I WAS WONDERING IF ANYBODY REMEMBERED THE SWIZZLE STIK AS A COMBAT PLANE? I USED TO WATCH THE SWIZZLE STIK FIGHTS AS WE CALLED THEM AT A FIELD IN NEAR BUSHKILL PA AND ALWAYS WANTED ONE OF THOSE SIMPLE PLANES BUT NEVER GOT ONE. THEN I GOT OUT OF THE HOBBY FOR A WHILE AND AM NOW BACK I WAS HOPING TO FIND ONE NOW AS IT WOULD BE A AWESOME TRAINER. I HAVEN'T FLOWN IN AT LEAST FIFTEEN YEARS SO I THINK I SHOULD START FROM SCRATCH AGAIN I'M SURE IT WILL COME BACK QUICKLY BUT I WOULDN'T WANT TO TRASH GOOD PLANE FOR THE SAKE OF BEING OVER CONFIDENT IN MY ABILITIES ANY OF YOU GUYS KNOW WHERE COULD I PICK ONE UP? I'VE LOOKED AROUND AND HAVE COME UP EMPTY. THE INTERNET DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ANYTHING ON THEM.

Spitfire, If you are refering to the swizzle stick I am thinking of, you can get a kit that is almost identical from Balsa USA called the "Stick 40" or "Stick 40 plus". The plus model has ailerons the other does not. They run about $50.

I DON'T THINK THAT KIT IS THE SAME AS THE SWIZZLE. THE SWIZZLE WAS PRETTY MUCH A WING WITH A BOX FOR THE RADIO AND TWO STICKS OUT TO THE TAIL FEATHERS. THE SUPER SWIZZLE STIK HAD THE AILERONS THE KIT WAS ABOUT $25.00 BACK THEN AS A MATTER OF FACT I JUST FOUND ONE ON EBAY TODAY I MAY BID ON IT IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT I MEAN THE ITEM NUMBER IS 3165947073 THANX FOR YOUR INPUT HOPE YOU HAD A MERRY X-MAS

That is exactly what the Balsa USA kit is. I have one right in front of me that my son flys as a trainer. Two spruce sticks that extend and meet at the tail and the wing mounts on top of a box that makes up the fuselage.

Isn't this what you are describing?

YEP THATS IT ABOUT 15 TO 20 YRS AGO THAT WAS THAT BEST COMBAT PLANE GOING THAT I COULD TELL AS NOBODY ELSE HAD ANYTHING DIFFERENT THERE WASN'T A POINT SYSTEM EITHER. EITHER YOU CUT THE GUYS RIBBON OR YOU DIDN'T THEY'RE EASY TO BUILD REPAIR AND FLY AS YOU SEE NOW. THEY USED TO COST ABOUT $20 AS WELL. THAT WAS ALOT OF FUN WATCHING THOSE THING GO AROUND. I GUESS NOW THE PLANES THEY HAVE ARE QUITE A BIT FASTER AND MANEUVERABLE EH? I'M STILL TRYING TO CATCH UP ON WHAT I MISSED OVER THE LAST 20 IN THIS HOBBY. ALOT HAS CHANGED I'M BUILDING A TRAINER AS WE SPEAK FROM STICKS. JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING OUT THERE IS AN ARF OR RTF. I'LL START SOLOING SOON HAVEN'T WRECKED YET HOPEFULLY I WON'T BUT I THINK I'M DREAMING. HAPPY FLYING AND CUT SOME RIBBONS FOR ME. EH! WHEN I CAN I'LL BE UP THERE TRYING TO DO THE SAME. THANX

I learned on a Swizzle stick in 1977. At the time it was $19 for the kit. Balsa USA has refined the kit, and it is now called the Stick 40, it's the same plane with a more updated tail shape and a price to match the current industry's inflation (really too bad). If something cheap to bash around is what you're looking for go to http://www.spadtothebone.com The guys who started that web site have combat roots and have used the old Swizzle sticks for combat. Much of what they do now was inspired by the simplicity of the Swizzle Stick...in fact, the very first "Spad" that flew took it's wing measurements from a Swizzle Stick.

Tattoo,

Hey...we have something in common! I also took my very first flight on an RC plane with the Swizzle Stick right around the 76-77 timeframe. That was the one that got me hooked. Had the older gentleman at the field not handed his tx to me and given me a chance to fly I may have never been bit by the RC bug way back when. If I was never bit there would probably never have been an RCU! How odd...

