Author: Chuck Bower
Edition: Model Aviation - 2015/04
Page Numbers: 150

District XI—Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington

Chuck Bower — Vice President

Last month I showed pictures of three businesses in the AMA Hobby Shop Program and was honored to present a $1,000 check to the winner of the program's 2014 drawing. Annually, each store that participates in the Hobby Shop Program is entered in a drawing for $1,000. The winner was Mad Dogz Hobby in Sandy, Oregon.

Located on Highway 26 east of Portland, Oregon, Mike McKay has a unique shop that is a must-visit if you are in the area. What looks like the back door is an entryway into the other part of the business — a restaurant with a rock-crawler course and rental rock crawlers. Try your skill driving the trails. The restaurant also features 26 local microbrews. Check out Mad Dogz' Facebook page for more information.

Mike is also the vice president of the Sky Knights RC Flying Club, which has its flying site four miles north of Sandy. After leaving Mad Dogz, I headed out to the Sky Knights field to meet with some of the members.

As I drove in, I recognized Joe Topper helping one of the pilots. Joe owns Proctor Enterprises, located down the road from Mad Dogz Hobby. Joe kits world-class, museum-scale World War I aircraft and sells other WWI scale kits. You can learn more at http://proctor-enterprises.com. Those are two good reasons to stop in Sandy, Oregon.

Building season will be coming to a close as the weather warms, and I hope your projects are coming together.

Last month I attended a Society of Antique Modelers club build day where I saw one of the members using an Easy Built Models Magna-Board to hold balsa parts in place for gluing. Being the tool guy that I am, I ordered one of these and I really like it. Check it out at www.easybuiltmodels.com.

The Inland Empire Quiet Flyers from Spokane, Washington, sent pictures of the club's Northwest Electric Fly-In, held in September 2014. The club will hold a swap meet on March 28, 2015, at Covenant United Methodist Church in Spokane. Contact Robin Kirkpatrick at (509) 489-5841 for more information.

Support your local hobby shops and I'll see you at the flying field.

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.