FROG Spin-A-Prop kits.

I've got a Beaufighter

Ian

Well, that's a 4th. They all seem to be Green box kits. I've just bought another 4 sets of motors (would you believe for £1.50 a pair and geniune FROG issue to boot!). Now it's a case of getting the kits to go with them.

Spudgun

'Cording to John Burns' Plastic Aircraft Kits of the Twentieth Century, the Frog "Spin-a-prop" kits, unless I missed one in his listing, were:

F249 Hawker Sea Fury F255 Vought F4U-1A F291 Bristol Beaufighter 21 RAAF F292 Junker Ju 88A F293 Martin B-26C Marauder

Additionally, F294, Northrup P-61A had the necessary modifications to the moldings to accept the motor but was never actually issued with the motor in the box as a "Spin-a-prop" kit.

However the motor was issued as a separate "kit", F.20, so it's possible a P-61 kit may exist somewhere with the motors tucked in the box.

To the best of my knowledge, the motors were never actually issued with the kits. However, since I've only ever had one 'spin-a-prop' kit before (Ju88) I can't say for certain that there weren't exceptions. The 'blurb' on the front of the Ju88 I have now certainly says that the F20 motor kit has to be bought seperately.

There's a problem with at least one kit mentioned on the John Burns list. The Corsair is a single engined plane. The F20 kit contained a pair of motors (The wiring diagram clearly shows two motors). It is quite possible that the F4U was bundled with a motor. Also (and I've only ever seen one), it's quite possible that two kits were bundled in a single box with a pair of motors.

Spudgun

Notice in John Burns' work F249 Hawker Sea Fury and F255 Corsair are both marked with an *.

The * indicates a kit that was planned or announced but not released or has not been released.

Does anyone have either kt with Spn-A-Prop nformatiion on the box and/or modified parts to accept the motor?

Tom

I was a kid at the end of the Frog era. I remember having several kits in late (last?) Frog box types which were obviously designed to have motors, but with no mention of this on the box or instruction sheets. The ones which spring to mind are the Ju88 and Beaufighter. I have in more recent years seen similar deitions of the Beaufort.

The plastic bits are still there, but the motor is no longer produced, unless of course someone has identified the manufacturer of the motor. I'm not certain that the stand with the battery compartment is still included, though it is still produced to support items like Gromit's aeroplane, Cheers, Bill.

I dont remember any of those models, but a spinning prop is an interesting idea,its a bit like those clear round plastic things that are meant to replicate a spinning prop,that u occaisionally find. Damien

I can confirm that Frog did release the Beaufort (F229) as a spin kit as I now have one in my stash. It appears the Frog did two different versions of the Beaufighter (different Mk numbers). I've seen the Novo release and it isn't the spin kit. As of yet, I haven't seen any of the spin kits that have been released by other companies (Novo, Toko, Eastern Express, etc). The F20 motors can be hard to get, but currently there's a guy on Ebay UK that has a whole heap of them. I've bought five pairs for £1.50 a pair (That's about $2).

Spudgun

The first rendition of the Beaufighter was the 'standard' version and it was followed by the Australian version with a bump in front of the windscreen. I forget what that housed but somebody here will know.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.