build light

I have a kit from this company but know almost nothing about Monarch.
Here are two pics of kits I have seen up for sale.
the P-40 Is the one I have.

On one of the side panels is printed "Made in U.S.A. MONARCH MODEL AIRCRAFT CO. INC. BROOKLYN 33 N.Y."

Robert

jfuller

My Feedback: (8)

Hi,
My memory of Monarch is pretty dim but I do remember them. They were pretty big on carved fuse kits for control line and even had a carved fuse kit free flight. I think that the wings for the free flight were solid balsa also. They are from the 40's and 50's I believe.

jamesf

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

I am not sure. The pictured kit does not look familiar, but the name is.

Have your tried anyone at KAPA yet?

Wm.

landeck

My Feedback: (1)

I built that P-40 kit around 1950. I was new to C/L (9 years old) and built it on my own, painted it with house paint, and put OK Cub .049 in it because I did not know better. Never did get it to fly (IIRC it required at least a .15) but I really enjoyed building it. It took me another year before I got a plane to fly.

Bruce

build light

Bruce, Wm and James, thanks for the replies guys.

The kit that I have is incomplete but what I do have is great quality. The wood is medium grade and blemish free. Not at all heavy and hard like so many kits we all had in the past. The die cutting in this kit looks like it was the first run. These blades were sharp! Makes me believe that this was either a very early production or that they made so few that the blades never dulled.
The decals and canopy would be as new condition with no cracking or fading and only a slight bit of yellowing.
All of the most crucial parts are present.
Missing are: Fin, rudder, elevator, elevator horn, tailwheel, tailwheel gear, pushrod, bellcrank hardware (bolt, washers and nut), exhaust detail and possibly spinner.
The main landing gear is prebent and not a speck of rust. A key part!

Plan does not show full size outlines of the ship. My copy is pretty cruddy and just about to let go at every fold. The assembly notes have nearly been destroyed with age and big splotches of gold dope. Only the first paragraph is readable.

Quote: "put OK Cub .049 in it because I did not know better. Never did get it to fly. "
The P-40 has a 20 inch span and suggests .045-.099 for power. This is a "hollow log" type kit but has much thicker sides than a Scientific kit for instance. The wing panels are also solid and half inch thick at the root and quarter inch thick at the tip. Very beefy. Completed, It is hard to imagine any 049 being able to do any more than taxi this thing about. Well, maybe a good TeeDee Cox might get it airborne.

I am surprised at how little is known about this brand of kit. I wonder what other kits were offered besides the Spitfire and P-40.

Could be these are so rare that there are not enough collectors to make it valuable if that makes sense!

Keep the details comming guys. This may be the only chance to document these things for future modelers.

Robert

pd1

I have some of their adds from the 50's.
I'll scan some tomorrow and post if you like.

Paul

build light

Yes, please do Paul. These kits seem to be from the 50s although I believe the company to be from the 30s in origin.

Robert

build light

Small but significant update and a picture as well.

In another thread in another forum some one had inqured about a a 34" wingspan FF model called "Scot Free" See picture for box art.

Also Monarch kitted a couple of non scale type control line models, "Sweet Chariot" and "Vitamin 1/2A" . I am hoping the mention of these might trigger a memory or two for you fellas. It will be interesting to find out what other models Monarch produced and also the experience of those who may have owned them.

Robert

pd1

I looked through a handful of magazine and didn't find any adds older than 1951.
Not conclusive, but I think they were one of the companies that sprung up post war.

build light

What a guy Paul!. You even included the simple "Memo" which others may have left out.

The reason I believe the part about the 1930s comes from these two little copyright snippets dated 1936. I wish I knew more about these copyrights and with further searching I can.

Robert

pd1

I have magazines going back to the 30's. Not every one but scattered months and titles.
I'll keep looking, if I find adds then I'll post them.
They might have been in business and I don't have the magazines that they were in.

Paul

Dan Vincent

I had a Monarch P-40 around 1953. It was finished like a solid model and an .049 would not get it off the ground.

The Monarch kits, in my opinion, were the best of the hollow log types as their carved fuselages and wings were second to none.

If you couldn't make a beautiful model from a Monarch kit you might as well give it up.

build light

Dan, this is a fine testament to the high quality of the parts that Monarch prepared an put in their boxes. Could be these ships were more expensive and passed over by many for something they could more easily afford? Maybe that is why so few recall these kits.

As to the 049 not being able to get it off the ground, I think one of the early Cox Baby Bee would if extra steps were taken to lighten the plane while building. So many builders did not fully 'hog out' the fuses like they should. I know I didn't on my first which was a Scientific hollow log. I had thought that what was hollowed from the factory was satisfactory! I know better now. Since these were some larger than the Scientific offerings the larger engines should have fared better and most likely a .099 would have been the ticket.

I do hope others will read this and remember.

Robert

Dan Vincent

Robert,

Back in 1950 there were no Cox Baby Bees avialable. We had the Atwood Wasp .049, OK Cub .049 and K&B .049. The McCoy .098 had more power than the OK Cub .09 and the Arden .099 was too chunky to squeeze into the nose of that Monarch P-40.

When the Cox Thermal Hopper and Space Bug .049's came out in 1953 they had fairly large tank or ring mounts. The Thermal Hopper required some special tinkering to fit it to a mount and then squeeze that into a log fuselage.

