Nostalgia & old kits

[Vince Mankowski]

I must have been one hell of a model builder when I was young.  A recently acquired Sterling kit (nostalgia kicks in when you push 70) was started the other day.
The balsa is harder then woodpecker lips. Die cut sometimes almost half way through! The plywood had about an 8-inch pitch in it and you’d swear it was honeycomb titanium with wood colored paint.  Naturally I ended up scroll sawing out the parts, only to find out that most did not fit! (Don’t we remember those parts fitting together – sort of?)
So here I am re-creating the parts from sheet wood using the kit parts (as marked up) as patterns.
Can you believe I used to make models out of this stuff? Even used all the kit parts! I must have been one hell of a modeler in my youth.
Those models flew well, even using the Sterling traditional “build it-in-the-air” method (we don’t need no stinking jigs). Right now I am trying to figure out how to build in the air and get a straight wing outta this. There must be a way because I used to do it.
So much for the ‘good old days’
Which reminds me…. Ever build a Ringmaster with contest wood? The flying difference was amazing.

[john e. holliday]

Surely your memory hasn't decied that much.  The die crunching back then was like laser is to the modelers of today.  Even the Goldberg kits had to have some cutting done on the die crunch parts.  I guess the old Scientific kits were the best.  I've lost count how many I built and wore out or gave away.  Also I guess for the time the Veco/Dumas kits were the best until Top Flite came out with the Nobler.  Somewhere on here is a post of mine about one of the newest kits I have gotten off the bay.  A print wood kit with full size plans.  Aint it fun recreating our long gone youth.

[Russell Shaffer]

I soaked the LE sheeting for a T-Square in the bathtub and still had a terrible time bending it.  When I'm cutting parts for a new plane and get a little off the line, I figure it's still way better than the old die cutting for accuracy.  Sterling sure kitted some neat airplanes, though.

[dennis lipsett]

Actually you were a better modeller in your youth. You had enthusiasm and the niavitae to believe that Sterling actually made good kits, so you proceeded to build that box of slag parts with the assurance of a great flying model.
Now people are so much wiser, so they collect them at very high prices so they can leave them on their shelves and impress their friends  on finally getting that sterling Spitfire that they never could afford as a kid. Some even remove the lid so they can get a whiff of that oldtime rotting wood in their 50 year old treasure.
It really is true that memories have all of the sharp edges removed. Kind of makes it pointless to revisit your youth and destroy all of those warm fuzzy feelings you got when you thought about that old Sterling, Berkley, whatever that made it one of the culminating events of your youth.
even worse is the fact that as you get older you also become somewhat grumpy and decide to revisit your youth and then the whole cycle starts again.

By the way you don't have a sterling Cosmic wind hidden in your pile do you?  LOL
  

[George]

Less you forget why the kits were all dye crunched...LASERs had not been invented!!!

There are a few left who appreciated dye crunching over the older printed wood kits.

George

[Marvin Denny]

[quote author=dennis lipsett By the way you don't have a sterling Cosmic wind hidden in your pile do you?  LOL

  You wouldn't mean the Sterling Cosmic Wind, kit # FS-11 would you?

   Bigiron

[Dennis Holler]

I must have been one hell of a model builder when I was young.  A recently acquired Sterling kit (nostalgia kicks in when you push 70) was started the other day.
The balsa is harder then woodpecker lips. Die cut sometimes almost half way through! The plywood had about an 8-inch pitch in it and you’d swear it was honeycomb titanium with wood colored paint.  Naturally I ended up scroll sawing out the parts, only to find out that most did not fit! (Don’t we remember those parts fitting together – sort of?)
So here I am re-creating the parts from sheet wood using the kit parts (as marked up) as patterns.
Can you believe I used to make models out of this stuff? Even used all the kit parts! I must have been one hell of a modeler in my youth.
Those models flew well, even using the Sterling traditional “build it-in-the-air” method (we don’t need no stinking jigs). Right now I am trying to figure out how to build in the air and get a straight wing outta this. There must be a way because I used to do it.
So much for the ‘good old days’
Which reminds me…. Ever build a Ringmaster with contest wood? The flying difference was amazing.

I know for the Ringmaster I just built from very poor templates on the back of an equally poor and old set of plans, nothing fit---of course some of that is the builder
I think everyone was just more accepting of stuff that almost fit and was willing to do some sanding and trimming and filling...Its been so long we forget that...plus I still can't build worth a crap!

[Bill Little]

Several years ago I got a Sterling Yak 9 kit just to use for templates, and *maybe* use the shaped LE and TE.  The LE was miscut, so that was out.  The ribs were miscut, so that was in need of redrawing!  So I just made a kit using good wood from the parts and modified them as necessary.  This was one of the last Yak 9 kits and the dies were so dull they wouldn't have hurt your hand if it was in the way!   Then I found a set of laser cut CAD drawn ribs and life was good again.  It will be my OTS plane, powered with a VECO 19BB.

Yes, we do tend to remember our youth through rose colored glasses sometimes.  But we were only young once......  

To quote Billy Werwage, "The past is a great place to visit, but I don't think we should live there."

Mongo

[FLOYD CARTER]

I built only a few kits in my youth.  Most of my planes were original designs. But I remember the most difficulty was not because of poor kit design, but because I didn't have the proper tools for building.  My "drill"
 was one of those hand-cranked jobs.  Soldering iron was one that got hot on the gas stove in the kitchen. No spray equipment, just some brushes. No vise for bending wire.  No workbench, just the top of a dresser cabinet.  And try cutting plywood parts with a coping saw (all I had).

