bricks

Since 1955, Earl, Ken and Frank had been best friends, all enjoying the same hobby of control-line flying. Here's the story of their lifelong friendship and what they have done so they can all fly together for eternity.

Three Old Men And A Time Machine

Written By: Ken Cigler

"This story started back in 1955 when three young boys met in grade school. At the same time, all three discovered model airplanes and control-line flying. Soon, all three met in the same model airplane club and thus started a lifelong friendship that lasted over 63 years as the best friends...Ken, Earl and Frank. We went through school together and graduated in 1961. Afterward, we went our separate ways, but life kept putting us back together. The only constant in our lives was the love of building and flying model planes, which brought us into the same RC flying club in our adult lives. About ten years ago I started a "guys day out" for us. We go to a variety of RC events, aircraft museums, hobby shops, or swap shops about once a month. Thus began the adventure of finding a "Time Machine" in our travels. Our best adventure started out as a quick road trip to Carmichaels, PA. Thinking that it was a simple 1-1/2 hour drive from Northeast Ohio, where we all live, it turned out to be more like a 3-1/2 hours' drive to just south of Pittsburgh, PA. We were looking for Brodak Hobby Shop. By accident, we walked into the model airplane kit factory (Brodak Mfg. & Distributing) instead. We were greeted by the owner, John Brodak, who graciously gave us a nearly four hour tour of his facilities. What a wonderful treat! Now the Time Travel takes place: We were magically transported back in time, just looking at the hundreds of model planes hanging from the ceiling. It brought back memories of our carefree youth. Each one of us saw models that we had built and flown as preteens and teenagers. Except for school (and chores), all we had to do was enjoy life, no bills...no jobs...no worries. Just build and fly our airplanes, having a great clean youth. I'm sure it made our parents happy, because it kept us out of mischief. On the way back to reality in my car time machine, all we could talk about was our youth, and the great memories that were vividly brought back to three old guys (now in our 70's). The best trip ever taken by us! You can say time travel is impossible, but we disagree, because we have done it. Unfortunately, with the passing of Earl in January of 2018, this lifelong friendship is now down to two. After Earl passed, Frank and I decided to buy a memorial brick for Earl on the AMA Walk of Fame in Muncie, IN. When we learned that the bricks are put in place as each order is received, we decided we would also purchase our own memorial bricks, in order that the AMA could put all three of our bricks in line together. The three of us will now be flying together for eternity. You can find us lined up one over the other... Earl, Ken, and Frank."

If you would like to purchase a brick on the AMA Walk of Fame, you can visit our website HERE.

