Wow! Wow! Wow! What can I say?! A billion "thank you's" would not be enough! Why? At 10:37 there's my dad! Arthur "Buck" Adams! He was the printer. He worked at KK for years. In fact he lived in a cottage in Russell Gardens that Eddie Keil had built. The cottage was named "Chilton". The reason why I am so thrilled is that, when my dad passed away in 1971 aged just 54, I had nothing to remind me of him. I have just two black and white photos. Now here he is! On video! Dad would have been 103 now. I'm the youngest of his 7 kids and I'm aged 67. I phoned my disabled brother to say what I had found and the pair of us were in tears as we spoke! Thank you so much, Geoff. This is unbelievable!
Bazza, thank YOU for that posting!! Although I moved around the country over my working life, I always went back to the Huddersfield area and stayed in contact with both my parents. I also have lots of photos from those days and I can only imagine what it would have been like to have nothing to remember either of them by. Your story brought a lump to my throat and I really feel chuffed that you now have something more than just memories. If you would like a copy of the video on DVD, please let me know and we will try to find a way to accomplish this. I think, at the moment, replying to this posting would be the only way for us to contact each other but I'll see if there is another way without posting our details publicly. All the very best to you and all your family, thank you so much for your comments - it feels really good to have helped you find this memento. Geoff.
@@geoffmilnes5940 You will never know just how much this has meant to me, to actually see my dad on film! My story is that, as kids in the mid 1950's we were all separated because mum and dad divorced. We were all placed in various children's homes. They got back together for about a year or so after dad moved to Wickford. I was 4 at the time. Then they split up again and we were all put back into kids homes. I was in various homes, including 5 years in a horrible convent, and didn't get my "freedom" until I was 15. That was when I hitch hiked from Coventry to Wickford to live with Dad. I stayed with him for about 18 months until I got itchy feet and wanted to return to Coventry. Anyway, I'm rattling on! All this, including my time in Wickford, is in my autobiography. I needed to put my younger life down in words. Not the best of childhoods! Once again, thank you so much. Oh, I managed to download the video onto my hard drive.
@@tomcoryell Thank you Tom. Amazingly, I found out that my dad had a daughter long after me. She found me via Facebook and now we will be meeting up in May! 58 years later!
I started building Keil Kraft kits back in the '50's and this video brought back a lot of memories. Back in the day when Health and Safety was not even dreamed of; no guards on the machines, no push sticks, smoking despite the obvious fire risks, no extinguishers in site......all now gone forever. Oh how we lived and worked then! Thanks for sharing this!
And not a computer in sight! No outsourcing either, and no posh offices etc etc. Good on you Keil Kraft, the younger generation(s) need to see this, and wonder how it all happened this way and was a national supplier of kits and more. (remember that it was pretty much every town had a model shop, or a section of the hardware store! happy memories for me)
Never expected to see a video of the Keil Kraft factory, what it lacks in quality is more than made up for in its historical content and interest. Many thanks for taking the care to upload it.
Interesting cine film bringing back many happy memories of making aeroplanes in my boyhood. I suspect health and safety would have had a field day had they been around then. I particularly liked how the cameraman hovered over the pretty girl just a bit too long.
I was lucky enough to visit the Wickford factory in about 1976. I was having problems starting my control line hurricane so living only about half an hour away my dad took me there. They were very helpful and sorted the problem. I remember walking through the stores with model kits piled high on racks either side, it was fascinating for a 12 year old and a great video to watch now
A great video. Thank you for preserving this, and sharing it with the world. Keil Kraft also did at least two plastic aircraft kits, and in later years a range of vintage and modern road vehicles in kit form for use on model railway layouts. Thanks to Max from Max's Models for helping to spread the word.
I worked there for a short time in the mid 70's as a school leaver. I remember one of the guys on the sawmills having a huge plaster round his thumb, like a cartoon, where he had pushed it through the blade. There was no safety! in the video one man is wearing a tie. Suicide if that gets caught. All the machines were connected to what was effectively a giant hoover bag in a building at the far end. There was an old guy who looked after it and I remember he had about an inch of dust on him. I had a brief stint on a machine (not shown) which cut sheet into the 1/16" stringers, and got shouted at by Ronnie Keil for having my feet up on it and 'not working fast enough'. He then shoved a sheet of wood into it hard and jammed it up. Exactly why I was taking my time. Interesting memories of a brilliant little factory.
