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 The October 1950 Air Trails magazine
showcases
modelers' innovations, including H.G. Oliver's Plexiglas skids for speed models
and Don Nelson's booster battery setup. Ray Biernacki suggests keeping brushes soft
with thinner fumes, while Richard Larson offers a footswitch for bench testing.
Ted Jones improves dethermalizer safety, and Charles Francis simplifies its design.
Willard Hafler's flying wing excels in speed and sport flying, and Leon Shulman
repurposes a crankcase recess as a fuel tank. The magazine encourages readers to
submit their own ideas, paying $2 per accepted sketch. These practical, cost-saving
solutions highlight the creativity of mid-century model aviation enthusiasts, blending
engineering ingenuity with accessible materials - a snapshot of hobbyist innovation
in postwar America...
 "IEEE Spectrum interviewed Bertrand Piccard
at a pivotal moment in the hydrogen-powered aircraft project, with the plane, called
Climate Impulse,
about 40 percent built. Piccard spoke about the contributions of his corporate sponsors,
including Airbus, to the Climate Impulse project and about why he's confident that
hydrogen will eventually succeed as an aviation fuel. He'll fly around the world
in a hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft. Few explorers have reached the heights, literally
and figuratively, that Bertrand Piccard has. He is the quintessential modern explorer,
for whom every big mission has a purpose, which generally boils down to environmental
and climate-change awareness. In 1999, he was the first person to circumnavigate..."
 Amazingly, even during the Cold War years
it was not uncommon to see aircraft modelers from the "Iron Curtain"
countries participating in international contests. Even Commies like flying model
airplanes. Because their societies and politics were so closed and guarded, getting
information about their modeling supplies was darn near impossible except during
events where inspection could be made. Being a generally friendly bunch of guys,
the modelers would share their designs with the Free World, and vice versa. Then,
in subsequent years the Commies would show up with equipment that was exact replicas
of ours - copyrights and trademarks held no legal weight behind the Iron Curtain.
Truth be know, most or all of the participants were probably KGB agents (or other
Commie country equivalents) engaging...
 While talking to a lady working one of the
tables at the 2016 Brodak Fly-In (July 14, 2016), she happened to mention that the
Brodak Manufacturing &
Distribution operations plant is located about a mile away, right behind Brodak's
Hobby Shop in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. I made sure to stop by after first visiting
the hobby shop. Brodak, unarguably the largest seller of control line models and
flying supplies, has the advantage of being its own manufacturer for most of its
products. Because of that, they are able to sell at the lowest prices possible for
a proprietary line of goods. Control line model airplane kits, nuts and bolts and
washers and other assembly hardware, flying lines and handles, landing gear, nitro
fuel, dope, thinner, adjustable line leadouts, balsa, plywood...
 The
1961 AMA Nationals (NATS) showcased American excellence in model aviation as
Joe Bilgri, William Bigge, and Carl Redlin dominated the World Indoor Championships
in England, with Bilgri's record 37-minute flight securing individual honors. The
event featured engineering marvels like Ken Spitulski's scratch-built radio-controlled
freighter and Paul Williams' Twin Ringmaster, a dual-engine stunt plane. Pan-American
Airways concluded its 14-year sponsorship of payload competitions, marking the end
of an era. Veteran modelers like Carl Goldberg rubbed shoulders with rising talents,
while unique designs such as Doug Joyce's canard-style "Lightning" demonstrated
the hobby's creative spirit. The competition also included lighter moments like
the Miss Model Aviation pageant and Testor's best-finish award...
 The AirplanesAndRockets.com website
exists entirely on the support of its visitors by way of a small percentage earned
with your
Amazon.com purchases, which typically works out
to less than $10 per month. That barley covers the domain registration and secure
server fees for AirplanesAndRockets.com. If you plan to buy items via
Amazon.com, please click on this link to begin
your shopping session from here so that I get credit for it. Doing so does not cost
you anything extra. Thank you for your support.
 Not being able to hold off any longer, I
finally began working on a scratch-built version of the
Airtronics Aquila. I had the good
folks at Staples enlarge the plans to 105% to push the wingspan just over 100" (~104")
so it will be my biggest sailplane ever - yeah, I know, lame. By scaling up so slightly
most of the structural components like the spars, balsa and plywood, etc., will
be able to stay per the original without risking overstressing. However, since this
Aquila will sport a brushless motor in the nose (sacrilegious?), I am beefing up
some of the areas and using harder balsa in places I might not have otherwise. Since
I do not have easy (pronounced "affordable") access to the large pieces of 1/8"
LitePly...