Life is much easier nowadays.

Floyd

[dennis lipsett]

[quote author=dennis lipsett By the way you don't have a sterling Cosmic wind hidden in your pile do you?  LOL

  You wouldn't mean the Sterling Cosmic Wind, kit # FS-11 would you?

   Bigiron

Hi Marvin, Have you been to your junk barrell checking on that Cosmic Wind. Yes indeed it is kit FS-11 a pretty blue box with some good to awful fitting parts. I built 3 of them in the day. One single channel cox golden bee, citizenship equipment, one galloping Ghost, same engine with MinX equipment, and one 3 channel proportional. OS Minitron equipment. That last was a disappointment as it was too heavy at the time, it even had a nice OS10 in it.It flew all right but didn't live up to expectations.
That model was one of the Sterling kits that I did have fun with. It's terrible to build, the patterns for the sheeting aren't even close but it was a really good flyer if the weight was kept reasonable. Since I'm flying c/L I could build it for some simple fun, scale it isn't what with a shoulder wing configuration
Do you have one squirreled away in your workshop. Want a veco Spectrum and a Renegade.

[Randy Powell]

If you want a good Ringmaster kit, I understand Pat Johnston had some laser cut Ring S-1 kits that were pretty sweet. Fall together kits.

[GGeezer]

Hi Vince,
I know what you mean, we must have been awesome model builders in our youth  !
I participate in Flying Aces free flight competition with "dime scale" models built from the plans of those old ten cent Comet kits. I used to be able to buy, build, cover, fly and completely destroy those models in a day, and that was with no CA! Now, those same models seem to take me months to build and that is with CA..... what has happened?
Maybe the discovery of sand paper or we just agonize too long over all kinds of issues like poor wood and die cutting... but still... I have no good answer  .

Orv.

[Bill Little]

If you want a good Ringmaster kit, I understand Pat Johnston had some laser cut Ring S-1 kits that were pretty sweet. Fall together kits.

Pat's laser cut stuff is awesome, I would suggest any of his products to anyone.  I have some Ringmaster (and other) parts that he laser cut and they are all superb.  His Ringmaster Twin parts are really a beautiful sight! 

I also got a short kit for the Ringmaster 576 that Pat, and Dee Rice, had cut using a water jet before Pat started laser cutting.  I think that the water jet method is very good and I don't know exactly why no one else is doing that.

RSM also has a *S-1* kit that everyone says is great.

Mongo

[Mike Keville]

RSM also has a *S-1* kit that everyone says is great.

Mongo

It is!

[Joe Messinger]

I think it's all relative.  Yeah, if you compare today's kits with those of the 50's the old stuff was pretty crude.  But if you make the same comparison with many things from the 50's that could be said.  Remember black and white television?  It was required that in order to change channels, adjust the volume or turn them on or off, you had to actually get up, walk over to the set and make the adjustments.  Who would have thought that one day you could do all of those things from the comfort of your recliner from a distance of 10 or15 feet?  At the time, I thought it was amazing to be able to watch a movie or be entertained by a variety show in your own living room!  I had no thoughts of the operational process being "inconvenient".  Same is true for the model airplane kits of that time.  Die cut kits were a welcome improvement over the methods used in building models which preceded them.

The first "real" model plane that I ever built was a Sterling Super Ringmaster.  I wish I could recapture the enthusiasm and excitement I experienced in my youth as I worked on that plane.  I had visions of being able to fly maneuvers that had never before been attempted   with my "state of the art" flying wonder as I anxiously waited for the Ambroid cement to dry so I could go on to the next step of construction.  I have no recall of parts not fitting or the poor quality of the materials that came in the kit.  I did produce some "original maneuvers" with that plane.  Most resulted in a sudden and unplanned reunion with the ground.

As someone mentioned, the passage of time (fortunately) takes the sharp edges from our memories. . .

Joe 

[George]

...Now, those same models seem to take me months to build and that is with CA..... what has happened?
Maybe the discovery of sand paper or we just agonize too long over all kinds of issues like poor wood and die cutting... but still... I have no good answer     .Orv.

I think you are right. I remember my first Scientific kits where I ALMOST sanded the mill marks off the wings. And remember those glue gap fillings, and the Ambroid fillets that consisted mostly of bubbles?

Yes, those were the days! ... May they rest in peace. 

George

[Marvin Denny]

Hi Marvin, Have you been to your junk barrell checking on that Cosmic Wind. Yes indeed it is kit FS-11 a pretty blue box with some good to awful fitting parts. I built 3 of them in the day. One single channel cox golden bee, citizenship equipment, one galloping Ghost, same engine with MinX equipment, and one 3 channel proportional. OS Minitron equipment. That last was a disappointment as it was too heavy at the time, it even had a nice OS10 in it.It flew all right but didn't live up to expectations.
That model was one of the Sterling kits that I did have fun with. It's terrible to build, the patterns for the sheeting aren't even close but it was a really good flyer if the weight was kept reasonable. Since I'm flying c/L I could build it for some simple fun, scale it isn't what with a shoulder wing configuration
Do you have one squirreled away in your workshop. Want a veco Spectrum and a Renegade.

  Yes I been down in the junk barrel, and I do have one.  It is for sale only---no trade.  I got too many kits now.  I would need $60.00 plus shipping.

  Bigiron