First Scientific Kit

[john e. holliday]

Starting a new thread as I posted about my first plane.  It did not last long.  The second plane was a Scientific kit I got at the Hardware Store at White Church KANSAS.  Bet not too many in Kansas City area remember that little burg.  Yes it had it's own post office like Bethel KANSAS where I got into this madness.  Any way it was called "Sport Racer".  It had sheet wood construction for the fuse and solid wing.  I literally wore it out flying in the back yard between the house and garden.  A few years ago a gentleman was selling plans to the Scientific kits.  So I inquired about plans for the Sport Racer.  Yes I got the plans, but they were very unusable.  It is another Scientific kit that is rare as it was not advertised when I was looking for a replacement.  I also think it was the last before they went to the hollow log kits.  By the way it was powered by the OK Cub .049A which I still have in the shop.   

[dennis lipsett]

I'm always amazed that someone can remember their first model. Mine was 57 years ago and I couldn't tell you what it was to save my life. It was a rubber job, maybe a Strombecker kit, and my brother helped me get it together and fly. Not too willingly on his part but he did it. Then Comet kits and up the line. I only remember the first kit that I bought with my own money and I was 10 so that was 1955.
The only thing I'm amazed at and remember is that we handled sharp tools at a fairly early age and today someone would be going to jail for child endangerment. were we that responsible or have todays kids been so sheltered that they don't mature till their age???

[Bill Little]

I'm always amazed that someone can remember their first model. Mine was 57 years ago and I couldn't tell you what it was to save my life. It was a rubber job, maybe a Strombecker kit, and my brother helped me get it together and fly. Not too willingly on his part but he did it. Then Comet kits and up the line. I only remember the first kit that I bought with my own money and I was 10 so that was 1955.
The only thing I'm amazed at and remember is that we handled sharp tools at a fairly early age and today someone would be going to jail for child endangerment. were we that responsible or have todays kids been so sheltered that they don't mature till their age???

I'll get back to you later on this one, Dennis.  Especially the last part about "sharp tools". 

Big Bear

[john e. holliday]

I forgot some still think of the old Comet kits.  Went thru all lthe 10 cent kits and was starting on the 25 cent ones.  Never did get one to fly.  So I never counted them as they were a different kind of construction.

[Bill Little]

The only thing I'm amazed at and remember is that we handled sharp tools at a fairly early age and today someone would be going to jail for child endangerment. were we that responsible or have todays kids been so sheltered that they don't mature till their age?Huh??

It has nothing to do with the "age of responsibility", yet everything to do with today's outlook on raising children, and a very warped, uneducated community of people who we have allowed to run things of that nature.  A person with a PHD isn't necessarily "educated".  In fact, some of the "dumbest" people I have known had the most letters behind their names.

The generation who raised us actually believed in letting us "learn lessons".  Actually loosing a digit while "building" a model airplane was not a real possibility when using razor blades, and if we did cut ourselves, then we would learn how to do it WITHOUT cutting ourselves (eventually! LOL!!), or just not do it and move on to something else..

Dr. Spock, the child psychologist (or whatever he was) has been deemed one of the worst influences on the human race by several studies.  "Talk to little Johnny, don't hurt his feelings", etc., etc., is an approach that has been well proven only results in even poorer self esteem!  That's a fact not my opinion.  Giving every kid who signs up for a sport a place on a team, rules that require he/she plays in every game, and then a trophy for simply breathing long enough to make it through the season, is proven to cause more harm than having try outs and "cutting" the teams to a certain number.  The child learns nothing, except to EXPECT "something for nothing" under the "every child plays system".  That does not build self esteem.  Success AND FAILURE both play the major parts in building high self esteem.  And kids do intrinsically know when they have succeeded, and whe  they have been "given" something.  Too many parents today do not want to make their children "mad", in fear of the child not "loving them".  No boundaries are set, and a child HAS to have boundaries set to develop properly.  Society has created the mess, and doesn't even realize it, nor want to take responsibility for it.  Child abuse is absolutely horrible, but child discipline is absolutely a necessity.  There are really a lot of "good kids" around today, even more good ones than "bad" ones, but the bad ones make the headlines.  And the standards have been dropped so low, that the "good ones" are getting short changed.

Big Bear

[Neville Legg]

Bill, you sound just like me! I get on my wife's nerves, moaning about the state of our society today.  My dad is an aeromodeller, and was quite happy to let me loose with scalpels and saws from a very early age, he just warned me of the dangers and let me get on with it! Yes, I did cut myself, but no one was to blame except me for being so careless or stupid!  For a while, I tried to teach air cadets to build models but found it hard work, as they had no manual skills whatsoever! and I got paranoid that a parent was going to sue me or the CO of the air cadets, if their little darlings (they were 15/16 years old!) cut their fingers with the scalpels I handed out! When the CO asked me to do a risk assessment one evening, I decided enough was enough, and packed it in! I built a couple of C/L trainers for the cadets to fly, but they weren't that interested. Dave Platt's article on juniors makes interesting reading, and I agree with him.

Cheers

[Serge_Krauss]

Bill-

'spoken as a true educator...and that's a compliment. I agree!

To avoid hijacking this thread, I'll repeat that the first Scientific model I flew was a friend's "Stuntmaster" and the first I built a flew was the "Atomic. The bulk of my comments are in a personal e-mail.