 "Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union (USSR),
the spacecraft known as
Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never
made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a rocket malfunction. Much
of the spacecraft came tumbling back to Earth within a decade of the failed launch.
The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed its uncontrolled reentry,
based on analysis and no-shows of the spacecraft on subsequent orbits. The ESA's
space debris office also indicated that the spacecraft had reentered after it failed
to appear over a German radar station. It was not immediately known..."
 Carl
Kohler strikes again with this 1959 Popular Electronics magazine techno-story
entitled, "My Guided Missile." His alter ego, self-proclaimed "genius-type engineer"
protoself faces off against an exasperated wife over his latest ambitious creation
- the
Kohler Komet homemade guided missile. Undeterred by his wife's concerns about
past radio-control mishaps, he takes the rocket to Bonneville Flats for testing,
assuring her of its safety features, including a parachute recovery system. However,
disaster strikes when the launch startles him, causing him to crush the transmitter.
The missile spirals out of control, narrowly missing the group before obliterating
a police car in a spectacular crash...
 This
1942 Life magazine article profiles a
B-17E Flying Fortress bomber and its nine-man crew, detailing their roles in
America's early WWII air campaign against Japan. The bomber, part of the 342nd Bombardment
Squadron, operates as a self-contained "task force," capable of delivering devastating
strikes like Colin Kelly’s sinking of the battleship Haruna. The crew - four officers
(pilot, copilot, navigator, bombardier) and five enlisted gunners - undergo six
weeks of operational training at MacDill Field to forge teamwork essential for survival.
The B-17E's firepower includes eight .50-caliber machine guns manned by the enlisted
crew...
 This May 1954 Model Airplane News
magazine ad for Jim Walker's A-J Aircraft Co. promoted the rugged
"Firebaby" control-line
model, emphasizing its durability while acknowledging that crashes happen. The
ad reassured buyers that spare parts were readily available through dealers, ensuring
quick repairs. The Firebaby was offered in single-wing or biplane configurations,
with or without an engine, priced as low as $2.50 (without engine) or $7.85 (with
engine). Jim Walker, a pioneering figure in model aviation, revolutionized the hobby
with mass-produced, ready-to-fly (RTF) models. His designs, like the Firebaby, made
control-line flying accessible to beginners. Walker’s company, A-J Aircraft, claimed
to be the "World’s Largest Manufacturer of Ready-to-Fly Model Aircraft" at the time.
Later, Cox Models surpassed A-J, becoming the dominant RTF...
 "How
to Design and Build Flying Models" might have been the first book I ever read
on the title's subject. I probably checked it out of the Annapolis Public Library
sometime in the late 1960s. Somehow, I still have it (I hate to think what the overdue
book fee is for it by now). After all the intervening years, the one passage from
the book that sticks with me is a description of what it would be like to have a
twin engined World War II control line model with home-built retractable landing
gear. I remember laying in bed and seeing myself flying that imaginary model - corny,
but true. At around 10 years old with my only actual control line flying experience
being with a Cox PT-19 Trainer, it could only be a dream. Tools, ability, material,
and money were not there. What little I earned from a paper route was divided amongst...
 This
1942 issue of Life magazine reported on the first 1,000 Japanese volunteers
arrived at Manzanar, a government "reception center" in California's Owens Valley,
to prepare for the
forced relocation of 112,000 Japanese residents from the West Coast. Though
most were U.S. citizens, they were treated as potential enemies. The Army promised
humane conditions - self-governance, paid labor ($54-$94/month), and agricultural
development - but Manzanar remained a guarded concentration camp. Internees, limited
to what they could carry, were housed in barracks with minimal furnishings. Despite
scenic surroundings, including views of Mt. Whitney, the camp was stark, with
unfinished sewers and communal meals. Some expressed loyalty, even proposing wartime
factory work...
 "A team of cyber-systems researchers, engineers,
optical specialists and roboticists at Zhejiang University, in China, has developed
a navigation system for quadcopter drones that gives them the ability to carry out
precise flight maneuvers autonomously. As reported in the journal Science Robotics,
the group developed a multi-pronged system that allows quadcopter drones to carry
out complex aerobatic maneuvers autonomously, in a safe manner, both indoors and
outdoors. It would be advantageous if drones were able to carry out tasks autonomously
without human intervention. It would allow for flying..."
