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5-10 595 Berkeley Grumman F4F Wildcat Flying Model Airplane Kit Exc++ Wood old Large high quality kit in the agreed museum scale of 1/16. Wingspan measures 26 inches. Rugged design is completely wood covered - no tissue. Originally designed as a gas powered model for control line, or can be converted to electric power and modern RC (radio control) gear. Features full size plans, die cut balsa and plywood parts, shaped leading and trailing edges, metal hardware, formed wire landing gear, wheels and authentic decor. The model has not been started. The parts are either in factory sealed bag(s) or inventoried 100% complete with all parts, decals and instructions. Berkeley is a very famous manufacture of flying model kits from the Golden Age of flying aviation, about 1932-1954. Most all Berkeley kits contain a high degree of prefabrication to speed up assembly. Founded in 1933 by William Effinger, the company was quite progressive in producing quality kits - it was likely the Berkeley 'Buccaneer' was the first gas powered model in kit form. In the later 1930s, Effinger acquired the services of a very talented Henry Struck. Struck went on to design numerous award-winning kits under the Berkeley name. Berkeley weathered the post WWII recession and emerged as a major kit producer in the late 1940 and 1950s. These were great years for Berkeley and they produced some incredible and large kits. The company went bankrupt in about 1960 however. Fox engines (Duke Fox) bought the company and released the kits alongside his own FOX models and engines. This arrangement did not last, and in the early 1960s the Berkeley name disappeared from hobby shop shelves. $165.00 |