Dave Linstrum

MINISTICK (or Living Room Stick, as it is known in England) is the revolutionary concept of Indoor experts Tom Vallee and Pete Staehling of the Goddard Space Flight Center Model Airplane Club (GSFC MAC) in Greenbelt, Maryland. Tom was inspired to build his Micron MiniStick after seeing how much fun could be had flying the Bud Tenny-designed Parlor Mite and Bill Bigge's tiny matchbox models.

AEROMODELING time travelers don't need a Delorean time machine to travel into the history of free flight or to turn those dreams of times past into reality by building a new rendition of an old model. All they need is nostalgic reverie. Members of the Old-Timers Free Flight movement have been building prewar designs since John Pond suffered his middle-age crisis. John was one of the founders of SAM-the Society of Antique Modelers-and continues to support and promote the organization internationally as well as in this country. He is also keeper of the world's largest Old-Timer plans collections. You can read of his exploits in his "Plug Sparks" column in Model Builder. But what of those modelers of the following generation whose dreams of their youth are not filled with Playboys, Zippers, and Comet Clippers, much less Lanzo or Korda rubber jobs? For them, the names that conjure nostalgic memories are Zeek, Lucky Lindy, Civy Boy, Ramrod, Spacer, Wild Goose, and others. Their personal time machines are created from balsa and glue, ready to ride the thermals again, powered by engines that no longer appear in the magazine ads.