 At
Tuskegee, Alabama, March 7, Colonel Frederick V. H. Kimble, U. S. A., pinned wings
on the blouses of five young Negro lieutenants, members of the first
graduating class of the Army's first Negro air school. Since last July they
had undergone all the primary and advanced training to which white Army cadets at
Randolph and Kelly fields are subject. Now they are charter members of the Air Force's
99th (all Negro) Pursuit Squadron, established last summer at a $2,000,000 airdrome
near Alabama's famed Tuskegee Institute and now developing into one of the Army's
biggest training bases...
 "Claimed
to be a world first, the demonstration took place at Swinhay House. A McMurtry Spéirling
PURE Validation Prototype 1 (VP1) was driven on to a custom-built platform which
then rotated 180 degrees to invert the stationary vehicle. Relying on the huge 'Downforce
on Demand' created by twin 23,000 RPM fans on the car's undercarriage, the Spéirling
remained firmly attached to the platform and was driven a few feet forward before
the rig rotated it back to ground. 'This demonstration was an exciting proof-of-concept
using a small purpose-built rig, but is perhaps just the beginning of what's possible.
With a longer inverted track or a suitable tunnel, we may be able to drive..."
 Balsa wood was a special thing to me as
a kid. To me, it represented the essence of model airplanes and model rockets. At
the time - the 1960s and 70s - plastic and foam as model components were considered
a sign of cheapness, low quality, amateurishness. It was like having "Made in Japan"
stamped on it. Now, of course, it's a different world where Japan is renowned for
some of the highest quality electronics and cars and the plastic and foam ARFs represent
some of the highest-performing aircraft at the flying field. I have owned a few
of those foamies, but still, at least for my tastes, nothing beats the look, feel
and aroma of balsa. Somehow the tell-tale surface texture of foam, even with a nice
paint job, ruins the authenticity of an otherwise beautifully factory-finished scale
F4-U Corsair or P-38 Lightning. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Sig Manufacturing
was...
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 Each
autumn I used to anxiously await the appearance of the newest edition of
The Old Farmer's Almanac on the store shelf, and such was the case with this
1981 issue. It is not that I was/am an avid farmer, just that I enjoy reading the
anecdotes, tales, and interesting historical tidbits included amongst the pages
along with tables of high and low tides, moon and sun rising and setting times,
astronomical events, and weather patterns expected for the year that lay ahead.
Most of all, I liked working the puzzles and riddles. Over the years the difficulty
levels gradually got lower and lower (aka dumbed down), to the point where for the
last decade or so I have not even bothered buying the OFA. Now it is full of numbnut
stuff...
 Post World War II was a big time for
model building and operating. Veterans and their families helped relieve the stress
and anxieties of the era with both scale and original design
model boats, cars, trains,
submarines, motorcycles helicopters, airplanes, tanks, even oddities like bicycles,
farm equipment, carnival layouts, animals, and historic buildings (of which
many of those appeared in model train layouts). The level of artistry and craftsmanship
was impressive, particularly considering the sparsity of pre-made miniature accoutrements
like hardware fittings, mechanisms for operating control surfaces and mechanisms,
and even appropriate finishes. Radio control was in its infancy, being largely the
realm of modelers with knowledge...
 These
model aviation themed comics appeared in the September and December
1962 issues of American Modeler magazine. I am scanning new model aviation
comics as they become available - and as time permits. If you have editions of any
of these old magazines and would either scan the comics and e-mails them to me,
or perhaps send me the magazine (I'll pay shipping), I'll be glad to post them ...
 Roughly fifty years after my first failed
attempt at building a 1/4th−scale
Visible V−8
Engine kit, I decided to buy another and try again. It is amazing that the kit
is still produced (by Revell now, not the original by Renwal), especially given
that very few of the old V-8s - the ones with points and condenser ignition, mechanical
carburetor, belt-driven cooling fan, etc. - are running anymore. Many, unfortunately,
were destroyed as part of the heinous Cash for Clunkers program in 2009 that served
primarily to remove from service classic cars and trucks from U.S. manufactures
...but I digress. If memory serves me properly, back in the era by the time I had
all the moving parts assembled and installed, none of them moved anymore ...
 Re-timing, cleaning up (air and fuel flow
passages), freeing up (sliding friction), lightening and balancing (removing unnecessary
material), and breaking in (initial running with rich fuel mixture while interfacing
metal parts fit themselves to each other) are all part of the effort necessary to
create winning engines for model racing events. This 1962 American Modeler
magazine article predates Schnuerle porting (in model engines), ABC (aluminum, brass,
chromium) cylinder liners, and modern metal alloys, but still the concepts are applicable
to today's engines. It purpose is to instruct on proper
engine break-in so that
it will have a long lifespan. Wankel lovers will appreciate the homemade engine
shown...
