Yet another summertime control line flashback. The first control line ship I lusted after was the Testors P-40, part of the "Fly'em" series that Testors did in the 1970's. The P-40 looked so incredibly cool and fast, and I wanted one badly. I saved up my cash and was able to finally purchase one. At the time I wasn't ready to handle it, and never really flew it. Later, after Testors came up with the "zip stick" starter, some friends and I came across piles of the "fly'em" planes on sale at a local hobby store for $12.00 each. We bought Mustangs, P 40's, and Cosmic Winds, and flew them until they fell apart. What finally killed them was the inability to find any more glow heads for the Testors .049 motors.

This relic is all that's left of those late grade school and high school summers. It actually flies pretty well, despite it's tiny size and little prop. We had to pump up the pitch to get them to pull well (heat and bend...), but they were a hoot.

If anyone out there knows where to get a Testors glow head, let me know. It would be nice to hear the hoarse blatter of that old mill again...

Hahaa! I remember those; truly a rock on a string. Once you got used to them, and replaced the prop they did the job. It seems to me that we were able to modify them so that they produced more power than a Babe Bee, but I don't remember the mods (that was 35 years ago...).

If you still have an old glowhead around, you can drill out the element, tap it to glowplug thread, and away you go again; glowplugs are easier to get than Testors heads.

Capt Crash
Try www Coxmodels.com
Our LHS has the "modified head" that TLyttle is talking about.. without going to all that work. Your model does have some value to collectors also !
Don-Basehor, Ks

I've got a Testors Fly'em series Zero sitting on top of my clothes dryer, gathering lint.

IIRC, I got it for my 10th or 11th birthday (I'm 46). It came complete with a D cell starting battery, lines and handle, and a small glass bottle of fuel. Of course that stuff is long gone, and the plane's a little war weary and tattered, but I bet it would start up. Thing is, I'm not interested enough to try. It was a slug back then and it would be just an old slug now.

Rick

WOW, those things bring back some serious memories for me too!
I "attempted" to fly most of the Testor models back in the 70s. I can remember spending hours and hours flipping cox and Testors props??!!
I remember another plane my parents got me somewhere around 1975. It was another plastic model called the Bede 05, or something like that. It was modeled after that tiny jet like the one James Bond flew through the hanger sideways. It had the pusher motor in the back. Cool plane, but those long, flexible wings didn't last too long. Don't remember who made it though.
Also a line of balsa models that had flat wings but solid, shaped balsa for fuselages...can't remember who made those either. Anyone remember?
Thanks for the memories,
Ken

CSI, many of those old balsa log planes were made by Scientific Models. Lots of them were designed by Walt Musciano, who, last I heard, was still designing and writing manuals at something around, or past, 80. There's a couple posts about him and the logs on www.clstunt.com, the Stuka Stunt control line forum. Also, there were logs made by Consolidated, Monarch, Cavacraft, and a few others. I think a company called Blackhawk models has reissued a number of the Scientific kits. Flew many of them with Cox and O K Cub 049s.

I think I must've built every one of those Scientific carved balsa control line kits there were at some time or other as a kid. Personal favorites were the Red Devil, Golden Hawk, Lil Toot, and the Tri-Pacer.

Ahhh, the fond memories of the smell of Ambroid, Aerogloss dope, and Cox fuel.

Rick

I had the P-51. I flew the wings off it! Those were the days, life was much simpler then.


Rob

Originally Posted by ElectRick

I've got a Testors Fly'em series Zero sitting on top of my clothes dryer, gathering lint.

Rick

Hey Rick,
Do you want to sell your Zero? I would like to put in on my shelf next to my P-40!
Tom
iamplanecrazy2

Yeah, I liked those "log" airplanes, they were simple and would fly (barely) on a Cub 049. When you think about how simple they were and how strong they were, I am always a bit surprised that it died out. The Brits had their own versions, and they were available until recently; was it the Colt, by Veron? Indestructible; I eventually gave mine away...

Wow- flashback- I had that exact P-40 when I was around 10 years old. I think it lasted about a turn and a half and I splatted it on my street.

I got a Cox attack cobra ff helicopter and it still flies well. The plastic feels a bit brittle so I hope it doesnt hit anything

Yeah, I have a Cessna Mixmaster, no miles on it, complete with box. I suppose I could put it on EBay, but I don't deal there. I cleaned it up, looks like new, probably flyable if I wanted, but why? Too busy trying to get balsa models flying!

Yep.....my brother and I had a bunch of those old things, actually I would like to find some of the cars. They had one powered wheel and went round an a string, those things were a pisser, I've now got four boys and would love to find some of them.

It's nice to hear that there are other folks out there that enjoyed the Fly'em C/L airplanes as much as I did. In recent years I've bought several on ebay, just for use as displays. I don't think I could bring myself to fly one but they sure are perdy.


One control line model that I had that I never actually flew was a Sterling Beginners Messerschmitt. I wish I could find one of those but I've looked and looked.

Gene