The Top Flite ZING!

[Dennis Leonhardi]

Anyone here build or fly one of these?  (You won’t have to reveal your age ...)

Carl Goldberg designed the Zing! released by American Hobby Specialties, Inc. of Chicago in 1947.  Carl was a principal in the company, which a few years later became known as Top Flite - a name well-known by most of us today.

The airplane has a wingspan of 23-1/2”, a length of 22”, and was designed for .19 to .49 engines of the day.  Not exactly great numbers for a stunt ship!

Advertised as a “No-Carving Kit”, the contents were really pretty awesome - especially the “Precision Prefinished” shaped fuselage sections.

I acquired this example complete with a nice-looking McCoy .19 Red Head rear venturi (ringed) engine.  It was built as a display model; the controls are set up and it could be flown, but it was finished with paints that likely aren’t fuel proof.

You can see the way controls were set up to avoid Jim Walker’s “U-Control” patent - a bellcrank is mounted on the inboard wing tip, and control is effected via a cable running through the wing and fuselage.  It’s actually pretty well enclosed except for the bellcrank.

Does anyone have a set of plans they’ll sell me, or a source you can direct me to?


Dennis

[YakNine]

Black hawk models was talking about putting this a few years back, might want to drop Larry a line. T.J.

[Randy Ryan]

I have one of these that was given to me as payment for some engine work I did. It was poorly built and I will have to soak it apart and start over. I had an O&R .23 glow in the nose but I  doubt it was ever flow. I always like the styling of the model but it's nothing but a round n round ship so after a flight or 2 it'd get pretty boring. Still, a nice snapshot in time of the way it was,

[EddyR]

 I am old enough but I do not remember ever seeing one. I remember the odd bellcrank location on some models but we never did that.
I had a McCoy .19 just like that one that I used in A speed contests in the early 1950's I used a profile model about the size of a Jr Ringmaster before it came out as a kit. I had the model for many years. Top speed around 75-80 mph. Flew it in combat a few times also.
Nice looking model.
Ed

[Dennis Leonhardi]

They must have everything if they have this one, Ty!