Plastic plane warning - Have you ever seen this before?

If William Lear was still alive today, he could
probably tell you exact what Testors did wrong
in the chroming process.
I find that pipe bomb needle even more offensive.
Bob

Yes, fuel residue is not friendly to many of Testors/Wen-mac products.

But I was calling attention to the cogged pull engine start thingy and the corresponding openings in the nose of the airplane.  I guess you insert it and pull to start the motor.  

I have not seen this before.  Being the dummy that I am I missed out on this auction ($40 single bidder) by misreading the end of auction date.  I have sworn off buying these but I would have liked to owned it.  I beat myself up over it all day until...…….I received the following the same day.  

Coincidently, I did win this Testors Spitfire that has the same geared engine but the auction did not include the pull thingy.  I had no idea that it had that feature until I received it as the seller did not include a close-up picture of the engine.




I bet that Mark Boesen knows all about it.

Any one have one of those pull things?

The "Rip-Cord" seems to have been introduced later, most likely due to the really unreliable recoil start that broke the spring after about the 5th attempt.

I had a dragster as a kid that had the same type rip-cord which spun up a large flywheel to power it.

*Just looked it up. Kenner SSP racers. Maybe that'll give you a little more scope in finmding one, if of course they're similar enough.

I have a couple of short engines with the starter cog behind the prop driver. It's on a one-way clutch so you can push the rip-cord in without turning the engine. If it was reliable, it certainly would have spun the engine over much better than one or two turn from a spring.

Rusty, the P-51 was moulded in Yellow plastic and chromed, not painted yellow. The chrome is the first thing to suffer with fuel exposure.

Rod.

Okay, Rod, I see now. It's obvious now that I know he rest of the story.
Duplicolor makes a chrome acrylic enamel that is fuel resistant and could be doped with clear urethane to further protect it. It is in a rattlecan and part of the "Perfect Match" line at the automotive stores. Look for CS101. I can't find the Perfect Match chrome lacquer at the moment.

I'm 90% sure DC makes an aluminum colored rattlecan lacquer too.

Rusty

My Mustang had suffered teh same fate before I got it as the previous owner had painted it blue, which had to be stripped, and I believe I mentioned in another thread. I am thinking the 'chroming' was not fuel proof, or at least 'hot' fuel proof. As for teh starter, I had a Testors something-or-other many moons ago that had the yellow pull start, which ultimately broke.

And the picture of the Spitfire is also rather funny with the starter. I say that as they must have made a version both with and without the Zip Starter, cause mine does not have it.....

And if my memory serves me correct, I think the ones with Zip Start were called Testors Fly Em' planes. Mine was a black aerobatic style plane with stars on it I believe.

NEW222 wrote:And if my memory serves me correct, I think the ones with Zip Start were called Testors Fly Em' planes. Mine was a black aerobatic style plane with stars on it I believe.

They were both called Fly 'em, both recoil and zip starter.  As I mentioned, I think the zip starter came later.

Your black plane with stars was probably a Cosmic Wind. It wasn't one of the Fly 'em series.


Bad picture, I know.  Off the net.

The Kenner SSP's, brings back fond memories. I pulled mine as hard as I could and let it rip. It went through the kitchen and hit my mother in the ankle. It fractured her ankle and she fell into a chair breaking her ribs.

Ken Cook wrote:           The Kenner SSP's, brings back fond memories. I pulled mine as hard as I could and let it rip. It went through the kitchen and hit my mother in the ankle. It fractured her ankle and she fell into a chair breaking her ribs.

Wow Ken and your still living.

There is one on ebay right now for $9.99 BIN with the rip cord. I would have bought it for the card, but it looks different.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=kenner+ssp&&view=detail&mid=16B70C1E622CDC8312FD16B70C1E622CDC8312FD&rvsmid=BC604D55FC0AF9BBFA18BC604D55FC0AF9BBFA18&FORM=VDQVAP

rsv1cox wrote:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=kenner+ssp&&view=detail&mid=16B70C1E622CDC8312FD16B70C1E622CDC8312FD&rvsmid=BC604D55FC0AF9BBFA18BC604D55FC0AF9BBFA18&FORM=VDQVAP

"The howling power of Sonic Sound"??  Well I'd like to hear a sample of Non-sonic sound, wouldn't you?  (Maybe the Sounds of Silence?)

Oldenginerod wrote:

NEW222 wrote:And if my memory serves me correct, I think the ones with Zip Start were called Testors Fly Em' planes. Mine was a black aerobatic style plane with stars on it I believe.

They were both called Fly 'em, both recoil and zip starter.  As I mentioned, I think the zip starter came later.

Your black plane with stars was probably a Cosmic Wind.  It wasn't one of the Fly 'em series.


Bad picture, I know.  Off the net.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. Thank you.