model aircraft + being a kid 30 years ago = laughs

[tom d. friedman]

ok guys, enough of these great models!!!!! how many of us as kids botched, & f'd up models and sacrificed them to anti aircraft fire (bb guns) ack ack (fire crackers) or 1/2 assed knuckle head nasa experiments such as taping estes rocket engines to planes in the spirit of advancement of delinquent fun & laughs??? i plead guilty to all the above!!! the 2 best were as follows...... took an f'd up curtiss seagull w/ pontoons, added a piece of wood & a brick to make a ramp, taped an estes rocket engine to the left lower wing, lit the sucker, & watched the funniest attempt at tight turning you ever saw. i even experimented nautically!!!! took a botched german battleship scharnhorst, taped 2 estes rocket engines to it's mast work above the pilot house, added glue & buckshot to balance the weight, climbed my neighbors fence where they graciously donated the use of their swimming pool unbeknownst to them in the name of pre-pubic science, floated the battle wagon, lit the engines, and probably broke the 1:48 scale model ship record for speed on water across the pool before she burned & sank. the woods hole institute is sending an r.o.v. to examine the wreckage!! those are only 2 examples from my kiddy archive!!!! yes, i'm still warped, but i grew up, but darn that was fun to do as a kid, & thinking of the hi jinx still makes for great laughs!!!! how about your delinquency??? got a model tragedy / experiment to share when you were a snot nosed punk????

[TimAPNY]

I'd like to have some of those models back. I tried to fly my B-52D out the second story window. I think the RB-36H caught fire during a fueling accident.

Have you priced those lately? Och they are far pricier then they were 20 years ago! I whish I kept them in the box for me NOW.

Yes gas, explosives and Rockets engines where an important part of most boys growing up. Today you'd have see a shrink 10x a week if you did those things.

[Scott Rose]

I have destroyed my fair share of models, including launching them from homemade ballista, fire, explosives and in one case an errant basketball (I miss that F-4 phantom, the best plane I ever built)

[Xrayist]

Tom...what you talked about brought back great memories...I can personally attest to the fact that a Revell 1/32 P-40E is by no means aerodynamic when fitted with an Estes rocket....my friend and I thought it was quite funny, unfortunately the neighbor did not...especially when the charge to deploy the chute went off.....first time I had heard such language for so long a period.....

[tom d. friedman]

to quote archie bunker....... those were the days!!! yeah we all had our laughs & memories, but just think of what some of those long discontinued kits would be worth today from 3 to 4 decades ago!!!! thanks guys for the additional laughs, all great stories. i'll have to purge my memory banks a little further, as there are plenty more good ones where those came from. by today's standards, we'd all be in juvenile therapy!!!!

[TimAPNY]

I can't think of a better combo than a Rocket engine and model airplane.

How we weren't hurt is still beyond me.

[tom d. friedman]

i can..... remember the good ole m-80???? the nuke of all fire crackers!!! i think i'm getting a memory fart..... stay tuned.....

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

That Revell P-40 was the best flying model anywhere. We used to launch them off of a railway bridge and nothing flew better. The Estes pocket Jatos were a nice addition to powered flight.

[ramprat]

Nothing burns better than balsawood,doped tissue,and paint. Windup/lightup and launch. Ohhhh! Ahhhh!

[tom d. friedman]

ahhhh no brady bunch / beaver cleavers on this thread!!! keep em coming!!

[TimAPNY]

I also have great memories of blowing up GI Joe toys. I had a boat that i filled with lighters, fire crackers and paper. What FUN!

My house mde Get-mo look like a walk in the park for the Cobra forces (and the good guys ) !

[tom d. friedman]

ooohhhh don't get me started on joe!!!!! i tested a a home made flame thrower on 1. he was well done, no baked potato as a side dish either!!! take a lit candle, & a can of lysol spray. spray the lysol in the flame & fffoooofffff a flame at least 2 feet long. also worked wonders on kicking up ant hills & frying them. fun... but pretty dumb & dangerous, glad i survived my juvenile recklessness!!! i'd kick my kid's booties if they pulled the same dumb stunts today!!!

[airfixkid]

in

[tom d. friedman]

talk about digging up an old thread.......... wow!!! well, as long as i'm here back on it i might as well share 2 more model oriented kiddie hi jinxes!!! 1 involved a 1 / 72 scale curtiss seagull. took an estes rocket engine, attached it to the lower wing, got a board for a ramp & a brick to prop it up with, lit the sucker, & it flew in circles, must have felt like 20 g's to the poor little plastic pilot inside!!!! episode # 2 was the german battleship scharnhorst. ...... 2 estes rockets on the mast work, add climbing the fence of my neighbor's pool, added buckshot & glue for ballast, lit it, that boat shot across the pool, & sunk. woodshole oceanographic institute is going to do an r.o.v. examination of the wreck

[tom d. friedman]

oops went through the old thread for kicks, already told those stories. at least i'm not senial for 45, or full of crap changing the details. on the other hand...... i'm full of crap anyway!!!