where do you get see through props

The most common were Grish, Kay-Sun might of made some and I'm thinking Tornado, but I know Thimble-Drome never did.

I think by the mid to late fifties manufactures stopped making them as they were not very strong compared to nylon and nylon is not the greatest.

You see them pop up on ebay every now and then. You used to see red Herkimer props at swap meets all the time. I have a box of Grish 6x4 props, let me think about it for a while...

I thought the whitish clear nylon ones were Top Flite... We use white/clear nylon Taipan props for vintage combat here... they are not available in .049 sizes though unfortunately.

As Mark said, your best bet is to keep an eye on eBay.

Mark Boesen wrote:The most common were Grish, Kay-Sun might of made some and I'm thinking Tornado, but I know Thimble-Drome never did.

I think by the mid to late fifties manufactures stopped making them as they were not very strong compared to nylon and nylon is not the greatest.

You see them pop up on ebay every now and then. You used to see red Herkimer props at swap meets all the time. I have a box of Grish 6x4 props, let me think about it for a while...

Tornado's were made by Grish so that does sound about right,
But what your saying is that there are none being made today?

warrenlead wrote:I thought the whitish clear nylon ones were Top Flite... We use white/clear nylon Taipan props for vintage combat here... they are not available in .049 sizes though unfortunately.

As Mark said, your best bet is to keep an eye on eBay.

Warren, the first Grish (Tornado) Nylon props were white, and a little bit translucent. Because of safety issues (it was hard to see the prop arc) later ones were yellow. Top flite Nylons were white with red stripes on the tips to enable the prop arc to be easily seen.

George

I got a couple of these beauties with some Gilbert engines from a seller on Ebay. DEFINITELY display only! But interesting anyway.

I had a old white Top Flite prop blow apart just last summer when running a engine. The engine was running for about 2 minutes or so when I heard a snap and a bunch of leaves getting shuffled in the tree. The engine stopped right away, no damage to the engine. The prop had no damage before use and was only being used then to take a picture of the engine with a vintage prop on it. It had zero marks and no damage, the plastic itself must have gotten old and brittle.

Years ago at a swap meet I pick a box of new Top-Flite 10x6 nylon props! In the box there was a printed note from Top-Flite recommending that the customer boil their new props, can’t remember how long, maybe 15-30 min. and then store them wrapped in a damp cloth placed in a plastic bag….and this was when they were new!!!!!

The props Nitro is looking for are the clear acrylic plastic types, not nylon.

Mark

gcb wrote:

warrenlead wrote:I thought the whitish clear nylon ones were Top Flite... We use white/clear nylon Taipan props for vintage combat here... they are not available in .049 sizes though unfortunately.

As Mark said, your best bet is to keep an eye on eBay.

Warren, the first Grish (Tornado) Nylon props were white, and a little bit translucent. Because of safety issues (it was hard to see the prop arc) later ones were yellow. Top flite Nylons were white with red stripes on the tips to enable the prop arc to be easily seen.

George

I actually own both types but they are not what I am looking for.

Mark Boesen wrote:
Years ago at a swap meet I pick a box of new Top-Flite 10x6 nylon props! In the box there was a printed note from Top-Flite recommending that the customer boil their new props, can’t remember how long, maybe 15-30 min. and then store them wrapped in a damp cloth placed in a plastic bag….and this was when they were new!!!!!

The props Nitro is looking for are the clear acrylic plastic types, not nylon.

Mark

Didn't cox recommend that too?

Kim wrote:I got a couple of these beauties with some Gilbert engines from a seller on Ebay. DEFINITELY display only! But interesting anyway.

That same seller was selling Gilbert .07s for $25 nib including a spare glow head and on of those I think that was a great deal but sadly i missed out.

nitroairplane wrote:

I actually own both types but they are not what I am looking for.

Have you posted a pic of the type you are after? Maybe one of us will have it.

Here's the early 50's Grish acrylic plastic props, the golden colored one are 'Skamper' props?

I don't think I ever read where Cox recommended boiling their props, its possible...but, it's likely they weren't exposed to the load the larger diameter props were.

I've never seen those before Mark, they sure do look nice!

Mark Boesen wrote:Here's the early 50's Grish acrylic plastic props, the golden colored one are 'Skamper' props?

I don't think I ever read where Cox recommended boiling their props, its possible...but, it's likely they weren't exposed to the load the larger diameter props were.

Yeah its those mark but did they do them in a honey colour?

I have accumulated mine through eBay over the years. Most are Kaysun brand. I've sanded and polished most of mine out instead of leaving them original. For tinted props they didn't look too good being scrached and hazed. I like them better like this even though they lost their engraving during the polishing.

KaySun props! those damn things used to fly apart even when they were new! most of mine broke straight through the center hole having 2 equal blades go flying. when i was about 12, one flew apart and hit me straight in the boys. lucky i have a son and a daughter to this day. those props had to at least 15 years old by the time I was using them back in the late 60s

Carl wrote:KaySun props! those damn things used to fly apart even when they were new! most of mine broke straight through the center hole having 2 equal blades go flying. when i was about 12, one flew apart and hit me straight in the boys. lucky i have a son and a daughter to this day. those props had to at least 15 years old by the time I was using them back in the late 60s

Well suppose it stops you having to pay the doctor to do it for you
I only want them for display engines.

Nylon props were known to become brittle when the nylon dried out. People would boil them which would make them usable. Some would boil the white ones and add dyes to match, or somewhat match, their planes. I don't know if bioling OLD ones would make them safe.

I remember reading that nylon props had outlived their usefulness in .15 CL combat when the engines started turning enough RPM's to stretch them during flight. Not sure if that ever happened in 1/2A.

I THINK the last Tornado whites were made of Polypropylene.

A few years ago when Grish stopped making props there was chatter on the forums about it. Apparently the dies were worn out and the Grish folks were considering making new ones. Apparently they decided not to. I don't know if the Grish brothers are still around, but they made props for a LOT of years and probably decided to retire. They made good props.

Anyone know more of the Grish situation?

George

Edited for die and dye...

http://eam.net/Grish/props.htm

Our hobby shop had a large box of 5x4 white Tornado props. The props were in a box with Grish printed on the side. They said they had them in the back room since the early 80s and recently put them out. I was going to buy a few but stupidly put them back for something else. The next time I went in there, they were gone . I asked one of the guys behind the counter and they said a guy came in and said that they were old and shouldn't be used. So they had to remove them from their shelves. They may still have them in their back room, I could ask.

I'm sure they are fine how much were they?

Its been awhile but I think they were like $1.95 or something.

Admin wrote:Its been awhile but I think they were like $1.95 or something.

That's a good price IMO.
Do you think you'll get them?
If they had them in my LHS I would.