Originally Posted by
GallopingGhostler
Leroy Cox was competition at its best. He didn't have to defame other manufactures, like some of the mud slinging more recent. He simply provided the best product at the lowest cost.
Indeed!
Some wonder about the inferior wood in kits 40 to 60 years ago. Then, the kit industry was so competitive, that to be able to shave off costs by printing plans with less paper (instructions instead of full sized plans), (selection of wood that would work in a kit but not necessarily the best performance, wood too soft, too hard, odd grain direction, etc.) Kits were affordable then. Balsa stock was affordable, too, so one could if necessary buy a few extra sheets and clone parts for a few pieces in the kit that didn't come out quite right.
I thought the plans thing was to encourage you to buy another kit rather than scratch one from the plans. Never considered it might be printing costs.
A lot of balsa was going into making liners for oil tankers among other things so it got a bit scarce. Some balsa harvesters set aside light balsa for models...perhaps it was too light to be used for other things. In addition to using whatever balsa was available some manufacturers ran too many kits before sharpening the dies and I believe that is where the term die-crunching came from.
I remember a Ringmaster Jr. costing me $1.50, and a sheet of 1/16"x3"x36" balsa costing $0.12. That was early fifties (year, not age
).
George