EK Logictrol

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stuart mackay
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EK Logictrol

Post by stuart mackay »

My propensity for open gimbal radios has led me off in the direction of early Logictrol and thought I would share some pics of some early EK radios with you.
The open gimbal stick units look identical to the ones on my F&M Digital and would appreciate if anyone can shed some light on the origins of the stick units, I wonder if they could be of Pro-Line origin, but think these radios pre-date Pro_line?

There is also a closed gimbal Logictrol pictured, which I think to be later than the open gimbal units, but would appreciate if anyone can shed some light on them and any history of EK?
Closed Gimbal Logictrol 5
Closed Gimbal Logictrol 5
Open Gimbal 5
Open Gimbal 5
Open Gimbal 7
Open Gimbal 7
EK 5 and F&M 5
EK 5 and F&M 5
F&M 5
F&M 5
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Mike_K
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Location: Hertfordshire

Re: EK Logictrol

Post by Mike_K »

Stuart, they're all lovely sets, been collecting again?!

It was quite common in the day for manufacturers to buy components off each other, especially joysticks and servo mechanics, but I've no idea who the manufacturer of them was. If you look on the R/C Hall of Fame website, the very first Kraft digital had near-identical joysticks as well and that pre-dates EK Logitrol and F&M digital sets I think.

http://www.radiocontrolhalloffame.org/E ... -1.jpg.jpg

We really need somebody like Jay Mendoza to comment as was working in the R/C industry in the USA at the time.

Cheers Mike
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Wayne_H
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Re: EK Logictrol

Post by Wayne_H »

Yes, the RC Hall of Fame is a great resource! I just (re)read the EK story
http://www.rchalloffame.org/Exhibits/Ex ... index.html

There's lots of interesting info there, especially for me, as the Australian importers & distributors of EK products were in the same Club as me - The Macquarie Aircraft Radio Signallers, known locally as the Men from MARS.

Anyway, some of the dates in the Hall of Fame article don't quiet line up with my recollection of the EK timeline in Australia. For example, closed gimbal Champion sets were readily available in Oz in early 1974 - That's when I bought mine :D

I have a vague recollection of seeing an open gimbal tx in late 73 or early 74 (at the latest). Regardless, the sets you have Stuart are superb :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ;)
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
Pchristy
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Re: EK Logictrol

Post by Pchristy »

Stuart,

That F&M set looks like a fairly late model. The very first ones had open gimbals, but then they moved to Bonner sticks. IIRC, they were still using Bonner sticks at the time of the Magnavac servo disaster - indeed, those servos bore a very strong resemblance to the Bonners that F&M had used previously.

After the Magnavac, F&M virtually disappeared, but I believe they struggled on in the States for a while - perhaps under new ownership? History is vague at this point, but certainly they were no longer the force they had been previously,

The original open-gimbal sets and the Bonner ones used almost identical cases, whereas yours look more modern. This is what makes me think yours are later models.

There's a few images of early F&Ms here on the RC Hall Of Fame: http://www.rchalloffame.org/Manufacture ... ge132.html

Strangely, and in contrast to all the other "Big Names", there is very little history of F&M there!

--
Pete
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Mike_K
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Re: EK Logictrol

Post by Mike_K »

Stuart/Pete. The only history I've seen for CG/F&M was a post on another forum by Jay Mendoza where you get a bit of an insight to the early US proportional scene.

https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/golden ... story.html

Cheers

Mike
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stuart mackay
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Re: EK Logictrol

Post by stuart mackay »

Mike_K wrote: 24 Jan 2021, 19:31 Stuart/Pete. The only history I've seen for CG/F&M was a post on another forum by Jay Mendoza where you get a bit of an insight to the early US proportional scene.

https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/golden ... story.html

Cheers

Mike
What a great thread, very interesting info about the pioneering days of prop in the sixties!
Interestingly, there was a post from a guy in Belfast who said that he had flown with an RCS Tetraplex!

Thanks Mike for the find!
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stuart mackay
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Re: EK Logictrol

Post by stuart mackay »

stuart mackay wrote: 24 Jan 2021, 20:16
Mike_K wrote: 24 Jan 2021, 19:31 Stuart/Pete. The only history I've seen for CG/F&M was a post on another forum by Jay Mendoza where you get a bit of an insight to the early US proportional scene.

https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/golden ... story.html

Cheers

Mike
What a great thread, very interesting info about the pioneering days of prop in the sixties!
Interestingly, there was a post from a guy in London called Alan who said that he had flown with an RCS Tetraplex! Is he part of our Forum I wonder?

Thanks Mike for the find!
stormer254
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Joined: 03 Mar 2018, 10:08

Re: EK Logictrol

Post by stormer254 »

EK LOGICTROL.JPG
Hi Stuart, this might be of interest, but I have an EK LOGICTROL set converted to 2.4 with an XTREME Power systems internal conversion, single stick of course! I bought a couple of single stick radios from the USA before finding my Futaba conversion which I mainly fly with now, its hard to remember now not having a Tx with memory and receivers costing more than a new car! ;)
jmendoza
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F&M Quasar

Post by jmendoza »

The joysticks that are closed look a lot like the early Orbit/Micro-Avionics sticks. Kraft did use these sticks early on but eventually made their own round bezel, chromed plastic closed gimbal stick which they became famous for. For a period of time, Logictrol purchased Orbit PS-4 servos from Orbit in red cases, and possibly the joysticks as well. Orbit stamped cases for many of the R/C manufacturers and supplied mechanics such as servos and joysticks. This was in keeping with the tradition of Bonner, who up until 1968 was supplying almost the entire R/C endustry with their Digimite joysticks, and a modified version of their famous Transmite set up with a feedback pot for proportional. The first EK Logictrols, F&M Digital 5 and the Orbit prototypes all used modified special versions of the Bonner Transmite.

EK, like Kraft, eventually made their own servo mechanics and sticks.

The early open gimbal mechanisms in the EK 5 & 7, and the F&M Quasar pictured above, along with the early gold anodized Krafts with red stick shafts all used identical brackets for the joystick assembly and scissor type springs. These were virtually identical to the earlier Space Control gimbal brackets, and the later Analog and early digital Orbit joystics so it very likely Bob Dunham of Orbit supplied these too.

As was mentioned in a post above, back in the day, the larger R/C manufacturers supplied the mechanics to smaller manufacturers. This helped offset the development and tooling costs involved in making these parts. It also amounted to a very significant amount of profit in selling and fabricating essential mechanical components to other manufacturers. The progression of this tradition went something like this:

1950s-1969 Bonner supplied sticks and servo mechanics
1966-1975 Orbit supplied sticks, servos and cases
1968-1982 Kraft supplies servos, cases and joysticks

As you can see, there was some overlap. And the people who did the mold making and machining moved around as well: Dick Rahlings, Joe Martin, and Chuck Hays all worked at Orbit before moving to Kraft.

BTW, that F&M Quasar was the companies last offering, it was around late 1970 if I recall correctly and came as a kit. Very rare indeed, even here in the USA where they were made.

Jay Mendoza
Tobe
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Re: EK Logictrol

Post by Tobe »

...and now I can supply cases, sticks & servos!
Cheers,

Tobe
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