Amazing Models
"Clever designing puts the show into AMA Air Show Teams. Well-planned routines and outrageous flying machines keep our public emissaries ever popular." — Luther Hux
In the spirit of Believe It or Not and Amazing Stories, the author went in search of strange and unusual models for this article. What better place to look than among the members of the AMA Show Team Program? Each team includes a few oddities in its show along with the aerobatic, scale, and trainer models. Sometimes the models appear routine, while the situation or the actor is unique.
Show routines and oddities
Routines such as the split-up biplane or the runaway Control Line model depend on the announcer and the participating pilots to generate surprise among the audience. However, most of the amazing models are recognized on sight as truly unique. The giant cheeseburger, lawn mower, six-pack, and shark, to name a few, are certainly not the types of items you would expect to find flying the friendly skies.
When you design one of these oddities, it still has to fly — you can't fool Mother Nature. But it's fun to fool the spectator into thinking you've broken her rules. Team shows are a natural for the unusual; they add variety and comedy to the show and sometimes outright amazement.
Sources of inspiration
There seems to be no limit to the sources for ideas. Most members select their next building project from the latest catalogs or magazine ads, but there are those who march to a different drummer. From looking at the results you get the feeling that the drummer has no apparent rhythm. Builders get ideas from:
- fast-food stores
- cartoons
- holiday themes
- everyday objects and novelty items
Control Line tricks and RC deception
Control Line models are included in some RC shows. Usually, the Control Line models are not what they appear to be. After an introduction that's thicker than molasses, the decorated pilot makes a couple of laps only to have the lines "break." For a few seconds it looks like calamity, and the panicked pilot adds to the effect. It soon becomes obvious that the model is RC.
Several teams are entirely Control Line and spice up their shows with unusual items such as a flying tennis racket or a hot dog. At times an oversize (cardboard) magnet seems to control the model for comic effect.
Notable models and pilots
- ParaCraft: Designed and flown by the author, the ParaCraft is simply a powered RC kite. Until the fabric wings are attached and inflated, this model is wingless and impossible to fly. Once inflated, it flies well and is ideal for shows performed at small fields.
- Zig-Zagonal: A misconstructed oddity designed and flown for the Virginia Air Show Squadron by the author. Lively discussions on what to expect in the air are the norm, but the Zig-Zagonal flies surprisingly like a trainer. Just how it behaves so well is puzzling to the audience — nothing appears centered, not even the landing gear. The show announcer quips that the pilot's wife accidentally cut up the plans while making a dress pattern and then taped them back together as best she could.
- Glenn Stucker: Known for whimsical foam creations and theme work. One routine has him flying a shirt — "he will fly the shirt off his back to please the audience." The Hurricane AST and Glenn's "flying flat iron" keep the shirt looking starched. When another team member flies the iron, he sometimes pretends to iron the shirt while it's airborne.
- Florida AST witches: Two witches perform together — Vroom Hilda and Mildred Hilda. Art Johnson notes it takes a hot .40 to take off and just a little power once she’s up; he adds that she comes down "like a dying duck" should the engine quit.
- Shark and surfer: When the music changes to the throbbing beat of Jaws, the audience suspects there's a shark in the water (or air), and the intrepid surfer has to watch out. Another foam creation from Glenn Stucker — great theme work.
Several manufacturers have also ventured into the unusual and are producing interesting novelty models, including flying fast-food replicas.
Videos and references
There are at least three major meet events taped on location to give viewers the feeling of being there. They have just released Volume 6 (approximately 90 minutes), which provides highlight coverage of:
- The Fourth Annual Tropical Fun Fly
- This year's Nats
- The Las Vegas Quarter Scale Meet
- The 1985 Byron Fun Fly
- A look at the Old-Timers
- A segment on how to fly helicopters
Tapes may be purchased separately or by subscribing to receive all four tapes as they are released, for a total cost of $104.00. One tape will be released about every three to four months. Available direct.
You can locate the following magazine references for related material:
- American Aircraft Modeler, August 1972
- Model Aviation, September 1976
- Model Aviation, July 1983
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
