days gone by, lost things that will never return

by **DAVE** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 3:35 pm

In the early sixties train motors were the way to go. Then Globe motors. Before those, Bonner motors
were the thing to use. i still have all that stuff. Need to restore it all.

by **DHansen** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:50 am

by **waaytoomuchintothis** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:29 pm

That's why Harry built the privacy fence in the back yard!

Website · by **woodman** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:16 pm

I just can't leave these out!! Hours and Hours of fun....
http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/new_page_2.htm

http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/north_pacific.htm

by **Ember** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:24 pm

Ahh yes. Many hours of fun with them. My Siamese cat used to fancy along on her hind legs trying to bat them out of the air when the got low enough. She'd never hurt them, but would carefully pick the small ones up and bring them back for another go.

by **waaytoomuchintothis** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:25 pm

I loved those. I may still have split pieces of balsa from those wonderful airplanes. Eventually, they found their way into every crevice of my toy treasures.

Do you remember that green soap and water made them fly twice as long?

Website · by **woodman** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:15 pm

by **waaytoomuchintothis** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:50 pm

You mix a little green soap wit water, smooth it on the rubber band, and presto! Zero friction and the plane flew higher, faster and more stable than ever before!

by **Retro Racer 44** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:42 pm

The balsa planes remind me of the Skim-O glider that I bought every year at the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto. It had a wingspan of about 18" and had a lump of lead on the nose. I played with mine for ages before they finally broke and by that time the "Ex" came around and I bought another for $.50. I remember the wing slid into a slot on the body, and you could push it forward for looping flights or pull it back for long distance smooth flights. They were excellent flyers and I wish I was still able to buy one for my grandkids.

by **waaytoomuchintothis** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:18 am

Oh man, the CNE was a favorite time for me. We drove to Toronto from London, spent the night and got up early, spent the entire day there and came dragging in home late at night. In 1964-66, the big main building at the CNE had two giant staircases that had large landings halfway up. On one, there was a huge record bear, and on the other, a record moose. These guys are marvelously large to begin with, especially for a bayou boy who had not even seen snow before moving to Canada, but indoors, they were unbelieveably gigantic. I didn't know they were there, and let out a whoop when I got to the landing and looked up into that bear's mouth. Then I had to go over to the other stairs to see the moose. I remember seeing a life sized butter sculpture of Bob Hope and another of Dolly Parton. I never figured out why they were chosen, but there they were, along with a glass cylinder that had every denomination of Canadian paper money in it. It was particularly beautiful, right up to the 10,000,000 dollar bill.

by **DAVE** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:59 pm

Those balsa planes were great. I bought a bunch of them wholesale a few years ago for our annual block party. With
computer games these events had become devoid of kids, as they would all be inside playing those rather than outside.
But the airplanes brought them out, to my surprise. The kids had a great time and I didn't have any left over.

As kids, we graduated to the Guillos stick-and-tissue-paper models. We were mostly disappointed in their performance
on rubber bands and started putting .020 nitro motors in them. That lead to U-liners, and bigger and bigger planes, ending
up with R/C. I think that was the intentions of the hobby manufacturers. Hook 'em young and go in for the kill later.

by **TsgtRet** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:14 pm

DAVE, I lived at Glenview Naval Air Station from 1959 to 1967 and remember the National Model Airplane meets there at least twice during my younger years. The one thing that sticks out is a bunch of civilians charging through base housing in pursuit of a powered glider that "got away". Shortly after the meets the local stores would be sold out of the balsa planes as all of us had dreams of competing in the future. I seem to remember "kitbashing" one of the smaller ones with the longer wings from one of the big ones and adding Play-Doh to the nose for extra weight.

by **reek455** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:29 pm

by **DHansen** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:49 pm

I can't count how many balsa wood planes I went through when I was younger. I even glued bottle rockets to them to make them fly faster and farther. They didn't last long when I did that.

days gone by, lost things that will never return

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