Free Flight: Old-Timers
Bill Baker 1902 Peter Pan Norman, OK 73072
CHEF'S SURPRISE
Well, it's time to invite the muse again—but no intelligent muse would want to be near a person with a head cold as bad as mine, so what you are going to get this month is what you always get after the holidays: leftovers, like columns have a theme, stated, some development, and a conclusion. This ain't going to be one of those. It isn't just the fact that I've got this virus and that I want to get this column off my conscience before the Super Bowl next weekend. No, it isn't just that. It is that I have all these little ditties that need to be used.
Tom Hallman and the Hydravion MB
The first example is the Tom Hallman story. While going through his father's things, he unearthed a "dusty box of old photographs." In the box he found a plan that his father had apparently ordered from an ad in a 1936 issue of Model Airplane News. It was for a rubber-powered, float-equipped model called the Hydravion MB. Tom says, "It really got my juices going for Free Flight again." He redrew the plan, converting the metric wood sizes to more familiar U.S. standards as he went along, and made a few changes to the structure in the interest of practical operation. He will send a copy of the plan at a price very close to his cost: $3 folded, or $4 in a tube. Write to him at 38 South 17th St., Allentown, PA 18104.
Berkeley Models and W.E. Technical Services
But wait — that is just part of the story. In corresponding with Tom, I found that he longed to be able to build and fly a Berkeley Super Sinbad Towline Glider. I was able to inform him that William Effinger (of W.E. Technical Services) was the man behind Berkeley Models, and that he sells plans and parts templates from many of the classic plans produced over the long life of the company — including a version of the Sinbad.
Many of Bill's current plans have been scaled up or down from the original versions and may, thereby, be ineligible for SAM (Society of Antique Modelers) Free Flight competition, but are perfectly OK for the sport flier. There are Nostalgia-era models like the Denny Davis San de Hogan and the Korda Powerhouse, Old-Timers like the Buccaneer, and wonderful scale designs like the Waco Cabin biplane. Berkeley always did have great plans drawn by fine designers like Henry Struck and others. W.E. Technical Services does represent "Mr. Berkeley." A catalog sells for a buck and is well worth it as a nostalgia trip. The cost is also refundable with your first order. P.O. Box 76884-A, Atlanta, GA 30323.
And now Tom Hallman can replace his father's Sinbad which he sat on as a boy. And now you know the rest of the story.
Dave Benepe's Plans (.020 Replica / Nostalgia .020)
There is another source of plans which does need my help. It is a cottage-industry sort of thing which is just starting up, and the advertising budget is sort of small. The quality of the product should change all of that, however. I am talking about the plans from Dave Benepe, 5901 Wedgemont Circle, Fort Worth, TX 76133. Plans are for .020 Replica (SAM rules) and also .020-powered Nostalgia events (NFFS rules). They are the first source of .020 plans that I know of for the Nostalgia-era models (1942–1956), and I think this event may prove to be very popular, since every builder has a Tee Dee .020.
Several things are fine about this group of plans:
- They are scaled (and I guess this event is the only SAM FF event in which scale is allowed) with respect to wing area rather than to span. I have seen other groups of .020-powered planes in plan or kit form scaled to 36-in. span, or half-size, or to some other arbitrary scale, but because of differences in aspect ratio, this has resulted in wide variations in wing area, making some models underpowered and others really hot.
- Dave's plans are scaled to about 150 sq. in. of wing area, which experience has taught is about ideal for good—but controllable—flight.
- The choice of designs is excellent: winners like Taibi's Spacer and Ening's Super Phoenix, and some unusual rare designs too — the Stoloff Yogi to name one (and Dave says that one fits the Pee Wee .020 rules).
- The Old-Timer (pre-1942) and Nostalgia-era (1942–1956) plans are drawn with structures appropriate to the size and purpose of the model. Photo scaling does not always give you appropriate structures. I like the way he gives you a full-size front view of the spars. It sure helps in making the dihedral braces and in blocking up the panels for polyhedral wings.
One dollar is all it will cost you for his illustrated catalog — yes, illustrated — so you can see what a Paul Plecan Tornado or a Don Justice Mousetrap looks like (for the two or three of my readers who don't already know).