I cut my teeth on Keil Kraft free flight gliders the Caprice was my favourite the last one I built was in 1973 I'm now 61 and have just bought a Caprice to covert to electric RC seeing this film made me wonder if those who worked there ever knew how much joy they brought to budding young model builders like myself.
And 30 years later I learned how to run printing presses that looked very similar. What an amazing look into the past. All those unguarded 12" tablesaws!
I bought several KK kits in the 1960's, all the models flew well. What seems most amazing to me now, is that there was the demand (worldwide) to justify such an evidently large staff at the factory. Ah happy times !
There was very little in the way of automation back then and most of it was done by hand. The method of die cutting balsa (or die crushing as it was known as the cutters wore out!!) shown at 7m 50s on the video, was very time consuming and only done one at a time. Also when you watch the chaps with band saws cutting balsa blocks with no protection whatsoever, it makes me shudder but they did it without qualms because it was "the way we've always done it." Still, as youngsters back then, all we were interested in was building and flying. How they got to us was of little consequence. As you say - Happy Times!!
Thanks for posting this. It is very typical of light industry of that era, in my experience. I had worked round the corner from the factory briefly (early 70's), though had never been inside, and was very conscious of the place as I had previously built a KeilKraft Dolphin towline glider (my only ever model aircraft), which I thought very elegant. I had initially made a mess of carving the nose block, contacted them, and they had kindly sent me free of charge a replacement block. The first flight of that plane was hand thrown in the garden of a house in Camberwell, London, when it promptly disappeared over the wall into the garden of the Convent next door. I had to go and knock on the front door and ask the nuns for it back. They were very nice about it. The next flight was in Gloucester Park, Basildon, Essex, when sadly it crashed to the ground, damaging a wing, because (I now realise) the centre of gravity was too far aft. I repaired the wing but it would never subsequently fly properly. I had at least enjoyed the challenge of building it, though.
Thanks for the upload. As a boy in the 70's Keil Kraft got me into model flying I built no end of model gliders rubber powered and control line before going rc. This upload gave a great insight to me.
My first three model aircraft were Keil Kraft small control line models powered by a .049 engine. thanks for the happy memories Keil Kraft. After too many years away from the hobby I have started to build again in my retirement so much has changed over the years.
Yes. You were lucky, balsa wood, quality rubber, tiny engines, specially prepared glues, dopes, readymade designs, kits. We just had pinewood, bamboo, kite paper, local animal glue and bicycle inner tubes cut by hand into long strands to work with. Amazingly, some of our self-designed contraptions flew well. I’m not sure we had less fun than you folk, but there were many frustrations also. Without theory or training, what we came away with was a fair understanding of flight
Extreme nostalgia! I was crazy about aeromodelling from about 1956 to 1962 and have constructed several Keil Kraft kits. Pity these brands including Frog, Mercury; Mills, Allen Mercury, ED have disappeared. 😅😅😅
Thanks very much for your comments and you echo my sentiments. I too was 'brought up' on Keil Kraft and it still remains one of the most enjoyable times of my life. Some of the Keil Kraft models are still available if you fancy picking up the craft knife again:- www.ebay.es/itm/KeilKraft-Arden-Rubber-Propulsion-Unit-for-Balsa-Wood-Model-Aircraft-up-to-26-/232037747516 Kind regards Geoff Milnes
I still have a little 1cc."ED Bee" motor bought around 1959/60 for a free-flight model built from a plan. The last "Kiel Kraft" model I can remember having built was a little rubber-powered thing, a scale "Messerschmitt 109" back in the '50s.
Back in the day when Britain made stuff....and boys were capable of building these things and learnt by doing so....I loved KK kits and I had a Mercury Magna as my first proper power model...but I have a lasting memory of building a Gloucester Javelin as a boy with stringered fuz...hours cutting out formers...Thanks for the Video...:)
The Mercury Magna was also the first kit that I managed to make fly properly. I have maintained my interest in model aircraft from the 1970s until present day and in 2009 I built a new Mercury Magna from an original kit purchased on ebay. I still fly it to this day! Great model!!
