In about 1967(!) while on summer vacation in Bombay, my uncle took me to India's Hobby Center in Marine Lines, and bought me a Martin kit. Unfortunately we didn't get Tradfix. Instead (as he was in Dunlop) he got me a tube of rubber solution (can't remember if it was called Fevibond then...)
This was exactly the
wrong glue, as all the joints in the stick built fuselage became flexible!
The fuselage died during testing in the area between Chembur and Sion, which was then all vacant land, covered with a thick layer of some black stuff from the fertiliser factory (RCF?)
The wing lived to fly another day after return to Delhi.
But before that my childhood pal got a Gnome kit. Much better than the Martin for a newbie. And it became our first successfully flown towline model...
Then I built a new fuselage for the Martin. And learned to fly towline.
Then he built a Grebe. Unbelievable chases that gave us, (in Pusa Institute fields) with a Cox Babe Bee in the nose...
Then I built an Inchworm. Quite heavy with a big lump of clay in the nose. But flew surprisingly slow, due to huge undercamber. Two minute flight easy off a 50 metre towline...
We always wanted a Lucifer due to its beautiful high aspect ratio wing with rounded tips, but neither of us could afford one. Envied the NCC guys (like Kalsi
) who had them.
And Mr Nagar (later AMAI President) had his beautiful large red Graupner glider with an OS Pet on a pod that climbed
really high, which we could not even dream of owning one day...
Guess I'm reliving my youth by steering Suyash towards the Gnome for his first balsa build and proxy building it via daily video conference
. And his build is far better than ours...
My disease is called 'nostalgia'...