As for the Balsa log type models the Scientific line was a basic simple design. The Enterprise models were superior and Monarch took it to a much higher level.

My favorite model for flying U-control with small engines was the Testors Avro Baby biplane with a McCoy .098 in the nose. The Avro Baby had a sheet balsa fuselage and sheet balsa wings, making it a very lightweight model.

I have an Avro Baby kit and am dying to copy it so I can build another. I think this time I'd power it with a K&B greenhead .09 or a McCoy diesel .09 as both of these engines would have more power than the old McCoy .098 that I used.

dennis

My Feedback: (90)

Dan,
I swear thet the McCoy 098 was sold as a 1/2 worn out motor when you got it. I ran both ringed and lapped and power was not it's forte.
Dennis

Dan Vincent

Dennis,

Some of the McCoy .098's ran better than others. The early Bump-mount case was used for both Ringed and Lapped versions but then they redesigned the case with thicker beams because the bump types were thin and would break easily. If you pick up a used bump mount McCoy pay close attention to the mounts to make sure they haven't been repaired at some time.

The 1949 model of the McCoy .098 had a curved needle valve spray bar, bump mounts, piston ring and a shiny case. The 1955 version had heavy mounts, lapped pistion and was also given the shiny finish. All of the engines between those years had matte finish cases.

When it came to the K&B greenhead, they announced the engine in 1954 but I was unable to obtain one until 1957. The first version of the K&B had no web in the exhaust port so there are many with warped exhaust flanges. K&B added a web in the center of the exhaust port on later .09's to keep it straight.

The K&B greenhead .09 was the most powerful of all the greenheads for it's displacement. It is almost the equal of a Cox TD .09 which came out years later. For nostalgia .09 flying you can't get any better than a greenhead K&B.

pd1

If anyone is interested The bay has a Monach Scot Free for auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Monarch-...item25575cdf2c

build light

Thanks for the heads up on this one. I'll have to watch and see where it goes. I see it already has one bid . I wonder who wants it and why. A collector of free flight or Monarch models? Or perhaps someone who will build and fly it?

Dan the Avro Baby looks great and has some fine metal accesories. They just don't make them like that anymore.

Glad for the heads up on the engines too. I may have to get one of the green head .09s for my own personal use. Yours are very nice.

I am hoping to see some more on the Monarch models. Hopfully this thread will flush some one out who has had a lot of experience with them.

Robert

build light

That Scot Free sems to have generated some interest! Right now the bid is up to 51 dollars with 11 bids.

The way they censor the bidding it's hard to tell how many different folks are invoved in driving the price higher anymore.



One thing is for sure. The Monarch models (this one for sure) feature some rather complex shaped parts compared to the simpler Berkeley, Scientific, and Enterprise models most of us are familiar with. It looks like this one also comes with a metal spinner! How cool is that? I know this was done by others but I have never been fortunate enough to have had one.

Sure wish I could hear from the highest bidder of this...

Robert

Stickbuilder

The bid is now at $52.50. There are 8 bidders... We'll see.

Bill, Waco Brother #1

pd1

If you are into the carved log construction, Here's another one that was particularly well done.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Model-Airplane-K...%3D5%26ps%3D63

build light

Bill, I really am most curious at the activity on this as I am not bidding but merely watching to see how much interest in the item and seeing that it is, wondering why there are so few who have personal knowlege of thwse models..

Paul, The Dark Star is really nice but my general interest are the smaller, half A models primarily. As for my interest in the Monarch models which are slightly larger, the minimum engine size (by the manufacturer) is half A otherwise I would be much less interested.

In all of this, I am learning more about the hollow log types.
The Monarch kits seem to be very high in quality and go to further lengths to supply more complex shapes than many of the manufacturers of the day.

See what I mean about a couple of the Scientific kits.

Robert

Stickbuilder

The Scot Free kit went for $112.12. There were 9 discrete bidders. Heaven knows what the thing would have gone for if someone had not capped their bid. Oh well. The old Pica Waco fifth scale kits were approaching the $400.00 mark when the AMA started offering the plan set, and we gave the parts templates to the AMA plan service. This enabled anyone to be able to cut their own kit. Since then the few Pica Waco kits have dropped in value.

Bill, Waco Brother #1

Tercels

My Feedback: (4)

Down in my basement is a step back in time. As far as the Monarch "Spittin' Image" kits go, I have all three of them unstarted, The P-40, The Spitfire, and the P-51H Mustang. They are kind of a beginners kit since the main components are almost completely shaped. Monarch also produced a little kit called the "Vitamin 1/2A" which I'd love to get my hands on for strictly sentimental reasons. I was able to get all three on ebay.

Dan Vincent

I know this is an old thread but I have some ideas on engines for the Monarch P-40, P-51 and Spitfire.

​​​​​If you want to get one of these models in the air I suggest at least an .09 engine.

A long shaft engine will clear the contours of the nose.

I think a Pogo or Pagco .09 would work well and considering the narrow engine space, the Pogo radial mount version eliminates the width of the beam mounts.

For diesel guys the JB Atom 1.5cc also offers a long shaft.

I'd love to know the width of the engine compartment and the outside width of the nose.

Pagco & Pogo .09 engines with beam mounts

Pogo .09 radial without beam mounts

JB Atom 15cc diesel with beam mounts.
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