Loving the 80s TV sketch show theme, very Russ Abbot...but anyways, Russell Gardens is seen every time I get the Southminster branch line train into Wickford/London, the line goes behind that old factory. Great to see this. A lot of my relatives were from the Wickford/Shotgate/Battlesbridge area in the 1960s so a great watch thanks
Housekeeping is not what it used to be! Interesting to see what small factory life was like in the 60s, no guarding on machines, no visible dust extraction. Suffice to say we all loved the end product.
Brilliant footage!..I built my first and only KeiKraft plane in 1975 when I was a lad..The seemed to produce so much back then!..I think I'll try and track down the model I did (all hand cut,no laser cuts)..and try see if I can do it again..Thanks for the upload..
It's smashing to see this video. In the late '50's/early '60's there were a number of shops owned by 'Hobbies' and I remember frequenting the one in North Street, Exeter. It of course was full of KK kits, Meccano, Frogs kits etc. etc. When Hobbies closed their shops the chap that was the manager moved to his own smaller shop at the bottom of South Street and continued trading for some years - others on here must know of the Hobbies shops?
Thanks Robert - all the years I've had this video and the number of times I've watched it, I never spotted that one!!! Mind you, when I started work in the early 1960's, everybody smoked almost anywhere and trying to see the screen through the smoke in the cinema was not easy.... Thanks again Robert.
Have built and still have some Keil Kraft kits. I never gave any thought to where they were made until now. This great video reminds me of the wartime factories in England that I have read about.
Yes that is Eddie Keil himself standing very proudly at the factory entrance,his picture often appeard on catalogues with him holding a large model,the workforce seem a dedicated bunch getting on with their respective jobs,a truly fascinating video,thank you for putting this piece of history here .
Thanks for your comments Angel, it's good to know that so many people remember this iconic brand. Even having had this as a VHS tape many years ago and then copied it to DVD, it still brings back many happy memories of my childhood.
With your consent I would like to use this video and provide a link to it for one of my kit model history RUclips videos. I do not monetize my channel, just a labor of love. Cheers, Max of maxsmodels.
Please feel free to link to this video Max. I don't have any form of copyright on it as the video was given to me by a friend, sadly no longer with us, who used to work for KeilKraft.
When I was a wean in the 1960’s there was a shop in East Kilbride called the Garden and Pet Shop. Upstairs on the first floor it was full of fantastic Airfix ,Frog and Keil Kraft kits. I loved that shop and remember buying a Keil Kraft rubber band powered Hawker Hurricane. Had great fun building and flying it. Happy days! I’d hate to be a wean nowadays. The only fun they get is square eyes looking at a computer screen. I had Airfix planes hanging from the bedroom ceiling having dogfights. Great fun.
Neat video. And the award for best soundtrack in a short film goes to.... Pretty serious business all this fun is too! See how serious the workers were? I really like their delivery van. Neat to see the process.
Wow I build many of the small rubber powered kits including Spitfire,Hurricane,Eaglet, moved onto gliders and built Iwo I then a Invaders then a Topper all gliders with great flying results. Moved onto C?L with a Champ and an ED Bee 1cc, was offered a try of a much used Talon with an ED Hunter engine first flight was hairy, second try was OK. So bought a Mk5 ED Racer 2.46 and a KK Firebird great plane on which I learnt loops and eights. Build many Razor Blades, Cleavers, Dongus and many more combat wings. I still have many plans and maybe I might get my plans out and fly again.
People had to do something before TV totally took over! The seeds of the Aeromodelling bug (habit) were set before TV ruined the productive and creative spirit of many!!!
Many thanks for your comment and I'm glad to know there are still people out there watching this 'blast from the past'. In answer to your question, I don't know if KK owned Wen Mac but one answer maybe that Wen Mac supplied the engine for the KK Hurricane, their ready built plastic kit. Unfortunately, I lost contact with my friend who gave me this video originally (Fred was a KK Rep for many years) but if there is anyone out there who knows the answer to this, it would be much appreciated.
