Model Forum / General / Models / December 2007

Thanks, Ted. I fondly remember Joe Ott kits. I bought one about ten
years ago from someone who was selling some (seems to me he posted on
this newsgroup). I am not ordinarily a kit collector, but I still
cannot bring myself to build that kit- have it as a unique bit of my
past history.

For those youngsters not familiar with Joe Ott kits, they were flying
models.  During WW2 balsa was a strategic resource (I heard it was
used in life preservers and rafts, of which we needed lots).  So
production of flying model kits was drastically curtailed.

During the war Ott kits featured pine stripwood and cardboard (yes,
cardboard!) formers and ribs.  The instructions were quite detailed on
how to build stick models, particularly the Joe Ott ones.

Stick models, as we called them, were the balsa structured, tissue
covered models intended to fly, with rubber band power.  This is
opposed to "solid models,"  of which I just bought two from a fellow
list subscriber.  Solid models were shelf scale models that predated
plastic kits.  The structure was solid balsa, sawn to profile and
frequently to planform, but you needed to carve the cross section of
the fuselage, and the airfoil into the wings.

While solid models were eventually overrun by plastic kits, there was
an extensive overlap, and they stayed with us into mid fifties, though
with many added plastic detail parts like wheels, props, landing gear,
etc.

Every so often some company produces them for nostalgia buffs, but
these little specialty companies usually don't last long.

BTW, while I did finish several Ott kits, at that time my building
skills were not up to them being "flyable" quality. It was one thing
to finish a stick model, something else to get them to fly.  They did,
but you had to make warp-free structure, which was not easy :-(