That was cool plane to learn on. I went from that to a Cox Sportavia glider (not good) and then to a Falcon 56 MK II built from a kit. That was the one I eventually mastered flight on. It would be decades from then until I tried my 1st 3D maneuver

Swizzle sticks and Falcon 56mk2's.
In 1978 that was the trainers to have. I built 4 of the falcons before I solo'd. Pre trainer cords. My friend had the swizzle stick. Man times have changed. I remember many days in the basement glueing up a set of wing panels and then tail panels etc. Kids don't know how easy they have it now with all the ARFS.
Ron

This is cool!!! I went through several Falcon 56's and a Senior Falcon after my Swizzlw stick! BTW, check out the first Spad...it is a rudder plane, and the wing, although Coroplast, used the dimensions from an old set of swizzle stick plans[8D] ...that first Spad wing even had ribs in it!

Yup...no trainer cords for me either...just get in trouble and toss the box back to the instructor. I remember spending a whole winter building that Falcon 56 with the help of a gentleman from the field (I was clueless at that age..didn't even know what a spar was!). When I see an ARF these days covered 100x better than I could for $150-$300 it blows me away still after having spent all that time building in my younger days. Today you can have a trainer like that new Hobbic NexSTAR I reviewed up and running in under 20 minutes (less time to charge built in nicads)!!!

I actually have a very old Kadet kit in the basement where the lines are drawn on the balsa (no die cut or laser cut!). How antiquated that seems now.

Tattoo - What year did the aircore trainers come out? they were coroplast right? I trained a friend of mine on an aircore plane a few years back but don't remember how long ago it was. were they before or after the home grown spads took over the world?

Aircore and Sturdy-Birdy/Dura-Plane are well before Spads. I don't know the year, but I'm thinking early 90's. The spark that lit the fuse for Spads was when a coworker of ours told us that a Pepsi sign at Wal-Mart looked like what his AirCore 40 was made from. We made some calls, and found the stuff. Up to that point, we had no idea it was just sign board and extreamly cheap. We just combined the coro wing (Aircore) and the gutterpipe fuselage (DuraPlane) with a do-it-yourself attitude and that's what Spads are all about![8D] It's amazing when you begin to find out how much the materials in these "kits" really cost. I'll never forget the excitment when we realized that 3 or 4 airframes could be built from $20 worth of gutterpipe and coroplast...and nothing beats a plane built from free coroplast from the gas station dumpster

I'm attempting to find plans for the .40 version of the Stick. I learned to fly on one of those in the late 80's. I was 10 or 11. That was an excellent trainer and a hell of a sport plane when the fuse is chopped, and a fully symetrical, zero dihedral wing was bolted to it!

We have been flying combat with swizzle sticks for 26 years now. We fly in the Poconos on Gov't land. It's the Balsa USA stick 40 with no ailerons. We all fly with 46 size engines and a stock fuse and wing. Some have foam wings that stand up to a terrific beating. I make those wings for $28.00 each. I am considering purchasing a laser cutter ( I'm a sign maker) to make stick 40 ribs so guys can make spare wings or repair damaged ones.

"Those plastic planes won't never fly good, they're too heavy"
"You can't get a repeatable airfoil outta that sign material"
"I bet that thing is a bear to trim and it won't last long"


"Where can I get plans to that sucker?"

Flashback! First plane I ever built. If there was a foam wing available for the swizzle i might build another one for the kid to learn on. Really developed an aversion to balsa wings during the build...

I think the origin of that plane was the RCM QuikStik. I was learning to fly with Pilot Jr Box Fly's in the early 70's and this plane was published in RCM. It was .20 sized to use an existing flat-bottomed wing you might have had lying around. The Box Fly wings fit perfectly and were available from World Engines, the importer of Pilot aircraft. I built more than one of these. The plane evolved into .40 size with ailerons, then .60 size and finally an .049 size. They were tough and fun. You should be able to get plans from RCM.

i scratched out a fuse like that and made as to match LT 40 specs and put a spadet wing on it to train my last student on....worked fine still flies! and its easy for any one to fix. i used pine door stop trim for the rails and 1/4'' balsa for the box with big tri stock balsa in the corners.
Don't glue the box to the rails until all is assembled and you can balance it like any spad.

Holy Cow......I too leaned to fly RC on a Swizzle Stik.....IN 1977!!!!!! Co-Incidence? I DON'T THINK SO!!!!! Oh yes, those were the days....if you could'nt bring 3 birds to the field, you didnt fly 3 times!! Tower Hobbies just started selling RC stuff, and introduced their "State of The Art" Tower 4 channel set-up. The Transmitter was white stamped metal, 3 servos and a receiver dialed in on AM!!

Wow what memories~!!!!

I build foam wings for the swizzle. It's a 3 channel 1-1/2" dihedral wing that exactly matches the balsa USA profile. It only weighs 1 oz more than a stick built wing and has a full length plywood spar. You cover them with shelf paper.

I build a foam wing for the swizzle stick