Probably like many of you, I'm a pack rat and never threw a "good" model away. I was cleaning out a closet in the basement and look what I found...
Four Fast combat ships circa early 70's,
one with a very new looking 36X screwed to the nose! IIRC, I got a halfway decent job paying $1.65 an hour around 1975 and was able to get three G21 .35's and switched to Nemesis designs with surgical bladders in Estes tubes then, so these have to be back from early high school. The drinking age was 18 back then which probably explains the Coors can pacifier compartment.. yeah I was 18, sure, OK. LOL!
Again, if memory serves, I used the root ribs from a Sneeker and built constant-chord wings. A couple of these ships show battle scars from matches and the broken hub from a Tornado 8x8 lends me to believe the chrome ship was used in a match and then retired, to be found today 35 or more years later! All still have oil on them, so each one is authentic and a veteran that flew in anger.
My dad and I had consecutive AMA numbers and I can see where they were "field modified" to change the numbers.
Handling these little combat ships after all these years really opened up the floodgates of memories.
You know, I do remember that at the Lake Charles Nats in '74 I was using long tailbooms, so these are probably from Oshkosh or earlier. That makes them at least 39 years old. So they rode in the back of my '65 Mustang while I tried to make out with my girlfriend...
Anyway, I thought I'd share. Most good combat ships never survived. I had tucked these away and had forgotten about them. I think the chrome one is going to get cleaned and put on display in the man-cave.
No amount money could ever pry these from me.
Hey, anybody got any Missile Mist? I think that 36X is calling me.