I'm a retired electrical engineer (74 years old). I built my first model when I was 10 years old, Sky King's Cessna 310. Since then, I built all the models I could along with my father who also enjoyed models in his younger years and carried on with me until I went to college. I can remember getting my allowance and riding my bike to the nearest five and dime to get a comet balsa model to build. I think I built every comet model available, along with many Guillow kits. I particularly remember building the Guillow's Fokker triplane and putting an electric motor in it, which of course didn't work cause back in the 60s the technology wasn't advanced yet.
As a pre-teen and teenager, my father and I built Scientific, Goldberg, and Sterling Control Line models and flew them in the sandlot at the end of the street. In my junior year of high school, I got a job in the local hobby shop, bought and built models along with an N-gauge train display for the shop. I of course wanted to buy a car with the money I earned, but my father talked me into buying an RC system instead, which I did. I purchased a Logitrol proportional 4-channel thru my father's friend at work, Ed Izzo, who was a legend in the modeling world at that time. We installed it the the Debolt Champ. Unfortunately, after I went to college in 1969-1973, I never got the chance to fly it.
Fast forward to the late 70s and early 80s. After getting a job, getting married, building a home, having kids, and settling in Ithaca, New York, I joined the AMA and the Ithaca Radio Control Society in 1981, whose flying field has been pretty much donated by the aviation enthusiast family, the Nenos, in Enfield, New York. Since then, I continued to build and fly numerous sport and scale models, enjoying the physics and wonder of flight. One of my bucket list items was to build and fly a 1/4-scale cub, and I did so after retirement. The number of models I have built and flew (and crashed) is too numerous to mention in this bio. I never wanted to be a well-known modeler, but modeling has always been a big part of my life, was an inspiration to be a professional engineer, formed my career, and kept me out of a lot of trouble. I will continue to enjoy participation in my club, build, and fly RC models.