Congratulations to James Gager (left) and Danny Kane (right) who were both inducted into the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association (NMPRA) Hall of Fame during the NMPRA Nats banquet Monday, July 15, 2019. James, who has spent much of his life very active in model aviation wanted to give back to the hobby after receiving the award. He decided to make a very generous donation of $2,000 to the AMA Foundation and $500 to the NMPRA. We asked James for his story on how he got started in the hobby, and the following is what he had to say: I’ve been asked to reflect on my participation in modeling and Quarter Midget racing in particular, so here are my recollections, obviously, so things may be remembered differently by others. My first modeling experience was at five years old and I still have the scar from it. My older brother who was twelve at the time was into building gas powered free flights and his work area and tools were completely off limits to me. One day he forgot to lock the little room that he used as a shop and while he was out I decided to build a little hand glider. Inexperience with using a very sharp X-acto knife led to a very deep cut to my left thumb and profuse bleeding. There was no way to hide it, so I had to show my mom, and then off to the doctor we went to get stitches. After a period of time, maybe months or a year of pestering my brother to show me how to work with modeling tools, he began to teach me how to safely build models. The next recollection of a highlight occurred when I was ten. One of the local grocery stores in the Chicago suburb that I lived in held a model building contest. There were several classes and I fit into the 8-12-year-old group. The store provided the model kit, most likely a Comet kit, of a high wing monoplane built with stick and tissue fashion. Other than using the kit and no adult help allowed, there were no rules. So, I built the kit and instead of using tissue as covering, I covered it with a 1/32” balsa sheet, and I finished it with automotive lacquer that I borrowed from my brother’s stash/ I don’t recall how the winners were picked, but I won my class. Not without controversy though, as some adults thought I cheated by using balsa sheet instead of covering. None the less, I was awarded the first prize for my class, a .35 powered U Control Kit, which I believe was called the Continental. Since I was ten and my only source of income was picking up discarded pop bottles along the highways, there was no way I could afford to build it, buy an engine or fuel for it, not to mention the support equipment to be able to fly it. I walked down to the local hobby shop and managed to convince them to trade me a ready-to-fly Cox Kit for the Continental. So started my U-Control flying. It’s a good thing that Cox plane was plastic, as it took a lot of abuse while I learned to fly. I continued to build U-Control until my mid-teens when I noticed other things were holding my interest more and more and I gave up modeling. A number of years later, now married, I was on my way home from work when I noticed my younger brother and his friend in that same grocery parking lot attempting to fly a Cox model plane. So, I stopped to help and that night the modeling bug bit again. I went to the hobby shop, bought a U-Control kit and started building it that night on the kitchen table. I flew U-Control for a number of years at the Chicago U-Liners field at the Kickapoo Forest Preserve field in Harvey. This would have been the mid-sixties at which time U-Control was falling from favor for R/C models. At the south-side of the forest preserve there was a group of few R/Cers, I watched them over a period of time and took the plunge. I bought a used Orbit radio (big mistake, there was a reason it was used) the next mistake was the airplane choice, I bought a popular bi-plane kit, not a good choice to learn on. After getting it built and setup I went out to the field to get some help in flying it. Nobody else showed up that day. Same the the next time I went out. After hanging around the field awhile (bored) I thought I’d just fire it up, tune the engine and taxi around a bit to check things out. Everything seemed fine so I gave it full throttle and I took it off. It was magnificent! A beautiful takeoff, airplane climbing at a steep angle, throttle back to level off and BOOM, into a stall and then a spin. I had no thought as to how to get out of the spin and so watched it smash into the ground. A total wreck. Shortly after that I moved to Kankakee, IL and there were no active R/C flyers that I could find. I’d built a new trainer plane, talked the local park folks into allowing me to fly out of and unused portion of the park and manager to teach myself to fly. From then on it was flying what were commonly called pattern planes and I participated in some competition flying. In 1969 I moved my family to Fort Wayne, IN and shortly after discovered the Fort Wayne Flying Circuits Model Airplane Club. Sometime in the early 70’s, QM .15 racing started across the nation and my interest in racing perked up. The first plane I built was a Rivets from what I believe were RCModeler magazine plans. I attended my first race in Lafayette, IN and from then on that was my all-consuming passion. Unfortunately my flying skills weren’t quite up to the performance level of the airplanes and I went through a lot of airplanes. By this time there were a number of fiberglass and foam airplanes on the market, but the quality and cost were onerous, so I decided to make my own kit. With the help of my best friend and flying buddy, Allen Booth, we developed a .15 size model of the scale ESTRELLITA. Allen carved the first fuselage plug and helped me make the molds. We then learned how to cut foam for the wing cores and with that it became the first GAS (Gager Aircraft Sales) model kit. The airplane proved to be a success and soon I was being asked to sell the kit, which I began to do. The Estrellitawas the first on nine different .15 QM kits I produced over the years. I also produced a couple of Formula 1 kits and some Sport Scale Kits. By this time I had become a Contest Director and through the Flying Circuits we were having annual QM and F1 contests at our Fort Wayne field. In the mid-70’s I believe we had the first money race ($1,000) split among QM and F1 winners. The money races continued for several years. At some later point, probably the late 70's or early 80's, QM .15 race attendance was declining across the country.  There were numerous reasons proffered for the decline, but a part of the decline was that there was only one viable engine and with the straight through exhaust, noise complaints were starting to limit airfields available to racing and the available airfields were also in decline. The contest board, (of which I was a member) at the request of the majority of QM racers and race sponsors, looked into making changes in the rules to try to reinvigorate the event.  It was decided to look into up-sizing the engine and airplane specifications to allow the use of the then Q-500 engine.  There were a couple of different motors available to Q-500 and they all had tuned mufflers to keep noise down. I built a test airplane to the newly up-sized proposed specifications and debuted it at that years Rough River QM .15 Championship race.  That size plane and engine combo was squarely in the speed range of the Q-500 and the majority of contest attendees thought the event should feature faster airplanes, so the airplane specifications were downsized slightly.  The thinking being, Q-500 would be the starting event for newcomers to racing and they could then progress to the faster Q-40 event and then progress to the premier F1 event. Once the new rules were passed, I started producing 3 different QM 40 kits. One of the highlights of my kit business took place at the prestigious Silver Cup race sponsored by the Toledo Weak Signals. This race was always held at the end of the Mid-west racing season and was always well attended by QM .15 racers from around the country.  At this particular race there were 51 entries and 29 of them were from kits I had produced. Along with participating in racing, I also wrote the Pylon column for Model Builder Magazine for about eight years.  I also wrote several columns on pylon racing for Model Airplane News. For several years I did some consulting work for the then Top Flight Models Company in both kit development and advertising. I continued modeling until about 2005 when I gave in to my long buried desire to work on old cars and trucks. With time for only one all consuming hobby, I gave up model airplanes. One thing that continually surprises me is the parallels in modeling and old car/truck restoration, and actually, in life itself. The AMA and AMA Foundation thank both James and Danny for their years of great service to the hobby. James has earmarked his contributions to purchase 5 bricks in the AMA Walk of Fame for himself, his son's, and his late wife, with the additional funds earmarked for AMA's educational programming. We would also like to thank the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association for it's continued support of the AMA Foundation with donations to the Cliff and Nancy Telford Memorial Scholarship.