"Workplace safety? Bah! That's an unnecessary overhead!" At 4:29 there's a guy pushing wood through a table saw by hand. He uses his left hand to guide the wood past the blade. He is missing the end of his thumb on that hand! I guess they gave him an extra thruppence and let him go home an hour early the day that happened.
Splendid video! Die cutting sheets for the kits is being done on a die cutting press and the tool you can't see would likely have been made in the traditional way with die cutting knife blades set in a plywood base. Process is relatively slow as speed would likely crush the wood as would blunt knife edges. The lighter grades of would would have been very susceptible to crushing too, even with sharp knife cut tools. Machinery being used is as seen in woodworking and printing industries of that era. Big batches and large stocks were typical of the day before the Japanese technique of Just In Time were found beneficial in manufacturing. Machine guarding also reflects the standard of the era, though I was a bit surprised to see no push sticks used on the rotary blade table saws. Like the Japanese of today, factory workers at that time were expected to take much more responsibility for their own safety. Note that Eddie Keil can be seen on the shop floor chatting to his people with his shirt sleeves rolled up!
I wonder what year this was filmed?, looks around late 60s could be early 70s. The old factory building and main entrance still exists and is occupied by a furniture outlet at the moment. Very nostalgic Thanks for sharing.
The Arden Unit has a box with two papers giving instructions. I got the two in Internet but one (that shows the airplane modification) has a part that is not clear. If you know someone that has this instructions or a place where these instructions could be find it would be very good. In England is too much more easy to find the information. I´m trying to find in Brazil but it´s very difficult. Thanks Very Much.
By looking at other pics on the web, I think the chap standing at the front of the works at 0:50 must be Eddie Keil, himself. As you would expect. My boyhood in the 50's and 60's was much enhanced and influenced by this man and the workers at his factory. Thanks to them and thanks for the vid and the memories.
Enjoyed the film thanks.Just building the Fokker D-8 but not from the kit wood.Keil Kraft where fantastic kits sadly let down by the very poor quality of balsa wood.
Thanks for the comment Matt. The music is the same as on the original VHS tape copy and I left it as was because even VHS tape is part of history now!!! As it was originally copied from cine film to VHS professionally, I'm assuming they used copyright free music which can leave a little to be desired.... (commonly known as 'musak' I believe).
Do you mean "Imigrant on site" or "Imigrant in sight". Either way; Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance for ever and a day. We'd live the life we choose We'd fight and never lose For we were young and sure to have our way La la la la
Wow! Wow! Wow! What can I say?! A billion "thank you's" would not be enough! Why? At 10:37 there's my dad! Arthur "Buck" Adams! He was the printer. He worked at KK for years. In fact he lived in a cottage in Russell Gardens that Eddie Keil had built. The cottage was named "Chilton". The reason why I am so thrilled is that, when my dad passed away in 1971 aged just 54, I had nothing to remind me of him. I have just two black and white photos. Now here he is! On video! Dad would have been 103 now. I'm the youngest of his 7 kids and I'm aged 67. I phoned my disabled brother to say what I had found and the pair of us were in tears as we spoke!
Thank you so much, Geoff. This is unbelievable!
Bazza, thank YOU for that posting!! Although I moved around the country over my working life, I always went back to the Huddersfield area and stayed in contact with both my parents. I also have lots of photos from those days and I can only imagine what it would have been like to have nothing to remember either of them by.
Your story brought a lump to my throat and I really feel chuffed that you now have something more than just memories. If you would like a copy of the video on DVD, please let me know and we will try to find a way to accomplish this.
I think, at the moment, replying to this posting would be the only way for us to contact each other but I'll see if there is another way without posting our details publicly.
All the very best to you and all your family, thank you so much for your comments - it feels really good to have helped you find this memento.
Geoff.
@@geoffmilnes5940 You will never know just how much this has meant to me, to actually see my dad on film! My story is that, as kids in the mid 1950's we were all separated because mum and dad divorced. We were all placed in various children's homes. They got back together for about a year or so after dad moved to Wickford. I was 4 at the time. Then they split up again and we were all put back into kids homes. I was in various homes, including 5 years in a horrible convent, and didn't get my "freedom" until I was 15. That was when I hitch hiked from Coventry to Wickford to live with Dad. I stayed with him for about 18 months until I got itchy feet and wanted to return to Coventry.
