Many memories there, TheChitterneFlyer! . Having bought many KeilKraft kits, at around two shillings and sixpence and discovered that they never included sufficient balsa cement in that tiny yellow tube, that there was no where near enough tissue paper provided or rubber elastic and no rubber lubrication, that no tissue paste was provided , nor dope, either clear or coloured, I became determined to do it properly, full on, for once. I worked weekends on a local farm and earned one shilling and three pence an hour so, in no time at all, I had the funds to go flat out and build a proper flying model with everything it said on the plan.
I bought the Gloster Javelin and spent hours making it, used both clear and coloured dope, as recommended! I now had a Jetex 50 and fuel and fuse!!! Came the great day I fired up and launched from my parents bedroom window, it went straight up into a stall and started falling, about now the protective paper used above the engine burst into flame, (Asbestos paper, as recommended, simply not obtainable). Shortly after that the whole thing went down in a ball but the engine survived.
I worked it out later that I had lost seven shillings and sixpence, which in 1955 was a lot of money!