G5-100 Monogram Speedee-Bilt Boeing PT-13 Kaydet
Wood Model Kit, Box Condition: Fair
The first trainer standardized for the Air Force and Navy. Pre-fabricated rubber-powered wooden scale flying model kit. Speedee-Bilt kits contained die cut and pre painted wooden parts, completely formed airfoil wings, carved wheels and plastic details such as pilot prop. Assembly is by detailed instructions. This kit has never been started. Inventoried with all parts and instructions but NOTE: missing decals. Before there were plastic models, there were wooden aircraft kits. These usually came in two types - solid and stick and tissue. The solid models were static and usually contained a few blocks of balsa and sometimes a detail part or two. These 'Make Wood Look Like Plane' models required a very high level of skill in carving and finishing. The stick and tissue variety were slightly easier to build and provided the ultimate thrill - they could fly when complete with rubber power (and later with free-flight gas and eventually RC). They still required a great deal of skill, so manufacturers sought ways to make model building more accessible to everyone. One idea was pre-carving and/or prefabrication. This raised prices, naturally. Many manufacturers launched lines of 'easy' to build flying models but only Monogram succeeded in making an entire line at an affordable price that would actual fly. The original 'Speedee-Bilt' kits were in one-piece two-color boxes. In the early 1950s, shortly before plastic kits were available, Monogram changed to the 'hardbox' with a lithographic slick glued to the top as this kit.
This item has been sold.
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