Cox Spitfire, can anyone help date this thing?

Cribbs74 wrote:Hey guys, my Uncle picked this up for me at a garage sale. I have never seen a solid green one before, it was purchased in Canada so that may have something to do with it. I guess what I want to know is if it's desireable and what years this model was produced.

I don't know much about RTF's so looking for help from you collector types.

Mudhen wrote:

Mark Boesen wrote:Hopefully Mud will offer a thought or two???

I don’t really know.
To me, it looks like the Canadian version with black camo.
It does not have the hot-stamped “AFP,” but it still has a small cylinder hole.
I can’t tell the cylinder type. (But it does have a small radius needle valve, which may, or may not, be original to this particular model.)
And the tires appear vinyl/rubber not foam.
All that only to say “I think” maybe very late 60’s early 70’s.
I'm not well versed in foreign Cox models. Sorry

TLAnderson wrote:

Cribbs74 wrote:Hey guys,
Sure wish I still had it. I never flew it because it was so cool looking, that I was afraid I'd crash it.

Believe me: It was QUITE DIFFICULT TO FLY!, depending on many factors. At close to sea level, with COX "Racing" fuel, and the outstanding Golden-Bee that my Spitfire came with, this plane was very close to the real Spitfire: VERY FAST, Very sensitive (overly sensitive) and maneuverable, to the point that most people in those conditions tended to over-control it, so that a sudden climb into the wind, resulted in a VERTICAL climb, followed by an almost vertical dive into the terrain!

Mine was the previous 1964 model in light green plastic with dark green camo, and red color propeller spiner. It came with an EXTRAORDINARILY STRONG GOLDEN-BEE with large tank, with both vents upside. That engine was so powerful that the heavy plastic airplane climbed like if it was made from balsa! Too hot for a beginner!

My first "flight" was less than three full turns   ... Too much power, too much wind, a completely wrong control handle with the lines in the outermost holes: a recipe for sure disaster. The take-off was swift, and soon followed by a series of steeper and steeper climbs and dives, then a VERTICAL climb into the wind, followed by a similarly vertical dive into a hard concrete Basket-ball  court. OUCH!

INCREDIBLY, the beautiful red spiner took the brunt of the crash and simply disappeared forever.  I searched for it for days, and never found it, but other than a slight scratch in the propeller hub, the rest of the beautiful Spitfire was completely undamaged!  But my self confidence was SHATTERED!

Several months afterthat flight, I returned to my city, at more than 7,350 Ft. of elevation above sea level, and my neighbor received a new Olive Drab COX P-51 (the one that  the wing joined to the fuselage with rubber bands).  His overly tenacious efforts to start its new engine, resulted in running it too rich for many minutes, and that resulted in a lame engine that was perfectly OK to barely pull the P-51 very lazily, with the P-51 just hanging from the prop and never going above 5 or 6 feet and never less than 3 ft above the ground.  The lazy fligh made us (10 years old at that time) to believe that somehow, the Spitfire was IMPOSSIBLY HARD TO FLY, and that the P-51 was like an easy to fly "Primary trainer" for C/L!

Immedaitely, I begged my father to buy me a COX P-51, assuring him that "This one is very docile, and I won't crash it"... SO, my dear father bought me a new COX P-51, but as he was in the Navy, we were trasferred to a port, and the "docile" P-51 was transformed into a very nimble and almost as sensitive as the Spitfire beast,  and I crashed it in a similar manner as my admired but terrorizing Spitfire!

Two years later, I bought and built my first Balsa C/L model, a Sterling "Beginner's Ringmaster", that I was able to fly more than maybe 300 flights WITHOUT A SINGLE CRASH! Then I built the ribbed wing "Baby Ringmaster". Both were powered by the same engine from the then deceased Spitfire, the terrific Golden Bee that came with my Spitfire. ONLY AFTER the accumulated experience from the Balsa made Ringmasters, I was perfectly able to fly a COX P-40 WARHAWK without craching it, for many times, proving that COX heavy, plastic planes effectively were able to fly, but those demanded experience or the help from an advanced modeler, never alone. Best Regards, Amclaussen, Mexico City.

Cribbs74 wrote:I’ve finally made it to Canada! Had to look all over the house and garage to find this thing. It is in superb shape, very happy! It has a stepped cylinder, late 60’s early 70’s.  Stickers are poor, but otherwise in very good condition. Should clean up well.

NEW222 wrote:

Cribbs74 wrote:I’ve finally made it to Canada! Had to look all over the house and garage to find this thing. It is in superb shape, very happy! It has a stepped cylinder, late 60’s early 70’s.  Stickers are poor, but otherwise in very good condition. Should clean up well.

Well, a couple things are in order. First, welcome back! And secondly, glad you finally got your paws on it. Too bad as another week from now, it would have made for the perfect adult easter plane hunt..... Although by your description, you did kind of have a hunt of your own to find it.