Summertime is busy with visitors at the International Aeromodeling Center. One of the places many stop to see is our Walk of Fame, where hundreds of people are honored by their friends and loved ones. The Walk of Fame is a great way to remember friends, honor loved ones, and be a permanent part of aeromodeling history. The Walk of Fame is growing and becoming more popular each year and is quickly filling up! We just had 64 bricks engraved and are in the process of placing them in the Walk. We also just started a special 'Supporting Clubs' section in the Walk that features clubs who have donated $1000 or more to the AMA Foundation. We are grateful for all the support of the foundation and the programs it supports and are glad to recognize these clubs that go above and beyond! If you are interested in learning more about or would like to purchase a brick in the Walk of Fame, visit our Walk of Fame page here. [gallery columns="4" size="medium" ids="4909,4906,4908,4907"]  

Ken Cigler, Earl Caton, and Frank Rebec have been building and flying planes together since the 1950s. They belonged to the same RC clubs and have spent over half a century as friends. When Earl passed away, Ken contacted the AMA Foundation about placing a brick in the Walk of Fame in his memory. After receiving the brick certificate in the mail, Ken reached back out to foundation staff to see if it would be possible to add two more bricks in the walk alongside Earl's; one for him and one for their friend, Frank. Ken really wanted to be able to add arrows to his brick so it would be obvious that the three bricks are connected. After much going back and forth, staff was able to get the engravers to put arrows on Ken's brick pointing up at Earl's brick and down at Frank's.   The Walk of Fame is a great way to honor loved ones, showcase your love for the hobby, and to help support AMA. For more information on the Walk of Fame, click here.

The AMA Foundation is offering all Walk of Fame bricks at a 10% off discount in November in honor of Veteran's Day. Purchasing a brick in the Walk of Fame is a great way to support the AMA while showing your dedication to aeromodeling. It is also a great way to honor a friend in the hobby. You can purchase a brick online here, or you can email or call Chrystal Pearson at (765) 287-1256, ext. 278. To learn more about this program on our Walk of Fame page.

Click here to purchase a Walk of Fame brick online

Brick order form

  Our team kicked off its year-end campaign last week with the launch of the AMA Foundation for the Future Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes is open to anyone older than 18 living in the US. One of our supporters, Dr. Kendall Wagner of California, graciously donated a ride in his P-51 Mustang to help the AMA Foundation raise money for the many programs it supports. Enter one time per week for your greatest chance to win through December 8, 2017. We are also planning another Facebook Live event on #GivingTuesday, November 28, 2017. Visit the AMA Facebook page throughout the day. This year our theme is “there will be pies in the sky.” Several AMA employees have agreed to share what their “slice of the pie” is at AMA and how they contribute to the work. They have also agreed to take a pie in the face if our goals are met. Click here to learn more! As always, you can support the AMA Foundation by shopping on AmazonSmile. When you are starting your holiday shopping this year, shop with AmazonSmile, select the AMA Foundation as your charity, and Amazon contributes a portion back to us. Bricks in the AMA Walk of Fame will be 10% off throughout the entire month of November. AMA bricks are often purchased as gifts, in memory of loved ones, to celebrate an achievement, or just to support our great cause. Remember, donate to the AMA Foundation by December 31, 2017, to ensure that your contribution counts for 2017.

