Has anyone ever in past converted some of the older balsa hand launch gliders in to 1/2A Ukies? My buddy and I back in the mid-fifties had a blast doing this, we used the Babe Bee engine (what else) on front of the chopped nose balsa 25 cent gliders. There was an article in one of the popular Modeling magazines of the day that showed how to do this, it might have been simply a short "how-to" sketch? I figure the article had to be around 1958 or there-a-bout. Would anyone know which issue this article / sketch appeared, I sure would love to get a scan of the article just for old time sake .... I would post it on my bulletin board! See photo of more recent glider conversion using Tee Dee .010 for power ..... this converted glider is one of the repro Jim Walker '74' gliders that J&J (I think?) produced a few years back. This thing is a blast to fly on about 15 - 20 foot lines! I would greatly appreciate any help finding the original magazine article ..... I have been looking for years in all the fifties modeling magazines I get my hands on with no luck ..... THANKS!
Balsa hand-launch glider converted to 1/2A Ukie
Stuka Stunt Main Forum · 10 of 10 known posts recovered
Swordsman18 · Apr 07, 2004 07:17 AM
#1 sourceMore fun than ought to be legal! And the AJ glider reproductions have just been re-released (see the last few issues of Flying Models). Not only fun for the TD 010, but maybe the Modela CO2 motors I have lying around. Thanks for a great idea!
I've heard that when the Pee Wee 020s became available, people were flying them Round The Pole (RTP) and racing them on these gliders. Indoors! My uncle was a member of the American Airlines Gas Model Club in Cleveland at the time, and they did this in the hangar where they met, at the airport.
Andy
Really neat!
When you think about it, what you have done isn't very far removed from some of the basic Scientific kits.
Such as the (at first, $1) American Boy kit, still popular among CLer of a certain age.
Another kit that comes to mind is the 2 in 1 P-51/Sabre Jet Scientific. There just was one on ebay, and it may still be on.
These planes perform well, since they are light. Easy to repair, too, although the smart move is simply to replace.
Currell
Such as the (at first, $1) American Boy kit, still popular among CLer of a certain age.
Another kit that comes to mind is the 2 in 1 P-51/Sabre Jet Scientific. There just was one on ebay, and it may still be on.>
Yes Currell, I've got that one too, but have never flown it yet .... see photo. I have the twin P-51/Sabre Scientific kit around here somewhere too, but the Cats might have "modified" it a bit?
The thing that attracted us kids to the converted gliders was that they were CHEAP, quick and FUN! We canabilized the bellcranks, horns, etc. from a previously crashed model.
I just thought I would post a photo of bottom of this little fun flyer, just in case anyone wondered where the controls went?
>Has anyone ever in past converted some of the older balsa
>hand launch gliders in to 1/2A Ukies? My buddy and I back in
>the mid-fifties had a blast doing this, we used the Babe Bee
>engine (what else) on front of the chopped nose balsa 25
>cent gliders. There was an article in one of the popular
>Modeling magazines of the day that showed how to do this, it
>might have been simply a short "how-to" sketch? I figure the
>article had to be around 1958 or there-a-bout. Would anyone
>know which issue this article / sketch appeared, I sure
>would love to get a scan of the article just for old time
>sake .... I would post it on my bulletin board! See photo of
>more recent glider conversion using Tee Dee .010 for power
>..... this converted glider is one of the repro Jim Walker
>'74' gliders that J&J (I think?) produced a few years back.
>This thing is a blast to fly on about 15 - 20 foot lines! I
>would greatly appreciate any help finding the original
>magazine article ..... I have been looking for years in all
>the fifties modeling magazines I get my hands on with no
>luck ..... THANKS!
>hand launch gliders in to 1/2A Ukies? My buddy and I back in
>the mid-fifties had a blast doing this, we used the Babe Bee
>engine (what else) on front of the chopped nose balsa 25
>cent gliders. There was an article in one of the popular
>Modeling magazines of the day that showed how to do this, it
>might have been simply a short "how-to" sketch? I figure the
>article had to be around 1958 or there-a-bout. Would anyone
>know which issue this article / sketch appeared, I sure
>would love to get a scan of the article just for old time
>sake .... I would post it on my bulletin board! See photo of
>more recent glider conversion using Tee Dee .010 for power
>..... this converted glider is one of the repro Jim Walker
>'74' gliders that J&J (I think?) produced a few years back.
>This thing is a blast to fly on about 15 - 20 foot lines! I
>would greatly appreciate any help finding the original
>magazine article ..... I have been looking for years in all
>the fifties modeling magazines I get my hands on with no
>luck ..... THANKS!
What a surprise to see this done...I mounted a Baby Spitfire onto
an AJ "74" Glider back in 1953(I think)..it successfuly went around
in circles until the engine flew off the plane, while I was shooting
touch and goes.....Back then; things fell off all my models quite
often. Tony
LAST EDITED ON Apr-08-04 AT 11:37 PM (CDT)
I will never forget a particular flight my cousin made when we were kids, both flying these converted gliders with Babe Bee power. His parents had a home with a front patio enclosed by three walls with the front open .... the patio's floor size was probably no more than 12 feet on either side. My cousin decided he was going to fly the plane on this patio, so he wound in the lines on his Cox Skylon Reel to about 5 feet circle radius. I fueled the Babe Bee up (full tank), cranked the engine and launched it away. The model was doing lap times of probably well under two seconds (probably more like one second)! But Bo Clinton (my cousin) flew the entire tank out and never strayed from the center of patio, he had at most one foot clearance at the three walls .... I remember he was holding the CL handle right up to his chest through-out the entire flight! That is one fight I will never forget ..... it seemed like that Babe Bee was never going to run out of fuel! That was probably the single most entertaining flight I have ever observed. Talk about "Feels Like a Top or a Spinning Dreidel" .... "You Can't Slow Down"! Does anyone remember the song?
I will never forget a particular flight my cousin made when we were kids, both flying these converted gliders with Babe Bee power. His parents had a home with a front patio enclosed by three walls with the front open .... the patio's floor size was probably no more than 12 feet on either side. My cousin decided he was going to fly the plane on this patio, so he wound in the lines on his Cox Skylon Reel to about 5 feet circle radius. I fueled the Babe Bee up (full tank), cranked the engine and launched it away. The model was doing lap times of probably well under two seconds (probably more like one second)! But Bo Clinton (my cousin) flew the entire tank out and never strayed from the center of patio, he had at most one foot clearance at the three walls .... I remember he was holding the CL handle right up to his chest through-out the entire flight! That is one fight I will never forget ..... it seemed like that Babe Bee was never going to run out of fuel! That was probably the single most entertaining flight I have ever observed. Talk about "Feels Like a Top or a Spinning Dreidel" .... "You Can't Slow Down"! Does anyone remember the song?
You Can't Slow Down, I remember, but not the artist.
Will Google. Currell
>You Can't Slow Down, I remember, but not the artist.
>
>Will Google. Currell
>You Can't Slow Down, I remember, but not the artist.
>
>Will Google. Currell
>
>Will Google. Currell
>You Can't Slow Down, I remember, but not the artist.
>
>Will Google. Currell
>You Can't Slow Down, I remember, but not the artist.
>
>Will Google. Currell
The song was by a very popular artist of the early seventies, the song's title was "Spinning Dreidel" I think? The artist was "Don McClean" (sp?) ..... you would more likely remember his smash hit Bye, Bye, Miss "AMERICAN PIE", Drove My Chevy to the Levy, But the Levy Was Dry.
Do you know what is a "Dreidel" ..... how about a FOUR sided Spinning Top?