 Website visitor Steve S. asked for a scan
of Phil Kraft's Dragon-Fli
pattern plane. It appeared in the January 1971 American Aircraft Modeler magazine
on page 19. Precision / advanced aerobatics airplanes have undergone a significant
transmogrification from somewhat boxy outlines with only slightly larger than normal
control surfaces and retractable, tricycle gear, to curvaceous tail draggers with
fixed gear. Programmable radio with multiple throw rates and control mixing have
permitted a lot of freedom in the configuration of the entire aircraft...
 The
Prop-Rod car
was one of the earliest models produced by L.M. Cox Manufacturing. For many years
the models went by the trade name of Thimble Drome, but later were know simply as
Cox Models. It was featured in magazine advertisements as early as 1961 when it
appeared in American Modeler. The Prop-Rod came with a Babe Bee .049 engine mounted
with its cylinder inverted, which could make starting it difficult since fuel could
pool in the glow head. As with airplanes having inverted cylinders, starting it
was often done by holding the model upside down. It was designed to run either on
a tether stretched along a sidewalk, on a tether mounted in the center of a circle...
 Can you imagine what a sweet sound it must
be with four Cox .049 engines running at the same time on the same airplane? Keith
Laumer and John Simmance didn't have to wonder once they teamed up to design, build,
and fly this 45" wingspan, control line
B-17
Flying Fortress. As if that wasn't enough, they added a custom electrical retractable
landing gear (including the tail wheel), navigation lights, throttles on all four
engines, and flaps! An 800:1 reduction gear box was coupled with a 3 volt motor
to drive the retract mechanism, flaps, throttles, and light switches. A third control
line and a Roberts 3-line bellcrank controlled everything. Operation of the retracts
is a bit dicey since they are triggered to go up at full throttle, then go back
down at low throttle. That means the pilot has to be careful not to command full
throttle while the model is on the ground or the landing gear will fold up on him.
I would not have wanted the task of trying to get all four Babe Bee .049 engines
running at the same time. Today we have commercially available electric starters
for the small engines, but in 1963 when this article appeared in American Modeler
magazine, it was either use the spring starter on the engine or flip it by hand...
 While I never had the pleasure of owning
an AAMCo Lou Andrews
Aeromaster Too
biplane, it was one of the many kits I though someday I would build. After 61 years
of existence, there still is no Aeromaster Too kit in my collection, and at this
point likely never will be. The Aeromaster Too was a four-channel ("full-house"
as it was known back in the day) aerobatic biplane with a 48" wingspan for .45 to
.61 in3 displacement glow fuel engines. It used balsa, plywood, and hardwood construction
along with music wire components for the landing gear and cabane struts. The photos
presented here were downloaded from multiple Aeromaster Too kits listed on eBay.
They typically sell in the $125 to $200 price range, which is very comparable to
what a new kit of similar size and complexity would sell for today...
 Peck-Polymers has been around for as long
as I can remember, which was in the late 1960s to early 1970s, when I would have
bought my first aeromodeling magazine (we relied on magazines back then for information
since Al Gore had not yet invented the Internet). In fact, Peck-Polymers was founded
in 1971 by engineer and free-flighter Bob Peck. According to the "About" page on
their website, Bob designed many of the models in the original Peck product line.
He and his wife Sandy we soon kitting designs by Bill Hannan, Bill Warner, Dick
Baxter and many others. Peck-Polymers has also long been at the forefront of design
and engineering of the many small parts that are so critical to free flight rubber
airplanes, such as the bearings and prop shafts. Bob passed away in 1991, and his
wife Sandy kept the company going until late 2007 when she sold it to Tim Goldstein
of A2Z Corp. (now defunct) Tim created the laser-cut kits. In January of 2015, Chuck
Imbergamo of Wind-It-Up Enterprises took ownership of the company and thankfully
is committed to carrying on the tradition of producing Peck-Polymer kits and accessories...
 I was surprised when I saw the byline of
Douglas Rolfe for this "Renaissance
of the 'Home Built' Airplane" article in a 1961 issue of American Modeler magazine
in the table of contents. The title kind of implies it is an article discussing
the past and present of homebuilt airplanes, but actually it is a collection of
line drawings of various homebuilts, with a short narrative. The format fits with
Mr. Rolfe's usual contributions with his Auto Progress and Air Progress features.
