12 replies to this topic

[Dave Crevie]

My Florida friend just sent me an e-mail, asking if I remember the balsa gliders we had when we were kids. And I do. This was how much fun we could have for a few pennies. The land to the south west of my house was vacant, and we kids would spend hours throwing these things into the air and watching them loop and turn back to earth. 

 

 

 

 

They were 10 cents to 20 cents back in the day. Much more now;

 

 

They are still made today;

 

 

 

 

The top models had rubber band power;

 

 

 

The local hobby shop also sold these, but they were mostly pushing the Gillows flying stick models;

 

 

 

[MSwiss]

I would eventually break the rubber band  on the prop ones.

 

IIRC, the most expensive ones were $.25 and had landing gear.

 

Those kits like the B25 were for your real committed builder. Lol

[Vay Jonynas]

Yes, I remember those. And I still love them!

 

[Phil Hackett]

I had a friend who had a large (about 3 feet long) Styrofoam model of a XB-70 hanging in his room. It was there for years and one day he got the idea of "flying" it. Near our homes is a bluff about 120 feet tall and we went an tossed it off the bluff. It flew a few hundred yards and crashed into the street below (all this was in front of American RussKit's shop). Unfortunately, that was the first and last flight of the model. It was pretty spectacular while it lasted but the remains were unsalvageable.

 

I wonder what that model might be worth today.

 

The balsa wood planes never worked for me. I guess "tuning" them with paperclips was above my level at the time.

 

One more thing: for the past few years we were working with a company that was developing some rubberband-powered vehicles. The engineer/owner told me that Goodyear produces a particular rubber band for such purposes. And, in a book I recently purchased (Human powered weapons), there's a bunch of information on how rubber bands work (the expansion and release of power and how temperature affects the power of the bands) and the book also states there are rubber bands made for these types of applications (power storage and releasing it). Who knew?

[MG Brown]

Since rubber band power was mentioned, I wanted to include these Hawk 1/32 rubber band powered land speed record model kits.

 

[Alchemist]

Yes!

 

What wonderful memories I have of playing with those planes.

 

Thanks for sharing Dave!

 

Ernie

[Dave Crevie]

One year for our local block party,I ordered 30 of the Gillows Starfire kits to give out to the kids. Got them for cost from the local hobby shop, Al's Hobbies. By the end of the afternoon, I Don't think there was a house that didn't have at least one glider on it's roof.
Hawk or somebody made pseudo land speed racers that used Co-2 cartridges to power them. A friend and I converted a couple to use Estes rocket motors. We ran them in the street. His hit a tree and exploded into a million pieces. Mine hit a manhole cover and took to the air. It flew over a neighbor house and into the vacant field behind. We never did find it.

[zipper]

Wow! Remember Guilow's Sleek Streek and Skeeter we flew a lot in early 60s. And some sling shot glider, don't remember which one.

[Dave Crevie]

Gillows and a couple other brands made the slingshot gliders. They were a bit more expensive, but still under a quarter. ( 10 Coke bottle refunds )

 

 

 

 

 

And while we are still on the subject of five-and-dime store toys, how many remember the little putt-putt boats they sold. These were actually steam powered. They had a little boiler inside that was heated by a piece of a candle. Two tubes ran from the boiler out the back of the boat. The water in the boiler would turn to steam, and go "pop" out the tubes, moving the boat forward. Then the low pressure in the boiler would draw in a fresh charge of water, which would turn to steam, and go "pop" again. The boat would run as long as the candle stayed lit. We would take these to a pond near where I lived, and let them run free all over the pond. Occasionally one would sink, but we never bothered retrieving it. They were so cheap, we would just buy more.

 

 

 

[Vay Jonynas]

 

And while we are still on the subject of five-and-dime store toys, how many remember the little putt-putt boats they sold. These were actually steam powered. They had a little boiler inside that was heated by a piece of a candle. Two tubes ran from the boiler out the back of the boat. The water in the boiler would turn to steam, and go "pop" out the tubes, moving the boat forward. Then the low pressure in the boiler would draw in a fresh charge of water, which would turn to steam, and go "pop" again. The boat would run as long as the candle stayed lit. 

 

Now that's real engineering genius, i.e. finding a way to achieve a result at minimal cost.

 

[Dave Crevie]

These were some of the thousands of tin toys made in Japan after WWII. Most were made from food containers left by the GIs after they left. Sometimes you could see the printing that was on the can on the inside of the toy.

[zipper]

 

And while we are still on the subject of five-and-dime store toys, how many remember the little putt-putt boats they sold. These were actually steam powered. They had a little boiler inside that was heated by a piece of a candle. Two tubes ran from the boiler out the back of the boat. The water in the boiler would turn to steam, and go "pop" out the tubes, moving the boat forward. Then the low pressure in the boiler would draw in a fresh charge of water, which would turn to steam, and go "pop" again. The boat would run as long as the candle stayed lit. We would take these to a pond near where I lived, and let them run free all over the pond. Occasionally one would sink, but we never bothered retrieving it. They were so cheap, we would just buy more.

 

 

Yes, I had one. Tried in our bath tube and lucky we had a fountain pool on our front pedestrian zone where it could be tested further. Sinking was no problem there...

[Dave Crevie]

Still being made;

 

https://youtu.be/S9B...3KdF1juAbMkprE0