Jim Davis Models 'Mini Jim'

[Richard Harris]

I've been gifted a couple of old kits, a Graupner glider and a Mini Jim ARTF kit.

My dad informs me they were bought by his friend from a place called International Stock in King's Heath Birmigham. They sold the  smoke damaged stock from Jim Davis Models after a fire apparently. 

They have to be at least 43 years old as around the same time my dad and his friend used to fly off John Bonhams land in Cutnall Green and he passed away in 1980.

What surprises me is that it's an ARTF kit that is more than likely late 1970s.

Although in single figures at the time I do remember the Slim Jim trainer as it was quite appealing, so I quite fancy getting the Mini Jim up and flying one day and save it from the bin.

The kit comes with a pre built fuselage typical of its age and is quite heavy for its size (as are the tail components).The wings however are looking a bit sorry for themselves. Pretty much all of the veneer has come off, I would like to save them if possible so as to keep most of its authenticity.

The veneer is scrap along with leading and trailing edges but the foam cores may be OK.

I'm thinking that if they are ok I could sheet them in 1.5mm balsa.

My dad used to use copydex years ago, is there a better adhesive for undertaking this task?

A few photos of the old girl, if anyone knows more about these models I would be interested to know a little history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy Stephenson]

In the late 70s I picked up a kit of something which was described as a Jim Davis Slim Jim which was a low-wing aerobatic model with a semi-symetrical wing section. It came with a jig-built fuselage and was about 40 size so I fitted it with an HP61.

[Richard Harris]

Interesting, must have been the normal thing then with pre built fuselages. I always thought the Slim Jim was the bigger version to the one I have.

[Rod Parsons 1]

Hello

The Slim Jim was a high wing sport/trainer.

 

The low wing sports plane was a Low Jim.

I had a Low Jim and it flew well enough. It had a Profi engine ( can’t remember the size) and I never sorted the engine out, so it didn’t fly much. Mainly take off, followed by forced landing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy Stephenson]

Rod,

May be I remembered incorrectly because it was over 40 years ago. Low Jim sounds right, now you mention it.

It was picked up at a club meeting for the princely sum of 15 quid in an unlabelled box.

[Roy Thompson]

Hi Richard, 

 

I don’t know if this will help you but I had a similar situation with an old set of foam wings last year. I detailed how I fixed them here.

 

 

[John Lee]

Here's an advert for the 'Jim' range from June 1978 RCM&E:

 

[Rod Parsons 1]

Hello Andy

It was a long time ago.

The advert from 1978 is a good reminder. 

Didn’t Jim Davies models go up in smoke?

 

 

My Low Jim, Balsa Gnatty, (and the biggest regret) my D&D models of Hereford EZE Fli got ‘torched’ by my Dad when I left home. The EZE Fli was really good, and now I’ve seen some of the US stuff of the time looks, like a ripped off Kaos. 

 

 

[Jonathan]

That's a blast from the past use to go to his shop with my dad in the 70s , he use to turn up to the flying field in Sutton Park in his big van 'Toy Land' with his kids and planes in the back.

[Andy Stephenson]

My Low Jim was fitted with an HP61 to start with so I had to add lead shot to the tail to get it to balance. On the first flight the trouble was that it had tail flutter which cracked the fuz and let all the lead shot dribble out. The result was a plane with full up elevator was descending into a muddy field, fortunately not much damage was the result. Later I fitted an OS 61RF and pipe, it would do the most enormous loops with that combination.

[Richard Harris]

Thanks for all the info gents and for the link to your excellent teferb thread Roy.

The mini Jim I have is from the stock that was present at the time of the shop fire.

Here is the other kit gifted, you can see the smoke damaged on the box but the contents are as new.