Hi cashrc, I have a small line drawing of full size changes which I was going to do myself but happy to share.
It looks like the update to the class I think it was Nos. 3, 8, and 11. A guess at mid 80s.
The Graupner kit was issued in 1974 and maybe one of the longest continuous runs of the same kit ever.
I can tell you a bit about Bugsier if you are interested as they are now the largest Towing company in the world, all done on English money!
Roy
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Hi cashrc, I have a small line drawing of full size changes which I was going to do myself but happy to share.
It looks like the update to the class I think it was Nos. 3, 8, and 11. A guess at mid 80s.
The Graupner kit was issued in 1974 and maybe one of the longest continuous runs of the same kit ever.
I can tell you a bit about Bugsier if you are interested as they are now the largest Towing company in the world, all done on English money!
Roy
Hi cashrc. Look at this photo it is Bugsier 8 a sister ship. Obviously sold out of service but what a choice of colour! Note the changes to Super structure this was also done to Bugsier 3.
Roy
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Hi cashrc. Look at this photo it is Bugsier 8 a sister ship. Obviously sold out of service but what a choice of colour! Note the changes to Super structure this was also done to Bugsier 3.
Roy
It's amazing! I started in RC scale boats 50+ years ago when there was little available (and no internet). First boat was scratch built including 3" propeller and the motor was from a car heater. The radio was a Heathkit. Only parts from a hobby shop was the balsa.
Fast forward a few years and all sorts of kits and parts were available.
Now RTRs are common place. Sure, we miss the big manufacturers but if I have to regress back to scratch building my own parts, so be it. That's where my 3D modeling and printing come into play.
If you watched my last video (on board a Springer) most of what you see I 3D created.
Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA 🇺🇸
It's amazing! I started in RC scale boats 50+ years ago when there was little available (and no internet). First boat was scratch built including 3" propeller and the motor was from a car heater. The radio was a Heathkit. Only parts from a hobby shop was the balsa.
Fast forward a few years and all sorts of kits and parts were available.
Now RTRs are common place. Sure, we miss the big manufacturers but if I have to regress back to scratch building my own parts, so be it. That's where my 3D modeling and printing come into play.
If you watched my last video (on board a Springer) most of what you see I 3D created.
Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA 🇺🇸
Lew
Florida, USA
Home page: https://www.RCFlorida.org/lmb
My buddy was given an old Graupner Bugsier 3 that needs a lot of work. I traded a boat to him, I’m picking up the Bugsier in a couple of weeks. I also have a Systems Cat that needs love. I have most of what I need to get started on it save the decals. Whoever built the poor thing did it in an almost fluorescent orange😝
It’s missing the hatch, but I think I can fabricate that.
I have too many projects 🤣
My buddy was given an old Graupner Bugsier 3 that needs a lot of work. I traded a boat to him, I’m picking up the Bugsier in a couple of weeks. I also have a Systems Cat that needs love. I have most of what I need to get started on it save the decals. Whoever built the poor thing did it in an almost fluorescent orange😝
It’s missing the hatch, but I think I can fabricate that.
I have too many projects 🤣
Ten years ago, I bought out a Hobby Shop which carried a very good stock of Graupner and Robie kits, hardware and fittings.
I havevsold most of the kits, but still carry many Robie hardware items, along with a very extensive Graupner and Robie inventory of fittings.
If anyone is interested, message me with the items you need.
Ten years ago, I bought out a Hobby Shop which carried a very good stock of Graupner and Robie kits, hardware and fittings.
I havevsold most of the kits, but still carry many Robie hardware items, along with a very extensive Graupner and Robie inventory of fittings.
If anyone is interested, message me with the items you need.
Amen to all our long lost shops and kits. I still have an ancient Sterling King Fish in the stash. A buddy of mine had the super cool Graupner Prinzess with the outboard that I always wanted. There's one on ebay now. Don't like relying on ebay, the hit you take in the wallet can be brutal. It's the luck of stumbling across something on the cheap in the local thrift store, or a basket case worth restoring that has become one of life's little pleasures.
😉
Amen to all our long lost shops and kits. I still have an ancient Sterling King Fish in the stash. A buddy of mine had the super cool Graupner Prinzess with the outboard that I always wanted. There's one on ebay now. Don't like relying on ebay, the hit you take in the wallet can be brutal. It's the luck of stumbling across something on the cheap in the local thrift store, or a basket case worth restoring that has become one of life's little pleasures.
😉
Hi cashrc, I agree in the missing of the past genius of Graupner and Robbe, having built kits from both and they were so complete. Very well thought out planned and described. Amati kits are also nicely done.
Not sure about some others named by you, as my experience is of 25 years ago and they must have improved to have survived. The trouble is you have to pay for the attention to detail.
A few years ago I made an Aeronaut kit up and I think this came up to the standards of G & R, no plan, but good instructions.
I have a Panart kit that looks very good yet to build. A detailed look has revealed no problems and as I also found more detailed instructions on-line I am looking forward to it.
Sarik who have taken over most of the supply of plans these days in the UK, have in a few cases also produced laser cut wood packs and I am just ready to start one, a small scale yacht called Wild Duck.
Otherwise it has been build off plans for me using up accumulated wood and fittings from over the years.
I agree the old shiny coloured catalogues were a nice casual read and I have a few myself and do dip into them. Hobbies here are the only similar ones here now.
nice post
Roy
Hi cashrc, I agree in the missing of the past genius of Graupner and Robbe, having built kits from both and they were so complete. Very well thought out planned and described. Amati kits are also nicely done.
Not sure about some others named by you, as my experience is of 25 years ago and they must have improved to have survived. The trouble is you have to pay for the attention to detail.
