tonyL1

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hi anyone got any pics or info on this early system, chance to maybe get one locally

Graupner Grundig RC radio control set c. 1960s
Variophon S, 8 channel tone, 26.975 MHz

German instructions & box.
Incomplete, not working

I just have to have it (LOL) , when i get (after xmas) you'll see pics of it here k

tonyL1

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k after a hard google's nights, i think i found what it looks, cripes , looks like AM radio ya take to the beach to listen to
tunes with , not a RC TX lol

tonyL1

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got actual pics of the one I'm looking at locally, its dirty, im hoping to clean it up to at least make it presentable
looks to be from what I read from 1968 or so,

jaymen

Those look like 27mHz modules. are they for the receiver? There looks to be a mighty midget type pulse actuator in there too.

tonyL1

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the RX is actually the red larger box, the stacked colored units are actually channels,
the TX is basically 5 CH non proportional 4 channels on the sticks and 2 push buttons for the 5th
it took 5 of these stack module's to give the radio 5 channel, as for charging the TX I think the
batteries haven't been capable of taking a charge since 1972 lol
I"ve about to take some newer pics of the radio, so bear with me, as I'm in process removing all the grime and dirt off it
(I have it dismantled right now so pic's of its innards etc coming in a hour or so)

just re-edited this as it had some errors regarding channels !!

tonyL1

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k got the pics, the back of radio shows some issues with the plastic, not sure
but I've seen the same type of stuff happen when nitro fuel hits plastic
guess it'll have to live with it , unless there is a way to rub out the entire
plastic cover and buff it out,

carlosamato

I have two radios like yours. One was purchased in Hamburg circa 1967 and is curently at my parent's home with the original Graupner Helgoland ship and Graupner Gracia Sailboat. We used to run both models with the same radio.
The second one, was purchased a few years ago from Germany but, although complete, it does not work. I dissassembled it, fitted new batteries, etc, but I cannot get it to work. So, for the time being it is just a display piece. I am curious to know if you were able to get your to work. I remember how well it worked, specially with the Helgoland, a really detailed passenger ship with two electric motors, rudder control, forward and reverse and lighting. The sailboat controled the rudder and an electric motor with a winch for the main and jib sails. Obviously, it was not proportional, so where the motor stopped, the rudder stayed put. Imagine flying an airplane with this system... They later fitted a spring loaded control on the servo that returned it to neutral.
By the way, you can purchase original batteries from Graupner thru Hobby Lobby.

Regards,

Carlos

carlosamato

If you are interested in a few days I could post some pictures. Let me know.

UStik

This seems to be a mix-up of different things. The two Jumbo electric motors were typical boat motors. The pulse actuators don't belong to the r/c set, but the switch cable is original. The transmitter is a 10-channel (full-house) bang-bang system and it was used for pattern aircraft (for boats as well, of course). The "sticks" are not proportional but actuate switches, two per control. The red box twice as high as the other ones is a superhet (crystal) receiver (hence the S), and the differently colored boxes are switch units, one per control. Look at the color coding of the transmitter sticks (and the two pushbuttons for trim) and the correspondingly colored boxes.

This [link=http://www.deutec.at/modellflug/spezielles/modellbau-technik/fernsteuerungen/fernst_varioton-10k.html]Austrian website[/link] shows the system with the original servos. The first one is self-returning to neutral for Rudder, elevator, and ailerons. The little grey thingy on your pictures is a return regulator for this servo to adjust a convenient return speed. The second servo is not self-centering and is for throttle. The third servo (cylindrical/conical) is a trim servo, set up as part of the elevator linkage.

A looong time ago I had only the [link=http://www.deutec.at/modellflug/spezielles/modellbau-technik/fernsteuerungen/fernst_varioton-4k.html]4-channel set[/link] with a simple (non-superhet, crystal-less) receiver. (It was merely as thick as the switch boxes, and only this receiver and the first switch box fit into my rudder-only beginners model.) Dreamed of upgrading to the 8- or 10-channel version but couldn't afford it. But it worked just perfectly!

tonyL1

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thanks for reply, yes I admit, it seems to be a bunch of random stuff, also I've realized its color coded also, to me it's a wonderful little collection of things, and I'll hang on to them, small edit, no I have not tried to get it running, seems some of it , is in quite poor shape, and I'm no electronics guru, so it's a static display piece now, but the TX looks like it could work,

rcacro

One of the servos in the Picture looks like a DeBolt servo or a good copy of one.

John W.

UStik

Very nice display indeed. I agree the receiver looks bad but the transmitter seems OK. You could try out because you can check its function with a CB (27 MHz) receiver. Each channel gives his own audible tone.

The batteries may have leaked, at least the brown stuff looks bad. These were very modern NiCd at the time but still had low capacity and were unreliable. There are two stacks of 5 cells each, but I don't remember the wiring (it's hidden in that cardboard part). I think the wiring is parallel to double capacity or they would have made a stack of 10. But I don't know for sure so just replace each stack by 5 AA cells NiCd or NiMH and you're fine. Don't remember the polarity as well, but red should be + and black -.

The arrow on the brown plate points to the fuse (Feinsicherung träge, micro-fuse slow), you should check if it's OK.

I'm sure you already found the crystal. It has to be the thing sticking aslant in the bottom of the case. The frequency should be printed on it, but I see its written on the top panel by the former owner. (26.975 should be black-coloured.) I don't remember which CB channel that is, but of course you have to select it on your CB receiver to hear anything.

Maybe you have two antennas, the one with red tip stowed away in the case is the original.

