As a kid I built a number of Enterprise CL kits, Recently I bought this one, see pic, the Razzle Dazzle from Penn Valley Hobbies. more to come when I get the kit.

doc,
If you don't have to go to the orchard or stables, Penn valley still has a couple kits
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Enterprise-956-CL-RAZZLE-DAZZLE-Model-Airplane-Kit-NIB-/350779381317?pt=US_Radio_Control_Control_Line&hash=item51ac149645
john

Penn valley is pretty reliable, I have dealt with them for years before EBay. However the USPS may make it so I never know. Right now the package has been lost by them, if I ever see the kit I will let you know how it turns out.

PS seems to me I remember that some of the other Enterprise kits had pre colored wood, but that was a long time ago.

That is good news John.
I need some motivation, how about a Razzle Dazzle build-off?

Orv.

Hi John,
The kit looks great and like you, I too have "too many irons in the fire". We will go about this in a leisurely way.
I believe the engine in the photo is an Anderson Spitfire .045, same gutless power as the Spitzy. I have a Spitzy but will use it in a small free flight sport plane where not much power is good.
I like building these old kits and powering them with the motors shown on the plan. I think one of the motors shown on the RD plan is a Cox Space Bug Jr. I recently ebayed one specifically for this project.

Orv.

The motor I showed is a Spitfire, sometimes called a Spitzy Jr. , both it and the Spitzy's were .045 with a fairly long stoke. I think the only difference between the two is the shape of the venturi and where the tank is. Both were available in the early 50's, certainly by 1951 or 52. I am not sure when the Razzle Dazzle appeared, or the Thimble Dome motors. Thru the 50's I mostly had OK Cubs and the Spitzy's. My First Cox was a .020 in 1960 on a small FF model.   

Hi John and George,
According to John Krickel's Engine List, the first engine produced by Mel Anderson in 1949 was the Junior Spitfire (045) like in Johns photo. In 1950 Mel came out with the Spitzy .045 with the cast tank below the engine. In 1951 he brought out the Spitzy Senior with the larger tank.

The Cox Space Bug was released in 1952 and the Thermal Hopper and Space Bug Jr. (white tank) in 1953. In 1954 Cox released the Space Bug Jr. with a variety of tank colors.

I believe the RD assembly instructions show the SB Jr, so the RD kits were produced after 1953, but when exactly I don't know since there is no copyright date on the literature. I think I got my dyed balsa version around 1956 or 57, so I surmise that the kits were first introduced between 1953 and 1956.

The instructions in my kit, which has the plain balsa, still refers to the dyed version when they give finishing instructions.

I was able to buy some lemon yellow ink and plan on spraying this on the raw balsa just after I sand all the individual parts. I think you have to do this before any gluing is done since the ink probably won't color the glue the same as the balsa, if at all.

It is going to be an adventure for sure .

Orv.

Pre-dying the wood works well, and for really intense color, put some dye in your clear dope as well. You canget wood stain dyes from Woodcraft and Rockler. The Higgins non fade inks work too.