My First Estate Sale Find

johnnycarlos

Active member
After a month of looking at Craigslist and FB on a daily basis and not finding any bargains, I happened upon an estate sale 30 minutes away. Saw a pic in the ad of a Kadet Senior kit. So I made the trip and came back with this little lot for $126. I don't recognize anything, except the sailplane. Unfortunately, I got there just in time to see someone take the Kadet Senior.

I'm not sure what I've gotten myself in to here, so I'm hesitant to celebrate my victory. These kits look hard and it's taken me a month to complete my first build. Granted some of that is waiting for parts and tools to come in, plus I'm a father and all that. Also likely that's probably just going to be my build speed.

On a whim I threw in the orange plane with the Cox .049. I don't know what to do with that either. I played with those engines on control line toys as a kid. They were messy and fickle is what I remember. The build quality of the plane is exceptional.

Looking for suggestions. Can I convert these vintage planes to electric power? Am I in over my head?


FirstEstateSaleFinds.jpg
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
All for $126? $14 per plane is a great deal! Even though I don't do much with the .049 size planes these days I'd have jumped on that deal.

I just noticed on the Tiger Moth, "This is not a beginners kit" - good of them to warn you.

Just about anything can be converted to electric, although it's often easier to do while the plane is being built compared to trying to convert an already built plane.

As far as being in over your head, I'd say "maybe for now" as the Cuda' is your only balsa experience - the Cuda' is an easy build compared to older kits/die-cut kits/etc. You may want to do another "modern" kit first, although jumping into one of these kits could give you a lot of learning. That's what happened with me when I started building the cheap balsa kits from Hobby King - I learned a lot trying to build those horrible kit! :)
 

johnnycarlos

Active member
It was $12 per box and $30 for the orange plane. If I had arrived just 10 seconds earlier I could have gotten a Kadet Senior kit for a song. There were other deals to be had as well if I had the time, but it was over 100F and I had my child with me who was starting to lose it.

Here's a pic of the motor mount for the built plane. Would be nice if I could find a matching brushless mount.
 

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OliverW

Legendary member
It was $12 per box and $30 for the orange plane. If I had arrived just 10 seconds earlier I could have gotten a Kadet Senior kit for a song. There were other deals to be had as well if I had the time, but it was over 100F and I had my child with me who was starting to lose it.

Here's a pic of the motor mount for the built plane. Would be nice if I could find a matching brushless mount.
I think that is a modified Quaker flash with an 049 on it. I just bought a 049 too
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Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
There are lots of those little engines around. These were all collected at estate sales or as part of larger swaps. Eventually I’ll go through them and find them new homes.

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TooJung2Die

Master member
I am soooooo jealous. I'd call getting all that a score! I love old timers converted to RC. They make lazy, steady, easy to fly RC. They look really cool too.
 

johnnycarlos

Active member
I am soooooo jealous. I'd call getting all that a score! I love old timers converted to RC. They make lazy, steady, easy to fly RC. They look really cool too.

Thanks for helping me out with my buyer's remorse. I keep thinking that $126 could have gone to a kit on my "second build list", like a Four Star or Stevens AeroModel. None of these kits were on my radar. Hopefully some day I can extract some value out of them as I learn more.
 

johnnycarlos

Active member
If you want to get rid of a couple of them they all look interesting to me.

I have no particular vested interest in any of them, I don't mind parting with them. The time and rigmarole of packing and shipping does feel daunting though. I could never be an eBay seller, yuck.
 

TooJung2Die

Master member
You are right about that. Often the cost of shipping a small box exceeds the value of the contents. I shipped a small FT foamboard airplane once and it cost about $40 to ship. Way more than I had invested in the airplane. But it was a gift...
 

johnnycarlos

Active member
I'd be happy with $20 and buyer paying for shipping( I do not know how much that is ).

Trouble is both you and TooJung2Die are expressing interest in the exact same model, not sure how to handle this situation. I'm curious what's so special about the Quaker Flash?

These boxes are not sealed. I'll look inside tonight and try to see if it looks complete.
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
Wish I could find an estate sale like that around here.

Watch Craigslist for estate sales, keywords I use are "RC Airplane", "RC Plane", "Balsa", "Radio Control Plane", etc. People who run the estate sales are often smart enough to list their sale on Craigslist with all kinds of keywords. Since I travel for work I search all of the locations in my territory - Milwaukee, Madison, etc.
 

johnnycarlos

Active member
Watch Craigslist for estate sales, keywords I use are "RC Airplane", "RC Plane", "Balsa", "Radio Control Plane", etc. People who run the estate sales are often smart enough to list their sale on Craigslist with all kinds of keywords.

For estate sales, I narrowed my Craigslist search to the category "garage sales". My search words are "rc", "airplane", and "plane". Seems like they happen on the weekend so I only search then. I've been looking for a month and this was my first hit.

For non-estate sales, I search the same keywords but in the "toys and games" category. After a month of daily searching, I've only really come across people wanting the same price as new. So far.

This was my first time going to an estate sale. In this particular case, the event was 2 days. Everything had a price tag on it and on the second day, everything was half off. You could put a bunch of things in a pile and negotiate a price too. They claimed they needed to "empty the house" but I was there at the last hour and it actually turns out they have a pre-arranged final buyer who comes in and buys the remainder in bulk, so my dreams of scooping it all up were dashed. They all may work differently I suppose.
 

OliverW

Legendary member
I'd be happy with $20 and buyer paying for shipping( I do not know how much that is ).

Trouble is both you and TooJung2Die are expressing interest in the exact same model, not sure how to handle this situation. I'm curious what's so special about the Quaker Flash?

These boxes are not sealed. I'll look inside tonight and try to see if it looks complete.
If toojung2die wants it he can take it! You are giving a great deal, and I can always build it from plans.
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
That sounds like what I've found. I hit an estate sale a couple years ago that was advertised as an RC Enthusiasts Paradise (or something like that). That's where I got the Kadet Senior I re-built and a 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup. The first day there were plenty of people looking, but their prices were darn near retail on old equipment so I walked away. The next day I went back and they sold NONE of it in that time so they were willing to deal. I discussed what I wanted with the lady running the sale, and let her know what the prices were for new, what they were selling for at area swap meets, etc. It was all legit info, but I understand her goal of selling for as much as possible. In the end I think I paid a little too much, and they probably think they sold too low, but at least some stuff was finally sold.

Going back on the last day is often a great way to get all kinds of little accessories for cheap. I've got so many fuel tanks, servo parts, wheels, etc it's just silly. I told a buddy of mine to always ask me before he buys misc parts, as I've often got what he needs and am willing to give him just about anything for no cost, as there is no way I'll ever use all the parts I've collected.

Swap meets are the same - near the end of the meets people have to decide if they really want to pack up all their stuff and take it home. I pick up all kinds of things I "need" at that time.