-----------------


I saw a few models fitted with this engine back in 69 or so, and the engines had a few years on them then. Everyone bowed in reverence, because it was one of the largest glow engines made at the time. Getting props for them could be tough. Not many hobbyshops stocked them.

In the very late Sixties and early Seventies, occasionally someone that was particularly enamored with a certain design would go nuts and reproduce them in plastic (Europe) or fiberglass and foam (USA). Some would change the model just a taste so that they could avoid paying royalties on particular kit designs (swept rudder hinge line). This appears to be one of those models. It looks a lot like a pseudo Kwik-Fli.

Back in those days, when most R/C pilots learned to fly, they used basically free flight models with R/C interuption (Sterling Mambo series, Midwest Squire). Pattern models, specifically the Kwik-Fli series, gained a reputation for snap-rolling on takeoff and landing. Today they are considered just average models, but our pilots have different expectations today (simulators DO help a lot). Remember that in those days, a new four-channel radio could easily cost a month's salary, hence the cautious attitude and the preservation and common use of stable aircraft. I suspect that this is the reason that this model's wing is equipped with slots, to tame down the snappy nature of such a model. Of course, the addition of such slots probably killed the model's pattern flying ability.


Ed Cregger