Anyway, I'm rattling on! All this, including my time in Wickford, is in my autobiography. I needed to put my younger life down in words. Not the best of childhoods!
Once again, thank you so much. Oh, I managed to download the video onto my hard drive.
yes very interesting I have found relatives as well which I have been trying for years
That’s so cool Bazza! Don’t know you, but stories like that really are uplifting to me.
@@tomcoryell Thank you Tom. Amazingly, I found out that my dad had a daughter long after me. She found me via Facebook and now we will be meeting up in May! 58 years later!
I started building Keil Kraft kits back in the '50's and this video brought back a lot of memories. Back in the day when Health and Safety was not even dreamed of; no guards on the machines, no push sticks, smoking despite the obvious fire risks, no extinguishers in site......all now gone forever. Oh how we lived and worked then! Thanks for sharing this!
And not a computer in sight! No outsourcing either, and no posh offices etc etc. Good on you Keil Kraft, the younger generation(s) need to see this, and wonder how it all happened this way and was a national supplier of kits and more. (remember that it was pretty much every town had a model shop, or a section of the hardware store! happy memories for me)
Never expected to see a video of the Keil Kraft factory, what it lacks in quality is more than made up for in its historical content and interest. Many thanks for taking the care to upload it.
Interesting cine film bringing back many happy memories of making aeroplanes in my boyhood. I suspect health and safety would have had a field day had they been around then. I particularly liked how the cameraman hovered over the pretty girl just a bit too long.
I was lucky enough to visit the Wickford factory in about 1976. I was having problems starting my control line hurricane so living only about half an hour away my dad took me there. They were very helpful and sorted the problem. I remember walking through the stores with model kits piled high on racks either side, it was fascinating for a 12 year old and a great video to watch now
A great video. Thank you for preserving this, and sharing it with the world. Keil Kraft also did at least two plastic aircraft kits, and in later years a range of vintage and modern road vehicles in kit form for use on model railway layouts.
Thanks to Max from Max's Models for helping to spread the word.
I worked there for a short time in the mid 70's as a school leaver. I remember one of the guys on the sawmills having a huge plaster round his thumb, like a cartoon, where he had pushed it through the blade. There was no safety! in the video one man is wearing a tie. Suicide if that gets caught. All the machines were connected to what was effectively a giant hoover bag in a building at the far end. There was an old guy who looked after it and I remember he had about an inch of dust on him. I had a brief stint on a machine (not shown) which cut sheet into the 1/16" stringers, and got shouted at by Ronnie Keil for having my feet up on it and 'not working fast enough'. He then shoved a sheet of wood into it hard and jammed it up. Exactly why I was taking my time. Interesting memories of a brilliant little factory.
funny story thanks for the laugh .
I cut my teeth on Keil Kraft free flight gliders the Caprice was my favourite the last one I built was in 1973 I'm now 61 and have just bought a Caprice to covert to electric RC seeing this film made me wonder if those who worked there ever knew how much joy they brought to budding young model builders like myself.
Fantastic! imagine the balsa smell in that factory, excellent video thank you.
And 30 years later I learned how to run printing presses that looked very similar.
What an amazing look into the past. All those unguarded 12" tablesaws!
I bought several KK kits in the 1960's, all the models flew well. What seems most amazing to me now, is that there was the demand (worldwide) to justify such an evidently large staff at the factory. Ah happy times !
There was very little in the way of automation back then and most of it was done by hand. The method of die cutting balsa (or die crushing as it was known as the cutters wore out!!) shown at 7m 50s on the video, was very time consuming and only done one at a time. Also when you watch the chaps with band saws cutting balsa blocks with no protection whatsoever, it makes me shudder but they did it without qualms because it was "the way we've always done it."
Still, as youngsters back then, all we were interested in was building and flying. How they got to us was of little consequence.
As you say - Happy Times!!
Thanks for posting this. It is very typical of light industry of that era, in my experience.
I had worked round the corner from the factory briefly (early 70's), though had never been inside, and was very conscious of the place as I had previously built a KeilKraft Dolphin towline glider (my only ever model aircraft), which I thought very elegant. I had initially made a mess of carving the nose block, contacted them, and they had kindly sent me free of charge a replacement block.
