Staff writer
Paul Thomas of Marion started working with model airplanes as a child. Decades later, he has a workshop crammed to the ceiling with small-scale aeronautics.
Thomas will compete with other model airplane enthusiasts June 20 and 21 in the eighth annual Heart of America Free-Flight Association father’s day contest at Marion Municipal Airport.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of flight,” Thomas said. “I wish I got my pilot’s license, but I never did.”
Making things with his hands is different from his work as a lawyer in Wichita.
Thomas builds planes from kits and his own designs. An entry-level kit can be finished in less than a week.
Creating an original design is more challenging — and more rewarding. A basic knowledge of aerodynamics is needed.
Thomas learned the craft by reading and through his own experience.
Getting into the sport is easy, he said. A model kit, modeling knife, and tube of glue are the only things needed.
Model airplanes are easy to repair when you crash them.
“And you will crash them,” he said.
Free flight means the planes are not controlled from the ground. Thomas also builds radio-controlled models. His largest plane is a one-sixth scale Fairey Firefly, a two-seat British fighter from World War II. It is a work in progress.
“The biggest reason I got into radio controlled is I’m getting too old to chase them around,” Thomas said.
Free flight competitions are tests of a plane’s endurance. The power source — either rubber strands or a gasoline engine — shuts off after a set time. The time spent in the air over a series of trials determines a competitor’s score.
“I don’t pretend to be a great flier,” Thomas said.
He has one first-place trophy in his workshop, from an event he doesn’t remember in the 1980s.
Mark Vinduska of Lincolnville gave Thomas a helping hand preparing his models for the contest.
The contest will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Marion Municipal Airport. Spectators are welcome. They are the best source of future fliers, Thomas said.
The club decided to move the contest after being priced out of Kansas Speedway. Jim Lehrman of Goessel suggested Marion, organizer Mike Basta said.
The easiest way to pick up the hobby is to buy a model airplane magazine, either Model Aviation or Model Airplane News, or to ask someone involved in the sport, including Thomas. His number is 382-3206.
“Call me,” he said. “I’m more than happy to help a beginner.”