French Rubber

pics by KeithAlanK

This is a Coupe deHiver called the Coupe deVille
Coupe deHiver is French for Winter Cup. We all know that
a Coupe deVille is, or was, a top end 2 door Cadillac.

In rubber power competition the king of competition categories is
Wakefield  It's been around since the 1930's or longer, and as a
consequence, is packed with rules and dominated by guys who've
been flying them for decades, or the occasional young aerospace
engineer who still has the ability to innovate after 6-8 years of
college.  Coupe deHiver has been around since the 1950's or so,
and while it has some tight rules of it's own, they still fit on one page.
After going to a few contests, I knew the event I wanted. I bought a
2nd rate kit called Slats and set it on a shelf straightaway.  Not long
after, Blue Ridge Models introduced the Coupe deVille and I was
hooked. A truly great kit for it's day. All the rib sets were milled,
the propellor blades preformed, and all the wood was 1st rate and
appropriate to the task. Another nice feature is that with a couple
quick adjustments it can be loaded with as much rubberas desired
and flown in Unlimited event as well.  I built it immediately during
July-August 1977. I finished the decorations the night before the first
day of my senior year. Too nervous to sleep, I stayed up finishing it
by about 3am. The name and shark mouth are all cut tissue, both
based on my own  sketches. The color on the tail used to be a very
nice royal blue.

I had started collecting all the support equipment back when I bought
the Slat kit, so I was ready. I took it out a few times that fall and it
flew great. A real pleasure to watch. In October I got my own car,
and it and girls, pushed everything else out of the picture. Occasional
flying still took place now and then, but years of steady construction
projects was at an end.
When I moved back to Texas in 1981. the Coupe deVille made the
trip, but the box full of ground support equipment and supplies didn't.
By then I was a mad biker, and flying was even farther from my mind.
I thought about getting the ground suport together but it didn't happen
soon enough. By 1990 the tissue covering was already  too old and
brittle. It's made 6 moves over the years, and hung from a lot of walls
and ceilings, but this is the end of the line.  Now that it's finally digitized,
it's headed to a viking funeral.
Like most rockets, the build time exceeded the total airtime. This model
may have as many as 35 hours construction time, another 15 hours for
the ground support.  At most, the Coupe deVille probably amassed no
more than 20 minutes in the air.  20 minutes of pure magic to watch
though.