The first flight of that plane was hand thrown in the garden of a house in Camberwell, London, when it promptly disappeared over the wall into the garden of the Convent next door. I had to go and knock on the front door and ask the nuns for it back. They were very nice about it. The next flight was in Gloucester Park, Basildon, Essex, when sadly it crashed to the ground, damaging a wing, because (I now realise) the centre of gravity was too far aft. I repaired the wing but it would never subsequently fly properly. I had at least enjoyed the challenge of building it, though.
Possibly the most fascinating video I’ve ever seen on RUclips, this is what I live for, brilliant!
Thanks for the upload. As a boy in the 70's Keil Kraft got me into model flying I built no end of model gliders rubber powered and control line before going rc. This upload gave a great insight to me.
My first three model aircraft were Keil Kraft small control line models powered by a .049 engine. thanks for the happy memories Keil Kraft. After too many years away from the hobby I have started to build again in my retirement so much has changed over the years.
Yes. You were lucky, balsa wood, quality rubber, tiny engines, specially prepared glues, dopes, readymade designs, kits. We just had pinewood, bamboo, kite paper, local animal glue and bicycle inner tubes cut by hand into long strands to work with. Amazingly, some of our self-designed contraptions flew well. I’m not sure we had less fun than you folk, but there were many frustrations also. Without theory or training, what we came away with was a fair understanding of flight
Extreme nostalgia! I was crazy about aeromodelling from about 1956 to 1962 and have constructed several Keil Kraft kits. Pity these brands including Frog, Mercury; Mills, Allen Mercury, ED have disappeared. 😅😅😅
Thanks very much for your comments and you echo my sentiments. I too was 'brought up' on Keil Kraft and it still remains one of the most enjoyable times of my life.
Some of the Keil Kraft models are still available if you fancy picking up the craft knife again:-
www.ebay.es/itm/KeilKraft-Arden-Rubber-Propulsion-Unit-for-Balsa-Wood-Model-Aircraft-up-to-26-/232037747516
Kind regards
Geoff Milnes
A further link which may be of more help is this one:-
www.vintagemodelcompany.com/keil-kraft.html
I still have a little 1cc."ED Bee" motor bought around 1959/60 for a free-flight model built from a plan. The last "Kiel Kraft" model I can remember having built was a little rubber-powered thing, a scale "Messerschmitt 109" back in the '50s.
Wow, I remember going through the catalogues as a kid, hoping I would get to make a Snipe free flight. Still have a control line Hurricane in its box.
Back in the day when Britain made stuff....and boys were capable of building these things and learnt by doing so....I loved KK kits and I had a Mercury Magna as my first proper power model...but I have a lasting memory of building a Gloucester Javelin as a boy with stringered fuz...hours cutting out formers...Thanks for the Video...:)
The Mercury Magna was also the first kit that I managed to make fly properly. I have maintained my interest in model aircraft from the 1970s until present day and in 2009 I built a new Mercury Magna from an original kit purchased on ebay. I still fly it to this day! Great model!!
I LOVE this vintage vídeos of aeromodelling, the true Spirit of one dream wents reality. Thanks for share!!! 👏👏👏👏👏😉✌️
Thanks for the note and I'm pleased you enjoyed it. Brings back many happy memories for me too and I still watch it occasionally.
Loving the 80s TV sketch show theme, very Russ Abbot...but anyways, Russell Gardens is seen every time I get the Southminster branch line train into Wickford/London, the line goes behind that old factory. Great to see this. A lot of my relatives were from the Wickford/Shotgate/Battlesbridge area in the 1960s so a great watch thanks
What a great look at post WWII Britain! I absolutely love this video!
Housekeeping is not what it used to be! Interesting to see what small factory life was like in the 60s, no guarding on machines, no visible dust extraction. Suffice to say we all loved the end product.
All that balsa wood looked like gold!
Brilliant footage!..I built my first and only KeiKraft plane in 1975 when I was a lad..The seemed to produce so much back then!..I think I'll try and track down the model I did (all hand cut,no laser cuts)..and try see if I can do it again..Thanks for the upload..
