Swinging with the Comet 'nickle and dimers' and other stuff

[simpleflyer]

The first stick and tissue model we built were the ten cent A series that Comet produced in the 1950s. Our first tether flown models were a 20" WS F4U that sold for a dollar and a 9" WS F-86D that sold for a quarter. A class-mate built a 18" P-40 and converted it to swing control. He and I would enjoy flying it on a little traveled street near his home. He had installed a tricycle landing gear on the model and it was neat to make touch and goes and spot landings on the street.

Later my interest turned to building and flying controline models and we did not return to swing control flying models for over fifty years. When we returned to model building after retirement, one of our models was a rebuild of the ten cent Comet 108. Initially, the model was a shelf model as a remembrance of our entry to model building as a kid.


When we returned to the swing control flying, we tried the Stinson as a swinger and it did good.





Touch and goes at the back door.



And buzzing a bunny visitor in the back yard.



The plan now is to convert some of our stash of Comet kits into 'swingers'.

Al

[davidchoate]

I gotta have one of those dime models. that is exactly what i need for indoor flying. I know very little about them exept and old articli I read about aguy making his props out of a light thia card board, and using thin CA to cure and harden it. and for it's size; I think the scale appearance is incredible.

[simpleflyer]

The Comet A series were produced around 1950. There were eight models in the line and sold for a dime each.



Their wingspans ranged from 10 1/2 to 16 inches. Most of them were at the lower end of that range. At this time, we can find plans for four the A series may be downloaded on the internet.

A-1 Phantom Flash at:

http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_plans/details.php?image_id=196

A-2 Zippy at:

http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_plans/details.php?image_id=3021

A-3 P-80 at:

http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=158

A-4 Sparrow at:http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=161

And a reduced sized scan of A-6 Stinson 108.



We'll try to post scans of A-5, A-7, and A-8 next time.

Al

[yellowlynn]

I don't remember the brand, but the 10" ws models sold for $0.05 in the late '30s and early '40s. I built many of them, and for a 9 year old that knew absolutely NOTHING about model planes, they looked...............decent? The thick balsa props didn't turn very fast. I didn't know about sanding them down, but in those days the only sandpaper was scraping with a piece of broken glass.

I am totally dumbfounded now when the talk of different rubber power, balsa weight, trimming, and such comes up. As a kid, gluing together, covering, and hoping for the best. Even different types of covering blows my mind. However, I did have fun.

I'm thinking now of sizing to a 10" span and scratch one out.

Lynn

[davidchoate]

Things have definitely changed. A piece of broken glasss.??

[yellowlynn]

In those days, magazine ads blared out about how to rake in $40/week. A broken bottle yielded many shards of glass with very sharp edges. Using that as a scraper was as close as I got to sandpaper. $25/week was standard income in the 30s, so we just did the best we could. But like I said, it was enjoyable, even tho I didn't know what I was doing.

Lynn

[simpleflyer]

OK, here are the rest of the Comet A series. We've put them on Imageshack for the time being. We'll try to get better images elsewhere, later.

A-5 Piper



A-7 Fokker D-7



A-8 SPAD



I realize that the forum chops off a bit of the right side of the image. If one right clicks on the image and selects the 'save image as...' option, it can be downloaded to your files as a 800 x 600 pixel image. Enjoy,

Al

[simpleflyer]

Thank you, Lynn, for sharing your experiences with the 5 cent models. These were not available when we started building models in 1951, so we built the 10 cent series. Several years, ago we learned about the 5 cent models produced by Comet. Here is a list of them that Comet was marketing in 1941.





Guillows, High Flier, and possibly other companies also produced 5 cent kits. A number of plans for these are available on some of the model forums. We'll try to work up a list of links to some nickle model plans and post them.

Al

[zoomie]

Delete post.

Was going to reply to Lynn's post but Al beat me to it! Thanks Al, very interesting thread as well.


zoomie

[Mitch]

That's cool... you guys make me feel young... My first model cost 99 cents. I think I had 4 quarters, then was dismayed when the owner of the Candy Store told me I had to pay $1.01. I did not know about the 2 percent sales tax. He let me have it for my 4 quarters. That was 4 weeks of chores... But I really enjoyed building that first Guillow's model... a Fokker D-8!

[yellowlynn]

Thanks, Al. It still amazes me that they could retail models with all the parts for a nickle. I copied off those plans, absolutely what I was looking for. I'm undecided whether to change the size or not, but maybe later after I do a few this size. Thanks again.

Lynn

[simpleflyer]

Thank you, IndoorFlyer and Lynn for your comments.

IndoorFlyrt, as near as I can tell, the Stinson and Piper are 12 inch wingspans. The plansheets were about 11 by 17 inches.

Lynn, You are correct, the nickle Comet kits were a bargain in those days. But, they did not have the frills and complexity and quality of today's kit. Sadly, complexity and quality has driven up the cost of kits to some pretty high levels, nowadays.

Al

[yellowlynn]

I think I've got hold of a dime model, put out by the Steve Patti Co. Milwaukee, WI. The best I can find out, they were in business in the '40s. The 12" WS makes it a dime model, as nickle ones were 10". This "dime" model only cost me $7.50.
I screwed up when I started building it. Balsa strips over 70 years old are brittle as glass. When I bow the fuse sides from front to tail, the sides start breaking. I'd like to build it, but I believe I'll need to get fresher wood. They're 1/16 square. I thought of steaming them but when they dried I figured they would be brittle again . Either that, or keep them damp and use Elmer's glue, which is water soluble. IF anyone can locate it, it is the 'CRUISAIRE', kit 207.

Lynn

[simpleflyer]

Lynn, too bad about your experience with the old balsa. It is often a challenge to work with old materials that don't behave as well as when they were new.

We've recently completed a much modified Phantom Flash that we modified for swing control. We built it for the 'Comet dimer cookup' at the Stick and Tissue forum. First we took a jpg copy of the PF plan and worked over in MS paint until a page sized plan of the basic shapes of the PF was obtained. Also the wing span was reduced to 14 inches.



Then these were simplified to develop an easy to build sturdy model for swing control flight. The win tips were squared off and larger wood sizes were used for construction. Wood used for the wing was 3/32 sheet.



Ribs were strips cut to fit the wing notches. Then the high point was located at 40% of the wing chord and the ends of the strips were shaved down to blend with the wing spars.



Tail surfaces and fuselage were made from 1/16 balsa.



Forming the wing dihedral and forward fuselage. The wing, horizontal tail and forward fuselage are removable for storage and ease of repair.



Al

[simpleflyer]

Tissue being applied and parts pinned together to test how they fit together.



Completed model ready to fly.



Bottom view shows how the horizontal tail and wing slide on to their mounting platforms.



Test flights found the modified Phantom Flash to be a good flyer.





Al