Written & Submitted by RAL (03/2003); Transcribed & Edited by SS (03/2003), Reformatted by JS (10/2009)
Career
- Won seventh place with a Comet sailplane at the 1948 AMA Nationals
- Is an AMA leader member and contest director
- Served as a Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) district vice president
- Was the contest manager for the 2002 SAM Champs
- Ran a hobby shop in Donnelsville, Ohio, for 23 years
I began modeling around 1935 when I was 6-years-old. I started with those old Strombecker solid models. You couldn’t make very many mistakes with those!
I went from solid models to rubber-powered 10-cent kits and had a terrible time until someone told me you used a razor blade to cut out the parts instead of scissors. If I remember correctly, the first model I have to fly was a Staggerwing Beech.
I joined the Howie Wing Flying Club sometime in the 1930s and saved up Kellogg’s Cornflakes box tops to send for a Quaker Flash kit. This was my first experience with enginepowered models, and, I must admit, I never got it finished.
I think the first gas model I was able to fly was a Scientific Flagship powered with a Brown D engine. I
Bob (left) talking with former AMA president, Don Lowe, at the 1999 saved up $10 and the hobby AMA Nationals. shop owner let me take the
engine home and pay him the balance of $2.50 later. From there I eventually moved up to a Comet sailplane with a McCoy 49 engine and won seventh place at the 1948 Nationals (Nats) in Olathe, Kansas.
Several years of Free Flight contest followed without too much success in the winner’s circle. I then decided to try U-Control. This was back when the popular stunt model was the Trixter Barnstormer and the Ringmaster was the combat model of choice. How things have changed! From there I got into Radio Control (RC) using a single-channel receiver designed by Jack Port in a Berkeley Brigadier powered by a Delong 30.
I eventually joined the Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) movement and finally built my Quaker Flash with RC assist. I have almost exclusively built Old-Timer models ever since. I flew RC assist Old-Timers for several years and am now enjoying Free Flight rubber models. I am a leader member and contest director in the AMA, a past SAM district vice president and am a member of the Flying Aces Club. I belong to several local model clubs and SAM organizations. I have organized various model contests, both Free Flight and RC Old-Timers and was the contest manager for the 2002 SAM Champs.
I ran a hobby shop for 23 years in Donnelsville, Ohio.
I have thoroughly enjoyed building and flying model airplanes for more than 65 years. (signed) Bob Laybourne March 2003
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