It's smashing to see this video. In the late '50's/early '60's there were a number of shops owned by 'Hobbies' and I remember frequenting the one in North Street, Exeter. It of course was full of KK kits, Meccano, Frogs kits etc. etc. When Hobbies closed their shops the chap that was the manager moved to his own smaller shop at the bottom of South Street and continued trading for some years - others on here must know of the Hobbies shops?
Smoking ? With all that balsa about. Happy days with Keil Kraft kits .
Thanks Robert - all the years I've had this video and the number of times I've watched it, I never spotted that one!!! Mind you, when I started work in the early 1960's, everybody smoked almost anywhere and trying to see the screen through the smoke in the cinema was not easy....
Thanks again Robert.
Have built and still have some Keil Kraft kits. I never gave any thought to where they were made until now. This great video reminds me of the wartime factories in England that I have read about.
Yes that is Eddie Keil himself standing very proudly at the factory entrance,his picture often appeard on catalogues with him holding a large model,the workforce seem a dedicated bunch getting on with their respective jobs,a truly fascinating video,thank you for putting this piece of history here .
Thanks for your comments Angel, it's good to know that so many people remember this iconic brand. Even having had this as a VHS tape many years ago and then copied it to DVD, it still brings back many happy memories of my childhood.
hard to imagine an aeromodelling business like that now!
With your consent I would like to use this video and provide a link to it for one of my kit model history RUclips videos. I do not monetize my channel, just a labor of love. Cheers, Max of maxsmodels.
Please feel free to link to this video Max. I don't have any form of copyright on it as the video was given to me by a friend, sadly no longer with us, who used to work for KeilKraft.
@@geoffmilnes5940 thanks
I linked linked. Here is a link to my brief history ruclips.net/video/FwGaoQwDasY/видео.html
When I was a wean in the 1960’s there was a shop in East Kilbride called the Garden and Pet Shop. Upstairs on the first floor it was full of fantastic Airfix ,Frog and Keil Kraft kits. I loved that shop and remember buying a Keil Kraft rubber band powered Hawker Hurricane. Had great fun building and flying it. Happy days! I’d hate to be a wean nowadays. The only fun they get is square eyes looking at a computer screen. I had Airfix planes hanging from the bedroom ceiling having dogfights. Great fun.
well today they have equivalents.. cheap electric models from *CHINA*
Marvellous! This was apparently April 1966...check out the revised prototype Mini Super !
Video looks old but a lot of the processes still work the same way! Thanks.
have 1 KK kit in my stach.....lotta wood and employees no wonder thier kits werent cheap..........neat video
Neat video. And the award for best soundtrack in a short film goes to.... Pretty serious business all this fun is too! See how serious the workers were? I really like their delivery van. Neat to see the process.
Wow I build many of the small rubber powered kits including Spitfire,Hurricane,Eaglet, moved onto gliders and built Iwo I then a Invaders then a Topper all gliders with great flying results. Moved onto C?L with a Champ and an ED Bee 1cc, was offered a try of a much used Talon with an ED Hunter engine first flight was hairy, second try was OK. So bought a Mk5 ED Racer 2.46 and a KK Firebird great plane on which I learnt loops and eights. Build many Razor Blades, Cleavers, Dongus and many more combat wings. I still have many plans and maybe I might get my plans out and fly again.
Fantastic. I was in my teens at this time and busy building KeilKraft kits!
A big thank you to all those who worked for Kiel Kraft models & of course to Eddie Kiel for all those models he manufactured.
Almost like How It's Made. Thanks for the post.
People had to do something before TV totally took over! The seeds of the Aeromodelling bug (habit) were set before TV ruined the productive and creative spirit of many!!!
damn TV has American kids learning how to be a transvestite these days.
I'm a bit confused. Toward the end of the film I see several Wen Mac boxes stacked up there. Was Keil Kraft the parent company of Wen Mac?
Many thanks for your comment and I'm glad to know there are still people out there watching this 'blast from the past'.
In answer to your question, I don't know if KK owned Wen Mac but one answer maybe that Wen Mac supplied the engine for the KK Hurricane, their ready built plastic kit. Unfortunately, I lost contact with my friend who gave me this video originally (Fred was a KK Rep for many years) but if there is anyone out there who knows the answer to this, it would be much appreciated.
