a built in 1964 CG Cosmic Wind...last flown a year ago with it's 1963 Fox 35X.

I still have remnants of the plans I think, the wing has been trashed and rebuilt about 3 times.

It will get retired soon, but will be on the garage wall a long time.

I seem to remember the Shoestring making it's initial appearance in 1960. And I believe the Cosmic Wind came out in 1963. I remember that I built one then.Funny though I can't remember if the wood was rough cut, guess because so many kits were done the same way then.. Dennis

> I seem to remember the Shoestring making it's initial
>appearance in 1960. And I believe the Cosmic Wind came out
>in 1963. I remember that I built one then.Funny though I
>can't remember if the wood was rough cut, guess because so
>many kits were done the same way then.. Dennis

Shoestring was first, about 1960. Then came the Buster a year or two later, followed by the Cosmic Wind in 1963. Goldberg wood was NEVER anything to write home about.

>Shoestring was first, about 1960. Then came the Buster a
>year or two later, followed by the Cosmic Wind in 1963.
>Goldberg wood was NEVER anything to write home about.
>
>John

I think John is right. There was an article providing building tips for the "new" CG Shoestring in the 1961 MAN Annual, which detailed the events of 1960. That same issue also had the building tips for the green box Nobler.

I also agree about the wood, but we were a lot less critical back then. I built and flew a lot of Goldberg Voodoos in high school and never noticed the wood.

Ron

My old Shoe was built the winter of 1962-63. As I remember the wood, particularly the spars were very rough cut. When I bought this kit it was suppose to be a new kit according to the people at the local hobby shop. If you are working on the wing be very careful, it's very easy to get a slight warp that is difficult both to find and cure.

Happy flying!

I still got a kit of the old Shoestring from the EARLY 60s. It has the LHS's price aff9xed. $2.95. Wood is about the same quality as one of the last kits of the same plane that I obtained directly from CG in the late 90s. Both BAAAADDDDD. I have three different kits of that plane, all CG of different eras. One has a red and white plane shown on the box, next was a chautruse color and last a generic black and white label on the box.
Bigiron

> I still got a kit of the old Shoestring from the EARLY
>60s. It has the LHS's price aff9xed. $2.95. Wood is about
>the same quality as one of the last kits of the same plane
>that I obtained directly from CG in the late 90s. Both
>BAAAADDDDD. I have three different kits of that plane, all
>CG of different eras. One has a red and white plane shown
>on the box, next was a chautruse color and last a generic
>black and white label on the box.
> Bigiron

The kits are ALL BLEEP-poor. I have yet to ever see one that wasn't. Surprisingly enough, some guys did manage to build them and get them to fly well. These are better (designed) Sterling Ringmasters. Like the Ring', if you have a GOOD kit (or can do it yourself), they are a joy.
The Shoe' is probably the best of the group overall.

I had better luck with a Buster, which was light. Monocoted fuse and tailfeathers, interestingly.

On my third Shoestring now. It has a sticker on it that says it flew in the Canadian Nats in the '70s. Lord knows what event.

Never had a Cosmic Wind. Currell

>I had better luck with a Buster, which was light. Monocoted
>fuse and tailfeathers, interestingly.
>
>On my third Shoestring now. It has a sticker on it that says
>it flew in the Canadian Nats in the '70s. Lord knows what
>event.
>
>Never had a Cosmic Wind. Currell

One of my fondest memories is of a CG Shoestring that I flew back in 1967 or so. It was chartruse with red (just like the full-size one)- save for the vertical tail (red and white) grafted on from some other airplane. It belonged to Charlie Bruce (the guy that rebuilt GMA's smashed to bits Nobler I that is now in the AMA Museum)- he didn't build it originally; he bought it off another guy whose hobby shop had shut down. We were out at Bayland Park ( early afternoon, kinda stormy and rain cloud dark overcast) and he said "Go fly it". Since it wasn't my airplane, and I neither was then, (nor am today) any great Stunt ace, I just kept it pretty much to straight and level with a few climbs and dives. His younger son James came out into the circle center about half-way thru the tank and I passed the handle off to him. He flew a couple laps or so, then did a real nice 90 degree wingover and went straight into the concrete. The wing blew up on impact destruction was total- the fuse and tail feathers survived- the McCoy .36 had to have some of C.B.'s machine shop surgery to run again. General opinion was the bellcrank platform had failed. The wing was replaced with one stripped from a Consolidated "Twin Terror", and was christened "Shoewing Terror" by C.B., flying again about two weeks later. C.B. was (and is) a MOST remarkable guy...

John