Just What Was a Ten Cent Kit?

Economical would be the first thing to mention in answer to the question above. The 10¢ kit became popular in times when a thin dime was not easy to come by in a society recovering from the Great Depression. But, this is not what concerns us as model builders today. Today, the Comet Kid has wrinkles and gray hair. One of a vanishing breed that would like to relate the endearing and enduring charm those unsophisticated kits infected many of us with.

10¢ kits were mostly renditions of contemporary full-scale airplanes, or war planes from the Great War of 1914-1918, with a few historically significant types included. More than half were American civil airplanes. Of course, no kit company would omit at least one stick model and sport model from its line.

Were they accurate scale models? Well, let’s say they were identifiable to one degree or another. Most seem to have been drawn from photographs of their full-scale counterpart. Even those, which upon first impression seemed quite accurate, were not. If one took the primary dimensions of the full-scale airplane and converted them to model size, this became evident.

For example, models by Comet simply had longer than scale wingspans. Why? Perhaps to meet the advertisement ballyhoo and still be able to fit the rest of the drawing on the desired plan-size paper. For scale fidelity, none came close to the line of Cleveland Kits, the cost of which usually reserved them as birthday or holiday gifts to the boy modeler. (There were very few girls who found interest in the hobby then.)

Economy was not limited to the purchaser. One of the chief characteristics of the 10¢ kit model was sparse structure, wing rib spacing especially. The less structure, the less wood cost to the manufacturer. Being able to cover a complete model with the tissue provided in the kit took nothing short of wizardry. Placing the wing and tail on the tissue sheet in any manner regardless of grain direction, one then saved each and every scrap in hopes of being able to cover the entire fuselage with what remained.

Common pins, not provided in the kit, were often called out to serve as wheel axels and motor pegs. “Stiff paper” was not provided either. “Make windows from candy wrapper” was another way of keeping cost down. There were no plastics other than cellophane, celluloid, and Bakelite, so propellers were usually machine-cut balsa blanks. Some companies used sheet balsa blades from the print wood. Guillow hardwood wheels looked more like wooden buttons than wheels. Maybe Paul K. Guillow, former naval aviator, hit on a bargain carload of them.

Ease of production was also a consideration. One company defined the color scheme of its model thus: “cover wings and tail one color, and the fuselage and rudder the other,” eliminating the need to package specific colored tissue. When Comet designed its 10¢ ROG model, the Phantom Flash, it was done so the kit parts would not differ from the standard used in the rest of the line. Landing gear legs were sheet balsa rather than wire. Another piece of sheet balsa spanned the gap between the legs and held the usual kit nose plug. The rear hook was a bent pin. In another clever move, the outer and inner face of wheels pants were made of paper cut from the plan.

In order to cut all the strip balsa one size (1/16 sq.,) Comet had you glue two strips if 1/16 by 1/8 strips were needed. In order to limit the sheet wood in the kit, some companies had you form strip wood curves by rolling them under a pencil, or in the case of sharper curves, wet and kink the strip wood repeatedly with the fingernail.

Burd kits had the darkest, fuzziest balsa ever seen by anyone! There must have been a carload bargain in this also. Most kits included a hardwood nose plug, while some simply told you to push the propeller shaft through the balsa nose block! Comet instructed you to remove the rubber eraser from a pencil and rotate the ferrule to cut the nose plug hole in the nose block.
One company called for a straightened paper clip to be used as a propeller shaft. The bonus in Comet 10¢ kits was the wire propeller shaft with hook ready bent, which was packaged by sticking it diagonally through the upper left corner of the plan. It was tough for a kid to bend a hook on the end of a piece of wire, especially without a pair of round nose pliers! Glass beads and brass washers to reduce friction were reserved for the more expensive kits regardless of who made them.

Did they fly as designed and built according to plan? Seldom. Most stabilizers were too small. No true view layouts were there to construct any of the landing gear or struts for biplanes and parasols. Consequently, the models sat close to the runway with biplane wing gap that was too little or too great. “Well gee I dunno. That’s the way it come out,” was the inevitable reply from the builder if questioned on the strange appearance of his model. Incidence, decalage, and down thrust were unknown to us. Sometimes a plan would give instructions about CG location. Most times it was simply, “If model stalls, bend flippers down. If model dives, bend flippers up.”

So, why is it we want to build these quaint models of models, for that is what they are. For older Flying Aces Club [members] (FAC), it may be to make the changes allowable and needed to see them fly as they never did in their first childhood. To younger FACs it might be relaxing, for they are not very demanding. After all, they are not supposed to be FAC Scale models with a 16-inch span limit, nor were they intended as such. But, at an altitude of 25 feet or so, the visual effect is about the same.

The desire to have worked as a designer for one of those kit companies denied us by Father Time has brought about the Pseudo Dime Scale modeler who can travel into the past while at his drafting table. Many of these FACs have faithfully made their layouts in the same format as the Comet plans conformed to. Some have picked up on the features mentioned above, as well as the sketch of the broken razor blade to be used in cutting parts. (Back in those days a razor blade could be snapped without bending it.)

The earliest ad the author has found in which 10¢ kits were shown was that of Donald E. Duncan, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois. Although many model companies produced simple unsophisticated kits prior to this, their cost was high by comparison. It was by cutting the contents in the kit that the cost could be reduced.

These early kits contained nearly everything needed to build the model. Some even had the tissue printed with the stripes, lettering, or insignia required. Pins, thread, brass washers, glass beads, formed wire parts, ready-made Paulownia wood propellers, vials of glue and banana oil, rubber etc. Typical of these were Ideal and National, to mention two.

If you decide to join the ranks of pseudo ten cent kit designers, why not take a few minutes to study the plans of the genuine renditions. Look over their shoulder as the designers sat at their drafting boards. Copy their style. You are sure to get more enjoyment out of your own work. Drawing your plan will take on a new meaning that will elevate it from being a task.

When you present your ship and plan to some wrinkled, gray haired CD or judge for a rules compliance check, his smile—or is it a grunt?—of satisfaction will be felt by your inner self as well. Who knows, he might even be the Comet Kid. Q