Modeling Spoken Here - 2003/05
Bob Hunt — Aeromodeling Editor
At the ship date for last month's issue, we received notification from Ed Henry that he would no longer be able to produce his long-running and immensely popular cartoon series, "The Microhenrys." This decision was no doubt difficult for Ed, as he has been producing the series, and it has been published in these pages, since March 1988 — that's 15 years and three months by my count — and those endearing, saucer-headed figures have become a cherished element in the fabric of our sport.
Ed listed health considerations and the fact that he's finally run out of ideas for the series as his reasons for not continuing.
It's interesting to note that The Microhenrys was among the most popular aspects of the magazine, according to reader surveys, during its long run. That's interesting because the subjects of the majority of the individual cartoons were mistakes made by, and misfortunes of, the depicted characters while flying or building model airplanes, and how they were perceived by wives and fellow modelers. Always the optimists, the little guys put a positive spin on their miscues while the wives had a more realistic, but understanding, comment to make. Hey — just like real life!
I think Ed hit upon more than just our need for some humor; he pointed out that none of us are perfect, and that there is a constant need for us to be able to laugh at ourselves when things go wrong. He also pointed out that it is wise not to come down too hard on a fellow modeler when he or she makes a mistake, because we are likely to be in a similar situation at some point — and turnabout is fair play.
Accessing The Microhenrys cartoons
For those of you who are Ed Henry/Microhenrys fans, might I suggest visiting the AMA website: www.modelaircraft.org. Go to the "Members Only" section, where you will find instructions for accessing the Model Aviation Digital Archives. There you can find all of the cartoons published from 1988 through 2000.
Remember that most of these were full-page cartoons; it was only recently that Ed asked to go to a half-page format to ease his workload.
Ed Henry — modeler, instructor, innovator
Besides being a gifted artist, cartoonist, and humorist, Ed is also an accomplished modeler who has been involved in the hobby/sport for 65 of his 83 years. His passions in modeling are mainly teaching and organizing:
- He trained well more than 100 new radio control (RC) pilots as an instructor in the McDonnell Douglas RC Club, of which he was the founder and first president.
- He was the contest director of that club's first RC contest, and for the next 17 years he assisted others in organizing and running the meet.
- For 40 years in "real" life, Ed illustrated and wrote military instruction manuals with Cessna, Boeing, and McDonnell Douglas Corporation, eventually becoming manager of the publications department.
- In the late 1960s, AMA's then-executive director John Worth asked Ed to draft a safety code; many of Ed's original words are still in the code today.
Ed is also an innovator. Those of you who have visited the AMA museum in Muncie, Indiana, will surely have marveled at the Fly Seat: a device that allows a model's pilot to sit in a full-scale–type seat with controls remotely attached to an RC transmitter and fly a model. It's ingenious, and the work of Ed Henry. Ed is also responsible for designing the extremely popular ACE R/C Add-A-Trickle charging device — more than 70,000 units sold.
For all of the above and much more, Ed was inducted into the Model Aviation Hall of Fame in 2000. A more deserving recipient would be hard to find, in my humble opinion. We will all miss our monthly dose of Ed's unique brand of humor, but we are all richer for having had the opportunity to laugh at ourselves and the situations we all get into from time to time. Thanks and Godspeed, Ed.
Plans Update
No doubt all of you scratch builders out there have heard that AMA has acquired the rights to the John Pond plans service and now owns the approximately 13,000 sets of plans that were part of that service. Add to this number another approximately 7,000 plans that are in our museum/library archives and the roughly 890 Model Aviation plans that we offer, and the total comes out in the 20,000-plus neighborhood. That's a lot of model airplane history to be sure.
As soon as the news broke that we had the John Pond plans, we began receiving calls and emails asking when they would be available to the membership. A committee was formed to look at the myriad ways in which AMA could and should handle the archiving, production, and sales of this extensive list of plans.
The committee is chaired by National Model Aviation Museum Curator Michael Smith. I was asked to be a member, and Michael and I decided that it would be a good idea to give you an update on the committee's progress to this point.
As I'm writing this it is February 10, so much of what follows may be out of date by the time it gets to you. Still, we wanted to keep all of you who have expressed so much ardent interest abreast of our actions to date.
Production and fulfillment options
Essentially we have two ways to consider producing these plans. Up until now, with only 890 sets of plans to deal with, we have outsourced their production and fulfillment. This was convenient because it meant we did not have to establish a plans department, staff it, and purchase equipment.
Now, with a much larger selection of plans to consider, the thinking is strongly leaning toward an in-house plans department that would handle all aspects of plans acquisition, archiving, production, order fulfillment, and shipping.
Establishing such a department, researching and purchasing the correct equipment (scanner, printer, computer, etc.), and staffing it will take some time, so you will have to be patient for a while. We intend to do this one time and get it right, so we are not rushing.
Many of the plans we acquired need repair work, and that will be a priority. Beyond the fact that modelers want to build from these plans right now is the long-term historical significance they represent. Archiving will be the first order of business, and repair is a large part of that.
Scanning, cataloging, and scaling
It is our intent to scan the plans in a format that will allow us to use small images of them in the online catalog. This will allow the modeler to see, to some degree, what the model looks like. It is impossible to track down and scan actual photos of so many models, though we will, of course, try to obtain as many photos of built examples as possible.
We must also be able to offer the plans in scaled-up or scaled-down versions. Many modelers want to make a smaller or larger rendition of a given model, and we want to be able to accommodate those desires.
Of course, all of the preceding is subject to change as we continue to research every aspect of this considerable undertaking. I will continue to keep you informed, and when we finalize the plans situation, you will read about it here.
On a personal note, I'm extremely pleased that AMA has decided to purchase and offer these plans. It is no secret that I'm pro-model building, and these plans will help ensure that examples of many great designs continue to be built for many years to come.
Contact: Box 68, Stockertown, PA 18083 Telephone: (610) 614-1747 Email: [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