The Variety of the Old-Timer Scene
One of the things I like about the Old-Timer scene is that it is so varied. There are contest models, just-for-fun models, Rubber, Gas, Gliders and Scale. I still have a soft spot in my head for Scale, especially since the Flying Aces Club and great columnists for the various model magazines have shown us how to make the old models fly.
Long have I (and many others) coveted such treasures as the printed wing patterns (Hey! For you newcomers, there was a time when kits did not have die-cut parts! The little parts, like ribs, wing tip segments, fuselage formers, etc., were printed on sheet balsa, and you had to cut them out by hand! Can you imagine such a thing?) for some old Comet and Megow large Rubber models, such as the 50-in. Comet Aeronner, the 36-in. Contest Curtis P-37, the jumbo-sized Megow Spitfire and Stuka. But in vain did we search the flea markets and MECA Collectorteers for these treasures.
In the meanwhile, the British are scaling up Earl Stahl classics to twice size (most of them were originally published with wingspans around 20 in. in the magazines of the Forties), and they make them big — like large, light, beautifully proportioned Rubber Scale models should. You think I am going to tell you where to get these marvels, don't you? Wonderful, the trust that builds between the columnist and his flock!
Ken Skyora promised that by the time you read this, his new 1989 catalog will be available for a mere two bucks, and it will include the things we've all loved, in addition to all the other marvels he's done in the past. He has some neat new models too. No one, especially the rubber flier who is interested in Old-Timer models, should be without this catalogue.
John Pond — Catalogs and Engine of the Month
Another thing no one should be without is the John Pond set of catalogs for Old-Timer (and Nostalgia-era) plans. They include FF Gas, Rubber, Glider and Scale — and even U-Control and RC. This broad span of coverage results in a price of $4 for the four catalogs — but well worth it, although the catalogs do need editing and revision, as there are some errors. For example: a BigBri Decoy would not be welcome at an Old-Timer Rubber contest, for example.
John Pond has been at it a long time. Some think he is Bert Pond's son; while others think Bert Pond is John's son. There are times that John doesn't know who (or where) he is, but I know that for most of the last quarter century or more, he has been in a very real sense the "father" of the Old-Timer movement and of SAM, and he has maintained an excellent column in Model Builder magazine on Old-Timer subjects called "Plug Sparks," in which he covers FF, RC, and Control Line matters.
John has had for years an Engine of the Month feature in his column with detailed, scaled drawings of old engines, along with a paragraph or two of the interesting history and personalities involved in the design and production of the engine.
"Gee," you say, "I wish all of those were collected and published separately, so I don't have to have a 20-year magazine collection." Have I got good news for you! John has collected these articles on the Engine of the Month and printed them with the drawings full size, and they are now for sale in two volumes (would you believe he called them Vol. I and Vol. 2?) for a mere $25 each. Same address for these as for the catalogs of plans: John Pond, P.O. Box 90310, San Jose, CA 95109-3310.
Also, I think John still has a few of Paul Plecan's (24 x 35 in.) drawings of famous Free Flight models at prices of $3 folded or $5 in a tube "until all are gone." These are works of art you will want to put on your workshop wall if you won't let you put them in the bedroom. (My wife won't let me hang Gas models over the bed any more, since the McCoy .60 did tend to drip oil.)
Sources and Contacts
- Tom Hallman — Hydravion MB plan: 38 South 17th St., Allentown, PA 18104.
- W.E. Technical Services (William Effinger / Berkeley plans) — P.O. Box 76884-A, Atlanta, GA 30323. Catalog $1 (refundable with first order).
- Dave Benepe — 5901 Wedgemont Circle, Fort Worth, TX 76133. Illustrated catalog $1.
- Old-Timer Model Supply — P.O. Box 7334, Van Nuys, CA 91490.
- John Pond — catalogs and Engine of the Month volumes: P.O. Box 90310, San Jose, CA 95109-3310.
I enjoy hearing from you. My address is in the logo at the head of my column (if you want a reply, please include a SASE), and the magazine will pay $5 for photos submitted to me to use, and you will get your original back if you send postage or SASE for that purpose.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
