Back then I really couldn't fly well enough to tell the difference (probably still don't)  but how about the Scientific 1/2A Kingpin,  built up wing, profile body  and a fairly capable flyer ??

Dalton H.

Scientific super stuntmaster and a baby bee. I think thats the engine, 049 with the little tank

Tony, the Baby Era is a super looking model. I have seen a few on that auction site and grabbed a couple of pictures but that is all I have of this model. Looks very easy to build As most were of that type and time. This is what the instruction sheet looks like.  I do wish I had some good pictures of the wonderful box art on top! Could be I might try one of these myself.

Robert

Sure do, at least the Scientific models.  Been tempted to send in an order.  I also have a JPG of one of the early ones, thinking of hacking out a 1 X 2 plank.  Also, thinking of using the Baby Era kit I have and using it as a pattern to try my own reproduction of the Baby Era Bipe.

Also have a number of files from old Musciano articles that make some bigger logs.  Even have a few of his old Model Boat articles.  Also I think one or two FF designs of his.

My Boo-Boo.  The 1" X 2"s I have are for carving Rubber Model Props.  I also have some 24" 2 X 2" balsa chunks for logs.  Have I ever mentioned I'm not fussy about what I fly?  I have about 16 flyable RC, 29 CL and over 40 FF and Rocket models. Also over 140 assorted kits for my retirement.

Seems kind of funny.  Now that I'm retiredd, I seem to have less time for building and flying than I did when I was raising a family and working 50 to 70 hours per week.

Lil Satan

I've only built one Lil Satan, never got to fly it. A couple of kids came by while I was pre-running the Babe Bee. They were very interested and after getting them to promise they would fly it, I gave it to them.

Geez, that was 40 years ago!!!

George

Since we're on the subject

When I was 13, I went to the LHS and they had a Lil Satan with a combat streamer on it, first combat plane I'd ever seen (I was sheltered apparently).  Well I had to have one.  Built it up, probably did my best job ever on alignment, then covered it with a silk scarf of moms.  When she found she went ballistic, screaming and yelling, which of course set me off (hey I was 13, what can I say I felt entitled).  I proceeded to grab a hold of the silk with pliers and rip it off, throwing it back at her.  Kinda destroyed the model in the process.

Never got another one.  I wonder why?

 The Goldberg Stuntman 23 was the best, easy assembly and stuntable flyer around 1972.
I taught my whole neighborhood to fly on a design of my own and before long I had a basement full of kids building 1/2A kits. We had a blast. The Stuntman would slug through the pattern fairly comfortably given its board wing. The fact that it had decent wing area more so than airfoil seemed to be a step up from the ealier hollow logs. I had a Zig Zag, the Stunt Trainer, The Lil Zipper, several of my own creations back then also.

When I was a Sr. I was given a choice of any project for a final in Art Class. So I built a half A with flaps and a black widow for power. Brought  it in to class, gave a presentation and then out back for a flying demo. Did a reverse wingover, loops and figure 8s....got an A+ and my Senior year of Art class was over. The drafting teacher came out and I dont think it hurt my grade with him either. He asked if I built it from plans. When I told him no, I just built it from scratch he just grinned...and handed it back to me.

Combat Kittens and a plane called a Big Otto.

Lil' Jumpin Bean with a Black Widow. It died a horrible death after impersonating a lawn dart, I still have the pieces 28 years later !

I remember flying a Jumping Bean all day with some of the Phillips Bros kids in Chicago before we moved to California in '66. It flew great and the Cox engine was easy to run, even for us kids. We just kept taking turns with it, and there were about five of us. It broke the elevator horn once, but that was repaired, the only damage in a whole day of kids less than 10 yrs flying it in grass!
I always thought it was the best 1/2A flyer I ever knew, and built one when I was in high school just for fun. It hangs on my shop wall unflown.
Chris...

Lil' Jumping Bean/Black Widow about 1963.  When my oldest son got started, he got one, and we still have it along with that original Black Widow.   My *favorite* was the Scientific King Cobra.  27" built up wing and tricycle LG.  I finally found an original kit in the basement and threaten to copy it!

Mongo

Jim Walker Firebird, first outside loop!

There was one 1/2A design I built a number of.  Not a kit, but still one of the best  1/2A flyers I ever had.  I was reminded of it last week from seeing a nicely done build and fly video on one of the MA websites from a young Brasillian.  The plane was the Li'l PT.  Forget who designed it, but it was a full size plan in the March 1960 MAN.  Remember when they were actually a full service model airplane magazine?  Very smooth flyer, compared to many others I had.  Think it would have done very well with a Golden Bee or Black Widow and 42' .008 steel lines.  A piece of the sig airfoiled 3" balsa for glider wings would save a bit of work, since instead of a flat plank wing like many, the plans called for sanding the 1/8" into an airfoil shape.

I used to build and fly them, with the impatience of youth, so rapidly neither the glue nor the dope was fully dry.  Did my first loops and wingovers with them.  Tried inverted flight and outside loops, but for some reason, the engine would quit, and the tank would be dry when the plane came down, with the Babe Bees.  The plans (I have some of the original mag, and I've scanned the plans to a computer file) show both tank moung and beam mount.  Hmmm!.  Beam Mount.  Norvel or AME .061.  Or Tee Dee .049.  Another future project?

Sterling 24" profile Eindecker w/golden bee.  Early 1970s.  Red aerogloss with white enamel squares for the maltese crosses.  Looked very sharp until that Cox 25% nitro fuel hit that enamel.  Kinda runny   Oh well, it still flew VERY well.  Another fun one was a Scientific P-40 hollow log.  The kit included these little steel eyelets for the leadouts.  First two flights the up line broke (dacron), FULL DOWN.   After repairing it the SECOND time, it occurred to me that those little metal brackets were sawing through those dacron leadouts   Once I replaced them (eyelets) with ply, I never had any other problems.  I think I saw the wing out in the shop last summer...I know I've got some block balsa around somewhere.....

While over the years I have used Dacron leadouts, I never ran them through eyelets.  I either used L bent solder lugs or a drilled piece of ply.  But the last 10 or 15 years, I used .020 music wire or left over .015 stranded control line.  In fact, I gave up on Dacron altogether after having a Dacron UP line break while pulling out of a low level loop during a flying demo for a Cub Scout pack.  Just use the left overs I still have for wrapping, figure 8 hinges, or rigging when I build sailing shipsor ships in the bottle.

John, wonderful stories! Thanks for those. 
Do you happen to have any pictures of these early models? I wish I had taken more myself.

Regarding the Lil Zipper. was it one of those that had the built up fuse with a vac formed top?

Robert

You know...I think I do but have to go through the family albums. Some stuff was on 8mm film so have to find the VHS we made of those....I think I still have a working VHS...lemme check...

Lil Jumpin Bean.