Donate Now

Chuck Orrick, a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics for over 25 years, recently purchased two bricks along the Walk of Fame. During interactions with AMA staff regarding the bricks, he shared his unique story and gave permission for it to be shared. Orrick is a lifelong model airplane enthusiast whose first memory of a model airplane dates back to the 1960’s. He was in kindergarten, showing his first small balsa airplane his father carved for him during show and tell. His father carved a few more airplanes for him, but in 1976, when Orrick was 16 years old, his father passed away. However, Orrick’s love for model airplanes has continued to this day. [caption id="attachment_3276" align="alignright" width="213"] Orrick's father, Charles Orrick, Jr.[/caption] In the early years of Orrick’s AMA membership, he inquired about having his long and hard to remember member number changed to “1701.” However, that number was already taken so he accepted 17701 instead. Several years later, during the 1990’s, Orrick was cleaning out his grandmother's closet and found a picture from 1946 of his father holding an airplane with the number “17702”. Orrick never knew that his father was an AMA member and couldn’t believe their member numbers were just one away from each other. While further investigating the picture, he stumbled upon a very touching article. The article featured a story about his grandfather, Capt. Charles Orrick. Little did he know, his grandfather helped to form the first flying club in Thomaston, Georgia. Orrick had no idea his grandfather was involved, and had such influence in, model aviation, something that had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember. Orrick had a deeper connection to his father and grandfather than he could ever imagine. He had gone many years loving his hobby of model airplanes without knowing that his father and grandfather both had strong ties to the hobby as well. [caption id="attachment_3277" align="alignleft" width="300"] Chuck Orrick (left) and Gene Seinkbeil (right)[/caption] Today, Orrick continues in the legacy of his father and grandfather. He and his friend, Gene Seinkbeil, built the “Martian Spaceship.” It was from an old free flight plan converted to R/C in the 80’s that they converted to electric. In 2008, Seikbeil and Orrick competed at the SEFF, and won the title “Best of Show.” The AMA is proud to help Chuck honor his family’s love for model aviation by placing his bricks in the Walk of Fame. To learn more about the brick program, visit: https://amafoundation.modelaircraft.org/walk-of-fame-donation-ama-foundation/

The Phillips family is no stranger to model aviation. W.E. “Phil” Phillips, and wife, Waneva ran a small R/C glider manufacturing company by the name of Phillips Custom Models in the mid-1960s. The couple appeared on the cover of R/C Modeler magazine in July 1969 with a patriotic “Snipe” glider (pictured left). Waneva was named R/C Model Wife of the Year by the same magazine. In the 70s, both were club officers of the Farragut Flyer’s model airplane club in Idaho. This is why Ray, son of Phil, has decided to commemorate his family’s model aviation legacy with a donation to the AMA Walk of Fame. The love of airplanes, whether model aircraft or full scale, has now spanned three generations. Phil was a FAA rated airline transport pilot as is Ray, who flies for United Airlines. The youngest generation, Chris, at age 19, is a FAA rated private pilot. Three bricks honoring three generations of Phillips men will be placed at AMA headquarters in the summer of 2016 (pictured below). [gallery ids="2503,2501,2502"] You’ll notice Ray shares his father’s AMA number. For many years, his number was 19731, his mother’s was 19730 and his dad’s was 19729. Around the time his son, Chris, started flying R/C at the age of eight, Ray requested his father’s number be issued to him. Most recently, Ray and Chris were both club officers of the Mile Hi R/C Flying Club in Aurora, Colorado. If you’re interested in paying tribute to your family’s AMA legacy, consider purchasing a brick in the AMA Walk of Fame.