Fairchild Republic history lost

[Snake45]

I took a good look at my A-10 desk model. There's no maker on the base, or on the model itself. The airplane seems to be made, in one solid piece, of a dark gray resin (there are a couple chunks broken off here and there), and I guess the base is made of the same stuff. The whole thing is pretty heavy, must weigh between 4 and 5 pounds. Scale is not as large as 1/48 but bigger than 1/72. I'm guessing it's somewhere around 1/64.

It's painted in a glossy light bluish-gray, which I'm pretty sure is what's known as ADC Gray FS16473. What's odd is I don't remember ever seeing any real A-10 painted that way.

[JohnB]

that can't be a topping made model, they were long out of business when the warthog was created. still worth a nice buck though!!

They were made by Precise, the successor firm to Topping.
The current Topping still has spare parts for the A-10 model.

Scroll down this page:
http://www.precisemodelsllc.com/Pages/M ... rSale.aspx

I have two A-10 models and some other stuff from my A-10 days...

[Snake45]

that can't be a topping made model, they were long out of business when the warthog was created. still worth a nice buck though!!

They were made by Precise, the successor firm to Topping.
The current Topping still has spare parts for the A-10 model.

Scroll down this page:
http://www.precisemodelsllc.com/Pages/M ... rSale.aspx

I have two A-10 models and some other stuff from my A-10 days...

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

Dad has a C-119 that Mom has managed to break most of the prop blades off of in dusting, over the years. Not sure I wanna spend $10 apiece to replace those. I didn't pay $10 for most of the whole model airplane kits in my stash. He has a C-123 in the same condition.

Dad also brought home a nice F-105D model from his office. I think it's 1/48 or darn close to it. For years I hoped to inherit that thing and then he went and gave it to my son! Oh well, I now have the nice Monogram kits to work with. Anyway, the thing is painted in inaccurate camo and carries a very oddball asymetrical load. From left to right, it's got:

*Two AIM-9 Sidewinders on a dual launcher.

*Bullpup.

*(Centerline) Six bombs on a MER--look like M117 750-pounders.

*Two large "pods" of some kind on a dual rack. They might supposed to be napalm, I dunno.

*One smaller pod, possibly some sort of ECM pod.

Kinda cool model and I think maybe this one was made by Topping. Base is metal in the shape of an arrowhead.

Dad flew 119s, but I don't think he ever flew 123s. He did fly F-27s, FH-227s, F-28s, and Pilatus Porters. He's got models of the FH-227 and F-28.

[tom d. friedman]

I always thought that revell models bought all of topping's molds, rights, etc. I could kick my self in the ass......... as a kid topping was in my home town of Elyria ohio. I have a an original topping sales catalog, not many of those around. after topping it became the Worthington golf ball company.

[Snake45]

I always thought that revell models bought all of topping's molds, rights, etc.

If they did, they never did anything with them that I'm aware of.

Back in the '70s, MicroScale marketed a few unassembled desktop promo airplane kits, but I don't know who made them originally. I don't think it was Topping. Two that I have are the A2D Dark Shark (turbo Skyraider, basically), and XF-92. I think there were a half-dozen or so offered in all.

[JohnB]

Back in the '70s, MicroScale marketed a few unassembled desktop promo airplane kits, but I don't know who made them originally. I don't think it was Topping. Two that I have are the A2D Dark Shark (turbo Skyraider, basically), and XF-92. I think there were a half-dozen or so offered in all.

Allyn, IIRC.
They also made a C-124 which was not re-released.

As far as the old story about Revell buying the Topping molds, I don't believe it. Why would they buy a line of molds that won't work as plastic kits?
Email the owner of the current Topping...the address is on the website...and ask. I'm sure he knows as he seems to be enthusiast/collector.

[JohnB]

Dad has a C-119 that Mom has managed to break most of the prop blades off of in dusting, over the years. Not sure I wanna spend $10 apiece to replace those. I didn't pay $10 for most of the whole model airplane kits in my stash. He has a C-123 in the same condition.

If you're not willing to spend a few bucks on them..give them to me, I'll gladly restore them.

