Does this book interest anyone?

**Admin** Thu Oct 06, 2016 12:47 am

I spotted this book at Half Price Books today, "How To Design And Build Flying Models" by Keith Laumer. Sounds like Keith Laumer was known for his model airplane designs. They wanted $10 for it. Looks like 1/2A stuff. I can go back for it if anyone here wants it.

Does this book interest anyone? 20161012

Does this book interest anyone? 20161012

OVERLORD Thu Oct 06, 2016 1:49 am

The book can be found on Outerzone:

http://www.rclibrary.co.uk/title_details.asp?ID=1052

Marleysky Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:42 am

I've been interested in it for years, although with the internet and now Outerzone I don't need a hard copy, the books intro says it best:

"The basic urge to create a graceful structure capable of winging off into the high blue sky on its own power remains unchanged. The satisfactions of craftsmanship, the companionships of the flying field, the excitement of experimentation, and the challenge of competition still intrigue the active mind."

Admin, thanks for the offer! I Love This Forum!

bamboozler Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:21 pm

Nothing like having the real book in hand. For now because it's available I downloaded the PDF.

**Admin** Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:48 pm

That's good to know that it's available online.

KariFS Thu Oct 06, 2016 11:43 pm

Marleysky wrote:I've been interested in it for years, although with the internet and now Outerzone I don't need a hard copy, the books intro says it best:

"The basic urge to create a graceful structure capable of winging off into the high blue sky on its own power remains unchanged. The satisfactions of craftsmanship, the companionships of the flying field, the excitement of experimentation, and the challenge of competition still intrigue the active mind."

That intro is something to copy into a signature line! That's exactly what intrigues me in this hobby.

Thank you Jacob for the kind thought, and Thank you Lieven for pointing us the pdf I Love This Forum!

bamboozler Fri Oct 07, 2016 3:25 am

Impressive man and career both in modeling and outside of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Laumer

getback Fri Oct 07, 2016 7:32 am

My computer is a POS and just lost my post in a page recovery Pumpkin

Any way I like the Flea-Whiz http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=834 .020-.049 and can be made bigger lol I think full bodys fly better , but are a pain to repair if that time comes. Laughing

batjac Fri Oct 07, 2016 11:36 am

It’s funny. I was a Keith Laumer fan for 4 decades before I found out that he designed model airplanes, too.

The Compartmentalized Mark

GallopingGhostler Sat Oct 08, 2016 10:26 pm

April 2013, I provided Steve with a revised Keith Laumer Push-Up plan with complete elevator and top view.

Outerzone: 1960 Push-up FF by Keith Laumer

Does this book interest anyone? 664

Originally .020 Pee Wee power, it would make a nice mini-electric. Double the size and an .09 - .15 would power it nicely. Doubled, a throttled Medallion .09, .074 Queen Bee, or ThunderTiger .07 would power it nicely, too.

Back in 1965 while in grammar school, I scratch built this,
Outerzone: 7-in. Pipsqueak HL Glider

Does this book interest anyone? 3814

I was amazed, being used to the North Pacific dime gliders, it was a decent flier. Back then, I checked out Keith's and Walt Musciano's books many times as a child. I just loved to read those. Keith's book was particularly interesting because we didn't have Internet then. His book explained how to accomplish repairs, along with inspiring upgrades. Both books explained model construction techniques. About 30 years ago, I bought Walt's book new on building and designing scale model aircraft. Can't remember specifically but I think I bought it from Peck Polymers, or could have been America's Hobby Center.

I was so glad, as Walt's designs have always been among my favorites. I was looking for Keith's book, but was glad Outerzone came up with a digital copy. Prior to PDF, it must have been 10 years ago, I printed out the HTML chapters as PDF and saved them to my hard disk.

roddie Sun Oct 09, 2016 3:31 am

Good stuff George! Thumbs Up

I was a late-comer to aero-modeling (early 1990's) and an even "later" comer to computers. My first (pre-internet) research was done through searching the library for publications. As you can imagine.. they were very limited. Two books that I was able to find were "Bill Dean's Book of Balsa Models" and Dick Sarpolus' "Building and Flying Control Line Model Aircraft. The latter really helped me when it came to designing my own small 1/2A control line models.. but the Bill Dean book has some very cool plans in it. Several gliders.. and some Jetex models that are really neat! I photo-copied a few of the plans back then.. but that was only a small portion of the 62-page book. There were actually four Jetex models..

