Berkeley Curtiss SBC4 Helldiver - 24 Inch Wingspan Flying Model Airplane Kit
Wood Model Kit, Box Condition: Good-
Very early Berkeley kit. This Helldiver features 24 inch wingspan, unique 'Automatic Bomb-Release During Flight', turned balsa cowl, sheets of high-quality printwood, pre-cut stringers and spars, fully formed wheels & thrust button, formed metal propeller shaft/rubber hook, sealed tube of wood glue, clear material for the canopy, metal stock as required, a factory sealed wax bag of hardware, printed color insignia, two colors of covering tissue (orange and silver) and more. Includes full-size plans & instructions. Never started and inventoried complete with all parts and includes insignia and plans. Berkeley is a very famous manufacturer of flying model kits from the Golden Age of flying aviation, about 1932-1954. 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.
$125.00