What about those of us born in the 1930's?
Excellent video thanks 🙏👍
"Workplace safety? Bah! That's an unnecessary overhead!"
At 4:29 there's a guy pushing wood through a table saw by hand. He uses his left hand to guide the wood past the blade. He is missing the end of his thumb on that hand! I guess they gave him an extra thruppence and let him go home an hour early the day that happened.
Thanks for uploading.
No problem Guy, hope you enjoyed watching.
Brilliant
Just one huge cottage industry really. A bye gone era. And I still have a few kits stashed away.
Splendid video! Die cutting sheets for the kits is being done on a die cutting press and the tool you can't see would likely have been made in the traditional way with die cutting knife blades set in a plywood base. Process is relatively slow as speed would likely crush the wood as would blunt knife edges. The lighter grades of would would have been very susceptible to crushing too, even with sharp knife cut tools.
Machinery being used is as seen in woodworking and printing industries of that era. Big batches and large stocks were typical of the day before the Japanese technique of Just In Time were found beneficial in manufacturing. Machine guarding also reflects the standard of the era, though I was a bit surprised to see no push sticks used on the rotary blade table saws. Like the Japanese of today, factory workers at that time were expected to take much more responsibility for their own safety.
Note that Eddie Keil can be seen on the shop floor chatting to his people with his shirt sleeves rolled up!
I wonder what year this was filmed?, looks around late 60s could be early 70s.
The old factory building and main entrance still exists and is occupied by a furniture outlet at the moment. Very nostalgic
Thanks for sharing.
The Arden Unit has a box with two papers giving instructions. I got the two in Internet but one (that shows the airplane modification) has a part that is not clear. If you know someone that has this instructions or a place where these instructions could be find it would be very good. In England is too much more easy to find the information. I´m trying to find in Brazil but it´s very difficult. Thanks Very Much.
Muted it, then really enjoyed this video.
Thanks for the upload.
I still have some of their kits in the Workshop.....
Let's do it again. Please
By looking at other pics on the web, I think the chap standing at the front of the works at 0:50 must be Eddie Keil, himself. As you would expect.
My boyhood in the 50's and 60's was much enhanced and influenced by this man and the workers at his factory. Thanks to them and thanks for the vid and the memories.
Wonderful!
Balsa wood a fire hazard? Nah! Course not.
Hmm.. I always wondered why that balsa cement had to be bought separately, and wasn't in the box.
Enjoyed the film thanks.Just building the Fokker D-8 but not from the kit wood.Keil Kraft where fantastic kits sadly let down by the very poor quality of balsa wood.
Went to the old factory last year they are selling garden furniture their now wish I had a tour I would have had every kit they made
I remember the Mini Super 60 coming onto the market in the early 60's shown around 12:30 and I really wanted one, but never got one.
Get cutting! ;-) outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=5107
6:57 - the look ...
3.50 ounces and ounces of balsa !
Really enjoyable video. Just wondering did that good looking wee blonde at 7:00 help assemble my gazelle 😊
She's sweet, isn't she? How many of us aeromodellers would dream about being married to a girl like that who made kits...:)
@@HughJarse1968 put a whole new meaning to " get your kit off ".. :-)
Really loved the video but the music didn’t quite go with it .
Thanks for the comment Matt. The music is the same as on the original VHS tape copy and I left it as was because even VHS tape is part of history now!!! As it was originally copied from cine film to VHS professionally, I'm assuming they used copyright free music which can leave a little to be desired.... (commonly known as 'musak' I believe).
Geoff Milnes oh I see Geoff sorry I totally understand now why is on the film
oh my god.... when the UK actually manufactured stuff!!!!... what a time warp! Oh hi *CHINA* !
And not an imigrant in site, those were the days.
Do you mean "Imigrant on site" or "Imigrant in sight".
Either way;
Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance for ever and a day.
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
La la la la
I saw 2 Danes and a German......
Is this one of the worst documentary film ever made? And I love making model planes.
7:48 lol, amateur camera man confirmed
God,what boring work.Like the way all the guys still wore ties.
RADIAN ,, "RADIAN" -- NORVEL .061 BIG MIG , ,= STRONG FAST RADIAN ❤