One being the "Space Scout" tether-line rocket!

Does this book interest anyone? Photo-11

Does this book interest anyone? Photo-11

http://archivesite.jetex.org/cja/pages-more/article-space_scout-dean.html

and another being the "Swordfish" stepped-hydro!

Does this book interest anyone? Swordf10

Does this book interest anyone? Swordf10

http://archivesite.jetex.org/cja/pages-more/article-swordfish-dean.html

There are so many cool little models that can be built in an evening's time!

Ken Cook Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:17 am

My dad built me that Jetex spaceship. It was my first introduction into Jetex. It was the coolest thing I ever saw. It worked incredibly well. It did burn the model to some degree. That model is still around somewhere in my dad's stuff. With it is also a Jetex tether car which I would love to find again. I have a fair amount of fuel and wicks not to mention screens. I would love to give this stuff a go once again. I had a book that was all Jetex models, I recall it being skyblue in color and I can't find it. Ken

fredvon4 Sun Oct 09, 2016 10:36 am

I never played with the Jetex stuff, however the Estes Rocket motors made their way on to several projects other than rockets

Like getting a tether car to really zoom

The boat above reminds me of my little brothers very cool Pop Pop boat... Basically a similar shaped boat but the motive was a coil of copper tubing you filled with water and heated with a small candle went very slow and made a cool Pop Pop sound ...he took the longest baths playing with it

for a while I was deep into blowing stuff up with firecrackers

Dang it was fun when I was 10 years old

I love how these threads spark long forgotten memories

roddie Sun Oct 09, 2016 12:50 pm

Ken Cook wrote: My dad built me that Jetex spaceship. It was my first introduction into Jetex. It was the coolest thing I ever saw. It worked incredibly well. It did burn the model to some degree. That model is still around somewhere in my dad's stuff. With it is also a Jetex tether car which I would love to find again. I have a fair amount of fuel and wicks not to mention screens. I would love to give this stuff a go once again. I had a book that was all Jetex models, I recall it being skyblue in color and I can't find it. Ken

Ken, probably many of those designs in the book you had can be found HERE

My Bill Dean book had a X-21 Firebird (General Motors) profile tether-car model plan for the Jetex. You can find that plan as well as another more "scale" model in the above link. There are other tether-car designs there too.. so you might find the one you're looking for.

Here's a photo of the "Real" GM gas-turbine powered X-21 Firebird vehicle..

Does this book interest anyone? The_or10

Does this book interest anyone? The_or10

Here's what the Bill Dean design looks like..

Does this book interest anyone? Photo-12

And here's a photo of the more scale-like version built from plans found at that same site.

Does this book interest anyone? 40749210

The build-link is below.. and details how easy it was to make the canopy.

http://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=78765

roddie Sun Oct 09, 2016 1:25 pm

I've wanted this book for a long time! "Do You Speak Model Airplane?".. By Dave Thornburg..(also the author of the "Old Buzzard's Soaring Book") $90-new, through Amazon.. YIKES! Shocked

Does this book interest anyone? Do_you10

Amazon link

"Old Buzzard's".. is also available through Amazon.. but in used-condition only.

Does this book interest anyone? Old_bu10

Amazon link

Ken Cook Sun Oct 09, 2016 7:17 pm

That's the tether car my dad also did for me. Somewhere I still have it just as your picture presents it, Jetex clip and all. I remember we were gluing aluminum foil onto the side of the car to prevent burnig. It wasn't impressively fast, just cool to see it go. Ken

roddie Mon Oct 10, 2016 8:07 pm

Ken Cook wrote: That's the tether car my dad also did for me. Somewhere I still have it just as your picture presents it, Jetex clip and all. I remember we were gluing aluminum foil onto the side of the car to prevent burnig. It wasn't impressively fast, just cool to see it go. Ken

Ken, I was able to capture these drawings.. in case you feel like carving-up some balsa this Winter!

