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I have a Super Connie balsa wood airplane kit from the 1960's I think. I think my Dad picked it up in Japan when serving in Korea in the early 60's.

It never got assembled as it was a very daunting project when we were kids and I only got interested in flying planes for a couple years and never progressed to the point where trying to build and fly that seemed like a good idea.

Going off of the measurements of the plans, it's for a 1:20 scale model. The wingspan will be about 73" and the length about 66". It came with four Enya 19 model 4003 engines. I did break in one of the engines when I was thinking of building an RC hovercraft when I was a teen, but the other three have never been run. The rubber wheels on the landing gear haven't withstood the test of time too well. The front gear looks OK, but the two rear ones look melted.

It's been in storage for years and I have no interest in trying to build the model. I'd like to see it go to someone who would appreciate it but I have no idea what to ask for it.

I'd appreciate any advice or value estimates that anyone can offer me.

Since I'm a newbie, I can't post images. However, I did upload images to my SmugMug photo site which is at https ://jacooper.smugmug.com/Other/Super-Connie but you'll have to fix the URL manually to look at them.

thanks,
Jeff

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

I have that kit ,B-29 and the C-124 kit too, still in the box...purchased them while in Viet Nam, many years ago. I have no idea how the wood would be today...but has been stored in my garage for a long time. I built one of my two Super Connie's in Viet nam, powered it with four Fugi .19's...had plenty of power and flew fast. U-control in those day's and we had plenty of time to build. I flew for the 48th. AHC and we had many in the company building and flying models. Mine came out tail heavy...so I used 45 shells to balance it. It is a builders kit...the old Kyoto kits were a bit of a challenge, but loved the model. TWA colors and one of many kits built there, in our off times.

As to the value of the kit, if your kit is complete with metal cowls and wood in decent shape, you should get $200 to 350.00 for it. I sold my DC6, C46 and B-36 kit for good money...twenty hears ago.
Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

rgburrill

I built a 35-year-old Champion kit once and since it was stored in air-conditioned storage in southern Alabama the wood was fine. Wood stored for that long in a garage in Hawaii, however, would be suspect.

Then again, I recently bought new wood from Balsa USA that was crap. So who knows what the OPs 60-year-old wood is like.

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I unpacked the kit for pictures as a guy on Facebook was interested in it. I did find that while most of the plywood pieces were solid, there were a handful that had delaminated. This had been stored indoors in Minnesota since the mid-70's, but not sure of before that.

Thanks for the info!
Jeff

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The balsa seems OK but I haven't tried to do anything with it. A few of the plywood pieces however had delaminated over time.