Wouldn't it be fun to try this?

tonyL1

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yeah i'll take look later, the battery was in terrible shape , although hasn't seemed to pollute the TX itself, which is good, the brown stuff was mostly dried up. and just brushed out for most part, yes it seems to have 2 antennas, the one with the red tip is still good and hides itself in the case for storage yes the stacks of batteries are 5 cells each, that battery unclipped from TX wiring with a crimp tab + - like a 9 volt battery today would, so easy removal, I don't have a CB radio, but I do have a radio scanner, i think it has CB band on it, so that may work, not sure though , now I'm all re interested again, also have a world engines 1970 radio, which does power up, and I have a 6 channel, kraft 72 single stick TX that powers up also, neat stuff, forgot to add, I also have the original manual, in excellent shape for the Graupner TX printed 1966 I think, it had some ads for some Graupner planes, one of which I owned, called a Graupner Taxi, basically a 1967 3 channel trainer, with tissue, was mint in box, sold it for 350 bucks on ebay, paid 25 for it locally, but here's a pic of it's box

UStik

Wow, Taxi is a great classic and was THE basic trainer here from the 1960s to the 1980s. Graupner sells successors still named Taxi. [link=http://www.koralpe.biz/taxi.html]Here[/link] is a very nice nostalgic web page about Taxi, the two red links leading to an explosion-view and a 3-view drawing. Taxi used the red receiver you have with the green, orange, and blue switch boxes. Two Bellamatic II servoes for rudder and elevator and one ServoAutomatic II for throttle. Too expensive for me when I was a teenager in the 1960s. I had the Topsy in the first place, which you'll find on that vintage website as well ([link=http://www.koralpe.biz/graupner.html]here[/link] is a menu). After that, I had a very simple scratch-built model sized like Taxi but without elevator. The non-crystal receiver was no problem because I was flying alone and we had no CB yet back then. Fond memories...

tonyL1

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yeah I would have kept the taxi, but decided after 5 years of owning the untouched kit, it deserved going to a better place , so a collector in Texas bought it, but i wasn't expecting it to fetch such a high price, I would have been happy it went for 70 bucks.. but it went much higher

there's something about this 1960's graupner stuff I find interesting, this Kit, the taxi, was years ahead of it's time in the engineering it took to make this kit, it literally was beautifully cut. and it looked so fresh and good, I first guessed it to be late 1980's early 90's it was so good looking and clean,

UStik

...and I bet the wood glue in the blue collapse tube was still usable. These kits were really complete, only engine and r/c needed additionally (and dope). And look at these drawings and specifications, just perfect!

carlosamato

Attached are some images of my Grundig Radio.

I was fortunte to keep the original receiver and modules and servo boxes. The original warranty and factory inspection cards are also included. The servos all work, the problem is the radio...

I built and flew a Taxi for many years (with a Futaba radio) and it was a wonderful airplane. I kept the plans and maybe one day I will re-make it. The Maxi was also a good plane, but much faster. My favourite was the Cherokee.

Cheers.

tonyL1

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wicked pics, thanks for sharing them, fantastic stuff,everything looks good...

carlosamato

The TAXI was introduced by Graupner in 1966. One of the pictures I posted has the TAXI in the 1966-67 catalog cover.

The catalog suggests the Variophon radio for it. Amazing stuff.

I agree with you, Graupner was (Still is) years ahead of eveyone else. Not to long ago I picked up a brand new in box Cherokee from an Ebay seller in Pasadena, California.

My next Graupner model will be the Cap San Diego.

tonyL1

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yeah I see the piper cherokee box in your pic, looks like a amazing kit, bigger box than the Taxi, what year is that kit, and those sailboat kits look amazing,

UStik

Great stuff you have there!

No wonder the servos work. They have no electronic circuitry (because not proportional) but a high-quality coreless motor (Micro T03 / T05, still produced today).

Too bad the radio doesn't work. Now you mention that I think there might be several reasons: At least the first transmitters produced had a flaw. When switched on without the antenna in place the power transistor would boil. Next one is the crystal, it might be defective due to shock or long storage. And if there are electrolytic capacitors (don't remember that) they may be dried up or fouled. It would need an electronics expert to find out and replace them by modern parts.

Maybe today you wouldn't like this bang-bang kind of r/c, anyway, so just enjoy this gem.

carlosamato

Hi TonyL1,

The Cherokee was introduced by Graupner in 1976. It is a massive kit, with a box measuring 50" long x 13" wide and 7" tall.

Here are some pictures I took today.

The number and quality of the accessories is impressive. The person who I bought this from purchased it in Europe in the eary 80's, complete with the original Graupner .61 engine, gas tank, additional set of wheels (Do not know why since the kit includes them) There are several bags of parts, two sets of decals in case you mess one up, and a box with all the molded pieces and comes with two different types of glue.

The previous owner was overwhelmed by the complexity of it and stored it away until I got it 3 years ago (Ebay).

In the early 80's I built and flew two of these kits with a friend in Argentina. The first plane didn't last long... It is very fast and he was a beginner pilot. The second, lasted 5 years or so, flying every other weekend. It is one of the best planes I ever flew, and certainly a classic today.

Cheers.

Carlos

carlosamato

UStik,

Thanks for your comments and tips.

I agree that it is best not to use these radios now... But for a boat, it is a great nostalgia trip! If I ever find someone who can fix it, I willl definitely invest in that and get it running again. If you know anyone who can help I would like to know.

Regards,

Carlos Amato
(Graupner fan)

BobHH

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Theres one of these on flee-bay now. Item number 130245950977.

carlosamato

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately the unit advertised apparently does not work.