Bill Dean's "profile" X-21..

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-f10

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-f10

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-f11

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-f12

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-f13

And the other more "scale-like" model.. (did you check-out that build thread?)

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-f14

Either build would be an "ultra-cool" project for sure!!! Bill Dean's could probably be "pumped-out" in a couple of evenings!

Here's "Bill Dean's" Space-Scout rocket that your dad built for you. The way you described it.. makes me want to build one! Back in those days.. they used asbestos-paper to guard against searing the balsa from the Jetex's propellant-blast. Surely something could be substituted today.. that would work as well.. if not better. I hope that you find your engine for the fuel-pellets/fuses that you have. If you check the .org website.. you'll see that there is a webmail address for more info. regarding the procurement of materials.. and possibly engines.

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-s11

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-s11

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-s12

Does this book interest anyone? Plan-s13

GallopingGhostler Tue Feb 21, 2023 9:20 pm

I finally got Keith Laumer's book, 1970 version, arrived today. (Believe it is the same as the 1960 version, reprinted anew.)

It is more expensive now as copies of it are getting harder to find (now cheapest $40.00 - none have the publisher's book cover - plus tax and shipping). I paid $24.00 for this ex-library book with shipping included through the Biblio book website.

Does this book interest anyone? 2023-046

Does this book interest anyone? 2023-047

Here's a photo for the Canadian folks and those living north of me in the US. Very Happy

Anyone know what plane it is?

Does this book interest anyone? 2023-048

There were better copies out there, but now they are commanding a much higher price. I can live without the nice publisher's cover with Keith's 31-in. (787 mm) Twin Lizzie shown. Book is otherwise complete and except for the yellowing of the pages through aging, in quite good condition. Back cover has the checkout pocket torn out, but they did not damage the page it was glued to. The hard cover is not a library rebinding, but the original publication, even has the Harper and Row of New York and Evanston icon seal (1817 and single torch) on the front lower corner. It appears that this copy was not checked out much. Its pages are very clean, no pencil marks, erasures, folded/unfolded page corners for markers, and etc.

The on-line version available on Outerzone is excellently done. They have included all the photos, plans and illustrations in the original publication. However, the problem with on-line resources and even electronic media is that they are not as permanent as books. The Brotherhood of the Ring, a forum for Sterling Ringmasters and Stuka Stunt, another C/L forum with a similar focus on the Stuka - both are no longer with us, having gone off line a couple years ago. A historical Sterling model company blog, well maintained with much history is also no longer with us.

This has been one of my favorite books since I was 11 years old, checked it out many times from elementary to about 20 years ago, through the years from military libraries, various public and university libraries. I am not sure of the criteria to remove a book from service. It may be that if the book has not been checked out by anyone over so many years, then they withdraw it from the library, probably to make shelf space for books that they think people want to check out, do their school and work research, and etc.

Now I am glad to have a part of favored history for my modeling library.

GallopingGhostler Wed Feb 22, 2023 12:18 am

The following are interesting narratives provided with the book, which helps to explain the model hobby culture at the time, and concerns for its continued existence, words that are applicable even today. Text is word for word in my book. However, to make it easy to post here, I have done a copy and paste from the PDF version available or was available on Outerzone, but I have modified to reflect coincide with the original preface titles laid out in the book. They were modified slightly by Outerzone to make the HTML flow better in web pages.

Introduction by Bill Winter (click here to view):

Preface to the Revised Edition by Keith Laumer (click here to view):

The following is excerpted from the British export edition, a preface by Aeromodeller:

Foreword to the British Edition by Ron Moulton (click here to view):

Again, I want to reiterate by quoting Bill Winter again from his 1960 Introduction:

Bill Winter wrote:The great failing of the hobby, as it is practiced by millions of men, boys (and girls!) today, is the withering away of resourceful initiative, a natural result of the trend to prefabrication, ready-to-use items, and things that require little or no basic know-how.

