Model Airplanes

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Article source: https://journalstar.com/news/local/longtime-lincoln-insurance-agent-and-ymca-supporter-ed-copple-dies/article_943c6f9e-85a4-5caf-b23b-96d317689f31.html

Eugene Toy Hobby sticks to 85-year-old model of old-fashioned customer service, proven products

For retail razzle-dazzle, Eugene Toy Hobby may not compete with fabled department stores like Higbee’s in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s where, in a supposed 1940 scene, Ralphie and friends pressed their noses against a mesmerizing window display of toys — namely the Red Ryder Range Model 1938 Air Rifle BB Gun of “A Christmas Story” fame.

But here’s the deal: real-life Higbee’s closed long ago, in 1992. Family-owned Eugene Toy Hobby, dating to 1933, has never had more employees (16) or broader inventory.

Ask owners how they manage, especially during an age of Amazon and electronic smartphone crazes like Angry Birds, Pokémon Go and Candy Crush, and suddenly the world seems as timeless as Lionel model trains.

“Enjoy what you’re doing, and hire good help,” sums up Alan Agerter, who, along with his brother, Mark, owns the iconic hometown toy store founded by their grandfather.

The brothers indeed have fun with their 6,500-square-foot shop at 132 W. 11th Ave. (Check out their comedic TV commercials at eugenetoyandhobby.com.)

And they indeed have hired exceptional help: the top four of their toy-and-hobby specialists have a combined tenure of nearly 150 years at the store.

Back to the future

The Agerters liken their business model to old-fashioned customer service, and an inventory of both yesteryear and modern-day products. “We are the hobby store of the past here to serve you in the future,” reads their online business statement. It’s like the toy and hobby

Article source: https://www.registerguard.com/news/20181204/iconic-hometown-toy-story

Q: Greg, I just started reading your column on a regular basis in February 2017 and I enjoy it immensely. It is both informative and entertaining. Actually, my passion is collecting old trains, (they call me “Railroad” Ray) but cars come in a close second and model airplanes are next.

I am part of the 1950s generation and proud of it as I graduated high school in 1953. Boy, do I miss those days. We moved around quite a bit due to my dad’s job, starting out in Astoria, New York; then to Cleveland, Ohio, (Go Indians); then on to St. Louis, Missouri; over to Chicago, Illinois; and finally northern New Jersey. My first car was a 1947 Mercury Club Coupe with the flathead V8 and then my next was a neat 1951 Mercury Cub Coupe.

Somewhere along the line, Uncle Sam intervened and sent me for a two-year vacation to Germany, where my tastes in cars slowly changed to sports cars and sports car racing in the European tradition. I came home to New Jersey with a 1961 Austin Healey Sprite (Bugeye) while my Army buddies opted for the Austin Healey 3000, an MGA and a Triumph TR-2.

You mentioned the Englishtown Raceway Park dragway in past columns and it brings back many good memories. I worked at that track when it first opened and they were the days. Back then they used flagmen for the start and there wasn’t much electronics for record keeping. Over the years, I worked

Article source: http://www.hutchnews.com/business/20181203/cars-we-remember-great-letter-from-railroad-ray-laverty

When he was growing up, Larry Attebery would regularly be one of about a dozen kids flying model airplanes in a field where Kirksville High School stands today. 

Attebery didn’t then dream of doing that building on a larger scale, saying he wasn’t thinking that far ahead in those days. No, it was about five years ago when he started attending seminars at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, an annual event in Wisconsin that draws airplane enthusiasts from across the nation, that the thought took hold. 

Attebery wanted to build his own plane. 

He did his homework, his research and on the Monday before Thanksgiving in 2016 began building a Zenith 650 airplane. A little more than two years and about 2,300 construction hours later, on Thanksgiving this year, a blue and white aircraft raced down the Kirksville Municipal Airport runway and climbed to the sky.  

It was late in the day, with little daylight to do much of anything. He flew out to the west, got up to about 3,500 feet, turned around and landed.

Short, but successful. 

“It flew,” Attebery said.

Born and raised in Kirksville, Attebery developed a passion for flying when he was in second grade. A friend of his father invited him and his dad to take a flight to Texas for a rodeo. That flight had him hooked. 

“I just loved it,” Attebery said. “Ever since then I’ve been hooked on flying.”

That passion was expressed in different ways. When he

Article source: https://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/news/20181203/local-man-builds-his-own-plane-takes-first-flight

The model airplane flew around in a circle, looping and gliding in the gymnasium at the Teaneck National Guard Armory before landing on the red turf floor.

With its blue body and yellow wings, it was designed to resemble a pre-World War II trainer plane. River Vale resident Richard Tax was its pilot, using an electronic controller to delicately maneuver the craft and bring it safely down.

“There’s two maneuvers you have to learn first: How to take off and how to land,” Tax said. “Once you take off, you have to land, so you have to practice those two until you get them down pat.”

As he navigated his plane, the air at the armory was busy with miniature craft. A red plane traveled in circles before gently touching down. So did a yellow one, with white wings and a black-and-yellow stripe.

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Another plane bore a painted Italian flag and had a paper cutout of its pilot sitting in the cockpit — a representation of its actual pilot, Metropolitan Sport Squadron President and Park Ridge resident Thomas Schiavone.

“It’s a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment,” Schiavone said of his hobby. “You’re controlling something without crashing it — although that sometimes happens.”

“I like flying with my feet on the ground,” he added.

It’s a typical Wednesday morning hangout for Tax, Schiavone and more than a dozen others, mostly men in their 50s through 80s, who come to the Teaneck Armory to fly their

Article source: https://www.kentucky.com/news/business/article222159640.html