[barnbstormer]

We can thank folks like Leo Polaski of Northport for taking the time to scan around 4500 Grumman and Republic photos for us. He must have spent days and days doing this. If you want to save history you have to do it yourself, waiting for someone else to do it usually doesn't work.
http://tinyurl.com/yz6pxmh

Well we certainly appreciate all of Leo's work, and that great thread where you did all that work to post so many of Leo's scans. But strange situation? Do YOU have Leo's scans now? It appears that the Cradle of Aviation Museum let Leo scan all those archival photos, at no charge, and never even got a copy set of the scans from him. Who has the scans now that he is deceased? Were they saved, (Saving aero archival material, being the topic of this thread)and where might they be, now? Cradle has no idea.

[armyjunk2]

I inherited the original 96 CD’s from Leo as he passed away in 2006. He would have wanted to share the photos with other airplane enthusiasts rather than letting them sit in a file cabinet. The advantage of using the internet means a much wider audience would be able to enjoy them. Also, Leo was not paid for any of his time and effort in copying these CD’s. In fact, the majority of the photos came from the Grumman archives, not the Cradle of Aviation collection. If anyone from Cradle of Aviation would like copies of the CD’s they are welcome to get in touch with me via this forum.

[Mark Allen M]

And a GREAT BIG THANK YOU armyjunk2 for posting all those outstanding photos for us airplane enthusiasts to enjoy. I know I'm greatly appreciative of your hard work and everything you have posted here on WIX, and for Leo for his efforts and contributions. Great gift you gave WIX IMHO

I've said it time and again and I'll say it always, that these old photos serve no purpose and are basically worthless if no one gets to see them. There's so much to learn by spending some time researching these old photos. I know almost enough to fake like I know what I'm talking about regarding old airplanes .... almost

Thanks again armyjunk2 ...

[mitchelfield]

"If anyone from Cradle of Aviation would like copies of the CD’s they are welcome to get in touch with me via this forum."

Hello Armyjunk2, I attempted to contact you last week via private message, but I suppose as a recently registered member who has not previously posted anything, I was restricted from doing so.
In response to the above from your posting of Jan. 3, 2015, I am the collections manager at the Cradle of Aviation and was asked to reach out to you to see if/how we may obtain a copy of Leo's scans on CD so that they may be added to our archive. If you can private message me at (user name) mitchelfield that would be most appreciated. Thank you for your time and the work you do to preserve aviation history.
Mitchelfield

[VCS1]

I have been researching Seversky/Republic history for the better part of a decade. This has been done to gain insite into the manufacturing process used for the P-35, AT-12 and P-43 series of aircraft.

My purpose behind all of this has been the construction of a full scale P-35A (EP106) replica.

I would love to collaborate with your museum to share what is known to be available.

Please contact me via Email:

david@P-35.com

[Jeremy S]

Back in 1987, while at my desk in Riverhead, I opened the Long Island Newsday newspaper, and saw a large photo of a huge dumpster filled to overflowing, with the archives being thrown out of the closed Republic buildings. They mentioned that the material was all destined for the landfills.
I contacted someone-I forget who, as per the newspaper's reference mentioned. and volunteered to pay the disposal costs that they would obviously have to pay, for loading and transporting dumpsters to the land fill, *IF, the dumpters could be loaded and emptied at MY Riverhead location, instead of the landfill. They replied that since I was not a recognized library or archive, they could not agree to do this, and it all went to the DUMP, instead!!!!

There is a fascinating article in June 2013 Air & Space magazine, of how a very frustrated museum curator managed to save ONE document from the doomed archive.

I DID manage to collect and save numerous other important aviation company (and history maker's) archives, over the past 45 years. Some very important ones are now in major public aviation museums, intact.

My company was purchased by a giant German conglomerate a few years ago. One of the first things that they did in my office, other than cost reductions and the firing of people, was to "5S" everything. We have an archive room with drawings and catalogs that go back to the 1920s. A good chunk of those archives went straight to the dumpster. One of those self compacting type of dumpsters too so everything was destroyed.

I got involved during the end of the "reorganization" efforts and managed to save many old books and company catalogs, some as old as 1948. I try to save these old books and documents when possible, but few people these days share my passion.