Going over this opened kit that I have had for 5-6 years now to scan reminds me of the first of these I ever built.

Back around Christmas-time of 1978, a younger neighbor boy across the street who was special needs because of nearly complete deafness, got the Estes X-Wing starter set for Christmas that year. Chris and his older brother were a number of years younger than I; I was a junior in high school at the time and they kind of looked at me as an older brother. They lived with and were raised by their grandparents at the time, as their parents were divorced. Their dad was a nice guy, but was a musician and guitarist for James Brown (James was an Augusta native) and just was not around much.

Anyway, Chris was thrilled to get the X Wing, but building it was beyond his skills. The grandmother asked if I would build it for him and help him fly it when it was completed. I readily volunteered and built it over the remainder of the Christmas holidays that year. Sometime in January, the grandmother drove us all over to my current flying field at the time and we flew the X wing. He loved it and we all had a good time that day.

A couple years later, in the fall of 1980, Estes would sell off their existing Star Wars kits and such at bargain prices. Even though “The Empire Strikes Back” had been released just that summer, I guess their license to produce Star Wars products had expired. I recall I got that same X Wing Starter Set and the Maxi X Wing for super-duper cheap.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970