A few years ago I made an Aeronaut kit up and I think this came up to the standards of G & R, no plan, but good instructions.
I have a Panart kit that looks very good yet to build. A detailed look has revealed no problems and as I also found more detailed instructions on-line I am looking forward to it.
Sarik who have taken over most of the supply of plans these days in the UK, have in a few cases also produced laser cut wood packs and I am just ready to start one, a small scale yacht called Wild Duck.
Otherwise it has been build off plans for me using up accumulated wood and fittings from over the years.
I agree the old shiny coloured catalogues were a nice casual read and I have a few myself and do dip into them. Hobbies here are the only similar ones here now.
Michel mon ami, Michael my friend how can such à Young lad Tell so much wisdom?!?!
Your wife Must have had à terrible job to educate you. Otherwise it is impossible 😂😂😂😂
I have à modelshop( for Not saying a Model Supermarkt 10 minutes Walk from my home and i ALWAYS but things there as i don‘t want that hé disappears.
Name of the Shop modelbouw Baillien
Michel mon ami, Michael my friend how can such à Young lad Tell so much wisdom?!?!
Your wife Must have had à terrible job to educate you. Otherwise it is impossible 😂😂😂😂
I have à modelshop( for Not saying a Model Supermarkt 10 minutes Walk from my home and i ALWAYS but things there as i don‘t want that hé disappears.
Name of the Shop modelbouw Baillien
Hi all,
Unfortunately, the demise of model shops is unstoppable.
Here in Switzerland, you can only count these good model shops on one hand . .
Apart from the Internet.
The new technologies are in the hands of our successor hobbyists and young people. Tiktok and everything else is now their world. What a pity . . .
So what???
Michel-C.
Hi all,
Unfortunately, the demise of model shops is unstoppable.
Here in Switzerland, you can only count these good model shops on one hand . .
Apart from the Internet.
The new technologies are in the hands of our successor hobbyists and young people. Tiktok and everything else is now their world. What a pity . . .
So what???
Michel-C.
Hello, yes Graupner is a testament to quality. I myself built the "Tön12" from Graupner. That was about 25 years ago and I still have it and still drive it regularly. The "Glasgow" was also legendary. A few years ago I almost bought an unbuilt kit on eBay but the price shot up to incalculable levels.
Or the "Heringslogger Wotan" from "Robbe". I bought it at the flea market for 5 euros, but it was in very poor condition. Another ship waiting to be restored. These days, things like that are real treasures.
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Hello, yes Graupner is a testament to quality. I myself built the "Tön12" from Graupner. That was about 25 years ago and I still have it and still drive it regularly. The "Glasgow" was also legendary. A few years ago I almost bought an unbuilt kit on eBay but the price shot up to incalculable levels.
Or the "Heringslogger Wotan" from "Robbe". I bought it at the flea market for 5 euros, but it was in very poor condition. Another ship waiting to be restored. These days, things like that are real treasures.
A few weeks ago my buddy Larry came over to do a trade with me, anto sweeten the deal he add 1 each of the old Graupner and Robbe catalogs. The Graupner is a 2003 catalog, the Robbe is 2004. Although they’re newer than the ones I had when stationed in Germany, they still brought back fond memories, as they both kept certain models in production for years, especially Graupner. I remember being stuck in a tent in Turkey with my well worn copy of the 90 Graupner catalog just waiting to get back to Germany to collect my per diem and spend a large amount of it at a hobby shop in Zweibrucken. Now, Graupner’s gone, except for the electronics, and Robbe is just a shadow of its former self.
There are nice kits now…Dumas makes nice kits and the quality has gotten better, Krick is still around as is Aeronaut. Billings will be around forever. On the pricier side you have Deans Marine and Caldercraft, among others, who make kits with glass hulls and tons of fittings. But Graupner and Robbe were one stop shops. Kits! Radios! Hardware!! Etc!!
The Asian models Graupner brought out were not bad, just the manuals were…almost useless. They got better after the Taucher Wulf but nowhere near as easy to understand as the older, German kits, and you got plans, not just a scale 3 view. But in their heyday they produced tons of aircraft, boats and some cars, even if the rc cars were rebodied Kyosho, Traxxas and PB.
I need to stop reading these catalogs in bed…..🤣
Ok, I’m done waxing nostalgic, rant over.
Cash
A few weeks ago my buddy Larry came over to do a trade with me, anto sweeten the deal he add 1 each of the old Graupner and Robbe catalogs. The Graupner is a 2003 catalog, the Robbe is 2004. Although they’re newer than the ones I had when stationed in Germany, they still brought back fond memories, as they both kept certain models in production for years, especially Graupner. I remember being stuck in a tent in Turkey with my well worn copy of the 90 Graupner catalog just waiting to get back to Germany to collect my per diem and spend a large amount of it at a hobby shop in Zweibrucken. Now, Graupner’s gone, except for the electronics, and Robbe is just a shadow of its former self.
There are nice kits now…Dumas makes nice kits and the quality has gotten better, Krick is still around as is Aeronaut. Billings will be around forever. On the pricier side you have Deans Marine and Caldercraft, among others, who make kits with glass hulls and tons of fittings. But Graupner and Robbe were one stop shops. Kits! Radios! Hardware!! Etc!!
The Asian models Graupner brought out were not bad, just the manuals were…almost useless. They got better after the Taucher Wulf but nowhere near as easy to understand as the older, German kits, and you got plans, not just a scale 3 view. But in their heyday they produced tons of aircraft, boats and some cars, even if the rc cars were rebodied Kyosho, Traxxas and PB.
I need to stop reading these catalogs in bed…..🤣
Ok, I’m done waxing nostalgic, rant over.
Cash