

About Airplanes & Rockets
Kirt Blattenberger Carpe Diem! (Seize the Day!) Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which all began in Mayo, MD ...
Copyright 1996 - 2026
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Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Plans Service - Airplanes and Rockets

Andrews (AAMCo) Aircraft Models H−Ray Kit

Andrew Aircraft Model Company's H-Ray S-Ray - Airplanes and Rockets

Advertisement for the OS Digital 3-channel radio control system I bought second-hand from a man down the street from where I lived as a teenager. I paid him $100 for it sometime around 1974 or so. That is the equivalent of $532 in 2020 dollars according to the BLS's Inflation Calculator.

The Andrews Aircraft Model Company (AAMCo) produced a radio control airplane, the H−Ray, that was my first successful RC model. A neighborhood man had given me a crashed MiniMaster he wasn't using anymore, but I never was able to get it flying. An advertisement from a 1964 edition of RC Modeler is shown to the left. It includes both the H-Ray (high wing) and the S−Ray (shoulder wing). I'm pretty sure that I put an OS .20 R/C engine in it - probably the only one I had at the time.

My second-hand OS Digital 3-channel radio control system was installed in it, which is why I can still vividly remember running after it with the transmitter held high above my head trying to regain control after it ran out of range. My H-Ray spent a night in a corn field out at the original PGRC (Prince Georges Radio Control) club in along Route 301 in southern Maryland because of it. The range with that OS digital system was about 600 feet under ideal conditions.

After years of watching eBay for an H−Ray kit that would sell within my budgetary range, I finally won an auction. The kit is in excellent condition and appears to include all the material. It is a later version that has the steerable nose gear, which my 1974 H−Ray had. My original kit was purchased at Kay Cee drug store in District Heights, Maryland, where lawyer / aeromodeler John something-or-other ran a hobby shop in one corner of the store. If anyone out there knew John and/or has any photos of his hobby shop, please contact me.

Wingspan = 50", Length = 38", Flying Weight = 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 lbs., Wing Area = 435 sq.in.