I just built a small Hand-Launched
Glider, and I named it the “MDR,” which
stands for Minimum Daily Requirement.
I intend to toss this little airplane across
my office each morning—just once a day—
as my minimum daily requirement of
model-airplane flying. I want to remind
myself each day that flying models is what I
have always loved to do, and is what I want
to continue doing as long as I am able.
A little sappy? Sure, but that’s how I feel
about model airplanes. I’ve had a lifelong
love affair with this hobby, and a deep and
abiding respect and admiration for those
who participate in all facets of it.
Modelers were always around the Hunt
household when I was very young. I was
five or six years old before I began to
suspect that not everyone in the whole
world flew model airplanes. All of my heros
then were modelers, and that is something
that has not changed to this day.
My father, James A. Hunt, introduced me to
model airplanes. Dad was born in 1913, and
he began modeling when he was 10. He’s still
an avid modeler at 87 years very young!
He’s currently the Chief Engineer of
Brodak Manufacturing, in charge of
development of kits and accessories for
model-airplane flying. Modeling has
certainly kept him young and involved.
Dad taught me very early on about the joys
of building and flying model airplanes. Through
modeling, he instilled in me discipline, patience,
craftsmanship, sportsmanship and, to a very
large degree, brotherhood. Not bad lessons for a
hobby to impart.
I don’t actually remember my first
model-airplane flight. As the story goes,
Dad used to fly a 1⁄2A-powered Control Line
(CL) model in the front yard of our modest
suburban New Jersey home.
Our front yard was very small—really
too small to accommodate the 20-foot lines
to which the diminutive aircraft was
attached. The street in front of the house
was used as a takeoff and landing strip.
The year was 1949—a time when you
could do that sort of thing, and have the
police arrive on the scene, only to cheerfully
stop the traffic so a proper landing could be
made! It was also a time when the neighbors
were more interested in watching the action
January 2001 7
Continued on page 189
and fun than in complaining about the noise
(and these were unmuffled engines!).
I pestered dad (or so they tell me; I don’t
remember any of this) until he gave me a chance
at the controls. He held me up in his arms and
placed the control handle in my hand, then he
covered my diminutive mitt with his hand.
After several attempts, he let me fly the
model a few laps by myself. All of this was
apparently so successful that he rushed me
to the next local contest, where there was a
Youngest Contestant event.
Modeling legend Leon Shulman had a
similar idea for his son Donald. Don was
just a few months older than I was.
Don and I flew the required laps, and I
had my first “win” in competition. Leon—
tongue placed firmly in cheek—vowed to
get his newborn daughter out of the crib,
and have her ready for the next meet.
We all still get a big chuckle out of that
story. It’s a hoot when people ask me how
long I’ve been flying, and I tell them I was
winning contests in the 1940s!
Here it is, nearly 51 years later, and I’m
still looking at model airplanes with the
same enthusiasm I had then.
Enthusiasm—that’s the key word. With
it, almost anything is possible; without it,
very little gets done.
I like to think I’ve had a large measure of
enthusiasm for each of the many aspects of
the hobby in which I’ve been involved. This
is what keeps us young. If we have a passion
for modeling, we’ll focus hard on it and stay
involved, and the sport will be perpetuated.
It’s wonderful to have this type of
enthusiasm for your personal modeling
interest, but it is also extremely important to
have some genuine enthusiasm for the
interests of other modelers.
I’m very pleased and excited to have been
chosen to take this very important post.
Instead of Technical Editor (the original
job descriptor), I’ve asked for the title of
Bob Hunt Aeromodeling Editor
If we are to survive,
and even flourish,
we should
consider ourselves
part of one hobby … PU
Photo by Paul Vliet
Modeling Spoken Here
“Aeromodeling Editor”; this label covers
the actual job that is to be done.
My charge is to help fill these pages with
material that will entertain, inform, educate, and
hopefully, delight you. And perhaps most
importantly, feed your enthusiasm for the hobby.
That’s a tall order—especially when you
consider how many different interest areas
there are within modeling today.
Technical advances and developments
within our hobby have presented us with many
new and exciting directions in which to go. In
years past, there were only a few options within
each modeling discipline, and it was an easier
task to keep up with what each other was doing.
Lately, I feel that we have begun to lose
sight of the fact that we are all modelers with
the same ultimate goal: to enjoy building
and/or flying model airplanes.
That’s not surprising; there also seems to
be less free time in which to enjoy our
hobby. More than ever before, the time we
do have to devote to modeling needs to be
used more effectively and efficiently.
Still, I feel there is a fundamental need for all
of us to be aware of what our fellow modelers
are doing, and an even more fundamental need
for us to be enthusiastic about it. I’ll explain.
When you think about it, relatively speaking,
there are darn few of us in the whole universe
who have this passion for model airplanes. If we
are to survive, and even flourish, we should
consider ourselves part of one hobby—not
members of separate hobbies who happen to
share some of the same materials and hardware.
I love to watch microfilm Free Flight
(FF) models, but I know I’ll never be moved
to build or fly one; I don’t possess those
specialized skills.
I also get a tremendous kick out of watching
giant Radio Control (RC) Aerobatics models
perform. Although this type of modeling may be
in my not-too-distant future, it is not my current
interest area. The same holds true for RC
Sailplanes, CL Combat, FF Rubber, RC Scale,
and almost every other facet of this hobby.
I love to watch the developments in each
area, then study what was done, to see if
there are any innovations I can incorporate
into my daily modeling.
By reading all the material presented in
Model Aviation and other modeling
magazines, I can expose myself to a much
broader pool of ideas.
Many times, I find myself borrowing
concepts or techniques from another
modeling discipline and using a modified
form of them in my modeling.
I can’t help being enthusiastic about what
others are doing!
The rest of the world is finally ready to
recognize model-airplane building and flying
as a serious, mature, technically relevant,
worthwhile, and fun hobby/sport—things
we’ve known it is all along.
Proof is the ever-more-widespread use of
model-airplane flying segments in television
commercials for upscale automobiles, banks,
and other real-world products. Advertisers
wouldn’t use models in these ads if they didn’t
feel they had a positive effect on the consumer.
There’s a whole new generation of
modelers waiting in the wings, and it’s up to
us to show them the magnitude and
possibilities of this hobby. To do this, we
must present a unified front. We are not RC
modelers, CL modelers, or FF modelers—
we are all model-airplane enthusiasts.
Want to remind yourself on a daily basis that
you’re a model-airplane flier? Build yourself a
small glider, such as my MDR, and fly it first
thing each morning, to get your minimum daily
requirement of model-airplane flying.
And when you watch it glide across the
room and make a smooth touchdown, be
enthusiastic!
I’ll be visiting and working from the
Model Aviation office several times each
year, but most of the time I’ll be doing my
thing from my home office in
Pennsylvania.
Please address any correspondence to
Bob Hunt, MA Aeromodeling Editor, Box
68, Stockertown PA 18083. My E-mail
address is [email protected]. My
telephone number is (610) 614-1747.
I hope to hear from you! MA