Spoken 63 years ago, how true is that today! Shocked

rdw777 Wed Feb 22, 2023 8:10 am

Really nice book George…. Laumer’s designs just ooze character….I like the quickness and vastness of the web but there’s still something very special about a book in your hands…. More personal and warm….

Two I’ve had a long time that are my favorites…. They are geared toward FF and some of the material in them is outdated but still foundationally excellent for traditional building, trimming, and flying anything…..I built a Korda Wakefield and flew it to tatters with these books as a guide…Was a great learning time….

Last paragraph from Don Ross’s book;

Whatever your modeling goals, I hope this book will help you “slip the surly bonds of Earth,” as I have done, and find the special enjoyment of the world of rubber powered model airplane flight .

Does this book interest anyone? 2b0fa210

andrew Wed Feb 22, 2023 8:28 am

Here's a compendium of Keith Laumer's designs provided by Dave Fritzke:

Keith Laumer Designs

Kim Wed Feb 22, 2023 9:14 am

Years ago, Dave Thornburg's "Old Buzzard's Soaring Book" caused me to draw the ire of an obviously frustrated glider dude, even to the point of accusing me of being a CRIMINAL for defending the little paperback!!!!!!!!!

His over-the-top attack on this site called "Rip Off Report", along with a bunch of self-puffing of his vast expertise, prompted me to type up an admittedly cheesy rebuttal...INTENDED to lighten things up. BOY, did I catch it!!! NEVER joke around with an Angry Virgin!! The insults immediately flew!

I don't usually escalate internet arguments, especially when they're crazy so resisted advising him of the possible dangers of radon poisoning from living in his mom's basement, or maybe seeking some female companionship, even if in a rental agreement.

The local club was FULL of these guys back in the day, and is what made me SO appreciate joining up the the Breezy Hill Flyers.

Mr. Thornburg's book is an excellent primer for beginning sailplane pilots, and I cherish my autographed copy...to the extent that I also purchased his VHS tape that is equally cheesy and wonderful...and now I'm gonna have to crank it up.

I don't know if the link below will work, but anyway, thought I'd share my memory, and warn you guys about consorting with a known Felonious Glider Pilot"!!!!

https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/pony-x-press/internet/pony-x-press-dave-thornburg-old-buzzards-soaring-book-author-dave-thornburg-review-missi-586596#comment_1

andrew Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:20 am

Kim wrote:........caused me to draw the ire of an obviously frustrated glider dude, even to the point of accusing me of being a CRIMINAL for defending the little paperback!!!!!!!!!
.............

Not to worry! Those of us here know you're not a CRIMINAL. A rascal, a reprobate, maybe even sketchy, but certainly not a CRIMINAL!! Cool

BTW, the little yellow Honker in my avatar is a Dave Thornburg design.

rsv1cox Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:58 am

I don't usually escalate internet arguments, especially when they're crazy, so resisted advising him of the possible dangers of radon poisoning, from living in his mom's basement, or maybe seeking some female companionship, even if in a rental agreement.

Gold Kim, pure gold.

Kim Wed Feb 22, 2023 11:00 am

andrew wrote:
Kim wrote:........caused me to draw the ire of an obviously frustrated glider dude, even to the point of accusing me of being a CRIMINAL for defending the little paperback!!!!!!!!!
.............

Not to worry! Those of us here know you're not a CRIMINAL. A rascal, a reprobate, maybe even sketchy, but certainly not a CRIMINAL!!

BTW, the little yellow Honker in my avatar is a Dave Thornburg design.

Actually, my preferred tag these days is "Misanthrope", by way of Buster Scruggs!!!

And Yes, Angry Virgins aside, Dave Rules!!!!

Sponsored content

Does this book interest anyone?

Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Book Prefaces by W. Winter, K. Laumer, and R. Moulton

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Beware the Angry Virgin!!!!

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?

Re: Does this book interest anyone?