SK

[YakNine]

My first and only scientific kit is a 1/2 A Cessna L-19 Birddog Built up plank fuselage my cousin got it in the 60's and never built it I got it in the eighties and a lot of it was missing but enough was there to go by to finish it. I made a new leading edge for the wing and a few new ribs and have the wing finished but am in the process of selling my house and moving so it is packed away for now. I plan to finish it in U.S.M.C. colors and lettering in honor of my late father fly it once or twice and hang it in my office in front of his portrait. T.J.

[Bill Little]

My first and only scientific kit is a 1/2 A Cessna L-19 Birddog Built up plank fuselage my cousin got it in the 60's and never built it I got it in the eighties and a lot of it was missing but enough was there to go by to finish it. I made a new leading edge for the wing and a few new ribs and have the wing finished but am in the process of selling my house and moving so it is packed away for now. I plan to finish it in U.S.M.C. colors and lettering in honor of my late father fly it once or twice and hang it in my office in front of his portrait. T.J.

Hi TJ,

Now THAT is something worth doing.    Best wishes with that project!

Big Bear

[Charlie Pate]

My second plane was a Scientific Little Devil. Price: Dollar fifty
 It flew better than my firebaby.
By then my cub.049 had had about all the Testors 39 it wanted.

[john e. holliday]

Testors 39,  the fuel of choice whn I joined the Flying Eagles Club.  Then it became K&B 100 to replace it as well as the Fox Fuels.   

[Brett Buck]

Success AND FAILURE both play the major parts in building high self esteem.  And kids do intrinsically know when they have succeeded, and whe  they have been "given" something.  Too many parents today do not want to make their children "mad", in fear of the child not "loving them".  No boundaries are set, and a child HAS to have boundaries set to develop properly.  Society has created the mess, and doesn't even realize it, nor want to take responsibility for it.  

   Oh, I think some are 100% fully aware of it, and have intentionally created this situation, and are anxious to take advantage of it.

    What this creates is a "perpetual childhood" where people, regardless of age, expect someone else to take care of them. And guess what, there's a group of people quite happy to take that role on.

    Any further and I get the "political post" hammer dropped on me again. But make no mistake, it's absolutely no accident. It may have started innocently enough but it's not so innocent now.

    Brett

[George]

Perhaps part of the problem is that some people think the phrase, "Spare the rod and spoil the child", is instructions...

George

Edit: Oops, forgot to mention that my first Scientific kit was already built...a Little Bipe powered by an OK Cub. The second one was a Little Devil, then a Little Mustang. I believe I built another Mustang but it was not the "Little Mustang". It was a challenge back then to mount mount Space Bug Junior around the landing gear considering it needed a breather hole in the firewall and the LG had to be bent to accommodate the mounting ears on the engine.
Built a couple more but don't remember which ones...well, it WAS over fifty years ago (~1953-1954). 

[Mike Lauerman]

Little Mercury for me...Built the $1.25 model, hoping (praying) my Dad would take pity and buy me an engine.
 
No Firebaby when I wanted one...("You'll cut your finger off!")   Pleas for an O.K. Cub fell on deaf ears.

It would be 1955 before I'd ever flip a prop. (and that was the 10/6 Top Flite on my first McCoy .35!)

[john e. holliday]

I guess I was lucky that I had the parents I did and grew up in the right time period.  Dad always stated you learn the easy way or the hard way.  The easy way was watching other people and their experience.  The hard way was learning on your own.  Thank goodness Mother had plenty of Iodine, gauze and adhesive tape.   

[Bob Hunt]

My first Scientific model was the American Boy. I remember flying it on the front lawn of my father's shop. On that same day Red Reinhardt was flying one of the many derivatives of his Snapper design. Red's ship flew better than mine...

Spare the rod...? I remember my father using the flat side of a broken Super Clown fuselage on my rear padded part to make an impression about what I should consider changing in my attitude. It worked, and I'm forever indebted to my parents for letting me learn to use sharp tools at an early age and for adjusting my path in life when necessary.

The current generation has been enabled in large part by those responsible for their development. This does not mean that they have been instructed, or educated, or challenged, or corrected or even allowed to learn by making mistakes. I see a lot of them as weak, frustrated and unhappy individuals who are essentially spectators in life. They have no training or spirit to take charge and move forward.    

Like Brett, I will write no more on this subject as I will risk breaking the "nonpolitical" edict.  

Bob Hunt

[jim gilmore]

WoW Ty. I'll resent that comment about American hobby center. And here is why. I've never been rich but in the 1980's I would go to Manhattan and peruse their shelves of scientific kits. And they charged me the prices on the boxes. Yeah I bought the the dazzler,mustang sizzlin liz,and a 1/2 dozen others at prices like $1.95 OR $2.95 WISH I COULD HAVE AFFORDED AT THAT TIME TO BUY EVER ONE THERE WAS.

[50+AirYears]

Bought, built, and flew a lot of Scientific models, but the first was the Li'l Mercury, powered by the ubiquitous Cub .049B.  One of the more interesting was their Stuka, Tee Dee .049.  Flew fairly fast on the almost standard 35' Dacron lines, then somebody lent me a set of 42' .008" steel cable.  Basically, I never went back to Dacron.

Only Scientific model I still have is one of their sailing ships, the HMS Bounty.  Bought it just before getting out of the AF in 1968, started in 1969, finished in 1977.  Miss that brand!

I did put a couple mail orders in to AHC.  One with no problem, one, which I sent just before rotating stateside from Wheelus AFB, had quite a bit extra.  Seems they combined 2 orders, mine and someone else from another squadron there.  Gave me a lot of static over the phone, seems they checked their shipment according to weight, mine was correct.  I ended up forwarding the extra stuff to the correct recipient.  Hope he got it.