1/16 5-8 595 Berkeley Supermarine Spitfire Flying Model Airplane Kit
Wood Model Kit, Box Condition: Good
Large, high quality kit in the agreed museum scale of 1/16 and a 27 1/4 inch wingspan. This rugged design is completely wood covered - no tissue. Originally designed as a gas powered model for control line, it can also be converted to modern electric power and modern R/C gear. Features full size plans, die cut balsa and plywood parts, shaped leading and trailing edges, factory-sealed metal hardware packet, clear vacuformed canopy is amazing 'near mint' condition and not yellowed, fully formed wire main and tail landing gear struts, fully finished main and tail wheels, factory-cut blocks, a very large sheet of full color decals and more. The model has not been started. The hardware is still in factory sealed bag; all other parts have been inventoried complete including decals and plans/instructions. Berkeley is a very famous manufacturer 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. This 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. These arrangement did not last, and in the early 1960s the Berkeley name disappeared from hobby shop shelves.
This item has been sold.
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