One of the things he points out, which I didn't know, is that in the early 1930's
the CAA (predecessor to the FAA) regulated home builders out of the air by imposing
difficult to comply with rules. If history is any indicator, it was probably lobbyists
hired by aircraft manufacturers paying off politicians and bureaucrats to make life
hard on homebuilders. Fortunately, people like EAA founder Paul Poberenzny helped
reform the system to facilitate a rebirth of homebuilders...
 Those of us fortunate (or unfortunate, depending
on your point of view) to have been in the model airplane realm back in the 1960s
and 1970s (and earlier) are very familiar with Maxey Hester and his award-winning
models. Mr. Hester designed many of the fine scale models sold (some still) by Sig
Manufacturing of Montezuma, Iowa. In fact, if you don't know, Maxey later married
Hazel Sigafoose after her first husband and company co-founder (Glen) died (during
an aerobatic performance). This
P−63
Kingcobra was designed for "multi" radio (what we refer today as 4 or 5 channels)
and a K&B .45 engine. The wingspan is about 64".
 Genius takes on many forms, not the least
of which is the ability to concoct and compose an [almost] believable a story describing
in the utmost detail the technical workings of a complex mechanical gadget. Items
such as a mizule wrench, meta-phasic shielding, blinker fluid, a left-handed screwdriver,
and - one of my favorites - the muffler bearing, have been heard in comic routines...
er... routinely. No matter how many times you hear them you always laugh again.
Some are actually a portmanteau and just sound funny while others are completely
made up. This
Digital Decabulator article that appeared in a 1966 issue of
R/C Modeler magazine is amazing; it pegs the B.S. detector from beginning
to end ...
 Walter A. Musciano is a name familiar to
most people reading model airplane magazines anytime from the 1940s through about
the 1970s. He was prolific model designer and artist / draftsman. His detailed
drawings of full scale aircraft are deemed to be amongst the best. This
Cub Controller
is a 1/2A job sporting a 19" wingspan. It uses both a built-up fuselage and wing,
so building requires a tad more work than the typical profile fuselage and sheet
wing often found on models of this size. The effort pays off, though, in a much
nicer looking craft. Mr. Musciano intended the Cub Controller to be a beginner
level project for building and flying, but having a model or two under your belt
prior to this would definitely be an advantage. If anyone builds a Cub Controller
today, he would probably use electric power rather than the glow fuel Cub .049 or
Cox .049 engine. You just can't beat the scream of an old fashioned 1/2A engine,
but the ease of operation and no messy oil to clean off afterward is definitely
nice...
 Website visitor Bob G. wrote to request
help with identifying a Cox .020-powered free flight model that he remembered seeing
in an old edition of American Aircraft Modeler modeler magazine. He couldn't
recall the name for sure, but gave a good enough description and a guess at the
approximate timeframe that I was able to find it for him - the "Mini−ROD." His completed
Mini−ROD is shown to the left. The finish has not yet been applied. You can see
where the wing panels are joined temporarily with masking tape. The horizontal stabilizer
is in its dethermalizer position. Wing and stabilizers are sheet balsa with airfoil-forming
ribs underneath. A Cox .020 engine will power the Mini−Rod. Bob is planning on building
a lot of the Tenderfoot series of models that appeared monthly back in the era...
 As with most careers in technology fields,
many of the most successful and imaginative people engaged in some lesser form of
the craft as a hobby in their younger years. Burt Rutan, famous for his canard airplane
designs and as founder of Scaled Composites with its SpaceShipOne suborbital craft,
is a very familiar example of that.
Roy Marquardt, a Caltech graduate who initially worked for Northrop Corporation,
is not quite as well-known; however, his aerospace company, Marquardt Aircraft Company,
was widely regarded for its founder's "outside-the-box" thinking with his unique
jet-powered designs. The Whirlijet shown in this 1949 issue of Air Trails magazine
was likely the motivation for the JETicopter Jetex engine powered model distribute
in the early 1950s by American Telasco. Marquardt's ramjets typically had no moving
parts except for the fuel pump, and could run on low octane gasoline...
 Website visitor Mark Radcliff (yes, THE
Mark Radcliff, of 75-77-79-81 USA F3a RC Aerobatic Team fame, and until recently,
VP of that AMA's District III) wrote to request that I scan the article for
Steve Wooley's control
line Argus, which, appeared in the August 1961 American Modeler magazine. The
Argus was the star of the 1960 world championships in Hungary. Note the unique wing
construction where rather than using full ribs, upper and lower outlines are used
that sit over and under the beefy solid wing spar. The entire article is very short...
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